Low-Poly Paper Sculpture
Summer Camp Mask Making
As part of our first Learning Factory Summer Camp, I worked with a high school art teacher to develop a lesson plan of creating paper masks which would be illuminated by paper circuits. We searched the internet and found an artist in England called Wintercroft who creates low-poly paper masks. Low-poly(gon) sculptures start in a 3D software, then are transformed on paper to be cut, and finally to be reassembled in real life. At this point, we have not created any of our own original 3D masks or scupltures, but have used the creations of other artists as a jumping off point.
We worked with our campers to create four versions of half-face animal masks (bird, fox, bear, and rabbit). We taught the campers how to use copper tape and LEDs to illuminate their masks from behind as well.
My camp created low-poly half-bear mask with pen and ink illustrations. This was created using only cardstock paper, transparent tape, and ultra-thin ink pens.
Afterwards, I worked with high school students at Greensboro Day School on a mask making project. Afterwards, their teacher worked with the students to develop a list of questions that could be answered through the process of building masks.
Larger Low-Poly Sculpture Projects
I wasn't about to stop at a few half-mask projects. I decided to try a few larger projects and I haven't been disappointed by the challenge and the results. Here a few additional low-poly masks and sculptures I have created over the last two years.
UNCG Maker Bear Sculpture
I purchased this template from another artist named Plain Papyrus. His sculptures are more difficult than Wintercroft masks as there are more folds and more pieces to each sculpture. It took me two attempts to get this bear right, as my first attempt went really wrong.
My intention for this low-poly bear sculpture was to embed a littleBits circuit in the head which would tell a pre-recorded bear themed joke each time someone would upload a picture of the bear to Instagram with the hashtag #uncgmakerbear. I attempted to use the following littleBits: cloudbit, mp3 player, speaker, and LED lights.
But due to some restrictions with Instagram, I couldn't get it to work consistently. But it was still a fun project to attempt and now we have an amazing blue and yellow bear in the studio.
Low Poly Stag Mask
During our first summer camp, I began to construct my own project alongside of the campers. I created this stag mask, which turned out quite well. The most difficult part of this sculpture were the antlers. After I constructed the mask, I covered the entire surface with a clean layer of masking tape, and then applied a thick layer of gesso to give it a smooth surface for painting or drawing. My intention was to detail the entire surface with pen and ink illustrations, but it became too tedious and I needed to move onto other projects.
Day of the Dead Masks
To celebrate the Day of the Dead, we opened up the studio to any faculty, staff and student who wished to create a Day of the Dead sugar skull mask. We had 12 participants in our first year's activity, with each person creating an originally painted mask.
