Hospital Project 7

It was a shame that until the deadline of this project we still didn't find the resolution to all the problems we had. In the end, everyone had no passion or time to do more experiments.

1. Salt water.

Salt water makes silicone sticky. We tried sugar water, which didn't work, only leaving a lot of mould. I got some information about potential replacements from someone studying chemistry, but we didn't make any further efforts. At last, we only remade the glass bottle version. 

2. Stand

I sanded off the engraved name on the surface of the stands, and applied new wood coat. 

3. Package

Yuta and I thought about using wood box. However, we could not found suitable ready made box online. As to make by ourselves, it was just too time consuming. We even considered to get a slightly bigger box online, and put soft foam inside. But we had no idea how to cut the foam in to a neat, fitting shape for the bottles. So in the end, I decided to use the original paper board box came with the bottles. I sprayed them with matt black lacquer. For easier identification, I painted small marks on the boxes with red acrylic. 

Following pictures are how they look in the end.

Even the doctor appeared to be happy about the outcome, I felt bad about how this project ended. It didn't only happen to our group. Since this project was not compulsory or life-relating, everyone just wanted to end it as soon as possible. And it was hard to complain anything or anyone. There was no enthusiasm between people. And I found, sometimes the atmosphere floating around us is really important. Personally, I cool down quite easily that I need someone to cheer me up.

V&A Ceramic Department Off-time Tour

The head of the ceramic department in Morley College arranged this tour. I was invited by Eduardo, and I was studying there during the time, even in different class. 

It was an exciting experience to get into V&A Museum after its opening hours, which was like a treasure hunting. After security checked, we were gave a temporary visiting card, and followed our guide into a path normally behind scenes. To get to the ceramic department in the higher floor, we past glass department. I will definitely go there in day time again. I found those glasses were exquisite by just one glimpse. 

Right, back to ceramic, our guide introduced his background and residency in V&A, which reminded me that residency could be a way to stay abroad after graduation. Even I am not confident about myself at all.

Then we visited Simon Carroll's exhibition. 

There is a strong sense of freedom, wildness and energy in Simon's work. They are not traditionally elegant or beautiful, but they are really attracting somehow. You might think there are many random, untidy details on the work, however these details are not chaotic. 

For instance, I think this chocolate and white vase has a nice arrangement of weight and proportion of colour. And those brown brush stocks are just beautifully placed, revealing the confidence of the artist.

The following images show the permanent collection of the museum.

These are some ancient terracotta vases. The pattern on them are just adorable. I realise that I really like things to do with circle, curve, sphere, and etc.

This metallic pomegranate red can be one of my favourite colour. It is a shame that it is not safe to use it in my project.

This black one is huge and powerful. I wonder how it was made.

Vase with flowers and strawberries in pate-sur-pate
France, Sevres, 1852
hard-paste, porcelain, painted with white slip and gilded.

Look at the thin, semi-transparent plant pieces made of porcelain that have been stuck on this greenish vase, they are so exquisite. They remind me snow, ice and things in the mist that are going to disappear at anytime.

Compared to the rest of the work, this one is quite simple. While I love the small, almost invisible detail coming down from the edge, which is a engraved line and circle.

This is Richard Slee's work, which I will tale about them later in another post. I am using similar colours like his, so I think his work would be a nice reference. And we all have a weirdness in our work.

Lucie Rie (1902-95)
Vase 1967,  Stoneware, thrown, using partially mixed pigmented clays, then squared-off and glazed. The colour emerged softly from the body during firing.

This work reminded me why I tried to use body stain at beginning, though I didn't keep doing it and push further. I think it is because that my design was not clear, and body stain tests are time consuming. So If I do not know exactly what kind of effect I want, it is easy to get lost. I truly like this kind of soft and mature colour, like rosy mist. Apart from Lucie Rie's work, I also like Elspeth Owen and Jennifer Lee's. It seems they used a lot of natural dyes which can give these kind of colour. So when I did experiments with commercial dye, the results were not satisfying. Also, it may to do with the way I mixed them, or the results were not fit the design during then, or simply because I didn't do enough tests.

Three legged form
Jacqueline Poncelet, 1947-
Stoneware, hand-built, with inlaid coloured clays and enamels.

This work has a curious form. Together with its colour and pattern, there is a sense of Turkey and exotic beauty. The colour is quite Turkish to me, probably because of the turquoise in the work. The shape of it is like some kind of Turkish hat, and the pattern reminds me Turkish characters. 

Red Twisted Form,  2012
Merete Rasmussen, 1974-
Stoneware, hand-built, with sprayed matt red glaze.

'The even matt surface of Merete Rasmussen's sculptures, each a single intense colour, allows the complexity of their forms to be revealed. 

I always am fascinated by the complex organic form in her work. Another artist Eva Hild also did some splendid works like this. I just cannot stop myself trying to find where do the form start and end.

Form 1113: Twisting Back, Multiplying, 2011
Harumi Nakashima, 1950-
Glazed porcelain, with decoration in blue.

Form-Series 1,2005
Guac Roh-Hoon, 1959-
Mixed clay

Yorkshire, designed 1976
Hornsea Pottery
Stoneware, slip-cast, wax-resist spray

It was an amazing tour, and I wondered why I didn't go to this department, not even once.  By reviewing what I have seen this night, I did get some inspiration.

White Chapel Curator Tour: Magnus af Petersens on Richard Tuttle

I booked the curator tour for Richard Tuttle's exhibition in White Chapel Gallery. I am extremely glad that I did it. I mean, even only from the visual aspect, I feel pleased about looking his work. But with a explain from someone who really know his work, his work become more making-sense. 

Photograph was not allowed in this exhibition, and I can only find limited images online. 

According to the curator, the key words of Richard's work are textile, humble materials, making space but not occupying space.

Lable 13-16, 2004-05
Suite of four etchings with aquatint, spitbite,
sugarlift, softground, and fabric colle
16 x 16 in. / 40.6 x 40.6 cm. each
Edition of 25

Among the four works above, I like the one has black triangular the most. It is a joy to see it in person, since it is hard to see the details in the images, like subtile colour changing, difference between materials.  I think this piece has nice colour scheme, well-arranged

 details, proportionally beautiful.

The three images above are his 'walking on air' series. Tuttle describes his new work as being “in a syncretic tradition, where the equal and opposite can co-exist and the abstract and the real are not in a state of ambiguity.” Walking on Air represents for him an “expression of elation for the potential for a new beginning, the possibility to rebuild and discover a harmony for existing in the world today.”  For me, I love their colour and texture. They look like abstract landscape, in the certain time of the day or seasons. The orange one, for example, it is like a longly mountain standing on a vast everglade. It is a sunset in the autumn that they all appear to be strong orange, and clear blue sky lay behind them.

This work is interesting. The ball was stuck in a metal stick, around 1.2m high. There were four lights in red, blue, yellow, and green, on the celling, occupying 4 corners of a non-existing square above the ball. Then these lights were pointing the ball in different directions that the ball has four colours of shadow in the end.

3rd Rope Piece

It is just a small colour rope, against a pale grey wall, and in the write position, it formed a whole space. Personally I found this is amazing, and I love the colour of the rope.

How it gets around the corner, 1996

As the curator said, for minimalism, what you see is what it is. Richard like the things about reveal and conceal, corners, shadow, and things behind. Just like what happened in this work, the fabrics are cleverly sewed and folded, constructing the space behind. I really wanted to see through them, to be honest. 

Overall, though his work is not the kind that normally I would be interested, with the explanation from the curator, I found these works are interesting. And I really like the colour he used. Perhaps I should go more events like this.  

Work for Eduardo's aquarium - 4. Installation

I connected the acrylic legs with the porcelain pieces two days before installation. 

This was how the tank looked like before my rearrangement. The tank had a serious problem of hairy algae. It almost covered every plants in the tank, and it was really hard to get rid of. The plants at the left hand side were squeezed together that many of them were rotted, especially the parts closed to bottom and in the middle. My guess was that because they didn't have enough space to breathe. So during the installation, I trimmed the plants, leaving the healthy part of them, and replanted. When I trimmed them, I found because of the rot, the plants were smelly. Maybe that was the reason that the shrimps didn't like walking around, but stayed at the corner. The rot polluted the water. Hoping after the plants grow up again, they will be healthier. 

This is how the tank looks afterwards. The floating parts work perfectly, hoping the moss will spread fast and the shrimp will like it. The light adjusts the colour of the ceramic part, which I think the colour is just alright. 

right hand side. The plant that looks like a net will grow out from the ceramic.

Left hand side

After I finished, some of the shrimps climbed out, which was a good sign. I will keep recording the progress of the tank, and talk about the ideas and evaluation more in the next post.

Visual research in Practice Workshop

This workshop was aiming to help us experiencing the process of interpretation, finding a way to transfer our initial inspiration into our own ideas. 

1. draw what you can see on the table on this long roll of paper

2. Move from one side of table to another, drawing without lift up your drawing tool.

3. Cut of a piece that you like

4. Cut a picture from the magazine. 

5. Draw the shade of the picture

6. According to drawing 5, make a collage from the magazine.

7. Draw the outline of the collage

8. Draw another two from drawing 7.

9. Cut one of the drawing and make it into a 3D form. 

10. Draw a picture according to the 3D form.

11. Use tape or string to make a picture of the 3D form.

12. Use long brushes made of branches and brushes to paint on a roll of paper on the floor.

13. Fold a page of paper in your sketchbook, cut the following page, and cut some shapes out of the third page. Then put and arrange the drawings made before into the sketchbook.

14. Fill the empty space with the painting cutting from the long paper, making a connection from page to page.

Here are our outcomes.

All of the actions were finished in 5 or 15 mins that we didn't have much time to think. It was more relying on our instinct. Even many actions were took following the previous one, changes happened, consciously or not. I found myself quite enjoy this process. And I think this process of changing is what we missed in our practice but our tutors really willing to see. 

I am quite certain that we all can do this, but we somehow forgot to do or show. Tracing back to the work I made for applying for the MA course, I did follow similar process to improve my idea. However, just as what Shane said, nowadays we show our inspiration and directly jump to the final outcome. The process is missing. And the work looks like a result coming from a accident, without a solid proof of improvement. 

It is not too late that I am being conscious about this. I will take action in the following practice to improve this problem.