Programme:
"Create a space within a garden for two people to have a conversation. Select one of the following character pairs to use as programme for the inhabitable spaces:
The Arborist and The Mapmaker
The Poet and The Bookbinder
The Philosopher and The Sculptor
Be sure to include the following spaces: a space for conversation, a space for each to enter, a space for each to exit, a space for each to wander and think. Using the constructions that were derived from your characters, construct a narrative for the activities that occur in each of the spaces, and use this narrative to resolve the connections between interior conditions within the intervention of the site."
Materials:
Plaster, music wire, plexi glass, and bass wood
Process:
We are to constuct our models first out of bristol board, as an exercise to study positive and negative spaces. Then, convert the negative space into a mold for the plaster to be poured. While the plaster is curing, incorporate the other materials to further define the programme.
Dilemma:
I feel my concept model is strong, but I'm slightly terrified that converting it to plaster will be ruinous. How thin can plaster be poured, and still maintain it's integrity? Without a magical wand, how crazy can the molds actually get? Is it even possible to adhere any of the othere materials to the plaster?
I feel badly for my poet and bookbinder...
11 Comments
an artist i work with fairly regularly did this in plaster
it is not very thick. worked nicely, though it was not intended to be permanant.
you can try pouring some models on your own...
an artist i work with fairly regularly did this in plaster
it is not very thick. worked nicely, though it was not intended to be permanant.
you can try pouring some models on your own...
wups. apologies
you arent gonna make that model out of plaster. you are trapped because the inherent qualities of the medium ie plaster will not support your conceptual model. i would have thought that your prof would have mentioned this to you...
you can make it out of plaster. just needs time, technique and dedication.
you can take very thin/fine aluminum mesh, and coat it with plaster. think of the plaster as concete and the alu mesh as reinforcement. you could form, shape and bend the alu mesh to your shapes and then coat (dip) them with plaster, being sure to not let it coagulate in large areas. if necessary, dip the alu shapes into quite thin plaster and build up layers over time. this is what they do with procelin glazes.
also, you might look at using 'hydro-cal', which is a much stronger version of plaster. check with a supplier about type of plaster that are strongert than regular plaster of paris.
i once poured plaster, slowly, over an inflated ballon. it was very thin. when it had set, i popped the ballon and was left with an incredibly thin 3-d arch. delicate for sure, but still, many things are posible.
the inherently 'wrong' qualities of all materials have to be challenged at some point. learn not just what's inherent, but what is also exceptional.
yes you can use plaster on some sort of lath equivalent. but to do a plaster pour ala some fundamental core sculpture studio seems impossible. that pour method seems to be the way the process was described...
I would also have picked the poet and the bookbinder. The philosopher and the sculptor is a biased combination, and I can't figure the relationship between the arborist and the mapmaker.
the arborist and the cartographer:
one chops down trees and the other pulps them into paper...
-arborcide
how does this design elaborate the differences and the unify the sympathies of its participants? i do not see any hierarchy, any distinction and method in this design. i see many pointy pieces that signify nothing...
passionately concerned. charming...let me guess, the bookbinder?
time, technique, and determination... i like that.
arborist- dedicated to the cultivation, care, diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of trees. tree surgery? crazy.
what type of conversation he'd have with a mapmaker i'm not quite sure. maybe something about the latest indigo girls album...
anyway, the bookbinder is stable-minded, concrete, grounded. he is an archivist. his concerns are the collection of information, efficiently, and securely organized, for purposes of preservation.
the poet is socially and culturally sensitive and influencial. he is fragile and stubborn. his means of expression are virtually limitless. successful translation of thought into words separates the great from the mediocre/piss poor.
my intentions are to represent the poet and the bookbinders dependency on one another, while emphasizing the role of the poet in the relationship as primary.
the space within, underneath, represents the bookbinders world. he is grounded, structural, but constantly reminded of the space above. the lofted, uneven ground above represents the free-thinking, eccentric poet. he is supported by the bookbinder, but at the same time influences the world in which the bookbinder lives.
the two eventually meet. when the poet is willing to take a few steps down into the world of the bookbinder, the bookbinder elevates himself to express his concerns. the poet is given a glimpse into the world of the bookbinder, as well as a glimpse of his on world above.
the moment is fleeting but crucial.
creating this moment successfully in my model is where i'm at right now. it'll make it or break it. time, technique, determination...
as for the intricasies of the model (the pointy stuff,) i'm not too worried because they will be represented and clarified(hopefully) by plexi, wire, and bass wood.
as for the translation of meaning into a successful plaster model, my fingers are crossed. hopefully it won't be mediocre/piss poor...
empiricism meets metaphysics...
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