Pieces Coming Together

I continued creating my final outcomes today. I managed to make 8 whole pieces, which means I should be finished with the smaller sculptures in a few days, which is quite exciting. I'm really happy about how the work is starting to look, but I'm not completely sure whether all the emotions that I'm trying to convey will be successful. Some seem to work really well, but others are a little more obscure and hard to discern. Saying this though, the majority of the feedback that I have been getting has been positive, with most people being able to guess which particular emotion I'm trying to evoke, without being prompted. I feel that I should show my work to people who aren't familiar with what I'm doing, to see whether they can tell what it is that I'm actually trying to say. This would be important as it would help me to see whether my work will be understood when it's being exhibited in about a month.

Dejected

Bitter

Melancholy

Wistful

Glad

Content

Hopeful

Worn

I also had some further thoughts about where to put my larger scale sculptures today. I considered how I could take one (or all) of them to different kinds of locations, for example a beach, the countryside and a town. Then I would either photograph them in these places and take them back and display them during the exhibition at Wensum Lodge, or photograph them but leave them where they were, returning every week or so to photograph them from the same spot again, documenting the degradation process. Either way I would create a book, talking about the work and displaying the photographs that I had taken up to that point alongside the text. If I were to go ahead with the latter idea I would also give out maps to find the work, obviously the locations would be fairly spread out, but the map itself would become part of the work in itself. I just need to think about the possible specific locations and whether I feel comfortable with my work being possibly stolen.

The Final Piece and Proteus

I finally started my final piece today, using a mitre saw to chop the wood into 4.5cm³ pieces. After this I managed to create five of the thirty small sculptures. I don't know if they're 100% complete yet, but the basic foundation is there. I feel like if I can make all of them to a high standard in about a week, so I'll have ample time to put all the books together and make the larger scale sculptures. Considering this I may end up creating another book in response to the finished pieces, or something along those lines. I guess I'll have to wait and see if I will have enough time to accomplish something extra. In the meantime these are the five sculptures that I created today. When I have made all 30 I will photograph them properly so that the images can be put into the explanatory book.

Depressed 

Optimistic 

Forlorn 

Nervous

Insecure

I also continued to think about where I wanted to put the larger scale pieces. I began to look at potential sites around Wensum Lodge where the work could be placed. After taking a few photographs, it was obvious that I didn't have that many options to consider. I think when I have created the sculptures, I will experiment with the different places to see whether they actually look interesting or not, as the placing of them is quite important.

As well as this I started to consider whether I could place four of the five sculptures around the city of Norwich, and put together a map of the locations to be given out alongside my catalogue and business cards, to create a sort of sculpture trail. This was interesting to think about, but it would be highly likely that they would either be stolen or vandalised in some way. On the other hand this may be part of the weathering effect that I'm interested in, representing ones emotions slowly being forgotten over time.

I also thought about how I could place them in a range of different locations around Suffolk and Norfolk, photographing the work in these different locations and creating another book from them. In this case I would also provide a map, but it would be far less likely that people would actually go and see the work as they would be further away than just around Norwich. It would have been interesting if I had thought of this sooner, so that I could have made the sculptures, placed them in different locations, and documented them slowly degrading over a number of months. I could still do this, but the book that I would show at the exhibition would only contain the beginning of the project, rather than having the whole lifespan of the sculptures. I need to consider this further, so that I can eventually make an informed decision.

At the end of the day I played two really interesting games, one was called Proteus. In it you explore an island where everything you come into contact with has a different sound associated with it. It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful. The second game was called The Unfinished Swan, in this game you have the ability to throw blobs of paint at everything. This mechanic allows you to slowly uncover the world around you, as you start the game in a completely white world. Both of these could be considered art forms within their own right and are unique in their own way.

Crits and Books

Today I came back to the idea of layers within the work, how the more sanded down the work is, the more I had felt like that particular emotion on that day. I started to go through all the sculpture designs, making sure that they conformed to this system, and slightly changing them if they didn't. I had to balance which was more important, the aesthetics or the meaning as a lot of the designs were completely changed after making them part of the system. I finally decided to change each of them slightly, sacrificing the aesthetics, but only by a small amount.

Peaceful

 Depressed

Forlorn

Later on I experimented with sanding down more wood in different ways, looking at how I'm going to affect the outside sculptures to reflect their emotions. I then placed some of the sculptures outside where I'm going to be displaying the larger scale work. I did this so that I could better visualise how the work is going to look when I put it outside in a few weeks time.

During a group crit today I was asked whether or not I had thought about where the larger scale pieces of work should go, or had just put them in the first place I had considered. Unfortunately I realised that it was the latter, so I need to spend some time thinking about where I want to display the outside work. I need to think about whether or not I should compromise if I don't find a spot that actually works with the sculptures, and just photograph them in my garden, leaving them physically out of the final show. This is something I need to consider in the next couple of days.

I also printed off some of my catalogues, to experiment with where I should fold the paper, as well as whether the layout actually works or not. I think that all the aspects of the pamphlet worked well, apart from the paper quality, as the images bleed through to the other side. So when I print them properly I will use thicker paper.

As well as printing off the pamphlets, I also printed one of the books out, sewing it together to see whether the pages were all in order. Fortunately they were, so I just need to finish the other three books in time for the exhibition.

Tomorrow I'm going to start cutting down the wood so that I can begin creating the smaller scale sculptures, which will take at least a week to create.

Sculptures and Collaborations

For the past few days I have been preparing to start work on the sculptures for my final piece, submitting my research paper, exhibition proposal and library project. For my library project I decided to just sand down each side, attempting to represent the emotion of comfort. I feel that this was a satisfactory outcome for the small project, without having to spend too much time thinking about it.

 

Over the weekend I also started to think about expanding my proposal to allow myself to think bigger in terms of my final outcome. I decided to create 5 more sculptures, which will be larger in scale than the 30 smaller ones. These will be placed outside, being allowed to weather away over the course of the exhibition, representing how ones emotions are slowly forgotten. These outside sculptures will all be slightly different in size, making a statement about how each day has the possibility to be different. For the exhibition proposal I created a Google Sketchup model to show how the work would look outside, embedded into the ground, using metal poles so that they won't fall over if knocked by people or strong winds. This work will serve as a companion piece to the main work on display inside the building.

 

Today I began to create mini sculptures looking at which emotions I want to portray with the larger sculptures, this is always helpful, especially as I haven't made any sculptures for a while. It was also good to re-visit the emotions that I had allocated to the smaller sculptures, making sure that each emotion worked well with their particular sculpture.

I also started to create the last book, which will be an explanatory project, talking about the meaning behind the work as well as the progression that has occurred throughout. I began to add in the images from the project into the book, but I am yet to write up the short essay to go inside the book. This will be a reflective document so I will write it closer to the end of the project.

At the end of the day I created another short collaboration with another student, looking at the way our society is increasingly reliant on ready-made items. This was portrayed through a pre-bought canvas, a paintbrush, a paint bucket and a painting. These very short projects are fun to take part in.

Lastly I began to mark out the wood that I'm going to use for the smaller sculptures in my final piece. I will cut these in the next few days, and then start on the process of sanding all 30 down to portray the different emotions.

Work Experience and Pamphlets

Yesterday I went to an artist studio for an introductory day, to see whether I wanted/was able to work for an artist ( Laurence Edwards) as an intern over the summer. I had a really interesting day, watching bronze being poured and helping out with the simple jobs. I'm really looking forward to working there throughout the summer, as well as the coming weeks every Friday. This was partly so that I could fulfil the mandatory work experience day for my course, but when I actually thought about it I realised that it would be a really great opportunity to learn how to use new equipment and meet new people before going to university in September/October.

Today I have been thinking more about the Library project, which emotion I want to convey (I think I have decided on comfortable) as well as how much to sand down the MDF board. I will do this tomorrow in time for Monday.

I also designed a catalogue/pamphlet for the exhibition, looking at all the final pieces that I have created over the past year at the foundation. This will hopefully give the viewers a better understanding of my thinking as well as my work in general.

Tomorrow I hope to read over my essay once again, finish the Library project and write my exhibition proposal. I can then start creating the final pieces, which I will be able to easily achieve by the 18th of May (when I start setting up my part of the exhibition). 

Data and Theatre

Today I completely re-thought the book that I finished yesterday. I realised that the main idea behind it (the data slowly being lost as you went through the book) didn't really make sense. So I decided to lose all the data all together, leaving the interesting looking images alone on each page. I feel that whilst this looks more aesthetically pleasing, it also has meaning, that emotions are impossible to read and understand.

After this I decided to print out all 3 of the books that I had already made, on bad quality paper, to see whether they worked well with the layout that I had chosen for them. This was good that I did this as it forced me to re-consider the graphs book (already mentioned), alongside the book looking at colour within the work.

I then went on to think more about my exhibition proposal, creating a Google Sketchup version of the space that I want to display my work in, alongside some basic shapes representing my sculptures as well as a small book shelf for my books to sit on. I also started to think about the possibility of creating 4-5 large scale sculptures to go outside the main exhibition space, slowly being weathered over the few weeks that the exhibition goes on for, representing how ones emotions are slowly lost and forgotten. I need to think about this further, whether or not I can fit making the sculptures into the amount of time I have left, as well as if I have enough wood to accomplish this. I may end up just creating one large scale one, focusing on one emotion that encompassed the whole month of data. Whatever I decide i need to figure it out by Monday so that I can write it into my proposal.

I also experimented with how I'm going to attach the small sculptures to the wall. I tried using Velcro to accomplish this but unfortunately the work became un-stable. This would make it incredibly easy to steal the work during the exhibition. It would also make it hard for people to touch and feel the wood without it wobbling and falling onto the floor. So I then tried using no more nails glue, this worked well, only moving when I really tried to get it off of the wall, which I hope no one will try to do. So for the exhibition I'm going to either use no more nails glue or a glue gun, which I have used in the past.

After this I finalised my research essay by reading it again and making corrections where necessary as well as completing the bibliography and putting in pictures of the artist's work that I had talked about. I also realised that it was slightly over the word count, so over the weekend I think I'm going to have to read it over once again to shorten the entire thing.

This evening I went to a really interesting and thought provoking theatre performance at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich, called World Factory. It was centred around clothes factories in China. It was a sort of interactive experience, where there were four audience members to a table and each table were given a certain amount of money and a set of rules to read. You soon realised that you were the head of a clothes factory in China, and as the evening went on you were given different choices to make about the direction that your company was going in. They were all very much morally ambiguous decisions that you all had to agree upon until moving forward. It was a truly awesome experience, and may have been the best theatre I have been to so far.