Wood and Metal- Sculpture

Project Objective: Create a sculpture using wood and metal using the assigned theme "twins".

I am inspired by the work of Louise Nevelson, who created wood assemblages from found objects or everyday discarded things. She said, “When I’m working with wood, it’s very alive. It has a life of its own. If this wood wasn’t alive, it would be dust. The fact that it’s wood means it has another life.”




When the theme “twins” was assigned, I thought of the idea of symmetry. My brainstorming began with sketches resembling the silhouette of a ballet dancer then evolved into a more abstract shape. My intention was to portray feminine curves and soft movement.



















It was challenging to create softness with rigid materials like wood and metal. I chose flexible aluminum metal for the leaves and a thin wood so each layer would remain visually delicate.
I assembled the piece with threaded rods and nuts to allow more precision in the placement of each layer of wood.

I didn’t want the wood to look like wood or the metal to look like metal. So I chose a metallic bronze paint for the wood. For the metal leaves I used brown, red, and green spray paint topped with a textured surface paint.

I was also inspired by autumn leaves and their movement in the wind. I wanted to portray that movement along with a shape reminiscent of a ballet dancer. The shape and composition of the piece was made with intention of being viewed from all angles. As the viewer moves around the piece, the spiraling leaves appear to move as well.