Sculpture showcase: Reduced to the Core
The whole baked potato (initial idea to final result)
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Last chance! On view at the Newburyport Art Association as part of their 8th Annual Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, until August 31, 2024.
Reduced to the Core was also featured at Maudslay State Park September-October 2023.
The idea
We may lose track of our roots, our connection to spirituality. We may forget our voice, to listen to our intuition, our gut. Nonetheless, our core selves can never be indelibly fractured. What remains at your wild and unrefined, but resilient core?
Concepting
I was afraid to build something this large and have it turn out poorly. I considered making a maquette, but that felt too time consuming.
This first sketch was part of my application/submission to the show.
These other two were sketched as I was trying to further prove out my concept. (Exposing my neuroticism here, you’re welcome.)
I also did tests in Blender (3D modeling) and took old photos of vessels and digitally stacked them together to see how it could look.
Eventually I just needed to dive in. I did end up making a maquette for the Wild Core. The whole idea pivoted on this central vessel that repeated through all three structures. The idea changed many times. It needed to be perfect. (Turns out the only answer for perfection was making it imperfect. It had to be wild, raw, a little messy for my concept to come to life.)
The build
Y’all, I rolled so many circles I made a whole video about it.
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The assemblage
It was pretty great seeing it all come together after picturing it in my head and working on it for months and months.
Maudslay show
I'm not sure I can put into words the love and support I felt after the opening reception at Maudslay. Creating more spaces for community is a huge impetus for my art, and I felt extremely fulfilled in that way.
(I think the highlight was my mom brought a table with jars of candy and a few passersby thought the display was a sculpture.)
Final thoughts
I was amazed how much I questioned myself and the idea throughout this process. The letting go and trusting is harder than it should be. Even if it doesn’t turn out exactly as you’d hoped, you’ll certainly learn from it.
My favorite part about longer timeframe projects is sitting with the concept. It continued to unfold before me. It grew in depth as I nailed down the visuals. I kept finding new ways to reinforce my concept through visual decisions.
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