Pietrasanta Bronze Casting Residency 2010

Very nearly finished…
(continued from previous post)

I worked well yesterday afternoon and this morning, and in particular on the wing like side of the piece. I ended up sculpting the striations almost individually, as there were such complex curves and forms, that it worked better that way, than using a tool with grooves in it. I realised I’d lost a lot of the form, not just that the texture of the surface hid the form, but that the forms were more complex than what I had.

Around 10 today I heard a car horn beep, and opened the gate to Helaine accompanied by Salvatore (her assistant here in Pietrasanta, a lovely Italian sculptor). I think as the sun had come out, and I was pleased to see them I was smiling, but Helaine commented on it and when she saw the piece she went ‘ah yes, you’ve got it…’ and could understand why I was smiling.

We had a quick chat about it, and then she mentioned that yesterday Tom was surprised by how much time she was giving me. She said that she wouldn’t if she didn’t think I’d listen to her and take it in. She also added that she knows I won’t always follow her advice exactly. But I am really learning from her, and I realise how lucky I am.

Anyway, better run back to Marcello’s to put the final touches and talk to the ‘formatore’ (mould-maker) Lorenzo.

Its taken longer than I’d thought, but I’m nearly finished…

I’ve nearly finished my clay piece, probably just this afternoon and I’ll have finished sculpting it in clay. I’m hoping the mould maker Lorenzo will come by this afternoon so we can discuss making the mould, then it will need to go to be cast in wax, at which point I think I may have some work to do on the inside of the piece…

It is very exciting and a bit of a relief that the end is in sight. On thursday I invited Nigel down to have a look at it – and he commented on whether I wanted to get the changes in rhythm and texture that there were on the model. We talked about how to get the texture of the striations – and he suggested that I could make a tool.

On friday I did a lot of experiments, filling notches in my ‘hollowing/carving’ tool, carving grooves into a piece of wood, and one end of my large wooden tool. At times it was going well, and it enabled me to get the texture of the piece, but at other times I was being a bit frustrated.

Yesterday (monday) morning I was a little expectant as I knew that Helaine was back and she hadn’t seen the piece since the friday before last, when I’d only done about a day of building up the clay. I was looking forward to her input, I was interested to know whether she thought I should move away more from the model, or keep using it as my point of reference. And I was a little nervous to know what she thought about it

She arrived mid-morning with a visitor – Tom Flynn – who she described as an important critic. Straight away my blood pressure went up a few bars, but I tried to keep calm to get the most out of the opportunity of 2 sets of eyes looking at it.

The overall judgement was the the form and shape was working very well, but that in places the surface texture was letting the piece down – in particular in the area that I had been working on the most! Tom said some really interesting and useful comments – my model had an amazing amount of tension and energy, which would be good to translate through to the clay piece. I think he really liked the model and they both agreed that I should try to get it cast into bronze as well.

Helaine also mentioned that the editing and changes that I’d done relative to the model were working well. We talked a bit about how to get the texture and the uneven striations, and she told me that in the past she had used metal combs to good effect (I had shown her my attempts at tools).

When they were leaving Helaine asked if I was still doing the life class drawing and expressed an interest in seeing my drawings. As I had my sketchbook there, I offered to show them both, and as Tom was keen to see them too, I got it out with a bit of trepidation – I was suddenly worried about what failed embarrasing experiments I’d end up showing them. But they both mmm-ed and ah-ed appreicatively. Tom said it was great to see someone drawing and bemoaned the fact that so few art students are drawing.

It was also interesting to see how the drawings had evolved over the 6 or so weeks, and their relationship with the work I was doing. In the later ones I’ve been trying to draw the curves and structures of the figures, I’m sure influenced by finding forms and curves that are striated in my piece.

It all went well, and Tom seemed very interesting and easy going, but I still felt like I’d had at least 5 expressos after they left!

Yesterday evening I googled him, and found a wonderful catalogue of Almuth’s work which he had written the text to, which I read cover to cover.

http://www.tomflynn.co.uk/

http://www.tomflynn.co.uk/AlmuthTebbenhoffCatalogue.pdf

(Lunch now ready so I will continue this later)

7.20 am Saturday Morning: Gutting!

So, I decided to go into the foundry today to continue with some work I’d been doing before I started doing my enlargement at Marcello and Roberta’s studio. Given it was only half a day and I’d have to get back into something I hadn’t touched since tuesday before last, I decided to try to get a full 5 hours in before the foundry shut at 12.

Last night I packed myself a little breakfast of biscotti with nuttella instead of having my usual porridge, and I thought I’d supplement it with a strong ‘cafe’ from the wax room.

As I was cycling there through a very quiet Pietrasanta, I suddenly had a worry as to whether they would be open. I hope there isn’t another strike I don’t know about. Or would it be quiet as it is nearly the end of the month. At the end of February there were only a handful of people there on the saturday as the rest had already done their maximum number of hours for the month. But that time the 1st was the monday, Its not the 1st till Thursday.

But yes, as I approached the foundry there were about 2 cars in the carpark and only a single vespa, and most of the foundry was in darkness, including both the ‘officina piccola’ – where my 1st bronze is nearly finished – and all 3 of the wax rooms. I still walked all the way up to the wax rooms, just to double check I couldn’t get in… then on my way down again saw Enzo from the ‘Fusione’ department, who confirmed that hardly anyone was in as they’d all done their hours already. He said normally if people are going to come in, they’d be in by 7, but some might come at 8.

So, here I am back at the flat, with a mug of earl grey sitting on the terrace on a slightly chilly grey morning! I’m going to go back a bit after 8 and hopefully someone from the office will be there to let me in to the wax room. Or if not, I might spend the morning in the office looking through the catalogues and books on the artists they work with. At Marcellos I discovered that he has some amazing books, including Mythologies about Helaine’s work, and a survey of Dana’s work between ’82 and the late 90s I think.

So, before I go back, I will pick out some of the shots of the ceramic shell process I took a few weeks ago and add them to this post.

New Clay Piece – Pantograph enlargement

I’ve not had a chance to blog recently as I’ve been working long hours on my new piece and have been totally absorbed. It is going really well.

Using the pantograph was great, but it does have its limitations and is not that accurate at times. At one point I thought that either my maquette had moved, or the clay was subsidding, but it turned out that the needle on different settings won’t always point to the same point – especially when fully extended as the weight of it bends it.

A few people have said interesting things to me that I’ve been thinking about:

I had a chat with Nigel Boonham at the Yves Dana private view on saturday – He asked me how I was keeping the freshness of the original. At the time I didn’t think this was a problem as I’d been working quite loosely with the clay, quickly sketching the forms.

But as I am working back in on the piece to refine it, I’m finding this is a big problem. The movement and vitality of the initial form has a tendency to get lost. But I can’t just leave it as is, as it has a few ackwardnesses and really could benefit from being pushed further.

I also showed it to a few of the people who come to the life class on tuesday evenings that Roberta runs. In particular Julia Knight the american sculptor I’ve become friends with. She asked me how the piece had changed for me as it was being enlarged.

I started to tell her how I felt I’d been learning about these amazing, strange and subtle forms that were in the molten wax. I was a bit put out as she didn’t seem that interested in that instead saying – “ah, so it is still just forms at the moment”.

However since, I’ve realised that it has to be more than the sum of its parts and perhaps I was shying away from the whole piece’s meaning as it is a bit daunting. Now that I have the model down from its perch under the pantograph, and can look at it, and my developing clay together, I am thinking more of the whole piece and what I have there.

I had also been thinking earlier in the week about what it is and what I am trying to say with it. I don’t really understand the piece, it isn’t how I normally work, but it intrigues me and I am loving the process. I can’t help thinking these are good signs.

I remembered reading about some artists who equate their practice with being a shamen – that you are tuning in to something greater than yourself to bring out a universal truth. In many ways my bird like apparition is similar to ritualistic artifacts from past civilisations – african masks, south american gods… but I think it also has elements of the things that have been concerning me lately: the untameable powers of nature, and yet its fragility in the face of man’s abuse (in the context of climate change and the many ecological disasters we inflict on this poor planet) Perhaps the vulture like qualities of the bird is a representation of death and chaos that could ensue if we get run-away global temperature rises, our 6 degrees of global warming.

It seems weird that I have brought out all my concerns in a very intuitive piece, when I normally work in a very conceptual intellectual way. I somehow worry that I am reading in to an accident things that aren’t there, but when I look at the presence and power of the piece I don’t think this is the case.

In some ways I also feel like I do with most of my best pieces, that I seem to have accidently found it, not that I had all that great a part in creating it.

Ok – better stop now, I hadn’t intended to write so much as I want to get back in to the studio to continue, but in the quiet of the apartment with sleeping mother and son I can think more clearly than at the end of the day, after my son’s asleep, when I’m exhausted and just want to hit my bed myself.

Preparing my first wax for Casting

As it is a complex piece it needs to be separated into 3 bits, and to have all the wax sprues added. Once the piece has been covered in ceramic shell and baked so the wax melts away, these sprues become the tubes that deliver the molten bronze to the space which will be the sculpture.

(These shots were all taken on the 24th Feb)