Played hooky from the blog world for a while. I just don't think my life is interesting enough to post daily or even weekly for that matter! I would love to have new fun projects to share with yall all the time but in reality I don't.
Well, I guess I do during the school year. I get a new project every 2 weeks. Actually I get 3 new projects every 2 weeks. So basically, I've got a lot of sharing to do with you guys! (catching up as always, maybe one day I can stop saying that.)
First things first.
I'm gonna finish out my sculpture projects. You have heard about 3 of the 4 already so I'm just going to share the final one now.
This project was open. Literally do whatever you want.
I have struggled with creativity all semester and then I'm just thrown in to the lions den. No guidelines no requirements just whatever project I've been "dying" to work on all semester. Sadly, in my case the project that was taking all of my creativity was the wedding, and I couldn't really turn that in as a final sculpture.
Luckily I have been exploring some cohesive concepts in my other classes so I decided to build on that thought in sculpture. I think it turned out EXTREMELY well.
I'll show a few pictures and then explain.
So basically, the second gun, the one that has the lace pattern on it is my project.
I have been focusing a lot on what it means to be feminine. I've looked at femininity verse masculinity and girly verse feminine. Then also what characteristics make someone feminine or masculine. This project was kind of a self reflection. I realized that I don't really fit a standard. I like to consider my self feminine but don't enjoy many of the activities that go along with that role. Such as; shopping I just can't stand it! But on the other hand I enjoy things that wouldn't be expected for a girl, like any kind of building, welding, and I don't personally hunt anymore but I can totally hold a conversation on guns, and almost any kind of hunting (thanks to Reed, my dad, and brothers).
To figure out how to make this project say feminine rather than girly I made a list of what I considered masculine and how I defined femininity. I'll share those and hopefully this will make a little more sense.
Masculine: Feminine:
- Leader -Graceful
-Protector -Tender
-Provider -Soft
-Fixer/Problem Solver -Caring
-Handyman - Gentle
With these two lists compiled I tried to think of objects that exuded some of the same characteristics. I eventually came up with lace as the object that read as the most feminine. Lace is pure, light, delicate, graceful, timeless, and domestic. And I chose a gun because when I was making the list of masculine traits I immediately went to the men in my life and all of them have been some kind of sportsman. My dad, JB, Tucker, and Reed all are very interested in hunting and guns. So I felt that a gun is something that can be read as very masculine.
These two objects also have a connection to me personally. I have always enjoyed lace I think it is so beautiful and whenever I see a lace clothing item I always want it :) But oddly enough I'm also connected to guns. My dad is a gunsmith and as I have stated before guns are something that I learned how to handle growing up so I am pretty comfortable around them. I felt that a lace gun would not only comment on masculinity vs. femininity but also be a sort of self-portrait.
Sadly, I didn't complete the project for my critique. As you can see in this detail shot I only managed to carve out one section of the lace pattern. I will be finishing this project over the summer to show in my Senior interview in August. I hope to completely carve out the gun stock and then re-finish the wood. I would love for the gun to still look usable. I don't want it to read as an art piece. I tried to document it in a place that showed it as a functioning gun, not a delicate mantle piece.
I am extremely proud of this project. I really enjoyed the concept and it is something that I would really love to go deeper in. Maybe it will be my focus next year?!
PS. These ladies are awesome crafters and share a lot of fabulous ideas
What a beautiful project! Thank you so much for sharing this with us this week! We are so happy to have you! Bonnie has told me all about you and I look forward to seeing more of your work!
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Trish