Ceramic bust

This is my bust of Muhammed Ali. It is made out of clay and is surfaced with watercolor and acrylic paint. I made a butterfly and a bee out of sculpey as well. I also wrote one of his quotes on his shoulders: "Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee." I chose to make Muhammed Ali because he is a very talented and inspiring person who I admire. In my project, there are elements such as color, form and line. Color can be seen all throughout my piece and form can be too. Line is used to define my project's edges.

In this project I used formal balance in how I placed each insect on opposing shoulders and split the quote half and half. I also used sharp focus, where the colored insects are obvious focal points on the project due to their contrast in color to the rest of the project. My project didn't evolve too extremely, but it did vary a little bit. I wanted to write quotes on his face at first but I realized that it would take away from the image of his face. Instead I decided to write them on his shoulders.

There is a significant meaning behind my artwork: I used one of his most famous quotes and incorporated a 3D element into it. Instead of just writing out the whole quote, I left out the words butterfly and bee and instead I made these insects out of sculpey and put them on his shoulders. This relates to my life because I am inspired by Ali and how he stood up for what he believed in. If I could change anything about my product I would be a little more careful painting the details but otherwise I am happy with the bust. The most challenging part of this project was getting the skin tone of Ali right, but I think I got pretty close overall. I am most proud of the way I displayed his quote, It is more captivating than just writing all of it. My strengths can be seen in the form of the sculpture because I think it is accurate to his head. My weaknesses are shown in the paint job of the bust because I missed a few spots.