Sculpture

	GEIGER, KELLY "Neck Brace", 2008 X-Rays, Zippers, Hot Glue Materials: The materials I chose were very pertinent to the object & its purpose. The brace itself is made from x-rays (courtesy of Willapa Harbor Hospital), and the outside is decorated with zippers to symbolize the connecting vertebrae. The collar zips up in the back, tilting the head to the right and elongating the neck creating a very feminine pose. I believe this pose is feminine because women are constantly doing this without even knowing it. The neck tilt can be seen when women pose for pictures, apply their make-up, put on earrings, & talk on the phone.  Assignment: To invent a prosthetic that forces the body into a gendered position. Process: I wanted the piece to be sculpturally pleasing as well as a prosthetic. To do this, I added a metal spine for visual interest and to give the brace more weight.  I suspended the two objects in front of a large projection of me wearing the brace & putting on my make-up. I picked this neck tilt position because of my slight scoliosis. My spine is crooked by a few degrees and as a result, my head tilt slightly to the right side. I've worked very hard to correct this so I thought I'd create a brace that tilts my head to the opposite side.

	GEIGER, KELLY "My Legs", 2008 Lower Mannequin, Packing Peanuts Wire, Garbage Bags, Hot Glue Statement: My thought for this piece was to enhance the feminine qualities of a woman that women generally feel self-conscious about. To do this, I added packing material (packing peanuts) to the mannequin legs to represent a more voluptuous and fuller figure quality. On a personal level, my calves and quadriceps seem to always be well muscled and I never consider them to be "problem areas". I left these areas unpadded on the mannequin and instead, I hot-glued rings to represent muscle fibers and growth. I believe that hips are the most naturally feminine quality of a woman. Hips vary on every woman, they come in all shapes and sizes but a majority of women seem to want to hide their hips. Since my goal for this piece was to accentuate these so called "flaws", I had to make the hips seems as prominent and delicate as possible. I cut up garbage bags and stuffed them with tissue to make flower like structures which fertilely bloom around the hips and lower torso. The piece is presented in its original environment, a window display. I chose the consignment shop window because it ties the piece even deeper into its roots as a model for how women should look. We typically think of a window mannequin as an ideal of how we should be presented. By transforming the unreal shape of the original mannequin into something more real, it identifies with the audience instead of making the audience believe they need to strive for something they'll never be. I had intended this piece to be viewed on a universal level among women. Even though no two women are alike, I am sure that women will connect to this piece by understanding that their "flaws" are not really flaws, but a series of gendered qualities that add to one's character. Click on Images to View Detail