"The Collector"

(Sculpture) Clay, 5/06/24 This was a sculpture I created for my Unit 3, where I chose to look into the theme of "Childhood." This piece was an ode to the childhood curiosity and desire to collect things. I deliberately chose mostly natural objects such as flowers, shells and stones – I wanted to showcase how children lack the fear of new or strange things more than adults, and often happily pick things up off the ground without a care for where they’ve been or if they are dirty. I was inspired by the sorts of things I collected as a child, as I remember distinctly collecting shells when walking along a beach or cleaning off pebbles that I thought were unusual or pretty. I feel as though the urge to collect and store things is intrinsically child-like, and I wanted to show the beauty of it within the sculpture. The line between the figure and the objects in nature is intentionally ambiguous, blending into one another to symbolise the relationship between them. I moulded teeth out of polymer clay to reference the idea of losing your baby teeth - teeth have a very strong connotation of aging and losing your childhood in a natural and biological way. Items such as a small wooden clock held symbolism of aging, and as well as including other collectables such as buttons, can-tops, keys and coins.