Option 2 - Body Cast Narrative Assemblage

        

Left, by unknown student. Center, Begotten Daughter, by Mimi Read. Right, untitled piece by Ella Rappold.

This version of the Narrative Assemblage Project incorporates a shell cast from a body or body part, utilizing plaster bandages to create the shell. This can be made from either yourself or another willing participant. The shell can be used as the container into which the assemblage is created, or integrated into the overall assemblage as a component. As seen above, the shells are painted, but this is not a requirement. The paint, however, does serve two functions: first, as a conveyance of meaning, and second as a strengthening coating. If decorative paint schemes are not desired, the bandages should still be coated with a material suitable for stabilizing it, such as gesso, glue, or Magic Smooth epoxy paste - to name a few options.

 

     

Myth Machine, by Dan Katra

Assembled works can be large and interactive, but keep in mind how much more difficult it is to work large, and what it may take to make it successful when adding moving parts. The work above took a lot of time outside of class to complete. There is a pulley system that raises the mechanical arm and plaster cast hand. Due to the desired level of detail, both hands were not made using plaster bandages. Instead, they were molded with alginate, and plaster was poured into those one-use molds.

 

   

Body casting with plaster bandages has its complexities, but allows for a complex form to be created fairly quickly.

Making a body cast with plaster bandages usually requires assistance, and can be done in class or at home. Coating the skin with petroleum jelly, vegetable oils, or lotion helps release the material with minimal discomfort. The bandages are pre-coated in reactive plaster, dipped in warm water, and applied to the body surface. Overlapped layering is required for strength; typically three layers of high quality bandages are necessary. The best quality bandages we have found are made by Activa, called RIGID WRAP. They are more expensive than typical craft products, but well worth it. This type of bandage is available in wide and long rolls, and has double the amount of plaster coating as other brands.

 

    

Artificial rose petals and acrylic gesso with body cast, by unknown student.

The piece, above, is stunning in its use of color. Its simple material use is striking, yet the work is open to interpretation. This is an example of an assemblage whose narrative may only be about the textures and aesthetic strength, but I have a vague recollection of a much deeper meaning.

 

     

Experimenting with the effects of metallic paints, finally settling on gold.

This work, made by a student of Native American heritage, contains tarot cards and other symbolic objects that depict her own place in the world, among a long line of healers. She is part of the modern world, creating her own myths but also the product of a culture steeped in its own mythology. Ancestry is an excellent resource that allows an artist to reflect on their family and cultural heritage. It is important to understand that a person's interpretation of their culture is not to be critiqued, but that the aesthetic and technical aspects, as well as clarity of communication should be.

 

 

Left, Tread Lightly, by Matthew Burt; middle, Mineshaft, by Brad Corbin; right, untitled piece by Jackson Carter.

Torsos, backs, heads and faces are evocative, but feet, hands, arms and legs can also be utilized if it serves to communicate the desired effect. The piece on the left incorporates broken glass, newspaper clippings and a plaster cast foot. Because it contains clippings, people observing the work can read some of the text and start to form a view as to the sculpture's message. The pieces in the middle and on the right both have interesting narratives, but neither really fit the assemblage project because they are not made with any found objects. Below are a few more that do not contain found objects but have the potential to be even more evocative if they had.

 

   

Left, Behind the Mask, by Lori Herbert. Right, Artemis, by Safira Wuifsburg Gesmundo.

These pieces both deal with physical violence. The one on the left is about the shame of domestic abuse, while the one on the right relates to competition kick boxing, of which the student willingly partook.