Wearable Sculpture

Figure 1 shows a sculptural casting, cast in gilding-metal, attached to a beaded chain. The sculpture is comprised of a succulent and vertebra found on the beach.

Figure 1-Bowes, K.,(2021). Wearable sculpture.

 

Figure 2-Bowes, K.,(2021). Close up of the sculpture.

In 2020 I cast a vertebra I found on a beach and made a mould of. I paired the vertebra with a casting of a succulent cast from a live plant; similarly to how Nic Bladen casts using living plants. The castings were done separately but a serendipity photo of the two castings together ignited the idea of making the castings into a sculpture. 

I used my Artflow app to design how I could use beads to make the sculpture wearable. Youtube became a useful tool to learn new types of beading but I settled on using a double helix beading design similar to DNA emphasising something that is living and growing.

Above is the finished piece of the sculpture attached to the beads before the contrast can form between the vertebra which is sealed with a clear lacquer and the succulent which isn't sealed.

Sculpture contrast

 I have always loved the colour of the dark tarnished succulent but I wanted some separation between the vertebra and the succulent. I dipped the sculpture into acid to remove the tarnishing and brass brushed the whole piece so it has a slight shine. I wrapped the succulent in cling wrap and sealed the vertebra with a clear lacquer so it has a gloss similar to glass beads. Thus the vertebra will keep its slight shine whereas the succulent will tarnish making it dark like the dark green beads, creating contrast over time.

Bowes, K.,(2021).Succulent on beading.

Wearable sculpture

 My plan to develop my sculpture into a wearable piece started with a drawing and a plan to use beads. I knew beads would be a great way to bring some colour back into my work. I managed to find green beads similar to the colour of the living succulent and the white if the string is similar to the white details of the plant. 

I researched different beaded chain techniques and the "Two Bead Spiral Herringbone Rope" stood out to me as it resembles DNA. "DNA [...] is a long molecule that contains our unique genetic code,"(DNA, the code for life, n.d.). "Like all living organisms, plants use deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as their genetic material,"(Grotewold, Chappell and Kellogg, 2015). The beads I used were bought last year and match the colour of the original succulent.

Bowes, K.,(2021). Drawing

Bowes, K.,(2021). Sculpture and beading.

FutureLearn. n.d. DNA, the code for life. [online] Available at: <https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/the-genomics-era/0/steps/4867> [Accessed 22 October 2021].

Grotewold, E., Chappell, J. and Kellogg, E., 2015. Plant Genetic Material.[online] Available at: <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118539385.ch1> [Accessed 22 October 2021].

Death and life

 "Eventually, all living things die. And except in very rare cases, all of those dead things will rot. But that’s not the end of it. What rots will wind up becoming part of something else,"(Kowalski, 2014). Thus creating life cycles, "life would end without rot," in other words decay promotes growth which is implied by my sculpture as it looks as though the plant is growing out of the vertebrae. The sculpture occurred through the serendipity of taking a photo of my castings last year that I hoped would evolve into a wearable piece.

Bowes, K.,(2020). Instagram photo of sculpture.

Kowalski, K., 2014. Recycling the dead. [online] Science News for Students. Available at: <https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/recycling-dead> [Accessed 21 October 2021].

Beaded 'chain'

  This is another casting I did last year that I have decided to use but for this neckpiece, I have been thinking about beading the 'chain' this is because the castings have such a great colour when they tarnish and I feel beads can complement and possibly enhance the colour.

Bowes, K.,(2021) Digital drawing of casting and beading