Final Project For Ceramics 1

PHANTOMLIMBS

First, a bit of explanation about the title of this assignment…

The term phantom limb describes the sensation that a missing limb is still attached to the body.

An amputee with phantom limb syndrome may experience pain, gesturing, itching or other movements in the missing body part. Your assignment is to create a limb that is NOT attached, at least in any conventional sense, to a body. Your limb is a disoriented limb that exists as a separate, provocative object.

It will be a ghost, a phantom, that has taken on a life of its own.

Student example, ceramic and found insect catcher

Thing from the Addams Familytv show.

Robert Gober, Untitled Leg 1989-90“Exactness like this slides over into the unsettling, a macabre tone amplified by the leg's placement, its owner having presumably collapsed to the floor—and then, too, he has only one leg, which issues from the wall, as if the architecture had eaten him. For some, it may also have a subtle fetishistic eroticism, inasmuch as it focuses on a narrow band of the body where men routinely and unselfconsciously show their nakedness.”- Museum of Modern Art Essay

When a familiar object appears suddenly strange and unearthly we frequently call such an object uncanny.

The term "fetishism” originates from the Portuguese word feitico, which means "obsessive fascination."

Jean Cocteau, Beauty and the Beast, 1946

Dirk Staschke, Premonition, ceramic and mixed media, 2008.Escorche: a model showing the muscles without the skin. Used as a teaching tool to help students master anatomical representation.

Parameters

Your sculpture should be in low-fire RED clay and can be:

One life-size leg from toes to or just above the knee

One life-size arm from fingers to above the elbow

You may use any of the low fire techniques that you have learned (slips, underglazes, oxide washes, pit-fire or raku) on the sculpture.

Particularly ambitious students may attempt two arms or legs (or even an arm/leg combination). However you must build your sculpture within the required four weeks.

Questions Naked or clothed? Alive, sick or dead?

Do you want to clothe the flesh (shoes, gloves, socks, sleeves)?

Clothes are especially appropriate if you want to comment on class, occupation, historical era, fashion or gender.

Do do you want to highlight flesh and gesture? The foot or hand can be sculpted in an active pose, making the fragment seem alive and autonomous.

Perhaps a combination of flesh and clothing? This mixture often creates seductive or eerie sculptures.

Do you want to show the fragment in a flayed or in a damaged state. Perhaps your phantom limb alludes to the science of anatomy, the ravages of disease or the damages of war?

Go with what interests you most !

For this assignment consider options other than displaying the piece on a pedestal or table. The most evocative piece might come off the wall or hang from the ceiling or a tree.

Consider whether adding a found object or mixed media element might create a more compelling sculpture. You may also document (video or film) your phantom limb in a particular setting and present that documentation to the class.

To Begin

In your sketchbook draw or photograph at least three distinct compositions for your body fragments

Pose and object orientation are crucial to this assignment. You will use your own body and any props as a direct reference while sculpting. This week, at home, experiment with different poses. You may record them with a camera. If you import the images into Photoshop you can experiment with different spatial orientations (rotation tool) and even create backdrops.

Homework: three sketches, photo or Photo shopped images and remember to bring any necessary shoes or clothing to the next class.

TimetableWeek One: IntroductionHomework: three sketches or photos in sketchbook and bring in any necessary articles of clothing.

Week Two: Discuss sketches and plans.Demonstration of soft slab building , tricks for representing flesh and clothing. (I will demo. feet, hands and a shoe.) Begin building your fragment in class.Homework: 2-3 hours outside of class sculpting.

Week Three: assess progress. Work day. Discuss: color, texture and display. Homework: 2-3 hours outside of class sculpting.

Week Four: last day for wet work. Fragments should be drying on green ware shelf by next class.

Two weeks off for drying and firing

Week Seven: glazing

Week Eight: discuss installationWeek Nine - Critique

More student examples

These were worn aroundthe student’s neck.