03.12.20 - Project Idea & Sculpting with Clay

This morning when discussing my project and the idea of post-nuclear hybrids and mutated creatures, I thought about harbouring the theme of time through ancient creatures in a futuristic world. An example of a creature that has survived the ages is the giant isopod, which are an unnerving example of deep-sea gigantism. According to fossil records, species of giant isopod have existed for over 160 million years. I think it is really interesting that they have outlived so many other creatures on earth without changing for millions of years, and I believe they will live to see the extinction of humanity. 

When I think about the prospect of apocalypse, I wonder how the animal kingdom will be affected - whether the earth will be reclaimed by nature or if it will be too damaged to support life. Crustaceans are known to be able to survive the harshest conditions, and I can imagine them reigning the planet in the future, crawling through submerged cities that fell victim to rising sea levels. Another sea creature that I would like to look at is the horse-shoe crab which is also a very ancient species.

I looked through images of giant isopods and began sculpting a small model out of clay, trying to accentuate the overlapping sections of the body. I made an oval shape and added the grooves using a fairly blunt tool, then used a blade at a flat angle to cut underneath and define the segments, and finally curved the figure so that they lift up slightly. I have rested it on a curved surface to help it hold this shape until I can continue working on it. 

 

Something I would like to do is make multimedia figures of crustaceans and ancient (but still existing) animals with man made parts exposed and coming out of the bodies such as wires, machine parts and other discarded things that will be left behind after the end of the human race. If I then cast these and made concrete or plaster versions, they would look like fossils that encapsulate natural and man made forms and I could work into them with other materials. For the exhibition I also had the idea of making a ceramic backdrop of city ruins that have a ghostly fossilised appearance, with hybrid creatures crawling over it. They could be made from fabric which I can bleach, burn, tear and stain, with mechanical components and strange deformities.




















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