Studio Practice 2

Hi there
Following my tutorial and a meeting with Lorna at Stirling Uni who is a partner with HR and Developmental Opportunities, I have decided to investigate the following areas of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
Shelter, Safety, Relationships/Relatedness,Mastery and Growth- for Self Actualisation. The final artwork will also depict a period of my own self actualisation
My intention is to create an art piece with a central section representing the central spirit of a human,with the connected felting section wrapped around this, perhaps in an upward spiral shape. I wanted to try and see if layetx was an option for me to work with for parts or all of the central section.
I thought that it would be worth while trying to use the plastic former machine within the college.

image of the machine

I have only used this machine very briefly in my past studies, and I want to text the possible uses for my finals. I asked Trevor on Friday is he would give me a refresher course on the machine operation and safety requirements. This happened. I then tried some branch shapes, to depict growth, and some pattern using dried pasta, to see the results

pasta sample before being put into the machine

underside of plastic once formed by the machine,then branches were removed

top-side of plastic after plastic formed around it, and before the pasta was removed

I was wanting to try this to see if it would be possible to create a mould that I could then pour laytex in to. I could colour the laytex with food dyes or inks, but food dyes would be good for linking to a human need. The laytex was poured in to the moulds once the pasta and branches were removed. The laytex takes a while to dry totally, thus I have left these in the College and I will return to them on Wednesday. The length of time for drying is something that I will have to consider,if I am going to use this as part of my final piece.

I really enjoy  using the machine, and also enjoyed trying to work out, although minimally, at this stage, what items would work. This is due to the fact that if there are too many undercuts on the item I want to plastic form, they won't work. The plastic gets caught under them and then it is difficult to removed the formed item.

I intend to try using the machine to incorporate felted sections of wool, before the laytex dries. I could also use these moulds to create specific shapes when making silk papers. I am trying to work towards sections of my art work which can be displayed with led lighting behind some sections. Due to this, I thought that laytex would be a good medium to try for my first few experimentations.It would also be a good material to use to signify human skin.

My next blog will be reporting the outcome of these experimentations.

Bye for now

London trip & research for Studio Practice 2

Hi there
Had a fantastic trip to London with the College. It was amazing to visit the Tate Modern and especially to visit the V&A.where I was totally blown way with the history of fashion and spent quite a lot of time looking around that section.

The V&A - History of Fashion
some of the sections were very relevant to my contextual essay regarding buttons. their link to social status and their important linkage to clothing design. It was wonderful to see the clothes, and it verified all my research.
Also the draft presentation in class on Friday Feb.7th went very well. I was thrilled with the response to my presentation. It was brilliant to see the variety of research areas we have all been working on for our essays.

My PLP for Studio Practice 2 had been approved and it has now been submitted. I have been starting my research using a book that I ordered on-line.

I am  researching Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory for my Final Project in the lead up to the Exhibition.
I decide to investigate this theory due to my interest in human  behaviours. My intention is to conceptualise the five basic needs. These will be Physiological needs of a human being plus, safety needs, love and belonging needs, self esteem needs and self actualisation. When I have been reading the theory it seems that it would be very easy to extend my research to every detailed element of the needs of humans. I think if I did this, it could very easily become too big and detract from my initial intention of working on the shapes, textures and structures which could depict each basic need. I'm going to  manipulate a variety of materials,  test out various forms of linkage as well as experiment with every day objects. Although Maslow's theory is usually seen as a pyramid shape, this is not the shape that I see it. I would like to represent my final artwork in sections which are linked. This may be in a circular shape, or five pieces on various levels, but they will all be linked by material,threads and perhaps silk threads. The LED lighting that I want to incorporate will also work well with certain techniques and not with others. I want to try and portray the delicate nature of the human journey. I also want to work with wire, as I did within my last experimentation for The Emperor's New Clothes, but on a larger scale. I can't wait to start my experimentation, but I have more research to do first. It will be very interesting for me to see where my developments lead.

bye for now