Making day
‘Making day’ was drawing closer and I started to nervously prepare and gather my materials. As mentioned in my previous post, there was only one obstacle to this quest… I was in the middle of a house renovation. With my head in my hands about whether the house will be finished in time for us to move in in two weeks time, I went to site a few times a day and started to gather some interesting fragments of building rubble and photographs of textures. These served as inspiration but I was not entirely sure what exactly I was going to do with them.
One of the fragments I picked up was a tangled bundle of wire which I found visually interesting (seen in the photo below). I knew I wanted to make use of it and as ’making day’ drew near, one of the ideas I had was to use the wire or use more wire to make a wire sculpture.
I had a desire to work three dimensionally but I wanted to stay open to the idea that these could be used in a 2 dimensional format as well. I have always enjoyed doing gesture figure drawings that capture a mood or pose in a short amount of time. Perhaps a series of drawings could follow. I think I was drawn to this idea because of a strong desire to simplify and to deconstruct my realistic way of working to the layers that lay beneath. Unsure of what the ’making day’ and with many other ideas in mind, I continued to gather as much materials as I could.
Post ’making day’ thoughts
Although I was a bit nervous about whether I was prepared enough, I had a lot of fun during our zoom session. I was also nervous because I was doing something that is not part of my normal practice but I was curious to see what would happen. It was relaxed and everyone was busy with their own experiments without any pressure. It was interesting to hear about the other student’s plans and to see the results half way through the session. I had some ideas that overlapped with Blair because he was also working with construction materials and I loved seeing his process with mold making etc.
As I set off making something, I was drawn to the pieces of wood that I gathered and I started to assemble them only a piece of hardboard with wood glue. A piece of scaffolding board looked like something that could serve as a type of platform which led to the idea of making use of the tangled wire that I picked up on site. The piece of scaffolding became my base and I started to secure the wire onto it with a ticker wire that I was able to weave through to create stability. Things started to flow and although I initially wanted to make a wire armature from scratch, I got the idea that I could just use the tangled wire by squeezing and shaping it into a figurative form. It already ’showed’ me the way it wanted to be formed and very quickly a strange little figure with his head in his hands started to emerge! I took a few extra pieces of wire to add for hands and for lines that could almost be read like the construction lines in a drawing. I enjoyed the challenge and the natural flow. It was easy to mount the piece of scaffolding with the wire figure attached to it to the board with wooden pieces and it felt finished enough by the time our zoom session was finished.
I enjoyed listening to the feedback Caroline gave the other students and how it gave them permission to totally think out of the box. I got the idea that it was very much about taking your chosen material to it’s limits and testing them. I especially enjoyed Caroline’s feedback to Sissel about the paper, glass and line.
Caroline mentioned the artist Margaret Mellis to me as she gave me feedback. She though I might enjoy how she uses three dimensional pieces and how she uses them in something that looks like a painting in the end. I immediately looked her up to see her work. I love her work and I find it very fascinating how she was able to use these simple 3D shapes of wood, gives them colour and arranging them into a sculptural piece that have resemblances to a painting. Simply fascinating and I am busy looking at documentaries and interviews with her. I see that she passed away in 2009 and that she was not a very well known artist internationally. It seems like a wonderful exhibition of her work was held earlier this year in St Ives. Thank you Caroline for mentioning her! I think she will be a great inspiration.
I am not entirely sure where this experiment will lead but if was certainly a disruption of my normal practice in more ways than one. I feel that I might have been the only student who veered SO far away from what I normally do. Perhaps I will move back to drawing and painting or perhaps this will lead to more 3 dimensional work in my new studio once my house is finished (and I can take my head out of my hands!).
I look forward to more making days in the furture.