Serial Slice Sculpture

    For my serial slice sculpture, I continued focusing on my dragon bust through the lens of trauma. In this sculpture, I wanted to focus on the final type of the three main forms of trauma: complex trauma. This form of trauma results from multiple events that are often invasive  in nature. This sculpture in particular has personal significance in it's relation to trauma and many of the elements of the art work from color scheme to materials relate to my own personal experiences with the concept of trauma. I also wanted to use this sculpture as a test to apply yarn bombing techniques to sculpting. Yarn bombing is form of textile graffiti where the artist covers mundane objects, such as park benches, in crochet or knitted yarn. While I have some yarn art experience I had not challenged myself to yarn bomb anything, and I wanted to test this technique in a controlled environment before using it in public spaces. I am interested in textile and tactile art due to its accessibility for those who are neurodievergent and/or have low vision.

    After prepping my files in Rhino, I had three sheets of 2' by 4' two-ply cardboard cut into the shape of each layer of my serial slice. In the center of the dragon, I used a single 3/4 inch square dowel rod to help provide stability to my sculpture. I did have to construct my sculpture once without glue and mark my dowel rod to be cut with a miter saw because it was too thick for myself to cut by hand. I then stacked each layer in order starting at the base of the dragon, and gluing each layer in place as I continued. For any sculptor with auditory sensory issues, I highly recommend the use of noise cancelling headphones or earbuds during this process. I did need to edit a few of my serial slice layers by either removing them or trimming them to help create a gradual variation of size between each layer. After assembling my dragon bust, I then covered the exterior with two inch white masking tape. I ended up adding two layers of masking tape to the sculpture to reduce the visibility of the serial slicing. After adding a gypsum polymer mix to the exterior I was then able to begin the painting and yarn bombing process.

    Once the outer shell was harden, I used fine grit sandpaper to smooth out any roughness left from the gypsum polymer mix. I wanted to leave some horizontal texture for visual interest while preventing the surface of the sculpture from snagging on the yarn. For the painting process, I started with a blue-black acrylic mix to establish the shadows. I then used several variations of blue to create the mid-tones. As I added the mid-tone blue paint I scrubbed it off with a paper towel giving it a unique smooth effect. Highlights were added with a combination of metallic silver, white, light blue, and glow in the dark acrylic paint. When the paint was completely dry I then started the yarn bombing process. I did not have any pattern to reference. Instead I used a light blue and dark blue medium weight yarn with a 8 mm crochet hook. I started by working double crochets in the round then started alternating between triple and double crochets to resemble dragon scales. I did adjust to single crochets on the chin side as the sculpture

transitioned from head to neck. After completing the main part of the body, I crochet a chain of dark blue into the existing structure to contour the abstract dragon and provide dimension. I didn't realize the neck of the dragon resembled a "M" and if I were to redo this sculpture I would choose to add these lines in a different patter of abstraction. 

This sculpture is named "Mend" due to it's personal significance and relation to complex trauma. The name also alludes to the use of yarn as a sculpting medium as mending could refer to fixing a garment or healing from a traumatic situation. 

"Mend"