I’ve always been very inspired by Dungeons and Dragons and the high fantasy setting that is often associated with the table top role play game. Early on in this semester I knew that I wanted to model a creature inspired by the D&D 5th edition Monster Manual and was drawn to the fairy dragon, a small mischievous dragon with a slender, muscular body and delicate butterfly wings. Initially I had modeled the full body of a dragon inspired by the 5th edition creature and upon further critique I focused on just the head for my 3D print. Once my model was properly prepped using Mudbox and Rhino, I created my silicone mold and started casting.
The concept for my two midterm compositions was inspired by two initial concepts. The first was incorporating the sculpting method of adding and subtracting from my dragon head. For one composition I would add some type of textile and for the other I would to focus on subtracting by using a dermal to carve away the plastic. The second inspiration was tied to my studies on mental health and psychiatric disabilities. As I started working on this project, I found myself listening to a song called "Bones in the Ocean" by The Longest Johns. The song focuses on the survivors guilt of a sailor and considering dragon's mythological ties to the ocean I wanted to focus on the concept of visually representing trauma using my dragon heads as a canvas. Trauma is often categorized into three main types: acute, chronic, and complex. For these two sculptures I would focus on acute and chronic trauma.
The first composition I sculpted is “Skull”, a stylized carving of a dragon’s skeleton. After casting my dragon head, I used a dremel to carve away the casting material. I used artist renderings of dragon skeletons along side images of snake, alligator, and other reptilian skeletons as reference. The carving process took approximately six hours to complete. As I carved I did not want to sacrifice the structural integrity of the sculpture which resulted in a more stylized version of the skeleton. I then added details such as the scars along the dragon’s neck and skull. I wanted to use this sculpture to represent acute trauma (trauma that results from a single event). To convey this I wanted to use the scars to symbolize that this creature had fought in battle of some kind. After the carving process was complete I painted a base coat of a tan camo spray paint. When the base coat was dry, I used watered down black acrylic paint to add shadows followed by a dry brush of white-green acrylic paint to bring out the highlights.
For my second composition I created “Meat Slab”, a dragon’s head using yarn to convey the concept of a muscular system. This second composition was very much an example of material choices informing the concept of the composition. I had lavender yarn left from a previous crocheting project and I thought it would be interesting to add a textile to the dragon head using tacky glue . Using a white color pencil I drew on the divisions of muscle groups onto the dragon’s head to serve as a guide. I was planning to use various shades of purple yarn and color block the various muscle groups. After experimenting with attaching the other yarns to the dragon head, I found that this lavender yarn adhered the best. The gluing process took approximately seven hours. This sculpture is mean to represent chronic trauma (trauma that results from prolonged abuse or exposure to negative events). In the yarn I added patches of concentrated yarn to symbolize the various abuse the dragon could have experienced. I considered using embroidery thread to add additional detail but I was very drawn to the monochromatic look and chose to not add any additional details. In the end the sculpture look a lot more like ground meat, and in addition to its ties to chronic trauma, is why the piece is titled “Meat Slab”.
For my midterm I created two compositions experimenting with additive and subtractive techniques using my original dragon head sculpture. Both “Skull” and “Meat Slap” are representative of different forms of trauma.
"Skull"
"Meat Slab"
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