Started printing the 2 x carborundum prints this week over 2 days. The ink was drying more quickly than the work I had done in early February and after thinking about it I decided it was because I was using a different extender…so that the ‘oil paint’ feel of the Feb work was not there. Six layers is producing a deep grey with undertones. More layers are required but I’m planning to use the linseed extender for only the last few layers on the fat over lean principle.
But, feeling a little gloomy..as usual, in this stage of a project..the exciting planningexperimental stage is over and it’s down to the finish/complete. Will the carborundum prints work? Will the weather be good for the photographic work in Devon? Do I need logistics protection from Balinger Freight- transporting ceramics to the sands?
Food for thought in exhibitions this weekend.
Went to an exhibition of Eric Ravilious’ work at the Bristol RWA..how simple life seems!
At Spike Island, again in Bristol, Dewar and Gicquel’s first solo show in UK, Crepe Suzette, contains work they have crafted themselves starting from a position where they had to learn skills. Their stop go videos showing clay in rural environments…heaped up, falling away,,,various movements of the human body all done in unfired clay that will crumble are the opposite of a finely honed and edited video. “The artists see subversive potential in this gap between intention and outcome…because their lack of expertise means they surrender complete control over the things they make” – perhaps this applies to my ceramic work?
The text is a tease…the wall panel text is something that is whirring in my mind a great deal..at 400 word count it’s about the same as an artist’s statement and is being polished and burnished with a tweak here and there as the days go by. Deconstructing it I can see that it is the artist’s statement in the way it contextualises the work (writing the object), but the same time could be seen as an ironic take on the genre. Why else am I ‘polishing’ it…turning it from simple language eg ‘up-to-date mapping tools’ (up-to-date – slang from late 19thC/ mapping – OK from mappa Latin and tool – Old Norse/Old English) to ‘current topographical depictions’ – Latin/Greek? Academic art language (critical discourse) does seem to enjoy the abstraction. So…after that philological meandering..I have been working on the prints with a pastel rendition of approach to Nujema.
The power of studio photography. Some pics of cubes just out of kiln, and bowls.
The first MOSE exhibition is set in the future (3,800) a mere 1,788 years from now (that is if the calendar is even the same – is it human time…who knows?). Two of my prints inspired by neolithic statues from about 5,000 years ago were accepted into the 8th British International Mini-print Exhibition – first show 6 April – 16 June at the London Print Studio and then touring.
They could be the post-humans responsible for the artefacts on the planet Nujema. Theo Wood chrononaut. Fringe is addling the brain.
The third sawdust firing went well. The mix of sawdust and shavings burnt out within 24 hours. I had sandblasted some of the glazed ceramics producing a surface somewhere between glaze and bisque – they responded to the smoke firing with good contrast where it had been covered with clay pads.
April is here! So a new perspective on planning as two key components of the show need to be executed this month.
– the carborundum prints x 2 and the photography.
The prints – this week I did some colour tests using extended etching ink. The idea is to build up layers of thin colour to suggest the atmosphere around the planet. These definitely do not need to be too fussy as they will be exhibited above the light box with the cubes.
The photography – this will include pieces of clay that were fired in the sawdust kiln without being previously bisque fired. Very fragile but will be useful for the field photos. I have also booked a studio session at college to photograph the best of the vessels and cylinders.
Finally…would MOSE exhibit 1000 year old artefacts without some protection…? So, in the spirit of Lascaux 2 a statement will be included in the text panel in very small print. MOSE retains the right to substitute replicas for irreplaceable artefacts. In 3800 surely MOSE technology will have advanced so far that replicas would be exactly the same as the originals…
The second sawdust firing was better…the mixture of sawdust and wood shavings meant there was more air and the addition of some wax meant it fired up well. There was a lot of flame and then smoke. 24 hours later the kiln was cold and it was possible to remove the contents.
Returning to my scale plan for the micro exhibition that is my final show I am now considering about how to display the vessels. The space will probably be smaller than anticipated but necessary for circulation and has the consequence that there will be no room for the cylinders. They will need now to feature in the field photos in the sand dunes of North Devon. The constant shifting of plan within an overall context is to be expected.
Work on the text panel is progressing..and, after tussling for several days to find a suitable name for the show’s sponsor…the words came…
The Balinger Freight Corporation – logistics protection.
