Two words: vacuform machine!
Now those of you who understand what these two words mean, you can imagine my excitement when we were offered this as an option for our second project. Those of you who don’t know what a vacuform machine is, let me catch you up.
Essentially, a vacuform machine is a marvelous contraption that allows you to replicate objects in plastic with extreme detail using the powers of heat and suction! If you’d like to better understand the intricacies of the vacuform machine, I have provided a schematic.
Vacuform Machine Diagram from build-stuff.com
The aim of the project was to choose a nonmaterial portrait and materialize it using colour, shape and relief. Nonmaterial meaning no physical copy exists to us, a portrait we have only seen through a computer screen. This is significant: the images we see on our computers and televisions are composed of backlit pixels and so their appearance does not translate to the physical realm of print. In reality, the majority of images to which we are exposed are backlit. It got me thinking about the visual formats to which the average person would have been exposed in the past, the distant past. I came to realize that these images were also backlit, the religious icons of stained glass windows. I decided I wanted to transform a contemporary image using stained glass windows and religious icon paintings for inspiration.
Ognissanti Madonna c. 1310 by Giotto di Bondone
and Pharoah crosses the Red Sea c. 1140 from St. Denis, France
As for subject matter, I knew exactly whose portrait I wanted to transform, after all who better to make over in the style of religious icons than a modern icon.
Beyoncé: Mrs Carter Tour
It was quite the process deciding how I actually wanted to tackle the image (some of my sketches are shown below). I had to decide on materials for making the stained glass pieces, how best to position them to still allow for the vacuum to function properly. I opted for shards of wood stolen from the scrap pile which gave a nice rippled texture to the plastic when vacuformed. I made custom pieces for the face and hands using MDF board. I was also limited in the size of the piece by the maximum size of the vacuform machine (4×2 feet).
Sketchbook: Working through my ideas for a stained glass inspired vacuform piece
I wanted to keep the palette of blues and gold. I mixed my acrylic paints with Rhoplex to give it a semi-translucent quality. All colour I applied from the back of the piece to keep with shiny surface of the plastic. I painted the fine details of the face and hands in gold and the reflectiveness makes the image changeable depending on the viewing angle. I also applied gold leaf to her crown and scepter, backing it with bole-coloured paint, another tip-of-the-hat to the past. Initially I left the background clear. I had wanted to paint it out black to mimic leaded glass but I decided that would be to heavy. After consulting with my class and holding up the piece in front of almost every shirt I own, testing out different colours, I decided to follow my teacher’s (Julie Sando) suggestion of painting it out gold. One can of spray paint later I am very pleased with the choice and feel it truly was the best option.
Yoncé: Modern Icon
Yoncé: Modern Icon
Overall I am very pleased with how the piece turned out. It has all the drama I wanted it to have. It captures the extravagant costumery of Beyoncé, to a drag queen level of over-the-top. I chose her stance to show strength, she challenges the viewer with the upward tilt of chin. Cutting through the controversy, I believe Beyoncé is a feminist, even if it’s simply for being brave enough to claim the title as her own.