The Burnt Eternal Flame
Exhibition TextThe idea of a dying eternal flame is somewhat ironic, but it has a tremendous meaning of loosing faith and life. This sculpture of the symbol of a flame is there to represent my fiery and vibrant personality. The flame is very significant in many religions and cultures to commemorate eternity of people and life. As I used clay to represent these meaning.
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Brainstorming
I first wanted to look at individual aspects of a symbol and combine multiple symbols to create one subject. The two symbols that I wanted to look into was fire and a turtle.
Fire Symbol
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Purpose Fire Symbol can serve
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Animal Symbolism of a Turtle
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Cosmic Orders of the Turtle
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Based off of these purposes of symbols, I was able to check off ones that I thought I would use later when describing the meaning of my piece. After compiling these ideas, I decided on creating a bowl-shaped turtle shell that will implement a life from within the bowl.
ProcessTo start my sculpted piece, I had to first make a suitable consistence of clay. In order to do that, I had to make my own clay. I took very wet clay and added clay dust to it and put it through a pug mill to get the right consistency that I could work with.
Once this was done I grabbed the amount of clay that I needed and started to wedge it. The first thing I created was the base for the flame to sit upon. this gave the flame (the center of the piece) a more powerful and central aspect. To make the the base I rolled the clay and molded it into a paddy-like form. Then I smoothed out the clay and created a better and flatter surface for the flame to be sitting on. Next was the flame itself. It took me a few trials to how I was to go about forming it. I started out by by simply carving away at a chunk of clay, but that found to be unsuccessful. I then rolled it into a long snake-like piece and from there manipulated it into a flame. |
Inspiration
Fire continues to be a part of many human religions and cultures. For example, it is used in cremation and bonfires; candles are used in various religious ceremonies; eternal flames are used to remind of notable occasions; and the Olympic Flame burns for the duration of the games. The eternal fire is a long-standing tradition in many cultures and religions. Another example, the eternal flame commemorating American President John F. Kennedy after his assassination in 1963 is believed to be the first such memorial to honor a single, known individual. In the wake of the Kennedy memorial, eternal flames have been used throughout the world to honor persons of national or international significance. All in all, the flame is very significant in many religions and cultures to commemorate eternity of people and life.
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Meaning
The Element of Fire has great power for forging will and determination. It is our inner light as well as a living symbol of the Divine fire that burns in every soul. Like other Elementals, this means that Fire has a form in the Earth Plane and in spiritual realms. It is a source of energy that requires careful moderation and control or you will get burned. All of the colors the come from the flame affects the personality of the Fire Element. The energy, excitement and exuberance of the fire comes out at the top, but without the purity of the blue white embers below, those upper flames could not reach their glory. This is part of the reason why Fire is a complex element to understand. It may burn with joy or anger, it may offer life-giving light and heat or destruction. When you take away these colors, it neglects the energy and it is seen as a dying flame. The idea of a dying eternal flame is somewhat ironic, but it has a tremendous meaning of loosing faith and life.