Map Relief

Map Relief

Process

          I began with two pieces of scrap foam that I found in a bin, and I glued them together using wood glue and wooden rods for support. Once I had a secure form, I used a small saw to create an organic shape, and sanded the corners to make it less angular. 

          Once I had my shape, I covered the whole thing in several layers of gesso to make it white and paintable. 

          Then I began working on the different sections. For the top, I rolled tracing paper very tightly and dipped it in a mixture of scarlet, orange, and brown ink to create a blood-like color. I would end up using this color for the veins painted on later. Once I had my tendrils, and they were dry, I began gluing them on. Note: The gel medium causes the ink to bleed. If anyone is planning on emulating any of this in the future, don't use the gel medium as an adhesive if you don't want ink to escape onto your surface. So instead of that, I used book glue I found in the cabinet. It ended up working perfectly, because it dries sort of rubbery and clear, which I quite liked.

          Before I could glue on section, however, I needed to make sure everything would work in the end, so I cut my window out of Stonehenge paper to use as a guide when proceeding. 

          The second section, not seen here, but seen below, was created by making small incisions with the X-Acto blade in number directions to create a muscle-like texture. I considered making it red, but thought better of it, and went with black/gray. I think I made the right choice.

          The next box, the veins, were painted on, easy-peasy. They were actually the last thing I added because I knew I would have the most options should something go wrong. 

          Second to last, I used high gauge wire and stuck it into the foam, then I gessoed them in place, and individual painted them with black ink. The trickiest part was making sure the entire wire was coated black, without getting any of the ink on the foam.

          And finally, the last second, which was the first one I actually made, was tracing paper which I hole-punched to death, then coated in black in, before cutting to size and gluing in place. 

Title: Pretense
Materials: Foam, Stonehendge paper, tracing paper, matte gel medium, glue, ink, gesso, balsa wood
Dimensions: 17" x 10" x 4"

Result

From front

From side

Behind paper

Statement

          The map relief project's goal was the create something that was not a map, and yet was a map. More or less, a nontraditional map, open for a lot of interpretation. I wanted to map a person's insecurities. I wanted to map a person who looks like they have everything together, but are really just as messed up and unsure of themselves as everyone else. I wanted it to looked graphic and organic at the same time. I wanted the front to look sleek and put together, and everything behind it to look messy and disorderly; the paper's peeling, the wood is crooked, etc. Hopefully I was able to achieve that effect. 

Artist Inspiration

Louise Nevelson

Carrie Dickens

Karen Margolis