Assessment today, Dave & Anna

Showed my framed image pieces, and those cast on plaster, the horse and the abstract rectangle piece in addition to cube.

Transmitted. LED Panel

Ladies in Burquas. Transmitted

Horse. Reflected

Transmitted

Reflected

Transmitted

Explained how I had got to where I am for Anna’s benefit and reviewed work this year. It wasn’t obvious that Dave or Anna were familiar with the contents of my blog – but maybe they were just being cagey. Points arising:

• Still no clear mark making style
  • I explained that ‘cube’ is a step in that direction. Dave commented that, as it is currently constructed, it is a move away from using translucency. It is attractive, and I may choose to pursue the idea but it’s not the original point. True.
• He commented on my inability to draw and the consequent implications for mark making, thru printing etc, of borrowing images (as in ladies in burquas). Anna raised issue of the aesthetics of the coloured sheets in a frame – essentially “what more?”
• Reviewed the attractiveness of the cube with cup, plate and saucer. Dave asked if the cobalt blue was a deliberate evocation of Willow Pattern. It was (see Dec 22 – “I thought it would be amusing to suggest willow pattern ware by colouring some of the discs with Cobalt Blue and randomly distributing them through the image.”)
• Long discussion of implications for Final Show
• DB said that, despite his initial enthusiasm, he is now uncertain about my (or, I think, anyone else’s) capacity to complete a task as enormous as the installation we have discussed within the time scale available.
• Anna pointed out the difficulties in obtaining a suitably high quality finish for public display.
• These comments were made in the context of having to spend time doing other work for the show and having to work alone. The very strong message was that an installation of the type previously discussed was probably biting off more than I could chew. When I specifically asked the question both DB & AL said they felt I should set my sights lower and that their encouragement was a bit premature. This is both a disappointment and something of a relief. I have been giving a lot of thought to the technical aspects – with some trepidation.
• Suggestions were made for future progress:
  • Use frames, and strings, but narrower. This will facilitate lighting and ‘jiggling’ effects whilst limiting footprint
  • Emphasize translucency, using thickness modification primarily, supplemented with print/colour
  • Sheets can be strung within frames, in overlapping layers, to make screens – vertical or horizontal. My thoughts:
    • Obviously, lighting could be from above, below, the sides or behind
    • Combinations of sheets and discs are possible
  • Important to keep frames minimal and emphasise porcelain. Not sure I agree with this since the contrast between an ‘industrial’ style frame and ethereal image would dramatic
• I showed them drawings for lights.
  • The first was a series of cones and cylinders mounted one on top of the other, joined and supported up the centre by a steel pole. This would have LED strip on 3 sides to illuminate.Dave seemed to like the idea of it and likened it to Brancusi’s ‘endless column’ in Targu Jiu, Romania.

The second was a cylindrical light, lit from above and below by focusable spotlights, and supported in a steel frame. The idea is that it looks as if it is floating. No comment, so I don’t know what they thought.

This assessment contributes 20 marks. I have absolutely no idea what I will score. I came out feeling that I had in some way disappointed them. My projection?

Unravelling Heads

That’s what I put in as a search term to describe the image I have in my head for the project. What came up was nothing like what I see in my minds eye, although Dali’s is the closest. I got Dali, Escher and a couple of others. One I discarded:

MC Escher – Humanity

Dali – Fragmented self in pain

Bryan Vartabedian @Doctor_V Beautiful unraveling heads | NastPlast-SINAIS-A.jpg (600×772) http-/bit.ly/1BoQfPe

I see something like this:

Ok, so it’s a bit of a line drawing but its a start.

Catch up & Final show plans

I have repaired the travel damage to the cube, having decided to resort to  Pritt Stick glue to attach the discs to the supports. This was based on the (probably false) hope that I may be able to separate them at a later date. Anyway, they are now well attached. I hoped to photograph it, illuminated against the fading black background paper that Dave has in the department. But the paper is too scratched. Perhaps we could all chip in for a replacement.

I had a discussion with Dave about the work last Friday. He is very pleased with it – the light striking the lines, the jitteriness of the discs and the contribution both make to an impression of ephemerality. Most people who have seen it seem to find it attractive for these reasons. One of the technicians, Stuart, talked of using music to make the vibrations that cause the discs to jitter. I wondered about a simple motor.

Anyway, we went on to discuss how I might develop the idea for my final show. I have an idea, as mentioned before, for a piece based on this technique, in a large space, well illuminated. My current idea is to develop the idea I described earlier, inspired (if that’s the right word) by my mum’s increasing dementia. That seems more appropriate to me that something else because it is personal in 2 ways – it’s about my own mum and my ideas are informed by my psychiatric training.

The cube is designed to be looked at from above and the visibility of the supports from below doesn’t matter. For the bigger piece that will not be the case and the invisibility of the supports will be important. As will be the fact that it will be viewed from the side in a big space so the hanging pieces will need to be 3, rather than 2, dimensional. Voxels rather than pixels. For consideration:

?Hemispheres/ irregular shapes/

?Extent of translucency

?Colour

?Representational at all

?Use of glaze +/- lustre

?Porcelain/Bone China/Parian. ?mixture

Dave & I discussed the possibility of using the space in the atrium of PR1 . It would be perfect. But there would be many other people using the space for their own shows. Some/all may resent the dominant size of what I hope to make. There make be structural/safety/political issues about it. Dave is enthusiastic, as am I. It could be beautiful. Or a disaster. I’ve got 8 months to prepare. So we agreed that I would work up some drawings and calculate some weights. I need to make back up pieces too. I have measured the atrium space – it is more than sufficient.

I need to review my Learning agreement. It’s now out of date. It is clear the survey won’t happen because of the lack of response from those contacted in the UK. If it failed here, there seems little point in pursuing it world wide. It’s interesting, but its not ceramics as such. My plans for making have changed a lot and need to be incorporated in the LA.

I just fired a test piece using different lustres on a piece of porcelain sheet fired with coloured glass stringers. The Mother of Pearl Lustre (based on Bismuth) is not obvious.

Light blue – CoCl
Dark Blue CoCl + ZnCl
Diff coloured stringers
Au, Pl and green lustre
(latter shows as silver!?)

Close up Gold. Incandescent transmitted.

Close up Platinum. Incandescent transmitted.

Daylight transmitted. Dull