8. Studio Tours

 I had the good fortune to visit Asylum Studios with my university.

I came across many artists that interested me. See below.

Ania Hobson is an incredibly skilled painter.

She has strong technical skills, and she captures her subjects in paintings full of personality and emotion.

Although, I was not immediately drawn to the subjects of the portraits - I was drawn to the HANDS.

Close up, you can appreciate the simplicity of the way she has painted. She has used simple, geometric shapes in carefully selected colours and places to create the illusion of skin and shadows.

I enjoy the simplicity of the way she has painted this piece, as it allows you to fully appreciate the brushstrokes.

I also feel that the slight geometry poses a great contrast to the softness of the rest of the painting (the colour palette is soft and low contrast, and the subject herself is asleep, which is an innocent and fragile scene, whereas the brush strokes that create the scene are quite harsh and abrupt.).

The same technique is applied below.

 I can appreciate the skill required to successfully capture the anatomy of the hands using such simple shapes and brush strokes.

I also enjoy the contrast between a natural, soft shape, littered with geometric patterns.

(similar to what I love about my leaves.)

I would like to experiment painting in this way of Ania Hobson, perhaps by exaggerating the geometric shapes further to make it appear like the hands are made of crystals entirely.

Perhaps they could be holding something geometric, or maybe something soft to create a surprising contrast.

After this studio tour, we visited another studio where artists made creations out of bronze.

Butley Mills Studios

Image taken from this article:
http://www.suffolkmag.co.uk/out-about/enter-the-new-bronze-age-at-butley-mills-studios-1-4207911

https://www.jennifer-hall.com/


I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to Jennifer Hall, who's work I could relate to straight away.

I was immediately drawn to the bronze leaves that she created, due to my own experimentation with leaves.

The main difference between my work and Hall's is that mine looks strong, but is very delicate.

Jen Hall's work LOOKS very thin and delicate, but it is very strong!

The image above is much like a before and after. The faded yellow stalks are genuine, natural plantation, whereas the dark strands near the brick wall are poppy stems and seed pods that have been cast in bronze and immortalised.

Jen Hall described her process briefly to me.

1. Source materials

2. Place them directly into a moulding substance,
 so that the substance takes the EXACT shape of the plantation
(similarly to alginate, but a form of alginate that can withstand heat)

3. Pour bronze directly into the mould without removing the plantation
The pure heat of the bronze burns away the plantation as it enters the mould,
filling every gap that was once taken up by the plant with bronze instead.

4. Remove the bronze casting from the mould to reveal
an EXACT copy of the plant that was inside it, immortalised in bronze.

 "Feathers" 2005

Full Circle, Daughter Spring-Summer 2013

"Light as a Feather" 2006

"Horse Chestnut" 2005/6

Images sourced directly from Jen Hall's website: https://www.jennifer-hall.com/sculpture1-jenni.html

I am interested in the way that Jen Hall is immortalising such delicate pieces of nature in such an enduring substance.

By casting in bronze, she is transforming delicate, temporary elements of nature into strong and timeless pieces of art. They may be thin and appear fragile, but they are durable and everlasting.

This is similar to what I have been experimenting with.

My leaves and insects are immortal thanks to the borax, but they are not strong and they are COATED in an immortal substance, rather than BECOMING an immortal substance.

I have no way of creating transcriptions of Jen Hall's work, as I do not have access to a bronze forge. 

Although, I do believe that one of my painted leafs resembles one of Hall's bronzeworks.

Even if I did have access to a bronze forge, I do not think I would like to go down that route.

Instead, I found inspiration in this piece of Hall's.

Holding hands with Duncan

2002 Resin

"Holding hands with Duncan is directly influenced by the work of Rachel Whiteread, her interest in capturing the space in or around an object - the memory or shadow."

I looked briefly at Rachel Whiteread's work. Whilst it is interesting, it does not correlate with what I want to do AT ALL.

This piece to me, although it is made out of resin, immediately made me think of crystal quartz.

Image sourced from: https://www.ksccrystals.com/clear-quartz-sphere-11-17540-p.asp

I thought, perhaps, instead of using bronze to cast nature, I could use resin instead.

Resin is the closest substance I will get to crystal or glass.

It is much cheaper, more easily attainable and easier to use, and I imagine it will be very convincing.

It would perfectly knit together inspirations from Jen Hall's work and my own, by immortalising nature in CRYSTAL.

Planning a process:

1. Source materials (in my case I would like to cast a leaf in resin)

2. Pour alginate and submerge leaf into it

3. Remove leaf from dry alginate

4. Pour resin into the mould of the leaf

5. Remove alginate to reveal resin leaf

IDEALLY this would work, but I can think of reasons why it wouldn't.

Cons:

It is Autumn and all of the leaves have begun to rot.

They are thin and weak and may not be strong enough to make a strong impression in alginate.

The alginate is wet, which would make the leaf soggy and liable to break upon removal. If any shards of leaf got stuck in the mould, they would be difficult to remove.

I could avoid these problems by using a thicker, more durable FAKE leaf, but that would defeat the purpose and aim of using natural materials.

BIGGEST CON: It is a long process to produce ONE leaf.

A single resin leaf would not be very impressive alone. Maybe a tree of resin leaves would look amazing, but I do not have the time, funds or interest to pursue that vision.

I am much more interested in insects and crystals.

WHICH LEADS ME TO MY NEXT IDEA

Resin

Insects

Crystals