Grace Denner: Week 15 Serial Slice

 

Grace Denner: Week 15 Serial Slice

The Model:

As in my previous composition, I am using a model of a tree stump mimic. A mimic is an amorphous creature found in many fantasy media, with the ability to assume the shape of seemingly harmless objects. Using a scaled-up version of the original model in the Rhino and Grasshopper programs, I  added cylindrical tube holes for support rods and serial sliced the tree stump. I then splayed the pieces onto 24"x48" rectangles to be laser cut out of cardboard.

 

 Assembly:

Once printed out, the assembly process was very straightforward. Using Loctite SuperGlue as the adhesion, I stacked the cardboard onto two 1/4" dowel rods  based on the numbers engraved on each piece. Following this, I taped the entirety of the sculpture using masking tape to protect the cardboard from the epoxy coating. I covered the sculpture in several coats of epoxy, using thicker amounts and verticle brushstrokes to imitate bark. After letting this dry, I painted the entire thing in a layer of canvas prepper in matte black.

The Painting Part 1:

 After priming the stump, I had to figure out what direction to go with the composition. Initially, I wanted to create a realistic-looking tree stump with brown bark and green accents of moss and foliage. However, during the painting process, I experimented with dry brushing in a light color, which resulted in a burnt or petrified wood look. This experiment became my new artistic direction. I went over it with another coat of black, let that dry, and then dry-brushed white over the entirety of the piece. This painting style highlighted the work's convexes, further emphasizing the bark-like texture. 

 The Painting Part 2:

Choosing to go with the burnt wood look, I decided to include "fire" in the crevices and concaves of the tree. I painted these inlays white as a base before painting a red-to-yellow ombre on each area. Following this, I used thick Gorilla glue to adhere faux broken glass in various sizes and shades of red, yellow, and orange. To create more bark texture, I then outlined the white surrounding each clump of "fire" in a jagged and cracked pattern.

The Meaning: 

The plastic fire acted as an irony, a commentary on the fact that we take trees and other living resources to turn them into inorganic creations, plastics, etc. These things cannot decay and only "grow" out of the death of nature. The meaning behind this grew as the piece developed.