Broken Gymnast

For my final project I decided to try a new material called plaster bandages. I did a full body cast of myself. When I was younger, I was a competitive gymnast which inspired the pose for my project. This project was very special to me because I can no longer do gymnastics anymore, do to a medical condition. It was a medical mystery to my doctors. I've been through multiple surgeries to try to fix my feet/ankles, none of which have been sucessful. I was very excited to do this project because it let me "relive" my gymnastic days, if only for a short time!
As I've stated before, I used a new material called plaster bandages. These bandages were originally used for medical reasons, but many artists find it to be the perfect material for molding.  It can be used in sculptures, collages and reliefs, even in conjunction with other materials. Naturally it can be used for making masks in large numbers and this is very popular in schools. I started off by cutting strips of plaster bandages. Then I dipped the cut strips into water and molded it onto a part of my body. After a few minutes I peeled the molded strips off. Lastly, I molded all the pieces together with more strips of the plaster bandages, making a life sized sculpture of myself doing a gymnastics leap.