Sketchbook

To follow on from the previous post, here are a couple of observational drawings I did right at the start of the project, taken from my sketchbook:

Third Year Work

I seem to remember saying I would try to keep this updated more often...

Well third year's going really quickly, already halfway through it and since my last post I have experimented a lot, made new pieces, written a dissertation and now have enough ideas to take me into my final degree show work.  

To briefly summarise the direction my work has taken since the project started here is my statement as it currently reads:

The inspiration behind my current project lies in industrial structures situated on the outskirts of towns and cities.  Referred to as ‘Edgelands’, these are places which tend to be overlooked as we don’t come into prolonged contact with them on a day to day basis.

My interests lie particularly in objects and structures which have surpassed their original function and provoke questions of curiosity when we engage with them - What were they? Why have they been left in this state? How long for? What could they be?

Uninhabitable and left to decay, they now lie on paths connecting us on our routine journeys from place to place, left only with the marks we leave as evidence of our passing through, marks which I aim to explore through processes such as enamelling.  Through both these brief encounters and the process of decay, aspects of these structures become altered over time, changing them, presenting us with their history and a different narrative each time we pass by.  This forms our connection with places like these.

They speak of their previous function and potential future through a layering of narratives.  They cannot be fixed in time, they will continue to change.  By working in multiples and through the interchangeable nature of my work, I can address this by encouraging people to engage with my pieces and make their own decisions to construct their own narratives.

Here are some photos of some of my more experimental pieces from the beginning of the project and also leading up to where I currently am:

Series of small component pieces

Enamel Samples

Assemblage of objects - Working on suitable brooch pieces

Learning something new! - Braising

Potential brooch piece

Neckpiece with interchangeable parts

Assemblage for neckpiece

Neckpiece with interchangeable components, version 1

Neckpiece with interchangeable components, version 2

Brooches with interchangeable components, version 1

Brooch with interchangeable components, version 2

More to follow

 

Photo update

It has been such a long time since I posted anything, but now that summer's over and it's back to college for year 3, hopefully I'll be updating a lot more about my new project.  All about the idea of the 'treasured' object (a full statement will follow soon once I actually get round to wording it properly!)

Until then, here are the photos I had taken of my smaller pieces from my last project:

Photography by Gina Hughes

Photography by Gina Hughes

Photography by Gina Hughes

Photography by Gina Hughes

Photography by Gina Hughes

Photography by Gina Hughes

Photography by Gina Hughes

Own Image

Unfortunately, I don't have a proper image of the last one which is actually made up of two parts - the main brooch (above) linked by handmade chain to a smaller brooch.

What Next?

A bit of quiet time on the blog recently as things are starting to slow down a bit.  Still making a few more sea wreckage brooches like the ones I previously posted about, will be having them photographed properly next week!  I've also been able to make a dent in the large pile of books stacked up beside my bed that I've bought over the past few months, but haven't had time to read yet.  Should keep me pretty busy, I think...

These are all part of the new research,  I've started looking at people and their relationship with objects they collect, what they hope to tell people by displaying them and the decisions we make to hold onto one thing and throw away another - memories/stories/reminders.  Also still looking for new places to explore, reading 'Edgelands' is giving me ideas about places that are not nessecarily abandoned, just out of the way/overlooked in day to day life.  Still early days yet mind you, vague outlines will sort themselves out into some sort of order over the summer.

While that happens, take a look at this man Jorge Castanon
He rescues found objects from the hidden spaces he explores and uses them in his work, not as a response to what is there, but what is not...

Opening Night

Been a busy couple of weeks, but the making is done and the exhibition is up!  Here are some photos of the finished pieces up in their spaces and the private view, more to follow...


Private View



Katie Owen Jewellery

Sally Rogers Ceramics

Olwen Thomas Ceramics

Lindy Martin Ceramics



Hilary Coole ceramics





Carol Griffiths Ceramics

David Stirrup Ceramics



Neill Curran Ceramics

 
 

New bits!

Now that things have quietened down at the end of this year, I've been able to give more time to my new plastic powders. 

Mixing them altogether has given me a lot of different colours and so I'm now assembling and re-assembling componants together into some smaller pieces ready for the exhibition happening in July.  Here's some photos of how they're looking at the moment, tweaking a few things as I'm still undecided about whether they'll be neck pieces or brooches, but getting there...

Sketchbook work

Something that I come to love more and more each year is my sketchbook.  After loathing it upon first coming to college for foundation, I eventually learned a way of drawing and documenting ideas that worked for me.  Exploring mark making features a lot in my sketchbooks, as does collage, layering textures and photos of my assemblages that I can then work into again. 

Here are some of my sketchbook pages from my last project which show the development of my ideas into the final pieces that I've posted on here previously