Contemporary Clay Figure Sculpture "Captive"

I love the face. (And hands, and animals, and the human body--okay, there are many things I'm interested in making.) This piece began early in my clay journey, when an Adult Ed class was looking for students to fill a clay portrait class. I joined in the second class, so I didn't know what we were supposed to be doing. There was a female model in the room and there were some fascinating larger-than-life bits of faces arranged on a black cloth on the floor. I was more interested in the bits of faces than the model, so I copied the mouth. 

As it turns out, this is a common way to teach sculpture, and the mouth, the eye, the nose, and the ear were all examples for students. Once I learned that the woman was the model to be sculpted, I hurried and sculpted her face. I managed to finish it in the remaining classes, but didn't get to her hair. I took home the bust and decided that instead of hair she should have individual spikes coming out of her head. Unfortunately, my setup in the garage was unstable, and she smashed onto the concrete and broke. But a seed was planted, clearly, and the strange work bloomed a few years later.

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Painted clay in wooden block, 8 inches wide, 5 inches deep, and 8 inches tall.