Relief Sculpture

For this sculpture we were tasked with making a relief sculpture. A relief sculpture is one that comes out of a flat surface. The first idea that popped into my head was an apple. I probably thought of an apple because it is commonly related to school. Then I got the idea to do a bookend. I have a lot of books at home and thought it could show part of me. This is made out of clay and molded together with water. I first created the flat platforms and the hollow have of an apple. Once I had those three parts sticking together, I wanted to add more texture so I created the background that's above the apple. I added extra layers of clay to the top and then made indents with one of the clay tools. Once I saw what I had, I felt the bottom was very blank compared to the other half of the sculpture. I decided to add little ants spread out over the bottom. After everything was fired I painted it to look realistic and left it without glaze. This sculpture does have informal balance because even with the ants on the bottom, the top half is still heavier. Originally I planned on painting the background as the sky, but I then saw that it could be a tree rather than the sky.