Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Process of the Artwork

Inspiration for the Artwork:





The monarch butterfly cocoon




Using air dry clay, I roll 2 inch balls of clay and mold them into individual cocoons. I form the stem by pinching the clay into a point and making an indentation around the top of the cocoon. I let the cocoons dry on newspaper for a day and a half, then paint and hang.






I lay the molded cocoons on newspaper to dry evenly.





I've painted to cocoons to give each a unique look. In all, I created over 200 cocoons that will be incorporated into the finished piece.




One bunch of cocoons.




I then begin to hang the bunches of cocoons together to create a huddled mass.




The cut string, once containing a solid cocoon will be soon holding a paper chrysalis.







The paper cocoons act as a form of Chrysalis that contains the words of participants that I surveyed for my final thesis.