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Artist Statement

The first 2 weeks of this project involved small one day briefs. I felt that these were a helpful way to get me into the sculpture way of thinking, however I found it difficult sometimes to come in each day, without knowing a brief or being prepared. It was also hard to move away from ideas so quickly, which is something I wasn’t used to. I did enjoy the unpredictable nature of these exercises eventually, as it encouraged me to make the most of the materials I had as well as pushing my creativity.

After two weeks, we went into the three week project “making things”. This brief involved manipulating and interacting with objects in multiple ways in sculptural experiments.

At first I found it difficult to settle on an idea however out of all the items I had, a pipe in the shape of a human form stood out to me. I decided to make a mold of this in order to play around more with this idea and felt that having multiples would be beneficial.

Researching artists such as Brancusi, Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread, really helped in furthering the development of my idea.

I learned about making molds and working with rubber and plaster and I became much more confident working in 3D. I also realised that I’m really interested in working with abstract human forms and I’d really like to explore this further.

During the project, I did stray from my original idea, trying to do different things and work in different ways, however in the end I returned to my original idea as I wanted to carry this as far as possible.

All in all I’m happy enough with the work I produced. I learned a lot about how I like to work and the themes and ideas that interest me. Given more time I definitely would have explored other ideas and try to do more with what I’d already made.

This introduction to sculpture was really beneficial to me. I went into this quite unsure of how I work best and what would interest me and in the end I feel like I have a much greater understanding of what is involved in sculpture.

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Today I took my broken pipe in tights and began to look at ways of creating more tension in the piece. I decided to return to my blue and red string as I felt that it would be beneficial to have some continuity between the pieces. I tied the string to the piece and then stuck the other end to the surrounding surfaces, pulling the string so it was tense and pulled the tights, similar to my 4 pipe piece.

Looking at the piece now, I feel that it resembles an idea of trust or second chances, and how fragile and easily damaged relationships can become.

What I love most about these pieces is the simplicity of them. Many things could be interpreted, there is no one clear meaning, the piece just exists.

Inspired by Rachel whiteread and Tony Cragg, I also did some drawings of my pipes in tracing paper. I enjoyed the process of manipulating and layering these drawings as it carried on the idea of conversation and communication as well as having multiples. I would have really liked to explore the possibilities of drawing more with this project as it’s something I’m very interested in, however I focused more on the 3D elements as this was something I was not as comfortable with.

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Thursday 25/04/24

Today I attempted to make one final pipe. As the mold had become too damaged to cast whole, I decided to cast it in 2 halves. For this, I had to seal the bottom. For this I used a wall of clay and some hessian dipped in plaster. Once the piece was cast, I decided to try to break it and see what could be made from the left over fragments.

Initially I wrapped the two halves in red and blue wool and then broke it using a hammer. This proved quite difficult as the plaster is quite solid and a lot of the time I only chipped it.

Eventually I managed to separate the piece into 3 pieces, however the thread wasn’t staying in place and instead slipped off. I decided to try something else.

Out of the materials available to me, I decided to use the tights to hold the pieces together as I wanted to still keep it as a solid object, even if it was broken. I think I’d still like to add the string, possibly pulling at the tights to create a similar type of tension seen in the 4 pipe sculpture.

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Artist research: Richard Rogers

British Italian architect noted for his modernist and constructionist designs in high tech architecture. He is well known for designing the centre Pompidou/ Beaubourg. This was the first major example of an inside out building with its structural system, mechanical systems, and circulation exposed on the exterior of the building. All functional structural elements were colour coded, creating a skeleton with bright tubes. It is these tubes that drew me to Rogers as the pipe plays a central role in my project.

Artist research: Louise Bourgeois

Explored a variety of themes including domesticity and the family, sexuality and the body as well as death and unconsciousness. Bourgeois’ use of found objects is rooted in memory and biography. Her exploration of the human body is also inspiring to me. Sculptures such as ‘Tits’ and ‘Janus Fleuri’, use fragmented body parts to investigate complex emotional states.

I find her depiction and abstraction of the human body as well as her use of materials really interesting.

Artist research: René Magritte

‘The Lovers’ 1928

In this unsettling image, the artist invokes the cinematic cliche of a close up kiss, but subverts our voyeuristic pleasure by shrouding the faces in cloth. The device of a draped cloth/ veil to conceal a figure’s identity corresponds to larger surrealist interest in masks, disguises and what lies beyond or beneath visible surfaces. I find these questions interesting and would like to create similar ones in my own work.

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Artist research: Magdalena Abakanowicz

I am interested in her series of figurative and non figurative sculptures which were more representational than previous sculptures, but still retain a degree of abstraction and ambiguity. These humanoid works were centred around human culture and nature as a whole and its condition and position in modern society. The multiplicity of the forms represent confusion and anonymity, analysing an individual’s presence in a mass of humanity. This multiplicity is something I’d like to experiment with along with abstract human forms.

Nikola Emma Ryšavá

Her body of work is full of surreal often anthropomorphic figures, sometimes grotesquely, emotional, other times macabre. Relationships, intimacy, and the effort to capture what’s happening within a person are the topics she is working with over the past few years.

In her piece connections, she talks inspiration from Judith Scott. The process of wrapping is seen as therapeutic by the artist as she made this while dealing with her parents divorce. It embodies the frailty and impermanence of relationships.

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Artist research: Judith Scott

Isolated as a result of being institutionalised for most of her life due to down syndrome and deafness, Scott began creating art at the age of 43, becomming an artist of great renown, making fiber and mixed-media sculptures that encase forever -softened objects.

Scott created sculplures using yarn, twine and strips of fabric to wrap and knot around an array of mundane objects she discovered around her, such as keys, plastic tubing, bicycle wheel and a shopping cart.

Her sculptures drew international attention for their visual power and sense of mystery. They are not autobiographical in the tradition sense, they embody an alternate language saught and found, a way of conveying emotion and outwordly describing who she was.

I have been I really inspired by Scott’s use of fabric and wrapping of objects. The idea of concealment using these textiles is something that I feel really adds something to mundane everyday objects.

Artist research: Tony Cragg

Craig’s work involved site specific installations of found objects and discarded materials. Craig’s interest in science and technology is combined with a commitment to sculptures as objects in themselves.

It was initially suggested that I research Craig’s line drawings which document simplified forms, similar to his sculptures. I’d like to experiment more in this way and play around with the shapes I have created.

Paul also told me about a piece by Cragg which recreated the sculpture Laocoön and His Sons, using pipes and other found objects.

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22-23/04/24

After taking a little break from casting and looking at doing something else, I decided to return to my pipe forms, as to start anything new now felt counter productive as my heart wasn’t really in it. I wanted to take these forms as far as I could go, so I went back to the plaster room!!

This process turned out to be much more difficult as it was before, as the mold has weathered over time and cracks were beginning to grow, meaning that when I cast my final pipe, it flowed almost immediately out the sides!!

Regardless of this they were eventually completed, however a little worse for wear (the size of the seam has grown considerably!!)

After this I began to wrap blue wool around each pipe. I used this fine wool as I liked the contrast between the hard, smooth clunky plaster form and the soft fine fabric. I also like how you can still see the plaster poking through.

Once these were both wrapped, I began to join the pipes with a tunnel of wool, tangled in the middle, showing some kind of miscommunication. When making this I also thought of the tin can telephone toy, a simplified version of a mobile phone, just as my pipes have become simplified versions of human beings.

I also experimented with my plaster puddles. I painted some, to see how the paint would react with the paint and felt that this gave the effect of flesh. I also began to experiment with writing words on them, with the intention of placing them around my sculptures, to give words to these little private conversations.

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Friday 19/04/24

Something about connection

I found it interesting how the addition of the string contradicts the wooden dowels. The string binds the pieces, but only as far and the wood permits.

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Thursday 18/04/24

I continued on working with the baby grow, covering it in layers of plaster. I decided to make this messy and splattered the plaster so that there were lumps on the surface. This is to contrast the smooth plaster of the pipes. I also really like the idea of turning something soft and squishy into a hard object as well as how both the pipe and baby grow are objects that contain things inside, which can be transported. This is a concept I’d like to investigate further.

After doing this I hung up my pipe with the baby below it. I think it’s a fun concept but I decided to leave it and return to my pipe mold as I want to carry it as far as I can.

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Wednesday 17/04/24

I began work on my long necked baby by stuffing a baby grow and using expanding foam to fill it to give it shape. I decided that it would be interesting to try to keep some sort of continuity between this and my previous piece so I decided to cover this in plaster. I like the idea of sourcing with objects that have an almost human shape, but not quite. I think there’s something really uncanny about it.

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Wednesday 17/04/24

Yesterday I found a large piece of pipe and was considering how best to use this. I was initially thinking about using it to create a similar piece to my previous one; it could be interesting to look at the effects of different materials making up the tunnel. But while in the studio, I was also experimenting with a stuffed baby grow and left it lying under the pipe, like it had an extended neck. This caught people’s attention quite a bit because of the humour and strangeness of it and therefore I thought it would be interesting to investigate this more.

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Tuesday 16/04/24

Today I arranged my pieces and spoke to Paul about photographing them. We decided to take them into the hallway in order to capture them in a more gallery like setting. This small change in location was greatly effective in enhancing the pieces ever more, as the arches in the ceiling matched the curves at the top my pipes.

Here, I also began to experiment more with the composition of the piece, playing around with tension in the tights and I observed a change in tone when I pushed the plaster structures closer together, causing the tights to go limp. As well as this Sarah and Paul suggested that it might also be interesting to experiment with sound, which I’d really like to do.

This exercise also made me begin to consider the effect that location has on the meaning of the piece. I decided to capture the pieces around the college, in particular the church gallery and the corridor by the library.

This was really helpful in showing me how a deeper narrative can be created while still keeping the actual sculpture simple and abstract.

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Tuesday 16/04/24

Today, I continued casting by objects and began to interact with them further. Keeping in mind my original plan, I firstly joined my sculptures using a tunnel of tights. I enjoy the contrast between the hard, industrial plaster and the soft tights. I also feel that the tights are very effective in demonstrating the structures as being even more human like. I can also see the beginnings of a narrative forming in this piece: there is a sense of communication and connection between people, little private conversations being had. This is a really cool development as I went into this with no real vision of what it would mean.

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Artist research

Cornelia Parker is one of Britain's best loved and most acclaimed contemporary artists. Always driven by curiosity, she reconfigures domestic objects to question our relationship with the world. Using transformation, playfulness and storytelling, she engages with important issues of our time, be it violence, ecology or human rights. I was particularly interested in her piece The Distance (a kiss with string attached), where she wrapped Rodin’s kiss sculpture with a mile of string. This intervention creates a new narrative to the piece, which is something I find really fun. I’d like to see how I can manipulate my plaster pieces to create new but still vague narratives.

Rachel Whiteread

English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts.

Many of Whiteread's works are casts of ordinary domestic objects and, in numerous cases, their so-called negative space. For example, she is known for making solid casts of the open space in and around pieces of furniture such as tables and chairs, architectural details and even entire rooms and buildings. She says the casts carry "the residue of years and years of use."Whiteread mainly focuses on the line and the form for her pieces. In creating my plater pieces I have been greatly influenced by the work of Whiteread, due to her subject matter and her transformation of everyday objects into things that carry a story.

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Monday 15/04/24

Today I began casting my pipe structures. First, we opened up the mold and smoothened out the edges by filing the plaster down. We taped the mold upright against a table leg and then I began mixing a large quantity of plaster to fill it. Once this was done it only took 45 minutes before I was able to see the results, which I was really happy with. I feel like the plaster perfectly picks up the essence of the pipe, all its joints and sharp lines, I didn’t expect it to work out as well as it did. I also like how there’s something really human about this structure which at first appeared really manufactured, but has now turned into something a bit more unique, its flaws showing a bit of personality.

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Friday 12/04/24

Today I completed my mold by doing the second half of the plaster shell. This involved the exact same process as before and by the time I had finished, I felt like I had become much more confident in what was involved when mixing plaster, which I was really happy with. Now all that’s left is to cast the mold and see what the result is!

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Thursday 11/04/24

Today, I began work on the plaster hard shell for my mold. This is done so that the rubber mold would keep its shape while casting.

I began by throwing the plaster generously over the structure until all the surface was covered. Once this layer was putty like, I added the second layer, which involved dipping strips of hessian in plaster and placing it down as smoothly as possible, folding in the ends so they don’t reach the edge. The final layer was spread once again when the previous layer was putty like and was thicker that the first.

Once the plaster was dry, I began the process again on the other half, spreading layers of rubber over the structure. This time more thickener was added to speed up the process, meaning that only two layers was needed. Once again this was left to dry overnight.