Sculpture Write Up

     When starting my sculpturing process there were many things that I had to do before actually starting to sew. I had to do research and find inspiration, find a song that I could connect to and base my sculpting off of and lastly I had to lay out all of my materials and figure out how I would use them. The song that I used to connect to my sculpture was The 59th Street Bridge Song, composed by Simon and Garfunkel. This song evokes many feelings. The overall message of the song is the emotion of “feelin’ groovy”. One might ask, what exactly is “feelin’ groovy”? It can be interpreted in different ways but for me I felt that it meant ultimate happiness, a feeling of no worries, and not caring what others think of you.

     Before starting the sculpting process, many classes were spent getting to know the human form. I did this using the manikins, using quick sketches and long precise sketches. This process was very important in getting to know how certain movements affected the human body, and showing more or less of a certain part of the body (foreshortening). As this process came to an end, as I said I went to find inspiration, because to be honest, at the start of the project I was pretty overwhelmed as I had never sculpted before, let alone sew. To find inspiration I searched through the Fiber Art magazines, and surfed the internet, which exposed me to interesting things that I could do to portray certain feelings in my sculpture. I found many sculptures that had been made out of the most random materials that showed me that the ‘norm’ wasn’t always the best way to go. Some of these materials were things made out of newspaper clippings, ticket stubs, and shoes pieces etc. It also showed me that realism isn’t always the most accurate or best way to do things. I had always thought that the more recognizable a piece is the better, but noticed this was not true. The fun thing about this project is that I had a lot of freedom, as I could use a lot of materials as long as it made a connection to my song. After doing this I created paper replicas of what I wanted my body sculture to look like. The first one I did was way to big, so i created a second which ended up helping me for cutting out my fabrics.

     When I first picked my materials I thought about the basics, the colours. I wanted to find out a way to connect to my song through the materials I chose. I decided that warm colours would convey that feeling of ultimate happiness. This is why my final product consists of only reds, yellows, whites, silvers, pinks, greens and blues (all warm colours). The only place where black is on my piece is on my lamppost, and some stitching. The reason for this is because I felt it created a very interesting contrast. I decided the lamppost should be black because a lamppost doesn’t portray any feelings. So I decided to make it black which in the end created as I mentioned a very interesting contrast to the warm coloured sculpture. The black stitching in my piece was for a reason. I figured that although this man in my sculpture feels unstoppable, and is feeling ultimate happiness, no one in the world has ‘no worries’. Although I mentioned that this man has does in fact have no worries, every person has something deep inside of them that is bothering them that might not be showing but still exists. This is why the black stitching was used, to convey the dark roots/ veins and the darker feelings, which he is not showing.


     One might ask why I decided to use a lamppost in my piece. The reason for this is because in the song it directly mentions a lamppost. As I listened to the song there was a line “Hello, lamppost, whatcha knowin’?” This painted a very vivid image in my mind of a man smiling, and swinging around a lamppost. I felt that this was the perfect image to convey through my sculpture. I also felt that this lamppost would be an interesting addition to my piece, instead of a man by himself. For my lamppost I used black material for the shaft, and for the top the bulb, I created a ball using cotton surrounded by fabric. Once this was sewn I stuck yellow topped pins in to show the light of the bulb. To emphasise the brightness of the bulb I attached golden string onto these pins which would hang down and wind around the lamppost, which in the end turned out great! Also my lamppost is a lot smaller than my person, to scale. The reason i did this is the portray the fact that this man is feeling larger than life.

     I terms of movement I wanted a lot. I felt by having a sculpture with a lot of movement it would get across this feeling of ultimate happiness. In terms of movement of the viewer’s eye through the piece, I used different techniques and fabrics that help guide the viewer’s eye. I used many different patterns and fabrics throughout my piece. For one of my legs I tried a different approached to the sewing. Instead of folding the piece of fabric in two sewing the two sides together and then switching it so that the stitching would not be shown, my approach showed the stitching. Not only did it show the stitch but by taking a long skinny piece of cloth and using a toilet paper roll, rolled the skinny cloth around so that it would give it great form. After I had the form I stitched it in circles (see sculpture, hard to explain) and this created a very cylindrical thigh. I thought that this created very interesting movement as it moves the views eye all over the place. Another part of my piece that I felt was very helpful in terms of movement and was very unique was my hair. For my hair I used an assortment of old string and sewed them together creating a wacky, crazy hair doo that showed the viewer that this man really does not care what others think of him, and that he is a free spirit. Another techinque that I used to evoke these feelings, was to not sew the end of the one of my arms and legs together, as I felt the frayed cloth contributed to this feeling.

     To create form in my art piece I used a couple different methods. The overall method was after sewing an arm or a leg etc. was to stuff it with cotton. This would stiffen up and fill out my sculpture. Other things were used to stiffen up my sculpture were materials such as the interfacing. The interfacing was used primarily in my main body/ chest structure. For this I actually had to sew 4 pieces of material together, the two outside cloth pieces and the two interfacing pieces. Overtop of this I sewed patterned fabric to give it colour. Other techniques I used to give my piece form were wrapping string around my arms. By wrapping the string around my arms it allowed me to form the arm, for example pull the string tighter near my hand because it is skinnier than my biceps area. For my bicep area I just softly rapped the string around. Overall this I felt was a great addition to my piece, and in terms of form was very effective.


     In terms of my final product compared to my intended message, many similarities are present but there are still a few differences. In my piece I followed my ideas of using warm colours, and using the lamppost. I also followed the idea of having a sculpture with a lot of movement. These similarities were some of the most effective elements of my sculpture that helped it connect to my song. Many differences were present though from my intended message. I felt that this was a good thing as it showed that I my rationale for certain things improved. In my intended message I mentioned that I wanted to use very soft materials and create a very limp loose structure, but as I started actually experimenting with the materials I noticed that having a strong stiffer sculpture still allows you to form the bodies’ movement. In my intended message I was scared that if I used the interfacing that it would make my sculpture like a manikin. I know have figured that this of course is not the case and by using the interfacing it gives the body great strong form. Another main difference between my intended message and my final product was that in the start I was experimenting with wire and had set my mind on a wire based sculpture. I figured that by having a wire structure I could sew material around it so I could still have this loose limp feeling but be held up by the wire. This seemed like a very good idea, but as I started with the wire I noticed that it would require a great amount of difficulty. Another difference was in my intended message I wanted my sculpture to be hanging from a wire but now notice that this is too tough because of the lamppost. So I decided to put my sculpture and lamppost on a piece of cardboard. Overall my intended message was a lot different than my final product.

      If I had to pick out two positive elements to my sculpture it would have to be the form, and the fabrics that I chose. I was extremely pleased with the form of my piece. I used multiple layers and stuffed lots of cotton, which in the end gave my sculpture great form. As I already mentioned the string that I wrapped around my arms I felt was very effective in creating the form of the arm (the skinny parts and the fatter parts). The fabrics that I chose in my piece worked out really well, in terms of the colours of them and the texture. The different colours in my piece I felt was very unique. On my chest area it almost looks like patch work, consisting of many different plaid designs. I felt by adding all of these different warm coloured fabrics it could portray the fact that this man has so many good feeling going through his mind. I also felt that the textures of my fabrics added an interesting spin to my piece. My ‘underwear’ part of my piece is very rugged and messy which was done on purpose, to show the fact that this man has no worries and doesn’t care what others think of him. I used a mixture of silky smooth fabrics, and soft cotton fabrics to show that this man is not plain but a mixture of many different feelings. If I had to point out one area for improvement it would be my sewing. Before this project I had never sewed before, maybe the odd grade 2 project but nothing that had developed skill for me in sewing. As I got further along in my sculpture I became better with my sewing but am still not completely pleased with the actual sewing of my piece. I became very frustrated at many points along my process through trying different sewing techniques, which I figured were too hard. On several occasions I had to actually re sew parts of piece as I was not pleased with the outcome. Overall I just found the sewing aspect to be very frustrating for the sole reason that I had no previous experience with it.


     How would I display my piece for an exhibition? I originally as previously stated I wanted my piece to be hanging from a wire, but now if it were to be displayed I would want it on cardboard with felt on top, and my sculpture sewed onto the felt. Lighting of course would be important. The features that I would highlight would be the side of the body where the light of the lamppost is hitting to give the effect that the lamppost is actually shining.

     Once I had decided  that I wanted to display my sculpture on a board with felt, with the lamppost and the body sewed on I tried it. After 2 hours of complete frustration i figured that my body was simply to big to support at just the base. I figured my dreams of having my sculpture standing up would not come true. What I did was lay the lamppost and body on the board so that it was lying on the cardboard and then i could attach a wire from the roof to this cardboard where my lamppost and sculpture would be. This turned out to be a lot easier and gave the overall look of my peice a great effect, becuase now, I could accomplish my original intent which was having my piece hang from the ceiling.

     For my cardboard base, I did not want a plain piece of cardboard, so what I did was take 4 different pieces of cloth, all in the same quare shape, sew them together so that each piece was one quarter of a bigger square. Then after trying to sew this square of cloth to the cardboard, and noticing that the cardboard was to tough I simply stapled the cloth to the cardboard. One this was done, as already stated, I took my man, sewed his arm to the lamppost, then sewed the two pieces to the cardboard lying down. Overall I was very happy with this decision, and felt that it still gave my man movement and flexibility, to show his hsppy free flowing nature.

     Overall this sewing process took a lot longer than expected. Through experimentation and hard work I discovered many new sewing techniques and gained a greater appreciation for soft sculpture.

This Photo is my first attempt at creating a replica of what my body sculpture would be. It turned out being way to big leading me to make another.

This is my second attempt, which is a lot smaller and you will get a feeling of that in the next picture which is the two side by side. (I could not rotate this picture, so i just left it)

This is a picture of the two side by each showing the difference in size.

Here is a picture of my lamppost with the black stem and the bulb is on the top. I used yellow tipped pins with gold string attached to represent the light from the bulb.

Here is an image of the bulb showing the yellow tipped pins and the golden string.

This is a picture of the underwear of my peice. It is used out of very ragged material that connects to my song. It does this becuase by having ragged material it shows that this man does not care what other people think.

This is a picture of one of my arms. It is used using two pieces of fabric. I used a simple weaving pattern to sew both of these materials.

This is a picture of one of the upper thighs. As one can see I took a long skinny piece of fabric, and rolled it around a tiolet paper roll. I then sewed around the outside, to make it look like a raquet grip. I felt that this was a very unique technique, that added a different element to my piece.

This is my sculpture about halfway through the process. As you can see i started patch-work on my chest area, and where the underwear and my upper body meet, it isn't straight on. The underwear is acutally tilted, which in the end will hopefully give the legs a different movement.

This is a picture of the back of my sculptures head. It shows the wacky hair which is supposed to get accross the idea that this man is a free spirit, and the messy hair I feel shows this perfectly. I kept the hair on by sewing al of the peices of string togetherm and then randomly sewing parts of that ball of string to the head. In the end I felt it was a great touch and helped greatly towards my message.

This picture shows the front of my sculptures head. The stiching I chose was red, and felt it drew the viewers eye towards the head, and I felt that in this case the stiching was very well done as each stitch was as even as the one that came before it.

Here is a picture of my finalized man before I made the step of sewing the legs together at the bottom and sewed the arm to the lamppost. The movemetn of the body is easeir to see when closer as one side of the hip is showing and the other isn't. This is the effect that I learned when working with the manikins.

This is a picture of the base of my sculpture, which as previously stated was made using a piece of cardboard, with coth on-top. I tried to sew this piece of cloth to the cardboard but found this way to difficult, so i figured I could staple it to the board. It may seem like I was taking the easy way out, but I did try and make the sewing work for this partm but found it too hard. And the peice of cloth is not one peice, it is a square made up of four different clothes sewn together, makeing each sqaure a quadrant of one big square, as you can see below. This patch pattern was done again to show warm colours, and evoke different feelings, that my man is feeling. I feel that it shows a lot more than a plain piece of cardboard, and certainly contributes to my goal of evoking ultimate happiness.

This picture shows my final man, attached to the lamppost. It also for this sew the legs together at the bottom, becuase I felt that it showed more of a swinging motion when the legs where closer together than apart. The last thing I did was simply attach the arm to my lamppost by sewing it.

This is a picture of my final product as my piece, both man and lamppost are now sewn to the base. I feel that the contrast between the base and my sculpture, is a very interesting effect. Overall I feel that this turned out great, and by having the two lying down instead of standing it makes my structure seem stronger and more durable.