Figurative Modelling Part II

On the 14th of November, I had my second session of Figurative Modelling, for the whole day, I and my class were sculpting heads, first, we started with taking terracotta clay and building a circular wall to act as a base, then I started building up layers of clay, working my way up the head.

Once I built my way up to the chin I took a small piece of clay to act as support once the chin was in place, then I started building more upward to the face, for the nose I tore up small pieces of clay that helped form the shape.

(Note: During the process, we were encouraged not to make the surface of our heads too smooth as it would increase our chances of them collapsing)

While making my way to the top of the head (like what I did with the nose) I took small pieces of clay and started building my way up.

Once I sculpted the eyes, ears, lips and other facial features, I was finished and satisfied

(Note: the reason why I didn’t fill the head all the way to the top was both because there was a risk of it collapsing and also because I liked the way it looked).

My Final B.A.M.S design idea

Posthumous Success

For my final BAMS design and idea I’ve picked certain aspects from Edward D Wood Jr’s movies, My final design choice was this:

The design is based on his movie “Plan 9 from out space”, particularly the scene when flying saucers are flying around Los Angeles.

There is also another design I sculpted and cast, this one was based on the poster for ‘Glen or Glenda’

The reason I chose these two particular designs is that both these movies Ed Wood made had a big connection to him.

Glen or Glenda

Glen or Glenda was basically about a man transitioning into woman, the reason he wrote, directed and starred in this movie was because in his free time he liked to dress in women’s clothing, this wasn’t because he himself was transgender, it was because he liked it, so he knew what it was like to keep such a big secret from everyone, so he wanted to capture that into his movie to give people a sense of someone having a duel identity.

Plan 9 from outer space

Way before this movie was made, Ed Wood met and befriended famous Hollywood legend Bella Lugosi, (who is most famous for playing Dracula in the 1931 movie of the same name) for years Ed wood got him to appear in a few in his movies such as Glen or Glenda and Bride of the monster, he agreed to star in these was because he left Hollywood studios due to being blacklisted, meaning he had no choice but to accept every part and script he was given and because of this he didn’t want to sell out, so whenever Wood offered him a part in his movies, he’d say yes, but this time by choice.

A few years before Plan 9 was made Lugosi and Wood filmed footage of Lugosi picking flowers and mourning, this wasn’t really scripted or plan for anything, Ed Wood then wrote the script to accommodate all the footage shot in a cemetery. In 1956, Lugosi passed away at the age of 73, so when Plan 9 was made, Wood wanted to include this piece of footage of Lugosi to pay tribute to his friend.

Conclusion

Even though he wasn’t a brilliant filmmaker, his motivation and perseverance was impressive, his work was laughed at and unappreciated but he didn’t care, one of his movies Plan 9 From outer space is considered to be one of the worst movies of all time, but to him, it was his pride and joy, so this project isn’t about ripping into his work or expressing my own personal opinions about it, it’s about admiring someone did what he enjoyed doing for a living and honouring his memory, for him it didn’t matter that no one liked his work, the work was his and was something to be proud of, and what’s also impressive is that he wasn’t alone, he had a bunch of friends and even a few celebrities to help him out by either acting or working behind the scenes, they didn’t care if the movies were bad, they just wanted to help support his passion, just like I want to support and honour his legacy.

Final Design Sheet

Medal Making process

On the 10th of October, I started process on my medals first I created oven bake plasticine models ( the key for these was to make certain parts of the model slightly three dimensional) Next I put them in the oven for 15 minutes at 130 degrees. Once all the models were hardened I then took them down to the wax room and made blue latex molds to make experimental wax medals, once the molds were prepared I poured in the hot wax and waited for about an hour for them to dry.

The Front

For the design of the front, I would model it from a certain element of one of Ed Wood’s movies (e.g poster design or scene), The two designs I made were based on two of his most famous movies: Glenn or Glenda (1953) and Plan 9 from outer space (1959). For Glenn or Glenda, I modeled the design based on the poster, where it shows a half man half woman person with a question marks all around it to emphasize the plot of the movie (which is a sex change flick).

For the layout of Plan 9 from Outerspace I sculpted a view of Hollywood hill and placed three flying saucers hovering over the city (for each saucer I’d draw a line on top of them, indicating that there really on stings and not really there, this is a reference to how bad the special effects are.

The Back

For the back, I chose a specific quote that relates to post humorous success, Ed Wood’s work and how it was seen. The quote I picked was from John Stoan

Quote: “What difference does it make whether your work is appreciated or not? The work will still be yours anyway, most of us are only appreciated after we are dead”

The Silicone Molds

To create the silicone molds I had to create a support out of plasticine and placed the model in the center of the support, then I cut up some pieces of thin sheet metal to act as barriers and to prevent the silicone from leaking. Once I mixed up the right amount of silicone and pigment, I then poured it onto the mold and using a back massager to get rid of the bubbles. After 24 hours, the silicone was dried and I was able to pull the model out of the mold, so then I started pouring in the hot wax, the results were slightly better in detail and quality.

My Medal Project Idea

For this term, I’ve decided to partake in the British Medak Art Society, for this project had to give my medal a theme of my choice as long as it connected to the real world.

For my theme, I’ve decided to base my medals on the obscure work of Edward D Wood Jr.

Brief History

Edward D Wood Jr (October 10th, 1924 – December 10th, 1978) was an American filmmaker and former World war II corporal, now he was different compared to other filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Wise etc, while those filmmakers made some of the most successful, influential and recognizable movies of all time, his movies, on the other hand, were unsuccessful, poorly made and left little to no impact to anyone, his movies were low budget with cheap special effects, stock footage, corny acting, and ridiculous stories.

Even though he never got much attention and his movies were never a critical or commercial success, his movies and life story started getting the publics attention years after his death in 1978, his movies then became cult classics and people these days consider his movies to be so bad there enjoyable, and the story about his film making career even inspired Tim Burton to direct a film biography about him.

What’s my idea?

I think of Ed Wood as the Van Gogh of moviemakers, the story of there carriers is similar but with opposite results, Van Gogh was poor and didn’t get much attention for his artwork and after his death, his paintings grabbed the publics attention and he posthumously became one of the most famous artists of all time, Ed Wood’s story is similar he barely had enough money, his went by unnoticed and unappreciated and he died a penniless alcoholic and years after his death his work caught the attention of the public, however his work was still considered to be bad and even to this day he is historically known as one of the worst film directors of all time, but his life, his film making career and perseverance became something of interest to the media.

So my idea is to create a medal based on his work, on one side I will capture a scene from one of his movies, (e.g Plan 9 from Outerspace, Bride of the monster, Glen or Glenda etc) and on the other side I will include a quote that relates to posthumous success and this quote(s) will have relevance to Ed Wood’s work.

Term Project Choices

For this term, I and my group were introduced to multiple term choices to focus on for 5 weeks. These included……..

British Art Medal Society (B.A.M.S)

This course (as the name suggests) is about researching and making our own medals, which will include learning to bronze cast, the theme can be anything of our choice, and by the end of the five-week term, our medals will be displayed and prizes could be won. It will be a good opportunity to create a small artifact in a new museum.

There will also be a prize for anyone who bases his/her medal(s) on endangered animals

Pewter

This project will involve creating our own unique piece or pieces of high-quality jewelry made out of pewter, (if not entirely, at least 50%) Our pieces will be judged and will be considered for the quality, originality, and suitability for the purpose of marketability of the submission.

St Fagans: Referencing Tradition

This project working with the people at St Fagan’s and assisting a collection through re-interpretation, re-visionining, and making. This will involve choosing an artifact from everyday lives and finding out who owned these pieces and in which ways they contain traces and evidence of there use in use in history.

Liberty Live Brief: Book

This project will involve creating our own book (out of a sheet of A2 paper) which explores this heritage and should be sympathetic to the information and content within. There will also be research involved in stone carved hieroglyphics, handwritten manuscripts on parchment or print on paper.

Craft in the Bay: Curation and Showcase

This project will involve creating a proposal for a themed group show and each student will receive a series of group tutorials that address the themes, needs, and practicalities of curating a show. This course requires good organization, facilitation, and understanding of the contemporary practice and it’ll also require research of contemporary venues, audience participation, digital, pop up and site-specific contexts.

MADE.COM: TALENT LAB

This project will involve designing our own furniture for Talent lab, which his a crowdfunding site that helps raise funds to build your designs.