Concert last night rocked but I'll save that for later.

Today is World AIDS Day. In celebration of this day (and the following month) I've added a gif to the intro page. Also, here's my final assessment of my AIDS piece:

What is your message about AIDS that you are trying to convey? Why did you feel so strongly about this message? How did you research for this topic and what are you basing your facts on?
For my piece I chose to address the emotions and coping methods of mothers with HIV infected newborns through various religious symbols. During my research while I was reading several stories about my topic, I noticed a trend that a majority of the mothers turned to religion one way or another for an answer. Some mothers trusted their belief in the supernatural and hoped for the soul of their babies when they eventually passed on while others expressed their anger by turning their sorrow on their own religious foundations. Thus I have items in my piece that are revered (ex. the holy cards, the white lily) while others have been defiled (ex. the sword of coins, the rice smothered in ash). To gain an understanding for the emotions, I read several articles, anthologies, and online websites where these particular mothers shared their stories. Then, I researched symbols which paralleled the emotions and ordeals that I had read about and tried to choose from several different beliefs. Afterwards I arranged these symbols and items over and over in my sketches until I found the composition which would best fit all these aspects. I feel that my piece does well in addressing this social issue.

What do you want your audience to react to when they look at your piece and how have you created this impact in your sculpture?
First and foremost I want my audience to feel a sense of reverence and respect for those mothers who have gone through these ordeals by giving my piece the form of a sort of shrine. Many shrines have an arch shape incorporated into their general design which I alluded to using not only the shape of my piece (the bookshelf) but also with the use of gold foil to give certain areas a sense of divinity and holiness. I didn’t want to make a bold statement about my subject matter for I think that it is one which should be treated with delicacy and care. After all, the loss of any newborn is something to mourn. So, I created a composition for my items which helps to tie everything together without a strong emphasis on one part compared to the next. I grouped items which have the same connotation next to each other so that the natural contrast of the shelves wouldn’t be so prominent. Also, the use of tree branches in every shelf helps to unify the appearance of this piece.

What will your audience gain by viewing your project?
I hope that my audience will feel further sympathy for the struggle mothers with HIV infected newborns have to traverse. Through the use of religious symbolism I’ve told some of their tales without explicitly stating each woman’s identity or complete story. Rather, I want my audience to see how a full and immense range of emotion can be experienced if one were to be in such a situation. Some will cope with the severely short life of their child while others will become angered and hateful at anything because they feel that their child had been snatched from them unfairly. Perhaps after viewing and understanding my piece, I can make people more inclined to help these mothers instead of the quiet and non-support several of these mothers received from family as well as friends.

How well do you think your message comes across with the physical aspects of your sculpture? How has the message been coordinated with the overall appearance of your sculpture? Describe your over all sculpture as it relates to your message and the symbolism used for each concept.
The message of my piece isn’t one which can be easily understood from merely viewing it. The audience needs to know a bit of the background and meanings of the symbolism I used, which I wanted to happen. If my message were apparent instantaneously it wouldn’t be interesting. Instead of slamming my subject matter into the audience’s face, I inferred the matter by weaving symbolism concerning the mother throughout the piece. For instance, the fruit represents fertility, the womb, and reproduction. However, the rotting pear shows the mother’s inability to produce offspring who can survive into adulthood. Also, the glass jar of rice (a staple of Asian diet and a symbol of life) smothered in ashes (an item of many different cultures used to represent death) further gives the sense of the defilement of life. The holy card of the Virgin Mary with her Child (a saint/image generally prayed to by mothers with newborns for protection) shows how close the mother and child bond is while the card of Stephen (the first saint to be martyred) suggests an early death. The polaroids on top show how some mothers find themselves imagining how their child’s life would have progressed if they didn’t die so young. But the instant-images associated with polaroids further suggests that, unlike real photos which require a long time to develop, these images are only fleeting and not quite real. Weaving all of these aspects together is the presence of tree branches which are omnipresent in every religion, often a symbol of fertility (the thick branches with their brittle leaves on the bottom showing the realization of one’s infertility), protection (the branches shielding the contents of the middle shelf), and a source for new life and growth (the barren twigs which still retain green stems that could grow further.

How did you incorporate the following technical aspects into your sculpture? The criteria says to incorporate a variety of the following techniques into your sculpture.
Aside from assembling items, I used many different sculpting techniques. The most obvious one is the amount of gold leafing I did. I used two different types of gold leaf for the ship wheel on the first shelf and used gold leaf which wouldn’t keep too neat on the holy cards and the Sefirot Tree in the back of the middle shelf. Painting was used primarily on the faux polaroids located on the top shelf and the fake pears located on the bottom shelf which were also constructed using compound and plaster. The coin sword is carved from balsa wood and is rusted using fake metal. Also, I used heat to sculpt and texture the two red candles.

How did your idea stay the same or deviate from your original thumbnail sketch and why?
Depending on how you look at it, my piece has changed significantly from the original sketches I made. At first I wanted to use a baby cradle for my box but I quickly realized how trite that would be so I re-did my sketches incorporating the use of a trunk. This is when I started to truly refine the symbolism I researched about and how I could best go about doing it. However, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the sense of unity I couldn’t achieve till I discovered the book shelf at a garage sale. Generally, the items in my sketches have been kept the same yet some had to be modified to fit the new box. Naturally, new thumbnails had to be drawn first. The holy cards were originally going to be attached to a mobile, however there was no proper way of accomplishing that so instead I suspended them to the shelves. Also, the coin sword was originally suppose to be a large repousee but had to be modified because one couldn’t see the repousee in the very back of the last shelf. In the end, I was satisfied with the final appearance of my piece.

How and why do you think your project reflects intense hard work. What did you work on at home? How well did you organize your time in class?
I know for a fact that I worked extremely hard on this piece. Everyday I made sure that I had something on my project to work on, no matter how small or tedious. Despite my inexperience with a majority of the sculpting materials, I persisted and tried many different techniques before I found the one which would best suit the situation. Carving the coin sword out of balsa wood took many hours and a weekend to accomplish. Needless to say, I took the smaller items which needed work back home to be done. I took worked on carving the coin sword, shaping the two pairs, painting the images onto the polaroids, and gold leafing the holy cards at home when I couldn’t finish them in class. As for managing my time, I believe I’ve done pretty well. While working on my thumbnails I assessed how much time I should spend working on each item so that I won’t be pressed for time. However, I lost several day’s worth of work sculpting the fake tree branch and the Ganesha mask which I didn’t use in the final product.