I completed 20 assemblages and most of them had the same combinations as were given to me but I changed some due to my gut feel that other objects at my disposal might work better.I maintained the clay piece, natural found object and the factory produced object in 19 of the 20 assemblages.
Review of my Exploratory Project
My exploratory project was about assemblages.I created 20 sculptural works using everyday objects, and handbuilt clay pieces.I used the Surrealist technique of "Automatism"; the works were created spontaneously from my random thoughts without preconception and I tried to condense multiple experiences into objects of art.
1.What went well and why?
I was able to achieve what I set out to achieve ,that is a certain degree of randomness in my work.I culled unrelated objects and used the lottery system to club them into different sets of 3 and joined them intuitively.
I usually to tend to "overwork" my pieces but I thought about emptying the work more,removing the formal decision making process.The objects captured the ephemeral moments that I spent with each of them .
2.What did not go so well and why?
I had trouble with fixing and joining things because the strongest of the superglues did not work for the heavier parts.I resorted to stitching, tying in these cases I would rather have used other techniques as well which I am not aware of at the moment such as weaving or croquet.
3.What did I learn:
a.What I learnt about my making process-:
I love working with my hands ,making clay objects, drawing, painting,stitching but glueing is difficult because I used epoxy glue in which two types of glue had to be be mixed together which was messy.
I have a tendency to make meanings or work on concepts due to the habit responding to calls in the last few years.I did not plan the works.I let things happen and was not scared of the unexpected results.
b.What I learnt about my use of resources-:
Firstly I learnt that I love to collect "found " objects .I spent the maximum time looking for and making the pieces.
I prefer making figurative work and abstraction does not come easily to me.For a few of the pieces I swapped the component parts that emerged from the lottery because I felt I could not make them work together.
c.Your capacity to take risks-:
I am not a huge risk taker but am beginning to take more risks now over the past few months both with my collage like paper cutouts and 3D work.
d.How you cope with problems
The list of verbs really helped me and gave me direction when I was stuck for ideas. I was good at problem solving and thought of alternative methods when something did not work.I was particularly happy with using "soaking" and "wrapping" of the seeds for pieces 19 and 20.
4. Comment on how you responded to challenges.
I thoroughly enjoyed my project and I did not find it difficult except for the time constraint . I had set myself a time limit of 2 hours per piece and therefore had to work fast. The process was challenging because I deviated from my usual method of working by not making any preparatory sketches or thinking about the outcomes of the works at all.I looked the objects that were given to me and thought about what to do with them spontaneously as a performative act.
5. How will you use what you have learnt in the future?
I will make more elaborate,complex, dense sculptures/assemblages using the same process of automatism and this method has also crept into my 2D works as well.This will help reveal the workings my subconscious mind which I find very interesting.
1
 |
| tree branch, clay face,pliers, feathers, wool, colour pencil |
2
 |
| stone, lego toy,wool, clay piece,wool |
3
 |
| hair brushes, clay piece, pinecones, acrylic paint |
4
 |
| tin, clay piece, coral, nails,acrylic paint |
5
 |
| clay piece, feathers, bulb,acrylic paint |
6
 |
| branch,binoculars,clay piece, wool, acrylic paint |
7
 |
| sea shells, clay piece, shisha,acrylic paint |
8
 |
| grater,feathers,wool, clay piece, colour pencil |
9
 |
| seeds, fan, clay piece |
10
 |
| bulb,rope,can hooks,bulbs,clay piece, acrylic paint |
11
 |
| thread, clay piece,stone |
12
 |
| magnifying glass, clay piece, wool, coral,acrylic paint |
13
 |
| clay pieces, wool, iron part, coral, raffia, acrylic paint |
14
 |
| camera, clay piece, wool, acrylic paint, cuttle fish exoskeleton,acrylic paint |
15
 |
| wool, clay part, tree branches covered in wax, combs, wool |
16
 |
| clay piece, coffee grinder, bath brush, pen and ink, wool, rope |
17
 |
| clay piece, zips, wildebeast tail |
18
 |
| honeycomb, thread, clay piece, tap, acrylic paint |
19
 |
| clay piece, metal part, seed deconstructed, wool |
20
 |
| music box, clay piece, acrylic paint, deconstructed seed |
Thursday, 29 May, 2014
Now for the most exciting part.The random selection results.My parents got married to each other ( 50 years ago) through the arranged marriage route, without actually having met or even seen each other.Love came after marriage.I am reminded of that.I shall get groups of three absolutely unrelated things and will have to decide how to make them love one another.Hoping that like my parents' marriage these marriages will work!!
The 32 combinations which emerged were as follows:
1.cassette spool bottles date palm tree bark.I decided to club all the small bottles together as a single unit because they are really tiny.
2.ceramic bottle date palm flower hair dryer comb
3.ceramic alligator head, sea plant, tap
4.camera, stones from the beach, body part in clay
5.shell, mirror, organic clay part
6.coral, lego toy, clay part
7. toilet pump, coral, ceramic part
8. plastic glasses, ceramic part, pebble
9. wool, magnifying glass,ceramic part
10. zips, wildebeast tail, ceramic parts,seeds
12.grater,feathers,clay piece
13.fan,clay body, seeds
14. golden thread,stone, clay face
15 .broken machine part, stone, clay piece
18.buffalo horn, clay rose,metal scrubber
19. tree , clay face, pliers
20. tea cups, pumice stone, shoe heel mold
23. plastic massager, treebbark, clay piece
24.clothes brush, honeycomb, clay piece
25. hookah, sea shells, clay face
27. pebble, scrubbers, clay face
28. clay piece molded from buffalo horn, sticks, body brush
29. plastic combs, twigs, clay piece
30.clay head, clothes hangers, cuttlefish
31.tin, clay piece, sponges
32.bulb, clay pigs head, rose petals and potpourrie
Wednesday, 28 May, 2014
It was time to form groups to assemble the objects.I planned to made 32 random sets of 3.Each set was to contain a handmade,a factory made and a natural object but I did not making the choices .The process I adopted was the simplest method to ensure randomness.The draw of lots method.I placed all the handbuilt objects together and numbered them 1-32 and did the same with the factory made and the natural material separately. I made slips with numbers and put them in three separate boxes.I picked out 3 slips from the 3 boxes at a time and corresponded them to the numbers on the numerous objects, to form groups. I documented the selection process.
Handbuilt objects placed together with numbered labels pasted on them
Factory Made objects numbered
Natural materials numbered
The numbers recorded in a separate sheet to be converted into slips .The number 32 of natural material says "Beehive".I have not got the beehive with me but have spotted it in my neighbour's garden on a treetop and will ask a gardener to recover it for me tomorrow.
Boxes with slips.
The three mystery boxes.
Monday, 26 May, 2014
I counted the factory made,natural and handbuilt objects .35 factory made, 28 natural material and 29 handbuilt.I decided 32 was a good number and to keep that number as the final number of pieces I would make.I was 3 short of handbuilt clay objects and 4 short of natural material.I decided to make 3 more clay pieces to match the number of factory made things and plan to go and scavenge for some leaves roots or such objects.What emerged was 3 heads.
the last batch of clay pieces for the exploratory project going into the kiln.There is no time left for any more is there.....
the bisque fired clay pieces.They were fired for 12 hours till the temperature gradually reached 1200 degrees.
Monday, 19 May,2014
The final collections before I start joining the pieces.I seem to have collected a lot of different types of objects .Am I deferring the marathon event of linking up unrelated things? I have to agree that I am nervous because I have never worked in the blind before.Also excited.Now that I have the packaging books in hand "How to Wrap 5 Eggs" and also "How to Wrap 5 more Eggs"(traditional Japanese packaging by Hideyuki Oka), there seems to be no excuses left .These books are very abstract.... all the more useful.I have another book "Collage, Assemblage, Altered Art " ( Diane Mrurer Mathison) which has more collage techniques than assemblage but I am only looking for inspiration . I am not relying on anyone to give me clues if I can help it.The ideas have to be generated by me.
Discarded Lego toy, 3D glasses smuggled from the cinemas,zips
Reference Books
Monday, 12 May 2014
I slip cast a few Arabic perfume bottles which I plan to use in my assemblage pieces.I had made the molds last year for my collaborative installation piece "Perfume Cloud " .I used the molds to make a few more bottles and successfully fired them.
Sunday, 4 May, 2014
Managed to fire the clay pieces this week in my kiln.
The loaded kiln
It takes 12 hours of firing at 900 degrees celcius for bisque firing.The kiln is so hot after the end of the firing session that 24 hours is allowed for the kiln to slowly cool down.Opened the kiln a little nervous because firing can result in some nasty surprises (shattered pieces) but all pieces in the kiln were intact.
The clay fires white which offers many possibilities like drawing on them with pencil, staining them with acrylic inks or acrylic paints, shining them with bees wax or leaving them white.
Sunday, 27th April, 2014
Collected new objects.Turning into an avid collector.The process of collecting is an important element of this project.You need keen eyes, presence of mind , physical stamina and lots of time and patience. The assembling will come later.
One of my friends suggested a great idea for finding discarded factory made parts-: a home appliances repair shop.What a gem of an idea.I can visualize myself taking apart old toasters, blenders and vacuum cleaners.I have to put a stop to collecting at the end of this week and start assembling in May.
dried rose petals, tree bark, wildebeest tail, crow feathers pieces of wood
seeds, flowers, dead wasp
bulbs, rusted metal, cassette spool
discarded camera, binoculars, fan, massager tin, tap ,coffee grinder, magnifying glass, toilet suction pump
Wednesday, 23 April, 2014
Day of the Animals
Tried exploring animals from memory and allowed my hands to create shapes without thinking of any specific animal.What resulted was a pig-dog which I cut up into two parts to allow interchangeability with other objects. I also made a upright animal torso of a cat-rabbit.I built a section of a predatory creature's mouth with sharp teeth...an alligator perhaps.Two pinch pot heads which I cut holes of.They look more like divers' /spaceman's head protection gear than animal heads.I was happy with these parts I constructed .Firing day drawing close.Once my clay parts are ready I can think of joining things, making associations.Very excited about the infinite possibilities that might emerge but at the same time doing the unpredictable and breaking out of cliches, appears daunting.
Friday, 18 April 2014
I spent the day making clay pieces.As Les suggested I tried to make the clay parts in 15 minutes each so I had no time to think .I attempted to take prints on clay of some parts of my body and got some unusual , unexpected results.I also tried taking molds of objects like vases, a shoe and a buffalo horn.
Tuesday,April 15,2014
The Group Critique (with Les, Jen, Mark, Jane) of Exploratory Project was highly interactive and very useful.The suggestions and feedback were freely provided by the group members and the moderator Les .Talking about my work so far and advice helped provoke new lines of thought .I expect new dimensions to emerge from this project if I consider and incorporate some of the suggestions.
Questions and Answers
1.How do I make my project more random?More experimental?
Put all the man made, hand sculpted and natural materials in three separate piles.Assign numbers to each.Put all the numbers in a box and do a draw of lots.Group them together and photograph them.Do they tell a story.If yes, attach.
For the hand sculpted parts, set a time limit say 10 minutes.Make some pieces swiftly without thinking.
Make a very long necklace of these objects picked out randomly
Make groupings inside a very large jar or sets of jars
assemble the parts in different locations and see how it impacts the outcome.
Go to different locations while creating the assemblages and see how it impacts your work
Record your thought after each set of connections are made
2. How do I attach the pieces other than attaching with strings or a glue gun?
Refer to books on Japanese Packaging Techniques. "How to Wrap Five Eggs" and "How to Wrap Five more Eggs"
- [Hideyuki Oka, Michikazu Sakai] .You will get a clue.
From Hardware stores, electrical stores
Monday, April 14, 2014
The story so far....three or four of the twelve weeks are up.Intense summers are setting in.It is very hot in Muscat 40 degrees celcius already and it is only April . I went out scavenging for more objects on the beach today.Last week I walked in a wadi.Won't have a vitamin D deficiency.Happy to have collected some interesting objects .Also handbuilt some clay pieces of faces and organic shapes.Will gather more random things and then start assembling them.
examining pebbles at the beach
Prize catch of the day-:a cuttlefish exoskeleton
Washed up at the shore
feathers, acorns(the acorns are from Scotland.I had gathered them when I went there last summer), tree branch
seeds, corals, stones,shells
a dry bush, date palm free flowers, sea plants
Some handbuilt clay pieces.I will fire these in my kiln when bone dry.The plan is to make many more of these.I have poked holes in them so that attaching with strings is easy.
Wednesday,April 2, 2014
In primitive societies women set out to gather nuts ,eggs, wood and seeds while men hunted.Responding to my primal instinct of gathering objects.Visited the Muttrah Souk(a souq is a local traditional Arabic market where spices, handicrafts and objects for everyday use are available) looking for factory produced objects for my exploratory project and found a few things....Will look for some more raw material in trash cans and hardware stores.
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Exploratory Project
The exploratory project is intended to encourage greater speculative and experimental approaches to visual research and making. This means more emphasis on risk taking, risks that are personal to you. Curiosity and suspension of your usual judgement are crucial. It is important that you reflect carefully and choose an area to explore that will challenge you, there is no point in choosing something that has success guaranteed. Of course you cannot predict what will happen and you may need to change your plan as you go along, but you do not give up too easily.
• What do you want to explore? Be specific.
I want to explore assemblages
I would like to see objects as living organisms and imagine them come alive,have a certain personality. I wish to create objects with my hands . By combining man-made, artificial elements with natural elements I want to create objects that would trigger my imagination. In short, I want to shape strange objects with fictional or fantasy elements.
• What is your personal challenge?
To make a series of pieces that are very intuitive not preplanned.I usually have a clear idea of what I am going to create but this time I want freeflowing playful pieces to emerge without worrying about the outcome.
• What methods will you use? What rules will you set yourself?
1. collect found objects manmade,natural.Also look to purchase cheap local everyday objects .
2. handbuild some shapes in clay
3. connect the dots and make pieces which have a combination of handmade readymade and natural materials.
• Plan an outline programme over 12 weeks; build in time for reflection and evaluation.
weeks 1 & 2 find objects…natural,manmade
weeks 3 &4 handbuild in clay,make papier mache pieces
weeks 5 &6 fire pieces
weeks 7 &8 join the pieces
weeks 9 &10make further additions using papercuts, drawings
weeks 11&12 evaluation
• What challenges do you anticipate?
clay is unpredictable can warp,/break on firing
thinking of innovative ways to attach the pieces
the pieces may not be figurative …do not know.I have never attempted non figurative before
I might fall into a pattern of thinking too much and will have to challenge that and work from a blank mind
I usually work one piece at a time instead of first gathering a large set of disjointed component parts and then deciding what will happen so this a new direction I am treading into the unknown.
• What will you do when you get stuck?
I can use a series of verbs and rework the piece using some of these verbs
poking, drilling, pulling , rolling,
bending,twisting,punching,slashing,
squeezing,pouring,scratching,soaping,
breaking,threading,weaving,soaking,
boiling,washing,cutting,tearing,
stitching,scattering,pinching,balancing,
bleaching,burning,brushing,clipping,
crushing,dripping,melting,decaying,
emptying,trapping,pricking,fading,
folding,knitting,polishing,gluing,
peeling,popping,trimming, burying,
bandaging, oiling,burnishing, mashing
stabbing,magnifying,puncturing,sawing,
slicing,erasing,scraping,scratching,
scribbling,chewing,biting, wringing,
shaking, crimping, blowing, freezing,
curling,drying,growing,throwing,
combing,pinning,braiding,hammering,
pressing,snipping,stapling,rusting,
powdering,painting,stringing,stacking,
baking,bursting,grinding, waxing,
spreading,inverting,tying,locking,
rocking,hanging,sweeping,writing,
knotting,sealing,spraying,pushing,
pureeing,stamping,digging,hiding,
shaving,casting,spilling, reflecting,
mixing ,grating,messing,stripping,
staining,straining,coiling,hooking,
injecting,rubbing,releasing,
strapping,wiping,starching,ironing,
sinking,floating,scrubbing,lightening,darkening,
shredding,sieving,scoring,listening ,smelling,
camouflaging,treating,condensing,evaporating,distilling.....
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