White Alabaster

Untitled

Alabaster
60 x 30 x 50 cm
Mar - Jun. 2009

On my second year of Fine Arts, after finishing the Wooden Egg, I still had time to make another piece, so I decided to try working on stone. As I had never tried it before I was advised to either work in sandstone or alabaster. I usually give a polished finish to my pieces, and sandstone does not really allow it, so I went for alabaster.

The piece's form was inspired by the shape of the bird's wings, but the idea evolved a lot from the first drafts to the final shape. Working with alabaster proved to be easier than expected, altough tougher than wood. As I worked with hand tools, I either expected it to be really hard or too fragile, but I didn't have any problem. I also discovered that working with alabaster involves some luck, as each stone differs a lot from another and may have cracks or streaks, mine turned out to be a really white and pure alabaster which gave me no problems. As I got used with the new material, the challenge was to make the edges as sharp as posible and not to break them, and finally to polish it as much as possible.

This piece was chosen for a sculpture exhibition of different sculpture artists from our faculty, named "Jovenes Artistas" (Young Arists), wich took place from february to april of 2010 and made it to the media.