“Patty” Mixed Media Sculpture
Jesse Duke
My name is Jesse Duke, a senior sculpture major at the University of West Georgia. I have recently found hot wire tools and foam to be a great asset in sculpture fabrication. The speed in which a piece can be worked out has been helpful in my work making for quick masters for metal and other casting.
My first project utilizing hot wire tools and foam was my largest creation, “Patty”. Based off of the specimen in the famed 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film, this Bigfoot and her famous footage means a lot to me. Features carved from XPS foam and covered in oil clay. The foam/clay pieces were then molded, cast in fiberglass, and welded to the steel armature. Lastly they were painted and the entire piece was wrapped in wild muscadine vines.
Currently she lives in my backyard, and yes, I’ve gotten a lot of funny looks from the neighbors.
Step 1: Carve face.
Step 2: Coat in oil clay and refine sculpt.
Step 3: First coat of brush-on silicone.
Step 4: A few more coats and keys added to lock into support shell.
Step 5: Finished fiberglass cast taken from mold.
Step 6: Hands and feet produced the same way.
Step 7: Building 2-part mold box for foam/clay hand.
Step 8: Weld finished cast parts to frame and wrap with vines.
Step 9: Freak out surrounding community.