Since starting the new semester I have not had as much studio time as I would have hoped. One week was taken up with setting up an exhibition I was showing my pieces in, and during the other couple I have been to compulsory meetings and seminars which, although helpful, take up a lot of time that could be used for making.
In my practice I am now looking at the interruption of dust, carrying on an obsessive process and looking at tiny gestures, and in particular, where dust gathers. The proximity with the material is very important to me, and I want to commemorate the poetically rhythmic composition of the matter, as a monumental trace.
Carrying on the idea of the fossil and the transformation into the sublime, I have been making moulds of all the places in my studio where dust gathers, and casting this in wax. The pure and translucent quality of the wax allows for a moment of illumination when lit with a torch. The pieces are beautiful and delicate and this lighting method highlights this preciousness.
I started by casting small items, such as pins and screws in the wall, but am now going larger, moulding pipes and large sections of skirting boards. The bigger the mould the more fragile it becomes, I like that it requires care and could break at any moment. I want to see just how large I can go, eventually creating a trace of where the residue presents itself across my entire studio.
At the moment I am going through two difficult tasks. Firstly, finding a space for my degree show. i am in a group with around 15 others and trying to find a venue in our price range is proving difficult. We will have about £2000 in total (hopefully) by the end of fund raising but however much money we have it does not seem like enough. If anyone reading this knows of any good London venues, please leave a comment.
Secondly, I am now starting Final Major 2 and although I am carrying on the themes I investigated in the previous semester, finding a new path from this is leaving me with many questions. I haven’t settled back into the mindset yet after finishing dissertation and need to get some inspiration.
Talking of dissertation, that is all handed in now, and a weight off my mind! 3 weeks till I find out the result, I was confident upon completion, but of course the worries set in now.
I am now working on my last final major project at university. I feel overwhelmed that graduation is in 13 weeks, but also excited.
Next week on the 9th February I am exhibiting in a show with two other artists. The venue is really exciting. ‘The Culver Room’ dates back to 1563, and has a large inglenook fireplace within, and oak clad walls. It is small and intimate, really fitting in with my practice surrounding time based processes and our proximity with dust. The room was originally a library for Vernon House, which brings an air of nostalgia and the archive, both themes addressed within my pieces. It should be a great event and I am excited by the composition of the work within the space.
It feels good to be doing shows outside of university, I really feel like i am coming into my own within contemporary art practice and contributing to the field in a unique and engaging way.
The website for the exhibition, entitled ‘Till Do Us Part’ can be found here: http://www.tilldouspart.co.uk/
Today I got the results back for Final Major Project 1. I was overjoyed to hear the news that I had got 77% which is fantastic and I feel like all my hard work was really worth it!
As in my last post, I talked about dust becoming transcendent and how I am addressing our proximity with dust both within practice and writing. Recently I purchased a microscope in which to view dust and debris through, the images displayed before me were incredible, and fantastical new worlds opened up. I had to capture these, but the difficulty of doing so hindered. I used my SLR pointed down the tiny lens of the microscope which was very hit and miss, especially with focussing. However through perseverance I accomplished bringing these idiosyncratic and beautiful images into the photographic, with the dark borders of the eyepiece drawing focus to the wispy delicate forms within the specimen.
The laboratory trope has really informed and excited me throughout this work, allowing me to use entirely new processes and gaining new ways of seeing the matter I am exploring. The processes can be obsessive and demanding and I am continuously re experimenting, testing, labelling and documenting, but what comes out of these makes me step back, amazed at what beautiful things can come from dust and the discarded.
In looking at what attracts and repels I have been experimenting with jewel shapes and how I can mould debris into these. The structure allows the matter to be viewed in an alternate way, and the whole concept of an impossible process – moulding dust, the invisible – is something I am constantly working towards.
There were a lot of test pieces to get the desired result, but i am extremely pleased with the outcome. The translucent amber colour hints at preciousness and crystal like formations have formed at the top of the shapes, giving them status of treasure, and resembling that of a relic.
i think that a great deal of intimacy can be seen within these pieces and the act of accumulation and harvesting of the discarded almost seems ritualistic, creating a spectacle of the everyday in an archival and cataloguing way.
A transformation and the potential the material holds is apparent, along with the energy spent in which to create it.
