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[level3art]

Magazines

Size: A5, 40 pages, 0

Zine 2024 | Digital Edition

[lbanksart]

The Goldfinch, 1654 - Carel Fabritius - (Art History, lesson 3)

My fascination with the Goldfinch began after reading Donna Tartt’s captivating novel, ‘The Golfinch’, based on the history of one of Fabritius’ only surviving artworks. It is believed by a number of art historians that the original 1654 painting was involved in an explosion the same year it was signed, tragically killing Carel Fabritius and destroying many of his accompanying pieces, (hence the reference to a terrorist attack in the novel, alluding to the original explosion in which the painting was retrieved).

Fabritius worked temporarily as a student for Rembrandt Van Rijn in 1641 and thus, many elements of his early work reflect Rembrandt’s signature style of striking tonal highlights in amongst inexplicably dark shadows. Likewise, this influence is portrayed in the glowing golden tail feather of the goldfinch (as shown above), set apart from the dark shadows of the chained bird in the background. Furthermore, the use of trompe-l’œl oil paint allows for the definitive contrast between defined brush strokes and soft details, as seen in the delicate mark making of the chain against the harsh brushstrokes of the overbearing shadows.

Nonetheless, The Goldfinch was seen as rather an unusual subject for the Dutch Golden Age, due to the simplicity of its composition and lack of focus on neither portraiture nor still life- both common subjects of the time. However, the warm tones and dulled saturation created over time by the oil paints convey the sense that this piece was of its time, due to the fact that cooler tones were very rarely used. This, combined with the artists ability to layer textured brush strokes, gives the piece an almost three-dimensional effect, bringing this common pet to life in a rather charming way.

As a Dutch Baroque painter in the mid sixteen hundreds, Fabritius was inclined to only use paints available to him. In the 15th century, linseed oil began to replace egg tempura as a medium as it dried more slowly and was consequently easier to manipulate and work into. Oil colours allowed renaissance artists and later, baroque painters, to expand the effects of colour and explore realism in a new light. As shown in the images above, Fabritius payed close attention to the correct placement of shadows and highlights and made a conscious effort to capture the character and expression of the subject to create a sense of realism- while simultaneously stepping away from the minute brush strokes and extensive detail often used by renaissance and pre-raphelite painters.

[strodefad]

A great day exploring Lacock Abbey with the photography and art students - The home of photography and a number of Harry Potter scenes.

[sustainablestrode]

The Strode sustainability garden is looking terrific at the moment. The plants have been loving the summer rain and sunshine. The biology students have been fishing out some of the plants in the pond so that the water isn’t all lost to the advancing plant swamp. The pond and the garden is full of flowers and life, our own little re-wilding corner of the college campus.

[brokensharkcage]

Life Class - Great session today with the FAD students drawing the model’s head. Demonstration about scaffolding and structural drawing development. Then each drawing a life size head for 5 minutes, then moving chairs and drawing for 5 minutes on someone else drawing - making corrections, observations in a different colour - then again, then again and then back to your first drawing to consolidate the many inputs. Good fun, ‘musical drawing chairs ‘ & really productive. Then having numbered the drawings I animated them as a set, so this little film is a collaboration between all of the students. Great work.

Then we all drew a seated long pose for the rest of the session.

[katiebees-creations]

SCULPTURE WORKSHOP 

I made three plaster casts of my mould 

FINISHING: There are endless ways in which to finish a plaster sculpture. The main one being to seal the plaster cast as any moisture will be sucked up like a sponge as the plaster is porous. To seal a plaster cast, the best thing to use is shellac. A good couple of coats of shellac will allow the cast to be protected for a very long time. If you are wanting to keep your cast white in its purest form the best thing to use is PVA. Before I sealed my 1st head I used a sculpting tool to scratch a wood like effect onto the "skin" surface areas. I then used shellac and painted on top of the shellac in gouache paints. For my 2nd head cast i wanted to keep it white so i used PVA and then used gold leaf, which is very tricky and fiddly to use on the oak leaf hair part of the cast. Other finishing techniques can come from; oxidised metal filings inks stamps zip polishes and more to create varied amazing effects. 

REFLECTION: Looking back I think my own thoughts would be that I really wish I had experimented with the metal filings as a finish. The process itself from start to finish was some of the most fun I have ever had and i loved every second of it. I watched another student used dyes in the plaster mixture before pouring into the mould. which would be something i would enjoy doing myself at some point going forward. I've loved this process so much that I have it stashed away to use for perhaps "paint your own" kits to sell in my business.

ETHICAL: In the sculpture room there are endless amounts of materials that have been reclaimed from the skip on campus used by the builders. Through the process of creating our heads, I believe that there is very little waste from anything we used. The only possible thing that could be considered waste is if you created too much plaster mixture for your mould. With this in mind though our lecturer made sure to have several people at a time needing to fill their moulds so as to make sure none of the plaster was to be wasted. As a practice on your own however I think it best to perhaps measure accurately the amount of liquid you need for your mould or to have small moulds of embellishments perhaps to use any excess mixture. The sustainability of this process is immense due to only one mould of latex and mod roc being needed and then being used repeatedly over and over again almost endlessly and could last years. The layout of the room and desks allowed for a more communal atmosphere and it was wonderful and inspirational to see each others work as they all progressed. We were also given instruction on not cleaning plaster dust or mixture containers in the sink as the mixture would then dry and clog the drains but also would disperse plaster particles into the water system. 

One down, two to go!! Nearly finished on my sculpture workshop heads. Had to bring everything home yesterday to crack on with things as not in college today and didn’t want to waste anymore time. See @brokensharkcage i promised I'd be working lol 😊 #strodecollege #strodecollegeartdepartment #maturestudent #strodefad #sculpture #greekmythology #plaster (at Street, Somerset) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGR2caaFd3g/?igshid=qsnfbv4iig1g

[gabrielle-distin-artist]

This is a small ceramic figure - a maquette to test out the idea which I made just before college closed so I’m not aware yet of whether it survived in the kiln! It is based on the figure of the model Amina Adan as she modelled Nike’s range of modest sportswear for Hijabi women. I created a framework to support the slabs of white porcelain I used to build up the figure. I wanted these slabs to still show in the finished piece. Creating an image of a strong woman pushing herself through and past any boundaries created by her clothing. #strodefad #strodecollege #strodecollegeartdepartment #ceramics #ceramicsculpture #nike #modestwear #modestsportswear #hijabi #womenempowerment #women #maquette #aminaadan https://www.instagram.com/p/CAIAL82lJwE/?igshid=1jki250tmvg0v

[agerchi]

Mycelium growing as part of my Nature meets Art Assignment. Excited by the progress.