Process

November, 2019 – February 2020  Began working on 12-foot giraffe

Paper cast from letters of prisoner. “A dream is where we’ll meet,” portrait of the 12-foot giraffe from letters of prisoners. Dedicated to all those prisoners who experience schizophrenia and are locked up in solitary confinement because we are afraid of their different perspective of the world. I chose the giraffe because of its other-worldliness and because Clarence from his solitary cell wrote these lines to me; “ I once measured myself and I was nine distances upwards in height; Nine widths in full circle; Four points in surface straight across the level top. This I will extend once freed And we will make a temple based upon you.”

Paper cast from letters of prisoners

Paper cast from letters of prisoners

Making the mold over the clay giraffe

making the mold over the clay giraffe

he mold over the clay giraffe

Clay for life-size camel: Below in the clay and then shimming the clay for making the mold; painting the rubber mold on; then creating the plaster mold on to the the rubber mold

Pouring bronze in the studio

Gary and I pouring bronze

Lifting the crucible

Waiting to dive into the sand

Metal chasing

Getting the metal clean before the patina is worked

Will Start making mold – rubber and plaster – on this twice life size donkey that I just finished (April 2019) The small Isodor Bonheur’s anatomical horse at 15″ gives size reference (as well as anatomical reference!)

Painting on the rubber mold

Painting on the rubber mold

Starting a life-size sheep in clay; putting clay onto the welded armature.

Starting a new clay piece (July 2018) life-size zebra head

Wax state of bronze casting

These are two images of the wax state of bronze casting.  These will be dipped into a ceramic base that hardens and then fired to melt the interior wax (lost wax process).  Then the bronze will be poured into the empty ceramic shell that once held the wax.

Diaspora of one, wax state

Head of the 6-foot bird wax state

Grisaille of painting

This is an underpainting (creating a black and white grisaille) before color is developed on top.

Working in clay

Life size lamb to be cast in the letters from prisoners:  This is the finished clay stage of the head.  After casting the head I will work on the entire body of the lamb.

Large Bird:

The first series of images are the process of creating a 6-foot bird in clay that will be cast into bronze.  In this series, I have created the steel rod armature upon which I have worked the clay model of the bird

adding clay to armare

armature for 6-foot bird

developing armature

Took tail off to start making the rubber and plaster molds

clay finished of bird

clay finished of bird

Bird with both rubber and plaster mold

Bird with rubber mold beneath the partial plaster mold