Wire Sculpture

Artist Statement

The guiding idea behind my wire sculpture "Flowers of Wire and Copper" was to create a smooth shape that resembled a bouquet, or just a few flowers using wire; a material that I had never worked with. I wanted it to be natural-looking, and also have a few parts that 'pop'. The simplicity of it was important to me while making it. I wanted to show that it could be both complex (as the tulip is) and simple (as the lily and roses are). It is more of an organic shape, especially in the vase. The vase is made of a thinner copper wire. The wire weaves in and out of two of the supports for the vase, in a way that looks like running water to me. The shape is intentionally less structured in the weaving wire, and yet it also holds its shape. The piece really needs to be viewed from multiple angles to get the full view, because certain parts of the flowers can only be seen when they do not have anything blocking them.

The materials I used for this were 24 and 18 gauge wire. The thicker wire is the black wire. It made up both the flowers and the structural supports of the vase. It helped show that the flowers were from the earth, which is what I wanted to be shown. Then the thinner, copper wire was used more decoratively. Because it was thinner, it was easier to manipulate using just my hands and I did not have to use the pliers. The only actual tools that I used were a pair of pliers and wire clippers.

The process for "Flowers of Wire and Copper" started with creating a line of wire using only fishhook connections. Then we all made a cube using the same techniques. These were just practice, but they were more difficult than I had expected. After the practice was over, I started on my actual design. I started first with the tulip. This was modeled partly after a tulip and also partly after what was just in my mind. I then made a Lily flower and enjoyed making the roses. My main difficulty was with the vase. I tried making three or so vases until I could get one that fully stood. If I were to add to this sculpture or redo any of it I would make the connections in the tulip better. It is a little messy because it was the first one that I did. Overall I enjoyed the process involved with the project even if it did take me a little longer. Getting to explore a new material was interesting and makes me intrigued about using wire as a medium in projects to come.