Lake Nessy Analysis

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Dixie Friend Gay’s sculpture titled Lake Nessy represents a full bodied structure of the mythological water creature most famously known as “Nessy”. This sculpture was made in the year 2014 as a welcoming point that connects a shopping center and various entertainments to the surrounding park. The sculpture’s present location is at Mueller’s Lake Park at Simond Avenue in Austin, Texas. This sculpture is made of glass and ceramic mosaic tile at the scale of 16' x 30'. This sculpture is set on concrete with sections of the body underground surrounded by river rock to represent Nessy sitting in a body of moving water. The sculpture is a mixture of multiple textures and colors, but a light shade of blue is what dominates it. Its neck is long and …show more content…

We can’t entirely recognize mass from a single two-dimensional image. We have to walk around the sculpture in person to get the complete idea of its form. And that is exactly what I did. The many shapes that make up Gay’s full round sculpture are defined by shifts in color. The masses of her sculpture are geometric shapes. The blue oval tiles that make up the majority of the body are geometric, for example, and the multiple gold fish and starfish found at the base of the sculpture are organic. Proportion and scale are the principles of design that assemble this sculpture as a whole. The size of this sculpture can make one believe that a mythical creature can be this size in the world Gay created. In this made-up world we expect the size of this sculpture to be to scale. The proportion is the relationship between parts of a whole, for example, the head to the rest of the body as it thins out the closer you get to the end of the tail. It’s location in the park is easy for people to see it from all sides and even climb on top of …show more content…

Handmade tiles were created to give the feeling of barnacles and other sea life, adding textural touches in contrast to the smooth, glossy, glass tiles of this immense sculpture. Without the contrasts of texture, our world would be plain and dull so I look for textural interests in our environment. This sculpture makes you want to run your hands all over it. Each individual tile makes you want to touch it. Like all visual elements, texture can contribute to our understanding and interpretation of a work. Even before touching the surface of the sculpture, you already have an idea what the embossed tiles will feel like. The smoothness of the underbody makes you think that this serpent like creature can travel quickly through water. The embossed sea creatures that are at the base of the sculpture are the only shapes that are different from the rest of the design. They are bunched together with a banner-like tile which displays the name of the artist and the date of the creation. This section of the sculpture sets itself apart by the many different shapes, sizes, and colors of tiles that are raised off the

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