Past work, exhibition and experimentation

2015

A few years a go I got into casting body parts on my FAD course at college, especially how people see themselves. This journey has lead me to my work now, although it has gone more in-depth the past few years, I have learnt why I have a fascination with imperfections and why I want to portray people's most personal body hate.

18 June 2013

FMP Exhibition

The idea be hide this piece was how people see themselves, with a warped perception. All people look into a mirror and if you stand there long enough you start to see things that others don't. This was a take on that, looking at objects through not only glass but water at different angles gives you the warped perception or interpretation on the reality of the object. I wanted to show that things aren't always what they seem.

16/6/13

Getting ready for exhibition 

Throughout the past few weeks I have helped out with the installation of the exhibition and cleaning. I cleaned floors, sides, walls with watered down bleach and other cleaning equipment, such as sponges and cloths. I then went on to paint plinths and sort out my area for the exhibition, after my area was covered I put my previously painted plinths over the taps, so I have a flat surface to work with.

07/11/2012

First attempt at clay and plaster casting

I had a talk with Kim about different ways of getting a mould in different materials and she guested I try putting my hand in clay to make a print and using plaster of Paris for making a cast of it. I had a trial run and I think it turned out OK. So I'm going to experiment with my hand in different positions and see how that goes. I loved making them, so more is definitely on the cards. Hopefully next time they will turn out even better, to do that I'll have to make a more neater barrier against the plaster, maybe out of wood or other materials. 

12/11/2012

Clay and plaster casting

I did a lot of plaster hand art on this day. I pressed my hand in clay to make a mould, then poured plaster of paris into it. I liked the finished product, so decided to leave them as they are. I found it fun but the clay could do with being a bit softer to get a deeper mould, I was very happy with how they turned out. Although I want to get more of my hand in a mould, which you can't really get with clay pressed moulds. I have done some with fists and others with my hand in different positions, I did this casting to experiment with different materials and to help develop my skills.

My work

05/12/2012

First alginate casting

After seeing the alginate way of producing moulds from YouTube channels such as brickintheyard, I thought I'd have a go at it. As I wanted to get a full hand cast and to experiment with new material. I mixed the alginate to equal parts in a jug, it took a minute of stirring to get it to a smooth texture. I then wet my hand and put it into the alginate and water mixture, it took another good few minutes for the alginate to set. After it had set I wiggled my hand out and there stood a perfect mould of my hand, I then poured plaster of Paris into it. When the plaster eventually set, I tried getting it out of the jug but the mould and cast had got stuck in the jug. So Billy the kind technician had to saw the jug apart. Oops! But in the end I got it out, I pealed off the alginate to find that the little finger and thumb had come off. I think next time I'll use a softer jug and not try to bang the mould and cast out.     

19/02/2013

Mass alginate and plaster casting for photographing 

I have been very busy the past few weeks making different positioned hand cast, some turning out not so good but getting better with practise. I have made the plaster thicker and the alginate thinner this seems to be working better for me. I've also cut up my own pots and tubs that I can reuse by taping them up, this makes it easier for the alginate mould to be remove afterwards. I started by mixing the alginate with water to less than equal measure into my tub, placed my hand inside and wait about two minutes or so, then remove after it sets. Then slipped my hand out and poured plaster of Paris into the mould, the time after this is boring as you have to wait for the plaster to set, it usually takes like twenty minutes or more, but I normally start another cast. I did this experimenting because I have done research on it, seen people do similar art and to help me develop for my FMP as I know I want to do some from of hand casts in my final piece. 

My work.

05/03/2013

Alginate face casting

After seeing body sculptors, artists and YouTube videos in my past research, I decided to do a face cast of myself. This was also an experimenting stage for me as I have never had my face cast before, so now I know how it feels being on the other side of the casting process. I believe by experiencing this I will be able to empathize and give personal advise to other people who may sit for me in the future. I felt uncomfortable during some parts of the casting process. I particularly did not like having straws up my nose and not being able to see, but apart from these minor discomforts the finished cast was successful. My tutor and a fellow student smeared alginate all over my face, then let it set, after that they then covered the alginate with mud rock, this strengthens the alginate which makes it easier to pour plaster into it. When the plaster is fully dry you can peel away the alginate and mud rock, which then reveals a cast of your face. I was pleased with this, although the nose could of been better, which next time I'll try to improve on that part.

13/03/2013

Making a mould out of my cast

I have  gone on this week to make a cast mould from my face cast as a practice,  as I haven't made a full plaster mould before because I've been working with alginate. I want to use a variety of mediums to broaden my skills and experiment with different materials. I put my cast of my face that I made the week before on a board, and then put clay around the edge of the cast and covered the cast in vaseline. I had a square box made that was big enough to go around the cast and the right height to keep the wet plaster in shape and not leak everywhere. I then put clay round the edge of the box, just in case the plaster leaked, the clay makes the process more water tight. I went on poured the plaster in and had to wait for it to set, after it had set I had trouble getting it out, but after a few big bangs off someone else it finally came lose and now I have a reusable casting method. Now I have learnt this process and I'm more aware of the effects that I can achieve with it, I definitely think I will be using it in the future for specific areas of  my body cast.

 My work

13/03/2013

I took pictures of my hand casts in water because I was inspired to, after seeing water sculptures by Jason Decaires Taylor and a piece from the spring 2013 Saatchi gallery magazine. I decided to experiment with my hand sculptures in water to see what effects it would give them. Unlike the artist I researched I don't have a big ocean or lake, so had to make do with a tub of water. I had a light box under the tub, so I couldn't fill it to the brim, as I thought the light box wouldn't be able to stand the weight of the water. While taking the photos I changed lighting and flicked the water about to give the water movement, I have also edited these pictures on Photoshop but only colour, tone and contrast.  Photoshop enabled me to experiment with altering the colour levels, enhance image clarity by making the water more visible. I chose to undergo this research as it relates to my final major project, but on a much smaller scale. I plan to submerge a cast of body parts in a transparent water container and these initial experiments allowed me to learn more about how water distorts objects and  physical images. 

My work.

  13/03/13-14/03/13

Experimenting with different materials in my face mould

Some of the material I've been using to make casts of my face in my recently made mould looks similar to the material Magdalena Abakanowicz  would use. I started with mud rock as I have seen others using it before and know how to use it, but I wanted to investigate the effects i could achieve with this material. I used Vaseline on the mould, so the cast did not stick or get stuck in the mould. Then I wet the mud rock and placed the dampened pieces into my original mould to create a reproduction of my face using this material. After it had dried I then pulled out the cast and moved on to the next one. I then decided to add some natural skin coloured paper to the mud rock to see what it would look like. The paper didn't stick as well as I would have liked, so I put a bit of PVA glue in places to help the paper stick. The effect this actually gave  made me look old, as the paper had settled and made wrinkles and lines more defined. I found this effect worrying as this is how I might look in the years to come.

My next step was to try something totally different material wise, so I decided to try hot wax which turned out to be a bad idea. I heated the wax up on a full heat then when it was melted I poured it into the mould of my face. It took really long to dry and I got it stuck for about two hours before someone helped me get it out. I was poking it and cutting the edges off to try and loosen it but nothing seem to work. I found myself  getting so annoyed with this process, I was ready to use a sledge hammer, however, Jamie came along and used some tools from the plaster room and it popped out. After this time consuming and ultimately frustrating experiment with wax,  I don't think it is the best substance for me to cast in a plaster moulds.

I have benefited from my experimentation with a variety of mediums and have learnt things from the processes, this has helped me to decided which materials to use for my FMP. In summary, I developed three mud rock casts one with paper and two without. I discovered that mud rock is easy to apply and gives a good effect, and wax is not.
It was good to find out how other mediums work when using a mould, but I still believe plaster is the best substance for casting body parts so far, well for me anyway.

Coloured tissue paper and mud rock 

           

Hot wax

Just mud rock.

My first casts and reproductions 

14/03/13

Clay pressed mould foot print

That week I also made a mould of my foot, I started with a clay imprint of my foot, I rolled out the clay then pressed my foot into it carefully, trying not to add to much pressure, so that I didn't press to far or rip the clay. I then made a clay wall around the imprint, mixed up some plaster and poured that onto the clay. I ended up with a cast of the bottom of my foot to then go on to making a mould. I soaped up the cast with washing up liquid, then made another clay wall to hold the plaster, that I was going to pour in, when I poured the plaster into it I then had to wait for the plaster to then set. I pulled the cast and mould apart to find a nice mould of my foot to work with, I left that mould for a good few days to dry out before returning to it for reproducing my foot print in different materials. 

19/03/13-21/03/13

Clay cast of face from mould

Last week I was experimenting with different mediums to help me with my FMP, so I decided to try out another material to make a cast out of the face mould, that I made a few week ago. I pressed clay into the cast after beating out air and rolling it, I also used different tools on the clay to make patterns and different markings on the clay. I made one normal clay face and the rest were more patch work of the different squares of patterned clay.  I wanted to try this as I haven't really made anything clay in a while apart from making clay moulds for plaster casts. Everything was pretty simple with the clay unlike the wax in previous, I just waited until the clay was getting a bit dry then wiggled the casts out, they will be fire soon and I will be able to glaze and re-fire them afterwards, if I want to. 

Foot print casting

I returned to my foot print mould this week, I made one clay tile from it because as I was going to do the second one the clay fell through the back of the cast, lesson learnt, make moulds more thicker in future. So I then went on to fix that problem by making a new mould from my cast, that I made the other week. Which didn't go to plan either because I forgot an important part of plaster poured onto a plaster cast, which is soap or Vaseline the cast before pouring more plaster onto it. That day just got worse, now I had to start from scratch again, so I did my foot print into clay again, then made a clay wall and poured plaster into it. I was sat there bored waiting for the plaster to set and doing other things, I thought I'd try and get the two I thought was stuck forever apart. I could feel the mould and cast moving, so I gave it a few bangs and a wedge, they finally came a part whole and nothing wrong with them. I did do a jump for joy at this but I don't think I'll ever forget to soap or vaseline things again. So I've learnt two things to do better next time and I won't have to go through the same problems and have to fix them. 

01/05/13

Experimentation with water, jars and inks

I've had an idea for my FMP, it was to have specimen jars/tanks with hands, heads, feet in them. Kim kindly brought some coffee jars in for me, so I washed them out and peeled off any stickers. So I've used them to experiment with and to see what happens to the cast, if they are left in water for a long time. I first filled them with clear water and took pictures of them with lights, after a while I then put coloured inks in to add more effect. I slowly realised jars wouldn't fit my casts in them because of their openings, so from doing this I have learnt that jars are impractical and I will have to use tanks only for my FMP. 

My work 

2/5/13

After leaving the finger casts in water for a day, I then took more pictures because the coloured inks had started to make a coloured moss on the casts. I decided to leave the fingers in the water for a long time to see what will happen to them, I will update my blog with this in a weeks time.

7/5/13

I went back to my casts in a jar after a week and the coloured moss has gone even thicker, I have still left the casts in the jar and will update again in a week to see what else happens.

9/5/13

Messing with inks and my face casts

I was watching a friend do some water inking on paper and thought my casts of my face would look good with this effect on them, so I tried it on two of my casts they turned out really well but also look like bruised faces, other than that I think they look really good with that design on them. I did this because I wanted to see what would happen to the casts and what effect it would give.

14/5/13

After another week the casts have gone a bit more blue, a teacher said if you put vinegar in the jar the casts might start to break up, this is something I might try next week, if I'm not to busy with my FMP.

14/5/13

Tank, casts and reflections

I did some more experimenting with water and casts on this day, using a fish tank and water. I then photographed them. This does appear really effective, as I've said before I'm not going to use jars because hardly anything fits past the lids of them. So I have now adapted my idea to using three tanks as my final piece because the visual aspect of casts is amazing in the tank, with the reflection of the casts off the water and glass, making it seem like double vision or something. Just walking round the tank makes you see the objects in a different angle or warped. That is what I am looking for, for my final piece, as I wanted it to show how people see themselves in a critical world.

21/05/13

Casting of face for final piece

I have been casting my face in alginate again today, I want to try and cast more of my face, as I want to put them in the tanks I have sourced for my FMP. Kim covered my face in alginate but it dried half way through casting my face, so it hasn't turned out as well as expected. Although it does look like it'll be a good mould for a deformed face, so even though it went wrong, it has turned into my advantage. I shall be casting more faces for the tanks today and will update later.

29/05/2013 onwards
Foot casts in alginate

I decided to use the same method I have been using to do hands for my foot casts, which is alginate. I mixed the alginate as normal with a little extra water to powder into a long enough tub to fit mine and my mums foot in, I had a smaller tub for my niece, as she has tiny feet. I had trouble getting my niece to stay in the alginate until it had set but I did get two foot casts out of her. A week later I then did mine and my mums, I did the same as normal with the plaster and peeled the alginate off after the plaster had set. Although I did everything as normal there were air holes in the plaster casts, I think next time I ever do a foot cast I should bang the air out better.

All the experimentation I have done this year are linked to the artists and inspirations I have researched and looked at, such as  Jason Decaires Taylor, Marc Quinn, specimen Jars, Dr. Hagens, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Adam Beane, Jaume Plensa, Mathilde Roussel and brickintheyard YouTube channel. All these artists or video channels have inspired, helped and develop me along the way to finally making my final piece.




September 2014- May 2015

experimentation 1 

I have asked a few of my fellow art students what their flaws or body hates are, it ranges from torso, noses, index fingers, knees, legs, arm fat, face to finger nails. Each person gave a reason for why they picked that body part, although their reason seemed insignificant to me, to them it meant a lot. I have decided the method for capturing these flaws is casting, using alginate and plaster, as this will make detailed casts of the body parts to be displayed how I wish.

First persons cast.

The body part that Hania hated was her two index fingers, the reason she gave was because they are bent and crooked. I ended up doing two casts of the fingers, as the first one wasn't the depth I wanted, so for the second casting I used a bigger tub. To get the casts of these I mixed the same amount of alginate to water in a tub that would fit Hania's hand and fingers in. When the mix was ready I asked her to wet her hand, then place it in the alginate and wait for the mixture to set. After it was set, Hania movement her hand about to remove it from the set alginate, once removed I mixed the plaster and poured it in to the mould. Then I sat a waited for the plaster to set, which is usually a twenty minute wait, so once it had cooled down, I hack away the alginate. Only to find that with my heavy handedness I had broken the fingers off the base, luckily they were just what I wanted.

Second person

The second person I cast was Kiran, she didn't like her wrist bone because it protruded. Although the cast is really detailed, I'll have to do another cast, as I am not happy with the results because the wrist bone isn't visible. The way I could change that is a different hand position and a longer tub, I cast her hand the same way I did Hania's, with a tub and alginate mould, then plaster for the cast. 

Third person

The third person I chose to cast was Jo, she had issues with her finger nails, The reason that she gave was they are short and she can't grow them because it effects her daily life. I used the same method as above to make a mould but with less quantity, as it was a smaller cast, I also dripped the plaster in so it would just fill each finger. I ended up using the mould twice, as the fingertips came out nicely without destroying the mould.

Four person

The four person was Eoin, he doesn't like his torso because he is slim and not muscular/ripped. I used a different method for doing the mould and he kindly shaved himself for this, so I didn't have to use any vaseline. I had him lie on the floor while I spread thicker alginate over his chest and stomach, then after the alginate was set, I placed mud rock over the top of it to re-enforce the mould. Once the mud rock had set, I removed the mould, to find that the alginate had ripped a little. I was a bit disappointed but there was nothing I could do, next time I'll make sure the model keeps still and the alginate is a bit thicker. I then flicked plaster all over the mould and used mud rock bandages to create the cast, when set I removed it from the mould to produce Eoin's torso in plaster form. 

Experimentation 2

After being told by tutors that I need to experiment more with my idea and go down more avenues, I decided to try take photographs. I have the idea to draw surgical lines or diagrams on my fellow students to highlight the parts they don't like about themselves.

My first tempt at this was Lauren, I don't think it's turned out 100% like I wanted but new things take practise. So with washable pens I drew on her arm lines, arrows and then named what she hated about it. I think this really shows what she dislikes and is clear in the picture, I have also edited the photo's by lighting and adding effects to them.

Experimentation 3

After taking photographs of a fellow student, I have decided I want to try something different while working with photography and collaborating with a level one photographer, who is also doing a similar concept as me, on body image. I want pictures taken of me, with signs or a projector projecting negative words, that I think are associated with me or what others have said in the past.

So, I  have now started this project and experimenting with it, there are things I would like to change and experiment more with, like different environmental settings etc.. But that will all be arranged in time. I have also had a few more ideas on this subject too, like maybe trying positive words as well.

Unedited

Edited

Ideas for framing

I've been thinking about and playing around with framing my photographs lately and which would be the best way to focus in on them. I had a thought of having them in long boxes, so the viewer has to look down it, as if the viewer was already judging by looking down on them. I may also have to put lights and mirrors up so they can be seen, also this will make the pictures more of a focal point. I may even make a Kaleidoscope tube, so it is even more interactive, people can hold it up to the light and see my photograph, I will do this by printing them on acetate. Also I got some magnifying boxes to place smaller images of mine within it, for the viewer to look through. Another thing I was trying was using coloured bug-eye glasses to look at my images.


Magnifying boxes

Bug-eye glasses

Kaleidoscope

Final piece idea

After experimenting this year with photographs and framing, I have decided I want to have a plinth with Kaleidoscopes on for people to interact with, I find this the best and most fun way for displaying my piece and for the viewer to judge and be more hands on in my work. I'll also have a clipboard with a question sheet attached to the plinth, for the viewer to write down their judgements on the piece, Eg... How it made them feel? What they see in the image? Etc...