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Rania Hassan

Rania Hassan creates site-specific installations that weave sculptural stories about our connections to time, place, and circumstance. The five main themes she works with embody ideas of community, synchronicity, identity, time, and memory. Rania’s masterful skill with knit and crochet is greatly inspiring and I could only hope to achieve technique as flawless as hers. She combines her paintings using yarn creating a connection between her pieces.

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Yesterday I went back to the studio to do a further study on our piece that we had finished the day before. Using simple charcoal and paper, I sketched the cardboard sculpture. I found this a great way to try and make sense of the chaos and it helped me understand shapes and proportions better although I still think I could improve the proportions of my drawing as i don’t think I left the right amount of space at the bottom of the page to fit the entire sculpture.

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Pajtim Osmanaj

Student of the fine arts turned construction worker Pajtim Osmanaj has been hiding masterpieces within the walls of new condominiums under construction in New York City. I find myself in awe of his work as he found inspiration in an unusual place; construction. Similarly i was inspired by construction work and I find it fascinating how Osmanaj intertwined art and construction. I think that his art work will have a great influence over my own as I admire his creativity and style.

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Yesterday I attended the cardboard and paper workshop where my group and I were challenged to build a tall sculpture made out of cardboard as quick as possible without tape. The challenge was definitely a struggle at first as we were unsure of where to begin, but as our piece progressed we became more confident in experimenting with the cardboard and began to piece together parts to create a strange piece of artwork. We achieved our goal quite quickly as our first sculpture was very tall but after that we did what we liked and ripped it apart, turned it upside down and even used elements from other pieces of work to create our masterpiece. I found this to be one of the best workshops I attended as it is extremely relevant to my assemble project where we are quite literally assembling a piece of work using cardboard. It also ties in with my idea of construction work and I hope to introduce elements of crochet as well as I work with this material throughout the week.

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Esna Su

Esna su breathes stories into materials to create evocative handcrafted pieces. She envelops pieces with heritage, as she uses traditional Turkish techniques of weaving, twining and crochet yet they mutate into wearable sculptures. Her work is similar to my idea of combing crochet and sculpture. She has created captivating pieces using crochet and I hope to achieve something similar throughout my project.

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Nespoon

Nespoon is a polish contemporary and street artist working with ceramics, graffiti art, installations, design and art projects. Lace soon became her signature style, with ceramic street art at the heart of her work. Nespoon is the perfect inspiration for my project as she combines the intricate details of crochet with the harshness of buildings. Her work is usually on a larger scale which may become an element in my project but her design skills and subject matter will definitely be reflected in my work.

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On Monday I attended the 3D printing workshop and I found it fascinating! I often struggle with the digital aspects of creating art but I found this workshop much easier and more enjoyable as I had already participated in the laser cutting workshop. We began in the computer lab and designed a vase using an image from google as practice. I now feel confident in using the computers to design pieces as it was more straightforward than I thought! Once I had my design ready on the computer, I went back to the makers station and transferred my design onto an SD card which I then inserted into the 3D printing machine. I was amazed to see how the machine worked and my vase started to come together right before my eyes! My piece was finished within a few hours and I feel as though it was a success!

I also saw how the 3D scanner worked and this was by far my favourite part of the day. The 3D scanner can print pieces of people’s faces and hands with amazing detail and it was fascinating! It is much easier than designing a piece on the computer and a lot more fun! I think this will be very useful and exciting for my assemble project and my projects to come!

I had the idea of using the 3D scanner to print a model of my owns hands holding a crochet hook. I think this would easily tie into my assemble project as it’s all about working with your hands. I did this quick line drawing in my sketchbook to get an idea of how I want to pose with my hands.

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I have been working on an oil painting where I have combined my primary sources. I am using the pictures of the construction workers as a reference but I am adding the intricate details of crochet throughout the painting. I added the design of a crochet square onto the concrete bricks that are being used and I’m drawing inspiration from my other piece of crocheting a high vis vest and attempted to create the illusion of the texture of crochet on the vest of the worker. The problem with this piece is that it can be very time consuming considering the detail necessary but my goal is to experiment with my ideas rather than have a finished piece.

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David Oliveira

David Oliveira is a sculptor known for his wire sketches that mimic rough drawings in three dimensions. These sculptures only function when seen at a particular angle, and otherwise dissolve into abstraction. I am really impressed by the attention to detail in Oliveira’s work. Looking at online images, some of them definitely achieve the look of a drawing hastily sketched onto a photographic print - you certainly wouldn’t expect a three-dimensional sculpture at first glance. One sculpture in particular of his, of pants and work boots, caught my eye as I felt it related to my concept. It reminded me of a construction workers work pants and boots. I feel as though I could do something similar with wire in relation to a workers clothes.

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This is my mind map from when I first began brainstorming ideas for my project!

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These pictures are my primary research. There was construction taking place just outside my house and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to gather primary sources for my project.

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I decided to combine the two aspects of my project (construction & crochet) by cutting up a high vis vest into strips of material. I will then recreate the vest by crocheting it using the original vest. The issue with this piece is that it can be time consuming but I am using a larger crochet hook to speed the process along and I’d like to get it finished as I had the idea to then coat the vest in plaster as the first workshop I did was the plaster workshop where I found it had an extremely interesting affect on the crochet.

This idea began when I attended the concept development seminar - “Ideas are formed by making connections between two or more observations. Any idea, no matter how trivial, is an association between two or more established observations, between two things noticed.”

At first, I felt as though I had to make a decision and just focus on one specific thing but what I learned from that seminar was that I could combine any ideas I had and improve them by connecting them.

Ethics and sustainability: I found that this piece is particularly ethical as I am recycling the material I am crocheting with from an old high vis vest I had at home.

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I attended the wire and shadow play active engagement lab on Friday and explored the crochet aspect of my project. I began with a previous drawing I had done and sketched over it using a marker to identify the lines of the drawing making it easier for me to recreate it with wire. This was my first time using wire and I enjoyed it immensely. At first I found it hard to get the exact shapes I was looking for but then I realised that the misshapen version of my crochet square was somehow more interesting. I kept the general shape of the original drawing but found it more interesting to create a more abstract idea of it. I hope to explore more aspects of my project using wire throughout the week.

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Today I participated in the laser cutting workshop and enjoyed it immensely. I found that this workshop was very fitting for the “assemble” project as I quite literally assembled a snail using components created by laser cutting. I will admit that I struggled to get the hang of designing the different parts of the snail in the computer lab as it was the first time I had an opportunity to experiment with a project such as this one! But I eventually got my head around it and was amazed by the result. This workshop opened my eyes to all the possibilities of assembling different objects using the laser cutter! As you can see from the picture of the snails all lined up, I participated in this workshop alongside members of my peer group which only added to my enjoyment of this particular learning process!

As you may be able to see from the pictures, the shape of my snails shell is slightly wonky which is due to my lack of expertise on the computer. Digital media is definitely something I struggle with but I hope to change that by participating in more digital based workshops as the world is heading in a digital focused direction and I want to be able to keep up!

Ethics and sustainability: after some research, I found that laser cutting in general is a much more sustainable option than the traditional methods of cutting metal that are notoriously energy inefficient.

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Following on with my idea of construction work I did another large sketch of a construction worker but this time I used charcoal. I find these sketches helpful in inspiring me to experiment with different mediums as they allow me to focus on the basic idea of my project first which then inspires me to expand into different materials. What I took from Tuesday’s seminar on drawing was that it can be very beneficial to repeat certain drawings and never be afraid to go back and change small things to improve the overall image which I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of throughout this project.

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I am currently exploring the concept of assembling buildings and walls through construction work which led to me creating this life size drawing of a construction worker holding a measuring tape. I used Indian ink for this quick sketch and I found it to be a very quick and effective medium and will definitely be experimenting with it more.

Ethics and sustainability: I did my research and discovered that inks can contain harmful chemicals which may damage the environment, however, soy-based inks are less harmful and can minimise environmental impact!

For reference this is my piece next to a window and chairs to demonstrate the scale of it.