Bust

I've never done sculpture of this sort before, but here is my first attempt in progress:

I was working from photographs of a model, a young black woman. This looks nothing like her.

This is after two classes, perhaps four hours of work. It goes quickly, but I don't feel like I have a good sense of control over the process yet.

The head is way too big (a consequence of using my own giant head measurements on the model's thin neck and shoulder) as is the nose (I love big noses).  Today's work (done after I took these pictures) gave her rounder cheeks and a softer jawline and eyebrows. If I knew how, I'd try to pull some of the tension out of her face. The model I used was not smiling, but she was relaxed. This sculpture does not seem relaxed to me.

The two best comments I've gotten from other people about it have both mentioned that it looks human. Ha! But actually, I appreciate those comments because when I look at some of the other students' work, some of it appears to be quite cartoon-ish and unnatural, like bad plastic surgery.  From what I can tell with my limited experience, it seems like that's a consequence of their trying for some ideal or remembered form instead of studying the model's photographs and trying to recreate what is there, not the memory of the thing, but the thing itself.

The next stage is to hollow out the form (which means cutting it apart, scraping out the excess clay, and putting it back together), then adding the final details (ears, hair) and finishing touches (smoothing the skin, putting some texture down). Then there's the firing. I don't know how those next steps will go. I'm thinking of turning her into a big vase, like a flower brick. Or leaving her bald and writing poetry on her with an oxide.  We'll see. That's a long way away.

In addition to working a bit on this sculpture, I also threw (for the first time in a long time) a half dozen forms that I intend to turn into lanterns for the garden. Before that, I started glazing. I put out nine or ten pieces to be fired. I'm trying to get some new things coming for the summer show next month.