Boundless Books: WGHS's Sculptures

9/1/2023

This week at WGHS, the 3-D art students are displaying their elaborate book sculpture pieces in the hallway.
by Ruby Aderhold and Brylee Sanders

This week at WGHS, the 3-D art students are displaying their elaborate book sculpture pieces in the hallway. Samanta Guzman, a junior at WGHS, crafted an elaborate sculpture with a beautiful meaning. "My book was based on the hymnal, and it was obviously about God, so I wanted to bring God into it. And I used one of the songs called "Down to Earth, as a Dove". So I took paper, and I just made, like, doves. I made the book pages look kind of like the Earth." Samanta's process took about a week, including the thought process behind it and the actual process of making it. "I like that my work is being displayed. Usually when I have projects like that, they don’t get displayed, and when it did, I was like, (happy smiling expression)."

Joshua Gao (10) created his sculpture "Atomic". Much like the name, Joshua’s sculpture had a rocky start, "...It took me about one week, but it broke at first, so I had to do almost two weeks. I first had to destroy the book and then try to put a pillar in the middle to support the actual mushroom cloud. That broke one time, so I had to make another one with sturdier wood." Joshua continues, his meaning is conveyed through his sculpture, "Meaning? Death, destruction, explosions, sorrow, and things related to atomic bombs." Joshua hoped his sculpture could show anger through it. He states, "I’m proud; it may not be the best, but I did it."

Whitley Farner (11) crafted a nostalgic sculpture,"Cartoon Childhood '', Whitley is extremely enthusiastic about art and spent about a week on the project; the effort can be seen clearly in the piece. The inspiration behind it is personal, "Being a stupid little kid who loved to doodle on paper all the time, and a lot of the things I put on my sculpture were things I drew as a kid when I didn’t want to do my homework." Whitley’s sculpture conveys that childhood feeling, "I like fun colors; I like big ol’ bold shapes, so I felt like I needed to do some blocky stuff... I wanted people to be reminded of elementary school and nostalgia, I guess." Whitley finishes with final thoughts about the displayed work, "It’s weird, because people have been like, ‘Is that yours?’ And I’m like, yeah, but it feels pretty good, especially when people recognize it… but it’s also nerve-wracking because we’re putting them out there, but I like it."

Overall the 3-D art students worked very hard on their sculptures and were excited to have their pieces displayed.