Ceramics Elective- Week 2

 

This week we learned a series of different firing techniques, raku, naked raku and electric firing. Before you fire a piece we had to dip it into glaze or paint the glaze on with a brush. The ceramics were then placed in the kiln and fired to the appropriate temperature so that the glaze fused with the ceramics. The ceramics are then taken out of the kiln still hot and placed in saw dust to cool, also any area left unglazed will be marked by the smoke. When the ceramics have cooled enough they are then placed in a bucket of water to cool further. The ceramics are now able to be handled and we were then able to clean the ceramics and add any finishing touches.     



Below is a selection of my finished pieces. You can see a sequential development in the form I have been using and you can also see my use of hybrid forms and textures.

Ceramics Elective-Week One

I started my ceramic pieces by choosing two objects to translate. I picked a piece of coral and a bundle of wool, two contrasting objects in both form and texture. I then began to translate the essential properties of the two objects through ink drawings. I also made 3d models made out of wire and paper to describe the properties of the objects.

 

I then used these explorations and applied them to my ceramic pieces. I used the winding, tangled nature of the wool as well as the texture of the coral to create hybrid forms. I made two solid structures that reflect different elements from my objects.   



Print Elective- Week Two

 

This week I looked at moving away from reproducing the road markings and to start to explore the idea of the urban environment in a more subtle way. I wanted to break up the square shape of the prints so I cut up my prints and rearranged them to create a new image. This new image still suggests the idea of the urban environment and still has urban elements within it but it is a more subtle approach to describing the urban environment. I also made prints where I added in extra markings and designs to move away from reproducing my photo reference and to start creating an original image. I also explored dry-point briefly where I looked creating the road markings through line.  

Print Elective- Week One

This week I began investigating my print brief-“Urban (us)” by exploring fundamental elements we associate with the urban environment. Road markings are a common feature of everyday life and are easily associated with our urban existence. I used photographic references to start my prints.

 



 



Bellow you can see a selection of mono-prints based off of my photographs. The first two I used  over lapping layers of ink to create a gritty, urban effect. The lower two I tried to create texture by using thick layers of ink to make the prints.     

 



Week Fourteen

This week I finished the sculpture I was working on. I was looking at how colour can be used as part of an illusion. I combined the sculptures I have been making up till now to create this piece. The colour helps to create the illusion of a unified form rather than individual sculptures. The viewer’s eye now follows the blocks of colour rather than the individual pieces.However as seen from the photos above the sculpture can also be divided up and work as individual pieces. I think it is a very interesting idea to have a sculpture that can be rearranged and added to or minimised rather than having an unchanging form. The viewer’s eye now follows the blocks of colour rather than the individual pieces. I also made some prints this week. They are simply based on what the boxes would look like flattened out. I used a combination of the primary colours and complimentary colours to create these prints. 

Glenys Barton

I have been researching the early work of Glenys Barton in relation to my project “To Sense My Space”. Barton's work is very geometric and has a strong emphasis on line and colour. She uses the basic geometric shapes and designs to create these very precise and mathematical sculptures. 

As can be seen from the photo above the designs are not arbitrary decoration but rather well thought out and carefully planned. We can see that when arranged in certain ways the designs join up to create new patterns. 

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The composition of this sculpture is very interesting. While the individual pieces are very precise and mathematical the artist has chosen to arrange the sculpture in a less structured fashion. This contrast between precision and disorder is very interesting.

Week Thirteen

I continued my investigation of colour. I finished glazing my ceramic pieces and I continued to develop my other sculptures in relation to colour also. I painted my ceramic pieces in a more precise and designed manner than my other ceramic pieces. In these ceramic pieces I am creating the illusion of space through colour. No longer are the boxes within the structure defined by material but rather they are now defined by colour. In my other sculptures I was again using colour to create the illusion of a box. I used various combinations of the primary colours and their complimentary colours to create the illusion. I also used colour to highlight negative space. In the sculptures that I had cut areas out I filled those negative space with blocks of colour.