Category: Subject Year 1

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.

 

I wanted to bring texture back into these forms, I have thought of a couple of ways of bringing these back into the the forms I am creating bearing in mind I want to continue on the sensory theme, encouraging touch within the sculptures.

I am interested in both the material properties of clay and plaster, both can be manipulated and controlled in different ways and I feel the contrast and  in these properties works well when combined and sat together, As well as the juxtaposition of the smooth and textured

This was in my initial ideas at the start of the locus project as the project progressed and my experimentation using plaster started the focus on the textural aspects drifted away as I was focused on gaining the forms with plaster.

Creating these little clay forms that sit within the plaster crevices my focus was on creating textural sensory forms that encourage or intrigue touch.

 

Moving on from the previous plaster experimentation I have identified this is the best method for me to construct these forms. From the previous experimentation I enjoyed the distortion created by the forcing the plaster outward and the smooth rounded surface created by the balloons

Moving Forward I wanted to push this distortion further so I used string as a way of forcing the plaster by squeezing it, this was fairly successful although challenging to create the distortions before the plaster set. I wanted to continue to create the smooth texture as well as the crevices created previously by my hands.

I used craving tools to create the crevices in these forms, I enjoy the effect of this as they compliment the curves in the forms.

My next step, moving Forward is to challenge this further by continuing to distort the forms and use carving techniques to hollow out parts of the form. Also I want to make these forms more polished to improve the smooth qualities, to do so I think it would be good for me to talk to Caroline to gauge the potential my plaster forms have and to experiment with ways I can buff and smooth the surface, perhaps by using bees wax or clear boot polish.

In response to my initial research into Jamie North I wanted to explore ways of obtaining texture within the form by using carving techniques, this I did through casting a plaster form using the method I have discovered and distorting it through forcing and pressure. then carving into the surface using hand carving tools.

I wanted to do this to explore the juxtaposition of smooth and textured all within one form rather than having multiple forms and multiple materials. although I like this form I found  the lack of control over the plaster once dried was challenging causing it to crack and chip.

Michael Kukla, Insula and Way, Shape or Form, Installation view at Tenri Gallery, New York, NY, April, 2013

Michael Kukla, Way, Shape or Form, 2013, Insulation board, wall plaster and paint, 12 x 12 inches (30.5 x 30.5 x 10 cm) eachMkukla.com. (2019). Michael Kukla. [online] Available at: http://mkukla.com/about.html [Accessed 17 Mar. 2019].

Kukla’s work explores the connections between “a sculpture become something dynamic – can it achieve a fluidity of shape, form, structure?”, this interest is featured heavily within his forms. using plaster Kukla carves the forms from plaster to create these “encouraging Encounters that are more sensory and physical”. the idea of sensory interests me as with my experimentation the forms seem to explore A sensory interactive aspect similar to that of Kukla, I want to explore this further by experimenting with carving to explore how I can incorporate feel into these obscure contemporary sculptures.

Using balloons, bottles and plaster, I undertook this experiment to explore plaster forms as a sensory object that aims to understand shape and the way it encourages interaction. I have been told by peers that these smooth distorted balloon forms have encouraged interaction, this is good. My main aim for these forms was for me to make a smooth form with distorted indent sections, I feel I have this experiment was a success as the forms gain the smooth shape from being cast in the plaster as well as the distortion created by obscuring the shape during the drying process.

I found whilst experimenting that the plaster dries extremely quickly limiting the amount I can do to the form. with these I had to carve into the crevices in order to smooth the entire form out. I am interested in using carving as a technique moving Forward as a way of creating texture and pattern within the forms.

Moving Forward I am interested in how I can distort the forms even more during the drying process to gain more interesting shape. To do this I am going to use balloons and tights as a way of creating friction in order to tie the string around the forms to bulge the shapes. I have found these forms take a long time to dry, moving Forward I will also use the drying cupboard as this will speed this process up more.