Animal Assemblage

Artist Statement:

This sculpture is of a macaw. I chose to create a macaw, because I was going through the endangered species list on the World Wildife Fund's website, and saw that macaws are endangered. I wanted to do something colorful, because I liked the idea of using paint swatches. I used those along with other materials, (a map, packing peanuts, green textured paper, a wire-like ribbon, and paint swatches) to create this piece. I also used newspaper and masking tape to create the armature for it. I cut the paint swatches into shapes that were kind of like triangles, and same with the map. I used a map to represent the macaws homes that are destroyed (the rainforests) and cut it in the triangle shapes too, using it for the belly. I glued packing peanuts together and shaped them to create the beak and feet. I then covered the beak in the black wire-like ribbon, and the feet in the green textured paper. I noticed that this piece contained two elements, color, because it has a lot of diferent colors, and texture, because the way the swatches are, they create it.

For this piece, I had a couple varying options for the animal. I was thinking about doing a Polar Bear, but that was kind of boring color wise. I also wanted to do a Monarch Butterfly, but I didn't really want to make multiple small scultptures and I planned on making an accurate sized one, not an enlarged or shrunken one. When making this piece, I

I really love animals and they are really important to me. Macaws are beautiful animals and are one of the many species being affected by deforestation in rainforests, which is a huge problem in our world. If I could strengthen this piece, I think I would make it so none of the paint swatches had the bottoms showing. I would also add more detail to the eyes. I think I also want to add tail feathers to it.