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…Intimadation.Fear.Ominous.
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.
Final installation!!hurrah!!
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.
This week I played around with a couple of ideas for my installation.And greated a champayne tower using red cups.I was hoping to buy more of the small cups that i had used previously but this turned out to work in my favour as the size of the cups made a fantastic sculpture when glued together.I decided to stick them together in two lots of 3 due to three being seen as an ‘unlucky’ number.I also pondered as to whether the cups should be glued together in a chaotic way but then I realised that the mucus is the chaos and that the uniformed stacking of the cups should be the ‘calm’ in a way.
To start with i was going to use a bigger plynth but then I realised that the small plynth worked perfectly in creating the perfect ‘fragility’ of how this tower could be knocked over at any moment and cause even bigger chaos.How these cups resembled the lives of people living togehter the slime the covid and tension bubberling over.
Plynth showed the fragility of the situation.Slime was created using pva and paint,I added more and more pva in the top cup untill it overspilled.There was something really therapeutic in the calmness of this chaos.The watered down solution had much less effect.Height used for intimadation,red for warning and the bundled together cups the people living/partying in close proximity with someone who may be infected.The overpouring slime is the tension building up to boiling point as with Taylor’s case.
Some reactions to the cups have been that of wonder ‘wow,how are they balancing?’ As alot of people didn’t realise they were superglued together,I just hope they hold up with the weight of the slime in them particulary the top one!But even then it may look better if it falls through.I’m really pleased and pleasantly suprised with how this has worked out.
From the book ‘Marina Abramovic the artist is present’The balancing of the cups on the plynth was made to look like an illusion,due to the fargility of the plynth itself and the way the cups look like there carefully balamced on top.Covid embodied is surposed to be an embodied illusion who interacts with what would normally be seen as an every day household item but which is given much more importance due to the context around the cups and the performance itself.
From Marina Abramovic’s book ‘the student body.’ I love this prop which gives the notion of ‘illusion’ like a magic trick our brain’s are ‘tricked’ into believing otherwise.Lurking about the studio…
Thinking back,I think i would of been better off doing something like this but using room 610 (a room free to use for anyone)Untrimmed and unedited.It would of been could to of used the tower for the green screen (well deffinately a blue screen if i was to go back and do it again)
I thought that what would bring the installation together would be a Western Style ‘Wanted’ poster,If Covid was a person what would people do?I plan on printing off more of these and sticking them around the uni and various other places.I think it would make quite a good graffiti stencil too.
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,Printed onto dry calico.After soaking the calico and ringed it by hand the placed it between two towels and rolled out the damp.Hung up not only to dry but to give the feeling of what it will look like as a flag.A small part of the top middle was missing due to me not getting it with the heat gun but I figured after alot of consideration and speaking to the technicians that I would probably be the only person that would notice that it was missing and to treat it as a lesson learnt in the future and to be more metriculous with the process.According to the technician it is reallly difficult to get waterless lithography ‘perfect’ and that at some point you just have to be happy with the end results.
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.Measured by eye where each strip would go.I find the different colours that appear with rust facinating,a variation of umber,browns and greys
Found artifact #no5.
The welding technician said that he reckoned the top half of the object was once a door hinge.I found the cluster of stones and shells attached to this object really interesting.Altho the twine is made from natural fibers I felt that it’s ‘chunkyness’ drew away from the fine details of the object.I felt drawn to binding this object due to the man made holes in it but also in holding with the theme.
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.
Eerie looking shamanic drawings.
Medevil ink drawings
I have been trying to capture and essence of medevil ink drawings by using recycled paper and dying it with tea bags before drawing with ink on top.
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.
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
This week I focused on more character development for whom I have now called ‘The red lady’I focused on a series of angry faces but reflecting back I think I need to add more menacing like what is seen in the short video I have made.
I experimented with a series of different ways of doing the eye make-up.Two eyes?One eye?Drawn with a brush?Drawn with fingers?I found that altho having one eye painted on worked well in the video as it exsagerrated that eye as I flew towards the camera and my hair covered the rest of my face.The primative look of the smeared on black snazeroo had a real viking feel to it and made the cahracter seem alot darker.
Favourite shot as I love how the crinkles in the corner of the eye causes themake-up to flicker up at the corners.
It is known that the vikings only wore make-up on their eyes,this was called Kohl and mainly made from a mix of antimony,burnt almonds,lead,oxidized copper,ochre,ash,malachite and chyrsocolla.
My future plan is to print a couple of these off using the printing suite for some good quality images (as the libary prints that i did were quite poor) and to hire a black and white film camera to take a couple of images with that too.As i think these would do well blown up.I also want to take a couple in the area where the lecture halls are in DJCAD as i feel like it has quite a dystophian feel which goes along quite nicely with my character.
Forging.
This week in the forging class I worked on something called a ‘pineapple twist’.This is achieved by heating the metal untill yellow and the scales are lost then squaring off the sides with a hammer.It was a very time pressured activity tho as I then had to take what looked like a wallpaper scraper and hammer it in the middle of each side untill it caused a groove.I had to hammer it into the same groove each time so if it had moved whilst hit i had to reposition it.I had to work alot on my hammering skills before I could do this tho as my hammering wasn’t as hard as it needed to be but once I got to making the twist my hammering was spot on which was really rewarding.The technician had said he wouldn’t judge me if i wanted to focus more on the metal work side of things but this was the worst thing he could of said because then I had to prove to him (and myself) that i could do it haha.My lines were straight (ish) but not bang on.I then had to twist the metal in the vice one way and then do it all over again then twist it the other.The results were alot better then expected for a first timer and it showed up quite well once i brushed it with the gold brush.I would like to go back and practice it again tho so that i can get the lines straighter.
You can see towards the left hand side where the scraper didn’t reach into the groove well enough.
A better view of the whole handle.Prehaps the is a likable touch to the almost primative quality of the handle not being quite ‘perfect’Last year during lockdown I climbed into the ruins of a fenced off castle on the east coast on a liff ledge (urban exploring is one of my favourite past times) and found what looks like an ancient poker.The technician reckons it has been in the sea at one point due to the sand-like crustaceans living on it.I don’t want to alter this object (mostly because I’m worried it will be worth money) but I would like to use it in some way as a prop.I may experiement with different ways it can be used.
Woven Sculpture
I found this piece of wood whilst filming in the forest which I felt was very vulva like.To start with i imagined it in some kind of choker (but it was a bit to death defying) haha.Then it just made sense to weave it into (what was originally) a bin lid (found in the forest whilst filming too).My future plan is to make the lid into some kind of trap/shield so I may take this apart again as I realise how important it is not to be attached to work so that it can be developed further.I also would quite like to try and make the wood into a headpiece.
Placed this experiment over the photo and realised it would look really interesting as a mask.Considered this piece to cover the mouth following on from the story that she was silenced by her husband but I feel that it looks to Hannibal Lecter!I decided to write out ‘The red lady is watching you’ as if it was written in blood with my fingers.But the piece was too big to fit anywhere.I love the sweeping gestural yet creepy effect of the writing.I may put it up in the corridoor..
I was inspired by Richard Ramirez’s satanic blood symbols that he would write using his victims blood.Apparently due to the oxysidisation of the blood once it is outside of the body it remains bright for a long period of time.
I had initally planned on filming myself walking throught the woods and disapearing at various points the re-appearing.But when filming it my friend who was filming said that you could really see any of the detail of the props/eye make-up when we were doing this. and that it would work better if i was coming towards the camera especially due to the way the light was hitting and nicely bouncing off of the headpiece I felt that i wanted to take advantage of that with some more closer to camera filming.My regret is that i didn’t get my friend to film horizontally for the shot.
I decided that i wanted the film to be grainy as I remember watching the new I.T at the cinema and being terrified of the scene where the scene in the book comes alive and it had a grainy quality to it and this is how i wanted this to seem that it had come straight out of an old horror book/scene.I wanted the image to be silent like a silent movie but I decided that the slow mo sounds were quite creepy within themselves.I do want to try a variation of other edits tho with and without music this week.
There doesn’t seem to be an awful lot of information about female warriors/tribes of the past (prehaps because the history books were mostly written by men)
But I particualry enjoyed reading about the wrath of Tomyris the queen of the Massaegetae and the vengeful way of which she waged war aganst the Persian King Cyrus the Great
‘…she took a skin, and, filling it full of human blood, she dipped the head of Cyrus in the gore, saying, as she thus insulted the corpse, “I live and have conquered you in fight, and yet by you am I ruined, for you took my son with guile; but thus I make good my threat, and give you your fill of blood.”
There are matriachal societies which exsist today such as the Minangkaubau in Indonesia where by the mothers and daughters pass down the family name and claim the inheritance etc.
Zadie Xa
A fellow class mate had told me to look at the work of Zadie Xa as her work corresponds to some of my character work.
I appreicate her mixture of discaplines and there is something to be said about how she used the space around her during her exhibitions.Altho her visual asthetic is more playful then mine.
This week was a busy week,inductions and my very first face to face crit since coming back!
But first of all we’ll start off with the Blacksmithing induction.
My intial idea was to make a shaman’s staff but it turned out that that idea was a little too adventurous. First of all we took some industrial metal rods and cut them up,We then filed the sharp edges off ready for heating up in the machine (of which I have forgotten the name)The rod slid into the machine but wasn’t able to touch to sides of the coil it went into otherwise you may be given an electric shock so the teacher had made a stand to use so that you could easily slide the metal into the machine.
This machine was used to remove any sharp edges on the metal.The metal must be held at either a 45 degrees angle or straight against it so that it didn’t get caught and fly from your hands.The machine used for heating the rod up.All of the grey scale from the metal must be gone and the metal must be yellow in colour before the metal is ready to be hammeredThe axel is what is used to lay whatever your hammering onto.In order to add the twist the metal but be clamped into the vice then clamped again and twisted.Depnding on how tight or how far you twisted the metal effected the final outcome of the lines!If the stick was slighly out of shape a cow hide hammer which is softer would help mould it back into shape.This was best done not when the metal had returned to it’s grey colour but still hot.The stick must be kept close to the leg and when hammering you must hold the hammer from the middle because as I found out,if you don’t it strains your wrist and makes everything much harder work then it allready is!In order to achieve the tip the metal must be continously hit from a certain angle whilst the metal is rolled to make sure all angles are equal.I found this very difficult to achieve especially within the time limit of trying to do it before the metal cooled again.As you can see the angle is still slightly off but not too bad for a first try.The gold tip was created simply by using a metal brush with gold coated steel wire on it which then transfered onto the mental when brushed with it whilst still hot.
Altho the idea was initatlly to make a shaman’s staff I feel that it was important to get the technique right first before trying anything more adventurous plus I ended up making an interesting looking arrow/wand which really isn’t too bad at all!
So for my crit this week I decided to use a performance art technique which I had seen used in the past.I told the handful of people in my crit to sit on the floor and i had choosen a spot in which to put a chair with the symbol i had choosen for my character above it.I went and put on my head piece and retrieved the arrow whilst letting suspense grow.I had also painted the symbol on my eye and was wearing the red cloak.
The feedback was what I was hoping to achieve,so therefore i felt that the crit was sucessful.Some of the feedback was as follows; ‘I hated it,I felt as if I was loosing my nerve.’ (this was from the woman whom squirmed) haha.
‘Sitting on the floor felt like being in a position of weakness,I felt small and un-nerved’
‘The symbol had an egyptian feel and made you look almost like a Spynx’
‘Thou shall not pass’
‘Dystophian,handmaids tale’
‘Alien like’
‘Plague mask’
‘Make-up very sci-fi,should of disapered mid way through someone elses crit and came back with it on’
‘It went from a fanciful fairytale to scifi’
‘Was wondering if there was going to be a speach’
‘Noise brought you back into the room’
It was suggested that i could also of used the staff/wand/arrow to point at different people.
In the future I could do a performance piece within the uni where I jump out on people.
Piece was reminiscent of Marina Abramovic where she sits and stares individually at each person who ques to sit infront of her.
I felt that personally I got the reaction that i wanted from the audience but as the tutor said it would of been interesting to see if i could of held composure should people of not of had their masks on.Which made me wonder how the people I saw do it how they managed.What did they think of?
I think i do want to use the staff as part of the act in the future as I feel that this character should remain silent and reaction should be caused by her movement and eye contact.Part of her back story is that she was tortured for being a tale tale and not allowed to speak so she inserts her control using other methods.I allways remember growing up that when me and my friend had been up to mischief her mum wouldn’t even say anything she would just give us a look that was more scornful and terrifying then a telling could possibly ever be and that it the kind of power that i want this character to purvey.
I don’t know how confident i feel about staring at people within the uni.I suppose within an art school environment your pretty safe but it’s deffinately not something I would want to try in public.I feel that i am happy to perform in a space that has been organised to perform in and I am interested in making short films but that is it.Ofcourse the publics reaction is allways going to be more interesting but there is also nothing more unpredictable or volatile then the general public and having worked with them for many years I wouldn’t feel safe,I mean after all a member of the public held a handgun to Marina Abramovics head when he was given the opertunity so anything is possible.
Is there anything more powerful then a stare?The eyes are the windows to our souls after all.
Lazercutting and Lino printing
I found lazercutting alot more technical then I thought it would be.I really struggle with anything technical due to my dyspraxia.I have a short term memory because of this and because there are so many instructions with anything digital/technical i get lost really easily and have to keep asking the tutor to repeat themselves.I still really enjoyed the process especially how unpredictable the end image is.I felt that my image turned out closer to the original image then anyone elses did as there’s were alot more detailed then mine.The small dots made by the lazer gave it a real pop art feel.It was difficult to get the esact right amount of ink on the lino cut (i have in the past put too much) and then when i got the right amount i managed to get a flek of ink in the middle of the symbol.It’s also difficult to get the print straight on the paper.But practice makes perfect and prints are deffinately something I want to take further in my work so I am currently in the process of booking an induction with the main print workshop.
Sandcasting.
Sandcasting was such a long and complex process,again alot longer then I thought it would be.The technician advised me that the process would normally be done over a couple of days but due to the restrictions and class sizes it now has to be done in a day.
The biscuits were first glued to a board of sorts,had a special kind of sand with oil in it added then a cast was made of that before the boards were drilled together and the liquid bronze poured in.Before this could happen tho it had to reach a certain temparture. (this was checked regulary by using a probe)The liquid travelled down the funnels made in the sand down to where the biscuit casts were.
The biscuits casts were then sanded down to get rid of the rough edges before being sandblasted.They were then taken to be painted using a certain paint that needed to be applied by using the heat of a welding gun.I choose to go for emerald green and magenta/blue.The biscuits then had waxed applied and were polished to bring closer attention to detail.
Before the paint and polishAfter the paint and polishThe outcome was deffinately worth the wait but I just don’t think I could see myself using the foundry in the future.I found the process far too time comsuming.Maybe it has something to do with my very short attention span but I like to work on serval things at the same time and sandcasting doesn’t really allow time for that and what if you go through such a long process just for the outcome not to be what you expected?!?I am glad however that I gave it a try.Nothing ventured nothing gained.
And for my next trick..
This weekend I plan on making a black and white silent movie in the woods.It will involve the character pacing amongst the trees and disapearing from one area then re-appearing in the next.I also have an idea for the character screaming at the camera in a silent rage.I would like to experiment with different music and sound in the background.(Hopefully I can get some asistance from the i.t lab with this)I like the thought of white noise playing whilst she screams but these things don’t allways turn out quite as you expect. This weekend I plan on making a black and white silent movie in the woods.It will involve the character pacing amongst the trees and disapearing from one area then re-appearing in the next.I also have an idea for the character screaming at the camera in a silent rage.I would like to experiment with different music and sound in the background.I like the thought of white noise playing whilst she screams but these things don’t allways turn out quite as you expect.
I have found myself becoming inspired by a mixture of different cultures,from witchcraft,to shamans to ancient egyptians to vikings!I think mainly because all these things have allways interested me.So it makes sense that i bring all these elements to my work.Oh and the more morbid the better.My Mum was allways worried about my obsession with The Return to Oz as a kid because I especially loved the part where the queen could choose a different head to wear from all the heads she had cut off and I guess my morbid frame of mind has continued ever since!
Objects bound in a banishment spell.
The aesthic,style and strength of a viking woman has allways been something to be admired..I want to bring parts of this into my character and the development.
I find the egyptian eye make up quite inspirational and also the power of the female queens.
I have also started to wonder if the warrior like/strongness of the character has become my alter ego.The strong part of me that has prehaps carried me throught the last few months and prehaps even the last few years.
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