Making a cast paper sculpture isn't as simple as paper maché. Unfortunately.
Symbolism
-I'm interested in rabbits for many reasons. In NZ especially they represent introduced species gone wrong; they are simultaneously seen as a pest, a food, a pet, a material (rabbit skin glue is often used to size artist paper or prime canvases; rabbit fur and leather in clothing), a test subject, and a common (and often anthropomorphic) character in children's fiction. They also represent sex (playboy) and fertility; have strong connections with the moon - the markings on the moon depict a rabbit shape, hence the Moon Rabbit in Asian folklore, often seen with a mortar and pestle, in Japan it is said to be making 'mochi' rice cakes; in Christianity there is the recurring Three Hares symbolism, 3 rabbits and 3 ears, referencing the Holy Trinity (articles here and here); then there's the Easter bunny, associated with eggs & chocolates, which perhaps even begins to reference commercial/consumer culture childhood obesity…
There's also slightly autobiographical element to this interest. I've always felt an affinity with rabbits. Until I had braces I always had 'rabbit teeth'. For me they also represent being Pakeha... an (unwanted?) introduced species in Aotearoa, now overrun and ravaging the land… I'm a bit tentative about that metaphor, though, as I don't want my art to be directly about race.
In any case rabbits are clearly very rich in meaning. But this doesn't stop them from being a huge problem here in NZ.
Materials
-I kept my notes and course book from my summer school paper, Maori 101, with vague intentions of recycling the paper somehow this year. I particularly wanted to make a work that referenced my [small amount of] maori heritage or perhaps just the experience of learning the language.
-I found a model rabbit in the toy section of Whitcoulls on Queen St during its closing down sale. This context made me think about the link between rabbits and children's literature...
-Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter
-The White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland
-Watership Down
-There is also connection here with watercolours, so frequently used for children's books' illustrations, and famously used for Durer's 'Young Hare' painting.
Last year, I made a lot of recycled paper, including a couple of thick, moulded 3D works - just simple fruit bowls and pots for plants, made entirely of paper pulp. These rabbits were made using a similar process. However, with the bowls/pots the wet pulp was applied to the outside of the mould, and with the exposure to the air they dried within a few days. Anyway, I wondered if I could do something similar with a more complex shape.
On another note, when I tried to paint with watercolours on my handmade paper, I found that it disintegrated. Ellen Portch explained to me that paper needs a sizing agent and a common way to size artist-grade watercolour paper is with rabbit skin glue. The ball started rolling...
Process
Firstly, the rabbit from Whitcoulls was covered in layers of liquid latex.
When dry, this was peeled off. The latex mould was filled with paper pulp, which had been sized with rabbit skin glue, pressed into the sides, and left to dry…
For two weeks.
But it was still damp inside the mould. So of course it fell apart when it was peeled off.
Take 2. I thought of cutting it in half to make two 'shells' that could be filled and left open to the air to speed up the drying process. It would just need some sort of support, a way to keep its form. Greg suggested we make a secondary cast like so, and cut it in half:
Except when we cut into it, it cracked into too many pieces to be of use. So we did a traditional plaster cast of the latex rabbit. The latex was cut in half, filled with pulp, most of the liquid pressed out then, then fitted into the plaster cast and left to dry.
And it worked!
The only complication was piecing the two paper 'shells' back together along the seam line, using more wet pulp, and re-drying. This led to noticeable differences in the resulting size and shape of the paper sculptures.
I wanted to paint some watercolours on them to enter them into the Henrietta and Lola Anne Tunbridge scholarship. The eyes were enough. Luckily as the paper was sized with rabbit skin glue I could paint on it without too much bleed. (There was a bit of bleeding, but this is interesting in itself - it speaks to the idea of animal testing, maybe.)
Some photoshopping to decide how the eyes would be painted:
The title...
'Oma, oma, oma' is a reference to the Maori song kiwi kids all learn in primary school: Oma rapeti, oma rapeti, oma, oma, oma. Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run.
It's a cute song. Also maybe a bit sinister? At least I think so. Run, rabbit run: from the scientists who will use you as a test subject; the farmers and hunters who will shoot you and eat you for dinner; the artists who will use your skin for glue; the designers who will use your skin and pelt for leather bags and fur clothing; even the loving families who will keep you in a cage for the rest of your life.
So for me this title links the subject to the material (recycled paper from Maori 101) and the 'children's literature' connections, and the triptych, the idea of multiplicity.
