Today's Class- We looked at few more proportional/installation pieces, and some of the book sculptures. But most of the day was spent working on the Final Project, the large scale inflatable pieces. This project comes to us from John Siblik, a classmate of mine from grad school in the midwest. Primarily a painter, while we were there he also did some sculpture, including participating in an outdoor sculpture exhibition, for which he first produced sketched proposals, and eventually constructed and installed the actual piece. Years later when I started teaching this class, I contacted him for 3D ideas and sent me photos of a large scale inflatable project his class in Iowa had luck with.
The first step was to do simple sketches of 5 animals or plants, things people were considering as subjects for the final piece. The next step was to build a small model of one of the sketched items using bristol board. Above and below are student sketches and models from previous semesters. The model will help you work out how to construct the final piece from the plastic drop cloths, including the inflation strategy.
For this project, students have the option to work individually or in groups of two or three. Everyone must complete the first two steps, which are part of the individual portion of the grade.
Then, whether you work on your own or with others, you will make the large scale inflatable artwork. Above is a model ant, and below the piece that was eventually created.
The final piece should be at least 8 feet long in some dimension, and must have some articulations, such as a separate head, legs, tail, fins, antenna, or whatever else is appropriate for what you are creating.
More examples of completed Inflatable Projects from previous semesters:
Barracuda
Bat
Lizard
Snail
Turtle
More examples of completed projects from previous semesters can be found on last week's blog post.
Homework- The Book Sculpture projects are due at the beginning of class on December 8, 2015.
The inflatable projects are due by the end of class on December 15, 2015, our last meeting of the semester, though we will start looking at them at the start of class that day, and once your project is graded (and you are sure everything else is graded) you may leave. If you need it, you may have the whole class period to finish your piece.
Museum papers and other late projects will be accepted through the end of class on December 15th. Once the class ends, no more work will be accepted.
For next class 12/8/15- Work will continue on the inflatable projects. Bring plastic drop cloth material and clear plastic sealing tape, as well as scissors. You may also use the time to work on anything related to the class.
