Ship Shape
Laura
I’ve had an idea brewing for months (years, maybe?) of creating a sculpture with the torso of a woman, the back end of a boat, and arms of carved wood oars. Kinda as if the figure head on a ship was to become the most prominent feature of said ship. I’d really like this to be a tiny, functional, water-going vessel. (I’m already planning the miniature marina I’ll need to build on the banks of our creek.) Oh, and it is to be made primarily of fabric. This is one of those ideas I never seem to get to. I’ve got the vision and story for her, but technically it is daunting. Inspiration has been coming more and more frequently lately, so I just may dive in and bring this vision to life soon. After seeing the charming fabric boat created by Lauri Faggioni featured in the movie “The Science of Sleep”, I realized fabric boats were not only possible, the idea has great potential. I tried to make one for myself, it came together nicely and serves as a helpful “sketch” of how the boat portion might be created:
A couple children’s books that I read regularly have cool boats in them: 
The houseboat in "Daisy Comes Home" by Jan Brett
The "Tulip"
I’ve also messed around with how the woman’s torso might look: 
She hangs out on my shelf of fabric...When I made her, I used the methods I learned in the figurative sculpture class I took with Akira Blount. Most recently, my family visited the Cincinnati Museum of Art and really enjoyed taking in the Egyptian art and artifacts. What caught my eye most was a wooden model of a boat filled with little figures holding carved wooded oars. 
I think it was seeing those ancient little oars, so similar to what I’d envisioned for my project, that is what’s going to make me get busy. I guess can’t put this project off much longer.
Reader Comments (2)
Laura, Hey! This does sound like a neat project :) And, Congrats on the grant! I didn't even know until the other day that you had received it...so happy for you and can't wait to see your finished studio! How fun!
beautiful!