3D Wooden Sculpture - Progress & Artist Research
Artist Research - Tara Donovan
Tara Donovan was born in 1963 and is a contemporary installation artist that currently lives in Brooklyn NY. She focuses on amorphic shapes made of disposable materials including straws, styrofoam, and toothpicks. She studied at Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington DC for her BFA and at Virginia Commonwealth University for her MFA. She was awarded the annual Calter Prize in 205 and the MacArthur Fellowship in 2008. She has had over 40 exhibitions, including her first solo exibition in 2000 at the ACE Gallery in Los Angeles CA. In 2017 she held two solo exhibits - one at the Pace Gallery in NY and in California.
I am in general drawn to art inspired by natural shapes, and Tara Donovan’s does a beautiful job of developing pleasing shapes with a great deal of unity and repetition throughout. Her work is similar to mine in that I and learning that my aesthetic leans more toward curved lines and softer shapes. Her materials are very different than those that I have considered using in my own work. That exploration of unusual media is what I would like to learn from her as I continue to grow in my 3D art eduction.
Progress Update
Overall - small group critique helped solidify my direction forward - the comments from my peers about the “crystal-like” structure of my piece encouraged me to continue to look for ways to “grow” my structure and emphasize that form. I’ve seen a number of things in other students’ work that I appreciated - in particular, Avery’s suggestion about the placement of slots to make it easier to bridge a series of pieces across the piece was really helpful. The steps up to this point have included exploration of slot size and locate and some variation in the sizes of the piece. The next step for me will be another round of laser cutting in order to develop some much larger pieces to serve as more of a foundation of the piece. I’m also considering the color options that I would like to try on the piece once it is fully finished.
