Finished work for this semester

It was a big rush this week to be ready in time for assesments here, you had to have them finished and exhibited in one of the classrooms so it gave everyones work more of a professional feel; though it also took more time because we had to factor in clearing and painting the classrooms before assesments. I managed to fnish my Spectrum and Boite Caisse Housse projects so that I was happy enough with them, but I had really only started to get the idea for Atlas so I would love to work on that more, I think I could get something really interesting from the idea if I continue to work with it.
 Spectrum:

I really like the finished forms, I think they turned out well, and the colours make them stand out even more. I like the way it's strong and graphic, yet still retains hints of characteristics typical in road signs.

Boite, Caisse, Housse
 I was very happy with the box I made for this project, it is simple and light, and works well with the piece to both protect and display it. My tutors though it was too practical however, and felt that the box should be a little more specific to the shape of the object. I was very happy with the finished form, though I wish I had had the time to try more glazes, as I am not particularly happy with the way this glaze turned out, and don't think it really adds to the piece much.

Atlas
 the finished piece for this project can't really be called finished. I mean I did manage to make a mixed media piece to illustrate my idea of being rotten on the inside and fresh on the outside, but I wasn't happy with the execution and the end result, and hadn't the time to try experiement with different materials to find the best result. I tend to think of it more as a maquette, to help me try to understand the structure and how better to make a finished piece. I would love to work with this more, and try to make a finished piece in clay.

ATLAS

This is the third and final practical project we were given here in Nantes. Each person in the class had to choose a work of art at the musée des beaux arts, research it and then make a work of art inspired by it. I chose the painting 'Nature Morte a La Citrouille' by Jean Hélion. I was immediately drawn to the painting when I first saw it, it's simplicity is something that I think adds to the shape and voluptousness of the centrepiece, a pumpkin. The first part of the project took me longer than I had anticipated, we had to present our research in front of the class, and writing in french it took me a lot longer than a short essay normally would. However, the interesting thing behind this is it really makes you look at the work of art properly, research why it was created etc, instead of a cursory glance, and by gaining a better understanding of the work of art you have a far firmer foundation to begin with I believe.
 Creating a work of art from this painting is something that took me a while. Although I admire the painting, I found it very difficult to draw a parallel with it that I could begin to work with, and this stalled me for some time. I tried working with everyday objects, like this composition has, but found that was going to far from the source of inspiration for me. I tried finding objects that resembled the shape of the pumpkin that I found so interesting, but once again that felt too far from the painting and difficult to get a real start from. Finally, I just started looking at the part of the painting that interested me so much in the painting, in real life. Now I felt I had really something to begin with!
It was difficult to find pumpkins at this time of year, but they do grow later in France, and I was able to buy some ornamental ones as well as some poitirons to study. I looked at them from several different angles and at varying stages of freshness, taking pictures and making sketches and small studies.

The thing I found the most interesting about the pumpkin was the dramatic change between the fresh and the rotten state, in shape, size, colour, texture etc. Depending on the type of pumpkin, it would turn into a very juicy, black inside or become filled with a light and fluffier type of mould. The change from the solid, orange shell to the collapsed, dull brown shape is a huge difference; and the contrast between them made me want to use them in my work. I wanted to create a piece to illustrate this passage of time between fresh and rotten, and by creating a pumpkin which seemed fresh on the exterior, but on the inside was rotten would add some drama to the work and allow me to illustrate all the things which I found so intriguing about it. However between going home for the holidays and coming back for the last week of college here I found it really hard to work out how to make it, so I ended up working in papier maché. As a material, it certainly is light and flexible, but also messy and time consuming to dry. If I had more time, I would like to make moulds of the vegetables and work out a solution in ceramics, but I think it is certainly something I will have to put on hold for now.

 I'm not happy with the outer quality of the piece, and I only hope I can get it finished in time for assessment on Tuesday. Working with three projects instead of one certainly is an experience, and though I think they do feed into each other generate ideas, they also allow you to neglect the parts you don't feel happy with, which can be a little dangerous! We have to have three finished pieces for the end of the semester, and it's a different way of working here. The students are far more practical than sketchbook orientated. If they are not certain of the idea, or what they want to make, they will try a method or make a start anyway, just to get started on a practical piece. This more hands on approach is something I want to learn from here, though I think sketchbooks are very important in creating an idea that really has ground; I think you can get lost in them, whereas you can also learn by doing and develop your ideas as you make.

SPECTRUM

The idea behind this project is to use colour as the main principle for a project. Most of the time when I am considering an idea, although colour features a lot it is usually given a back seat compared to form and size etc. The idea of making a project which is based solely around colour was very refreshing, although a lot of the time very frustrating too! Starting was a little difficult, I found it hard to think of something to begin with as usually there is an interesting form which attracts me and goes on to inspire the rest of the project. However, after finally seeing what was right in front of me, I started looking at street signs. I found it interesting to use them as inspiration, as not only is their design very specific and strongly based on colour, our relationship with these colours and shapes is how street signs are used to communicate with the public. For example you would never continue driving through a red stop sign, and would be very confused if you were to see a green stop sign, as that is the colour we associate with go, without even considering it. So I started to photograph lots of street signs and create a palette of colours and shapes to work with.

Then I began to experiment with the basic shapes that the signs created, and play around with them to try and come up with my own designs:

 I decided that the elements I liked the most from the signs were the contrast created between the strong colours; their simple yet strong, graphic shapes and the repetition of seeing them again and again in the streets and how that symbol builds up in your mind. I experimented with different shapes and sizes of basic red forms, pushing the circle into more exaggerated shapes to see how that would work.

I cut my final design out in wood this morning, it's a series of shapes which progressively get larger and more exaggerated as well as consisting of more layers of wood. I'm hoping to paint it in red and white to highlight the shapes and their layers and then display it on the wall.

Boite, Caisse, Housse

The idea behind this project was to create a piece of artwork, then create a form of packaging or container specifically designed to protect and display it. I chose to use horse chestnut shells as my starting point, as there were lots of them in the streets in Nantes at the time, and I had also been looking at natural types of container when we were given the brief to help me think of how containers are designed for the contents they have. I found the shape of the horse chestnut cases very attractive, and also how they protect the horse chestnut yet are very fragile themselves very interesting (the spines are there to deter predators and absorb shock, but they also break off very easily, especially as the shells dry out).  Studying the horse chestnuts and other similar forms led me to develop a series of ideas for a piece to make.

 When I had some firm ideas in my head, I started to make some maquettes in plastecine to work out the best approach, then began my work in stoneware. I wanted the pieces to convey the idea behind the chestnut shells, rather than resemble them precisely. The first piece I made; which I hope to fire then sand soon, is based more on the asian chestnut shell's I found in the Jardin des Plantes, the spines are very thin and irregularly placed so I tried to give that sense to the piece. I had to limit the amount of spined I could attach however, as they became very fragile as they dried and made attaching more a risky business. The second piece is more akin to the chestnuts found everywhere in Ireland, the spines are far less dense and have a thicker base. They were much easier to attach as they were far less fragile, and the piece manages to support itself. I am waiting for it to become a little drier to pare down the points so they are more convex, like the chestnut spines themselves. I am also experimenting with dipping some of the shells in layers of slip before firing them. I have no idea whether it will work or not, and they will be very fragile as well as too small, but I think they could be very beautiful.

Now I have also begun to approach how to package the pieces once they are fired. Cushioning will be a big feature as they will be very fragile, even after firing, but they will also need support. I have been experimenting with different types of materials to create a casing that will work. I am very excited about the end product, as it will turn out something like the opposite to my starting point- with the spikes on the interior instead of the exterior, not something I thought of when I first got the idea!

Hunt Museum Project

This project was based on the contents of the Hunt Museum, which houses a wide variety of art, crafts and history collected by the Hunt family over the years for public display. We were asked to take inspiration from the pieces on display at the museum, focusing on ornate decoration in particular. I was personally drawn to two pieces more than the others, a French rosary decade and an iron tiara from Russia. I sketched and photographed the two repeatedly from a variety of angles to get a full understanding of their make up.

Then I took elements from these two pieces and combined them, experimenting with pattern and repeats to see what had the most interesting effect for me. I found that layering up a flower detail from the tiara with an image of a sketch of the skull at the base of the rosary was the most successful to me, and then I began to work in paper to create a 3D model.

Almost as soon as I began to work in 3D, I realised a larger vessel would have a far more imposing effect on the viewer, and built up some large scale ideas to try and work out the problems that might occur. Making the vessels in clay was quite a challenge, as I made each skull and flower from press moulds to give consistency, but this also meant that I had to build up the vessels piece by piece, rather like a puzzle instead of working in one solid sheet of clay, and consequently it required a lot of support as I was making them. I had to find large moulds of the correct size and shape to support the clay, and not allow the base to dry before I had finished the top, as well as ensuring that the base was thicker than the rim to give support at the bottom and not have any extra weight at the top. I wanted to give a really delicate, lacy finish to the vase, and make it even more overpowering to look at, so I made a sprig mould mimiking the flower pattern from the tiara and used it to make cut out flowers to attach to the top as a rim.

Glazing these pieces was something I had only begun to consider as the semester ended, and I hope to finish of the pieces in naturalistic colours to give an overall effect of a plant or flower vase, enticing the viewer to look closer, untill they realise that there are skulls hidden amonst the flowers, giving a slightly macabre twist on a classic vase.