Author: LARA ARTIST DESIGNER MAKER

Polishing the forms has been a long winded job, I am pleased with the results. Using shoe polish and polishing on and polishing off I have gained a smooth polished shiny surface too my work, which when combined with the ceramics creates a really visually pleasing form.  Although due to hand sanding and smoothing each by hand I have gained the best surface possible, this I am a little disappointed with as it is not as flush as I would have hoped.  I still feel pleased with the outcomes none the less.

The fear of holes, known as trypophobia has been an inspiration behind the context of my work as a result of its trigger effects on the senses as well as the reaction caused by the textures. using the ceramics within my work has triggered this phobic response with people I have shown.

This response is interesting as the understanding and current research into the phobia is limited and has some connections to fear and anxiety similar to that caused by dangerous animals. Understandably this fear of a cluster of holes may trigger similar  reactions to that of a snake for its skin for example. As this is a common shape seen within nature for example, honeycomb, coral, sea sponge, animal skin and seed pods, it correlates similarly to the fear as the textures in these formation creates the same sensation. therefore my ceramic forms may produce this similar sensation as they are similar to those listed above.

Trypophobia Reference Website. (2019). Nature – Trypophobia Reference Website. [online] Available at: http://trypophobia.com/image-gallery/nature/ [Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].

I have been experimenting with the composition of my final forms and the clay forms that sit within them, I want to have a variety of types of holes to reflect my understanding and research into Trypophobia as well as continuing to challenge the idea of the juxtaposition of the smooth and textures surfaces working coherently.

I am still undecided with the clay forms currently as I like them in their raw bisque fired state. speaking to someone from ceramics, I was advised not to use a slip based colourant and to have a go with an underglaze first. I like the raw matte finish of the bisque fired clay but I feel it will be beneficial for me to experiment with the introduction of colour to my work then to reflect and decide on the finish I want for my pieces once they are fired. therefore I am going to experiment with underglaze as well as acrylic paints- I am doing this as I am concerned with using glazes I may loose some details within the the forms, so using acrylics may avoid this problem. we shall see.

 

As I have been making these plaster forms and carving them to a smooth rounded finish I have been considering the size of the clay forms to sit within the crevices. making them so they are proportionate to the space.

I wanted to explore this play on size to see if this change manipulates the overall outcome of the piece making it more effective or less. This is to emphasise the Trypophobia and juxtaposition.

I rather like these forms, although they are different to my previous experiment there is something intriguing about the way the plaster curves into the ceramic ball and the way the viewer would have to move closer to the piece to view the ceramics.

To make my plaster forms feel more flush and finished, I have decided to experiment with different finishes for the surface. whilst I want to keep the smoothness from the sanding and buffing I also want to keep the white finish that plaster has. therefore I want to create polished looking surfaces for my final set of forms. experimenting with lacquer clear polish, clear boot polish and bees wax polish.

The first section: lacquer spray, the second: boot polish and the third: bees wax polish.

Experimenting with these I have decided the finish that creates the best results when applied to plaster is the clear boot polish as this can be buffed on and of with a cloth leaving a polished surface ideal for what I want to create.

I found the lacquer spray didn’t sit on the surface of the plaster well and became patchy when applied. I also found the bees wax polish became waxy to the touch making its surface tricky to handle, making the shoe polish the ideal finish for the pieces.

my focus for this project has primarily been on ways of combining the materials: clay and plaster together in a way that responds to the juxtaposition of textured and smooth surfaces, I wanted to develop my exploration in combining the two into one sculptural piece to see if this would create the same effect.

to do so with the theme of the fear Trypophobia being key I wanted to make these forms so they had an overwhelming sensation of holes. these I find have been successful although they seem too be fairly pretty, this was not the affect I wanted, although I like the overall effect of the hole.

I am going to continue to develop the combination of the material, as the juxtaposition gained through their qualities is of interest to me

Helping Tasha with the third-year final show was a really insightful experience for me and allowed me to expand my skill set as well as get an opportunity to ask Tasha questioned about her time at uni. During my time helping her, I primed, sanded, filled, taped and painted her wall as well as help hang and finish off her work. This was a great experience for me and I am glad I was a able to help.

I went to see David Nash’s exhibition: sculptures through the seasons at the national museum Cardiff, whilst his work is not directly relevant or linked to my work, I was able to gain inspiration for material exploration.

His sheer magnificent forms create an encompassing feeling for me (the viewer) and this created the sense of being within this bizarre carved landscape. Nash’s sometimes human like forms create questions, this is feel is an important part of any artistic works.

Wood is a material I am keen to explore in the future as I have witnessed it is very multifunctional and flexible material.

From seeing Nash’s work, I am keen to focus on the way a material can be used to the makers advantage; this I feel can be applied to my current work.

David Nash, Torso, 2006 in Capel Rhiw, 2018 © the Artist, photograph: Jonty Wilde

National Museum Wales. (2019). David Nash: Sculpture Through the Seasons. [online] Available at: https://museum.wales/cardiff/whatson/10460/David-Nash-Sculpture-Through-the-Seasons/ [Accessed 27 May 2019].

where I am at now has been a key turning point in my project, I was unsure of my ideas and how to move things Forward once I created my first set of plaster forms, i was getting frustrated with myself as some of my experimentation was going wrong and nothing seamed to come from it, my work at that stage seemed very distant from my original ideas.

Exploring the ideas of juxtaposition and bringing in carving and clay into my work has enabled me to widen my scope of material and process experimentation and combining these elements has brought my work back to my initial ideas and I am now creating work that is quite similar to that I had proposed in my presentation.

Within these combined forms I have created the juxtaposing textures creates an interesting concept of which I have noticed creates a reaction to my work when viewed by my peers. The contrast in the sensory smooth rounded plaster balloon shapes and the smaller rounded textured clay forms that sit on them create an interesting visual sensory interest.

Some reactions have been really positive with both the forms siting within each other, people want to touch the forms because of how smooth and round the plaster section is and are intrigued by the textured clay forms that sit within them.

During my experimentation with clay I have created the clay forms with holes in them, this had also sparked negative reactions towards the forms as some people where put of from touching the forms and didn’t like the holes within the work, this made me consider the phobia of holes; trypophobia,

Description

“Trypophobia is an aversion to the sight of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes, or bumps”.

En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Trypophobia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trypophobia [Accessed 3 Apr. 2019]

Mail Online. (2019). ‘Fear of holes’ condition trypophobia linked to disgust and NOT fear. [online] Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5236295/Fear-holes-trypophobia-linked-disgust-NOT-fear.html [Accessed 3 Apr. 2019].

This has made me consider how the forms make people feel and how I can heighten these feelings with the finishes of my work

Moving Forward

I want to explore using waxes and polishing techniques on the plaster form to see if I can gain an extremely smooth flush finish, as at the moment where I have carved the crevices into the forms I have been unable to create the tactile and sensory effect I am after.

with the clay forms I want to explore finishes on these to make them so they are very obviously different from the plaster forms, at the moment I have been constructing the forms out of white st thomas stoneware, this means when bisque fired they will turn white, causing them to blend with the plaster forms when put together, I feel the contrast of the colours and materials within these forms is important and would be affective if they where both significantly different from the other so they stand out. so experimenting with alternative clays like earthenware of adding colour to the existing ones using slips would be beneficial.