Design Idea - Wasted Skulls

Skulls are powerful symbolism and something I’ve dabbled in before, I like the idea of creating a series of skulls in a variety of mediums. I would like to look at the hidden side of creation, I want to make art from the waste products of production. Everything that is made in a factory comes with a degree of waste, these days it’s recycled and all is well in the grand scheme of thing but theres still waste. My idea is to make a series of skulls out of modroc and plaster all from the same mould and then encrust them with the waste products of manufacture. When I say waste products I mean off cuts and misshapen pieces all the little bits of material that are wasted when making things. The idea came to me when I was thinking about Giles walker's work and how I could interrupt it in my own way, I always wanted to look at the idea of using a skull as an emotive life study similar to the work of Wyeth. I just happened to have two large jars full of glass tile offcuts so I used them as my first waste material, I used a polystyrene head as a mould and built a skull cap cast out of modroc. Once I had a well-shaped skull cap I built in the mask and jaw then painted the whole thing to seal it. From a personal aspect making skulls is something I’ve done a few time before and am determined to improve on. If I continue on with this design idea I’d better research the shapes and construction of skulls and I’d look into an variety of waste products in varying materials like rubber, wood and pottery.

I created a skull out of modroc and encrusted it with glass fragments to create a work which explored the idea of using waste material to create art. My research into Giles walker strongly influenced this piece because like this work this exploration uses scrap material to create art, also I’m trying to explore the relationship between life and art which is well documented in Theo Jansen’s work. I had to do a little research into skulls to make sure I had an accurate form and I got to practise using modroc to create complex shapes. My modroc skull had a few minor collapses and cave ins but by using filling techniques I could overcome this. The uneven and rough surface of modroc along with its strength lend itself to this piece, I considered using other mediums like cardboard as a base but these mediums lacked the rigidity of modroc. Modroc’s texture and rough finish lent itself to adhering the glass fragments and to offering a realistic effect. I think this sculpture was successful, the overall aesthetic is effective and it links well to the ideas I wanted to explore however in future I would want to improve the mould and shape of my skull to make it realistic. My piece lacks details and is far from an accurate scale all things I would want to address If I went further. I have learnt that modroc isn’t the best material for sculpture, it’s expensive, hard to mould smoothly and brittle, although suited to this piece in future I will use other mediums. I have enjoyed using scrap materials to create art, using refuse and recycling it is excellent both aesthetically and ethically so I would want to continue this idea in future work for this project.