Third Year Second Semester

28th Jan 202323rd Apr 2023 | harussell1

‘Bird flu is the new oil spill’

Week 1

After reflecting back on last semesters work I decided to continue with the work I did for the landscape module as this had worked successfully which after lots of contemplation I realised was due to the fact that I was pulling my information more from fact then from my imagination.

Contamination station!

I realised that the performance art/photography and gestural mark making had worked well but I thought about the subject matter and how the dying birds became part of the ground and part of the soil and that it made sense to connect that to clay.Talking to the claywork technician we discussed the contamination side of the project and how clay had to be separated so that it didn’t contaminated each other and about the cleaning process.We also talked about how due to my dermatitis (a condition I have had for the last few years which has put me off using clay)would mean I would have to wear gloves which linked in with the contamination aspect aswell.So I decided to film myself with the gloves on making the clay figures.

Inspiration

Daniel Silver

I started off wanting to make a gnarly looking seed which could be filled with oil but which would also leak oil thus representing life and yet destruction.But as I started the process I found myself somehow creating vessel like creatures.Strong and hench which I felt was inspired by Daniel Silvers creatures that I had viewed in his exhibition during the summer.I personally liked how each piece had it’s own characteristics whether it had facial features or not.I feel that the one piece that didn’t have facial features was the most sucessful of them all.

This piece was pieced with holes in the middle so that oil could flow from it and it could therefore contaminate the other sculpures aswell as intimidate with the structure.The top part was created with Donald Tumps mouth in mind in relation to the oil indusrty.

Photoshop

I decided to experiment with adding my gestural work to my performance work.I fel that it was sucessful in expressesing the movement of the wings.

My favourite piece as the gestural mark on the wing shows it’s upwards motion.

INSPIRATION

Idris Khan

The above piece inspired the edit of my performance work by adding layering of my gestural work but only via photoshop where as Khan’s work seems to be a mixture of printwork and photography.

Reflection.

Upon reflection I feel that the first week back was really sucessful.I felt fully charged from having spent the previous week in Berlin and Amsterdamn and having viewed work from the KW art institute and the Contemporary Fine Arts Collection.Claywork really helped kick the process off giving way to lots more ideas.I can’t wait to glaze them in two weeks time and pour oil through them.I sent a few pictures to friends and asked for words that came to them when they saw them and ‘corruption’ ‘power’ and ‘greed’ were some of the words which enabled me to know that i as on the right track.It will be interesting to see how the works also evolve when they are glazed.

WEEK 2

Gestural Mark making

Experimental mark making using watered down oily mud found from the beach mixed with black watered down acylic.The black and brown representing Oil before and after it is photo oxidised by the sun.I felt that this piece was particulary effective at highlighting the issue and also my emotions of anger felt towards it with the splatter and explosions of the ink and mud had quite a rebellious ‘punk’ feel to it.

‘The birds’

All three pieces were made using a bamboo stick dipped in the muddy oil,the skeleton of a bird beak and a piece of rock found on the beach for the parts where the bird has been killed in a ‘Mercy killing’ which was the case of some birds i found in Orkney. Altho I like these pieces asthetically I think that they are to gentle and almost ‘poetic’ aswell as literal.I discussed this with a tutor and he said that there was nothing wrong with the work being ‘poetic’ and that the point can still be expressed and maybe to use words as a sideline to co-incide with the destress that the bird feels.

Gestual drawing made using a bamboo stick.

Inspiration

My gestural work was inspired by this scratchy looking Tracey Emin print.

‘Constructivism’

Altho this takes on a more structured approach the colours and marks made are really interesting.

Jerry Springers ‘final thought’

This week was a very productive one,due to most of the studio being away in Berlin I was able to use most of the floor space to do lots of messy markmaking/gestural work which really got me into the swing of things because the main thing is to get into the motion of the swing of things and get the ball rolling of the thought process becomes stagment.I feel that this weeks work was sucessful in expressing my thought pattern but especially the poured paint/expressive mark making in expressing the problem mixed with my anger over the issue.

WEEK 3

Bunrt wood found on the beach I have been using as charchol,bird bone as a tool and sculpture.

Bird bones found on the beach in Orkney (I proberly shouldn’t of collected them due to bird flu but I haven’t died yet so should be fine) Created this sculpture from them to represent the unnatural contortion of the bird’s body when in pain from bird flu which causes them to stretch their bodies into unnatural positions.I then decided to use the sculpture as a mark making tool to great tally marks representing the amount of death’s due to bird flu which was inspired by the quote I found from a news article which stated ‘It’s not just a pandemic,it’s a catastrophe’.I also used some cracked plaster that I found which i felt perfectly symbolised the fragility and vunerability of not only life but the life of a species which isn’t human and not able to speak up for itself.A species very quickly being killed off,a species that may one day become instinct because nobody spoke up for them and the goverment never cared.

Gestural marks created using a bird beak,bird bone sculpture/tool and charchol found from the beach.I found that this excercise worked alot more sucessfully then I thought it would And i think next week i would like to try it on a much larger scale on the wall and by attaching the found object sculpture to a bamboo stick with twine.

Experimental piece using clay on a bamboo stick on some packaging paper.I liked the fact that this had a very primitive look to it and looked almost like a found piece

Glazes

Particualry pleased with were the darker glaze hit as this was esactly what I was wanting.

I suspefically choose glazes that were either black or brown or would like like they were contaminating each other when they had been fired by looking through samples and discussing with the technician the kind of ‘gnarly’ effect I was looking for this seemed best.I also used different methods of ‘dipping’ the sculptures into the glazes.using painting brushes to flick and drip the paint on.Due to a large majority of my work having not been fired due to it being too wet Sean advised that i could ‘wet glaze’ but this came with the risk that thoose particular pieces may ‘collapse’ in the kiln depending on how wet they got so i had to be careful not to put too much glaze on them.I am excitied to see how and mor particulary (if) they work out!

Reflection

This week was particulary a sucessful week for mark making and I can’t wait to try it out on a larger scale in regards to the ‘tally marks’.Glazing has been particualry a case of ‘trial and error’ and i have more to glaze next week but i am also anxious as to how this weeks sculptures will of glazed and whether or not they will of survived the kiln.It seems to be alot of ‘trial and error’ mixed with alot of patience (which is something i really struggle with as I like to work fast and see instant results).

Week 4

Mark making continued.

I decided to use the found object sculpture in a different way by attaching it to a bamboo stick.

Inspired by tribal and cult-like shaman’s staffs I decided to use the bird sculpture as a tool in a different way,I also felt that this would work well in regards to ‘contamination’ working with the bones of the bird at a distance.

The bamboo stick didn’t allow for much flexibility so was hard to get the lines I hoped to get with it so I ended up removing the bone sculpture from the stick and using it how I had done previously by hand.To start with I wasn’t really liking the painting but I decided to just keep going with it because nothing ventued nothing gained and if I don’t like it then I can allways paint over it with white emultion and start again. I used a variation of methods in the end and brought together the symbol for the molecules mixed with the lines from the tally mark and some paint/mud thrown on top to represent the oil contamination.I experimented with the gannets being in different positions but decided to give the appearance of either several gannets falling of one gannet falling stage by stage in the black rain of death.I feel that this piece has grown on me over the last few days aswell as it having had good feedback and fellow classmates stopping to look at it.

Winged creature

Final glazed creature which I am really happy with.

I think that working in clay has really helped my creative process incredibly well by helping me to build more ideas in a 3D sense and also on paper.Conversing with my advisor she mentioned the sculpture being made into a giant puppet which is actually something I had thought of myself whilst making the piece.It made me think a bit of a giant puppet at one of the Pink Floyd stage shows.We discussed this happen as prehaps part of my degree show and who I could contact.I decided to email one of the tutors who makes giant puppets and she has agreed to meet with me for a chat and to help me with the creating of it for the degree show if need be.

I think it makes so much sense that the sculpture becomes a puppet as people and the goverment seem to feel a ‘disconnect’ with them and this puppet will hopefully make them feel re-connected.I have been considering as to whether it is important that the audience reckonise it as a gannet or that there is a fantasy element where the bird is more of a creature who’s characteristics are ‘sorrowful yet loving’ I personally imagine it to have a character much like a horse where it gives gentle nudges to the audience,which also acts as a reminder that it is still there.

The above was in response to he Idris Khan gas tank photo/print that I posted lasst week mixed with the tally mark theme.The white card held a much better contrast and I liked the effect of drybrush painting on it in parts.Combined with pouring on some of the muddy oily water it gave a kind of ghostly transparent effect which I felt connected well with the how ‘forgotten’ the birds are.

Ready with a stoneware glaze and oxide ready for the kiln!

Considering two of the above were ‘wet glazed’ they turned out particulary well apart from two of the beaks falling off none of them ‘collapsed’ in the kiln so win win.The glaze and oxide on the screaming bird worked out particulary well in giving a really gnarly/distressed apperance which is what i was aiming for.Since I had noted down all the glazes and oxides used for each,I then doccumented what worked well and what hadn’t and used them on the new pieces that went into the kiln this week.

Research

Ingela Ihrman

I really like the textural element of her performance costumes,this bird in particulary looks like it is made from natural fibres which is something I feel would be important to add to the puppet in the future making of it.Apparently one of her performances as an oilbird will be happening in London on March 23rd so I may see if i am able somehow to go down and see it as I feel it will be beneificial to my practice.

‘How it felt’

I am considering contacting these guys in regards to puppet making (altho i’m not sure if they make puppets on the same scale as i want to) as they are post graduates of DJCAD. I really like the fact that there work is socially enganged and for people with ADHD.

Yes men fix the world

I like the fact that this activist duo reveal the problematic social and political truths that need to be heard in the best way possible via hoxes and their theory that ‘lies can reveal truths’ which is something I may consider taking forward into my work.

Marcus Coates.

I like the fact that Marcus Coates tries to ’embody’ the animal and become it but that his work also has a comical element when he mixes with the public (Altho i’m unsure if his work is supposed to be seen that way)

Week 5

Birds and bowls.

This week I felt like I had hit a bit of a block in regards to clay work so I decided to try some large scale gestural paintings of the birds like one of my tutors had suggested. Altho I liked the bottom drawing as I felt that it had a primitive feel to it I disliked the drawing above as the scale wasn’t write and neither was the wing,so I painted over it twice in order to readjust it and try different techniques but I just didn’t feel satisfied with it.I decided I like the bottom painting but ended up throwing paint over it thinking this would help it conect to the painting next to it but ended up disliking it after that aswell.

Whilst creating the above bird I completely forgot myself and forgot to add the wings on with slip as they were added seperately which was frustrating as the left wing broke off in two places once I piked it up to move it.When speaking to the tutor she suggested prehaps keeping it like that because a birds body breaks up when it disentergrates anyway.She also discussed my sculptures not all being made flat underneath so that they stood in different ways.And when my work is displayed would the birds be displayed in ways that they were like items being discovered or ready to be found?These questions made me think and question my work in ways I hadn’t before.I somehow hadn’t even realised that all my clay pieces had flat bottoms underneath but will strive to change that when I create more.

I wanted this piece to represent the pain and anguish that these birds go through with each sharp cut.I plan to use this dish to balance it on me whilst the dirty/oily/muddy water seeps out onto my top.I plan to use both this bowl and another bowl that i have made in the performance on the beach which shall be happening next week

Experiment with the use of some straw/hay that i found in order to make what appears to be a bird’s nest.I really like the placement of it in this corner with what looks like the gannets falling into it.

Experimental placing of the items within the nest.I found that the items became lost in the nests so it didn’t present them properly as such but the nest hides them in such a way that it may be an interesting way of discovering them.Or prehaps if they are hidden amongst the straw?

Research

Brian Eno

I feel that the use of light gives an almost ghostly feel to Brian eno’s images and the fading aswell.I would like to introduce this kind of ghostly appeal to my work in some given aspect of it in the future.

His music also gives a real feel of time and space and captures you in the moment which is something that i want my audience to be aware of.

Project Maping

This week I signed up to a project mapping workshop as I felt like it may come in handy when it comes to my degree show.Especially if I do plan on making a large scale piece like a puppet that could prehaps be projected onto.

Hospitalfield

I’ve chosen to volunteer at Hospitalfield (which is one of the most incredible buildings) So that my foot is in the door in regards to being contacted with assistant artist/lead artist positions over the summer. I would also absolutely love to do a residency here and already have ideas of a performance piece that I would like to do in response to this room!

Upon Reflection..

I don’t think this week has been the most creative practically as I have felt quite frustrated but it has been a good week for new ideas and gathering new ideas from people with an outside perspective such as the tutors.I hope to take these ideas forward in order to ‘keep the ball rolling’ and the process of creativity.

Week 6

Performance

This week I decided to perform a performance at Balmerino that I had been planning for a while but I had been waiting for my bowls to go into the kiln first.

Altho I had tried to plan this excercise via my sketchbook,it wasn’t untill i was on the beach that i realised that this wouldn’t work and I thought of what Alister Mckennan had said about practising everything before I try it out.I realise that i really should of practiced this prior.I personally think that it looks kinky with the fact I decided not to wear a bra as i didn’t want it to show but now my boobs are showing instead and my tutor mentioned it looking like a kidnap which is true also!I will deffinately be practising prior in future!

I like the fact that the oily/muddy water has stained the groves of the bowl which is what I was hoping to happen.I would say this was the only sucessful thing to come from the performance.

Costume making

I decided to use voile,mixed with mud from the beach and some charcoal that i found on the beach to create the wings.Altho the dust from the mud started to make my nose,throat and chest burn slightly.So I am considering using coffee as a back up option.The voile was stiched loosely onto the arms so that it would fall off and could be torn easily.This outfit was inspired by an outfit of Alistair Maclennan during his ‘Land to sand’ project’ and due to the fact that Alistair suggested I make an outfit that I can tear which would move in the wind and the pieces flying in the air would then link with my gestural work mixed with the photography.I am going to trial adding pieces to the back and front to see what this would look like also and also to give the back a birds tail.

Voile wetted,stuck to the wall then charcoaled wood from the beach applied which not only gave a great texture to the material but the wall also!

Alistair Maclennan.

‘From land to sand’ was a piece that had inspired the outfit through it’s use of scraps.Altho i haven’t used food waste and more material and paper.

Alice Auaa

I love the ‘goth glamour’ used in Alice Auaa’s work particulary the way she roughly cuts the material and leaves it to hang at the bottom,this is something that i intend to try.

Dancers

After speaking to Kate Mcleod last week about doing a collab with dancers from the dance school I had a teams meeting with Eddie Gaines,one of the teachers from the dance school,he suggested that I spoke to one of the MA and fourth year students at DJCAD about how I direct the dancers as this isn’t something that I have done before.But said that I was only ‘A few steps’ away from working with the dancers’.He also said that he would put a BA theatre student in contact with me who was specialising her study in the decomposition of bodies and that this could be the potential for a collab?I feel that this would be a great idea and am looking forward to being contacted by her. I have arranged to meet with Shannon Maitland on Monday to talk about directing the dancers and i’m still awaiting to hear back from the masters student.

My idea for the dance would be that it is more focused on movement,very slight which was taught to us at the Alistair mclennan workshop then the performance would pick up pace bit by bit untill it was in complete chaos. And then gradually back to slow small movements. This would represent the life and fall of the bird,the preciousness of a life beggining,contrasting with the chaos of a life taken down and stricken with pain and agony whilst the costumes fall apart piece by piece. I think I may get the dancers to respond to music particualry a classical piece which also means if I decide to use that footage that I can keep the music in due to copyright laws.

I was hoping to use the paper wings for the dancers but my tutor suggested using the material ones and prehaps making arm pieces to attach the material to.After contacting a friend who studies fashion she said that elastic would need to be attached to the top of any arm pieces but my best bet would be to just crop tops right up past chest level and to prehaps thread the voile through slits in the arms? I feel that this would altho cover the whole arm would maybe stop the pieces falling out of their own acord but the dancers could prehaps pull them out?

Clay work.

This piece was the piece i like the best before it was glazed but I think that it may of got squished slightly whilst being on the shelf and waiting to be fired as the mouth is slightly stunted and the hole meant for liquid coming through has moved aswell.I think i may position it half leaning during the crit so that the liquid is able to sucesfully come out of the mouth.

The walking mouth/chest had taken on some really interesting textures,the only disapointing part is that the glaze seems to of covered up the hole in it,so next weeks task for the crit will be to free up the hole as i have purchased some fake IV drip bags so that black oil can make it’s way slowly out of it.

Artist’s book Collection.

This week myself and a couple of others were given access to the artist book collection.This was a fascinating display of may different artist’s books and i also found out that DJCAD has the biggest collection of them in the u.k!It was interesting to see what is considered as ‘a book’ and lots of different ideas of how to display work.

‘It all started with a bic’

A second year exhibition,created using bic,I enjoyed the mixture of abstract and realism.

My particulary favourite piece as the person had thought ‘outside the box’ and used sculptural elements which could also be used as a costume piece.

Reflection

I feel that this week has really picked up the pace,with the ball rolling across many different area.I think what I want my main focus to be on now is creating these outfits,and researching and working through how I will direct the dancers by talking to other people with experience of this.it will be interesting to hear from Shannon and what her thoughts are.

WEEK 7

Performance based mark making

I decided to use performance using the wings and dipping them in ink to create marks aswell as using the clay piece I had made to project ink onto the paper before attaching the paper to the wall and allowing the fan to create the material on the paper to move and create more marks on the paper and the wall.

I decided to play around using a fan to see how the material would react and move.It worked better having the fan on the floor then at height.I also really like this shot and may try doing more shots like this in the future.Especially the change of position at the begginging.

I love the uncontrolable motion of the material,ghost like a flowing it was hard to control what it would do or how it would make contact with the paper,the ghost like quality of the material made me think of some images I had seen from a book called ‘Photography and the Occult’

These images were taken by the pshycic and photographer ‘William Hope’The material I used for the performance had the same transparent qualities and movement as the material used to create these photo’s of supposed ‘spirits’ from the early 1900’s.

I love the way that using the fan creates a back splatter of ink similar to the marks made if someone is shot to the head using a gun.

A replica of the claypiece itself?

What I found particulary interesting is that the ink that spouted from the claypiece created an ink splatter which then in turn resembled the claypiece itself.An interesting coincidence?It’s almost like a symbol left by the monster that created the spill.I think i may create a series of drawings inspired by it.

Another coincidence?!?

The marks made created a bird person!

The material did’nt create as many marks onto the paper as I hoped for,but I still like the movement of it.

Marks made by the performance.

An interesting range of marks created by both performances.

Glaze

A glaze and mixture of two oxides.I’m intrigued as to how these will react when mixed with each other.

Cancelation of dancers and Organising ‘Wing Defence’

After sending my proposal for the dancers to the head of the dance school I was told it was now ‘too late in the term’ and to come back next term.

So I decided to problemsolve the issue.What else could I do?After speaking with one of the fourth years who uses performance in her practice she had suggested using other students so I had the lightbulb moment of deciding that I would use a excercise during the performance workshop that we did with Alastair Mclennan where one person almost plays ‘piggy in the middle’ and the two other people don’t let them escape.So I have decided to do this excercise with both dancers and non-dancers to see how they use there bodies in reponse to this.

The reason i have choosen this excercise is because i want the bird to be trapped in the middle with birdflu/oilspill on either side not letting it go anywhere.

The people depicting ‘birdflu’ will wear only black whilst the bird will wear the outfit.

I have booked a room and equitment for Tuesday and I am collaberating with Naia who sits beside me in the studio as she specialises in filmography and I have asked some people who were previous participants of the performance workshop to attend.

Upon Reflection.

I think this week has been a great week of experimentation not only with mark making but with the outfit aswell.How does it move?How can I move to be at one with the outfit aswell?The mark making proved to have some interesting results but I can’t say it has created my favourite painting due to this.As I prefer the previous painting which used more agressive techniques and mixed the ink with the oil.

This week was also a learning curb aswell in regards to communicating with professionals and problem solving when outcomes don’t go your way.

Week 8

‘Wing Defence’

This week focused on the performative aspect of my work combined with redeveloping the costume.

I decided to use Lewis as the Northern Gannet due to his height and that corresponsing with the wing span of the gannet.I also added the black eye make-up to make him more convincing as the gannet.This activity was a great collabrative effort, Lewis really helped with what area we should use in the room for the performance and sectioning it off accordingly. Naia and Lewis were great with what filming angle I should use.We communicated really well as a team which was the most important part. I gave the group loose instructions and ordered Emily and Georgia to ‘block lewis in any way possible with your bodies’ they then decided upon themself to strip him of his ‘feathers’.The piece was filmed aswell as photographed but i decided that the photographs were so much stronger then the filming because it was photographed using long exposure which caught singular moments of movements as the material swished and caused such a beautiful poetic blur.I felt that this balanced really well with the rest of my work which has a poetic feel to it.

I asked the participants to make the end scene look like that at the end of Rocky Horror where by ‘Rocky falls and everyone dies’ To show the effect that the death of the seabirds will have upon the whole ecosystem and with the spreading of bird flu now occuring in humans and mammals the human race too.

Left to his own devices,Lewis started to experiment with the outfit,he took it upon himself to hold onto the end of the sleeves which has made me decided to cut holes in the ends of the sleeves.The movement of the sleeves created some great shot using long exposure and look great togehter as a contact sheet altho I wonder if it would maybe be better to have the darker shots together and the lighter shots together.

Inspiration

Alexander Mcqueen’s ‘Oyster dress’

The movement of the wings has made me decide that i want there to be more movement/ flow/twists and turns in the dress overall more like Alexander McQueen’s ‘oyster dress’ I want the movement to not only replicate the fall of the bird but the angst,tension and physical/mental torture that they suffer also.

Shamanic Shape shifting.

I feel I need to add more to the outfit so that the soul of the seabird can be emobodied much like the shaman who was a shape shifter.

‘In the shaman’s world, animals are kin, an ancient belief reflected in mythology and in animism — the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings. It is a mental world where the seen and the unseen; the material and the spiritual merge Dorothy H. Eber, “Recording the Spirit World,” Natural History Magazine, Sept, 2002, p. 54.’

I think it is really important that the material and the spiritual merge not only in regards to the seabird but by using the essence of Occult photography from the 1800’s within my work.

There are rules that have been created in order to help you merge with your spirit animal which I think I will use once the outfit has been adapted further.

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, Study after Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X

I love this study particulary as it suggests this other wordly movement of him moving into another dimension.

Reflection

This week has been a really sucessful one,I enjoyed collaberating more then I thought i would of which was a learning curb for me.It has also made me consider starting up a performance art collective in the future with these conections that i have allready made as the uni doesn’t seem to have one.

The photo’s are also something that I want to consider doing using either long exposure or continous shutter speed.

I think the outfit will improve as will the photo’s with the more material I add to it to give it a more shamanic feel and to embody the seabird more after researching and finding the shamanic guide.

Week 9

outfit additions/embodying the gannet.

Rules.

Create sacred space as you would for other spiritual work, dim the lights, and sit comfortably erect in a chair or on the floor.
Close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.
Call upon an animal that you have an affinity with. Visualize and invite this animal spirit to come into your body and consciousness.
Meditate with it. Be open to the feelings and sensations of being that animal. It is not uncommon to be and see the animal at the same time.
Simply observe whatever happens for a few minutes, and then thank the spirit animal and release it.

Dorothy H. Eber, “Recording the Spirit World,” Natural History Magazine, Sept, 2002, p. 54

Outfit was given more material which ranged from voile to another kind of polyester based material that my classmate donated,these were again partial dyed using the oily sludge found up and down the coast line.

These were ‘practice shots’ taken using my phone with a count down timer on it which worked not quite as effectively but almost as effective as using continous shutter speed.I’m really pleased with the way the material moves in these greating an otherworldly/freefall effect.

I unconciously recreated one of the images that has inspired the use of this material from the ‘photography and the occult’book.

Playing by the rules.

Using ‘the rules of shamanism’ I created these photo’s whilst deep in mindset trying to capture the movement and inner angst,torture of the bird.

These are rules that I hope to use in the future with the dancers for my dissertation.I’m really pleased with the outcome of these photo’s as the camera technique/editing/costume and technique perfectly encapture what I had envisioned which is an 1800’s stylized photo ecapturing the torment and angst of seabirds whilst wearing a shamanic style outfit.

Inspired by

Sondra Perry

Pina Baush

Pina Baush’s work uses movement to display torture living within the soul.The way she uses her body with the males is jarring and thought proving.

Francesca Woodman

I love the ‘outerworldly’ effect that slow shutter speed has on Francesca Woodman’s self portraits giving them a demonic/haunted feel.I like the fact that one small effect can have such a huge impact on the work itself.

Claywork

Very pleased with how this particular piece has turned out due to the textural qualities displayed not only with the clay itself but with the oxiide giving a feathered look.The claywork teacher suggested next time adding feathers to the clay and then letting the feathers burn out to give an imprint which I think is a great idea.For my final installation I’m going to experiment with different ways of balamcing this piece onto the mud/sludge i have collected from the coastline and piling it into the stomach/chest area.

Reflection

Moving forward.

Next week I plan to try some ‘on location’ shots myself,I have also talked to my aerialist teacher and a few other students in regards to performing some hoop moves that are bottom of the hoop spin based and tumbles.I was hoping to use the ‘open rig’ which gets used for performances as the union but due to difficulties with DUSA (the usual) they cancelled the slot twice and i couldn’t make the third date due to work,so this will take part in the studio during open training.

Bottom of hoop style that I wish to use for the project as it incorperates the most movement.

Otherwise,I feel that this week has been the most sucessful wee in regards to the solo shots that were taken,i’m now just trying to figure out how i can edit my work down and what i will show for assesment as there is so much!I’m also unsure as to whether or not i should print my photo’s at A3 size because the bigger they are the less photo’s/work I can fit on the wall.

Week 10

By the beach/aerial photosAerial photo’s.

I did a huge series of shots (but word press doesn’t like the size of the files for some reason) Not that it matters too much as i didn’t find these photo’s sucessful in regards to movement/positioning of my body (i think this will improve once dancers are able to do the movements for me) and the fact that rachel hadn’t set the camera to long exposure)

This week I got one of my fellow aerialists from the aerialist society to perform some ‘bottom of the hoop’ spins wearing the outfit whilst i captured them using long exposure.I had hired a tripod but the top of the tripod was broken,but I found that it was easier for me just to use my hands anyway.The aerialist really struggled with this due to the heat of wearing a polyester outfit and spinning at the same time but continued on bravely! Pat (the aerialist) is also a fellow creative and made a few suggestions,one of them was to lie underneath the hoop and to move the camera whilst using long exposure.I found these photos to be the best ones.The issue I had tho was forgetting that i had put a filter on the photo’s that i had edited which then makes them grainy for printing and effects the quality,it did however turn out that this would be the least of my problems as the grainyness actually suited the style of the photo’s,it was more the fact that printing them at A3 distorted the images and some images printed much darker then they showed digitally.

Research

Chiharu Shiota

‘State of being dress’ the art of berries is a piece made by Chiharu Shiota which interweaves materiality and the pshycic perception of space using black thread to hold the item in a suspended space.I find this very haunting and poignant and would like to use this inspiration in the future and when thinking of hanging the dress for installation.

Daniel Wurzel

I love the use of material and lighting in this piece.In the future i may try to use lighting possibly with the dancers.

Week 11

INSTALLATION.

This week was installation week for the final assesment.I found myself almost having too much work to choose from so I had to think about what my strongest pieces were.I wanted to showcase everything but had to think about which pieces connected well and theire placement. I decided upon mostly letting the photography mostly have it’s own section,the lone photo’s of me performing astheically mixed well with my gestural and clay work so decided upon having them in the same space.

The hanging of the dress

INSPIRATION

Saint Serapion by ZURBARAN

A paitning I have discussed in my written report for my disertation is that of ‘saint serapion’ by Zurbaran.Instead of opting to tell the realistic tale of events in his painting (where the monk was brutally tortured) he instead to opt for a christ-like crucifixition painted in a realistic style his hope being that the realism would make be question whether they would be willing to die for there faith.I want this dress to impose upon the audience in a haunting manner in a similar fashion but to make the audience question whether they are doing enough?The audience also has to walk through the aunting figure to enable them te reach the next part of the installation and therefore having to face it.

Francesca woodman self portrait

The Ring

‘Samara’ in the ring had a drooped head which is used to intimidate the audience and which the dress recreates with the drooping of the poloneck at the front

The exorcist

The exorcist also uses a similar ‘crucifixtion’ style pose which could be seen as a mocking of the trinity but is also used to intimadate the audience

Installing Claywork

Gloopy potentially oil filled mud from the beach mixed with ink.

I wanted to create a scene of pure chaos to start with,then once the mud and ink had dried I decided to pick up the sculptures and look at what marks had been made,the big bird sculpture had left the most incredible mark almost like a ghost,I actually got a little bit emotional because it seemed to right and so poignant that this image be left instead of the sculpture because if we don’t take action this is all that will be left,a memory of what was,a ghost,a spirit.Seabirds will become the lost souls of the sea.

My dream installation.

My dream installation would of been to of had the images projected onto the material used for the dress and hung from a high ceiling.I think it would of looked amazing in a church type building especially with the dress hung in a crucifixtion style.

Or possibly have the images moving but just ever so slightly or in slow motion like in a Bill Viola exhibition that I saw a few years ago at the RA in London called ‘Life death rebirth’ which featured some people underwater on giant cinematic screens who would slowly breath bubbles.It was such an immersive experience and one that was hard to forget which is what I would want my work to ideally be like.

Reflection.

I am really pleased with my final installation,I used alot of thought and asked alot of different classmates for their opinion. How did the installation make them feel?Alot of people were intimidated by it and one of the teachers said it made him feel ‘dirty’ walking through the dress which is what i want.A shared experience/connection between human and seabird.For us to feel as one.But also intimidation and fear of a future that could one day become very real if we don’t take action now.

Third year module week 9.Final Installation.

30th Nov 20222nd Dec 2022 | harussell1

I tried to make it look like it was holding the cups up which I felt was sucessful in doing so and altho asthetically it looks good it doesn’t fit with the context of the project.

Looking at different ways to display the Covid monster made me wonder if prehaps it should have different ‘forms’ in which it appears almost like Jame’s Macavoys character in split with his 9 different personalities or IT the Clown?.What if the cute covid enticed people in but the intimidating one appeared once they had caught it.Or when people tried to leave the house when their flatmate has it?Prehaps cute covid appears when the virus is still ‘hosting’ int hem and spreading to other people?

I liked the way it moved but it was hardly threatening!

I decided to experiment with what would work best.I felt that no1 was too ghost like and no2 was too ‘cute’ and ghost like,when covid was meant to be ominous,lurking in corners,threatening.I spoke it over with other people in my studio when one of then had mentioned that I should try it out on a mannequin (which I had previously looked at to buy but were too expensive) Then another person said there was one wedged underneath the stairs…

He was a bit like Frankenstein with his arms and legs stuck on with tape but he was ready for his glow up…

Instantly there was a difference.The braod shoulders of the male manequin gave it quite and intimadating stance.The folded arms under the gown gave the classic ‘bully like’ image and intimadation.

The difference it makes without the necklace is crazy,there is no shape to the head and it looks like some creature that you would almost instantly feel sorry for.

Unsure as to whether I should keep the ‘murder board’ up or not or is it too much alongside the rest? I was considering having the Covid monster video play alongside aswell but I’m not overly pleased with how it has worked out and it may need some work done to it first.

So I belived this was going to be my final ‘installation’ at that point in time untill my last min revelation.It works well as almost a ‘movie set’ with the covid monster lurking in the corner the same way that a ‘murderer/enity’ would be imagined.

The Babadook in the movie and in the book they read allways seemed to lurk in the corner of the room.

So,I had a last minute realisation that the covid monster being there and the poster made everything too ‘literal’Every idea held is within these cups and they have an overwhelming importance and also stand alone really well as a sculptural piece aswell as a prop.The cups conceptualise all my ideas and by making that final edit I am now happy with just this finished piece.I was going to get rid of the Covid style murder board on the other wall but I think that it stands as a strong piece of development aswell as the red tacks making that visual ‘connection’ to the red cups.

Third year week 7.Mucus Galore.

23rd Nov 20223rd Dec 2022 | harussell1

To start with I placed one cup but realised more cups had more significance in regards to the spread

I don’t know if i would ever be able to gather enough mucus to fill a cup (nor am i sure i would want to)Altho my friend apparently managed to do it which is where i got the inspiration for filling the cups with mucus to start with.It does suprise me however that i have been met with shock from several teachers that I am one of the only students they have seen choosing Covid itself as a topic.(Prehaps they aren’t as morbid/gross as me)

This mucus wasn’t dark enough.And looked ‘more like pee’ according to Taylor.Allways glad for my fellow classmates feedback!I felt that this was sucessful tho and could potentially be used during the assesment period if I do more experiementation with it first.

Slow motion mucus pour in order to build the tension…

Taylors ‘rant’ about her flatmate and her covid.The tension is building…

I felt like the experiment this week went well but I want to try it on a wider plynth with the other cups surrounding it and see which works best.I’m also liking the strong link between Taylor’s covid household tension and the mucus pouring..

Not overly pleased with the effects of the video.I think the slow motion works well but you can’t notice it too well.I think the background needs to change to white aswell as it’s too busy so it overshadows everything else and I think the video needs to go back to the original plan of switching from the covid monster to Taylor.

Although I prefer this version,there are a few technicalities that I need to remember like Filming both films horizontal,and using the same high quality camera for both because now Taylor is fuzzy.But in a way it almost looks like she has been made ‘anonymous’ which was the idea for Taylor coming to the green screen to get interviewed.I think I will show this video for my presentation because the idea is good even tho it is rough around the edges,The party backgound behing the Covid monster really needs changed because it causes too much ‘visual noise’ but I couldn’t get hold of the I.T technician to help me change it and struggled to do it myself.

Literally the worse creation I have ever made in my life ever.Please remind me never to paint again.

I really should of gone for more of a ‘David Rees Davies’ approach.

Third year week 6 Green screen

23rd Nov 2022 | harussell1

This week was exciting as I finally got to use the green screen.Brough my friend with me because she is great at filming and has filmed stuff for me for years.It turs out you need to book the equitment for the green screen prior but the woman that runs the AV store was happy enough to just lend us out the equitment there and then.We used a Cannon DSLR to take some stills and a sony camcorder on a tripod for the rest.

Our main concern was getting the table onto the right part of the floor and the mess that would be created from the mucus covering the floor but it turnsout the paint table that we used was so long that it never traveled off of it even tho we used plastic sheeting and blue paper towel.

A concern I should of had was the fact I was wearing green which some how bypassed me even tho I work as an extra on the side and know the rules about not wearing green for the green screen.I was also suprised that my friend didn’t remember this either.I spose to the i.t technician and he managed to get the green to become a grungy brown which still looked disgusting but would people get the idea of it meaning to be mucus and would it matter too much whether it was percieved as mucus?And prehaps it was just fine with it looking disgusting as I would still recieve the reaction I was looking for in the first place but maybe not the understanding.

I would say I was pretty much contend with the shots especially the part where i move my head around in the costume gave a particulary eerie feel.I also liked the ending where I threw my hands up in the air.Looking back tho I do think it would of been good to of looked at an invisable watch as if to look at the time it was taking the mucus to spread.I think the use of mucus was a good idea because altho not every person who gets covid has the mucus in there throat and chest it is a very well known symptom of it and what causes the total dog bark style cough.The way the mucus slowly seeps between the cups was a great way of showing how the infection spreads and how it particualry happened at house parties/partying as red cups in America in particular are connected with house parties which links in with the interview with taylor talking about how her housemate had been going to parties and spread the covid amongst them.

My original idea was to have taylor cone in and wear this ‘anonymous’ amazon bag (due to the shame and stigma of having had covid) on her had which allready has a sad face due to the Amazon arrow so I just folded the top of the bag to make it even more so and to have her bitch about her flatmate with it on whilst i antogonise her more so by telling her what her flatmate had been known to of said about her. Then I hoped to switch from the video of taylor to the video of the covid monster and as she talks about the tension building between her and her flatmate the cup fills to filling point anf overflows and to have a close up on that but the i.t technician had said that this could end up rather blurry.My tutor had also mentioned having a lay over of taylors voice on top of the video and the mucus from the jug to move in slow motion.

Sadly,Taylor didn’t turn up to the green screen for her shoot but after listening to taylor ranting about her flatmate again i decided to there and then iterview her and get her to let it all out.She thought it would be better if it was scripted but I thought it was much better when she just improvised and went with how she was feeling there and then.Taylor had memtioned getting hold of the voive recording machine as the recording would be much higher quality if i just decided to use her voice so i will do that later on in the week and experiement with what would work better.

Rachel Maclean Green Screen Workshop.

On Friday I went to see the Rachel Maclean installation and took part int he workshop.I have allwasy been a fan of her work so was great to see her installation a public high street and listen to the reactions that the staff had had from memebers of the public and how a higher majority of people had been curious and loved it then not. Altho my expectations were that i would be learning more about how to use the green screen it was more just a fun workshop and making objects from found items that could be used on the green screen.WHich I had a whole lot of fun with and made the ‘baggy wifes for lyf’ and a family including a baby which i acted out a scene with on the green screen (which had been kindly donated by Rachel Maclean and we were told we could use the green screen for free at the weekends where we would be guided on what to do and how to use it.I thought this would be a good idea altho i wouldn’t be able to use it untill after xmas due to work.

I loved the initative of the whole project and that it was there to educate nto only the public on contemporary art in a place where contemporay art wouldn’t ever reach but also high school children as I think that this is extrememly important considering how it is completely missed out in the curriculum and yet children are expected to come straight from highschool and to know what they are doing.It made me realise more then ever how i would love to run classes within the community and how important art education is,especially in an era where the arts has been ‘dismissed’ by goverment.

Above is my friend wearing the Morph suit for the greenscreen and the ‘Baggy family’ the found object activity was such a great idea for groups and I imagine high school children would of loved it.

Third year week five. Silent Group crit.

22nd Nov 202223rd Nov 2022 | harussell1

You think I’m funny?

This week was the week of silent group crits.Personally I would of prefered to of had crits before this point so that i could gain more opinions and reactions to my piece which would of helped shape it better.But I know that’s not everyone’s preference.

I personally felt that everyone took the performance far too seriously and looking for deeper meaning when it is meant to evoke a feeling of unease and humour through the absurdity.The audieces reaction was far too quiet even when I played Taylor’s piece which made me question alot of things.How does this piece fit into the world of art?How do I evoke more of a reaction?People I had shown who aren’t in the art world seemed to understand it better then the people who were.I think that’s because they took it at face value.I want my art to be availible to the general public so does it really matter that a select group of people didn’t react the way I hoped and instead rather awquardly.

I loved the motion of the movement of the jelly.It was mentioned tome during the crit that it should prehaps of been casually thrown at the audience?Or that i should of tried to of served it along with the mucus.

Reactions weren’t as I expected.

You think I’m funny?!?

I wasn’t going for as much of a comedic value with this video so i’ll let people off on the laughing front.

Reactions from the crit were as follows;

‘Dark,gross and disgusting.funny,scared would be made to drink the mucus.Are the party cups to do with parties and socialising?Beer pong.Tutor interupted to ask how the videos were read? Did Taylor applying the green to her face symbolise it could be passed on?Covid had been made more light hearted through this.Without the covid test could it still be read as covid?Isn’t the mucus dependent on the individual?Sterile and unclean,clult/infection spread,mindmap,green liquid as a starting point for disease,are the tests too much info?Less info ont he performance and just show the jelly?Show items one by one.Cup with overpour of mucus.Green works well itself.Just keep pouring untill no water left.Bobby Baker table of occasions.Calm but chaos,no reaction to the chaos from the covid monster itself.Have people standing in a line constantly smudging each other with the green paint or use red thread and get people to walk to one another with it.

Semester 2 Week 11 Final video’s/Collaboration/displaying work.

21st Apr 202221st Apr 2022 | harussell1

This week was mostly about tying up loose ends in regards to video work and looking at how I could pull all my work together and display it for assessment.

Firstly,I decided to add some music over both edits of the Red Lady and the flag combo.I decided to use music that gave the feeling of tension with a beat that seemed to echo that of a heartbeat as I felt that it was important that the viewer felt the tension and fear that the red lady feels.The swishing had a space-like feel which I felt added to the dystophian feel behind it.

The Halloween edit gave more of a creepy vibe then the tension I was seeking but being a sucker for a baseline I decided to make this edit anyway as i felt like the flash imagery worked well with the beat.

Collaboration

I got asked by a fourth year Claire Gamble if I would want to collaborate with her in a photoshoot which would be shot by a local photographer (Lydia Smith Dundee) as she was making viking styled jewlery and thought it would be a great idea to incorperate the Red Lady’s asthetics with it.So I modeled holding an old book with jewlery on it,a challice with earings in it and a stuffed crow on a branch with jewlerry hanging from the branch.There was a white mark which had appeared on the hood of the cloak which Claire tried to remove with a wet wipe which ended up leaving a wet mark on the hood which the photographer wasn’t happy about.It was decided to tie a shoulder throw made from crow feather around the hood area.I agreed to this altho it doesn’t particualry go with my aethetic.Upon viewing the photo’s afterwards i realised it looked more like hair and I can’t say i was a fan of it but these photo’s were to be used by Claire for her degree work mostly so I didn’t say anything and luckily the wet hood dried for the ‘in character’ shots that I did. I particulary like some shots that were done using red lighting and the ones which were up close to my eyes are it looked like I was going to cry (but really I just had hayfever eyes that day haha).Sadly the photo’s are not yet availible so i’m not able to post them to the blog but hopefully in the future they will be so that I can add them here.

Displaying for assessment.

It’s difficult to get a real perspective from this photo alone but I had originally envisioned having the head cage up on a plynth as I felt that it was a very important part of the story so I wanted to draw attention to it but I felt that it would distract from any other found items/sculptures I also found that the other pynths weren’t long enough for the other items particulary the long spear shaped found item.

A class mate suggested turning the longer plynth on it’s side.I liked this idea height wise because it instantly makes the audience member crouch down and therefore starts to get them actively ‘involved’

Dirt!I decided that why not involve the audience member in what I found most exciting,which was a huge part of the process and also part of the story an archaelogical dig/found items

Digging style tool used by Archaeologists which has a similar shape to the digger tool that I forged

I decided to merge alot of the strong ideas together for the final assesment piece.I took Maria Fusco’s advice and filmed a performance piece where the Red Lady appears and leaves her mark and tell’s her story by making cave-like paintings.I felt that it was important to partially use natural colourings due to the Red Lady’s surrounding being the woods, so I mixed the compost used for the dig in a little water and used a mixture of sticks and an electric cable to paint the images I also mixed the red paint with compost water to give it a darker grungier tone.I also used the cable to scratch in some detail to show frustration,anger and a feeling of being on edge.It also helped with the primitive feel.

I felt that the reverb of the door slamming went well with the reverb present in the music.I wanted the movement of the red lady painting herself to be almost as if she was praying and moving in a hypnotic motion.

The image on the right is her abusive husband warning her not to meet or gossip with others.

The red lady then uses her time traveling powers to travel through different decades leaving items and hints at what is to become the future for women if they don’t act now.

“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”

(Don’t let the bastards grind you down) (Margret Atwood 1985)

The handmaids tale has played a huge part in this project I think more subconciously then conciously as I am a big fan of the books and TV series. Something that has echoed in my mind is that in the second book ‘The Testaments’ there is a chapter where many decades on into the future diaries are found written by Ofred which then become artifiacts as the historians try to piece together what happened and I like to think that about the ‘unknown artifacts’ left by the Red Lady as people try to piece together what these items are and where they have come from.

I have been following a facebook group for a while called ‘Remebering the accused witches of Scotland’ which is a petition which has been started to get the goverment to issue a public apology for the hanging of scottish witches. I found that this radio programme discussed the issue in more depth.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0015bdj

Also the fact that woman are still being painted as ‘witches’ in today’s society should they be too outspoken.So really how much has changed?Particulary in the sense of abortion laws being brought back into states in America by states either goverend by ‘christian’ males or ‘christian’ females but more often then not males. This is why I felt that it is important that the narrative that the red lady is trying to tell is that the past is going to repeat itself in the future if the change doesn’t happen now.I feel like the rust on the items particualary the headcage ties in with these ‘age old’ laws and ways of thinking.And yes,some of the items may look medevil but it is a physical representation of age old laws making a revival.

Here are the states that have passed laws restricting and enshrining abortion access

This article lists the states which have banned abortions.

A woven piece of wood which looks like a vagina a symbol of the female being entrapped and restrained.

I wanted some of the prints to look like little gifts from the red lady to the audience to enable to give us little clues of her past.

I think I am mostly happy with the resolved display altho I would of liked use of the projectors so that I could of had my video work of the red lady and the flag displayed over it. As this is an important part of my work but I understand that projectors are prioritized to fourth years at this time of the year.I also wish I had more space so that things could be laid out a bit better but hopefully that oppertunity will come in maybe third year and hopefully fourth year. But I feel like all in all I have used all media’s to the best of my ability and tried to pull them all together along with the performative and story-telling aspect.I hope that the audience are able to participate and feel a sense of excitement,thrill,horror but also take into consideration the more serious undertones.

I feel like my creative journey to get to this stage has been a bumpy yet exciting ride,I am firstly super glad that I differed so that i was able to use the workshops and really draw them into my practice. I have learnt alot of new skills through them which I hope to take into my future practice. Secondly, I have learnt the importance of a strong narrative from speaking to Maria Fusco which had a really strong impact on my work as I felt like the narrative had to many loopholes and was too ‘lost’ prior to speaking to her.I feel like the mixture of story telling with the feminist undertones has relayed real problems that are still current for women in today’s society.

Semester 2 Week 6 What once was lost now was found.

27th Feb 202222nd Apr 2022 | harussell1

Waterless Lithography

I started off this week by finally printing off the symbol I had created onto material.I was advised by the teacher that wetting then drying out the material (untill it was damp) would help the ink to soak into the weave of the cailico creating quite a bold print which is what I was looking for as it went with the bold punky aesthetics.Due to the stiffness of the material it created creases in the final piece which was accidental but I created an aged look which gave it more of the feel of being an artifact.The next phase is to make the pole to attach it to which I plan to forge and use the ‘pineapple twist’ technique for the handle.

image on cotton was much bolder then when it was printed on dry calico,

The offical welding of the headpiece!

Welding the headpiece together cause alot more issues then was first thought.In regards to how it would be welded (this was tricky when trying to attach the inside) Try to bend the circle just right (this required bending it around a plastic pipe with grippers and by hand.And part of the head piece needed to be forged in order to be bent around the plastic piece at the side of the headpiece as due to the fragility of the metal and the plastic it couldn’t be welded together.This took alot of adjustments before it could be put right.It became alot more time consuming then what we initally thought.Luckily the technician found some hoops that he had made for another project and suggested that for my next appointment we just attach them as they were the perfect size and it wouldn’t be a waste of metal.

Decided on a mixture of steel rods and circular steel as if i made it all with the steel rods it would be far too heavy.I plan on making the circular steel rust by spraying it with salt water.

Found artifact #no5.

The welding technician said that he reckoned the top half of the object was once a door hinge.

I wanted to attach the triangular top half of this piece to the rod and knew that welding wouldn’t be an option to the amount of rust on both object and by the metal being too corroded and thin and if i sanded down the metal it would end up coming through due to the fragility of it.So after conversing with the technician we decided the best idea would be to bolt it either with an already rusted bolt or with a new bolt then spray salt water on it in order to rust it.I will need to research the ratio of salt to water because altho i have heard teachers talk about it I have never done it myself.

I want the drawings to tell a story to help viewers piece things together.I want the drawings to look almost primitive/medevil through the use of sticks and finger painting to using ink and fine details.

Aboriginie cave paintings painted in the Northern territory of Australi believed to be 50,000 years old.These paintings depict ceremonies,to ancestrial spirits to animals brought over by the europeans and even drawings of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger.

Medevil ink drawings

Medevil ink drawing.In order to do anythink with ink it first had to be made using quite a labourus process which included cutting down boiling hawthorn.It was also quite matriculous because if it wasn’t boiled down in the right way it couldn’t be used.I don’t know if I would have the patience to use this process but in this modern day we luckily have lots of other alternatives.

The red lady ft the white lady

I was introduced by a fellow classmate to Balgay Park.I knew nothing of the history of the park and the cemetry and it wasn’t untill I got home and had posted some photo’s to my art instagram that a friend told me that the ‘white lady’ supposedly haunts the bridge that lays between the cemetry and the woods.It turns out that there are many stories about the white lady,but one thing that is agreed upon is that she was a beautiful lady,a beautiful lady torn apart by grief,after her lover tragically dies she throws herself from the bridge in despair.In other stories she hangs herself and another tale is that a wicked witch living on the other side of the bridge in a hut on the cemetry side throws her from it and that you can still hear her screams to this day and see the dent in the rock where her head hit.The rumour is that if you ever cross the bridge at night you will meet the same fate as the white lady.Ledgend also has it that if you run over the bridge backwards and forwards 12 times on the night of hallloween that she will appear.

I found it rather ironic that I found this location the perfect location not only to place objects that belong to the red lady but prehaps to also film whilst knowing nothing of the ledgend of the white lady.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is wp-1646295209415919960699852202409.jpg — I felt that this was an appropriate place to place this object as prehaps the white lady was unhappy at her surroundings being cut down so let this as a warning?

Placed beside an old grave waiting to have the trigger pulled…

I feel that this will be the perfect next location for filming.I didn’t realise how many red tones there were with the leaves untill after I had taken the shot.I love the exposed tree roots and the way the light falls.

Mothmeister.

An artist I have become quite interested in latley is Mothmiester who is a collab of two artists from Belgium who create grotesque post mortem style fairy tale characters who often come complete with a stuffed animal and a variety or curiosities from their own private collection.I love the darkness of these characters and how they go against the fairy tale ‘norm’.

As a child I allways loved darkfariy tales like the Grimms brothers and Mothmiester reminds me of them.

Another source of inspiration that is allways at the back of my mind from my childhood is Queen Mombie from ‘The return to Oz’ Her stare,poise and voice were allways very powerful and literally terrified me as a child yet drew me in as I allways wanted to watch more!And altho I don’t plan on my character speaking there is alot to be said as I found out during my crit about the power of the stare,my friends mother would only have to glare at us and tighted her jaw and this was more frightening then words alone.

My plan next week if I get a chance between the group project is to film myself screaming inside the headcage when it is made.I wanted it to be filmed in slow mo and silent almost like the Sirus Black Azkaban prison shot in Harry Potter

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.

Graded Unit.Development work

28th Apr 2020 | harussell1

Inspired by the painting ‘Ophelia’ and the ritualistic/sacrificial element of ancient pagan beliefs I decided to mix the two together.The water gave the stagment effect of current situations,and the plant dipped into water the life waiting within it.I feel that it almost reflects how myself and many others feel just now like stagmented life forces waiting for a chance to breathe when given the normality of a ritual that we reckonise.I feel that this experiementaion worked sucessfully and I would like to experiment further with it at a later date.

A mixture of imagery using found pheasant/grouse bones on a shooting site.I found some burnt plastic on top of wood and really liked how it visually reminded me of decay and of the flesh slowly being eaten away.I felt that the bones really related well to this.I also decided to experiment with ready mades using different compositions.