Feminine Body #3

Reflection

Hidden Moon Woman with her Flowers is the third piece in the sustained investigation of the feminine body in nature. This piece used the moon to symbolize the feminine body, and with that, one's interaction with other elements of nature. Simplicity is an important theme here because I wanted the moon to stand out, especially the color and texture of it. The texture is purposeful because it folds in a way that is similar in some ways to skin which connects back to the body. It is also rough because there is a feminine body in it somewhere, which isn't all smooth. While it may appear simple, this piece took quite a while to create, and I went through many variations before deciding on this sculpture.

The materials for this are wire, plaster strips, paper mache, flowers, watercolor paper, and sculpty. The wire is the base off of which I built the moon. I wrapped the wire in plaster strips and covered the whole thing in paper mache. The sculpty serves as a base for the piece, as the bottom of the moon is not flat and can't stand on its own. The flowers are Clover, Daisy, and little purple-blue flowers that I don't know the name of.

There were many stages to this piece, and the final outcome was not quite an exact copy of the original idea, more a reflection made on ripples in the water. Some pieces changed drastically, and some elements stayed the same. Two pieces that stayed the same are the original design of having a moon in the piece, and that being a center to orient around. Originally there would be a tree base supporting this moon, but that proved very challenging to make out of plaster and wire. The other similarity to the original design includes using real flowers. The placement for them changed, but the intention stayed the same. Some differences that come from the process are the watercolor paper rings. These were made for sustained investigation 4, but they worked very well for this piece I found. SI #3 and #4 used similar materials because I made them both at the same time, which in some ways makes it easier to see the connecting thread throughout the pieces. Throughout the time working on the piece, I make many sketches to try and put down on paper where I was in the process. This helped me find my way to the final piece, and was a good way to see my process of revision.