I spent a lot of time working this sculpture out of my head and into a physical object. The brief “a weight off your mind” only made sense in a literal way, so I conceptualized talking about the weight of things.
My initial plan for this sculpture was to weight each object and hang it in weight order from ascending order. This would then talk about the relationship each object had to its mass in a literal sense.
I decided against this however when considering the noise it would make. I wanted the noise to remind listeners of wind chimes and cool summer breezes so hanging them in the way intended wasnt going to do that.
I ended up finding scraps of already bent metal to use. The act of finding the base of my sculpture as well as all the hanging ornaments was a really satisfying jump start to the process. Had I had to sketch then make a shape it would have been an entirely different sculpture and I would have felt overwhelmed with choice. Having that choice made took a weight off my shoulders and allowed me to have fun with the process.
I did the same for the ornaments, using found objects. It took the weight of thinking about what to use off me and I had a lot of fun collecting and finding interesting ways to tie them to the base metal. It also adds a variety of texture and sound elements to the piece. Each object hung had a different visual weight as well as a physical weight so they hung different and interacted with the other materials differently as well. The metal sheets spun in the air while the screws barely moved. This contrast was really interesting to me, and I loved watching the piece come together.
The final piece of the sculpture was the balancing element. It holds the same ideas of weight but throws in the added movement of the balancing. The lack of a bond between the pieces speaks of fragility and stability which is a contrast to the trussed up connections of the main base structure. Part of the sculpture is a visual tension between the hanging objects and the floor below. The sculpture looks precarious and fragile which it is. Having watched it fall due to poor counterbalancing was difficult but after securing it, the piece feels safer but still holds the visual tension. I have also hung the objects at different heights to make it look like they are in free fall. It pulls the sculpture into reality, adding in a conversation about gravity. The final part added to the sculpture was a little found piece of metal that sits at the base of the main structure. It enhances the sculpture because it suggests use. My initial idea was an instrument and I modelled the use of this metal on a marimba mallet or a bow string. An object that is used to play the sculpture ties everything back into my main concept and research without taking away from any other discussions within the piece.Â
This is a piece that held all the concepts I wanted it to and I had conceptualized from the beginning. I had the idea but didn’t know what form it would take. I am deeply proud of this work and as my first sculpture I am remarkably impressed with it. I attempted to be experimental and take risks and I think they paid off.Â
