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A Louis Vuitton handbag or a Salvador Dali print

Image | | Nhturner

In a fascinating class introducing us to the world of textiles , their uses, manipulation, decoration, and the fine line between a piece of art and a product,my fellow student SUKI presented an exquisite printed and sewn bag as her art piece, a  framed printed fabric as her object , Framed, and  priced. It was the perfect argument for crossing  the lines between craft, art, and the fetishistion of products.

A beautifully designed and constructed LV bag, the logo a major part of the product.
A signed unnumbered lithograph, one of thousands signed by Dali, another example of consumer fetishisation

I produced a pencil case

A product, a winsome hand drawn design, easily reproduced and as.  feature as a shirt pocket which could be reproduced and copied easily and cheaply

We were introduced to and learnt the skill of heated dye transfer.

Using a range of dues we learnt to apply it to thick paper in a painterly way. Using a flat plated iron ( a heat press) we transferred the dye to pieces of white polyester fabric. The results were rapid and deeply satisfying. The entire class took to the process with enthusiasm, ignoring breaks and reluctantly moving on to the next part of the process, dyed paper to be used in a process of blocks of colour or to be used in multiple printing using layers of colour and objects to block the dye

The original paper works with the brighter fabric 
prints. They can be used as a very painterly medium
Using organic material ( weeds) as a stencil and using multiple layers of dye paper I achieved beautiful and satisfying prints.

The day was stimulating, not only in the new skills we learnt, but is a series of interesting and provocative discussions about the blurred lines between art, craft and production, a place where the use of textiles easily finds itself

UP TO MY ELBOWS IN PLASTER OF PARIS, A REAL LESSON IN TRIAL AND ERROR

Image | | Nhturner

Planning a statue, , finished in plaster but with a core of an aluminum armature, a mass of reused polystyrene, cardboards and newspaper.

to find the dimension and placing of the arms I made Atlases globe first. A strong plastic beach ball, about 60 cm in diameter was covered in palster infused bandage, the smae method as an old fashioned hospital cast. Dipped in water and then laid on the ball, I had left it in a plastic mesh net that gave the bandages some adhesion. They dried to rigid within five minutes, but remained wet to the touch for several hours.

i realised I should have paid better attention to the recent Tate exhibition of Rodin’s plasters for his final casts, including Balzac, The thinker, the gates to Hell

rodin’s collection of hands in plaster and terracota.

I had left the exhibition with an interest in how Rodins studi used his dressing gown dipped in plaster to cover Balzacs body, and that several of the burgers of Calais shared the same hands

I Having decided to cover the dried bandages with plaster of Paris to strengthen the ball ( and also make it significantly heavier) I watched this deeply reassuring video from David Stead with some very useful lessons in making a sculpture .

I struggeld with the poaster of paris, I learnt how difficult it is to make it the right mix, too much plaster, too much mixing and the plaster sets very quickly. I learnt after wasting several kilos of plaster

I learnt how to mis and apply plaster carefully, that I will need hundreds of meters of plaster bandages to cover a 120 cm statue, That plaster weighs and I will have to build an armature sturdy enough to suppo

I have to seriously work out the center of gravity for the work. The globe weighs around five kg so I have to really strengthen the ankles and knees and fix the feet very firmly on heavy blocks. I am relived to have the dimensions of the globe as I can now build the armature. I have a choiv=ce to either connect the hands to the arms or the globe. After Davids You Tube I will make the hands from thinner more maliable wire

J.U.M.P….C.U.T.S. + MAN@WORK MONTAGE

Image | | Nhturner

We studied jump cuts, a film editing technique to generally used to narrate or indicate the change in time or appearance. The frame remains unchanged, , without transitions( dissolves, wipes) a series of cut images are edited in a sequence. We considered a variety of examples from British and Hollywood films. we each successfully made a series of six short films. I made a how to make a marmite sandwich

For the rest of the lesson we prepared, story boarded , filmed, edited, and uploaded to YouTube individual films on the theme pf transition. I made a three minute montage of my preparing and printing a drypoint .

“The Change” & a boring montage

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Storyboard for six shot film

In class we studied cinema terms and the variety of use of images, from extreme close ups to wide or establishing shots. We were tasked to storyboard ,film,and edit a six shot film using a variety of shots.

We then discussed montage edits where a series of images indicate the passing of time or a sequence of events. I filmed a dull series of shots in the library and edited a 30 second twelve shot sequence. The boring film was enlivened by an upbeat ska sound track.

The most interesting discovery was how music has a powerful voice influence on the film. Up beat or sad,mysterious or scary. The Blue Ska soundtrack made searching for a library book almost fun

Incompetech.com was a very useful source of royalty free music.

Atlas in plasticine

Image | | Nhturner

following a photo shoot with Darren, a circus performer,I have started to research making a 3D sculpture. Making a coat hanger armature I built up with paper , masking tape, and pastacine I investigated how to work in 3D. I found it very challenging, I found that I essentially worked in 2D and made a model with no ral depth. I failed to allow for hips and the size of the chest. For my next armature I will build a real skeleton with hips and ribs. I am considering making a form with polystyrene to be cut with a hot wire ( subtraction rather than addition) to be covered with paster. I have tried SPF with Gesso, but that is absorbed by the foam.

In the Tate Modern I looked at Anna Boghiguian, a Cairo based artist, and am considering her intersting @D cutouts as an alternative,possibly easier form.

Anna boghiguian. INSTITUTION v the masses ,tate modern

I am also considering how to decorate the globe, the essential idea is a woeful Atlas carrying an injured world, I am not sure how dramitc it could be, broken, dripping with blood, on fire, or like the Faranese Atlas covered with not images fo the heavens, but images of sadness and unhappiness

Farnese atlas, a 2nd century roman copy of earlier greek statue, atlas is holding a DEPICTION of the heavens, as a greek titan he was CONDEMNED to support the heavens, to make it easier he was turned to stone, from the RENAISSANCE the heavens were SUBSTITUTED for the world.

in the orginal photo shoot the rubber globe was too light and in my drawings and sculpture I will have to empasise the muscles using photos of the Farnese Atlas