Athena - sand sculpture

More mythical myths I have for you now. This one resolves around Athena or should that be Minerva? It seems that cultural appropriation was a thing even in Ancient Rome. Athena was the Greek Goddess and then she became Minerva when the Romans ruled the roost. They had decided to adopt the myths and icons under the names of their own Gods. This has happened all through time as the victors take some of the old stuff and make it their own.

So I am going to call this sculpture Athena as I think it has a better ring to it even though she was made for this Roman themed sand project in Brighton, England.

Athena was the Goddess of wisdom, handicrafts and war. So, in truth a good all-rounder. I was asked to make a super sized version of her sitting on a throne. I like to work quite big so I was happy with the opportunity.

Working on a person this big was a major challenge as trying the keep the proportions looking OK was difficult. Looking at her now I am sure I could do better. Her chunky arms belie my lack of anatomy skills and her hobbit like feet were a sign of me running out of time near the end. I had 6 days in all to complete her. Still, I think she has a certain charm and poise.

I could Photoshop her now to make it look like I am a better sculptor. A little nip and tuck with the liquefy tool would have her looking like Kim Kardasian in no time but that would be cheating.

With her goddess like pose and I dress I think it worked out quite well. The way the cloth gathers and flows over her body gives it a delicate appearance.

Climbing up and down to see how things worked from a distance was pretty tiring and trying to compensate for perspective was another thing. In my defense they say that the camera adds around 20 lbs and she had a lot of cameras on her. I was filmed by timelapse camera for a TV show and that was a bit intimidating as it would reveal all my mistakes along the way. You can check out a clip of that in my last post. Timelapse

On her arm was a mechanical owl. The owl is one of the symbols for Athena and if you know the nineteen eighties film 'Clash of the Titans' you will get my reference to why it is a robotic one.

I think I've dragged this out long enough. I don't really have much to say about this piece artistically as she doesn't have much back story from my perspective. I do like her and working on this scale really gives me a thrill.

Okay, you made me do it.

Wow, that's amazing. You would never have known there was some digital trickery going on if I didn't tell you. Now here is a woman I would be proud to walk arm in arm with. What a beauty! she has a kind of Marge Simspson thing going on and I love it. I should do this to all my sculptures.

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Ps

Thanks for reading. I use Steem to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, among other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Steem blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.

Birds and fishes (What happens when it rains) - sand sculpture

Jinny Joe - sand sculpture

Perpetual Evolution - ice sculpture

I hope you'll join me again soon
@ammonite