After all the stress of applying to university, the interviews, finishing my pathway project, I've finally had some time to get back into writing. And it feels excellent!
I thought I would dedicate this post to my last project, A Word A Day: Feminism.
I would definitely say this project was one of the most enlightening and exciting projects I have ever done mostly because I was able to delve into which ever processes and techniques I wanted to. I have always been very much a fine artist, and I don't think this will change any time soon. However, being determined to push my own limits, I experimented with 3D methods for the first time and have become enamoured with the world of Plaster of Paris and dental alginate!
I began my project with experimenting with the power of printing and recording and one of my most successful (and memorable) discoveries was printing my nipple. Believe it or not, this opened up a whole different route for my pathway stage and I think that's when I realised that art truly is what you can get away with. The prints resemble a sort of finger print and my mum even told me they looked like eyes. I managed to use my body to create something abstract and it felt revolutionary! I was fascinated by the way something so taboo could be turned into something so abstract and beautiful: why are we alienating and shaming the female nipple and not the mans? And what is so wrong about something used purely for the purpose of breast feeding?
My prints developed into collograph prints, allowing me to enlarge the size of the abstract circular shape I'd created and repeat a more reliable and durable tool (as pro-nipple I am, I wasn't about to ditch my bra in class). I was intrigued by the idea of enlarging and emphasising this beautiful print I'd created, the power of it being that it was in fact my nipple and no one could take it down or deem it inappropriate. Almost naturally, I wanted to come off of the page: I began to develop my collograph plate into a larger and more protruding design by using paper mache techniques and mod rock. Quickly, I added colour and I began to work larger and bolder.
Next, I was introduced to my best friend Mr Dental Alginate: this material (the same stuff that the dentists put on your teeth when you get braces!) is MAGICAL! Initially as an experiment, I decided to use the medium to create a cast of my nipple in particular, and also a full breast. After 20 minutes of being awkwardly led on my bedroom floor with the cold, gloopy mixture all over my chest, the hard work was done and I had created a fantastic little mould. I loved the texture of the skin, the detailed wrinkles of the nipple and instantly, I wanted to do more. This developed into my final outcome, where I had the idea of creating a cast of a person coming through a surface: the floor or the wall. I wanted the breast to come through, as well as the head and a hand: all of the most difficult body parts to cast because I'm just that awkward.
It seems like I've rushed through my project in about 3 days but I promise it did take a lot longer: here was my final piece. I was really happy with my final piece because it's something I'd never done before and plaster casting truly terrifies me, after being told terrible stories about getting my hand amputated. It was extremely challenging and I only wish that I'd had more time to experiment with all of the ideas I'd had for that project, because it was just so exciting and experimental. However, now that I do have more time to spare, I can show some of the ideas I'd had that I didn't get to push as far as I wanted. For example the life size cay nipples above! I used the remains of my over used alginate mould to make ceramic nipples, painted them with watercolours and glazed with PVA. I love taking something so basic and pushing it to it's boundaries. I would have liked to develop this idea further, producing other life size pieces (I know - it's probably best I didn't have time to push this further..) and present them away from their natural setting.
Anyway, through all the madness, it was a difficult decision but I had to produce something for my final piece, (even though I felt as though I could have produced a full exhibition of work), and I chose to make a large scale sculpture using the 3D techniques I'd developed. To say I'd bitten off more than I could have chewed was an overstatement, so I had to be a tactical as possible. I coudn't make a full human body in 2/3 weeks, so I decided it would be a woman pushing through a wall/ barriar naked (of course). In order to prepare and plan, I did a photoshoot of my little sister in the bath, so I could see the angles and shapes produced by a human form emerging from a flat surface. Being restricted by the amount of alginate I could use (it's expensive stuff!) I only moulded my breast, hand and top half of my face using the mould and pouring in the plaster. The other body parts required extra thining. One method I tried which seemed to work quite well was pushing my hand into clay and pouring in the plaster, and I picked up quite a lot of detail using this, and so one of the hands in my final piece I used this method. Using mod rock, I created a cast of my bent knee, and poured plaster into this: it could have been a disaster so I feel compelled to say do NOT try this at home, but thankfully it worked for me! This is the final piece after hours and hours of work and stress... don't talk to me about stress until you haul around a life size mould of YOURSELF and it keeps falling apart...
I thought I would dedicate this post to my last project, A Word A Day: Feminism.
I would definitely say this project was one of the most enlightening and exciting projects I have ever done mostly because I was able to delve into which ever processes and techniques I wanted to. I have always been very much a fine artist, and I don't think this will change any time soon. However, being determined to push my own limits, I experimented with 3D methods for the first time and have become enamoured with the world of Plaster of Paris and dental alginate!
I began my project with experimenting with the power of printing and recording and one of my most successful (and memorable) discoveries was printing my nipple. Believe it or not, this opened up a whole different route for my pathway stage and I think that's when I realised that art truly is what you can get away with. The prints resemble a sort of finger print and my mum even told me they looked like eyes. I managed to use my body to create something abstract and it felt revolutionary! I was fascinated by the way something so taboo could be turned into something so abstract and beautiful: why are we alienating and shaming the female nipple and not the mans? And what is so wrong about something used purely for the purpose of breast feeding?
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| Large Scale Ink |
My prints developed into collograph prints, allowing me to enlarge the size of the abstract circular shape I'd created and repeat a more reliable and durable tool (as pro-nipple I am, I wasn't about to ditch my bra in class). I was intrigued by the idea of enlarging and emphasising this beautiful print I'd created, the power of it being that it was in fact my nipple and no one could take it down or deem it inappropriate. Almost naturally, I wanted to come off of the page: I began to develop my collograph plate into a larger and more protruding design by using paper mache techniques and mod rock. Quickly, I added colour and I began to work larger and bolder.
Next, I was introduced to my best friend Mr Dental Alginate: this material (the same stuff that the dentists put on your teeth when you get braces!) is MAGICAL! Initially as an experiment, I decided to use the medium to create a cast of my nipple in particular, and also a full breast. After 20 minutes of being awkwardly led on my bedroom floor with the cold, gloopy mixture all over my chest, the hard work was done and I had created a fantastic little mould. I loved the texture of the skin, the detailed wrinkles of the nipple and instantly, I wanted to do more. This developed into my final outcome, where I had the idea of creating a cast of a person coming through a surface: the floor or the wall. I wanted the breast to come through, as well as the head and a hand: all of the most difficult body parts to cast because I'm just that awkward.
It seems like I've rushed through my project in about 3 days but I promise it did take a lot longer: here was my final piece. I was really happy with my final piece because it's something I'd never done before and plaster casting truly terrifies me, after being told terrible stories about getting my hand amputated. It was extremely challenging and I only wish that I'd had more time to experiment with all of the ideas I'd had for that project, because it was just so exciting and experimental. However, now that I do have more time to spare, I can show some of the ideas I'd had that I didn't get to push as far as I wanted. For example the life size cay nipples above! I used the remains of my over used alginate mould to make ceramic nipples, painted them with watercolours and glazed with PVA. I love taking something so basic and pushing it to it's boundaries. I would have liked to develop this idea further, producing other life size pieces (I know - it's probably best I didn't have time to push this further..) and present them away from their natural setting.
Anyway, through all the madness, it was a difficult decision but I had to produce something for my final piece, (even though I felt as though I could have produced a full exhibition of work), and I chose to make a large scale sculpture using the 3D techniques I'd developed. To say I'd bitten off more than I could have chewed was an overstatement, so I had to be a tactical as possible. I coudn't make a full human body in 2/3 weeks, so I decided it would be a woman pushing through a wall/ barriar naked (of course). In order to prepare and plan, I did a photoshoot of my little sister in the bath, so I could see the angles and shapes produced by a human form emerging from a flat surface. Being restricted by the amount of alginate I could use (it's expensive stuff!) I only moulded my breast, hand and top half of my face using the mould and pouring in the plaster. The other body parts required extra thining. One method I tried which seemed to work quite well was pushing my hand into clay and pouring in the plaster, and I picked up quite a lot of detail using this, and so one of the hands in my final piece I used this method. Using mod rock, I created a cast of my bent knee, and poured plaster into this: it could have been a disaster so I feel compelled to say do NOT try this at home, but thankfully it worked for me! This is the final piece after hours and hours of work and stress... don't talk to me about stress until you haul around a life size mould of YOURSELF and it keeps falling apart...
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