Sculpture Making

In the midst of a busy semester, I had a chance to explore my own creativity by learning how to make sculpture. The Visual Arts CCA in SMU called Artdicted, invited a local artist Ezzam to teach us on using simple material to create artworks. (this artist has actually made tiny sculptures using his own skin. intriguing.)  We started indoors learning how to make sculpture using simple materials such as the scotch tape.

You might be wondering how a scotch tape be able to make a sculpture. It was interesting to see how layer by layer you can add on to create the shape of a person's half. Starting with a top layer of the hand and removing the "work" and turning over to work with the other side of the hand, join the two pieces together. And Voilà! you got a hand sculpture!

The amazing part of the work includes the ability to see through the sculpture (as the scotch tape is clear) and also the interesting part on how the scotch everyday use could be made into a sculpture that takes on the form, volume and shape of the object that you work on.

The second part of the workshop was the part which is my creative output for this blogpost. We were instructed to make sculptures and interact outdoor and hence, the class had to be moved to campus green. We were to get inspired by nature and work on our sculpture with different but only simple everyday objects: strings, papers and masking tapes.

I had difficulty trying to think of a sculpture to make and it was really different to use paper. The normal A4 size paper is soft, easily manipulated and is difficult to maintain the shape of the structure you want. I realise after a while of making the base of the leaves (frankly, i was trying to re-create a fern.) With just a simple fold, I had the ability to create the work to make the leaves more upright instead of just flowing down. Also, the shortening of paper and doubling it, created a more luxurious effect to it. And hence, I had the confidence to create a flower (instead of just a fern.)

It was really amazing with how just a simple paper would be able to recreate the look of a flower and make it bigger. A facebook post on the artwork actually garner 30-something likes and many comments on how just a simple white paper is able to create dimension, shadows and effects. Like nature, it was not vulnerable to the elements of weather. It wilted and "died" in campus green. I was really shocked with the response on the number of photos sent to me on how sad the "flower" had wilted. But, it was lovely blooming and its wilted look shows the natural process of the world.

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