Pod patterns

Filling the hole to China with plaster

Well, after 7 or more mixes I felt as though I was filling a bottomless pit.

Parasitoid face version 2 ready to go.

Baffles / coddles on.

Filled with plaster..and side view of the layers.

and with the wax pulled out and plaster delicately brushed...and then a stagger over to the kiln room and pop it in number 7 to cure.

Visual Diary Wall

Here's May's wall.

Wider sheets of honeycomb beeswax

The Candle shop at the Rocks stock longer sheets of beeswax, so here is the second attempt.

 

 

You want to go to 'Bunnings' for a birthday treat?

Whilst Dougie grappled with the idea that I did indeed want to go to Bunnings (hard ware store), I made a mental list in my head of the items I had been wanting for while. We were in there for some time.. and it was saturday..but here is my loot!

Glassfest

Corning's Glassfest is on, a perfect birthday celebration... IF I was in New York.

beeswax face and did I mention the RAIN?

So I have a clay face that I am reasonably happy with, now to get the wax over the top. I put some cling wrap over the clay to stop it from getting too wet. as I was using hot water to soften the areas that I needed to manipulate. This took the whole afternoon and the entire time it absolutely poured with rain

More mask making

Jane is up to some interesting things....

The papier mache mask not having quite fitted the bill, I set about shaping a clay face. I had previously put this  method in to the 'too hard basket' ..but since everything else is going into 'the even harder basket' I gave it a shot. 

Then on to blowing with Nadine this evening and then home to fiddle with the bees wax, which I think is getting there.

 

In Howie's words "If ya can pull it off, i'll be rully impressed"

Names to look up from New Glass: Neues Glas Journal

Tyler Rock: Ingress
Stephen Pon
Carol Freve
Pippa Beveridge
Louis Thompson

The Art of Memory - 12

The Decay of Time: Memory and Erasure

Readings: 

Klein, N. M. "Forgetfulness and Thunder" in Art & Text, no. 56, Feb-Apr., 1997.

Huyssen, A. "Monuments and Holocaust memory in an media age". Twilight Memories", Marking time in a culture of Amnesia, new York/London: Routeledge, 1998.

Smithson, R. " A tour of monuments of Passaic, New Jersey" in Wallis, B. (ed.) Blasted Allegories: An anthology of Writing by Contemporary Artists, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1987.

Klein talks about the Imago as the strongest residues of memory left over from a collective imaginary projection of an event or popular story. Which reminds me of a trope often used in fiction, specifically that of the genre that has become known as "Urban fantasy". A few writers spring to mind, specifically Robert Holdstock (1948-2009) who adapted the word to Mythago. His mythago's were the manifestations of our amalgamated imaginations given life (not necessarily sweet). A "social imaginary" of the characters portrayed in myths and legends. Charles de Lint in a similar vein has characters created out of books, the stronger 'Edar' are those from books most read and remembered. As social memory of these characters fade so does their existence.

In this process of social/ collective remembering and erasure, the imago's of a particular society reveal the hopes and fears, nightmares and dreams of the collective. A case ready for collective psychoanalysis.

Artists mentioned in today's lecture:

Matthew Buckingham. Image of Absalon to be projected until it vanishes (2001)

Robert Smithson. Spiral Jetty (1970)

Tim Silver. (Coming round again) (2009)

Tim Silver. (Rory) (2009)

2 blowing slots, screen printing spiders...WET PAINT

Screen printing and adding a layer of plaster to my mask were sandwiched between blowing with Deb in the morning and blowing with Nadine in the evening.

Opening the kiln this morning.

Screen printed spiders.

Mask with plaster.

Latest batch of blown glass.

Artist of the Day: Joseph Harrington

Joseph Harrington's work "Meld" was the first item sold at this Saatchi's 'Collect' 2010 and "Chideock Falls III” was the last item sold. Would that be a Saatchi first?
Meld

"Chideock Falls III”

Mask making

Not satisfied with the one I bought..I set about making a papier mache Mask

Organic Mechanics: New Work from Marcus Dillon

Marcus' work looked fab all made up. Until the opening, I had only seen component parts but has no real idea how everything was going to fit. 

Kirstie insisted on the human figure in this..so you can see the scale.

This was also my first visit to Gaffa's new spot, which was packed!

Super pink cupcakes for Sarah's birthday

Jamie came to visit with the most pretty pink cupcakes..thanks Jamie and Happy Birthday Sarah

Kiln formed glass with Kirstie Rea - 11

Blowing with Nadine

Nothing like blowing in the hot shop where it's all nice and toasty..when its pouring and dark outside. 2 more peas for me and 3? more figures for Nadine.

The Art of Memory - 11

Monumental legacies: Site of mourning & remembrance
Readings:

Young, J. E., " The counter-monument: Memory against itself in Germany Today", Critical inquiry, Vol. 18, No. 2. (Winter, 1992), pp. 267-296.

Auge, M. "A Duty to forget", Oblivion (trans. Marjolin de Jager), London/Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004.

Monument: a structure erected to commemorate persons or events  (n) monument an important site that is marked and preserved as public property (n) repository, monument (a burial vault (usually for some famous person) - from Princeton Universities Wordnet

The arc de triumph is exactly that..no mention of any losses..

Did the Gerz's Harburg monument encourage people to pay more attention to it in a short length of time so they could get rid of it quicker in the long term? If so was it successful in applying to the brief as a 'monument against fascism' when after 12 years it can no longer be seen.

On many points I think that the Harburg monument was successful. It's placement in the town centre rather than the sun dappled park catches people in any state of mind (rushed and harassed as well as relaxed). Interaction stays in the memory longer than a passive role. Writing ones name on a surface no matter if neatly or graffiti style, by day or in the dark binds you to that object. This monument is active..it descends in to the earth..depending on people's interaction. Though once it is gone...how effective is it?
Memories of WWII and the Harburg monument will fade..but perhaps the 'quality' of the memories of this particular monument will be stronger and more meaning full than those skimmed from passing by a static edifice.

I think counter monuments suit our times (quicker, interactive, multimedia, changeable).. as the traditional monument suited times past..how many Trad Monuments get commissioned now?

Kiln formed glass with Kirstie Rea - 10 - results

So here is the what that stack of 8 layers of glass looks like after the firing.  

And then After the diamond saw.

Colour tests for parasitoid.

kiln formed glass proposal - continued

In our Kiln forming lesson, we had one on one time to explain our concept for our assessible project to Kirstie which for the time being I will call Parasitoid (yes I know, really rolls off the tongue)

These are some things to think about:

Where does the honey comb texture end and start?

Well I had imagined the texture on the face and border, just the face and it starts to get a bit "spiderman". I prefer ALL honeycomb as the piece feels like a whole rather than divided.

Are the edges of the work straight cut or curvy? 

The main reason i'll stay away from a curvey edge is that with the amber coloured glass, it will look like a pool of honey..whilst I want the insect allusion, I don't want to specify bees. The rectangle puts us in mind of portraiture..and Dougie says the tombstone. (part of the story here is death so that's quite apt too)

Engraving on the inside?

may be..i really like the idea but need to do some tests on how it would look coming through the texture on the top..and think about possibilities...one option is detailed wasps or text or..

If i engrave on the inside it has to add rather than confuse.

Thickness

Kirstie suggested that I fuse 3 layers of glass. One amber and 2 clear. I have put some tests in on wednesday. 

Gaps at eyes and mouth

To create the 'holes' at eyes and mouth she suggested I sandblast them before I slump into the mould. My only concern with this is that I will have to get the placement exact..not sure I trust me or the glass enough to go where i want it to...maybe sand blast it after the slump.