I was looking for artists to research and I discovered the ” Ecstasy ” by Karen Cusolito. Ecstasy is one of the 8 metal figures from Crude Awakening. A staggering 30-ft tall and 9 tons heavy, the piece is concisely constructed with tightly-wound steel to create a female silhouette with hanging chains to represent flowing hair. 

I was so impressed by it’s enormous size and it’s beautiful features like the hair made of chains. This was quite inspiring to me because it was big and bold and gave me such a surprised feeling. That’s how I want my audience to feel towards my FMP.

I have attempted painting sketches inspired by the ” Ecstasy ” in my sketchbook and tried to do my own versions. I am currently suffering from an art block so these were particularly hard to paint with limited motivation.

I painted my own designs of the Ecstasy but focused on facial expressions to see what it would look like. Since the statue was quite dramatic I chose to give the sketches dramatic expressions so I focused on anger and distress. I figured these would suite it the best.

I liked the dramatic affect on images of how the statue was holding a ball of fire and the colours reflected well of it, so I painted sketches using water colours and acrylic and painted my version of the statue but have the fire in her and have the light come out through her eyes and mouth.

I feel that this pose really suits the statue because its so expressive and dramatic.

I believe there was too much water on the page so that’s why it is difficult to see the face. I tried my best to reflect the colour’s well like in the image of the statue holding a fire ball.

From sketching expressions based on the Ecstasy statue I began sketching other expressions based on the same emotion, anger and sadness. This made me become more convinced on what my theme should be. My theme is expressionism because I am very interested in feelings and emotions and understanding the mind and human behavior. I feel that this theme is a real representation of me and I want to show that through my FMP.

For my primary research I got my twin sister Bethany to pose in a distressed position so I can copy the images. I directed her put her hands on her head and act like her was trying to tear her head open out of frustration. This pose really expresses the emotion I was going for really well. I mostly admired the showing of the teeth and the eyebrows because it made the facial expression more complected to identify. The eyebrows show anger and rage but also they are slightly tilted up so the expression seems sadder like the person is falling apart, it’s a fearful expression.

I began experimenting with clay and sculpturing faces with negative expressions to practice for my FMP.

This is my attempt of sculpturing a face with an angry expression. The brown clay around it’s eyes and mouth was by accident but makes a great effect, especially the eyes.

This expression represents fear and frustration. It was my first time sculpturing teeth.

Creating the teeth was difficult because the mouth kept blending in with the teeth so I drew lines to separate them.

This idea was from a completely random thought one day. This was an idea to create a life sized model of a woman made of fabric shooting an arrow through a sheet of fabric. The reason why I thought of textile for my media was because a class mate suggested it to me in a group chat through quarantine. She remembered a doll I made of a suffragette when we were both in Level 2 and admired my hand stitched skills.

I found this idea inspiring at the time because I wanted my FMP to be unique and powerful and a reflection of me. I wanted my audience to experience a moment, to capture a moment and this idea was a perfect example because it’s a pause on an epic moment and by capturing that I can make the moment last. I thought of this idea before I came up with a theme so at the time I thought the theme should be ( freedom ). I though of freedom because the model is holding a weapon, taking control, completely independent and symbolizing her freedom by doing a power move. The theme may not be obvious but I didn’t want to do something cliche. I wanted to symbolize freedom in my own terms. Thinking of a theme gave me a chance to think about what I saw, almost like I was part of the audience and seeing it for the first time and trying to identify the meaning behind it.

I drew this image with my tablet on an app called ( sketch). The idea was to have half a life sized model made of different colored fabrics and hand stitch patterns on to it.

I came up with this idea because in the past I’ve always wanted my FMP to be graceful and pretty. I wanted the audince to purly admire the beuty and detail.

I began to explore different aspects of the idea and it became more emotional. This idea represents exploring your thought. The butterfly’s symbolize thoughts and the lady is gracefully exploring, observing and wondering over these butterfly’s. Exploring your thoughts is really trying to find some truth or closure to why we think certain things, to discover and understand yourself. I wanted to symbolize that process through a pose to try to humanize it.

I wanted to explore the opposite of my last idea and have this idea represent intrusive thoughts. The butterfly’s represent intrusive thoughts and the model is desperately trying to swot them away. I feel this can be very relatable to people with mental health issues and that this could be a representation of mental health awareness and tell the audience that we are not alone and that people that currently deal with intrusive thoughts are very strong. The idea was becoming emotional and I preferred it because I am very interested in emotions, expressions and feelings and I want my FMP to be memorable, to make people feel how I feel about it and connect and relate to my audience.

I had a feeling that I wasn’t actually going to go through with this idea because it was too serious and deep. Even though I would have liked to have been represented for something quite sophisticated but I didn’t feel that it was a representation of me. I want to leave my audience with a good feeling

This is a picture of the manikin tearing through fabric.

This idea represents anger and frustration. It was very expressive and I really liked it because expressing those feelings can be so freeing and empowering but it can also be seen as violent and idiotic so in today society it’s a feeling that can’t be expressed. I was thinking that it could be a representation of Toxic masculinity and how men aren’t aloud to express these feeling as much as women because it would have be seen as weakness.

I mostly saw it as a representation that can relate to everyone. How we all sometimes want to scream at the world and act irrationally and take a stand, it’s very empowering.

On a more positive side it reminded me of my brother working out and I could hear him screaming outside with each squat. I remember a few times I would here a mighty roar from him and by hearing it I would automatically know what it meant. It meant that he had accomplished a fitness goal and was trying with all his might to beat his own personal record and finish his last squat. That squat represented all his work being payed off. That scream was a scream of relief, the final push and knowing you have reached your goal and you will never have to experience that again and that you can only improve from know on.

I found that moment quite inspiring because it made me realize that art doesn’t usually represent these great moments or even moments we hope to experience. So I thought that this pose could also represent that feeling of accomplishing of completing a goal and to remind the audience that sometimes the future can be what you want it to be.

This idea is based on a different media because I wanted to explore different medias. This is a picture of a wood sculpture tearing through a plank of wood out of anger and frustration, it represents breaking free.

I thought of involving wood sculpturing because during quarantine I have based my two FMPs on wood sculpturing for my Folklore project. At the time wood was the only media I could use because I didn’t have any other materials but I became good at wood carving and created a string puppet dragon based on a viking dragon called ( Nidhogg ) dragon of death.

I was thinking that I could actually carving a sculpture out of a plank of wood but I remembered that I used the same type of wood last year for my FMP when I was in Level 3 year 1. It was based on the romantic Greek mythology, Calyx and Alcyone. It was made over the first pandemic in 2020. Leylandii wood was not made for carving and was very difficult to use. After that I discovered Bass wood was made for carving but only comes in small rectangles so I can’t make a big sculpture with it. Because of those reasons I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to go through with this idea also.

When researching artists for my sketchbook I discovered images of sculptures made of white fabric and completely hand stitched. They were made by Karine Jollet.

The stitching looks so precise, almost like every stitch was planned.

Karine Jollet was born in 1971. She studied in Paris applied arts with special attention to sculpture, metals and design. Her main area of research has always been the relationship of content and container or, in other terms; the relationship of the outer skin of things and their interior. Looking for soft and flexible materials, in order to discover a less aggressive contact with the form, eventually took her to textile sculpture. Over time, the human body became her main object of sculptural research. Since 2003 Karine Jollet has presented her work in private and collective exhibitions in France and abroad and mainly in Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and Japan.

I love the detail of the hand stitched foot. I find the form and the tow nails most impressive. I find it so creative for each strand of stitch work to represent the veins on a foot.

I love how realistic the hands look. I find it clever how she stitched the markings you would find on a real hand. The stitching’s going down the forearm remind me of veins, I don’t know if that were her intentions.

I have decided to create a sculpture posing as if its ripping it’s head open out of frustration and anger.

I began by building a skeleton for the sculpture so it can balance. The skeleton is made of wood, wire and glue. I then covered it in news paper to create the shape.

I then started to create the face muscles on the head and shoulders. The facial expression was difficult because I was unsure of the out come of what it might look like if I add more layers.

Hand were exhausting because they are very specific. I made individual joint for each finger so it can be flexible.

After putting on the hands I could really see the sculpture coming together. I kept the arms loose because I needed them to flexible too so it can assume the position.

I put PVA glue on bits of paper and stuck it on to the sculpture and kept layering to make the body smoother and thicker. Compared to how it started out I never expected this outcome.

I had to make a quick decision because time was catching on and I realized that I wasn’t going to complete my FMP unless I made a new plan. The decision was to not include the fabric at all and have it remain as a paper sculpture. This decision made thing easier because I didn’t have to rush.

The final part was to create the rip in its head. I wanted the rip to be more clearer and more interactive with the fingers but it was the best I could do.