In this workshop we viewed many different artist installations in a presentation as inspiration for making our own.
We were asked to spend 10 mins in silence taking in the room we had been working in for the last week,making mental notes about the size,feeling we got from it,structure etc etc.
We were then split into two groups.Our group only consisted of four people in comparison to the other group which was much larger.
I found this task particulary difficult mostly because we had to work as a group and I felt that one half of the group did not take any ideas from myself and another person within the group So I didn’t feel that I had any influence on any of the ideas or that I could identify with any of the final outcomes.
I felt that the other groups ideas were alot more sucessful as they seemed to think on their feet where as our group spent more time thinking then making and would last min throw something together and hope for the best.
Image with the chairs and red board was meant to be about creating a safe space within such a cold clinical room and creating a barrier from the other installation yet inviting people to look at it also.
Other image was about reflecting the slant of the ceiling.
In this workshop we took elements of what worked in our sculptures and made it into casts.I had taken a series of close up photo’s of my sculptures and decided to focus on features such as vessels had made in the clay,the folds of the clay and the shape of the holes in one of my sculptures.I also decided to look at the form of one of my sculptures too which had a very femine form which i felt related to the vessel like shape and to combine these two shapes together.
I had to remind myself of how to create these shapes in order for them to have the desired effect in the resin.On the first piece i forgot to invert the folds in order to make them come out so did this on a second attempt.I feel that the most simple cast using the vessel form and femine shape was the most effective and therefore I decided to make three armatures based on this shape using a mixture of chicken wire,hessian and thick plaster mix to give a more textured approach. I created a big piece and two smaller,one free standing and i cut the chicken wire at the bottom of the smaller piece and bent it and did the same with the larger piece altho this may not be the best approach due to the height and i proberly should of added more plaster to the bottom in hindsight.
Vessel like shapes created on the back
‘Folds started to have an almost ear like quality about them.
We were then asked to take our favourite medium and favourite qualities from the pieces we have made and to make a ‘resolved’ piece. Iniatially I aimed to make a clay piece based on the vessel shapped pieces but I really struggled to get the form right and the piece kept becoming too ‘top heavy’ again. I then turned it onto it’s side and when i did this was reminded of the fold shape that I had been using also and decided that this natural development within the process had worked to my advantage and therefore decided to move with this and created lots of these folds on top of two hole like shapes whilst adding in the vessel type shapes at the back.This taught me to be less precious about my work and to experiment more as felt that there was a more sucessful outcome from this and the mixture of techniques worked well.
A collection of everyones works together.I thought it was interesting to see everyones different techniques and pieces together.
In this workshop we were introduced to a variety of techniques that can be used when sculpting clay.These techniques included hitting the clay with blocks of wood,punching it, and sculpting it with wire. We were reminded not to make the sculpture too ‘top heavy’ which is something I really struggled with and it seemed the more I tried not to the more it happened.The soloution I found to this was often to turn the sculpture onto it’s side.
As you can see from the images above each technique had a very different outcome.After our first initial technique of punching the clay we had to respond by drawing it and then make another piece.Continuing with the developmental loop.I think the two techniques I liked the most and found to be the most sucessful was using the sticks and the wire.
I found that there was a very relaxing meditive quality to working hands on with the clay and really getting involved with the medium.It was pretty unpredictable to work with but gave some interesting results.
Today we went for a 15 min walk after watching a presentation about various sculpture artists over the centurys for inspiration. On the walk we were asked to make mental notes of words that related to our surroundings.
My first free formed sculpture.Can’t say I was best pleased with the way it turned out.As I felt that it lacked too much in the way of dimension especially when compared it to fellow classmates.
Once back in the studio we made small free formed paper sculptures based on these mental notes, and then worked within a developmental loop drawing from the sculpture then sculpting from the drawing using select items such as paper,paper straws,cardboard and wire.
Form is starting to come together more.But still doesn’t have enough of a 3D aspect to it.
To start with I really struggled to construct and think in a 3D format but once everybody talked about their work and i got to view other works I felt inspired and my work started to take on a more sculptural form. We were also allowed to refine one of our pieces after talking about it which really helped to see the strengths and weaknesses.We were told to makesure that our sculptures were viewable from every angle.
One challenge I particulary enjoyed was drawing the sculpture using charcoal then trying to fit the sculpture into the drawing.I felt that the composition I choose worked well due to the fact the straws lead your eye around the shape.
Decided to simplify the shapes that could be found in the diamond structure within the last piece I made and make them into a mobile structure inspired by Alexander Calder’s work seen earlier in the day during the presentation. https://images.app.goo.gl/8rGMk5CYz1gaxLYj7
Due to us spending next week at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop we were given an induction where we were introduced to all the diferent machines within the wood workshop.We were then asked to do practice pieces using these machines before being given several pieces of wood and asked to make a final piece using the equitment provided.
I felt quite aprehensive about using the machines as it’s not an environment that I am used to and there is alot of danger attached to using these machines should you loose focus or not follow the safety guidelines.Over the course of the afternoon tho I did start to feel slowly more confident.
Final piece.Decided to go for something very simple based on one of the shapes produced during my 2D work and hung as a final piece.The triangles used very thin wood and would be quite intricate to cut on the bandsaw so decided to use a table saw as a normal saw seemed to be too heavy and splintered the ends of the triangles.Forgot to sand the triangles which you can see by the rough edges.
We got to have a sneak peek at an exhibition currently taking place within the sculpture workshop and also work in progress which included a pair of (legally aquired) silver casted swans wings which could of been interpretted as angels wings.Also alot of bronze/silver casted items that looked like they belonged to a movie set such as a giant set of horns,gas mask,shoes.We were encouraged to talk to artists using the workshops to find out about the processes they are using in order to inform our own processes.
Work I selected and decided to feature on the gallery wall.
A couple of pieces that were decided as stronger pieces that prehaps I should of featured in comparison to what I did.
We decided to use the new gallery space within the college in which to feature our work.I had alot of resolved pieces that i was torn between but didn’t want to hang them all up.Looking back I realise that i should maybe of asked members of the class which were my strongest pieces before hanging them.For some reason I also thought that only your more recent pieces could/should be hung.The tutor reminded me that this is not the case.As alot of the class believed my earlier abstract shapes within space worked better and were alot stronger and had more potential to move forward into other medias such as digital animation.This is an idea I have allready considered and plan to use noise with it such as the scraping noise of a brick against concrete with it. It was recomended that prehaps I look at some Russian animation by the tutor.
Workshops : Working with collage,I felt that it allowed me to process a lot of ideas in a short space of time and alltho collage did not end up being a part of my final piece i felt that the development helped my thought process.Working with mixed media has always been a strength of mine but using the photocopier to produce different versions of the images I had created definitely added strength to my work as a whole and helped towards more of a resolved piece.
Altho my screenprint was strong I tended to apply too much paint when working on lino/mono prints so the image wasn’t particularly crisp but there was a couple of ‘happy accidents’ where the paint had created marks which looked intended.Emulsion on wood/paper I found effective but I struggle to stick to just paint without involving other media.
Development I found that the best way to develop and refine my ideas was to look at what had been working and what wasn’t. Collage was successful in producing ideas but it was straying too far away from my theme and did not have the minimalist ‘void’ approach I was looking for.My minimalistic mixed media/experimental paint approaches seemed to work the best so I decided to create as many different experiments as possible before photocopying the images and reversing the colours.I think finding out what works best and creating many paint/mixed media experiments worked to my advantage.
Outcomes My best outcomes came from the most minimalistic and perhaps less considered (to a certain extent) approaches.Such as my paint experiments/mixed media photocopied pieces. Worst outcomes was definitely working with lino/mono print but I think this comes with refining the technique.
Time Management: I felt that my time was managed effectively throughout each workshop and when working towards my final pieces.But I felt that I should have spent more time editing and selecting my final piece and perhaps should of asked my peers opinion in order to help develop my own.I think this has been a learning curb and will remind me in the 3D project to take a more considered approach when it comes to the final selection process
Questions that were brought up during the crit was whether I would think about furthering the typography as it seems to of worked well.I agreed with this and also the fact that the backwards writing worked well with the acetate and that maybe I should think about taking it further later on in the project.
Was asked about whether I had used printmaking and whether I had considered prehaps using this more.My reply was that I didn’t like the texture of printmaking because it didn’t photocopy very well and looked quite grainy.I was looking for a smoother effect in order to keep the illusion of ‘the void’.
Alot of people agreed that using the acetate was a good idea as it greated nice shapes and that it was evident that I had looked at early work and progressed it.
Reflecting back I feel that the group crit was pretty sucessful as I was able to identify how the project should move forward.I think i need to think alot more about the strengths and weaknesses within my work so that I am better enabled to identify which pieces are the strongest when it comes to the editing process when hanging final pieces.
Today I took my emulsion and ink experimentations from yesterday and photocopied them using the reverse to negative effect on the photocopier.I experimented with the placement of the pieces trying to give the effect that they were floating through the void. Inspired by Kasimir Malivich’s work I decided to use abstract shapes amongst mark making
I decided to use lines in some of my experimentations to resemble claw marks/frustration at the system.A feeling of despair and hopelessness floating within an empty void being ignored by the system,public etc etc.Experimentation with Acetate.I like the way the bright colours make there way throught he dark acetate but I feel like this piece may be too ‘busy’ with colours and shapes and not the minmalistic abstract approach that I am looking for.However I really like the effect the acetate has and hope to use it when looking at more of a resolved piece
Decided to pin to my wall the more sucesssful pieces and think of how these can be brought forward into a final piece.
I think most pieces turned out how I expected them to.
After a discussion with my tutor,we tried to look at what direction my work was going in and which direction I wanted to take it in.
Altho aesthetically I liked my collage work I felt like it was too ‘busy’ and did not reflect the core of my subject.I decided that it was time to refocus on ‘the void’.Advised by my tutor I took down all my collage work from my studio wall and moved it to my other wall so that I could still reference it if need be.
Reflecting back on my work I also realised that the more minalmalistic work worked better and the darker tones.Since my usual style is anything but minalmalistic and full of contrasting colours I decided it would be good to challenge myself.
The work I decided to focus on was my mixed media photocopied work.I intend to make a series of developed works focusing on this feeling of ‘void’ but continuing to use emulsion paint and ink aswell as abstract shapes.I want to focus on different tones of dark and light and experiment with the use of it.I like the kind of ‘heavenly’ glow that appears from the darkness in my photocopied piece of the ink with blue triangles.I also aim to work on a variety of different scales.Ideally I would like to work on a very large scale but I don’t think this would be very realistic due to the timescale.And does it really need to be large in order to create a feeling of being in some kind of void?There is also the possibility that I focus all my time souly on that one piece and it doesn’t give me the desired effect in comparison to the variety of works I could produce working on smaller pieces.
A couple of minmalistic works I have looked at for inspiration are:
Black square also fits in well with the black forboding backgrounds giving the spac elike appeal.I really like the texture that black square has.
Donald Judd Unititled 1972 Altho this is a 3D piece there is still a feeling of ‘void’ about it.A kind of ‘Is it empty is it full?’ question I feel is raised when you see it in a photographic form.I want my piece to be minimal but evoke a feeling of emotion from the audience. Carl Andre-Magnesium Square. I like the different tones of the squares and the way they reflect in the light.Dan Flavin ‘Momnument’ This piece reminds me of my ink piece with the light coming through.I also like the use of the oblong shapes creating a feeling of movement within the darkness.
Born
December 16th 1965 in Providence Rhode Island.She is referred to as
African American.She is of biracial ethinicity:her fathers ethinicity is from
Cape Verde in western Africa (but he was born in the United States) and her
mothers background was Caucasian Irish Catholic. Gallagher is an American
abstract Artist who became reckonised in 1995.Her work has been shown in many
solo and group exhibitions and her work is part of the permanent collections of
many major museums.
The
media she uses is paint,work on paper,film and video.Some of her pieces refer
to issues of race,and many combine formality with racial stereotypes and depict
‘ordering principles’ society imposes.
In
those themes relating to race she sometimes uses pictographs,symbols,codes and
repitisions. ‘Sambo lips’ and ‘bug eyes’ refer to Black Minstrel shows and are
often seen through out her work.
Her
infuences include the paintings of Agnes Martin and the repetitive writings of
Gertude Stein.Some of Gallagers works involve repitively modernising
advertising found in African American focused publications such as Ebony,sepia and our world’.Her most
famous pieces are of magazines grouped together in larger pieces.Each of these
works contain more then 60 prints employing techniques of photogravure,spit
bite,collage,cutting,scratching,silkscreen,offset lithography and hand
building.She is also known to glue notebook paper drawings to her canvases in
order to create texture.
‘Deluxe’ 2004-2005
Some
of her early influences while attending
the school of the museum of fine Arts in Boston were the Darkroom collective,a
group of poets living and working out of Innman square Cambridge.
Heather's blog 