"13 YEARS" -Sculpture

"13 Years" by Lance Cardinal

This piece is called "13 Years". It was my final sculpture project for my first year at Emily Carr University 2010. It is made from a reclaimed chair, wood, wire and acrylic.

It takes a very close, and somewhat uncomfortable look at the Canadian residential school experience from the eyes of the aboriginal community. I believe that a lot of these issues have become conveniently "historical", allowing people to ignore the effects that still exisit today. I created this piece to stimulate dialogue, good and bad, and to bring awareness to this important part of our Canadian history.

"13 Years" by Lance Cardinal

This seat cover was custom covered in velvet red. The hat is poster board.

The "stained glass"glass inserts are acryilic strips with painted leading and coloring.

These are custom made from old belts. The treatment on the wood is prairie white washed.

Moccasins are from the Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta (Desmarais, My home town).

Here is the chair in the University of Emily Carr's Aboriginal art show, "Red", 2010

 Below are pictures of the process and models. Please enjoy!

Here is the chair I found at a thrift store

Here I am removing all the old rattan weaved panels.

I added wood inserts to make the chair tall and menacing. It also gave it a throne look.

Here I am creating the arm and leg straps for the chair. I had to custom make some of the hardware.

 I punched my own holes and had to hand stitch some of the edges.

I painted the inside of the straps with velvet red.

Here is the model unpainted. Notice the window unit which did not get created.

Model painted with props. This really helps understand the builld better.

The piece looks better with the right light. Its obvious in the model the window is not needed. This saved me time not making it.

Model with props. I did not add the bones in the final sculpture or the wall unit

Here is a write up on me in my first year at the University of Emily Carr. It was in the Aboriginal Access magazine that the University published to bring new aboriginal students into the school.