The Problem: Exhibit designer Howard Schureman
wanted to show the birth of the California citrus industry through the
harvesting of citrus trees brought from Mexico and planted around the
Franciscan missions about 1780.
The Challenge: MIT was hired to create two
original human figures, one a California native and the other a Franciscan
padre. In addition, we needed to sculpt the two oxen and build a carreta
filled with baskets of oranges pulled by the oxen. The padre and his worker
needed to show convincing body language and attitude, while the carreta
had to be a historically accurate representation of the classic "ironless
cart."
The Solution: Martha used a two-part resin
applied to wire armatures to create the human figures. Once the resin
cured, she sculpted the final shapes and individual features on each.
She used the same technique for the oxen. Joanne then clothed the human
figures in fabric, based on costume research. Tom researched, designed
and built the carreta as it would have in been in 1780, with solid wooden
wheels. Tom's research indicated that the oxen were yoked to the cart's
drawbar by lashing the yoke to the animals horns. Joanne filled the cart
with wicker baskets containing oranges made to scale out of modeling compound.
Once the figures were posed in appropriate active stances and wired to
the base, Joanne and Martha completed the scene with natural materials
as ground cover and small animal sculptures in the undergrowth.
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The oxen's horns are lashed to the yoke with the drawbar
slung beneath.
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