Concavity Study

Brief: Create a complex grouping of concave and convex surfaces in an 8 inch plaster cube.

I was inspired by the geometry of black holes and caves and canyons affected by water erosion. What I was interested was in the contours created from gradual erosion and time. You can see the path the water took by just tracing the grooves.

The process started by determining the size and position of all of the openings. It was required to have an opening on every side. Circles range from 2 inch radius to 3.5 inch radius.

After the plaster cubes were finished drying, we could start carving out our design. We used clay to connect the openings to each other, so we couldn’t really see where we were carving in relation to the other tunnels.

After roughly carving out my design, it was time to refine it and add another level of detail. I sanded it with dry wall screens first, and then sanded it to a 600 grit finish. Because I was using my hand, I was able to exaggerate smaller details so that they wouldn’t get lost

Since we couldn’t really see where we were carving, I broke through one of the tunnels to another. I decided to accentuate this flaw, and made it the focal point of the piece, while also suggesting tension.