Sydni Nolan 

 The Great Leviathan of the Deep 

Ever since being a little girl and living by the sea I have always been inspired and fascinated by the ocean and all its hidden secrets.  My work explores the identity of my character and the vastness of the ocean that has not been mapped, explored, or even seen by humans.  

The main focus of my project is how we only perceive sea creatures in 100% terms of what we think we know, and are close-minded about other versions of these creatures with the view that they do not exist, when it has been proven that over 80% of the ocean is yet to be discovered.  

The project is entitled ‘The Great Leviathan of the Deep’ from the Hebrew translation and relates to the great sea serpent of the deep. I have been inspired by theology and mythology and developed my project creatively through my specialisms of Fine Art and Special Effects, mike hill has also inspired me for his work on the film “the shape of water”. I have created two sculptures one of an Eel in its natural habitat and the other is a sculpture to portray the metamorphosis of the Eel. 

To create my coral sculpture, I used wire, Modroc and plaster and painted it with acrylic paint and used air drying clay to sculpt my eel.  For my maquette I built an armature for the support of my sculpture using a wooden board and wire coted in aluminium foil and built up with cos clay, Miliput clay.  In the final stages I painted the eyes with acrylic paint. As my fine art sculpture is large, I will be displaying it on top of a plinth and my maquette will be on the shelf beside it.