'365 Project'

In a moment of madness during the summer of 2010, I had an idea to create a sculpture composed of 365 segments, all of which would be sculpted individually, one a day, throughout the 365 days of the year. I thought the process would be perfect to publish on my blog alongside my other posts so that in a sense the sculpt served as a diary as well. I then began to come to my senses and considered how this could potentially be difficult given that there would be days when I was too busy doing other work, that I was on holiday and that it might just be too much of a commitment all round. So I let the idea percolate in my brain for some time, assuming my return to sanity would see the idea permanently shelved, only to decide that I could always try it out and see how it developed. I decided that I would begin about two months in advance of placing it online so that I had a buffer of time to allow for holidays, etc., and although that would mean the sculpt would take longer than a year to finish, it would still be made up of 365 separate sculpts created on 365 days.

So I began to formulate what I wanted the subject of the sculpt to be and having bounced between simple textures of natural forms, faces, wildlife and even the idea of parts of the human body (inside and out), I eventually decided on nature as a theme. This would hopefully provide a vast enough source of inspiration which could be like a nature diary of walks and observations throughout the year, though restricted to in the UK. Then I started. I created a simple form for the bas-relief segments to be attached. I wanted this in itself to be like a natural form and to provide something for the segments to ascend to as the year progressed. Unconsciously the form began to slightly resemble the ‘Gherkin’ building in London especially when I drew on the 365 ‘windows’ where the segments would be positioned. Here was another warning from my brain, “Don’t do it Jonathan, have you seen the size of the segments?” The concern came from having restricted the height of the sculpt to just over a metre which resulted in tiny segments, about 4cm x 3cm, which would prove a challenge to sculpt, especially as I had also decided to allow myself little more than an hour per day to sculpt each piece, so that it didn’t infringe on other work. The Angel and Devil on my shoulders continued to argue and I’m not sure who of the two won out, but I vowed to continue. The segment sculpts will go on my blog with a little description of each and at intervals throughout the year the sculpt will be shown with its increasing segments. I have at this point no plans for the final sculpt other than to eventually exhibit it somewhere and possibly even sell it, though its success will really be based on how much interest and interaction it receives on the blog and elsewhere.

Having produced approaching two months of sculpts so far I can see that they, like all artworks have varied degrees of success, but because of the ‘nature’ of the project all will be used as they turn out. Because of their size they really aren't suitable for close up photos, but that is the only way I can show them online. It is however, very gratifying to see all the segments coming together. Though yet to be attached to the main sculpture, I can already see that as I had hoped, they work like small pixel-like components of a whole, describing a year of observations through the seasons with sketches inspired by aspects of nature that I felt lent themselves to sculpting. After a New Year's day first post on my blog, the project has gathered momentum, not least with a local newspaper article http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/news/Making-day-comes/article-3121066-detail/article.html. As I tried to balance the daily sculpts, casting for sales, new sculptures and now work on an animated film, I was met with the rather frightening sight of headline boards outside local newsagents proclaiming 'Sculptor begins year with Daily Project!' Now I really had to be committed to the project if I wasn't already!

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