Sculpture; Getting There: Violin Relief Sculpture for Music from Angel Fire

Friday, May 2, 2008

Violin Relief Sculpture for Music from Angel Fire

Music from Angel Fire is a summer music festival in Angel Fire, NM. They are celebrating their 25th Anniversary. As a fund raiser, they asked 25 artists to paint or decorate a violin for an auction. The following is the process of creating my violin. I will take you through the steps in various stages in the upcoming posts to my blog.

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Violin Relief Sculpture for Music from Angel Fire

Step 1, I wrapped the violin with plastic wrap to keep it clean. I traced the shape of the violin onto a piece of tracing paper and drew a two inch grid over it. After finding a picture of Beethoven on the internet ( a painting by Josef Karl Stieler) I enlarged it with the computer and placed a one inch grid over the picture. I made a sketch of the basic facial parts from the original photo of the painting and enlarged it as I drew it onto the sketch paper comparing the two grids. Next I put clay onto the violin and started modeling as you can see in the photo. I used the two inch gird to measure for location and size of the face, and placement of the eyes nose and mouth. The grid and a ruler allowed me to check my work as I went along for accuracy.

At the Foundry

Back in my studio

These are the materials and tools that I used to adhere the sculpture to the violin. First, I used the acetone ( finger nail polish remover) to clean up the violin where the plastic wrap left some residue. On the plate is steel wool and sand paper, used for polishing the sculpture and cleaning up residue around the edges of the sculpture. The hair dryer was used to blow small particles from the recesses of the sculpture. I used JB Weld around the edges of the sculpture to adhere it to the violin, cleaned up the edges with sandpaper and acetone, then applied masking tape to protect the surface. The next step involved backfilling the sculpture with bondo. Yes, it is the same product used in body work on cars. I used the tools on the right to help me control it and wore gloves and a mask for the fumes. I also used a fan and opened the windows. The gray box is my dremmel tool set which I used to shape and trim the bondo after it cured.

In My Studio

Here I am beginning the collage phase of the violin. I downloaded a violin quartet by Beethoven from the internet. Using my copy machine, I made copies of the music and words in about four different sizes. Next I started arranging letters and notes of different sizes together in a sequence. First the title of the composition, then Beethoven's name, and finally different sequences of the music. By varying the sizes from large to small and changing the direction, I added the element of movement to simulate the flow and movement of the music as it flows around the violin, carrying the viewer's eye in a movement that would have the same feel as the music itself.