함평 운기일주대황금박쥐 조형물제작에 관한 연구

A study on hampeong ungi-ilju great golden bat artwork processing

This study describes how the theme emerges and the shaping process takes place for a golden bat (copper-winged bat) figure created for the opening of 2008 Hampyeong World Butterfly & Insect Expo, Korea. The golden bat has been designated as a protected species by the Ministry of Environment and endangered species. In 1999, natural habitats where groups of them go into hibernation were discovered at an abandoned gold mine in Hampyeong-gun in Jeollanam-do. Throughout the world, this place is one of the world's largest habitats for hibernation in a group. The making of Hampyeongcheonji-Ungi-Ilju Great golden Bat sculpture is especially significant in that, in the face of global warming and extreme climate changes caused by excessive consumption of fossil fuel resources, nature conservation and being eco-friendly have gained more importance globally. The golden bat is a rare animal which dwells only in environment-friendly habitats with limited human access, so its domestic habitats have remained off-limit to the general public even though people want to observe such sites and to have ecological experience there. In particular, the preservation of environment-friendly ecosystem and educational purposes definitely call for creating an image and shaping a sculpture of a golden bat. The past three years of artwork commissioned by the Hampyeong-gun county governing body has produced this piece of plastic art, to coincide with the launch of Hampyeong World Butterfly & Insect Expo. Against this historical and cultural backdrop, the need to keep research record on how the artwork is created leads to the preparation of this paper. Before embarking on producing a figure, in advance, basic academic research was focused on the properties of the ecology and shapes of general bats, and golden bats. In addition, data on bats' images, folklore, stories, and specific examples of images that appeared in both East and West ranging from ancient era to modern times were collected and a cultural comparative study was conducted, through which multiple interpretation and approach were attempted. The comparison of bats' representative meanings in the positive sense and their public images in legends of both East and West and literary works led to the exploration of their new images, providing theoretical backgrounds that encompass cultural differences between the East and the West. The review of bat patterns in Korean artifacts made a comprehensive survey of images of bats in Korean culture. In addition, the sophisticated drawing of how bats move ecologically in reality and the life-size model which was anatomically precise laid a foundation for the final formation. The overall scheme in composing a shape adopts the holistic approach to golden bats' symbolism and cultural meaning. The concept of the universe scheme set up in this scheme transcends time and space, and detailed formative factors and the total concept consist of development process and origin of human civilization. In the sense of symbolizing the harmony and immortality of the universe, the overall outer structure adopted silver as its material while only gold was used in creating the golden bat sculpture.