Impact Island/ Influence Island/ I do Island

Ceramic sculpture, polymer clay

Unit 4 Art Making and Exhibiting

The sculpture Impact Island”/ “influence Island” / I do Island (short for idiocrasy) explores themes of isolation and knowledge as one embarks on different adventures in life. Amber has drawn upon the inspiration of “smiskies” a collectable that has become increasingly popular, created by Toru Soyaaswell as Sony Angels, also created by Toru Soya. Amber was inspired by the ability for Soya’s work to create “mini lives” of individuals and want to recreate the feeling of looking at another’s life, also known as the feeling of “sombre”. The sculpture depicts many different aliens with different hobbies, activities and ultimately “lives.” The sculpture has many different elements to it and overflows with symbolism. While different aliens represent different behaviours and gratitude’s formed from her moving of countries during her childhood, the overall sculpture depicts the subject matter of an island- displaying the potential isolation she had felt but also a metaphor that “you are who you surround yourself with” and to ensure you have people on your island. Some of the aliens juxtapose each other, while some are laughing and enjoying quality time with their family, others are literally building walls. This helps to display that despite wanting to learn all good behaviours and gratitude’s from moving countries, it is inevitable that to gain something positive we also have to gain something negative. The isolated aliens can be seen as the one that are not talking or looking at anyone and often have unhappy expressions. They are conveying how despite moving countries has given amber new opportunities and experiences, it has also, at times made her feel isolated and alone. The feelings portrayed by the artwork are that of comfort, sonder, loneliness and alienation. The most successful aspect of the piece is the small details- such as the eyes and expressions achieved using acrylic paint and using a small round ended metal tool, because they allowed each alien to have their own “personality” and make the whole idea succinct.