3D Sculpture research

Henri Laurens

Clown 1915, painted wood

"The empty spaces must have as much significance as the volumes in a sculpture. Sculpture involves first and foremost taking possession of a space, a space bounded by forms. There are some who make sculptures without a sense of space, which is why their figures have no character at all." Henri Laurens 

Laslo Moholy-Nagy

Light-Space Modulator 1930, Metal and plastic, electric motor

 

Nickel Construction 1921, Nickel-plated iron, welded 

Alexander Calder

Edgar Varese 1930, wire

Medusa 1930, wire

3D Sculpture - Metal and Wood workshop

3D Sculpture Workshop 

Day One: For the first part of the day we were given a tour of the workshop that stressed the importance of using the machinery safely and properly. We were then given our first brief of choosing a piece of material and making a series of maquettes that enclosed a space. We weren't allowed to use glue or wire to join the pieces of material together and so we had to think of other ways, using the machines, to uphold our sculptures. 

I chose wood to begin with and my initial idea was to cut a piece in half like two jigsaw pieces and then slot them back together to hold up the structure. This did work but it did fall back down quite easily and although it enclosed a space, like a tent, I didn't think it was very visually stimulating. 

 

For my second maquette I decided to try something different so I created something that resembled an arch. It enclosed a space but looked a lot more abstract and more interesting.

 

I then wanted to incorporate acrylic into my sculpture so I cut some small rectangles on the band saw and also used it to cut slats into a wooden block so I could insert the acrylic. This sculpture was more about experimentation with materials rather than the enclosed space. I wanted to use the two opposing materials together to combine natural and man-made. 

 

I wanted to use acrylic to create a sculpture with an enclosed space. At this point in the day we had also been given a list of words to help us create our sculptures. These words were; confine, order, distress, oppose, displace, constrict, reveal, confront and expand. I wanted to make a sculpture that related to these three words; confine, constrict and enclose. I made the main body of the sculpture using acrylic that I had cut slats into and then enclosed into it a wooden circle. 

It occured to me as well that this sculpture can also relate to the word 'reveal' as the transparent acrylic means it reveals the wooden circle to the viewer at all angles, whereas an opaque acrylic would mean you could only view the circle from above. If I was to create this sculpture again I would spend more time focusing on accuracy so the box would be fit together better and be perfectly straight. 

I then decided to make some wooden squares with slats in to create a box out of two opposing materials. The natural material contrasting with the man-made material relates to the word 'oppose'.

 

My final sculpture of the day was an experimentation in the metal workshop. I found this a lot more exciting than the wood workshop as I felt there were a lot more possibilities due to the various types of metal and the different machinery I could use to manipulate it. 

My sculptures from Day One

 

Day Two's brief was to create multiple maquettes that represented a 'journey'.

journey: n. to travel from one place to another. 

Synonyms: course, exploration, adventure, progress, growth, travel, venture. 

We had to consider the various types of journey: emotional journey (life), physical journey (travel) or a metaphorical journey. We also had to think about whether the journey was linear or it took more of a jagged path as well as whether it was horizontal or vertical and what this said about the type of journey it was. 

 

My first journey was created out of sheet metal and copper coated steel rods that I joined together on the spot welder. This journey can be seen as emotional and physical due to it's roller coaster like appearance. It can relate to the ups and downs in life or the physicality of a ride in a theme park. It's predominantly horizontal but does have a slight incline which can be viewed as downwards or upwards depending how the viewer sees it. 

 

This maquette was adapted from one from the previous day. It's a vertical journey and this can be taken from the green acrylic 'steps' going upwards or the aluminum wire that is shapes like plant vines that are 'growing' upwards around the wooden block. This is a journey that could continue to get 'grow' bigger as the wire at the top looks like it could continue to grow upwards. This is more of a physical journey than an emotional journey as it's about physical growth, but it could also be read as metaphorical 'growth' of character. 

 

This maquette is a liner, vertical journey going upwards. It's representative of a ladder which can be a physical journey of climbing or an emotional journey of success.

My final maquette was intended to be a free standing plant-like growth journey, however it didn't really turn out like this. Ironically this is my favourite maquette from the workshop even though it didn't turn out as I intended. I think not putting a lot of thought into making this made it more visually stimulating even though it doesn't have a specific journey behind it like the others do. 

Giant Group Sculpture

Our final task was to create a giant group sculpture (which I didn't get a chance to take a picture of) that represented a journey from two points in the room. We had to consider space, balance and structure to make our sculpture work. We decided to make a physical sculpture, one that the viewer had to actually experience. We created a non-linear pathway from point A to B that contained obstructions so the viewer had to follow our path, It was made predominantly from wooden planks but also included large acrylic sheets, metal sheets, wire and string. We thought about the appearance of our obstructions and what they connotated, for example one obstruction was a web of string like a spiders web. This way the sculpture was both physically and visually stimulating. 

Printmaker research

M C Escher

'Self-Portrait in a Chair' 1920 woodcut

'Female Nude in a Landscape' 1920 woodcut

'Seated Female Nude' 1921 lino cut

'Bond of Union' 1956 lithograph

Hokusai

'The Great Wave Off Kanagawa' 1929-32 colour woodcut

'Fine Wind, Clear Morning' or 'Red Fuji' 1930 ukiyo-e woodblock print

'Whaling Off Goto from Oceans of Wisdom' 1934 woodblock print

Peter Blake

''But isn't it old!' Tweedledum cried' 1970

'and the two knights sat and looked at each other without speaking' 1970

'and to show you I'm not proud, you may shake hands with me!' 1970

All from Illustrations to Through the Looking-Glass

Patrick Caulfield

'Cafe Sign' 1968

'Bowl and Fruit' 1979

'Paris Separates' 1973

Andy Warhol

[no title] from Marilyn 1967

'Black Bean' 1968

[no title] from Mao Tse-Tung 1972

Pablo Picasso

Etching: 24 March 1968 II (L.6) 

Etching 20 August 1968 I (L.289) 

Etching: 10 April 1971 (L.112)

Days 4 and 5 - Printmaking workshop

Print

This week workshop rotation began and my first one was print. The sheet we were given states that 'In the most general terms, a print is a piece of paper on which a design has been imprinted from a matrix made of some selected medium, usually stone, wood, or metal.' It then goes on to explain the different methods of production: relief, intaglio and planographic. In our introduction to printmaking we were to explore lino cutting - a type of relief print, and silkscreen - a type of planographic print.

Silkscreen

The silkscreen process:

Prepping my screen

1. Photocopy chosen image (photographic, hand-drawn, collage) to acetate. 
2. Arrange composition on ultra violet exposure unit and place screen coated in light sensitive emulsion on top. 
3. Vacuum lid and set it to expose at 17. 
4. Wash down on washer unit until image appears. 
5. Place in heating cupboard to dry. 
6. Mix the ink colour of choice (60% medium to 40% acrylic). 
7. Put screen on table, fix in place and tape over any yellow spaces around the edge of the image. 
8. Place ink across the top edge of the screen and place paper underneath the screen on the table top. 
9. Use squeegee to drag ink across the screen. The ink goes through the yellow (exposed) sections of the screen like a mesh. 
10. Flood back ink to the top if you are making multiple prints, if not just release table and collect the printed paper from underneath the screen. 
11. When finished printing, take the tape off of the screen and then wash off ink in washer unit.

Image:

I chose a page of photographic images (wallpaper samples) from my summer project (below). I chose this page due to it's composition and contrast of black and white. I thought it would work well as a print and expose well on screen to be crisp and clear.

Page in summer project book

Photocopied onto acetate

Exposed onto screen

(need to take photos of my finished prints)

Reflections on silk screen prints

The image I chose for my silkscreen print did not work as well as I'd hoped. It came out quite faded and blotchy and looking back I wish I'd chosen a clearer composition that didn't have as much grey in it as this is what didn't expose as clearly onto the screen and therefore didn't translate well into the print. However the process was enjoyable and I would consider returning to it again so I could experiment more with colour.

Lino cut

Before we began our lino cuts we were given some tips on choosing our image and completing our lino cut: the blade must be flat against the lino, the print will be backwards so complete the cut as a mirror image if necessary and the best prints are 50% white 50% black. 

I chose an image from a wallpaper sample that I'd stuck into my summer project book to cut into my lino. I chose this because of the variety of line in it which would allow me to use a variety of mark making. The image is also around 50% white to 50% grey which I could translate into the lino when I cut it and then into the finished print in black ink. 

Image chosen

I found this lino cut challenging as getting it symmetrical was difficult and I couldn't get it as even I was would have liked. I got frustrated with it as I kept jogging and this created very fine lines which I hoped wouldn't show on the print, but they did. 

I decided to do a second lino of a more sketchy nature as I liked some of the others completed that were like this. It also didn't matter as much if I jogged and I didn't have to make it perfectly even and symmetrical. I found cutting this lino much more enjoyable as I was more relaxed. I liked the way I could layer coloured tissue paper under the print in relation to areas in the image such as the water.