Visual diary wall - March

Kiln formed glass with Kirstie Rea - 5

Today's lesson is being replaced by attending the 3rd year presentations of their proposals for this year. Should be interesting. The 3rd year studio has been looking fascinating in the past few weeks.

Fiddling

For the rest of the day I arranged my pieces of cut glass ready for fusing, tried some engraving on the found beach glass, coldworked the sculpture punty off another pea and did some thinking.

The Art of Memory - 5

Remembering to forget

Readings: Blanchot, M. Awaiting oblivion (trans. John Gregg), Lincoln/London: University of Nebraska press, (1962) 1997 (extract: pp.45-57).
Hacking, L. Rewriting the soul: Multiple personality and the science of memory, New Jersey, 1995 (extract).

So what is my question or comment on any of these exerpts? Well falling asleep was one of them  and 'Awaiting Oblivion' was a bit 'Waiting for Godot'....but without the humour which then reminds me of "Waiting for Elmo', which is on u tube




'rewriting the soul' was interesting and informative. In the middling section 'Hacking' expressed some views on
Freud that I happen to agree with..ummmmmmmmmmmm. I can't forget what I do not remember. think critically.....



Film: The eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, the title is a quote from Alexander Pope's poem Eloisa to Abelard.

Blowing with Kate

With Kate's assistance I trialed another beer vessel for dad...he will no doubt have a good collection of doughty beer vessels with decorative if not use-able handles by the time I am through. Kate made a  cute spotty tumbler and two tries at a head shaped object. One was working wonderfully till it shattered when puntying and the other ended up as a vase.

e.merge 2010

Bullseye glass have listed the finalists for this years e.merge show. I would also recommend Bullseye's blog writen by Lani McGregor (Director).

Lee Mathers (SCA),

Kate Baker (Sydney Artist) and

Joseph Cavalieri (SCA Artist in Residence) are amongst the 42 finalists.

Cool recycled boots - I want some!

These boots are made from recycled plastic bags...and a few other materials to make em more comfy, but seriously I want some. See them at Dhaka boots

Arabesk at 505

Arabesk is a four piece gypsy band who's live performances and recordings I have been enjoying for about 6 years. For the last few years the live part has been rather infrequent for my taste, so when I heard that they were playing tonight nothing was going to stop me from going. They were playing at a place I have only just started to hear about 'Club 505', which I have to say I really like. On ordering some drinks and tasty snacks, I was given a plastic toy dinosaur (as my order number), on arrival the food was freshly cooked with an extra serve of imagination and attention. Another amusing touch was the seating, amongst the opshop selection were some tiny chairs and tables which Dougie and I delightedly waited for someone to occupy. The only dissapointment was that the whole floor was not accesible, just the mezzanine part around the edge.

Arabesk were great and Dougie who has only ever heard the CD's was impressed. Thanks Guys!

Object theory - 4

Hot Shop with Lene: Create Clone Construct -4

Lene's demonstration today was using colour frit and a cone shape. Nadine had her first blowing session and unlike the rest of us 3 weeks ago didn't seem to have forgotten a thing.

Pea polishing

I cold worked the sculpture punties off the only two complete spheres I have made so far.

Kiln formed glass with Kirstie Rea - 4

This week we worked in colour. Taking our Neutral colour combinations from last week we transferred the design to a set of clear colours and a set of opaque colours. With the opaque colours we filled the gaps with black fine frit. The neutral coloured one from last week, we cut  a border in black and back in the kiln. The idea is to see how the image changes once framed.
The last pic is some stuff Deb and i are mucking about with

Workshop with Joseph Cavalieri Part 2

In this part of the process Joseph showed us one on one; how to edge the glass with copper foil. The three plates were stacked and soldered together. We added gal wire as hooks. I felt so clumsy with the soldering iron but I guess, as with most things you get the knack with practice.

So here we have..two plates copper foiled, the whole construction and Deb and Joseph.

Alice in Wonderland

The Art of Memory - 4

Sense memory: Affect & Trauma

Readings:

This week was our (Deb and myself) turn for presenting to the class. Below is the presentation we would have presented if technological problems hadn't ensued. As it was, without the powerpoint, we had more engagement with the class..it was actually fun! The cakes went down well, the scratch 'n' sniff cards even better, and Deb was eloquent on the actuall meaning of the reading...go Deb!

Shepherd's delight

There's one in every suburb - arggh

Harris Park Station

It's always a gamble choosing to go to Harris Park station rather than Parramatta. Harris Park is closer to work, has very few people waiting on the station and is an all stops station (so no express services). Parramatta is the opposite..absolutely teeming with people (am i going somewhere with this post? yes I am). This evening there was a lady dressed in the most stunning sari. Lime green with gold brocade and pale aqua borders. Her choli was also lime green. She had short hair style which really set off the look and gold star shape earrings. Of course I had to tell her that I thought the colours were beautiful, and then we chatted about the temple she was going to and the celebrations until her train came. So it was worth it when I saw an express go past whilst I thought 'I could have caught that if I had walked to Parramatta.'

Hot Shop with Lene: Create Clone Construct -3

More spheres..in fact I would like to make spheres, not apples or other dimpled objects. More success even if the first one shattered as I knocked it off the punty. Lene showed us a method of making the lip thin.....right at the beginning put a jack line in..before you blow a bubble, so the glass pulls from that line..tricky eh! Well i'm happy.

Object theory - 3

Olafur Eliasson MCA exhibition visit.

My second visit to experience "Take your time" was far better than the first. A weekday does make a difference and perhaps I had my "ART" hat on or being back at uni makes me more critically aware...whatever.


Question sheet:

 1. Have a really good thorough look at all the work in the exhibition. Make a note of 3 pieces you find particularly interesting or inspiring.
2. Go back to these works and record the following:when they were made, and a brief written description of the works including a small sketch. Elaborate on what you think these works might mean based on what you observe.
3.Craft objects are intimate with the body of the user, and form part of the users bodily memory. Discuss how Eliasson's work plays on the body of the viewer. Do you think this makes his work craft-like? Why or why not?

Right, well hummm..I really liked Room for one colour, 360 degree room for all colours, Moss wall, Beauty, Multiple grotto, leggo, one way tunnel and the maquette room. Narrowing down to 3 I would have to go for

27. Moss Wall (1994). Wood, moss and wire.
An entire wall is filled with a pale coloured moss. The aroma is fresh and natural, evocative within my experience of cool, sheltered English woodlands. The artwork stills the active body, stills the busy, distracted mind. Breathe in the scent, examine the smaller fronds. Close your eyes and leave the museum space.
Use all of your senses to experience the world, don't rely on one.

4. 360 degree room for all colours (2002) Stainless steel, projection foil, fluorescent lights, wood and control unit.
A ceilingless room, with a doorway, step inside and watch the walls flood with colour, lit from within, luminous and everchanging. I imagine this is what a bird would see in flight in the hours of dawn or sunset. When the colour ebbed away to leave plain white for a few moments I felt a keen sense of dissapointment (bring it back! my mind shouted).
Colour effects us ..don't try and deny it.

30. Beauty (1993). Spotlight, water, nozzles, hose, wood and pump.
In a dark cave the light, the mist and the viewer create a triangulation, though the viewer is not fixed and can change the experience by changing the shape of the triangle. In one moment the angles align and beauty is created. Shimmering rainbows spring in to being, twisting and drifting across the mist.
Don't just look at a subject or person from one view, try a different angle a different side.

Craft objects are intimate with the body of the user, and form part of the users bodily memory. Discuss how Eliasson's work plays on the body of the viewer. Do you think this makes his work craft-like? Why or why not?

Compared to these works,  viewing paintings seems a rather passive art engagement. All the viewer's senses are required for appreciation of Eliasson's work. Some, especially "Room for one colour (1997)" require your body to be in the room. You can see the yellow light from outside the room, but you need to step inside to watch all the colour drain from your body and clothes. You need to step inside to feel the moment of joy of being surrounded by the intense colour of sunshine and stay longer for the joy to be exchanged with a subtle nausea. Most of his work requires more than standing in front of a wall. You are required to move, to bend and peer, to look at others, perhaps even engage with others. Your body feels the sensations. In the leggo room (the cubic structure evolution project (2004)) your participation and imagination  is required. If we expereince the works without the body..say from over the internet we do not experience much...the body is needed.


Aspects of craft but ultimatley not.
A Craft object is intimate, because I can pick it up, move it from place to place, use it even. I can see this object every day, so it becomes familiar and intimate... before I touch it I know how it will feel, how much weight it has..prepare for its form. I can measure it's size against my body..perhaps with my hands, it belongs to me.

Utility: Untold

The combined object studios have an exhibition every year "Utility". This years theme is "Untold". More details and notes at Jane Gavan's blog.

Workshop with Stained glass artist Joseph Cavalieri

Joseph managed to interrupt the feasting to start his workshop. This project is a multilayered glass painting excersise. The paint used drys extremely quickly allowing you to scrape paint off to create effects as well as painting on. Joseph showed us  how to use the atomizer. The possibilities are endless, and we were only using black paint. The pieces go in the kiln tomorrow.

Kiln formed with Kirstie Rea - 3

This week we took image and seperated it into tones. Black, white and grey. (I forgot to take a photo)
The next part was to add colour. It was easier to cut curves than I thought. Not using oil in the glass cutter is great and so is the confidence Kirstie has in not using a ruler. Now that I've tried it...much easier!

Below is my cutting plan and the coloured piece before fusing.

Glass studio welcome BBQ

Best BBQ ever...lots of food with plenty of variety and imagination. Started off late due to the Utility / Untold exhibition talk and was curtailed by Joseph's workshop (worth it).

The Art of Memory - 3

Photography and Remembrance: Family Snaps

Readings are:

Berger, J. "Stories", in ed. McQuillan, M. The Narrative Reader, London/NewYork: Routledge, 2000.

Hirsch, M. "Unconcious Optics", Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory, Cambridge, Mass. London: Harvard University press, 1997.

Mitchell, J. "Screen Memory" extract from "Memory and Psychoanalysis" in Fara and peterson (eds.), Memory, Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1998. 

Questions and Comments

In combination, the three readings have made me aware of how a single photograph, that I once thought of as more truthful and accurate than a memory, adds it's own slant or version of events to be reinterpreted time and time again on each viewing. With no before or after the photograph can successfully deceive/mislead whilst being held up as evidence or truth.

"More about family romances than about actual details p. 119 "unconcious optics". 

Glass Blowing with Ana

Deb and I had an hour in hand while the heating chambers warmed up to discuss our Theory assignment. Ana and I had a reasonably good session. I was attempting to make sphere's. In 2 attempts I was doing ok until I tried to thin out the hole from the jack line. Our first attempt at a sculpture punty was not successful but the second one was. Ana achieved her shape even if it was a little larger than intended.

Parramatta Pigeons

Underneath the wires, is the smallest strip of grass, that I walk through from work to Parramatta raailway station. It is often a moving mass of pigeons who wait  and descend upon the occassional human to feed them. Sometimes, when the pigeons are absent, I wonder where they are and how they flock to the food so quickly before other scavengers find it. By chance, thanks to the amazing clouds this evening I looked up in the right place and ...
what made me giggle was all those pigeons in front of all those apartments. Birds on the wire, humans inside boxes.

On the way back home to Sydney....

Friday night was late, to be followed by not such an early morning with Deb looking surprisingly chipper. Another visit to the gallery was rewarding in many ways. All of the work looked different in the daylight. Belinda's winning piece I could appreciate fully in the new combination of artificial light and daylight as I could now see the images under the solid glass. A produce market in the park area around the galleries was well attended by locals, visitors and glassies who were all attracted by the freshly cooked, picked and brewed victuals on offer. I bought honey, peach & rosemary jelly, watermelon & rosepetal jam to take home, and a fried egg and tomato roll with fresh orange juice to consume on the spot.

Wagga Art Gallery was somewhat ignored the night before, rather in shadow of the event next door, but after a stroll in the delightfully warm Autumn morning we ventured inside for another look at 'Leviathan' by CJ who recieved a highly commended for his multimedia piece..which BTW I loved. Upstairs I found a textile exhibition that was incredibly compelling. I had spent longer in tha gallery than the others (usuall) and found them chatting and sharing grapes Simon with one of the entrants. Finally we dragged our selves away...

Unfortunately a friend of mine found herself reluctantly in Wagga base hospital so i was dropped off for a surprise visit. Lori I think was somewhat astounded to see me as Wagga is at least 4 1/2 hours drive from where I live. It was lovely to visit and chat while I got over having someone be SO pleased to see me....well I suppose after a week in hospital any visitor is welcome. Kate and Deb had spent their time in the hospital cafe discussing their art works for this semester.

On the road again, out last stop was at Minson Glass Art in Binalong to see Peter and Lindsay. Wayne and his wife Marina where already ensconsed in the Cafe/Gallery part. A stop here is never short as Peter is wonderful to listen to and learn from.

National Student Art Glass Prize

Later on today I am off to the opening night of the "National Student Art Glass Prize" in Wagga Wagga. Driving down with fellow students today and back on saturday. Better pack some of that art theory reading then!

Hot Shop with Lene: Create Clone Construct -2

After a lot of head scratching..I need to combine a blown shape that I want to practice on by doing it over and over with an unforced conceptual idea within a week....nothing happened for a while then the other night in a drowsy state an image came to me fully realised.

I had been thinking about what the term cloning actually is, how we as humans practice it and how plants and other small organisms do it naturally. For some reason when I thought of clone.. I thought of exact in every way.. i remembered the phrase "as like as two peas in a  pod"

Object theory - 2

Reading:
Theories of Modernity / Mark Pennings. p 19-27.

Kiln formed glass with Kirstie Rea - 2

I got up early this morning to bake cup cakes, my turn for the class sweet treat (Kirstie brought banana cake last week).This week was about transforming our designs through different mediums of bullseye flat glass, powder and stringer.
Using combinations of clear and white glass and black powder and rod we experimented with transferring and transforming our images and words to 3 more surfaces. The powder was unusual but exciting to use as you can push, fluff, scrape, pull and scatter in application. The rod was quite minimal and angular (to be expected) but a telling exercise of reduction. Below are pictures of our work pre fusing.

Joseph Cavalieri: artist in residence at SCA

Joseph Cavalieri is artist in residence at SCA glass studio for this month. Occupying a corner of  the first and second year studio which is also a pathway between workshops, he has plenty of interuptions and lookers on.

Friendly and unruffled Joseph answers any questions that come his way.

IL MOMENTO DELLA MORTE (2009)                                          Gormenghast (2009)

The Art of Memory - 2

Me, Myself and I: Autobiography.

Readings are:

Barthes, R. "Deliberation", The Rustle of Language (trans. Richard Howe), Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986, pp 359-373.

Calle, S. " The Detective", Double Game, London: Violette, 2007, pp 122-139.

For every set of readings we have to hand in a Question or Comment to prove that we did read and think.

The Detective:

"In April 1981, at my request, my mother went to a detective agency. She hired them to follow me, to report my daily activities, and to provide photographic evidence of my existence." Sophie Calle. 

This work consists of:
-The brief and basic facts of the Artist's movements on that day make up the written report which is accompanied by photographs from the private eye.
- the Artist's own more detailed and personal account of the same day.
- Some photographs and notes from a friend of the artist who takes a photo of the Private eye doing his job following Sophie.


I think of the difference between how we see ourselves from the outside and the inside. I can recognise a friend from how they hold a coffee cup or the way they walk but I would never be able to see this in myself. I am generally unaware of my own identifying mannerism's.



Deliberation:

·        If Roland Barthes had access to the instant publishing of today’s blogging world, would he still be pondering "Is it worth the trouble?" This thought leads me to suspect that his question is more about his own frustration with Journal writing rather than the question of the literary validity of the genre.

The keyword here (if I may quote Woody Allen's Annie Hall) for this aptly named essay is, self- indulgent. My first impulse was to utter "For god's sake Roland just shut up!" That is perhaps not the intelligent level of discourse that our lecturer is looking for.


In "Deliberation" M. Barthes gives excessive consideration to whether he ought to write a journal or not. He also doubtfully wonders if the few attempts that he has made in the past would be publishable. Barthes gives the reader four sound reasons why a journal could be of literary interest but then cites Kafka's Journal as the only one of worth, and therefore damning all others. For the main part of the essay he labours the inadequacies of journal writing as he attempts to pin down it's literary status. It may be, because of his poor opinion of "The Journal", that he does not give 'his' journal the full efforts of his usual writing practice and is subsequently disappointed with the outcome.

Barthes includes 2 of his journal writing efforts (sneakily publishing them despite his insecurity of their worth) to illustrate some of his arguments and to convince me that he really shouldn't publish his diary. I agree however, from personal experience, with one of his sentiments on the power of the journal entry to act as a highly effective and evocative memory hook.

"(rereading: this bit gave me distinct pleasure, so vividly did it revive the sensations of that evening; but curiously, in reading it over, what I remembered best was what was not written,..)"

 M. Barthes' queries "Is it worth the trouble?" Well if it feels like trouble, then don't bother, but if he had kept one, i'm sure there would be some who would want to read it, perhaps for an academic research on his life or maybe comparatively to other French philosophers of the time.

I also think about the way we create a persona by our selection of what we write in a journal, after all, everything would be tiresome to the writer and reader. The memory hook operation only works for the writer as the public reader has no access to the memories that blossom from the reading of a few words.

Blowing with Deb

mmm not the most successful couple of hours. We both made some wobbly things and stuffed up a few times. It was a hot day too and then Deb burnt her hand so we quit. Rob and Lene however were making some very interesting things.

Wilderness: Art Gallery NSW

Wilderness: Art Gallery NSW

I have to go back to this exhibition to view it at a slower rate..I had 20 minutes before the Gallery shut. Aleks, who I was meeting had more time to enjoy the show, he was impressed.

Andrew Browne Curtain 2008

From my short wizz 'round I found myself drawn to the fairytale like qualities of Andrew Browne's work. Curtain's silent siren's song calls to the child within "Come into the dark, come and see what fine things lie in the forest". We know we shouldn't, know we'll probably get lost (and eaten by a witch) but the temptation is strong. Other works of his evoked Ents from Lord of the Rings

I'll go back for a longer session. After being kicked out of the AGNSW Aleks and I wandered through the Botanic Gardens and had Hot Chocolate at the Guylian Cafe at Circular Quay.

Congratulations Nadine and Daniel!

These photos were taken by Jaime Hamilton.

 This Ben Edols piece was our (part of the glass class) gift to them.

Artist of the Day: Galia Amsel

GALIA AMSEL Spring 5 (2008) and Sundowner.


You can find more of Galia's work at Koru Galleries and Milford Galleries.

New Book

The craft reader / Glenn Adamson. (....) : Berg Publishers, 2010.

Hot Shop with Lene: Create Clone Construct -1

As usual its Hot in the hot shop, though after 3 months away it seems hotter than ever. Lene demonstrated a tumbler and in groups of 3 we dreged back our skills from last year to attempt our own. Those not in a team get to practice punties and bubbles, so very busy.

Our project for this semseter  was given with proposals due next week: here is the basic outline.
Create, Clone, Construct
This project aims to develop your crititcal and practical skills in the development and production of sculptures or installations that materialize through a use of modules, parts or multiples.
You are free to use colour but should provide justification for doing so within your proposal. Cold working and surface treatments are allowed.

Object theory - 1

Reading: The "Introduction" from Thinking through craft / Glenn Adamson.

In a larger group than last year we recapped last semester's work.

Given the terms Art, Craft and Design we chose words that broadly defined the subject.
Art: Contemporary, provocative, painting, sculpture, expression, galleries, conceptual, installations, value, contraversial.
Craft: Functional, utility, domestic, decorative , cultural, DIY, textiles, ceramics glass, Jewellery, paper, natural objects, traditional, kitsch, souvenirs, wood, sentimental.
Design: Commercial, production, advertising, innovation, fashion, function, social economic status, digital, technology, progressive.

Some of these descriptors immediatly crossover within the categories, but with closer examination none can be solely the property of one term or the other.

The over head presentation began with a quote from Darren Dean

"The work of country craftsmen was believed to have evoloved 'naturally'as the direct and honest  expression of simple functions, requirements and solid virtues. This vernancular tradition was construed as something static and timeless, in contrast to the dynamic and progressing modern world."

Journal of Design History. "A slipware dish by Samuel Malkin..Vol 7 no. 2 1994.

We dicussed what "Craft as 'a residual cultural practice'" could mean.

New books: Contemporary kiln formed glass

Contemporary kiln formed glass: A world survey / Keith Cummings. (....) : A & C Black, 2009. ISBN: 9780812242324

I had been chasing "Small world by David Lodge" all afternoon as one of Dougie's Literature lecturer's put a book on the reading list the day of the first class...hence there are 600 first year literature students desperate for a book not published in Australia nor massively stocked in Sydney. On my last shot at Kinokinuya (no luck) I was delighted to find in their glass section THIS book. Keith Cummings has already written a very comprehensive work on kiln glass methods but this book differs as it show cases current warm glass artists with some insights into their technique and practice. I'll be getting it ASAP and our library is now aware of it's magnificence. Kirstie Rea our teacher features in it too!  BTW the copy at Kinokinuya is MINE.

Kiln formed glass with Kirstie Rea - 1

"Students will need to bring to week one, a colour image of something that inspires them, an image of something that they would like to investigate and work with. This image should be printed out or photocopied in B&W and also enlarged several times to A3 size."

I wavered between a few images though apparently according to Dougie he knew which one I would choose all along, it's nice to be so predictable isn' it? I ended up choosing an image of some about to be hatched wasps inside what was once a moth pupae.

The steps below came one by one so each task is unaffected by thinking about the next.

So the process goes like this:
1. Choose colour image. (our class ranged from: burlesque, plant life, church signs, magazine adds, minerals, abstract and figurative and textiles)
2. Enlarge to A3 in black and white.
3. Show image to class with a little explanation why you like it ( or just say it to your self or the cat)
4. Think of ONE word that captures for you the essence of your image and your feeling to it.
5. think of another.
6. Then 8 more.
7. Extract 3 from your 10 words that really draw the meaning from your image. (be flexible, if you find other words come to mind that are more suitable use those)
7.a Think of artists (at least 3) that evoke those words/themes to you in their work
8. Make a sentence from those 3 words.

9. Write a paragraph (for next week).

10. Make a view finder with 2 'L's cut from paper or card.
11. Select a section of your image. this can be long and narrow, square..whatever, as long as it is no more than 150mm - 200mm. (we all have to fit into one kiln). If you wish you can enlarge your image further. Blurriness is fine.
12. Cut a piece of float glass (provided) to the size and shape of your selection.
13. Sandblast one side.
14. On the roughened side draw in pencil a version of your selected piece of your image. Think of the words you have been playing with in this process.
13. When finished spray with hairspray to fix the pencil.

Next week we will be working with Black, white, transparent and opaque.

So here we go...The cocoon shape thing that the wasps are cradled within IS a cocoon but someone else's, a moth that was pupating. The female wasp laid her eggs inside the cocoon. These newly emerged wasps have been consuming the moth alive in its time of transformation. If we imagine this in human terms it is quite a horrific process but the wasp is just providing her offspring with a good supply of food. I'm quite fascinated with the planned focused way that insects do things.

My words are DEVOUR, planned, beauty, death, renewal, sacrifice, flight, pattern, parasitic, amoral, focus, precision programmed.

Chosen 3 are : Devour Beauty Amoral
Sentence: Amoral beauty devours the unwary

Paragraph: Her beauty in flight is precision and focus. Her sculpted, patterned form searches with diligence and tenacity for the most perfect spot. Her decision is purely practical, each requisite ticked off by a delicate antennae. Her need is greater than all others, nothing short of death will detract her from her task. In the most suitable of chambers well stocked with succulent provisions she leaves her innocent offspring to consume the unsuspecting occupant who is the new home, that is readying for it's own magnificent transformation. The devoured is not known and will never be known, it's life subsumed by another. It's flesh feeds the growth and development of her progeny. Her children fill the stolen space until it squirms with life. Bursting out of their cukooed home the newly hatched begin their own amoral journey.

Artists
Adrian Arleo, because her work gives me the sense that something is being eaten.  Angela Jarman & Zaha Hadid both describe a beauty combined with a slightly edgy, insecty feeling. Amoral is giving me a problem though!

Adrian Arleo

Angela Jarman

Zaha Hadid

The Art of Memory

First class of the year. CATE2007 "The Art of Memory"

Second year at uni starts today

Well really it starts tomorrow, as we have no scheduled classes.