Art in a Jar

 “Once there was a woman who sculpted stories.”

This was the line from The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern that made me stop the audiobook. For the past months, I had been sculpting art dolls. In the beginning, it was mostly to learn how to handle clay. I’d taken a few classes on sculpting art dolls and even ball jointed dolls (BJDs).

One day, I saw a video of a dance choreographed by Agnes Locsin. That led to my watching an interview with Agnes who was explaining what neoethnic dance was, how she used gestures within the dance to convey certain meanings, what influenced her choreography. I was enthralled!

I watched the La Revolucion Filipina several times, taking screen shots when I could. Then I asked permission from Agnes (hooray for Facebook Messenger!). I asked her if it would be okay for me to try and do an art doll sculpt based on the screen shots I took from the video.

This led to a collaboration of a total of three sculpts, all of which I posted on Facebook. Each post was accompanied by a short background.

This was the first one from La Revolucion Filipina inspired by the women who were sewing the Philippine flag.

This second one was from Last Four Songs and we decided to call this sculpt September.

This last one was based on Encantada. It was the first time I built stairs so I was quite pleased with myself if only for the stairs!

Having a story helps when I do any kind of artwork. I think every piece of art has a story no matter how random they might seem. Sculpting is very new for me, though. I’m still learning how to use clay. I’m still in the process of discovering how best to use the clay—air dry or polymer—to tell my version of a story. 

Perhaps the best thing about sculpting is the freedom I have to use all kinds of materials that I happen to have. Paper is one of my favorite mediums and I use it in almost all the art pieces I create. So just like so many artists out there, I too have a paper stash! My grandmother used to tease and call me “basurera” whenever I’d rescue something she’d think of discarding. And by the way, she did the same thing—she’d save odds and ends for those just-in-case situations. “Basurera” is the female version of a “basurero” which really means garbage collector.

In my defense, nowadays I think of it as recycling. And here’s where I segue to what I call my candle jar sculpts. I found that the glass jars that scented candles come in can be cleaned pretty well and used to house smaller sculpts. It keeps the dust out for sure. And it isn’t just candle jars either. There are jam jars and pickle jars that can be used as well.

So far, I have two that are finished and one that’s a work in progress. The general plan is to make several and maybe sell them off before I run out of shelf space. There’s still a bit of idea sorting to be done but I like the practice of giving myself timelines for whatever piece of art I make. We’ll see.