Monday 24th of September
Artist's block. Found my studio space very stressful this morning. I spent ages messing/experimenting with different materials. We had a drawing seminar first thing this morning. After the seminar I decided I wanted to draw on zinc sheets with actual clay from the field at home that I'd brought in. This proved to be a disaster. I had clay, paint, glue, sand and acetate on the zinc plate and it all looked ridiculous.
I went back to look at the contextual artist's that I'd been interested in. I looked at Andy Goldsworthy and all of his sculptures-made of natural materials-ice, stone, wood and how they interacted with and became part of their environment.
I also looked at the work of some of the artists that inspire him and found some similar ideas- Richard Long has made sculptures as part of the landscape using materials from the landscape.
Conceptual Development
I'm tired of being in the hot, stuffy studio today so I'm going to go home and try make some sculptures interacting with the environment. I'm going to go home to the river and make some sculptures in the river beds using the stones that are there. We used to do that every Sumer when we were young. We were always playing in the river.
I might try and print off some of the mas of Turraheen Bridge and incorporate them into the river sculptures.
Sept 25th
My Sense of Space
So I came home and went straight out to the river. On my
drive home I stopped and took photos of all the road signs. I’m always
travelling, from home in Tipperary, to college in Limerick to work in Salthill,
Galway. I’m moving away slightly from the concept of recording the tactile way
that I experience my world. I’m still working with the same materials-clay,
sand, gravel and stone.
After looking at Andy Goldsworthy’s and Richard Long’s
sculpture work with sustainable materials in an environmentally friendly way,
I came home and went out to the Multeen River beside our
house. I started making sculptures based on the road signs out of the stones in
the river bed.
I found this experience so refreshing. It felt amazing to be
outside making art using natural materials in an environment I’m completely
comfortable with. I spent a few hours making various road signs with the
stones. I was also interested in how the environment interacted with the
sculptures. The cows came down to the river for a drink and destroyed 2
roundabou’s Id made so I had to start again.
I had a tutorial with Patricia this morning. As a designer
she said she was looking for the value in the work that I’d created at the
riverbed. Where was the connection between making these stone sculptures in the
riverbed and the brief.
I explained that I’m always raveling from Tipperary to Limerick
to Galway. The road signs symbolize the travelling, the journey every week, all
the bends, turns, twists, hills, roundabouts. The materials symbolize my
engagement with my space , my environment.
Patricia suggested looking at the actual road signs and
making some work based on the roadsigns. I’ve asked my neighbour to get me some
old road signs. I’ll work into them.
Road Signs on my Journey Home Mon Sept 24th 2012
River Sculptures- Tues 25th of Sept 2012
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| The Multeen River, Turraheen Bridge |
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| spheres of soil interacting with their environment |
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| spheres of soil interacting with their environment |
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| road sign in the river |
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| road sign in the river |
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| road sign in the river |
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| road sign in the river |
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| road sign in the river |
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| road sign in the river |
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| road sign in the river |
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| spheres of soil in the river. I wanted to see how the art piece interacted with nature. Eventually they'll wear back down into the water. |
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| road signs in the river |
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| My spectator Skip! |
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| road sign sculpture in the river |
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| road sign sculpture in the river |
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| road sign sculpture in the river |
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| road sign sculpture in the river |
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| The bridge where neigbbours drove by gawking down at the freak picking stones in the river! |
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| road sign that I made in the grass by walking the shape into the grass |
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| road sign that I made in the grass by walking the shape into the grass |
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| road sign that I made in the grass by walking the shape into the grass |
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| The locals checking out my river sculpture |
Contextual
Annie Turner: Ceramic bowls created around the concept of the river bed.
