'Tzigane' is a clay-sculpted piece that I crafted at the beginning of 2014. The piece is comprised of fifteen individually fired tiles, that when viewed in grid-fashion, come together to depict an image.
Original pencil sketch, 2014.
[45 x 27 inches]
Process photo shows the transposition of my drawing to clay-tile form in early stages
Process photo shows what Tzigane's tiles looked like before being glazed and fired.
Tzigane - Final Installation
[tiles mounted to wall via wood backings]
Tzigane
by Lizzy Dragoni
Translated to mean 'Hungarian gypsy," Tzigane is a piece that venerates one of the great choreographic works of the father of American Ballet and creator of the New York City Ballet Company, George Balanchine. Tzigane was the name of Balanchine’s gypsy ballet choreographed to a score by Maurice Ravel (also called Tzigane). The ballet was created specifically for legendary dancer Suzanne Farrell after she and Balanchine had had a rapture and parted for six years. With Tzigane, Balanchine “paid tribute to the grown-up, more worldly knowing dancer; it was a ballet not about a vision or an untouchable love object or notions of perfection. This ballet was about a woman.” In Tzigane, Balanchine “creates a whole new language of long, slicing lines, broken edges, undulating currents, and sudden pops, like sparks from burning embers.” (Kaufman, 215)
Placing the gypsy figure into a new, clay-carved surrounding, I am honoring both the dancer and choreographer, but creating new conceptual grounds for which the image of Farrell exists.. By creating a canvas of hand-made clay tiles and sculpting an imperfect grid of squares, rectangles, and carved marks of various depths, I have created my own rendering of Balanchine's original concept that is backed by new conceptual ground. The grid-like nature of the piece requires viewers to observe and fixate on in order to understand. With an explosion of line, movement, and color, it will take more than a few moments to visually comprehend the depth I have created through a synthesis of mediums.
Kaufman, Sarah. "Tzigane." Balanchine: Celebrating a Life in Dance. By Costas, George Jackson, and Clive Barnes. Windsor, CT: Tide-mark, 2003. 214-17. Print.
A closer look at the sculptural elements of Tzigane
Prototype Sculpture Tile
