Short form/ a summary
I dance across the workshops, selecting apparatus that I haven’t used before. Learning though making not looking or talking,. Problems will arise that you can’t theorise. The privilege of workshops with wonderful technicians with specialist knowledge.
Long form / Freeform
I am delighted to receive this amazing opportunity for the next year, and I feel both humbled and overwhelmed by the freedom and possibility of spending time back in art school, surrounded by its nostalgic smells, messy works, failures, successes, and, above all, the space for experimentation.
My time here will be split between the studio, skilling up in the amazing workshops and pedagogy. I want to learn more about the holistic ecosystem of the art school, and hope to help students better understand the art world beyond the institution. I have coined my approach to this time as: 'Preparing to become invisible, a deep dive into circle systems, sustainability, and transformation.'
I have spent these first few weeks inducting myself into the workshops and making without the pressure of worrying about what it means or where it will lead. My current approach is to let each induction feed the next. I am trying to develop new skills, so I am purposely focusing on technologies and materials that I haven’t really worked with since I was at Brighton University in 2006, even though I know I will inevitably return to the comfort of the wood and sculpture workshops.
First up was a simple exercise to understand embossing, a perfect medium to explore the concept of the invisible. Searching for words that weren’t too obvious, I settled on 'abracadabra.' Associated, for me, with magic tricks, and for a younger generation, with Lady Gaga (!), it felt like a good way forward. It was an extra delight to discover through further research that the etymology of the word dates back to 2nd-century Roman origins, linked to an amulet for curing fevers. This resulted in a more complete artwork than originally planned, but that is fine. I am sure this insignia will resurface throughout my time here.
I did a slip-casting induction and became fascinated by plaster discs that form when students accidentally mix too much plaster. These delightful forms, squashed between two sheets of toughened glass, offer a pristinely smooth canvas. I took one back to the studio.
On a rainy day, I missed my correct train and instead travelled straight to the centre of Bath. On a whim, I visited the Roman Baths. As a Bristolian, I remember going there as a child, but recall little detail. I was beyond delighted when I discovered I could visit for free with my new status as a Research Fellow. I got an audio guide and, somewhat nerdily, listened to every part of the tour. I learned a new word, ‘penannular’, used to describe a form with a small break in its circumference. Somehow, an almost complete ring feels more fitting than the perfection of a whole circle. I wished the spa was still a spa, not a museum. I accept that Roman history will infiltrate my ideas (it is literally in the water) especially given the connection to 'abracadabra.'
I was inducted on a recycled plastic hopper and reformer, an odd-looking machine that chomps and shreds used plastic into flakes, which are then heated and extruded into new, multicoloured swirling forms. A selection of simple moulds was available, but I used this opportunity to challenge myself to make my own. The mould needed to be strong and heat-resistant, so I also undertook an induction in the metal workshop. I was gifted some aluminium and used various tools to make an expanded mould held together with bolts. I decided to be practical and designed a simple extruded 'J' shape that I can repurpose as a hanging system to hold the aforementioned plaster discs on the wall.
I took part in a natural ink-making workshop and expanded my understanding of pigment-making beyond the familiar black of oak gall ink. I have always wanted to learn about egg tempera, and this workshop planted some ideas.
I learned how to use a wood lathe with the aim of making a pattern form for my first slip cast.
I made sketches of the skips in the university yard. I learned that Bath’s recycling centre is just a 15-minute walk from campus, and I think I should visit in the future, as it will apparently be expanding this year.
I also began to evaluate what interests me as an artist through a process developed by
LOW PROFILE called the 'Holding Pen’
,
a way for artists to organise their ideas and better understand what motivates them. I have been thinking a lot about the well-known idea that the essence of sculpture is a method of subtraction or addition. From there, I started reflecting on how I respond to sites, and realised that the ones I am most drawn to align with this sculptural thinking, sites of addition, like construction sites, and sites of subtraction, like mines. Industrial spaces and processes, with scale. The recycling centre seems, in some way, to hold both addition and extraction.
These seeds of ideas are growing, but it feels sporadic at the moment. I am also still nurturing some older works to be presented in new forms next month. This is probably enough insight for now.
Soundtrack -
Modeselektor: DJ-Kicks album
