#fineartproject

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Taking the Beldam home.

When having a discussion with my lecturer, we spoke about how when you have an argument, or if someone upsets you, you take that home, and it sits on your shoulders, overshadows life, and gets personal, intimate.

I looked into it sitting in the living room of my flat, and I would have explored more things, like it standing over you when doing ordinary things, like eating dinner, spending time with friends, however I didn’t feel like I could ask my flatmates to help with these things (they’ve lived with the Beldam sitting in the living room, I figured getting them to sit with it for pictures was a step too far, however I may explore it further later.)

I then used the thought of the thoughts following you to bed. It’s a place where I spend a lot of time thinking, I struggle to sleep some nights and spend a lot of time thinking over what has been said to me over the course of the day. I often had trouble sleeping after a disagreement with the beldam. I looked into having the Beldam stood on my bed, but this didn’t feel right. 

I then moved the Beldam face my pillows; having it almost stood on where my chest would be. It would torment me before I slept, I would struggle with what had happened during the day and it would follow me to bed. 

The Beldam does have a different name, however for confidentiality reasons I will not name it.

I have enjoyed this project in a way, it has let me close the door on that year of my life, and look at it all in retrospect. My life has been impacted in many ways because of this, but I have begun to understand and learn how to overcome what happened. 

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What Is Sculpture? Day 2

30/10/18- 

The Other Mother Art Teacher

My art teacher was a bitch mean and talked down to me for my final year at high school- it made me lose a lot of my love and motivation to do art- I essentially only did work for school and never for myself. She came in around September, so we were already around 6 weeks into term, and told us immediately that as a class we would fail and we had to pull our fingers out and get work done. Our previous teacher had never said anything like this, he was supportive, and although teaching styles are different for everyone, he was so much calmer and more supportive than her. 

I did my work and worked hard to spite her- I was adamant I was possible of passing, which she had told me I wasn't capable of. She spent a lot of time shouting and being very negative, like she told me my work didn’t belong to me after I went to speak to her about how one of my pieces had been cut up without consulting me. She wouldn't help me work on my portfolio to get into university (I ended up going to college and learning and developing my skills and self but I’ll explore that later). 

I will create a form similar to the Other Mother from Coraline, a scary, screechy human-like form that stole their souls (note to self: read the book)

I think it would be fun to create the nice version- my old art teacher- however as he looked completely different to her and therefore I won't. 

I will explore a slightly different approach than just creating the other mother as that teacher, I’ll make it more like her and more my own style. I will create drawings and work out how to create it.

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On Location

I decided to take the Beldam out around the college in places near the studios. There's this little alcove just before the cafeteria that I thought would be perfect for it to sit in a dark, contained area that would let it speak for itself, and be slightly hidden. 

I spoke to some people who gave me mixed views. Some thought it was really creepy and being in the dark heightened that, whereas others thought it was ‘cute’ and didn’t react the way I’d hoped. 

I then moved it to other locations, but when I was watching no one really reacted. 

I liked the idea of almost concealing it, as if almost being on top of it before seeing it would help add shock and fear.

I then put it on the top stair, as if it is intimidating. One girl I spoke to said it looked as if it was ready to just scuttle down the stairs after her. I feel that if there was more time to this project I could have played around with movement (even repurposing RC spiders and the like to create something that moves, even simply) which would have added to the fear, having something scuttle across the floor. 

I then put it in a general open space that could be seen from further away, as it has a lot of windows around it so can be seen from a staircase nearby. I liked the idea of it being seen from different places and sparking interest, but I still want it to be somewhat creepy. 

I found that it was quite easy to push around the studio since it is on the two plates, and when i do it jolts and wobbles slightly since it has such spindley legs that almost don’t support it. It makes it creepy in its own right, and I think I will film this to show the movement. 

I was also thinking about how I can make it creepier, for example I have glow in the dark paint that I could use to make the eyes glow,  or I could cut the mouth out and either make it hollow or create teeth for it. I could also add sound, since the underside is hollow and not filled in I could attach a speaker or my phone to the belly and play sounds for it. 

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Painting the Beldam Art teacher

I knew I wanted to paint the piece as I felt the white was too stark and clean. The other mother in Coraline has a broken porcelain appearance the closer Coraline gets to escaping, which is jagged and creepy in its own right.

 I initially wanted to paint the whole thing black, however as I started painting (using watered down black acrylic and a 1-inch paint brush) I liked the way the paint would stay on the most accentuated places, giving it a broken and textured look, really showing the texture of the modroc.

I left some white behind, if i decided I wasn’t a huge fan later I could fill in everything else to make it black. I liked the effect it gave, and even though I’d given it a coat of primer yesterday, It is apparent I didn’t get it everywhere so some places are more grey and show more texture than others. I feel it is more reminiscent of the angry other mother than the shape of the creature, and I liked that tie to the inspiration. 

I did have someone tell me it reminded them of the monster from “a quiet place” and I see the resemblance, the long, spindly shape of the limbs, the creepy faces (albeit this creature is definitely scarier than my own) and the boney back. 

I’ve had a lot of comments from classmates about the creature, often talking about the rib-like back shape, the almost unstable legs and the scary face (which I compared to a WWE mask when I was creating it). I think it does look very creepy when you walk into a classroom and see this thing sat on a desk, staring at you from across the room.

I’ve also been told it looks 

as if it should move

it is about to scuttle across the room

like the thing from the foot of the bed when they’re suffering from sleep paralysis

I now need to place this sculpture in different places, such as in hidden corners that will take people by surprise, as I think that will make it more creepy, kind of like my teacher. Perfect around other teachers and senior management, cruel and horrible behind ‘closed doors’. There is a few places near the studio I can think of to place the creature, but I will need help moving it since is is a big thing across two wooden plates.

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Making the Beldam art teacher in full.

Long post with a lotta pictures 

Making the Giant Beldam art teacher was something unexpected that happened. I made the baby Beldams, each slightly creepier than the last, and was very pleased with the outcome, and when it was suggested that I create something even bigger, it definitely made me wonder what exactly I could create.

I started with a wire base, made out of thick wire (10mm or so) and chicken wire, which I then covered in paper to give some more base to (especially the legs and the body) while the neck is a cylinder of chicken wire. I then covered the whole thing in modroc, which helped give structure and stability, however I did find it difficult to keep the bandages tucked under the body enough and not just dangle down. I found holding it or tucking it around the paper worked to help keep it in place, and I think it worked really well. When attaching the neck, I used large strips that ran from the body all the way up the neck and into the top opening, as I hadn’t yet created the head. I held the neck in place until I thought it was stiff enough to stand in place alone. 

I then decided to create the head out of a balloon and modroc, which proved challenging when the balloon wouldn’t stay still and wanted to roll onto the side of the head where the face was. The balloon popped before I finished forming the head, and I had to improvise so stuffed the head with paper to bulk it out and make it work, which did, however made it uneven and not circle like. I think that worked well as it makes it less human or realistic. I then stuck it to the neck of the model, which was easy to do since the modroc was still soft and I could form it into to sit on the neck. 

I have also coated the model in primer and I will paint it in watered down acrylic paint.

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Making the Beldam art teacher

I started with a lump of clay and some thickish wire and created the basic shape. I'd spent a lot of time looking at Louise Bourgeois' work and really liked the way the legs were made up of multiple strands, so decided to look at that way of creating the legs, crossing individual segments across each other to become one. I also did one leg the same way as I had previously done, and it felt more sturdy and secure. I then added the face on, and although I thought it was a little too Scream like, I wanted it to look angry and somewhat scary.

I then looked more at the other mother and how it is created, and I found it was quite spider like, with the legs coming up to a point before going back down to the body, and as such created another creature.

I struggled with actually making the base of the creature, as I did it differently from the other two I’d created by making a wire square for the body then four legs out of wire with a loop at the end to attach to the body. I had to use hot glue gun to try and keep the legs from moving, but the glue wouldn’t stay attached to the metal and I just had to try make it work. I really liked the way that it turned out, it looks more sinister and the face is more screechy, which reminds me a lot of my art teacher. 

I am now building an even bigger creature out of stronger wire, chicken wire, paper and modroc. I am following the second creature moreso than the last one, it was easier to cover the legs as I didn’t have to try and shape the legs. 

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Research- Artists

Ellen Jewett

Jewett creates these creatures using only her hands and paintbrushes. Each one is unique and never replicated. They are made using armature wire, clay, acrylic paints, mineral and oil pigments and glass. 

I think these pieces are very beautiful and portray the creature in question, even if they aren’t the complete form (such as the rabbit). Jewett takes inspiration from animal physiology and “a love of the fantastic, grotesque and absurd”. I like the delicateness of the pieces, they can be small (The mantis can fit into the palm of the hand) or larger, almost lifesize in look, and the lifelike style she adopts; the animals or creatures never look unrealistic, despite the fact they are incomplete or have things growing from them, such as trees or plants. 

Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois uses the spider to represent her mother, who was a weaver. She talks about her  in Ode à ma mere:

“The friend (the spider – why the spider?) because my best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and as useful as a spider. She could also defend herself, and me, by refusing to answer ‘stupid’, inquisitive, embarrassing, personal questions.”

The spiders are made of bronze stainless steel and marble, and were created in 1999,  with 6 of them being placed in different locations around the world. The tall (30-foot) sculptures are visible from distance, so when a similar work- the spider couple- is seen indoors, it often has more ‘shock factor’ as they are lit by lights, which gives more shock factor and surprise- imagine turning a corner and being confronted by this!

Bourgeois uses a spiral for the body of the piece, and talks about it being used as ‘an attempt at controlling the chaos’ and has commented that ‘Spirals - which way to turn - represent the fragility in an open space. Fear makes the world go round’ 

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Research: What is a Beldam? and why eyes?

01/11/18- what is sculpture day 4

A Beldam is a witch, “an older woman, typically ugly” which originated in 1400-50. Related words are crone, hag.

This makes sense. She manipulates and changes as Coraline starts getting close to finding the answers, and when she does escape, the beldams hand follows her into the ‘Real’ world and attempts to get the key off Coraline, to get the Beldam into this world and get Coraline back, as she had no intention of letting her leave or win. Like my art teachers going from someone who was there, a lot calmer and easing us into the course, to a teacher who had no faith or belief we would even pass the course, and when we did, couldn’t congratulate us on it. 

Eyes are the window to the Soul

Maybe this is why the Other Mother wanted to sew buttons onto Coraline’s eyes? Since she had stolen the other children’s souls (”She stole our hearts, and she stole our souls”) and they had all allowed her to sew buttons onto their eyes (”It doth not hurt”). The Beldam would sew buttons into Coraline’s eyes, removing her soul and keeping it elsewhere; the other children's eyes were hidden in marbles, and her parents in a snow globe, so the witch had the ability to capture and transform objects. Once she grew bored of Coraline, she would then move onto the next child, and leave Coraline with the other children in the space behind the mirror. 

My Art teacher would do something similar. Once she had given up on a student (They weren’t doing the work to the level she expect for our level and would then drop them to units or the level below) or if a student exceeded her expectation she would move onto the next, favouring a few students (myself included) and spend the time getting on at the other students. She wouldn’t stop getting on at them, I realise that she did just want the best for all of us, however the way she portrayed this want for us to excel wasn’t always what did well. 

Neil Gaiman (The Author) said “There is also a tradition, which I think goes back to the Romans, of putting coins on the eyes of the dead; The idea that the eyes are the windows to the soul. With buttons you somehow lose all the things that make you human. it is the metaphor that allows for as hindered interpretations, or a thousand interpretations, and they are all correct.” 

The saying “The eyes are the windows to the soul” Is often used because you can easily tell what someone is thinking due to emotions and facial expression. For example, if someone is scared or worried they will furrow their brow, which makes the eyes appear smaller, or if they're happy the corners of their eyes will wrinkle and the smile ‘reaches’ their eyes (I’ve never understood that phrase in writing until now...). If the other mother removes the eyes (covering with buttons) she removes the window to the soul (and therefore the soul as well?) and then keeps the children trapped (”We wish we could,’ they sighed.... ‘But she has our hearts in her keeping. Now we belong to the dark and to the empty places. The light would shrivel us, and burn.’”). This means the children rely on her, much like we did to my art teacher. We relied on her because she was the one who could pull the strings to make us drop the course, or give us the plentiful advice needed to make our work the best it could be and give us the best chances of passing.