DIRIGO

For this project I had to create something that had Maine symbols. The first thing I wanted to do was a lobster, because that is one of my favorite, as well as one of the most well known, Maine icons. My idea, however, evolved from that as the project went on. The sculpture is made up almost entirely of sculpy, however the armatures are aluminum foil.

I began the project by creating the lobster, because I knew from the beginning that that is what I wanted. I started the lobster by making the shape out of aluminum foil. I made the body and also an arm with an attached claw. Next I rolled out a bunch of red sculpy very thin. I laid it over the armature and cut off the excess scuply. While I baked these two parts I rolled out more sculpy into long round strips, and I cut them into the right sizes for the antennae and the legs. I also made small black eyes. At this point I decided what my project goal was. I wanted to make many different and important Maine icons and place them in the shape of the state of Maine. I cut out a styrofoam shape of Maine so that I could match up the items to fit.

The next object I decided to do was blueberries. I love blueberries and they are iconic to Maine. I made many blueberries, in different colors. I used hot glue and began to create the shape of Maine out of my objects. I used the styrofoam as a reference. The next thing I wanted to do was a pine tree, but I did not know exactly how. I decided I would make a pine branch instead, I thought that this could be the part of Maine that is broken up into islands. I made it out of sculpy, but the pine needles kept falling off, so I had to glue them back on many times, which got frustrating. Next I wanted to make a lighthouse. I made one, but it got lost somewhere in the art room. I made another one however, that turned out much better. After I glued the branch and the lighthouse on, I decided to make a bean boot. L.L. Bean is very iconic to Maine and the Bean Boot is also iconic. This was one of the hardest things I made, and I think it turned out, maybe the least realistic. I liked having it ti fill space though. I needed to do more small things to fill out the sculpture to get the right shape. I looked up Maine icons and saw that the Maine state insect is the honey bee. I made a few little bees, and thought they were cute. I glued them in the correct shape to look like the state of Maine. I also remembered that the Maine state fish is the Landlocked Salmon, so after looking up some pictures, I was able to sculpt some. I added these last items on and was happy with the shape. I also liked the negative space that was left too, so I did not add any more. The base was not sturdy, so I added some seashells to stabilize the sculpture.