Unit 2
After this unit I can make a massive note to myself – you shouldn’t underestimate the opportunity of making anything. That was my big mistake, as I started working on independent practice. I felt really lost when focusing on this term, its meaning feels so broad that I felt the lack of theme or context. I kept sketching and not believing in any ideas I had. Lectures of other artists (reference that I remember – painting tutor lecture) were mentioning that it is very easy to get meaning for artwork, most important is to start working on it. Later, the same idea had been mentioned in our group and individual tutorials, but nothing else helped to realise this as quickly as the end of the unit and the need to represent the project.
Now it seems that I could have made hundred other projects in that time when I wasn’t sure which idea would be the best to start with. I allowed myself to be lost for quite a few weeks. Everything started moving forward when I tried to see it as studying sculpture techniques that need to be learned as a skills to be able to later fulfil some of my previous ideas.
Clay was one material that I’ve been really close with, but never experimented seriously with making an individual artwork. Some of my experiments to make large-scale shapes collapsed, but I succeeded making small bas-reliefs. My first project had the potential of becoming a wall mural, later I had to declare that it isn’t the right time and I don’t have enough knowledge to do it right now. It was hard to let go of a really exciting idea. As we were running out of time I simply had to start making, so I picked one of my previous sketches (unit 1) – a graphic illustration of pinecone and made a tile with the design. As I had an extra piece of Raku clay, I thought that I should probably use it all to finish my artwork and see where it can go in glazing it.
Glazing the tiles was really successful, I had only one hour to do it. I chose two colours that would match the pine tree: green for the trunk and blue for the needles. It had been fired in 1260C and it gave great results after. It overlapped, became yellow, got mixed up creating new shadows and highlighting each other.
I have chosen a wooden pallet as a great recyclable material. In the first place I had to find a surface to exhibit and tiles were meant to be stuck to the wall. Unfortunately, the glue I was about to use is very strong, if it would be stuck to the wall it could only be removed using a hammer. The process was very simple, that day, as I was walking out of ceramics workshop I met Alex and we went outside to paint his chairs. By trash containers I found this pallet and I thought that it might really suit my work. As this happened I was playing around with the composition as it reached the final state.
‘‘The Studio: Documents of Contemporary Art’’ talks how important is studio practice and now I understand different value of some art improvisations that can happen between artists that are simply contemplating or spending their time together. My family are creative profile people. One successful improvisation we had very recently in my house is “Playing with the light”. It follows the same idea – improvise and make. In collaboration we have pushed it to come out as a short movie. It will be represented as a part of my installation, to illustrate my realisations over this term.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKAfYopZqNY&t=2s
Pinecone
It is hard to always explain why we are choosing certain shapes, most likely I have been attracted to the pinecone because my father was planting pine trees in every garden we lived in, one for every child he had. When you look at tall pine tops you think how long ago it’s been planted, it makes you think about the most powerful time flow. In my unconscious mind it could be an elevated symbol of family, care – planting a tree for forest nurture, even a symbol of fertility.
Other meaning of pinecone that I was looking to highlight in my work is its historical and biological context. ‘‘Conifer Pine Trees are one of the most ancient plant genera on the planet, having existed nearly three times longer than all flowering plant species.’’ History related sources mention pine cone in relation to Egyptian, Hindu, Greek, Roman and even Catholic religions with the shape symbolising different spirituality features such as immortality and human enlightenment.
The pineal gland (Latin pinea – name comes from it shape - pinecone) in our brains, it intertwines with the spiritual world where the pine gland gets the most powerful meaning of the biological Third Eye, the “Seat of Soul” or the “Epicenter of Enlightenment”. If you look at it from above it also has a ‘secret geometry pattern’ that is very similar to the Flower of life. It symbolizes creation and reminds us about the unity of everything.
Today’s traditional medicine says Pineal Gland can be responsible for melatonin (sleeping hormone) and that it plays a role in the regulation of female hormone levels, and it may affect fertility and the menstrual cycle. However, more research needs to be done for us to fully understand what is the actual purpose of the pine gland.
Biscuit fire covered in black pigment. RAKU clay.
Charcoal sketch
Unit 1
Group project.
Weaved rubber tapes.
Paraffin wax cast.