New Inspiration

Can't let go of fascination with twisty, spiralling shapes, and have just discovered a new artist: Janet Echelman, whose sculptures are massive, ephemeral, engineered and billowing. Amazing stuff - and her life story too. Am obsessed with the TED forum of speakers - lots of creative thinkers. Inspiring.
http://www.ted.com/talks/janet_echelman.html

After all that...

Got a distinction!!!!!


Whoooooo-ooooo!!!!!!

What next?

Waiting for my final result now...(fingers crossed)

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use."

~ Earl Nightingale

"Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly. "

~ Stephen R. Covey

"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it."

~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

                "Don’t start from the good old things but the bad new ones."

                - Bertolt Brecht

Sea Spirit

Here's my final piece for the show:

Hmmm. I think you'd have to be there really...can't get full experience in a photograph. Really pleased with the film footage - the layering in Final Cut Pro means that there is a ghostly second wind sculpture weaving in and out of the first.

Very serene and ethereal. Nice.

What I could have done!

 Found this sculpture by Andrew Currie (final piece, Falmouth Art College)- what I could have done for my show!

How stunning is that?!

The show must go on!

God, sooo tired!
Spent 2 days hammering tacks into a dodgy ceiling to put my thready sculpture up!
Forgot to take pictures of finished installation so must remember camera at show this Friday.  Very different experience creating for a show, rather than for yourself:

• pressure to have something "polished" rather than just a sample showing your "journey"
• pressure of comparing your work to everybody else's - and amazing things are pulled out the bag at the last minute
• practical problems - space not boarded; how to attach threads to ceiling; plug sockets; lighting; space too big or too small; aware of needs of others sharing the same room, their sound & lighting; physical exhaustion; film footage suddenly jumping and juddering; painting blistering on backing board...
• original artistic idea compromised or changed due to "feel" of the space

Re the last point, I originally wanted drama and movement, and was going to emphasise shadows and use the vigorous, boisterous "windy day" footage. But my sculpture just felt too serene, and perhaps using paper as a back-drop softened everything so I knew I wanted the slower footage with pipe music. Then the space seemed unbalanced so Clare suggested using my "Vortex" painting on one wall. So pleased to have some original art up instead of photographs. I suddenly realised how much using actual painting rather than print means to me. After all that cropping and photography, I've ended up with three pieces showing the whole object!

But the over-all mood is just right: serene, ethereal, tranquil. Really the most important feelings I get from the beach.
Come to my show!
http://www.hereford-art-col.ac.uk/events_details.php?event_id=275

And now, the end is near...

Sad times.
Last proper day at college, last work shop day, last library day...
But instead of buzzing with last minute preparations for show I feel very flat.
Lethargically sewed a bit of fishing wire onto stitched organza; half-heartedly tried (and failed) to print out Blog; lack-lustredly (a word?) burned a couple of DVDs, but all seemed a big effort.
Luckily everyone else felt the same way, so it's not just me!

Had a big feast at lunch-time as everyone brought food in. A real spread!

Yesterday spent the day in Textiles to sort of say goodbye. Have really loved my time in that little sewing room, listening to the radio.  Experimented with satin stitch to mimic scribbly lines in "Vortex" painting. Also made some felt to mimic the sunlit sky. Perhaps the organza needs some colour?

Having second thoughts about spot-lighting. Argggghhhhhh!!! Maybe natural lighting best after all? But too late to change now. But surely that little enclosed white box will show off my sculpture and film footage to the best advantage?? Darren says no spot-lights at Track so will have to get some myself. Had to hand projector back so can't experiment further.
GCSE marking (515 scripts!) taking up all my time so no time for art and lots of self-doubt!

Latest hanging sculpture in bedroom:

I like the pink "scribble" but photo doesn't give it justice. Certainly got a lot more energy than my first attempts.

I like the way that every time I construct it it's always different. I think I'll just have to trust it'll come good on Thursday, the day we're getting set up for the show.
My husband's just come in and said, "Is it supposed to be so thready?" Sigh.

What I'm supposed to be emulating!

The dark side

Played with spot-lights; nasty orange and harsh glare but created dramatic shadows when held close to fabric:

Such a different mood when it's lit up! Moody and dramatic. Sort of conjures up the darker side to Penbryn coast-line and the sea.

Small LED down-lights placed inside the sculpture. Too dark, but gives an eerie glow. Also blue light nicer than orange.

At college, used Mac room to rehang sculpture and play with projecting film footage over the top. The light from the projector bathed it in cool blue, and made the crystal bits twinkle in the organza. The sound-track added atmosphere but not sure if the "wind and paper" sound quite right for this. The film footage got lost when cast large over entire structure. Am going to take projector home and try casting small, intense projection behind sculpture, so that you have to walk through and under it to see it clearly. Then I'll need spot-lights to light sculpture itself. Hmmm...
Really different mood now to previous light, airy, serene feel. Loads of potential to explore completely new ground. Quite exciting.
I'm going to be given an enclosed black "box" for my installation so there's potential for a complete, intense "experience".
When I look at the photos of my sculpture cast in shadow, it seems almost threatening, and it kind of reminds me of the hostile, frightening side to the ocean: how in a few seconds it can switch from being something exciting and exhilerating to something overwhelming and monstrous.
That little sunny clip of my wind sculpture dancing against blue skies is a complete contrast; I'd want it to be tiny and intense, a jewel of a moment. But almost overshadowed by the threat of that morning.

Let there be light II

Clare Lynn, light installation sculptor. She got the public to create these images using SLR digital cameras and torches. I find the top one really exciting because the scribbly lines are just what I feel my textile installation is missing. If it is to have something of the "feel" of my "Vortex" painting, it needs light, movement and organic lines. I'm feeling like I want to put physical light in it somehow, but so far I've only used light in photography.
Could I use some sort of flexible fibre-optic tubing stitched into the seams? Or scribbling its way through and around the scupture?
Or would spot-lighting be sufficient, casting dancing shadows?
Or, as Tom suggested, projecting an image onto it somehow?
Asked in Media, and have hired a huge case of giant spot-lights. Becky in 3D and Ian in Small Metals both suggested Mapplin's by B&Q for flexible strip lighting.
Hope to borrow a projector from school.
Have opened a big can of worms here!
It's really difficult because I don't know which space I can use to hang sculpture. Want to go really big...

Chris Natrop

"Transparent plastics, video projection and multi-channel audio are often employed alongside works of intricate, hand-cut paper to create fully immersive environments within gallery and museum spaces. The viewer is en­courag­ed to enter these room-sized installations to directly experience the realm the artist has set up where elements of light, shadow and form coalesce into a fully unified world"

http://chrisnatrop.com/statement.html

Love the shadows cast, and how the whole room is filled and transformed into another world.
Can't wait to play with lighting...

Let there be light

Found this on-line:

Lacrime del Pescatore, a light installation by Ingo Maurer gives the sensation of being underwater, in the vicinity of shipwrecked treasure. It is made of a series of three fisherman’s nets studded with more than 300 crystal drops. 
http://cubeme.com/blog/2009/08/06/lacrime-del-pescatore-light-installations-by-ingo-maurer/

Just thinking...what if fibre-optic lighting tubes were sown into the seams of my sculpture? So that the organic lines and curves were lit up?

Work in progress II

 i

s anCathryn’s work ietween mark-making, colour and form, based on memories of coastal landscapes  exploration of the

Getting there. Definitely more energy now, and interesting shapes. Let the fabric do as it pleased when hanging, twisting and coiling randomly instead of encouraging spirals. Many threads hang down as you walk underneath, and it sort of breathes gently in the breeze when the door is opened. Looks good from all angles.

Have a yearning to go even bigger!

A work in progress

All day stitching...
Work so far:

Top structure too symmetrical and gentle. Need more of the scribbly energy of the bottom form to get the "vortex" effect of the painting (behind).
So, need to stitch more crystal organza and reshape with more randomness and vigour...

Three textile sculptors

1.  Joan Truckenbrod
Large-scale installations, often using video projection onto the sculptures. Handmade fibre chrysalis.

Lightning in my Blood

Originally drawn to her work by its form and size. Have a yearning to do something big scale and textile for my final piece. Want to get back to using my hands again. The chrysalis shape hangs by a thread, something I've been exploring with my small pieces, and its sheen captures the light. I also imagine it moving in the air currents (see my film footage - felt piece, posted 19:11, 10th March)

I find it interesting that she uses film projection too - how could my sculpture interact with my film? I want to use the footage of "Windy Day" - see footage, post "Visit to Penbryn, 7th-9th May)

2.  Gyongy Laky

Drawing with the Desert Wind

Laky's other stuff isn't really relevant to my work but this particular photo caught my eye. How beautiful that roll of cellophane is; how the landscape interacts with it; the spontaneity of movement. Sort of in between my wind kite sculptures and my next piece which will be an inside installation. The natural shapes and forms, glints of light, places where the material over-laps - all this I want to capture.

3.  Caroline Broadhead

Light, transparency, ghostliness...

Still Light

Suspend

Double Dresses

What I love about Broadhead's work is her use of shadows. Have been lying in bed, looking up at my first attempt at hanging sculpture, which is all over my bedroom ceiling. When I cast my wall-light onto it, the shadows are wonderful, and when I blow the organza they begin to dance...

In Broadhead's gallery, a ventilation outlet causes her net dresses to "sway, dance, and become quite animated". I love how she sometimes cheats and draws the shadow on in smudged pencil, as in Double Dresses - a sort of playful trompe d'oeil.

There's a fragility to her work, which I am drawn to. Still Light is extraordinary: the patch of sunlight from the windows is actually made up of hundreds of threads of elastic! The patch on the carpet, talc. Beautiful, delicate, witty. Having spent much of Friday hanging lengths of satin and crystal organza from threads on a rack, I appreciate the sheer effort, patience and time taken to create this effect. Ditto for Suspend.

Aching shoulders today!

And now my work so far...

This is strips of chiffon hung from cotton from my bedroom ceiling. I was trying to recreate the feeling of dynamic energy from my "Vortex" painting - lots of spirals, with an intrinsic strength. However, the chiffon was too floppy and limp. Although it caught the light and made natural shapes, it is not powerful enough.
It reminded me of my video footage of wind sculpture, tweaked with some sort of outline special effect (above). Kind of amoeba-like.

On Friday I spent the day in Textiles (suuuch a nice change from editing suite!!!) and experimented with different fabrics. Above is cotton organdie, which holds its shape well with just a little wire thread sown in, and makes pleasing lines. However Ellie informed me it's £9.50 a metre! So no go.

This is satin acetate. Nice sheen, goes stiff in the heat press, but no transparency. However, bold shapes would be good for large-scale structure...

Crystal organza. Twinkly bits catch the light, cheap to buy and transparent. However, heat doesn't stiffen and needs a fair bit of stitching with wire to make firm enough to keep its shape whilst hanging. Used wooden drier to hang all three samples, getting in everybody's way!

Hanging around in Textiles

Something that made me smile...

http://sewshootme.blogspot.com/

Found this blog when doing research. See her project time-table - "My Unprofessional Project". Love it!!

Where I have a near death experience for the sake of my art!

Had a really frightening experience on the beach on Monday:
Decided, a la Lanyon, with his immersion into Cornish landscape via gliding, that the only way to get a real "elemental" feeling of setting would be to swim in the sea. This was despite it being stormy and windy on Monday morning! Usually I avoid the freezing temperatures of the Irish sea but today I was going to don my wet-suit, leave dogs in caravan and get on in there!
So, at around 10 am, I parked at the church and walked through the woods to the beach, ruck-sack on back, sketchbook in hand, determined. I ignored the threatening rain and stormy skies.
Once at the beach I nodded to a couple of lone surfers getting kitted up near their van. Ha, I thought to myself, you're not the only ones to use these waters. I too can brave these seas. As I had no swimming costume but only my wetsuit, I strode right down to the far end of the beach, the lonely end where there are a few former smugglers' caves. Inside one, to the sound of its trickling waters, I changed hastily, heart drumming. Soon I would thrust myself into those 12 foot waves for the sake of my art. The surfers at the other side of the beach, tiny specks in the water, seemed to be having a fine old time.
I zipped myself into the rarely used suit and made my way towards the ocean. I barely had time to notice its icy temperature before the breakers crashed me onto the pebbles. Ouch! Unperturbed, I picked myself up and spent an exhausting few minutes being dashed to the ground by the waves. Ha! This was living! I thought breathlessly. I too can live life to the max.
Glancing at the distant surfers I noticed that they seemed to be a lot further out than me. That must be so they don't get hit by the breakers, I thought wisely. I plunged out towards the horizon.
Once bobbing like a cork on the top of those immense swollen waves, I had a sense of sudden peace.Why, this was easy! Instead of being at the mercy of the tide, I was now being gently swept along by it. The bay looked beautiful. The sun shone. I decided to get back.
That was when I felt the first little tug of uncertainty. Where was my cave? Was it really right over there? No matter, I thought calmly, I would simply swim back. I swam some nice strong strokes of breast-stroke. And got nowhere.
With a sickening lurch I realised that the tide must be going out. That I was stuck in the middle of the ocean in stormy weather and nobody knew I was there. Not even the surfers, who seeing me with my sketchbook had no idea I would plunge madly into the sea. Panic swept over me. Could I forget about swimming to shore and try to swim, instead, along the coast to the surfers? No chance. My puny little efforts at swimming got me nowhere, and they were miles away, oblivious to my little problem.
I looked across the bay, with all its beauty, and thought, what a stupid way to die. I thought of all those sea rescue SOS programmes on telly. I thought how much I didn't want to drown and how quickly I would get exhausted, flailing in that huge, monstrous, overwhelmingly powerful sea.
I went icy calm. I let the huge swell of the next wave carry me forward whilst I rested, then, as it started to drag back relentlessly back into its embrace, I swam for my life, focusing on the nearest point on shore.
I have never swam so hard and with such will. It was as if something put unnatural strength into my arms and legs. I let the tide carry me again. Then the battle to resist being dragged back. Then again. And again.
And slowly, ever so slightly, it seemed as if the shore was beginning to creep in, to inch its way closer. And at last, when I tentatively put my feet down, the relief at feeling sharp stones and pebbles! The joy at being dashed down to shore!
I staggered back to my little cave, which had moved miles up the beach, and fell down on its wet cold sand. I looked up at the rock ceiling, and never have I been so thankful to be in a particular place. It was like coming home.

I couldn't bear to draw the sea after that experience, so I drew the roof of the cave instead. Here it is:

I looked across to the sea, and there I saw my little foot-prints scuttling into the ocean, and there again, much further down the beach, emerging and tracking back to the cave. I wish I'd thought to photograph them .

But I had other things on my mind. And I don't think I could have held the camera still.

PS Have googled it since, and think I must have been caught by a rip current! Not good.

Cutting and Cropping

Experiments with scale
Used digital macro to zoom into paintings. Presented together, they show some "sea spirit"...

Like the serendipity of how some of them look almost figurative- sky, surf, dunes?