Mothership Calling Me Home

Mothership Calling Me Home
6.5" x 3.5" x 3.5" mixed-media assemblage sculpture 2019
LED requires three LR41 watch cells, included
shown light on; light off
available through Cactus Gallery
portfolio photography by Todd Powers

LED Light Detail:  Mothership Calling Me Home
6.5" x 3.5" x 3.5" mixed-media assemblage sculpture 2019
LED requires three LR41 watch cells, included
shown: light on; light off
available through Cactus Gallery

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WIP and portfolio videos of this work can be found on the playlist,
"Mothership Calling Me Home" on my YouTube Channel: 
www.youtube.com/user/gessochick

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At one of my first exhibits with Cactus Gallery, 2015; I remarked to a new friend that I'd never before felt so comfortable in a gallery space.  Puns on space immediately followed, and I quipped that Cactus Gallery felt, to me, like the mothership calling me home.  I was making a joke, but the sentiment was heartfelt, and when Cactus Gallery announced a show themed on the idea of "Homes" I knew it was time to pull this idea from the pile, and bring it to life.

Sculpting with Worbla occasionally results in burnt fingers, but it is so much lighter and sturdier than clay.  I have plenty of good-sized scraps to work with, left over from larger projects we work at The Raven's Nest; thermoplastic scraps never go to waste.

I positioned the tiny LED instrument in such a way that the switch can be removed, and the batteries can be replaced. 

The tiny jet-pack was left over from an old model kit, and there was only one.  We created a silicone mold, to cast replicas for more space chickens.  After a few trials, it was ultimately a success.  My chicken space-helmet ideas, not so much.  Every attempted helmet design so far has been chucked.  Most of the hours I put into new assemblage works are invested in trial and error; emphasis on error.  Still; working out helmet ideas for future sculptures. But this particular chicken would have to go without --my deadline was fast approaching and I needed to finish the work. 

“The artist never entirely knows:  We guess.
We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap
in the dark.” ~Agnes de Mille

Scrapping the helmet was a letdown for me, but painting is my strong area so that lifted my spirits considerably.  Painting the ChickenShip began with a layer of textured spray paint over the worbla, followed by an under-painting of metallic silver oil-based spray paint, detailed with copper.  A bit of acrylic gesso was added to the areas I wanted to finish in acrylic, so that the acrylic details would not peel up over the oil base.

When I went to add a plastic window to the ship's port hole, I discovered that I'd neglected to level the rim, and the window would not fit, flush. I'd already painted it so I could not just zap it with the heat gun, to re-shape.  Frustration.  Then I came down with a cold and found myself sick in bed; I missed my show deadline as a result, but I also continued to work the problem in my head.  Perhaps influenced by the heavy cold and flu medications, I hatched a potentially crazy idea; a ceramic plate, slow heat, and carefully timed application of pressure might re-shape the thermoplastic without warping the oil-based paint.  It was a risk but I decided to try it.

It worked.  And Todd got to joke that Raven finally learned how to do something right in the kitchen.  Ba-dum-ching.

Originally, the port-hole window was going to be a repurposed plastic spice lid; but when I turned on the light inside, it showed scratches on the lid I had not seen before, so I switched to a reclaimed plastic pocket watch crystal, affixed with 5-minute epoxy resin. 

I worked my signature into a rusty design on the back of one fin:

This work is now available through Cactus Gallery. Shop Cactus, online at cactusgalleryla.com.
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