Clowning

Bunny...

get in it

Here is my first allinone.

next step...

I am about to start an apprenticeship with Finn Stone in north London so I shall conquer fibreglass and resin.

I want to build a swing and in January I am moving to Berlin...so crossed fingers its all going to happen.

Final show

The final degree show went really well - i thought! the response to my piece was inspiring and the work that was displayed around it worked well and the show as a whole seemed to be well recieved. I dont think that much work will ever go into the putting on of an exhibition again.
The grass and the general form of the sculpture was organic and was emphasised by the light from the window. After the show I hung the form in a tree to see a different context. I am beginning to feel that public sculpture and the uplifting and inspiring potential that public art has is a direction I would like to pursue.

Grass Web

This is the piece that was shown in LS6:09, the Leeds University degree show. The light worked really well and the way it was constructed really helped with the disorganisation of the work. I made it in a heap on the floor - restricting design and an understanding of how it may look when hung to encourage accident and non-design. The grass grew well through the show and to keep it going it was installed in a tree in the park which was removed after only a couple of days.

My new moto of everything experimenting

I keep getting frustrated and stuck. It seems to me to be contradictory to plan and theorise before creating. Creating should come from an instinctual engagement with stuff. Just stuff - anything and everything.

I also think that everything should be tried. All areas should be approached openly and with a positive learning attitude. There is so much to learn and absorb and the only way is to grasp and participate in anything and everything. And so,... I am beginning to engage myself in the art practice of people that are willing and interesting. So I am not limiting and narrowing myself to the formal elements of sculpture...

I am going to expand and take on anything that I am able to put my hands to. In this way I can only develop a greater understanding of things that I dont understand, and stir up the norm with some unexpected experiments. I am not allowed to be scared to try and to have a go will produce a result which shows whether something worked or not.

Costume, biology, chemistry, performance, social interactions...

And embracing new things will hopefully enable me to understand and input new elements into my own practice. Everyone is constantly 'developing a practice' so to define a practice at such an early stage of my career seems crazy.

Grass experiments

I have been experimenting with grass and planted grass seeds in a form similar to previous experiments using stockingnet and weighting the end. Here I have created five weights hanging all connected to make one form. The ends are full of compost and grass seeds. Within two weeks the grass grew.


Inspired by Louise Bourgeois' 'Cells', I want to develop the idea of space. I would like to work on private places that are nothing. No relevance or purpose. Useless spaces that are in existence just to be space. I am working on the idea of these places being natural or having strong elements of growth and plants. Living spaces.

going green

I have recently started to experiment using seeds. So far I have planted grass seeds and cress. I have little experience in gardening so this has opened up an area of the unkown, which I am finding exciting. I like the idea that it will input colour in the forms and allow a natural growth to determine the work. It will be freer and the work will become more like my creations as I will have to nurture and tend to their growth over a long period of time.
It is teaching me about the natural world and the fundamental biology makeup of our physical world. There is the planting, growth and death. There is colour. There is chance and unpredictibility. There is discovery and education. I am not sure what will happen or how it will turn out, but the experimentation with a completely new medium is exciting.

Statement

I want to learn about the world we live in and the physical things that we are surrounded by. Through playing and exploration I am constantly developing an understanding for the mediums I use, and engaging with the world around me on a physical and instinctual level. The materials are from the world, and I want to discover and display their limitations and possibilities. The materials are my only starting point, and working through their processes I make forms that explore these physical properties. Stretching, tension, weight and length are a constant theme that uses the height of the architectural space, hanging from the ceiling, drawing attention to the environment that the viewer and the form share. During the making I am in a reality where my concentration is fully absorbed by materials. The objects take form through an intuitive engagement that almost becomes an extension of myself, or my ‘offspring‘. The obsessive repetition involved in the procedures inevitably forms a strong relationship between myself and the work. They are tactile, concrete forms, and I want them to exist on their own, referencing nothing other than themselves. I see them as individual characters, with their own strengths and weaknesses.

White- hope house gallery, Leeds

Here are a few photos just to give an idea of the exhibition. It was an exhibition of four artists working in very different mediums and with very different interests. The experience was great to work with others at putting on a show, and it seemed to go ahead without much difficulty. It is a great space, but difficult to find, which limited the number of visitors. I found it incredibly useful to see my work installed in a space and to watch how people interacted with the work. There was a lot of touching and squeezing. Overall a valuable event for me.

I want to learn about the world we live in and the physical things that we are surrounded by. Through playing and exploration I am constantly developing an understanding for the mediums I use, and engaging with the world around me on a physical and instinctual level. The materials are from the world, and I want to discover and display their limitations and possibilities. The materials are my only starting point, and working through their processes I make forms that explore these physical properties. Stretching, tension, weight and length are a constant theme that use the height of the architectural space, hanging from the ceiling, drawing attention the environment that the viewer and the form share. During the making I am in a reality where my concentration is fully absorbed by materials. The objects take form through an intuitive engagement that results me seeing them as almost extensions of my Self, or my ‘offspring‘. The obsessive repetition involved in the procedures inevitably forms a strong relationship between me and my work. They are tactile, concrete forms, and I want them to exist on their own, referencing nothing other than themselves. I see them as individual characters, with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Studio Flash Photography

Play

Having discussed our reasons for making art with numerous people, I have decided that play is not simply an action or activity that is carried out simply for enjoyment, pleasure, joy and delight. It is far more complex. The engagement of the emotions and the seriousness with which children undertake playing suggests that there is a necessity in it. We educate ourselves, discover the world around us, create relationships with others, communicate, discuss...

It is the starting point of so much more than simple pleasures. As human beings we have a desire to understand and discover, and playing is the most natural and affective way of carrying out these developments of our minds. The more you know the more you question. Play is the thirst for knowledge from the subconscious.

Goard

The forms and my processes are beginning to tire. I need to have a break and look around and try to refresh myself. I was attempting something random with a slight varient on the basic shape. I would like it to be more bulbous. The two pieces of wire are joined in a continuous length of wire. I think this could be developed on, as I like the two exits.

Mid year - Emma Rushton/Richard Bell 20.01.09

• Need to address how to display and exhibit.
• How are the works installed and what effect does this have on them?
• Think about how they work with the architecture of a space.
• "Truth to materials" is confused. Modroc...etc are traditional sculptural materials, so a truth to them is a difficult one.
• Current work looks messy.
• What the objects do is more interesting. Hanging is playful - imaginative and engaging. Hovering despite the weight.
• Is is important to make something which doesnt ahve a distinguishable material?
• Is it the process or form which is more important?
• Do I want to escape from the meaning of the materiality and association?
• Can interpretation be open?
• How to record the images.

Sand bags

Multiples?

These are canvas strips dipped into plaster and then coated with PVA. I want to see if they work as a group. Either hung from the same string or hung close together as a unit. I like the meathooks but have to question them. I also don't know whether the forms should hang directly from string, whether the string should be built into the internal construction of the form or whether it should be chain. I think chain is too hard and aggressive. But these make me think of pods in waiting. And the hooks give a more object feel to them as they can easily be moved and placed somewhere else. There is an impermanence.

current thoughts

I have been thinking about colour. Looking at my studio, everything feels a bit dead. They all merge together with the pale, fleshy tones. It is not so uplifting. Whether I want my work to be 'uplifting' or not, I dont know. I have the possibility of being given old climbing ropes, which are coloured. Initially I was not interested, but am beginning to think that I cannot afford to be fussy, and why am I so stubbornly ruling out colour?

Painting covers up the surface of the materials used, which seems like hiding something. A sense of shame. It denies the material's qualities and seems a strange thing to do. But dont knock it till you've tried it.

Additionally, I am still digging holes in my mind. Why is art important? It's a question that doesn't lead very far, but I feel that it is a question that you should be able to answer for yourself if you are to spend your life doing it. Otherwise there is no sense. No one wants to live without a reason or meaning. Art provokes thought. It is an escape from reality and is a way of dealing with reality. It's enjoyable and engages other senses than reading and discussing. Prehaps we need art in our culture to give a representation of the imagination and the desire for beauty and enjoyment that so much of our culture denies us. Despite being able to give a few possible justifications, I am consistently running these concepts through my head to convince myself.

But I do love Art and want to spend the rest of my life doing it and being involved in it. And it's that pleasure that doesnt seem like a valid reason for it. Maybe I am wrong. Love for something is a good enough reason as any.

New processes

(Fabric and plaster on rope)

The papier-mache process is slow, painstakingly monotonous. It is simple, non-toxic and cheap. But I feel that for the moment I have got to a point that I need to experiment with other layering methods. Using old scraps of canvas (or any thick fabric that I have got my hands on) and dipping it into plaster, I have followed the papier-mache layering method, yet obtained fully textured and faster results.

I am now working of a multiple of smaller forms using this process. They do not use the height of the space as the branch forms did, however, I do not want to limit myself to the consideration of the space with each piece. I need to maintain an experimental thought process where I do not limit myself with considerations, such as particular processes, the space or a pre-concievied idea of the form.

(Canvas and plaster on wire)

Scenic studio view

branches

A test with a completed "branch" worked well. I dont want them touching the floor, but the length works well with the thickness. As a unit of 3 they may work better. The most recent is the best. It is thick and hovers only a cm above the ground.

I have begun a new method of using material instead of newspaper, and plaster instead of the papier-mache mixture. It is a quicker method that produces more textured results. Pleased so far.