This week I was working between a mixture of disaplines (my favourite thing to do) I started off the week by learning another skill in forging which was to ‘draw out the metal’ in order to make a small spade like tool.I felt that it worked well with my theme and provided another ‘artifact’
In order to make the flat end the metal had to be ‘drawn out’ by heating then hitting the metal from the top to the bottom of the heated section.The metal then had to be hit hard on the edge of the axel in order to create the ridge. The bottom half was also made by drawing out the metal and tapping the metal whilst rotating it on the axel and the twist (which is allways my favourite part) was made by simply heating the metal and twisting with a vice before brushing it over with a golden bristled brush for added effect.
For some reason my wrist and fingers were really hurting with the hitting that day.I blamed it on not using my favourite hammer but the technician told me this wasn’t true.I also prefer to use a lighter hammer as otherwise it puts too much strain on my wrist and I only have tiny wrists.The technician said that not everyone is built for forging and that if it hurts too much it’s ok to stop.But as they say ‘Mumma didn’t make no quitter’ haha
I decided to start the waterless lithography process for making a flag with the symbol on it. The process was deffinatley alot more then I expected and very meticulous.The process deffinately wasn’t as long as the foundry one tho.First the plates had to be cleaned with acetone,then scrubbed twice (with a liquid i think had silicon in it),rinsed and then a liquid applied which had a mixture of wheel cleaner and silicon in it before being dried off with newsprint before the design got painted on.I decided to use light washed down toner on one sheet and undiluted toner on another and a layer of silone with white spirits applied.The sheets then had to be left to dry over night before booking another session.I then had to use a heat gun on the design so that it would set into the aluminum sheet.To start with I didn’t have the heat gun close enough so the design hadn’t set and then i had it too close and the heat had travelled back up the gun causing smoke to billow out! (apparently this has never happened before) the gun had to be left at an open window to cool down!
Once the ink was rolled up I then applied the ink by rolling it on I then put the design under the electric roller.It was interesting experimenting with more and less ink just to see how the final design would turn out.It was also hard sometimes to apply enough pressure so the ink would mark the plate showing up on the paper.I did lots of practice prints on newsprint.I was advised by the teacher to maybe go smaller on the design next time as it was too big for the paper and mounting board and would mark the sheet. There seemed to be a small part of the print missing on sheet i liked the most which may of been due to missing that section with the heatgun.The technician advised that waterless lithography would never be perfect and at some stage you just have to come to terms with what you have.But I find that really hard to do unless it is a ‘happy accident’ and i like the end result. Luckily as a back up I painted with acrylic onto some transfer paper the design but due to time limitations I have had to book another session next to do that in.
Image painted with acyrilic onto transfer paper.
Next week I aim to try printing with the transfer paper and maybe try printing onto cloth and seeing how it goes.I can feel my impatience kicking in as I feel deperate to see the design as a flag allready but printing requires alot of patience which hopefully I will slowly learn that patience can pay off and results aren’t allways going to be instant but something that can slowly be worked on in time.
Scold’s Bridle which I viewed in the Mcmanus Gallery.A drawing made with sticks of the head cage derived from the Scold’s bridle.I wanted the painting to look almost primative and that it had prehaps been etched onto a wall or painted into a story book I used brown paper to help heighten this effect.I think I may use this effect to story tell with images.
I bound together the straw and willow branch with plaited twine.I felt like this was almost ritualistic and needed to be done as part of the process.The object was bound together which is a popular practice within witchcraft in order to protect someone or something.The object had ambiguity in working wel not only as a sculpure but also as a prop and painting tool.
I felt that the action of binding with the straw fit in quite well with a couple of the reasons witches may do binding. Particulary ‘controling a person’s behaviour,thoughts or emotions’
I then flicked the branch up and down in the paint before using it to paint the image of the red lady on the wall.The image looked as if it had been drawn with bloody nails and even the red paint that the straw lay in had a gory looking after effect to it.
I felt that this image worked well to represent the ghostly yet ghouly image of the red lady that would of been etched into every child and women’s head.‘Forever watching,forever waiting’
I deffinately felt that my work connected rather well with Cy Twombly’s lines.I thought it would maybe interesting to hand the things I make from the beach onto this tree.Oink!Found the marking on this piece of rock really interestingThe door to the abbey.A place where i hope to do potential filming I just need to find someone to film!Thought there was something really haunting about these lines as they reminded me of nail marks and the Cy Twomby painting above.Sadly these parts of the Abbey aren’t structurely safe enough to walk amongst.My favourite two findings are the rusted stick and rusted shape heart, I feel like they are just screaming to be welded together!!I wonder what they belonged to originally?
This week was alot about experimenting,trialing different ideas and seeing what worked and what didn’t.I also felt like it was quite a lsow week and I have been struggling with not really having anyone to bounce ideas off of in the studio.
I did however,find that it really helped having my one to one with one of the tutors this week.She really helped clear my head in regards to the whole performance/sculpture balance.She recomended that i do keept the performance aspect even if it is just the short films and maybe have a performance opening night of the exhibition then leave all the things i have made out and some films running.We talked over the idea of this dystophian world and the importance of the character having a backstory.Prehaps her character was invented by men in order to stop there wifes from gossiping and to keep them under control and these stories were told to young girls so that they would behave.We also talked about leaving bound items in the woods and punlic places etc.
We also discussed the myth of the red lady in the modern day world.What if she was like Bloody Mary or slender man?What if parts of her tale were true and the rest got lost in myth and then resurfaced as an internet myth?
Slender man was created on a ‘something awful’ online forum for a 2009 photoshop parnormal image contest.The myths were then expanded by fan fiction.The myth of ‘slender man’ encouraged two 12 year olds to lore their friend into the woods and stab her 19 times.Which infact seems more sinister then the myth itself.
Bloody Mary was used in the olden days by women in order to see their future husband in the mirror.They would either day it 3 or thirten times whilst holding a candle in a mirror and soemtimes when walking backwards upstairs.It is said you would either see the face of your future husband or they may see a skull or the face of the grim reeper instead.It is said that staring in the mirror for long spells in darkness actually causes hallucinations.
After watching ‘The First Monday in May’ on Netflix I was inspired by some of the faces cages on the catwork and the whole concept of fashion and art merging.So i drew up a design for a medevil style headpiece almost on par with a ‘scold’s bridel’ but without the mouthpiece as I wanted to show that altho she was free from her husband’s control she was still imprisoned within her own mind consistantly looking for revenge.
An original ‘Scolds bridle’Image drew whilst watching’the first monday in May’Using imagery to story tale.The brown crumbled paper gave an aged feel and the plaited twine holding it up made it feel like a medevil posted or warning sign.Head cage made using sticks.Playing with imagery in regards to a head cage,Development stages of a maquette used to measure out for making it with metal and to understand design flaws
I was encouraged by the welding technician that before trying to make the headcage,to try and make it from cardboard first so i could then take it apart,Measure the strips and then make it with metal,it would also point out where there might be difficulties as he predictied that making this kind of structure may prove troublesome but in order to problem solve it was best to make the maquette first.
The cardboard proved to be too heavy so never held the shape well enough and started to fall inwards.For some reason I had forgotten that maquettes are supposed to be made with card.Using card wouldn’t have as much give and therefore would hold much more like metal.
The card proved to be much easier and more light weight in regards to holding it’s shape.The card to however reveal a problem area which was in the top right corner which didn’t attach very well.
Added some Ivy that i found to the design but I feel that the centre part of the structure doesn’t stand out as much with the ivy around it.I think once the headpiece it made that i would like to try weaving around itSome cardboard packaging which i felt related well to the woven straw and twine on regards to asthetics but not in regards to material.
An Artist that was suggested to me by my one to one tutor this week was a previous student called Morgan Black who’s work focuses primarily on gender and who’s degree show imagined a past different from the one we know. I find their illustrations interesting,altho personally I prefer to do my illustrations by hand.I also like the artefacts that they have made outside.
Sekai Machache was another artist whom was mentioned to me.I find her performance pieces and costumes particulary striking especially in the surroundings she has choosen which provide the perfect surroundings.The way the colours reflect in the water is particulary striking.
Monster Chetwynd work was mentioned as her crazy bat lady image relays in a similar way to the red lady image.Altho the crazy bat lady imade has been created by cut up seperate images then glued together.I do appreciate and like the surreal quality of this image tho.I have created images like this in the past so may be a good idea to try and do something similar again.
This week I focused on more character development for whom I have now called ‘The red lady’I focused on a series of angry faces but reflecting back I think I need to add more menacing like what is seen in the short video I have made.
I experimented with a series of different ways of doing the eye make-up.Two eyes?One eye?Drawn with a brush?Drawn with fingers?I found that altho having one eye painted on worked well in the video as it exsagerrated that eye as I flew towards the camera and my hair covered the rest of my face.The primative look of the smeared on black snazeroo had a real viking feel to it and made the cahracter seem alot darker.
Favourite shot as I love how the crinkles in the corner of the eye causes themake-up to flicker up at the corners.
It is known that the vikings only wore make-up on their eyes,this was called Kohl and mainly made from a mix of antimony,burnt almonds,lead,oxidized copper,ochre,ash,malachite and chyrsocolla.
My future plan is to print a couple of these off using the printing suite for some good quality images (as the libary prints that i did were quite poor) and to hire a black and white film camera to take a couple of images with that too.As i think these would do well blown up.I also want to take a couple in the area where the lecture halls are in DJCAD as i feel like it has quite a dystophian feel which goes along quite nicely with my character.
Forging.
This week in the forging class I worked on something called a ‘pineapple twist’.This is achieved by heating the metal untill yellow and the scales are lost then squaring off the sides with a hammer.It was a very time pressured activity tho as I then had to take what looked like a wallpaper scraper and hammer it in the middle of each side untill it caused a groove.I had to hammer it into the same groove each time so if it had moved whilst hit i had to reposition it.I had to work alot on my hammering skills before I could do this tho as my hammering wasn’t as hard as it needed to be but once I got to making the twist my hammering was spot on which was really rewarding.The technician had said he wouldn’t judge me if i wanted to focus more on the metal work side of things but this was the worst thing he could of said because then I had to prove to him (and myself) that i could do it haha.My lines were straight (ish) but not bang on.I then had to twist the metal in the vice one way and then do it all over again then twist it the other.The results were alot better then expected for a first timer and it showed up quite well once i brushed it with the gold brush.I would like to go back and practice it again tho so that i can get the lines straighter.
You can see towards the left hand side where the scraper didn’t reach into the groove well enough.
A better view of the whole handle.Prehaps the is a likable touch to the almost primative quality of the handle not being quite ‘perfect’Last year during lockdown I climbed into the ruins of a fenced off castle on the east coast on a liff ledge (urban exploring is one of my favourite past times) and found what looks like an ancient poker.The technician reckons it has been in the sea at one point due to the sand-like crustaceans living on it.I don’t want to alter this object (mostly because I’m worried it will be worth money) but I would like to use it in some way as a prop.I may experiement with different ways it can be used.
Woven Sculpture
I found this piece of wood whilst filming in the forest which I felt was very vulva like.To start with i imagined it in some kind of choker (but it was a bit to death defying) haha.Then it just made sense to weave it into (what was originally) a bin lid (found in the forest whilst filming too).My future plan is to make the lid into some kind of trap/shield so I may take this apart again as I realise how important it is not to be attached to work so that it can be developed further.I also would quite like to try and make the wood into a headpiece.
Placed this experiment over the photo and realised it would look really interesting as a mask.Considered this piece to cover the mouth following on from the story that she was silenced by her husband but I feel that it looks to Hannibal Lecter!I decided to write out ‘The red lady is watching you’ as if it was written in blood with my fingers.But the piece was too big to fit anywhere.I love the sweeping gestural yet creepy effect of the writing.I may put it up in the corridoor..
I was inspired by Richard Ramirez’s satanic blood symbols that he would write using his victims blood.Apparently due to the oxysidisation of the blood once it is outside of the body it remains bright for a long period of time.
I had initally planned on filming myself walking throught the woods and disapearing at various points the re-appearing.But when filming it my friend who was filming said that you could really see any of the detail of the props/eye make-up when we were doing this. and that it would work better if i was coming towards the camera especially due to the way the light was hitting and nicely bouncing off of the headpiece I felt that i wanted to take advantage of that with some more closer to camera filming.My regret is that i didn’t get my friend to film horizontally for the shot.
I decided that i wanted the film to be grainy as I remember watching the new I.T at the cinema and being terrified of the scene where the scene in the book comes alive and it had a grainy quality to it and this is how i wanted this to seem that it had come straight out of an old horror book/scene.I wanted the image to be silent like a silent movie but I decided that the slow mo sounds were quite creepy within themselves.I do want to try a variation of other edits tho with and without music this week.
There doesn’t seem to be an awful lot of information about female warriors/tribes of the past (prehaps because the history books were mostly written by men)
But I particualry enjoyed reading about the wrath of Tomyris the queen of the Massaegetae and the vengeful way of which she waged war aganst the Persian King Cyrus the Great
‘…she took a skin, and, filling it full of human blood, she dipped the head of Cyrus in the gore, saying, as she thus insulted the corpse, “I live and have conquered you in fight, and yet by you am I ruined, for you took my son with guile; but thus I make good my threat, and give you your fill of blood.”
There are matriachal societies which exsist today such as the Minangkaubau in Indonesia where by the mothers and daughters pass down the family name and claim the inheritance etc.
Zadie Xa
A fellow class mate had told me to look at the work of Zadie Xa as her work corresponds to some of my character work.
I appreicate her mixture of discaplines and there is something to be said about how she used the space around her during her exhibitions.Altho her visual asthetic is more playful then mine.
This week was a busy week,inductions and my very first face to face crit since coming back!
But first of all we’ll start off with the Blacksmithing induction.
My intial idea was to make a shaman’s staff but it turned out that that idea was a little too adventurous. First of all we took some industrial metal rods and cut them up,We then filed the sharp edges off ready for heating up in the machine (of which I have forgotten the name)The rod slid into the machine but wasn’t able to touch to sides of the coil it went into otherwise you may be given an electric shock so the teacher had made a stand to use so that you could easily slide the metal into the machine.
This machine was used to remove any sharp edges on the metal.The metal must be held at either a 45 degrees angle or straight against it so that it didn’t get caught and fly from your hands.The machine used for heating the rod up.All of the grey scale from the metal must be gone and the metal must be yellow in colour before the metal is ready to be hammeredThe axel is what is used to lay whatever your hammering onto.In order to add the twist the metal but be clamped into the vice then clamped again and twisted.Depnding on how tight or how far you twisted the metal effected the final outcome of the lines!If the stick was slighly out of shape a cow hide hammer which is softer would help mould it back into shape.This was best done not when the metal had returned to it’s grey colour but still hot.The stick must be kept close to the leg and when hammering you must hold the hammer from the middle because as I found out,if you don’t it strains your wrist and makes everything much harder work then it allready is!In order to achieve the tip the metal must be continously hit from a certain angle whilst the metal is rolled to make sure all angles are equal.I found this very difficult to achieve especially within the time limit of trying to do it before the metal cooled again.As you can see the angle is still slightly off but not too bad for a first try.The gold tip was created simply by using a metal brush with gold coated steel wire on it which then transfered onto the mental when brushed with it whilst still hot.
Altho the idea was initatlly to make a shaman’s staff I feel that it was important to get the technique right first before trying anything more adventurous plus I ended up making an interesting looking arrow/wand which really isn’t too bad at all!
So for my crit this week I decided to use a performance art technique which I had seen used in the past.I told the handful of people in my crit to sit on the floor and i had choosen a spot in which to put a chair with the symbol i had choosen for my character above it.I went and put on my head piece and retrieved the arrow whilst letting suspense grow.I had also painted the symbol on my eye and was wearing the red cloak.
The feedback was what I was hoping to achieve,so therefore i felt that the crit was sucessful.Some of the feedback was as follows; ‘I hated it,I felt as if I was loosing my nerve.’ (this was from the woman whom squirmed) haha.
‘Sitting on the floor felt like being in a position of weakness,I felt small and un-nerved’
‘The symbol had an egyptian feel and made you look almost like a Spynx’
‘Thou shall not pass’
‘Dystophian,handmaids tale’
‘Alien like’
‘Plague mask’
‘Make-up very sci-fi,should of disapered mid way through someone elses crit and came back with it on’
‘It went from a fanciful fairytale to scifi’
‘Was wondering if there was going to be a speach’
‘Noise brought you back into the room’
It was suggested that i could also of used the staff/wand/arrow to point at different people.
In the future I could do a performance piece within the uni where I jump out on people.
Piece was reminiscent of Marina Abramovic where she sits and stares individually at each person who ques to sit infront of her.
I felt that personally I got the reaction that i wanted from the audience but as the tutor said it would of been interesting to see if i could of held composure should people of not of had their masks on.Which made me wonder how the people I saw do it how they managed.What did they think of?
I think i do want to use the staff as part of the act in the future as I feel that this character should remain silent and reaction should be caused by her movement and eye contact.Part of her back story is that she was tortured for being a tale tale and not allowed to speak so she inserts her control using other methods.I allways remember growing up that when me and my friend had been up to mischief her mum wouldn’t even say anything she would just give us a look that was more scornful and terrifying then a telling could possibly ever be and that it the kind of power that i want this character to purvey.
I don’t know how confident i feel about staring at people within the uni.I suppose within an art school environment your pretty safe but it’s deffinately not something I would want to try in public.I feel that i am happy to perform in a space that has been organised to perform in and I am interested in making short films but that is it.Ofcourse the publics reaction is allways going to be more interesting but there is also nothing more unpredictable or volatile then the general public and having worked with them for many years I wouldn’t feel safe,I mean after all a member of the public held a handgun to Marina Abramovics head when he was given the opertunity so anything is possible.
Is there anything more powerful then a stare?The eyes are the windows to our souls after all.
Lazercutting and Lino printing
I found lazercutting alot more technical then I thought it would be.I really struggle with anything technical due to my dyspraxia.I have a short term memory because of this and because there are so many instructions with anything digital/technical i get lost really easily and have to keep asking the tutor to repeat themselves.I still really enjoyed the process especially how unpredictable the end image is.I felt that my image turned out closer to the original image then anyone elses did as there’s were alot more detailed then mine.The small dots made by the lazer gave it a real pop art feel.It was difficult to get the esact right amount of ink on the lino cut (i have in the past put too much) and then when i got the right amount i managed to get a flek of ink in the middle of the symbol.It’s also difficult to get the print straight on the paper.But practice makes perfect and prints are deffinately something I want to take further in my work so I am currently in the process of booking an induction with the main print workshop.
Sandcasting.
Sandcasting was such a long and complex process,again alot longer then I thought it would be.The technician advised me that the process would normally be done over a couple of days but due to the restrictions and class sizes it now has to be done in a day.
The biscuits were first glued to a board of sorts,had a special kind of sand with oil in it added then a cast was made of that before the boards were drilled together and the liquid bronze poured in.Before this could happen tho it had to reach a certain temparture. (this was checked regulary by using a probe)The liquid travelled down the funnels made in the sand down to where the biscuit casts were.
The biscuits casts were then sanded down to get rid of the rough edges before being sandblasted.They were then taken to be painted using a certain paint that needed to be applied by using the heat of a welding gun.I choose to go for emerald green and magenta/blue.The biscuits then had waxed applied and were polished to bring closer attention to detail.
Before the paint and polishAfter the paint and polishThe outcome was deffinately worth the wait but I just don’t think I could see myself using the foundry in the future.I found the process far too time comsuming.Maybe it has something to do with my very short attention span but I like to work on serval things at the same time and sandcasting doesn’t really allow time for that and what if you go through such a long process just for the outcome not to be what you expected?!?I am glad however that I gave it a try.Nothing ventured nothing gained.
And for my next trick..
This weekend I plan on making a black and white silent movie in the woods.It will involve the character pacing amongst the trees and disapearing from one area then re-appearing in the next.I also have an idea for the character screaming at the camera in a silent rage.I would like to experiment with different music and sound in the background.(Hopefully I can get some asistance from the i.t lab with this)I like the thought of white noise playing whilst she screams but these things don’t allways turn out quite as you expect. This weekend I plan on making a black and white silent movie in the woods.It will involve the character pacing amongst the trees and disapearing from one area then re-appearing in the next.I also have an idea for the character screaming at the camera in a silent rage.I would like to experiment with different music and sound in the background.I like the thought of white noise playing whilst she screams but these things don’t allways turn out quite as you expect.
I have found myself becoming inspired by a mixture of different cultures,from witchcraft,to shamans to ancient egyptians to vikings!I think mainly because all these things have allways interested me.So it makes sense that i bring all these elements to my work.Oh and the more morbid the better.My Mum was allways worried about my obsession with The Return to Oz as a kid because I especially loved the part where the queen could choose a different head to wear from all the heads she had cut off and I guess my morbid frame of mind has continued ever since!
Objects bound in a banishment spell.
The aesthic,style and strength of a viking woman has allways been something to be admired..I want to bring parts of this into my character and the development.
I find the egyptian eye make up quite inspirational and also the power of the female queens.
I have also started to wonder if the warrior like/strongness of the character has become my alter ego.The strong part of me that has prehaps carried me throught the last few months and prehaps even the last few years.
I’m baaaaaack!And damn it feels good,after a turbulent nearly a year of being homeless,working in Orkney untill I found my feet again I have deffinately come back very reformed and very ready/eager for this semester to begin.
Because I had spent so long ‘out of the game’ it was hard to know where to start.So what better place to start then my blog itself.Looking back on my most previous post I occured and onimous hooded character who never had a chance for the character or costume to develop (certainly not technically anyway so I decided to start there.
I got so excited to start using the workshops that I imediately drew up a plan to make the bone mask into a metal mask and started off by looking at the shapes within the mask and making it more abstract so that it would work more effectively in metal,I also love the process cycle (i think that’s what it’s called) and how and object can change when made using different materials.
Original Bone headpiece using a birds breast bone and skullOmninous character,headpiece could also be flipped.Could the same effect happen using metal?
I decided that the shape made by the breast bone would work more effectively if this shape was cut into the metal.I decided that it would all be made using sheet metal.
I talked over what the process would be with the welding technician,I wanted to individually weld together individual sheets of metal to make the headband to be in keeping with the asthetics of the original piece but we soon realised it would be much easier to just bend a piece of thin metal to the size of my head.(A very big measurement due to my alien sized head)
Used a bucket to bend the metal around then hand clamps to clap it into place before using a clamp to hold it into place and weld it/file down rough edges.drew out the headpiece shape onto sheet mentalUsed a plasma gun to cut the shape out.
I decided that i prefered to use the shape that had fallen out of the sheet of metal rather then the shape that was left in it.Instead,I decided to use this spare sheet of metal to practice using the spot welder on(a piece of machinery which i find genius).I ended up really liking this little demo piece and wishing I could use it for something!I think i will deffinately use a similar technique for a future process.
Once I was confident and happy using the spot welding machine I attempted to attach the copper welding rods to the metal.Via trial and era I realsied that it would be too difficult to use the original one rod that i was intent on using as i wouldn’t be able to successfuly sandwhich the metal plate on top as it wouldn’t balance properly so i instead decided to use three to help the plate on top balance out better.However,once I added the three copper roads altho i intitally thought it looked better once I put it together i felt like it looked worse and that i should of just left it how it was.
Overall i think it was a good first attempt and alot of problem solving helped develop the process and the finished piece in ways I hadn’t expected.
Drawn using the left handContinous linedouble penA couple of developmental pieces drawn using different techniques as part of a process cycle after the handband had been sculpted,I really love how this accentuates the change,
I started working on a short film for this character and also wondered how i could attempt to use her in my crit on Tuesday.I decided that it would be interesting to see how this character could effect other people.I once did a performance workshop where one of the participants simply sat infront of the audience and just stared at each individually individually.I actuall found it really intimadating and felt that this would work well with the darkness of this chracter who is meant to be a mysterious myth and ledgend.
After pulling off the paint from a paint lid i realised it would look pretty cool on the eyeIdea for short black and white movieVariation of styles drawing the characterEye has an egyptian eye feel to it.Need to try out make-up and headpiece.works in progress.
The idea I have for the film would be a black and white silent stop motion style film.The only noise would be the zzzaaaaapp of the teleporting shamans stick/wand that would transport her to different places in the woods.
This week I also decided to visit a couple of local exhibitions to help inspire me again and get the ball rolling a couple of these included the Bauhaus exhibition at the Cooper Gallery.I was super hungry during my visit to this exhibtion so I didn’t spend as much time there as I wished so will re-visit again prehaps later next week altho I’m rather embaressed after mistaking one of the booklets that belonged to the exhibition as a freebie and having to do the walk of shame today in order to give it back.The part of the exhibition that really caught my attention was the black and white video at the end which was a recording of art students talking about the huge ‘gap’ between what was being taught in schools and what was being taught at unversity.This still seems very relevant today,why has nothing changed?!?
I also visted the DCA’S Ray Yen Song and Tako Taal exhibition,my particular favourite being Ray Yen Songs as I loved the mix of media which intertwinned,as it was based on family mythology it made me think about ideas of how i could intertwinne different media’s for my current project aswell as the mythical element.
I loved the textural element of the gown and how it displayed the mysthical creatures faces on it and that the faces of the monster were on everything even the shoes!
I finished off this week by looking at medievil torture devices for the head as mentioned to me in my tutorial the headpiece was quite reminiscent of one of them.Which as i have allways been facinated by the darker side of history but i also love high fashion so why not mix the two together!I also thought that prehaps the headpiece could be part of the characters tale was she tortured and then in turn haunted the land?
Was she pacing the land forever looking to get revenge against thoose who scorned her?The silent movie could be reflective of her now having her voice taken away by the contraption due to tales of her gossiping etc.
I also felt that the head piece had a shamanic feel to it with the one that was made from bone and the one after that so looked at a couple of shamanic headpiece,I feel like it would be interesting to see how the style of some of them would look if created with metal.
I love how the bits with the ovals at both side look similar to that of a woman’s ovaries.
Not being able to see the eyes gives a further air of mystery but how would the character otherwise interact with the audience?
Following on from last weeks prop making I started filming ‘Bojo’s buses’. I had originally planned on having the union jack on the wall behind Bojo but realised that it was better placed as a table cloth as it being behind Louis was far to distracting and almost visually ‘drowned him out.’I decided to have part of my quite regal looking mirror in the background as a sign of grandeur and have him sat on quite a country looking chair which occurs in the ‘batshit crazy old lady’ video’s.
Louis decided (of his own accord) to fill his cheeks with some of the wadding used for granma’s hair to pad them out and to help him mumble his speach
I felt that the air pockets padded the outfit out really well as i was able to wrap them round his body as opposed to using a pillow which we would only be able to use on one side.
It seemed a really obvious idea to have a jubilee commemoration mug which Louis had picked up from Burn’s yard one of our favourite places to resource scraps etc.
I wanted to make him as bumbling and childish as possible. Looking back, I do think I should have scruffed the top of his hair up a bit more bojo style. I then decided that to trial two end scenes one where Grandma has her normal glasses and the other where she has her surreal bug-like eyes and is feeling the picture with her eyes in order to connect to ‘her maker’; the almighty Bojo. I decided to give her some 18th century cupid’s bow lipstick. I felt that pulling that certain facial expression reminded me of Mrs Doyle especially with the red lipstick on. I also feel that due to the nose overshadowing her mouth the lipstick is needed so that you can see the expression on the mouth.
Overall I liked this video but not as much as bus shit-crazy old lady as i felt that that video was more atmospheric with the red lighting etc and i think i preferred the darker feel to the video. I am currently still gathering feedback on this video to see what people think in general. However, I do think that this video was a key stage in the characters development as seeing her with the bug-eyes and the lipstick on I easily envisioned her as a giant puppet like character and she reminded me of an artists work I saw online a few years back.
I feel that the character really needs stilts but I don’t really know how to approach this as I have little to no balance but I may ask around and see if there is anyone I know that does it or make stilts that I am able to stand on myself!
Also inspired by some characters I saw whilst watching Borat 2 and Frank I would like to create her a paper mache head with 3D eyes. I plan to work on these ideas in my reflective sketchbook over the holidays then start making at the start of the new semester.
Overall, I believe my project so far has been really successful, especially as I have never done any kind of comedy sketches before.
I’m unsure if I want to develop Boris’s character further or use his character again but I definitely want to progress the old lady’s character further.
If the pandemic was non-existent i would plan on making some kind of bus and projecting onto it. If money was no option I would use a real bus to project onto, or have people be able to climb onto the bus and watch different performances on different 1970’s style television screens with headphones but make the bus as surreal as possible so that the person journeying around the bus almost became part of a fully immersive experience.
This week I added the finishing touches to Bojo’s bus and wig. I realised that the finishing touches to the bus just had to be the union jack. Due to Bojo’s being the embodiment of ‘British and proud’ and because of Brexit. I also bought a 5ft by 3ft union jack to pin up in the background for filming. I searched the charity shops and bought an oversized shirt, blazer jacket and tie for £1.99 each was a really affordable student price. I also liked the fact the shirt hadn’t been steamed as it added to the look of Bojo’s well known unkempt ‘scruffiness’ I also had ‘air pillow packaging’ to wrap around under the shirt.
Bojo’s wig riding on the back of ‘Bojo’s buses’
To make the wig I simply took the bald cap I had used for the old lady on one occasion and super glued sheep’s wool to it. To start with I added far too much wool and somehow didn’t realise this until i tried it on Louis’ head and realised he looked like Rick from Rick and Morty instead. This would make absolutely no sense especially due to the fact that Bojo notoriously has very fine fly-away hair. So i began to pull tufts out, spread the sheep’s wool with my fingers to make it look thin so that you could see the scalp and pinch sections of the hair towards the middle of the scalp and backcomb it with my fingers. I’m am very pleased with the finished results as I didn’t predict it would turn out as well as it did. One of my classmates said it needed to be more yellow, but Bojo’s hair is so blonde that it is verging on white and adding yellow (which i had at one point plotted to do after receiving that comment by doing a ‘dye bath’ with turmeric) would make the wig seem more like Trump. I looked up Boris’s caricature from spitting image and his hair is white blonde which confirmed that i had in fact made the right decision. Even tho i felt that the wig in general had turned out well, I had to come to the realisation that Louis’ head and face shape wasn’t the same shape as his; but in the long haul I realised that this didn’t matter as Louis was so good at the impersonation that people would without a doubt know that he was impersonating Boris. Also did how he look matter so much as long as the comedic effect was there?
Tufts were too thick
I used my painting shirt to improvise and pad out the bald cap.Next time it would be good to get hold of a dummy head.
As you can see there is an immediate difference between the thick wig and the thinner wig
A few photo’s of the wig and the bus with the old lady and Willy Johnson.I feel that the wig takes on lots of human traits in these photo’s.
This week I had a crit with Ellie Harrison and a few other classmates.This crit got very positive feedback,Ellie mentioned prehaps submitting some of the films to comedy festivals which i am going to do over the Christmas holidays.One of my fellow classmates said ‘What if she becomes the bus?’ And i felt like this was a very big Eureka moment!So i started to sketch out a few potential ideas…
The idea of her becoming a bus amuses me greatly and hopefully would have that reaction in other people.I started to think what material would work the best,would MDF be too heavy? Would cardboard work well enough?How would i attach it to my body?I plan on thinking these things over during the Christmas holidays ready for the next semester.
A lot of people had asked me ‘what is bus shit crazy old lady’s backstory?’ and it’s been at the back of my mind for a while now.My partner who is also on the course is passionate about politics and often does impression of Boris Johnson (Bojo) it just so happened that one day he was doing an impression of him when he was interviewed about his hobbies and talked about making buses from wine carriers. It then occurred to me; Bojo created her!
The absurdity of this man and the fact he is prime minister makes him the perfect creator of ‘bus shit crazy old lady’ on her bus.
I didn’t have a wooden wine carrier (I’m not Bojo after all) but I did have a cardboard box and an egg box and some foam which i used for the seats.I wanted the bus to look as childish as possible but also link materials to the wig/eyes.The wires are from the eyes/wig and follows on with the theme of ‘the cable connects’ Bojos son ‘Willy Johnson’ is of course included. His eyes are triangles which will connect with the short film I am about to make of which the bus is a prop for. The film will of course show Bojo making the bus, but an abstract/surreal version of Bojo which will connect with the characters through the reoccurring use of materials. This will be a collaboration with my partner Louis as his theme for his project is mostly political and features Bojo in some parts so this fits in really well. It also really helps having Louis there to bounce ideas off of. Especially when there are very few people in the studio. We want to get across the absurdity of Bojo in a avant-garde fashion and also identify his racist traits. I want him to almost be like the creator of Frankenstein.
A couple of sketches related to the short film and prop or costume design. I intend to make Boris’s wig from the sheep’s fur included in batshit crazy old lady’s wig. I want to include him pulling a bit of his hair out and adding it to the props head.
I decided to further develop the eyes taking them to a whole new abstract/surreal level.Inspired by some of the surreal elements of Shana Moulten’s whispering pine video’s.And also some of the characters from ‘The mighty boosh’
I used a coffee cup holder to create the eyes along with packaging foam that was also used in the wig to create the eyes.I also used that same packaging foam to create an attachment for the head.At first I noticed that the eye mask was slopeing too far forward with just having the foam band attached to the sides so i decided to attach a band to the middle of the front and the back in order to pull it up and back a bit.I also cut a hole to allow room for my noise.Altho i found this a little uncomfortable so i may add some padding to that part.
This week i was finding it hard to get motivated but found it helpful that i had left notes for myself last week guiding myself as to what i was doing.I feel this is something that would be quite useful in the future considering the circumstances and only being in the studio for a day and a half a week.
During my one to one i had mentioned to my tutor about potentially being able to sit in on costume tutorials and how i would go about doing such things as i think it might offer a great influence to my work having some techniques to add.
I would also like to add some more inspiration in regaurds to 17th century hair and make-up.
We were asked to write an artist’s manifesto and to create it in any such way we pleased but then told how to structure it and what we should listen to and read before we write it; and that it would help us ‘realise the artists we are’.
I find this completely absurd because at this level in your education you should not be ‘discovering’ the artist you are, you should know who you are as an artist and your values, morals and principles. I also feel quite offended by the fact that I’ve entered this level of education at 32 years of age and get given information which tells me or should ‘inspire’ me to write my own manifesto.
I decided to write a spoken word piece inspired by my viewpoint on the establishment which I feel has leaked into the university. I was mistaken in thinking that DJCAD wouldn’t stand for such things but i have been proven wrong in the consistent lack of diversity from the speakers programme.
My manifesto comes from a place of honesty, truth, passion and justice for all artists no matter what their class, race or religion.
I have never performed spoken word before, only written poetry so this was a first time for me and this video is just a draft performance as i know i still need to edit parts and i also plan on trying different ways of performing this. One way i have considered is by having a Farmfoods bag on my head whilst i perform it and taking it off when it comes to the last line. My only issue is that due to my dyspraxia my short term memory isn’t the best but I am willing to give it a try and hope that my nerves don’t distract me!
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