Soap Carvings and Then Some

Soap Carving

Assignment:
Carve two forms from life (a small, plastic animal) using soap as your medium. Observe and depict proportions.  Apply concepts of time to one of your carvings so that the form no longer represents your chosen animal.  Use the same animal for both forms.

Materials:
-One good quality bar of soap - two bars are best.
-Carving Tools
-One plastic animal figurine

The carving of these ducks out of soap was definitely a process. It was different for me because I'm used to creating from building my way up. In this case, I had to carve out the negative space around the duck in the soap. I had to force myself to look at it all backwards. In the end, I was pleased with the work I had done to get to that point; however, there was another section to this project that I still had to embark on. It was the part where we took the least proportionate carving and made it into something completely different.

For this part of the project, we had to make 4 subtractive and 4 additive changes to our soap. The List below will describe each step I made while showing images for each step as well.

Step 1: Subtractive

To begin, I cut off the base of my poor little duck. This was subtractive because I took away a large chunk of my soap.

Step 2: Subtractive

The next step I took was beheading the duckling, subtracting its head from its now poor lifeless body.

Step 3: Additive

In this step, I melted down oil pastels and covered the head and the body with them by rolling the 2 in it.

 Step 4: Subtractive

Here I cut off the duck's tail. The "detailing" is subtractive because I took away a piece of the duck that was attached before

 Step 5: Subtractive

In step 5, I cut up pieces of wood and burned the edges of them. This is subtractive because when wood burns, it goes through a chemical change. This change causes the wood to lose some of its mass.

 Step 6: Additive

In this step I glued the burnt wood pieces to my body and decapitated head and tail. It's additive because I put something else on my piece.

 

Step 7: Additive

In step 7, I added a cut up metal chain to the mix.

 Step 8: Additive

Lastly, I reattached the head and the tail in a new way, making it an additive change.

 The last part of this assignment was to add some sort of a base to our recycled soap creation. We were allowed to choose any type of base that would properly add the finishing touch for presentation of the piece. I chose to stack up silver coins and set my sculpture on top of the stack. 

Since my end solution in a way characterized a deserted pirate ship, my class thought it would be nice to convey my final piece on top of coins like a pirate's treasure.

5 Sentences

1.The body is the primary mode of perceiving scale.

From the beginning of our existence, people have measured their environment. What better way to measure than with something that's with you at all times, something everyone can at least relate to? The body has been used over and over as a measurement tool. Where does the unit of feet come from? It's no surprise it's an actual foot!

2.The capacity of objects to serve as traces of authentic experience.

When one looks at the cool things that someone else has, they make inferences; inferences about where they've been, what they've been through, who they've met, etc. These observable objects to us prove that this person has had an experience related to these objects. For example, if one was to look at the image posted above, it would be inferred that these two people have been to Asia. The answer as to why is simple, their dress. Their attire tells a story. Because they have on these traditional Japanese Komonos, this couple appears to have been to Japan; therefore, their clothes serve as traces of their authentic experience.

3.The souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, and the three dimensional into the miniature that which can be developed by the body.

Souvenirs are objects that one takes with them to latch all of their memories onto from a destination or an event. It's easy to see why one can't take the actual event or place with them. For heaven's sake, they are simply just too large! That's why these little mementos were created. The souvenir is a handheld version that's easily transported and accessible. What the sentence above says is exactly what it means. No hidden message here!

4.Nostolgia cannot be sustained without loss.

Nostalgia itself, is a reflection on times passed. At a specific moment in time, one doesn't typically think about it and reminisce. They live the moment! The moments that are gone are what people look back to. The moments that are "lost." They can't be brought back. This feeling of nostalgia is only contrived when the moment is gone, the music has faded, and the fat lady is done singing.

5.To have a souvenir of the exotic is to possess both a specimen and a trophy.

Trophies, or rewards for specific achievements and specimens, or examples of species can be one in the same. Take an exotic animal made into a wall mount. The fact that this is completely disgusting is another matter in itself, but take it for example. This animal shows that someone went all the way to another land and got the chance to shoot this creature. They had the money to bring it all the way back home, get it stuffed, and mount it up on their wall. It's a trophy showing that they made this "awesome" achievement. Not only is this animal a trophy to this person, but it's also a specimen. It is a single example of a species. 

Response to Yoko Ono's "Cut Piece"

"Cut Piece" Yoko Ono

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYJ3dPwa2tI

After watching Yoko Ono's 1964 "Cut Piece" video, I felt like I had been somehow present in the time period of which it was shot. As a woman in the 60's, where equal rights were sought after, domestic violence against women was being tenaciously addressed, and counterculture was just getting started, it must have been a big step for Yoko Ono to display such courageous feminism. Not only that, but the fact that she did it in such a way that forced her audience to partake was in a way kind of crazy! Without the audience's participation, there would have been no piece She didn't know what was going to happen. The unknown aspect of whether or not something would go wrong, how the audience would react, or even how the artist actually felt during the presentation made it so powerful to watch.

The time period definitely shows; from the attire of the audience to how the man at about 7 minutes in takes control of the show, cutting almost all of the front of Yoko Ono's undershirt off. He was a classic 1960's man taking what he wanted from this young woman. Her face looked perturbed by his actions.

Not only does this video portray the time period, but it also contrarily conveys the timelessness of society and its standards. When the audience first came up to cut, the pieces were fairly small as if they were hesitant to mess up the demonstration. After a while, people started cutting larger and larger pieces. Finally ending with the man cutting her undershirt almost completely off. I am convinced that he would not have done so if he were the first person to go up on stage. It was after he saw other people cut her shirt that he felt comfortable enough to go up and make such a daring move. People in general are hesitant, I think. It's when they see others doing the action that they are okay with doing it too. This video instills that message.