positioning, positioning and play.
Back in the studio I began experimenting with forms and how my work interacted with my space. I started experimenting with thicker paper also known as "Bread and Butter" paper from the art store. After my talk with Louise Ritchie, she recommended a lot of resources and materials for me to research into, one being the bread and butter paper. It surprisingly gave me great results, i love the sturdiness and durability of the paper and it really takes a great form once propped up. Colour changing pigment came to mind when I considered painting onto the paper. I wanted it to change colour depending on the environment it was placed in or when people interact with it.
Taking my work outside of the studio environment to room 601 has helped a lot when deciding on positioning and placements of objects and materials. It allowed for me to play more and see how things would look once presented "officially". I did find it a challenge as studio 601 does not have low ceilings therefor i had to rely on the wall and little "shelf" space I had. I was at the beginning hoping to take my work off the wall but once it was taken out of the studio it didn't seem to bother me that much. However, i think for next semester I will try create a grid from wall to wall of invisible wire or string to create a mock ceiling to then suspend or place materials from.
I was happy with this presentation of my work as i feel i managed to capture everything I wanted. Of course there would still be more fine tweaking i'd like to and the installation is always constantly changing so it doesn't really matter to me what it ends up like. As long as I can present it in a way i'm comfortable and content with.
continue to experiment with lighting and projection as a means to look into environments at night and during the day. I really like this idea of the same environment but with a different atmosphere. I've always been interested in how landscapes look one way in certain light, either more welcoming or more menacing. The juxtaposition of both was something I really enjoyed experimenting with. Researching into the artist Tetsumi Kudo and their use of materials and striking composition really helped shape the way I viewed my work in this day/night setting I had found myself in. I really like the way he uses found objects and handmade objects to form mini-environments and landscapes with sinister undertones despite being colourful and vibrant.
"Cultivation of Nature & People Who Are Looking at It" 1971, Tetsumi Kudo. Plastic, cotton, soil, adhesive, snail shells, thermometer, wood, hair, paint. & "Garden Of Metamorphosis in the Space Capsule. 1968 Tetsumi Kudo, painted wood, fabric, artificial flowers and black light.
His work got me thinking of various possibilities in which my work could potentially head. Should i shrink it down? Do i make it bigger? Do I completely fill a space with just my work and see how far I can make it stretch? or would a smaller more delicate approach be needed.
I kinda went between the two, going larger in scale but keeping smaller and more delicate aspects within my work. I enjoy the tactility of smaller and refined details which I want to stick with.
More experiments with projection, this time playing around with refraction with cellophane and solid surfaces.
"You are it" Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Performance - Monday 16th November 2020
The actual performance was amazing, my arms hurt afterwards haha. However, being able to take part in something out of my comfort zone really pushed me further as an artist in terms of collaboration and got me thinking more about how I could reciprocate the idea of collabing during covid into my own practice, whether physically or online.
Hiding away in clay again.
I really enjoy bringing my mountains and hillsides into three dimensional forms as I feel like they ask to be brought off the page and into something more tangible. I loved how my hands interacted with the wet clay and the imprints it left behind once moulded into shape. The main purpose of these mountains was their tactile element and how viewers - or my self - would hold and interact with the object. It would be really cool if i could somehow make a glaze with my heat sensitive pigment so that when someone touches the mountains they "disappear. I keep going back to this idea of landscapes changing over time and I really like this idea of something not being stagnant and being forever changing or in transit.