Objects, objects, objects

After all our hard work experimenting with forms and surface textures it was time to bring these ideas together. Estela asked us to unpacked our cardboard models from a couple of months ago, and chose the one form that we were most drawn to. We did the same with our recent, and numerous, surface texture experiments. Estela then gave us a limited time to bring the form and surface texture together in one object.

 

 

The texture I was most drawn to was created by scraping the metal surface across the pavement outside my studio space. To make the texture more dynamic I used a figure 8 motion, instead of back and forth. It was a fun playful process to undertake. The result was a creation of a texture and patterning that was almost terrain-like. The yellow paint became reminiscent of land with the deep grey undercoat ocean-like. Once I leaned into this lens of looking at the texture the deep scratches reminded me of traces or routes of journeys.

 

To me, at first glance the steel sheet material and cardboard seemed like a similar making process. With cardboard you can score and fold to get crisp edges, with the steel it took clamps, timber and persuasion to try to achieve facets and folds in the steel. The limited time to create prompted making intuitively and problem solving on the fly. There is no time for second guessing myself.

My creation of form in chosen material was a fairly direct translation. In saying that, in the translation the object did lose the looseness that I managed to achieve in the cardboard. The straight hard edges enhanced the solid heavy nature of the material. I wanted to achieve the opposite.

 

 

 

The next step in the process, after class, was to refine the bringing together of form and material further in 3-5 more models. This allowed me the chance to explore how to reintroduce some of the properties that I was able to achieve in the cardboard. 

There were plenty of avenues to explore from this base model. Some ideas that I played with over the subsequent models were: the texture and colour on the inside or outside of the form; the refinement of the curve of the form; the reintroductions of curved edges to give the object more flow. There were many more that came out of the making process. Like so many of the previous experiments under Estela’s guidance, each object was informed by the one I made before. I was able to follow my thoughts through the series of objects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since my time at Art School, in the Gold and Silversmithing workshop at Australian National University Canberra, I have not dedicated so much time to object making. Usually, through my practice there is a focus on how to make an object wearable or that I want to make a necklace or brooch, etc. 

I have forgotten my love of making small objects. There is a joy to keep making and shaping until there is a part of you that tells you to stop. I also adore the process of photographing objects. With my digital SLR and various lenses, it allows me to take images where you feel like you are almost in the space that the object creates. The process allows me to objectively observe and examine the object, as well as play with its angles.