Piles of assignments!

I haven't posted in a while as I have been super busy!  College is great and I still love going and learning new techniques and approaches to my work.  At the moment we seem to be working through ways of extending an influence or inspiration, whether it be another artist's work or developing a series of works across different media.

I thought I would post this little project (one of many!).  It is all about a hybrid object and how to merge two things to become something else.

We had to pick two household items and draw them meticulously, exploring everything about them.  Later we will consider ways of combining the two in a pleasing manner.

I chose a shell and a cupboard door knob....

After doing lots of research (that is, trawling the internet searching for ideas), I came across the work of two artists who inspire me with this project: Jessica Joslin and Andreas Franke.

Awesome hybrid sculptures!!

Jessica Joslin

http://jessicajoslin.com/jessica/

Surreal underwater scenes!

Andreas Franke

http://www.thesinkingworld.com/

Looking at these images I am trying to work out how I can make a door knob for an underwater house of enchantment... or a mermaid's wardrobe.... or a phantom shipwreck.....

Thinking I will mount it on some old timbers I have lying around.

College Work...

This is the zinc plate I worked on today.  We were shown how to prepare the zinc, heat it up and apply the 'ground'.  Then it was a simple matter of lightly sketching into the ground to produce a delicate image which will hopefully print :)  Put on the spot, I came up with a little 'specimen' sketch of a Bottlebrush flower.  Its botanical name is Callistemon.  I had to remember to scratch the word as a mirror image so that it would be able to be read once printed out. 

This is a collage of two unrelated images/paintings, photocopied and cut up to produce a completely different image.

This is a sketch of a small section of a post-modern building... a study in light and shade.  We will be reproducing this image as paintings in gouache and watercolour.

Pebble Pot and Portrait

Spent the morning working on my pebble pot.  It was formed inside a mixing bowl in two halves, using coils and spheres.  Then the two halves were joined and left to become leatherhard.  Today I was able to carve into it!

I drew this portrait last night :)

Some more of my college work!

 Above are my first attempts at linocut printing, inspired by 1920 ceramic tiles.  The one on the left uses 'chine-colle' where bits of paper are placed on the block before printing onto paper - the ink pins them to the paper.

Above are two drawings from today's life model and below is last week's.

The above painting was copying a master painting (I can't remember the artist) with acrylic, then using oil glazes over the top.

I was playing around with this painting.  The middle area was laid on with a palette knife, using gel medium.  The background was applied with a brush, and the whole colour scheme was inspired with the colours of early Henri Matisse.

Hunting the Wren (6)

This is not at all a good photo of my final collage but you will get the idea!  This piece is about how we celebrate traditions without remembering the original purpose or context.  We domesticate them, hang them on our lounge room wall and make them accessible.  

You can't really see on the photo but along the bottom I have written ' We wish to advise that no animal was harmed during this celebration', indicating that the essential reason for this tradition has been eradicated! (Lucky for this little bird!) People do, however, use an effigy of the wren instead of the real thing.

Hunting the Wren (5)

               

The following collage depicts the actual hunting of the wren where the little bird is killed.  Young men and boys would dress up in extraordinary straw costumes and capture a wren in the woods or hedgerow.  They would tie it to a stick and parade through the village, asking for money.  Later there would be a celebration.  Some of the photos below are quite old and one is present day, showing this is an ancient custom and yet is still observed in Ireland.

Looking at this collage, I think it turned out too busy.  I was so pre-occupied telling the story, I forgot overall composition!

I think my effigy really looks like a straw boy costume...

Hunting the Wren (4)

I really enjoyed making this collage... it depicts the Winter Wren and alludes to the 'king of birds' being sacrificed on the winter solstice.  There are references to the Holly King and I have incorporated a photo of my effigy.  I sewed real twigs onto the paper, giving it a rustic feel with large, visible stitching.

Hunting the Wren (3)

The next step in the assignment was to collect relevant images, textures and photographs of the sketches of our effigies.  With these we were to create collages relating to the story of our piece.

My ideas were quite strong by now so it was easy to plan the collages to tell the story.  I planned four collages: the wren, the winter, the hunt and the effigy.

I found some lovely photographs of wrens and cut them out.  I also found a photo of a classical garden feature in an atmospheric environment.  It was a happy accident to place it in such a way that it looks like the wren is carrying the gazebo on its back!  I think it alludes to the bird being called the 'king of birds' in Europe.  I wrote the story of the Holly King up the side of the picture, and also the folktale about why the wren became the king of birds.

The latin name of the wren is 'troglodytidae' meaning 'earth dweller'.

Hunting the Wren (2)

So this little bird was actually hunted and killed at the Winter solstice in Britain and Europe... why?

Artwork by Michael Kerbow 

It's an old, old myth... the story of the Holly King who rules during the dark half of the year from Midsummer to Midwinter, only to be defeated by the Oak King who rules then from Midwinter through Summer.  In Europe the winters are long and bleak, and for people in the past it was a very hard time. They desperately craved the return of summer and light. The wren symbolized the Holly King and its sacrifice depicted the battle between the two elemental beings.  Also with early Irish tribes there was a tradition of killing their king at the end of his reign, especially if the land had failed in some way. The king was 'married' to the land and inextricably bound to it. It was the ultimate sacrifice.  So on several levels, the killing of the wren was essential for the turning of the wheel of the year.

The Hunting of the Wren occurs on the 26th of December, sometimes called Wren Day, St Stephen's Day or Boxing Day.  In the past, boys, disguised with straw or sticks ('Straw Boys'), would chase a wren until it was exhausted and they could catch it.  They would tie it to a stick and parade through the streets of the village.  This practice is still observed !  The only change is that no wren is killed.  An effigy is made of the bird.

This made me remember many customs that we embrace but forget the original meaning.  We dress it up and make it look pretty, hang it on our lounge room wall and domesticate it.  We adapt old traditions to suit the sensibilities (or religion) of the present day.

So this idea was percolating away in my mind as I did the next few charcoal drawings of my effigy....

I began to think this effigy looked rather like a 'straw boy'.

This is a drawing of just a part of the piece... enlarging it up to spread right across the page.

This last drawing had to incorporate a word... something relevant yet not over-powering.  Of course I knew my word!