Untitled

Abstract sculpture carved from a block of plaster.
This work was inspired by my experience taking Oral Communications in my Fall 2021 semester. I grew up with social anxiety and still really struggle with communicating today, and the thought of having to take a communications course terrified me. However, by the end of the semester, I learned that while I do (and likely will for the rest of my life) struggle with anxiety and any sort of communication in general, it is possible for me to actually do it well and get better at it. That was the first time I have felt confident in and proud of myself in a long time. This sculpture is an abstract depiction of what that confidence felt like to me. While confidence is the main focus of this piece, I also wanted to show that the anxiety is still present. The top "confident figure" is the one standing out and the bottom "anxious figure" is small and covered by the one on top.
The entire process was very hands-on, from mixing the plaster and pouring the block, to hand carving it, to finally cleaning it up and smoothing it out to give off an extra sense of confidence.