studio practice

 Bone carving 

To add more depth to my project I have decided to create some bone carvings to further explore the idea of structural value. I have chosen to work with the medium of animal bone  to play with the idea of worth as bone is something substantial and typically of traditional value. I have chosen to carve into the bones with  ornate floral details and text to add more context, and items of importance were often decorated in such a way so this is another way of adding the idea of value back into my work. I have worked back into the carvings I’ve created with gold Indian ink to create another link to the symbolism of gold. I carved these bones down in the wood workshop using an electric drill file, this worked really well in creating nice clean detailed drawings on the hard bone. I have carved the rhetorical questions  “What do you value?” and “What is worthy?” to make the onlooker ponder the ideas of worth. I am very happy with how these bones turned out, I believe they give a successful sense of the macabre but also the value in it.