Wednesday, June 5, 2013

A New Frontier


I just returned from the Seventh Annual Encaustic Conference that was held in Provincetown from May 31-June 2. I also was fortunate to attend the Casting, Building, Sculpting workshop that was taught by the talented Kelly McGrath on June 3-4 at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. Both these events opened my eyes to new possibilities for my sculptures and exposed me to the work of some very talented encaustic artists' work too.

 
The location of the lower Cape was such a great escape with many diversions to help clear one's head. The Wellfleet Flea Market, walks in the dunes of Truro and the vibrant gallery scene in Provincetown all provided respite from my hectic schedule. 

I'd like to share some images of a new direction that I plan to experiment with this summer while working on outdoor sculptures at Fruitlands Museum.


I decided to use one of my favorite motifs, a ball of wound fiber, to make a mold out of silicone. I needed to coat my fiber ball with a few coats of matte medium to seal it and then fill in any undercut spaces with plasticene clay.


The next steps include identifying a pour hole (see clay pedestal holding up ball) and assembling within box frame to contain the silicone.


From the mold I created two wax casts of the original ball. The one to the left is solid wax medium. The one to the right is hollow. The hollow casting is my favorite - the thinness of the wall allows the natural light to show through.

I'm very excited about applying this to my current work with multiples and can't wait to experiment with my installations this summer at Fruitlands.

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