Buckinghamshire New University

This week I have been casting aluminium in sand. This is to make the handle and spout for a concrete water vessel. The process was long and delicate but satisfying to see the final pouring of the aluminium and the emergence of the pieces I wanted. They now have to be polished and fitted to the concrete with pins and glue.

There is a lot of time invested in a project like this, when the outcome is uncertain. I can only draw on my experience to predict a favourable result but this is not always the case. My other project needed a concrete sphere and casting it was also a long process. Another tutorial next week will shed light on whether the projects have been successful.

I have been thinking about the underlying theory of my work and also questioning the value of making work that is specifically planned. Making work like this has been very good in terms of being able to consolidate my statement and has also given me confidence to make finished pieces for the degree show. However, following on from my tutorial last week, I think it may be necessary to spend more time just experimenting with materials. Although this seems a backward step at this stage of my degree I think it will put fresh ideas into my work.

This week we are doing a sculpture workshop and have each been given a specific material with which to work. Mine is plastic bags which is a material that I would be least likely to choose. I am hoping to conserve the utility of the bags in some way rather than just using them as another sheet material. It’s good to have a challenge.

I have recently seen the work of Sherrie Levine. The exhibition consisted of twelve pink, glass skulls in display cases and twelve bronze mirrors. The work was highly crafted. It seems that she forms her objects to make them look like ready-mades or found objects. There is an intriguing irony in this. They are crafted, functional objects which are recognised as art.

Levine’s originality derives from the recognition and reproduction of the aesthetic properties of a seemingly ordinary object through appropriation and re-presentation. This is especially relevant to my own work at the moment given that I am inspired by utilitarian objects that I have studied and have ‘re-presented’ in a form closely resembling the original.

The repetition of Levine’s mirrors and skulls, together with their excellent crafting, questions why an artwork should be reproduced to the point of becoming a commodity. We are surrounded by thousands of utilitarian objects on which we depend. We often pay little regard to their form or their craft. We just use them. Levine asks us to re-evaluate their status.

My next projects will use contrasting materials with cast concrete. Currently, two objects interest me. One is a leather-handled ball used in the game of pato and the other is a classically shaped lota or purification vessel.