fOaM&pLAstEr Creature

A Mystic Being 

{who entered the physical plane through the divine union of foam, plaster, and spray paint}

Sketches & Thought Processes Worked Out on Paper:

Artist's Statement 

After much exploration with these once foreign, now familiar materials, I am pleased to reach a resolution. The final piece communicates the feeling of otherwordliness. The relationship between the top and bottom piece is unexpected. Radical. Confusing. Beautiful. Unknown. It embodies fluidity and rigidity with grace. The curvy, golden arms reach out in different directions creating balance while the red bulb sits atop, as if its growing from the center of the arms. 

My inspiration sparked from the thought of a strawberry-alien creature with tongues. Arising from the depths of my mind space, these ideas just made sense. Intuitively I know when an idea feels right so I begin exploring from this place of trust. This was simply the bridge, bringing me from sense objects and the easily identifiable into the realm of abstraction. 

I began by assembling stacks of recycled foam. I cut many sizes of circular foam and made a pile that mirrored a cake-sized strawberry. Then I made 5 long, thin stacks of three foam layers for the intended tongue shapes. Every foam piece was adhered with a combination of wood glue and skewers to secure everything into place. 

Once dried, I took my foam outside with a foam melter do-hickey and a respirator to protect the pranayama. I greatly enjoyed this step of meditatively witnessing the melting and satisfaction of molding whatever I pleased with ease. Savering every moment of this, I glided the hot knife across the foam, forming a berry shape and uncovering the tongue's wavelength. I even created a couple designs with the scraps, discovering this tool as a new friend and affirming I will be revisiting it the future present moment.

The next step was messy and cream-cheesy but not the edible kind. Oh what a joy to stick my hands in a big squishy tub of plaster and lather my foam in this matter. A couple layers of smooth plaster guided me to a thick final layer which was a dance of movement. My hands moved to the objects and away, creating a spikey texture that was not only pleasing to make but also to look at. After the spikes, a plastic knife found its way to the surface of the tongue, creating divits and scoops which added a texture resembling tastebuds. 

The final step was securing the tongues in place through scewer maniplulation and then topping the star-shaped tongue formation with a spikey strawberry. Once I worked out the stability of the structure, I chose two colors. The glossy red for the berry-like portion and GOLD for the tongues. I had in mind green like berry leaves but as soon as I saw gold was an option, I redirected the vision.

Voila. A Mystical Berry Being is Born. 

This work fits into the abstraction narrative. I took inspiration from objects of the world (strawberries and tongues) and then through presence and consideration, created a conversation between me and the materials that resulted in this funky object. The abstraction movement has been around for some time and continues today with artists interested in creating the not so predictable responses to the world, following only the rule of intuition. Making moves based on feeling. Going beyond boundaries. Asking the art what wants to be created instead of having preconcieved outcomes already worked out. I adore such things and the feeling of feeling feels good!

The viewer is seeing this being before them. They may see a red flower blossom emerging from gold encrusted petals. Or they may see an alien with wiggly arms. Or an octopus. The one who sees may see what they wish. I hope this work brings enjoyment for the eyes to feast upon. I hope this creature reminds them of their childhood, a dream, a snack. Whatever the relationship the viewer and the creature have, may it be what they make of it. If they are pleased by the look of it; great. If they are repelled; even better. May it be an oppurtunity for them to reflect upon the thoughts in which cause the repultion and be a chance for a soul to uncover another layer of themselves. 

It is all perfect.  

Namaste