Butte sculpture

Description

Butte Sculpture is one of those pieces that came about unexpectedly, while I was busy working on a painting and a completely different sculpture. It wasn’t a project I had planned but a spontaneous creation. An off-cut piece of cardboard was lying around, left over from another project, and I had some leftover paper mache that was going to go to waste. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but instead of discarding it, I decided to layer the paper mache onto the off-cut and let it sit. Over time, the moisture from the paper mache caused the cardboard to bend, and I was left with an interesting, almost organic form.

I didn’t want to stop there. I kept adding more paper mache to the cardboard on the front and back, working in different areas, simply to play with texture. The idea was to see what shape the flat, flexible cardboard might take if I gave it time and attention. I wasn’t focused on a specific outcome—I just wanted to see what the material would do and how the textures might evolve. And as it happened, the cardboard form began to resemble a butte, the distinctive flat-topped rock formations I had been painting in another piece. The more I worked on it, the more the form seemed to embody the spirit of a butte, almost as if the piece had developed a life of its own.

The beauty of this process, for me, lies in the spontaneity. Depending on how smooth you make the paper mache and how you apply and manipulate it, it will dry with interesting textures that can mimic the rough, weathered surface of a rock. With a bit of modelling and shaping, it takes on the appearance of something much more solid, more permanent. In many ways, the spontaneous nature of the work became more important than any planned structure. While planning is essential to an extent, my father would often call it a “happy accident” when something unexpected and unplanned turned out even better than anticipated. That’s the beauty of the creative process.

Butte Sculpture is a unique piece—painted with acrylics and sealed with a waterproof coating. The final result reflects both the unpredictability of my methods, the medium and the organic forms tof nature.

Cardboard And Papier-Mâché
5cm (H) x  16cm (W) x 2cm (D)