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March 16, 2001/Adar 21, 5761, Vol. 53, No.24
Pregnancies to remember
LEISAH NAMM
Assistant Editor
In addition to standard baby books filled with pages of photographs and statistics, clients of artist Jennifer Forman have additional souvenirs of their babies' early days - plaster casts of their pregnant bodies.
In her one-woman show "We All Began Here: An Incredible Journey into the Embryonic State," Forman exhibits 12 full-body pregnancy sculptures through April 14 at the RA Fine Arts Bijan Bahar Gallery, 7133 Stetson Road in Scottsdale's Old Town Art District.
The pregnancy sculptures are cast in bronze, acrylic and plaster and the exhibit includes love letters from mothers to their babies, as well as photographs of the babies.
The sculpture becomes "like an heirloom that you can pass down to your child," Forman says.
Forman, owner of Originalz by Jennifer in Scottsdale, got the idea in 1997 while working on her senior exhibition at Loyola University in Chicago. She was working in plaster at the time and decided to sculpt herself while 8 1/2 months pregnant with her second child.
When she was pregnant with her third child, Forman measured herself, precut the plaster, prepared the necessary materials and gave her husband, financial advisor Bruce Weinstein, step-by-step directions to sculpt her.
She used the plaster as a prototype for a bronze sculpture and later, an acrylic mold - both are on display in the gallery.
Body casts range in price from $1,900 for plaster to $20,000 for a full-body bronze cast.
When Forman's clients come to her studio, "It's almost like a spa experience," she says. Her clients select the music they want to hear and Forman lights candles and, for some appointments, prepares breakfast or lunch.
The procedure takes about two hours for a partial cast and about four hours for a full-body cast.
Forman cuts the plaster into strips, covers the area of the body to be sculpted with a layer of petroleum jelly and then applies the plaster strips, dipped in warm water.
"It was almost like getting a massage," says Linda Lazarus of Scottsdale, who was 30 weeks pregnant with triplets and on bed rest when her cast was made. "Once (Forman) took the plaster off, my skin was very soft. It was a very enjoyable, relaxing experience," she says.
Clients choose from different necklines and how much of their body they want cast. Positions vary from hands posed on the belly to an entire body cast - from the neck to the toes.
When the mold is complete, it takes hours to thicken up the cast and reinforce it with fiberglass so it becomes unbreakable. After the sculpture is dry, it's ready to be decorated.
Decorations include jewels in the belly button, love letters to the baby in the mother's handwriting, ultrasound photos and the baby's hand and footprints.
"I can embellish it however you want," Forman says. "If you want a full-body cast in seashells, so be it. If you want mosaic tiles with hand-cut mirrors and crystals, no problem."
When viewing the completed cast, Lazarus says her reaction was, "Wow, this is what I looked like when I was pregnant with triplets."
Lazarus, whose triplets are now four months old, plans to display the sculpture in the entryway of her home.
She says she will enjoy discussing the statue with her three-year-old and with the triplets when they grow older.
"This is something that we'll always be able to look back on and talk about," she says.
Forman prefers to cast a woman in the first week of her ninth month of pregnancy "because then you're most voluptuous but you're not playing with fire," she says. She once cast a woman two days before her delivery date.
One of the things she enjoys most is being part of her clients' pregnancies - hearing their stories and later meeting the babies. In addition to the mother with triplets, Forman's clients have included a mother of twins, a woman who conceived after seven years of trying and a mother who gave birth to her first daughter after having two sons.
Forman advises her clients to look their best when they arrive at the studio - she photographs each step of the process and gives the pictures to the mother.
For women who are on bed rest or unable to visit her studio, she brings the materials to their home. She has traveled out-of-state to cast women and has shipped sculptures to out-of-town visitors cast during their visit to Scottsdale.
During the exhibit, visitors can enter a raffle that will benefit the March of Dimes. The winner receives a bronze sculpture of their hand cast by Forman. Tickets are $10 each or $40 for five.
Also on display are her paintings, other sculpture work, painted furniture, a coffee table with 100 holograph eyes and hand-painted silk scarves.
Forman was commissioned by the State of Illinois to design the state's limited-edition hand-painted commemorative silk scarves and ties that will be presented as official gifts by the Illinois governor and his wife to dignitaries around the world.
Forman also designed the Lyric Opera of Chicago's 1993-1994 commemorative scarf - the 100 limited-edition scarves sold out in one week.
Her goal within the next year is to produce a bronze pregnancy cast, blown up 50-100 feet tall, to display in front of an infertility clinic or a children's hospital.
Forman, 36, and her husband are members of Har Zion Congregation in Scottsdale and have three children: Skylar, 5; Michael, 3; and Jack, 5 months.
In early March, she moved to her new studio - on the grounds of the Orange Tree Golf Course in Scottsdale.
To schedule a private appointment, call 480-348-0176 or visit her Web site at www.originalsbyjennifer.com.
Details
What: "We All Began Here"
Where: RA Fine Arts Bijan Bahar Gallery, 7133 Stetson, Scottsdale
When: 3-10:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays through April 14
Call: 480-421-2010
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