Plaster + Walnut Sculpture
For this piece, we were constrianed to using wood and plaster. I wanted to contrast the deep tones of the wood against the stark white of plaster. But also, I wanted to highlight the natural grain of the wood, and the man-made textures that can be created in plaster.
Both materials behave so differently. Walnut is a hardwood yet has give and strength, while plaster begins as a powder, turns into a slurry and then hardens to a brittle state.
To create this piece, I began with a 1.5” x 1.5” beam of walnut. I decided early on that I wanted to work with circles, as I thought it would be a novel shape to work with in wood and plaster. As my piece of walnut was too small for carving out a circle, I instead cut the walnut at 45 degree angles, creating 12 identical chunks which could form a circle. These chunks were glued together in a variety of jigs that I made, then I sanded the full shape into a circle.
For the plaster piece, I created a wire frame. Then two layers of plaster were added on top. I created the texture on the plaster as it was drying. The wood circle is hung in the plaster piece with fishing line. The plaster piece is suspended in the frame with yarn.