2/3/2026

My first class of the year, called Face and Mask, began on January 12, 2026, at the University of Illinois Chicago. It’s a Topics course in Sculpture that probably needs no further explanation, given the title. I’ve seemingly prepared for this class for the last 12 years. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Some collected research materials can be found at my Are.na account, and the entirety of the course is structured around Simon Starling’s Project for a Masquerade (Hiroshima): The Mirror Room (2010). Starling directs and drafts dramaturgy for the 16th-century Noh drama Eboshi Ori. Reinterpreting characters in the play by commissioning new masks to represent the archetypes, carved by Yasuo Miichi, in Osaka, Japan. Shot in the artist’s studio, it presents both artists’ research materials and development methods as a video essay, with interspersed footage of the artist carving, measuring, sculpting, drawing, treating surfaces, and painting. It’s probably my favorite work of art. The process was used as the spine of an entire course. 

 

 

The film stills present most aspects of a solid studio practice; it is acceptably cluttered, small but not claustrophobic, and contains most. There is potential movement, a window with curtains, materials, tools, ephemera, but noticeably no snacks. Metamorphosis happens here, with music playing, and hopefully some sensible breaks taken. 

 

 

 

Maybe artworks are best when they share the secret to some sort of transformation or state change. Maybe only video works are, but probably not. For example, the Wizard’s workbench in the tarot illustrates focus, agency, inner sense, and exchange. This is my preference: work that teaches you how to make. Not instructional videos, but the composing of wisdom. While this class is mainly for advanced sculpture students, it’s still important to reinforce existing processes and introduce new ones. My only concern at the moment is that I don’t give them much freedom to diverge, but my goal is to introduce specific workflows at this stage of their career. So, the class builds up very slowly, leaving room for trial and error, confusion, and slow internalization of processes, which can make it feel directionless. Still, most of the students are focused and present.

 

 

 

In the first week and a half, we worked together to make four plaster casts in alginate molds, two molds of student's faces and two of my own, cased in plaster strips. This week, finally, after removing a cast they successfully produced of my face (this was a way to have them steer the production and show them trust), I demonstrated how to augment the cast using a mixture of joint compound, polyvinyl alcohol, and paper pulp. It’s meant to emulate the sculpting process Miichi performs before carving.

 

 

 

 

Joint Compound, PVA, Paper, Demo

Joint compound (also known as drywall compound, drywall mud, joint cement or mastic) is a white powder of primarily gypsum dust mixed with water to form a paste with the consistency of cake frosting, which is spread onto drywall and sanded when dry to create a seamless base for paint on walls and ceilings.[1]

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH, PVA, or PVAl) is a water-soluble synthetic polymer. It has the idealized formula [CH2CH(OH)]n. It is used in papermaking, textile warp sizing, as a thickener and emulsion stabilizer in polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) adhesive formulations, in a variety of coatings, and 3D printing. It is colourless (white) and odorless. It is commonly supplied as beads or as solutions in water.[2][3] Without an externally added crosslinking agent, PVA solution can be gelled through repeated freezing-thawing, yielding highly strong, ultrapure, biocompatible hydrogels which have been used for a variety of applications such as vascular stents, cartilages, contact lenses, etc.[4]

Proposal

Mixing Joint compound, PVA, paper pulp, and water can serve as a solid plaster alternative for sculpting additions on a hydrocal or plaster cast. PVA serves as a bonding agent between the porous hydrocal and the paper pulp while cohering with the joint compound’s gypsum makeup.

While somewhat viscous and subject to gravity, the material can be mixed with varying amounts of water, left to dehydrate naturally, and with degrees of hardness and malleability. It can also be supported by armatures made of cardboard, paper, wire, or wood. Paper and cardboard can be soaked and bonded with the mixture. With different material armatures, you can achieve levels of precision, sculpt independently, and bond to the cast afterward.A significant amount of this clay can be produced with:

1 cup of paper pulp. This can include toilet paper, paper towels, shredded paper, and recycled paper (in fact, recycled paper may strengthen the mixture depending on its material composition). Mix it in a small bucket with warm water until it becomes pulpy and fibrous. 

2-3 cups joint compound. You can add to the mixture incrementally if needed

¼ cup PVA. This will be the bonding agent.

Additional water as needed.

In class, first added joint compound, 
Then paper pulp 
Mixed the two 
with a putty knife
Then added PVA 
Mixed all three
I mixed it until the materials felt doughy and fibrous. 
The mixture may take 24-48 hours to dry and be ready for attachment to the cast or sealing.
 

You can use the mixture to fill in gaps or mask imperfections in the cast.
Do not dampen when dry.
Sand the mixture when dry, don’t attempt to carve it. Carve the plaster instead, adjusting parts of the face (dampen the cast before you do this, as Hydrocal is brittle).