and if you haven’t noticed yet, I’m more impressionable when my cement is wet
During my second year I started creating works from plaster that had embossed letters standing out from the flat surface of the plaster. The process was a very simple one, you first needed to create a reverse image into a rolled out sheet of clay, press letters into the clay, for this I chose to use magnetic fridge letters as I felt it gave a very child like approach to the process, once the chosen word or phrase was pressed into the clay in reverse a wooden frame was the put around the clay and excess cut away, creating a barrier around the clay for the plaster to be cast within. Once the casting plaster was poured and had set, it was lifted and released from the wooden frame and any clay remnants were washed off, leaving a crisp white embossed word or phrase.
This was the basis for progression in this process once I entered my third year. I wanted to explore the idea of modern materials that are involved in the construction industry, particularly the use of concrete. I substituted the casting plaster for a cement mix; the trouble I found with a pure cement mix is that without the aggregate or the correct mixing process, the works dried and became rather fragile, cracking and chipping on the edges and never truly picking out the embossed letters without leaving half of the letters still in the clay mould, which at times gave it a very worn and weathered look but often the word or phrase became unreadable. So instead, after research I experimented with a full concrete mix, which added strength and density to the finished works, becoming very solid and very strong.
University Campus Suffolk is situated next to Ipswich Waterfront, 10 years ago the Marina was a hive of new builds, old factories and businesses, including the old Paul’s Malt factory, which had been filling the air with a rather vile smell for as long as I could remember, but was now derelict and planning permission had been granted to transform the waterfront into a busy, exciting and luxurious place for wannabe London Yuppie’s to congregate and live. Unfortunately as reality can be a bitch, Yuppie’s never came, money ran out and building slowed to a stop. What is left there 10 years later is some very nice finished apartment blocks that are shadowed by a concrete skeleton of an unfinished build, but this was not the only concrete shell that Ipswich housed, they appeared thick and fast, some standing for 2 – 3 years as empty shells till another company came to take over the build and finish the initial project.
My use of concrete in my work is a reaction to the very fast construction of foundations and structures of tower blocks, moving from an empty lot to a fully standing, overshadowing skeletal structure. I choose this as the basis material for my sculpture because I am fascinated with how hard yet fragile it can be…
To explain, when you first mix concrete you have this liquid state material that can be released into a mould, after 24 hours you can return to that mould and what is left is the hardened version of what was in a liquid state previous, however, once removed from the mould there is still moisture present so it is still a very pliable material, not in a sense that you can twist and bend it, but you are able to remove any parts you don’t want with less effort than when it has fully gone off. So minor corrections can be made to a moulded piece and then once it’s fully dried you are left with a solid, heavy item, which even so is still susceptible to chipping. As well as its everyday use within modern environment, it’s the stages of process I am drawn to within the material which is why I use it.
