Hand Project

This is my hand composition project. I made plaster models of my hands and used them for this project. I had to make this project about a pressing issue in society, and I chose gun control. In order to make these plaster models, I had to put my hands in alginate. After the alginate molded to my hands and held in a loosely solid form, I pulled them out and filled the empty space with plaster. After the plaster solidified, I pulled them out of the alginate and out came the exact replicas of my hands. I also used some sculpey and pins for a 3D element. I painted the entire base with white paint glued the hands to it. In this project some elements I used were form, color and texture.

A few composition rules and techniques that I used were informal balance and grouping. The informal balance is implemented in the placement of the hands which are the focal point of the project. They are on the outer edge of the base leaving room for the map and pins. The grouping is shown in the proximity of the pins on the map. Its effect is showing just how many mass shootings there are in america. This project evolved majorly over the time that I made it. At first I was going to make the two hands connected, with the gun unbroken but when I pulled the hands out of the plaster, the "gun" broke and the hands were disconnected. I decided to use this to my advantage and I kept them apart. Also, I didn't plan on using the map and pins at first but I decided it would add eye catching texture and that it would add to my message.

The message behind this is to stop gun violence and increase gun control. I showed this by making one hand holding the gun and one hand having peace signs on it. The gun is broken to send the message that peace is stronger than violence. I had the map in order to give a visual look into the severity of gun violence in America and how many mass shootings there are. This relates to my life because this is a pressing issue that I care about and that I think needs to be solved because lives are being lost every day that nothing is done. I feel like my project conveys my message well and that it is pretty strong, but one thing that I would change would be to add more pins to the map because there aren't as many as there should be. It was difficult because of how close they are together so I couldn't really add many more. Despite this, I am overall happy with how it turned out. The biggest challenge was having the hands break apart, but I am proud of how I used this to my advantage. This project displays my strengths as an artist because I believe it vividly conveys the message that I was trying to convey. My weaknesses are apparent in how there are a few messy glue spots and a few painting errors.