GSA - Online Sketchbook

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Final Piece - 'Objects in Dormancy'

After experimenting with the wax until I was satisfied, I decided to include a canopy made from plastic bags altered with a hemming stitch to mimic a priests stole. I wanted to include the plastic to bring more diversity to the aesthetic, this also gave me the opportunity to experiment with a sewing machine.

The wooden stands were created very last minute due to lack of time, if given more time I would have constructed them better using thicker wood and screwing in nails rather than hammering in tacks ( unfortunately wood workshop was booked that day). .

Overall I am quite satisfied with the work, I enjoyed learning new processes and am happy with its conceptual coherence.

I gave the work the name; 'Objects in Dormancy' after a lecturer and I discussed objects and the part they play in the museum whilst on show  or put away into storage ( like the archives we seen at The Museum Resource Centre) . Early on in the project I was drawn to the romance in objects . After the lecturer used the word 'dormant'  to describe their actions, we couldn't help but wonder what role they played when the viewer is not around. Through the project I have considered value, object in relation to its surroundings, as well as the idea of suggestion. The viewer will notice at first its shrine like shape but with the scale and intimacy of the work I hope to draw the viewer in closer, to take a better lookk at the objects, to question what is being put on show. It is not the ceramic works which are the centre show, its the way the works become animated  through placement and choice of presentation (shrine-like structure).

Shrines  or collections have always drawn me in, their exclusivity, the way in which organization or lack of harmonizes all entities working not only in composition but commanding attention to objects/collection/research which may usually be overlooked

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Primary Research

Thinking back to my gap year in Japan last year, I remember being taken by the shrines and temples. The beautiful structures and serenity.  I have taken reference to these structures when creating this work, I hope to capture the idea of serenity through placement in my piece.

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Image 1:  Photographer :Bobby Doherty

Image 2:  Artist: Jennifer Cushman

After trying to decide on what to do about the wax structure , I have been researching artist who work with the medium, trying to find new ways to manipulate the material. I am aware of its melting properties but as a water resistant material there may be other techniques I have not yet considered.

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Kate Rhode

As I have been considering changing the wax shape due to its ‘iceberg’ appearance, I have taken some time away from it in the hopes of seeing it from a fresh perspective. In the meantime, I have found this artist who share the similar prominent dome-like shape.  The way in which the artist work ‘displays’ her piece through the glass-like vessel, highlights it, giving it importance, appearing symbolic and idyllic. I am exploring a very similar perspective throughout this project.

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Gabriele Beveridge

The above artist’s work appears almost mood-board like, intrigued by the choice and the contrast in materials which seem to harmonize - resemblance possibly of a memory. The use of assemblage almost works to create a storyboard.

I felt this was an important artist to add due to her use in assemblage- as shrines or altars usually are made from a collection of items and visually harmonize as one entity.

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Anna Uddenberg -’Cuddle Clamps’ (2017)

At this stage in the project I find myself stuck. I have been focusing on working through experimentation with material and feel I want to add another element of aesthetic. The Above artist makes use of non-traditional mediums not hiding  their qualities yet altering them giving them another personality.

I may look at experimenting with plastic; more specifically plastic bags, as they are usually recognized for purpose it will be interesting to alter their aesthetic.

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Salvation Mountain

I’m taken by the vibrancy and the surreal-like atmosphere. But its the pale and vibrant powdery texture that is a result from the paint applied onto the rock, which I find extremely liberating and energetic. I want to push the boundary with ‘rudimentary’ materials using a sophisticated finish.

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Salvation Mountain

Created by Local; Leonard Knight

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Concrete Blocks

I decided to I wanted to add height to my work , and wanted to experiment with concrete creating steps to appear altar-like. Initially I was planning on making a mould and pouring in the desired amount of concrete but due to the time it would take as well as the amount of Conti board need I opted to buy light weight concrete bocks and set them up to appear like steps.

As the concrete was very crumbly, I plastered it with jesmonite after applying PVA to seal it. I mixed pigment and marble chips with the jesmonite and then once dry I then used and wet stone polisher to buffer the surface and to allow the chips to show through.

Satisfied with the results however if I had more time I would have used some advice another student gave me during my crit which was to use oil to get rid of the scratch marks left behind by the polisher.

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The Purple Plaster Platform

The wax was placed into the plaster whilst wet along with the unfired stoneware 'flowers'. I was looking to produce an almost ' cement garden' look. I feel I will continue to play with additional aesthetics to experiment further with material relation as well as to have the opportunity to learn about other materials

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Porcelain small sculptures 'Offerings'

Inspired by my previous paper test-pieces of suggestive objects. I created these small sculptures from porcelain, taking muse from shrines and stalagmites from caves. I learned a lot about patience during those few days as well as to wait until the clay dries because it will start to shape up as a sculpture when it become solid and is finished . P.S Don't get mad and destroy , wait and see with new eyes!

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Creating and Deciding on a Structure

As I spent about a week researching substitute materials I was given the idea of wax. Although I did not have enough time to create a mold I decided to seek technical guidance form the technicians, luckily enough a previous student had created a template shape from plaster that I could use. The idea was to create a mould and later on embellishing though melting the excessive wax ( removed from opening I would create).

This was achieved by waiting a very long time for about 2kilos of wax to melt and then to pour the wax in slowly 'swirling' it around until I received the desire thickness. After the wax cooled down it shrank allowing the wax structure to be removed with breaking( plenty of cold water and patience as well as pulling with care!).

I then created a moat like structure from clay  in preparation for a plaster platform.

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Francis Upritchard

In search for a substitute medium( porcelain) for the main structure of my piece I was introduced to Francis Upritchard and artist who uses 'Sculpty'; a polymer clay. As time was the issue to needing to switch material this choice in clay would have made a suitable option if it had not been an expensive material when bought in large amounts (which would have been needed due to scale). Nevertheless, I cant help but admire this artist's work and her use of sophistication in a medium know mostly for children's craft. Being advised of this artist also allowled me to gaining further knowledge about the difference in polymer clay, earth clay and air dry clay.

I will be sure to experiment with polymer clay in the near future.

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Above: Mikala Dwyer 'Black Sun Blue Moon (2007)

Below : Richard Tuttle ' What's the Wind at the Pace'

 The above artist's work contains element of spatial relation. The work plays with scale appearing almost as a miniature exhibition rather than an entire entity yet works well as an independent piece. I am intrigued by this and realise that there is much to play with when considering spatial relation. I think scale will also play an important part in my final piece.

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Jo Raill

I was heavily inspired by the work of this artist, the way in which she allows the ceramic to behave. It appears crude yet deliberate appearing fragile and almost fleshy.

I want to work in a similar manner being attentive to the properties of my chosen materials work with and against them.

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After the tutorial I realised that I wanted to pursue the art of making. I talked about my interest in the spiritual objects I had seen as well as the idea of value. I was then drawn back to the exhibition of Ester krumbachova who worked with ceramic so I decided to make the decision to go to casting and purchase a large bag of stoneware clay and porcelain, setting myself with the challenge to learn to work with a medium I had never used before.  This however as shown in the sketch did not go to plan and my clay kept caving in on itself, as I became more frustrated the cons to working completely in porcelain became more apparent.

I was becoming more aware of the time and how even if I was able to create a structure which I was satisfied with it would possibly not have enough time to dry and be fired before the exhibition.

So I took a step back and thought about what outcome I was trying to achieve:

Ii had decided that formally I wanted to created a structure which would host other small sculpture (taking muse from the spiritual artefacts I had seen at the archives) where the space in which the artworks were shown and the artworks themselves become one entity.

The structure was important so I will need to find an alternative medium.

Image 1: Stoneware experiment ( not behaving the way I desired)

Image 2: Sketch for my initial idea ( made completely from porcelain, I got obsessed with the idea of using porcelain)

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Paper Sculpture

After thinking myself in circles I began to realise that I should follow the brief and think more with my hands and learn more by doing and making rather than my usual default. After visiting the archive I was taken by the organic shapes ranging from the memorabilia to the botany and geology section,. The work of Elsa Mora compelled me to use paper as a medium to test out some of the shapes that I had floating around in my head. Giving myself the deadline of a day I created the paper sculptures shown above. I wanted them to be suggestive without being replicas of any of the artefacts.

This is the work I will be showing for the first tutorial for this project. I aim in my tutorial to get a better understanding of what it is I'm trying to figure out with this project or whether I should continue to keep working with  materiality  through experimentation whilst working towards the idea of suggestion.

Is the project steering away from my interest in 'Value' . Hopefully after the tutorial I will gain more clarity once I step aside and see my idea through others.