sculpture by idalia buddington @emphasis-figure - Tumblr Blog

On the second day of working with the model I decided to abstract the sculpture a little further in order to take it into a different place from the last one.

When Professor T. Haxo suggested I make some more of these big torso things, I began this. Using the same model as the previous sculpture, I focused on texture as well as what I referred to in my independent project proposal as 'the objectivity of the torso'. By that I mean its relationship to the textural elements of my work as the focal point of emphasis.

It was with this piece that I started to find a sort of niche in terms of what I enjoyed making. Although I was still having trouble figuring out how to 'make my figures stand', I was enjoying the physical sensation of creating the texture that I was now working with.

My work started to be about the tactile sensation of working with the clay. Additionally my background in body mapping with dancers has enabled me to work without the model so long as I close my eyes and envision the proportions of another physical body.

"Shoulder Blades Can Look Like Wings

And Your Lips Can Be A Spiderweb"

-- After my previous sculptures (which were of a smaller scale) I decided I wanted to try to make big faces. So beginning with the head I began this sculpture, using the model who was in a seated position. Over time, following my impulses and inspired by the quote above (for which the sculpture is named) it became an ethereal angel like figure.

-- During critique professor T. Haxo commented that the class could stand to learn a lot from me because I was able to begin, trust my instinct, work with changes, and know when a piece was done. I was so complemented by this, and think this ability is the result of my background in dance.

Throughout the semester I was often inspired by my classmates, much in the way that in dance composition and improvisation you are encouraged to extrapolate upon the behavior of others.

Overall my work was also heavily influenced by Giacometti and Degas' Ballerinas.

It then became this. I was inspired by the Statue of Liberty and had the idea to mount the sculpture onto styrofoam and then to use a hot glue technique that created webbed drippings over the clay. This stemmed from a deeper desire to conceal of distort the clay as a material through the incorporation of every day textures and objects.

The previous sculpture became this. Looking back on it I liked the original, which kind of reminded me of the Scream painting.

My first sculpture. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I was taking Advanced Figure Sculpture: Emphasis on the Figure because I had never taken a class in the art barn before, it was 300 level, and could count as the second advanced learning activity for my Division III project, 'forming a movement'.