Untold gallery minding

Another morning minding the Untold gallery, with 2 readings to complete. I fell asleep to them again...I'm beginning to think it's the space. Instead I redrew the drawings for my tree fused block and made a wobbly clean clay model of a maze..for some problem solving with Marcus later. Deb came in with a coffee for a chat..which passed some time. Seriously time goes so slowly in there.

Huginn and Muninn make it to the show!

Sooo, I'm completely knackered. The casts came out of the kiln this morning (Still too hot last night)!By 3pm Muninn went in and by 5pm Huginn was on the plinth. The opening started at 5.30pm!

Thank you to Deb who helped with the unveiling (scraping away the plaster, Kayo for some handy coldworking, Marcus for advice and expert use of the diamond saw, Pat for cleaning and eye gluing and most of all thanks to Kate for help all the way through.

2 birds in a pie

Today was the big day, the day my ravens came out of the kiln. Kate and I were also loading the furnace..that's how we got the time at uni. 

Everything was going well..looks as though the glass has done it's thing

Look at those layers!

Until my wooden scalpel went through the plaster where it shouldn't be able to...a hole...no a cavity???

So I have ended up with  quite a weird situation

We think (Kate and I) that the top temp heat wasn't held long enough so when it was really hot it trickled down to the bottom of the mould (the head) and then the temperature started to fall  and it thickened up and filled the legs, base and reservoir instead.

So instead of a fun last weekend before going back to college (good bye Neil Gaimen and the Graphic Novel festival) I get to..redo the missing bits in wax..plus feet (cause they are easier than the head), MADLY make moulds on Monday, melt wax and get them in on mOnday night ( aprocess that took me two days last time)..wait for a week (change the kiln program) and hope that the Exhibition Curator will let me set up a day late (though before the opening)  PHEW!

Utility - Untold / Sydney Design Festival 31st July - 15th August

'Untold' exhibition opens 4th August at SCA, part of 'Sydney Design' the Ravens will be there (in one piece hopefully) and some other great stuff so come along!

Utility - Untold

I've just realised I haven't explained why I'm casting crystal ravens..well:

Every year the 'object' studio's at uni (glass, ceramics and jewellery) run an exhibition called Utility, each year it has a theme and this year's is Untold. I entered a submission and got in...and now of course I have to make it.

So here is my submission that I entered in May:

200 word description of the proposed work, including its conceptual basis and its relevance to this year’s theme.

Two life size ravens stand in conversation; their body language portrays intelligence and friendship. One is quite life like, the details of feathers, beak and claw can be discerned in the cast black crystal. In contrast the other, cast in opaque clear only suggests such corvid features.

In Norse mythology, Odin the God of war and poetry gave the power of speech to a pair of ravens, and he called them Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory). It is told that each morning Odin sends them to fly over the land and before the day is over the pair report back to Odin telling him all they have seen, making him wise in the news of his land. Odin’s ravens are strong identifiers of who Odin is in Norse poetry and imagery yet the ravens are only referred to once in the epic poems. Considering the Raven’s daily task there seems to be a wealth of untold tales waiting to be heard.

I have depicted the ravens, “Thought” and “Memory” as though they were considering an event, something they had seen, something as yet untold.

“Thought” is shown in a more realistic manner (black in colour with finer detail), linking the act of thinking to be a conscious process while “Memory’s” more abstract features are portrayed in a misty colourless crystal evoking the ephemeral subconscious qualities of remembrance.

and I included some sketches and models

At last ..in the Kiln!

At last, after days..nay weeks of effort (and not just me either..thank you Kate) Huginn and Muninn are in Kiln 10..they will be ready next Wednesday..though I will have to wait until Friday to unload them...
In the kiln

for those of you who are interested I have made a step by step 'tutorial' of this process..here

Huginn and Muninn in plaster, silica, chopped fibre sheet and grog!

Muninn almost a raven

Muninn went through some dramatic changes today, got chopped into pieces, lost a fair bit of weight and gained some legs. Dougie's massive abscess also burst... mmm.

Any how back to polishing raven 2.

Pre investing Huginn

This is Huginn's brief time as a tropical bird with a fancy topknot..which was taken away as I realised I would have to put a base on the feet..I had hoped not to..but now seems too risky.

Final set up pre plastering.

Huginn

He can't stand up on his own - the wax is too soft. Hopefully in glass with the three points to rest on (feet and tail) the skewers won't be necessary...now for Muninn.

A nice pair of legs..if I do say so myself!

Huginn so far

Huginn in process

Untold

Untold is this year's theme for the Object studios' annual exhibition Utility. A few things have been going through my head but when Patrick in third year mentioned in his presentation Odin's ravens Thought and Memory.. I immediatley thought of their Norse names Huginn and Muninn...and so a seed was planted. I now have a vision of two cast glass ravens. One less detailed than the other..more a memory of a raven (that will be Muninn)and probably in clear and Thought (huginn) will be black with more defined detail. I would like to capture the intelligence and boldness of these birds. They way they stalk around and turn thier heads in consideration.

So two ravens standing together in different poses..one with it's beak open. Now the tricky part will be making the moulds! and the waxes!