- How does your sculpture project address project 1 : This place?
Project outline
You are asked to tell the story
of a place familiar to you by using maping of some kind .
Investigate mapping and explore how may
it be used in a sculptural context.
You will be asked to research other
artists who have used various forms of maping in their work and this
will need to be documented in your visual diaries.
How can you map?
Why would you map?
What is mapping ?
What materials could you use and why
would you choose them?
What creates a sense of one place that
differ from another ?
How might this be achieved in a
sculptural context?
To achieve the best outcome for this
project , use a place that has meaning and significance for you. It
may be current, or you may be working from memory. The place you
decide to focus on will be the basis for your concept.
my concept
Mapping comes in many forms and has the
ability to tell the story of a place familiar to an artist.
This piece is about the geographic
fluctuating nature of kingscliff which is in parallel and aludes to
my own positive growth and change (spiritually , emotionally ,
physically , relationially , intellectually ) since settling there.
The intention was to explore this through sculpture using materials
which are relevant to the area.
The place I chose to focus on is
Kingscliff , a small beach community , just south of Tweed Heads in
the Northern rivers region of New South Wales , Australia.
Kingscliff is in a state of geographic
fluctuation, severe errosion of the beach has altered the coast line
and it structures , the primary industry is tourism resulting a
fluctuating population . Shops come and go , the direction of the
mainstreet has been altered and areas are being opened up to
development. There are a few distinctive geographic constants that
the “locals” cheris and identify as their own but even these will
eventually change.
my execution
reason
for chosing snow globes:
I
created 3 “snow globes” as an item that is
instantly recongisable as a tourist collectable as kingscliff has a
tourism focused industry. The snowglobes are filled with sand which
talks about the fluctuating nature of kingscliff, the
beach/coastline and myself.
I focused on :
key landmarks which are threated by
the encroaching sands :
Bowls Club
Surf Club
Caravan park
number 3 sculptures
medium sand , and mixed media
Scale small
installation Free standing
- What research did you engage with ? Artist contemporary or traditional
what did I look at when
brainstorming/research focus
Initial brain storming was into places
that I was very familiar with , ie: Glen Innes , Lismore , Grafton
and Kingscliff
once I had established that I was going
to focus on Kingscliff I began looking at how I would best tell the
story of kingscliff. (see journal)
research wise I looked at:
deffinitions of mapping and maps
visual methods of mapping
image
having never created a work with
mapping most of my initial image research was into the many way of
mapping , both in 2D and 3D
artist
simon rodes ( mapping in the shape of a
human head)
Ted Lawson
the website www.weburbanist.com
had compiled a list of contemporary artist that have worked with
mapping
artists which stood out for me were
Graem Whyte (see journal) and Thomas Doyal . Both of them use
miniatures in their works and informed my own project.
3. Discuss the planning of your
project , including experimentation , technique selection, overcoming
technical problems and determining limitations and constraints (
Refer to your journal)
experimentationincluded
- creation of marquettes of each of the globes with clay first to established scale and composition
- creation of an air drying clay marquette , which I use to test dry and wet sand globes , this informed my choice . Also enabled me to explore the nature of the air drying clay . Ie : how to carve it after dying , trying times ( to compare to clay , which it is vastly different , it goes from glu tac consistancy to plaster of paris to limestone) , strength , I have since discovered that waterfilled globes with the air drying clay were highly unsuccessful. The clay soaked up the water and eventually separated the joins.
technique selection
originally I intended to use air drying
clay for the entire sculpture but I was unable to achieve a high
enough level of detail.
With Mixed media – I was able
to achieve a higher level of detail
- timber bases acted as a base to work on
- real stones and sand used , parsley flakes
- buildings were made from timber , pins and cardboard
- the terrain is air drying clay so I was able to embed the objects into it for added strength
- once construction was completed I sprayed the entire sculpture (minus the glass) with a water resistant plastic coating
- approx 15ml of sand was then filled into the glass ( which was upsidedown ) this provided enough sand to cover the bottom of the sculptures but allowed them to remain exposed.
- the glass was glued with a multipurpose co-polymer sealant
technical problems
- sourcing domes/globes was problematic
- once the domes had been sealed , one of them broke , the entire building and its seating dislodged(due to overzealous shaking) , an attempt to repair was made by drilling a hole through the bottom and reattaching the miniature building (this was only partially successful)
- after sealing of the dry domes I discovered that the moisture from the humidity of the day of sealing caused the sand to clump the next day , futuristically a plug would be needed to release this
limitations and constraints
Not being able to use my
right(dominant) hand at all for much of the term was problematic. I
found it was dangerous to use power tools , I wasnt able to make
precise cuts afterwards leaving feathered edges.Hold things stably in
my hands. Lifting was difficult. I wasnt able to get the fine detail
that I was attempting to achieve as my motor skills arent as refined
in my left hand.
It all added to greatly increasing my
production time and it is amazing that I was able to complete these
at all . Thankfully I am reasonably ambidextrous so it wasnt a total
disaster.
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
display
why use a snowglobe
the reasoning for chosing a snowglobe
as the form of these sculptures instantly recognizable as a tourist
collectable , and to enable me to explore the fluctuating nature of
sand.
why NOT to use a water filled globe
I looked at the reasoning behind why a
snowglobe IS filled with water , and that is so the “snow” falls
from the sky. Having the sand fall from the sky does not serve to
strengthen my concept.
I drew a visual influence from the
childrens film sinbad . There is a scene where the world of “chaos”
is visually depicted. The sands shifted to cover and reveal the forms
underneath it. Initially this aesthetic worked very well (until the
condensation caused the sand to harden)
(see journal)
charicture of the buildings instead of
a direct replica
size .. originally going to make one
large snowglobe with all of kingy in it but decided to make 3 smaller
ones
display considerations
I have chosen to display these in a
straight line , to retain and emulate the mapping visual origins,
facing the same way and in their geographic placement
Surf club Caravan Park Bowlsclub
- How could you further develop your techniques in relation to you professional practice ? How might you build upon your ideas towards future work ?
Mapping is an interesting aesthetic and
concept to explore , I have already extended this conceptually into a
drawing project and would like to futher develop the technical skills
that were touched on in this project. Escpecially the movmement and
fluctuation.
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