MJ Russell

The prompt of this piece was duality. I chose to explore the concepts of “nature versus industry,” hence the name. The exterior is made to resemble a worn out factory or industrial complex, complete with a generator, sewage runoff, a pile of rubble, and two mechanical hands “dragging” the building ever forward. On the inside is a small diorama encapsulating the beauty of nature, with a large tree, grassy fields, a pond, and plenty of animals. The project is also meant to be a container of some sort. So, the roof and wall of the big building can be removed, and the grid-like roof of the smaller building can be too.
Below is a set of images in chronological order to show the project’s creation.

Because this project focused on slab construction, I found it easiest to make a series of rectangular boxes. Here, you can see some of the walls marked off with their measurements (I actually had a lot of fun with this)
All of the walls are put in place. Each wall has beveled edges to allow it to interlock with other slabs nicely. There are two main “rooms” inside. The to-scale paper model I created is in the background
I added the main features of the interior: a large tree in the main room, and a pond (also with a tree) in the smaller room
Now the exterior gets its details: the chimney is formed into a cylindrical shape, the sewage pipe is added, as are long vines, and both buildings get textured
The arms are added. Why have arms? Well, human innovation is constantly moving forward. We continue to create bigger and more advanced things. But, this comes with a price: it’s taxing to nature. We often take too much without giving back. That’s what this piece discusses
Now that it’s been bisque fired, the piece is ready for glazing. All of these colors are going to change radically after the final firing
The outside is glazed, too. Glazing this piece took quite a while
Here are the miniatures I made for the diorama scene. It includes: two traffic barrels, four traffic cones, three piles of trash, three lily pads, a duck and two chicks, an opossum, an owl, two geese, and a deer family

Now, here are some detail shots of the final piece. There are so many angles to view this work! I wanted to show off as much of it as possible.

These two pictures my professor took are perfectly modeled to show how the minis can be moved around the “set”
My professor also managed to get the colors to pop!
Here is the interior of the main room with grass, the large tree, some trees in the background on the left wall, and some bushes/reeds
This is the pond with its smaller tree and a bunch of cattails. Notice how the color of the sky went from bright red to blue-brown (the magic of glaze!)
One of my favorite details. On the back of the “lid” to the main room, I added a fence with a deer crossing sign. Despite the nature being so pristine in those two rooms, there is still something that confines it. We humans love to create barriers and boundaries
The smoke-stained chimney
Here’s a closer look at the exterior. Yes, the arms really are that shiny! Amaco’s Palladium glaze is super powerful, and it works wonderfully for the mechanical arms
My beautiful minis. This image was taken at a later date and unfortunately the other two deer didn’t survive
The deer family can stand comfortably in the main room
There’s a spot in the tree for the owl to hide in
The ducks and (one) goose all fit on the pond