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April 14, 2005

Drawing Room

So we had our models of our room for drawing due last week, and we presented them to the class on Friday and Monday. I didn't have the digital camera down with me, but my teacher took photos and gave them to me, so you can all see them. (Well, actually, he took the photos for grading and his teaching portfolio, but the side effect of that is that you get nice photos instead of crappy cameraphone ones.)

These are the pieces of my model, awaiting attachment to the framework.

You can really see how the scratches in the pressboard cutting surface transferred to the plaster -- I did do some things to help that along, like clearing the scratches of dust, and carefully coating them with oil to prevent sticking, and doing a splash coat of plaster in the mold before filling it.

The final model I stuck on an OSB base, with the plaster let into the surface to bring it down to being only about 4" above the ground in scale.

Oddly, the model seems to be much more coherent when you are closer to it and can fit yourself inside it, mentally. The panels define the space well in there, but the exterior really needs a unifying element to hang off of.

The best part is of course the floor with the scratches, directly below the ceiling it was cast off of. In the original assignment, our teacher pointed us to the drawing rooms used in building medieval cathedrals, where the arches and shapes were marked out on the plaster floor, and a framework for building them was set up by the carpenters right there, full size, then taken to the place where the stonework would be done. I was trying to capture some of that feeling in this space, of being a worksite, exposed to the elements in some ways, protected in others, a utilitarian room, but one that is with a greater, more spiritual purpose. I like to think that the builders of medieval cathedrals put their love of God into the work, did it not because they were compelled to do it but because it was an expression of their faith. It's that same sort of faith, aimed at a different kind of God, that makes people undertake creative acts like drawing or writing.

Posted by ayse on 04/14/05 at 7:44 PM