Semester 2 week 5 Tools and Ghouls.

18th Feb 202220th Feb 2022 | harussell1

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.

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.

https://youtube.com/shorts/4wepq59k0GQ?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/7L_Wvh19uDw?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/Hvay6XEP3MM?feature=share

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.

Semester 2 Week 4 TRial and error.

14th Feb 202215th Feb 2022 | harussell1

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.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3058915/the-first-monday-in-may-throws-gasoline-on-the-debate-of-is-fashion-ar

Designed by Alexander McQueen for the New York Met Gala.

https://dygtyjqp7pi0m.cloudfront.net/i/36328/31252773_1.jpg?v=8D6159642A10370

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.

Image drew whilst watching’the first monday in May’

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 it

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.

https://www.dundee.ac.uk/masters-showcase/2021/morgan-black

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.

A Hint of Blue

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.

Semester 2 Week one (the return)

22nd Jan 202223rd Apr 2022 | harussell1

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 skull

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.

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.

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 eye

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?

A shamnic headress made from bone prehaps?

Group Crit for 3D Practice

6th Dec 2019 | harussell1

(Forgot to get a photo of the piece with the projection)

I think the feeback was overall positive for my crit,I had spent almost half a day prior experimenting with the positioning of the projector.Initially I wanted the projection of my video to be above my sculpture.Whenever I tried to angle the projector in order to do this the projection ended up squint.I then wondered what the projection would look like projected onto the sculpture and around it.Altho I was unsure of this to start with this seemed to be a sucess at the crit and recieved positive feedback.At my pervious feeback it was mentioned to me prehaps projecting onto the headpiece.I tried many differents ways of trying to do this from projecting from the other end of the room to trying to bring the size down on the projector itself but this did not seem poisible.I also think (from partially seeing some of the projection on the headpiece) that even if i was able to bring the video down to the size of the headpiece it would be so distorted that I don’t think it would of been visable and it was important to me that the video was fully visable.

Feedback.

It was mentioned by tutors and peers that they prehaps would not of dipicted the meaning as being about PTSD.The teacher questioned if this was actually important that the meaning was known and that prehaps it should challenge peoples thinking into making up their own minds about it also that the video had a ‘hook’ which kept the viewer interested in it and as a stand alone piece.
Aesthetic experience was a success
I should explore the video aspect further prehaps looking into more sensory aspects such as sound.Also how else can I show the mental aspects of weight in a physical sense?
I should prehaps of doccumented the making of the headpiece especially the binding of the thread.
The tutor also commented that this was a breakthrough project.

3D Practice/Development.

2nd Dec 2019 | harussell1

As my ideas have started to progress more I have started to think about different ways I could show how PTSD controls the body in a visual format.I asked a peer to tie voile which I had attached to the headpiece around my body.Looking at the photographic documentation I feel that it looks too sexualised especially where it is tied around the breasts.I feel that it should of just been tied on my arms and legs.Being the model myself it was hard to have the perspective not being able to see it from an outsiders point of view and only being able to give directions.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DpvIL1Wsiwv3WiJRG-N7dkKfugnDVb9u

I started to play about with the movement of bricks with the weight of the bricks within my hands in these shots which I feel worked sucessfully in portraying my message of the heavy weight that PTSD bares especially when avoidance comes into play.

I decided to create some video’s showing the bricks appearing one by one weighing down that person physically and mentally.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DubF1LyT6B5V1fhgGUMJrD1PXoawUUMg

I then decided to look at different ways the headpiece could be displayed as a sculpture and coincide with the video’s made which would project in the background.

I decided to choose the first option as I felt that it visually worked the best and turned the headpiece almost into some kind of creature within itself greedy to hold onto the bricks.

3D Practice/Group Crit.

28th Nov 2019 | harussell1

During my group crit it was observed by the tutor and fellow peers that i had some strong ideas,I had mentioned prehaps making some cylinder resin casts and was told that maybe I should just continue to focus on how my film will be viewed and how my sculpture will take part in this.Will the film be projected onto it?Above it?And to prehaps trial using the televisions too.

I decided to try and project onto the head piece itself but the lens was too big.I tried moving the projector as far away as possible from it and scaling the size using the lens (as advised by the technician but still no luck.I liked the look of how the film projected so decided i wanted to keep it that way and display the headpiece somehow with the bricks under/around/infront of it.I have done some experimentation with how to display this but need to experiment further.

I was also asked if I would be adding more to the headpiece so I said yes,as I plan to add safety pins,wire,black elastic and thread and prehaps attach some voile from the head to the arms to show how the brain controls the bodies actions during PTSD.

Alien like structure attaching head to arms.

Tried to create an almost ‘cobweb’ effect with the thread to show how long PTSD can effect someone for.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CuFsv_N5F-AKljr3ciFl4w40YfGxqqrb

Projection projected onto studio wall.Black and white is really effective against the white background.

3D practice

28th Nov 20196th Dec 2019 | harussell1

Mind Mapping and jotting direct responses to memories

Through mindmapping I decided to focus on PTSD and the void that is created in that person’s head by disassociation with the event itself and in turn that person usually attempts to busy themselves in order to distract from the events that happened.I wanted to created a physical form that was representative of the void in that persons head.I also wanted to look at the physical presence of weight and relate it to the weighing pressure of traumatic events that weigh down that persons mind.

I felt inspired by looking at Rebbecca Hornes body modificationa such as Einhorn (unicorn)

I also felt that ‘the void’ tied in well with my last project.I enjoyed this theme and wish to continue it into this one I also decided to use bricks and bring the use of not only the sound but the physical presence back in aswell

Mona Hatoum’s piece ‘performance still’ 1985. I found myself quite interested in the thought of using the body to drag/push something.And using items of meaning to do so.

Iwanted to experiment with some performance art pieces down by the sea which is connected with being spiritually healing.I wanted it to symbolize there being healing availible out there but due to the block the void causes ultimately avoidance is put in place weighing that person down.I decided to use black and white to create more of a serious atmoshpere.I specifically choose a day where it was misty and rainy/windy to create and atmosphere aswell.The wind also created interesting shapes on the t-shirt which resembles waves. (This can be seen more clearly in the video below)In some of the face on standing shots it is also hard to tell whether the body is facing forwards or backwards giving an alien like feel and connecting with the alienation that person may feel.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BtKmxlOantsJh5k5um-prmR8inBMscBs

I decided to experiment with face paint as I think I might use this for my performance piece.I created one and and a peer did the other.I think it connects well to the mask people use every day to cover this dehibilitating mental condition

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Cogd_plrRglgCpaWR13gGSpGZ0g14Agi

The revel!

Installation

9th Nov 2019 | harussell1

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.