Unit X - Pop Up Recording Studio in Greenhouse using sample sounds such as;   Tubular bells; Bowed people; Dream blast and Goa shadow.

Unit X - KEY POST TOPIC 3 - REFLECTION

From the moment of commitment to carrying on with the project - after the spring break and through recovery - I put everything I had into executing my concept. I'm pleased that I persevered with my exploration into Ceramics, having never worked with Paperclay before. It’s amazing how an object can look so simple to make but if you don’t know your material, it can be very hard to achieve the simplest result. It’s important to work with it, get to know it, what are its characteristics? It’s limitations? As soon as I Iet go off ‘the perfect sphere,’ the potentials opened up and I found I could make various forms that each touched on the idea I wanted to communicate. It was a mammoth task to complete the final piece. The photographs i took of my destruction painting needed to be laser photocopied in order to transfer to the slate, difficult to achieve on a bank holiday weekend, though I drove across town and managed to get the prints. They then had to be layered up with 4 coats of Transfer Glaze with 20 mins between each coat and a further two hours to cure. I positioned the images on the slate and drew an outline, filled in with white paint so the textures and detail of the paintings would show up. Then I soaked the photographs in water for 30 minutes, before rubbing off the back. I was left with a thin film, similar to clingfilm with the image on. You only really get one shot to lay the images onto the painted circle. If you handle it too much, it becomes sticky and folds in on itself and becomes very difficult to work with. This transfer process took 15 hours to complete.  I decided I wasn’t happy with having the sculptures on shelves. I wanted the viewer to be able to get closer and feel a part of the same environment. plus, I think when looking at the works on a shelf or a wall, in a gallery, one can feel held back to looking closer and interacting with the works as if they are being looked on by gallery staff for instance. The cocoon I built from trellis in the garden, allowed the viewer to sit inside, in peace and enjoy the experience without distraction. It would’ve been better still if I could have covered the entire trellis in fabric so you were completely enclosed, with only the thin fabric letting in some light. I chose cream fabric to resemble the skin-like qualities of a chrysalis and sewed edges together so it draped across the wood, threading in such a way to resemble the way a caterpillar winds it’s silk upon a branch and forms a chrysalis.  I’m really pleased with what I have produced for this brief. It’s definitely not gone as originally planned but the obstacles I faced were necessary. I have much more confidence in trying innovative ways in combining art approaches and playing with materials intuitively without being so heavily focussed on the meaning behind an idea which is what held me back at the start of this year. I have confidence to let my ideas inspire me and lead the way. Even though I am making the transition to Textiles in Practice, I feel it was necessary to complete this year of Interactive Arts as it has given me the platform to be sure about what it is I want to learn more about, to have more specific skills and become an expert, have a deeper understanding of my chosen discipline. It has been a tool for me to better understand my place in art practice and to develop my personal self.

Measuring up the space in Fred Aldous basement for fabric and considering alternate presentation options.

Unit X - KEY POST TOPIC 2 - LINES OF ENQUIRY / INVESTIGATIONS

This was a difficult phase when it begun, having missed two weeks where I couldn't pursue investigations due to being very ill. Sometimes it is good to incubate ideas and have them work away in my subconscious whilst i do other tasks although this felt very much like my original inspiration and motivation had been deserted completely. At this point, my energy levels were very low as I couldn't eat properly and i found it very hard to concentrate and figure out what next step to take. I decided to paint through the cycle of construction and deconstruction. I learnt this on my foundation course and since, have learnt that it is a valuable exercise to get into creative flow, to take a step back and just enjoy creating and playing with materials. It can be a challenge to let go of control and resistance within art creation and just allow the material and myself to play in the moment but when i do, beautiful things happen. I collaborated with Actor, Musician and Puppet of the sea, Theone Pym in these paintings and with the piece of music to accompany my final work. We swapped roles in creation and destruction of these paintings and it gave me some insight into the process of working through hurdles that `i mentioned in Key note 1. Trying to draw a positive image after an unfamiliar force has destroyed what I’ve created, helps to build the habit of picking up where I Ieft off after challenges and obstacles get in the way.  It’s about creating good from the bad. It might not even be the bad, it’s just an unexpected layer to build upon that can add more depth and complexity and can in turn be a positive thing.  Being in better health now, I am grateful for that opportunity to realise what exactly is important to me and the power I have in choice to achieve a desired outcome. I kept cupping my hands together..maybe it was in needing to heal myself from the inside..maybe my niece being born at that time had something to do with it...and the feeling of now being the time to transform and bloom... cupping my hands and envisioning a smooth, hollow sphere like shape, to hold close and protect. We’re only here for a short time and in that time, i want it to be filled with joy. So fuck it. Which answer fills me with most joy? That’s what I want to create..joy! What keeps me alive? Small, organic, smooth surface, rough edges, sits in my palm, you can look inside. 

I enquired about the possibilities of laser cutting and 3d printing but decided the spherical form could not be achieved through these processes and was put off that they were less hands-on. I taught myself ceramics techniques, from books into library and online videos. I also used the plaster workshop and wood workshop to make holes in thin slivers of wood.

I’m sure Theone and I will collaborate again, our only wish is that we had more time to refine the sound together. She was working everyday leading unto the exhibition, so we got up at 6am to set up the studio and start recording. It was a total 9 hours for the production of the sound file. I’m pleased we managed to include Sylvie’s Dragon sounds in the background and a breath in...and out at the end. It’d be good to connect it to the piece of music I made last year, with a sound that links to it, as this is a continuation of that.

Unit X.. Reading List / Reference

Metamorphosis of Flowers 582.13/NUR

 Physiology of Insect Metamorphosis 595.7/WIG 

  The Metamorphosis of Experience How to tie an egg and more....

Ceramic Play  - Take 3 - Just show up and be present 

Had a great day in the workshop today. I’ve let go of ‘the perfect sphere’ and created with intuition. Feeling the clay between my fingers, moulding it, tearing it up, making marks and simply having fun and getting to know the material.

Unit X - KEY POST TOPIC 1 - RESEARCH

It was a shaky start to Unit X, finding out the course was cancelled altered my focus and I felt like I needed to work through that news and decide upon my future plans before I could really dive into my ideas for Orchestrated Disturbance. 

I have maintained my effort to conduct research into themes surrounding Orchestrated Disturbance, Emergence and Transformation, actively seeking and attending, workshops, talks and demonstrations including events at Edinburgh Science Festival, I Arts Artists talks and research online, in the library and galleries.

It is my aim to collaborate with someone who has knowledge of sound/music production. The multi-sensory aspects of sound art provide the perfect platform for the viewer to not just witness the piece, but to feel it and therefore with the emotion involved, it does become an experience and is remembered as such. 

I will definitely utilise the wood and plaster workshops to explore a variety of processes during my investigations and execution of concept. I haven't yet tried ceramics so am keen to see what that’s like. I understand that the making of ceramic and clay objects is a lengthy and can be an unpredictable process, but that doesn't put me off. Infact, it makes it all the more intriguing. It is about the process for me. Something which I have not only learnt over the last year but also know and understand full-heartedley, is that when obstacles seem to get in the way, or a plan doesn't go as I’d ideally like it to..that is part of the process, that hurdle, is an important contribution to the final outcome. The process, with it’s ups and downs, is where the discoveries are and the lessons. The final result is a bi-product of the real knowing and understanding that has emerged from the all the processes before it.

I have been collecting various bits of wood over the past few weeks, not with any intention to search for them - i just keep noticing beautiful textures, grains and forms of the wood. I’ve not worked with it much yet, but am curious to understand the material better and its limitations. I spoke to Henry at Levenshulme Market, who creates jewellery from pieces of wood from trees all over the world. He was happy to give me a sample from a Cocobola tree in Mexico. I love wood which has been untreated, with bark still remaining, as close to nature as possible; and the contrast between natural and modified/man-made materials working simultaneously to communicate the same idea and I intend to explore this correlation further. He was very passionate, this Henry, from the market. His face lit up when I showed an interest in behind-the-scenes of the stall. To be so knowledgable and enthusiastic about a particular type of material is very intriguing to me. There’s materials i know I like to work with but I’m not an expert in any one, and I left the market pondering what that must be like, to just work with one material or in one way, how that fulfils him to create more and how it might fulfil me. However,  I will be trying all sorts of materials, processes on this unit as it’s important to play and try new things and I think this is the perfect time to do so.

Unit X - Research. Peter Coles

Unit X - Research

Unit X - RESEARCH. Traudl Stahl

Traudl Stahl is a German graphic designer and paper artist, whose fragile sculptures combine paper with natural materials, such as grass, bark and branches and/or rusty iron materials.

Research - Ceramic organic forms

Some ideas that came to me over the past few weeks as a starting point to investigate

First experiments into sphere making, using modrock and pollyfilla. I wanted to embroider onto them after drying but it is too hard. More experiments to follow.

Orchestrated disturbance in motion.

CONSTRUCTION / DECONSTRUCTION PAINTING - check out those textures!