ARTWORK(sculpture) Labyrinth

This artwork was displayed at the "Im talking to you" exhibition at the 'lone goat gallery' Byron Bay and is currently held in a private collection

The final artwork which was exhibited at the 'Lone goat gallery' Byron Bay

The following images are the record of the ephemeral artwork 'Labyrinth'.

Labyrinth

Ephemeral sand art

When we look at life , it is complex,overwhelming , filled with twists and turns, with a beginning and the inevitability of an end. When we stay on the path set before us by god, there is nothing that we cannot overcome, no trial too great, no dead ends and no temptation that we cannot endure.

Project outline

Project VI

Ephemeral

This project is a site specific ephemeral sculpture to be developed in class and then realised on site in one day. Ephemeral sculpture is a very contemporary genre and offers a completely different experience to the learner, in regards to conceiving a work, and then actually going onsite to creat it in a given time frame.

Your work should have relevance to the site that gives emphasis to the concept and must be completed on the same day- yet to be determined.

Site; Hastings Point Headland

Materials; will be gathered onsite. Students may choose to bring ONE(1) other material, but there needs to be a solid reason to include it and this needs to be discussed with your teacher.

Scale; open;as is appropriate

Technique; Variable. Will be determined by the chosen materials.

There should be a clear dialogue between the innate qualities of the materials and their relationship to notions of texture , mass, density and scale.

There will be coverage of ideas and group discussions in class prior to the day and this is an opportunity for you to work out your ideas. This should be documented in your visual diary. Research will be self managed. Artist to look at include

Andy Goldsworthy

David nash

Richard long

Sue Pedley

Janet Laurence

Your work will be photographed by the teacher on the day, so there will be a visual record for inclusion in your end of year assessment , and on the day, when your work is completed, you will be asked to present it to the group for peer critique. It is advisable to photograph the work yourself also, as a backup and for your own records.

my concept

my execution

material/media: chalk pastel on mdf

techniques: powder, stick and liquid pastel

scale: life size human silhouette

installation: free standing

1. What research did you engage with ? Artist contemporary or traditional

what did I look at when brainstorming:

ways of disgusing living a christian life and walking in christ

research into:

• sand art
• ephemeral walks/artworks
• labyrinths vs mazes
• uses of labyrinths in history
• japanese rock gardens
• hastings point location that would best support the artwork
• type of Rake I would need and where to purchase it (bunnings)
• TIDE times 6am low tide change on the day
• what would be needed equipment wise on the day of creating the ephemeral artwork

image:

• labyrinth designs
• sand patterning art

artist:

Richard Long – his A Line Made by Walking and Small White Pebble Circles heavily influenced the aesthetic and change in direction for the final artworks

Andre Amador – an american sand artist for his technique and aesthetic, “its more about the process and less about the results” , this quote helped me enjoy the process of creating and letting go of expectation.

Andy Goldsworthy – the only way most people see his artworks is through the record keeping of them, this informed my timing of the creation.

Henry Moore – he was said to be the best photographer or his own work in his early career since the artist has the image in their head of their artwork already.

3. Discuss the planning of your project , including experimentation , technique selection, overcoming technical problems and determining limitations and constraints ( Refer to your journal)

experimentation,technique selection , why ?

Preperation:

• OH&S , sunscreen, water, hat, gloves etc
• flat, hard bottom thongs, to minimise the footprints left in the sand while working the surface
• selection of rake, the size of the rake would determine the size of the finished artwork as I used its width as a guide

Labyrinth creation:

• center stake with a string line attacked to a marking stick
• tape measure with allowance for gap spacing used for each circle
• marking out of circles , 12 in total
• placement of 4 outer ring markers
• the corners of the labyrinth were raked out first
• then the corners were joined to create the full labyrinth

technical problems/limitations and constraints

As the sand dried out the line marking faded very quickly making it difficult to see from the top of the headland once the sun had fully rissen. The sand dried out much faster than anticipated but I had to work with the tide change and daylight . Idealy catching the tide 2 hours before the change would maximise the marking in the sand.

4. What aesthetic decisions did you make? Eg working with particular equipment to achieve particular effects, establishing a key , determining a palette and deciding upon a format and a scale

scale

first attempt even tho it was 12m in diameter was too small for the vastness of the beach

due to time I was able to make a second, much larger labyrinth, which measured 25m approx. in diameter. The larger scale was visually successful.

location choice and time, south of hastings point headland

• time chosen before tide change, 6am, to maximise the amount of time the sand would be workable and wet as well as avoiding too much sun exposure and being able to catch the sunrise for photos of the artwork
• location was chosen as it was on the side of the headland which
  • had grave markers
  • had sand flats without debris
  • would be visible from the top of the headland

display;

the final display of the artworks is in the photography of them. I chose to take the photos towards the sun as this would maximise the shadow cast by the raked sand which inturn maximises the visual impact of the labyrinth. 5 images have been selected as the final images

6. How could you further develop your techniques in relation to you professional practice ? How might you build upon your ideas towards future work ?

Reflecting on this work it was interesting to see people interact with it. It was not a small artwork, some people walked right through it not taking any notice at all of it, others stopped , looked and walked around it. Due to its scale there were some very interesting comments about it, ie “crop circles” etc It probably says something about the way we all look at life, even if we do stop and look at it, it makes very little sense.

Working on the scale used in this artwork revealed a potential for artworks that would be 'consuming' to the participant. So vast that they become appart of the work. Ephemeral works also enable me to keep in mind the importance of concept and materiality. As I am now grounding myself in my belief system I am also grounding myself in my creative ethic. One being that the materiality of an artwork whether real or perceived must be as important as the concept and support it. They cannot exist separately.