Tornquist creates with paper and wire

BY JENNA CAPELLE
Cardinal Staff

Saint Mary’s University senior Peter Tornquist has an uncommon hobby: paper mache.

After ten years of working with clay, Tornquist thought he would try something new. He became fascinated by paper mache during his senior year of high school when a sculptor came to his art class with various paper mache sculptures that inspired him.

“Making paper mache lizards has taught me a lot about self-motivation,” said Tornquist. During his freshman year at SMU, Tornquist asked an art professor if he could use extra paints in the art room to play around with. He spent many hours and
crafted his first four lizards that year. In the spring of 2007, Tournquist entered his work in the “SMU Student Art Show” and took first prize.

“I was blown away because I’m not even an art major,” said Tornquist. “I was pretty proud of myself.” Tourquist said the process to develop one of his paper mache lizards is lengthy. He first creates a wire skeleton of the lizard. Depending on the body type, he uses wood filler putty for the bulky parts. He designs the intricate hands and feet of each lizard with wire before attaching them to the main frame. To create the skin, Tornquist mixes water and Elmer’s glue to make the newspaper hold on to the wire frame.

Painting the lizards is the most time-consuming and detailed part of the project. Tornquist uses tempera paint because it blends well when designing detail. He uses water to blend the colors together to create a realistic look. From start to finish, it takes Tornquist about a month for the final product to be accomplished.