In this class with Estela we moved back into two dimensions, after we had explored object making in the last few sessions. I thoroughly enjoyed the play between making objects, to then create drawings, and back again. The oscillation between drawing and objects was already a part of my process, but here I had the freedom to do non prescriptive drawings. Normally, I would sketch out what envisioned the finished object to be, and then make it according to those guidelines. With Estela and her process, the drawings we created were more open ended and provided inspiration for an object, rather than exactly what the object outcome would look like.
One of the “painterly” pieces from the last session.
This class was no different. We drew on a particular word that we had to keep in our head whilst making our previous objects. For me, the word was “painterly”. This was not a word that I would usually associate with my greyscale work. The concept was a joy to explore. As a group we came together to discuss our making vocabulary (the different words that inspired each of our works). These words were flipped on their heads and in turn inspired our drawing exercises. The subject of the drawing was one of the objects we had recently made. The words we chose were purposely opening ended and evocative, they were not straightforward to sketch. It was a wonderful challenge.
The object and the sketches, each with a different word to inspire the drawing.
With the guidance from Estela, one drawing was chosen as the inspiration to spend the following two weeks creating objects to bring to the next class. My drawing (bottom left) was linked to the word “explosion”: an act or instance of exploding; a violent expansion or bursting with noise; a violent outburst; a sudden, rapid or great increase. For me, it was an evocative word, imbued with action. I explored three very different kinds of objects, in three very different materials. I chose to use thick paper, timber and plastic rubbish bags. Each of the objects had a very different texture, flexibility and weight. This allowed me to investigate vastly different aspects of the idea of an explosion. Although each achieved different aspects of the concept, they still had the quality of line that was inspired by the original drawing.
Paper explosion object
In this object constructed from paper, I explored the idea of movement. I envision the object being flat and then opening up to create a three dimensional object. To see the movement of the paper object in the object click here.
Timber explosion object.
In this object I wanted to create a static object that seems to expand from a central point. With the inherent nature of the material, the object came out looking more dangerous than I had intended. In saying that, it does keep in line with the idea of an explosion, you don’t want to get too close.
Plastic bag explosion object.
In the last experiment I wanted to challenge myself to create an explosion object with a very soft flexible material. Again, I thought about the idea of expanding from the centre. I drew on my long ago learned skill of creating pom poms in wool. I adapted the process, but used the method here. It was very challenging as the plastic bags are very slippery and do not possess the grip that wool has. When playing with the object I recorded its movement. The object comes alive when it is lifted off the page, to see the movement click here.