MJ Russell

This sculpture is by far the largest piece I’ve created. It’s roughly 5 feet tall and made of two connecting planks of wood. In the center is a glass disc I also made and suspended on hooks. The sculpture is an abstract representation of two figures embracing, as hinted by the title. Many birds often rub beaks together to show affection. I was inspired by this idea. The figures are bird-like with pointed “faces” and “tails.” -Below is a simplified timeline of around 2 and a half weeks of work between all of my finals and graduation things.

I sketched the figures onto the boards with chalk, then used a handheld jigsaw to cut out the pieces. Here you can see an uncut board and the cut board behind it
See how the two boards connect together with the proposed negative space in between them
Now the edges of the figures are added on to create the full forms
The carving begins. I used a variety of tools before landing on the ones I liked most. Here, I’m using small carving knives and chisels. My goal was to create a sense of depth so that the two figures looked distinct
The main bodies have their edges smoothed and are roughly lined up. Notice how the “belly” of the left figure seems to overlap with the right figure, and the right figure’s tail overlaps the left
Using some dowel rods, glue, and lots of clamps, the four edge pieces were attached to complete the figures. The notches on the bottom are for the blocks that allow it to stand by itself
The right figure is fully stained and carved. The darker stain implies a face/eye. The left figure has its pattern but no stain yet
A close-up of the right figure. After applying the reddish stain, I went through with a small chisel and textured it with small lines. On the far right, you can see the seam between the pieces filled in with wood filler
The most difficult connection yet. The two figures have three points of contact (the “faces”, the “bellies”, and the “tails”), all of which had to line up perfectly to make the dowels connect. The other figure is stained, too
The final sculpture. Every piece is attached, stained, and textured. The blocks at the bottom allow it to stand freely. I suspended the glass disc in the center by attaching hooks to the sculpture, then using string