What are some styles of sculpture?

Essay over 'The Moth' sculpture on Iowa State University Help!?

• I am doing an essay over the art sculpture 'The Moth' that is in front of the Coover Hall Engineering building at Iowa State University. It needs to be focused and I have to describe and analyze the sculpture. It has to be 800-1000 words and I only have 338 words without the introduction and the conclusion. I was just needing some ideas of what else to write about on the essay because there isn't much that I can find online about it. please help me!!! Here is what I got so far. The subject of ‘The Moth’ takes a historical significance in the sculpture. Once upon a time in 1947, Admiral Mary Hopper was working on one of the first computers, a Mark II at Harvard University. The computer started malfunctioning. Come to find out, there was a moth that flew into the circuit board messing up the operating system. Admiral Mary Hopper discovered it was a moth was the culprit. She wrote down, in her data notebook, that the computer had a ‘bug’ along with the dead moth. Mac Adams was born in South Wales in 1943. He attended Cardiff College of Art and Design before attending Rutgers University in New Jersey. He is now a professor at the State University of New York at Old Westbury. ‘The Moth’ was placed in 2008 on the west side lawn of Coover Hall to commemorate the new Engineering building. The significance of this location is related to the computer engineering in Coover Hall. This sculpture brings recognition to the computer history of Iowa State University. ‘The Moth’ consists of three individual pieces of Vermont marble, which are heavy and solid. This sculpture is 8 foot by 14 foot and is placed in the middle of a round pad of concrete, aligned with brick. Moths are attracted to light thus this sculpture is about light, or the lack there of. The moth is the negative space in this sculpture. From the side this sculpture looks like three pieces of marble sticking out of the ground and awkwardly cut, but once the person walks around it more, they realize more and more of what the sculpture actually is; a moth. This moth is partially cut out in each slab of marble. Once all three slabs of marble are perfectly aligned with each other it forms the full moth shape. These layers add depth and complexity to this work of art. Everyone that views this sculpture will see it slightly different than the next, varying in height and angle that the person views it. Thanks in advance!!!

• Answer:

  You could quote what Lynette Pohlman, director of the university museums said about the work: ...."The Moth," is typical of his work, she said, in that it's abstract and impressionistic and makes strong use of light and shadow.She added that on two days of each year, the moth will be perfectly reflected on the ground. What days? "I don't know or want to know," Pohlman replied. "I want to look each day and be delighted when it happens." (Actually, the last bit of this quote would be quite a good way to end your essay) http://www.iastate.edu/Inside/2008/1024/moth.shtml Also: yuu could put in (see link above) that the sculpture was funded through the Iowa Art in State Buildings Project, which designates one-half of one percent of the cost of construction projects to works of public art. .I think that you could fill out your description of the location with a few sentences about the other sculptures on campus. Does the work fit in with them as regards style? You don't describe the location of the piece from an artistic point of view: e.g. II the sculpture sited on grass or stone; are their buildings behind it; In other words; what is its setting? Can it be seen from afar? By the way, what color is the marble; is it veined; or smooth? .After your short biography of the artist ending with the worddsOld Westbury, it would be a good idea to write a few sentences about the style and character of other works by Mac Adams - not on the campus, giving an example or two with their location; and say whether you see a connection with the Moth sculpture. e.g. Has he ever made an abstract piece from any other living thing? If you put in some of the items I have mentioned, and add an introduction and a conclusion, you should have reached more than your word target. I hope these few comments/ideas prove helpful.