Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith is an artist and sculptor from New Jersey. I have included her in my blog for no other reason than I really liked her work after taking a book from the library. She is said to be a feminist artist which is quite obvious when you look at her works. Smith has a whole collection based on the battery of women and the way in which male artists portray the female form.
Although not massively interested in print I really enjoyed looking at them and try to work out the symbolism they may or may not have contained!

Rowan Mersch

Rowan Mersh is a textile based sculptor whom I came across online whilst researching sculpture and fashion. The artist explores form and fuses concepts with techniques to create sculptorally formed fashion pieces. I really respect the work as the artist uses many simple materials to create spectacular pieces from paper and cardboard and also wire and materials.
I am planning on constructing some human sized cocoon structures over the christmas break which will inform my investigation even further and also allow me to up my scale.
My main area of interest is fashion so working with the body is very important.

Zoe Bradley Fashion and Sculpture

Zoe Bradley is an Artist and sculptor who works mainly in the Fashion Industry.

She presents her sculptures in many up-market stores like Brown Thomas and Selfridges.

I really like her work as she is interested in shape and form and has also found ways of cocooning the body in sculptural structures.

Eva Hesse

Eva Hesse is a really great artist to look at when considering use of materials and certain techniques used. I came across her during a Friday morning tutorial and have found her work very interesting and insightful to my project as she uses a lot of threads and rope which I enjoy working with and have incorporated into my work.


I like the sense of fragility in this piece and also the use of organic colouring and unbleached materials.

This is a very interesting piece as it links quite closely to the fact that I am looking at the spaces that inhabit certain object and space itself. The nets are fragile again and I like the way the nets are containing something like they are needed. The weight in the nets gives an interesting visual pull.

Wax and photopaper cocoon

This is what I was working on yesterday and also today. It is another 3D cocoon made from photopaper, wax paper wrapped around a wire structure which is then covered in different coloured wax!
I have it hanging from my studio space but I'm not sure if this is a permanent space for it.
This is one of my first larger scale 3D pieces of work as I was encouraged by my tutors to up the scale both 2D and also 3D. I still havn't really been working in larger scale with my 2D work as I'm used to working in little notebooks and having everything quite compacted.
Here are some photographs from today.

Alice Maher

Alice Maher is an artist from Co. Tipperary who's works are mainly centered around gender issues and roles, however the reason I have researched this artist is to look at different materials that I can possibly incorporate into my work!
Maher likes to use natural and organic materials in her pieces like moss ,insects , threads and also hair which is quite an interesting material to use


Bee dress

Larger scale textile and wire cocoons

I have decided to change my scale of work and make things a little bit larger.
I constructed these cocoons today as part of a project in which I want to place cocoons made from various materials mainly threads around the college building and in the first year area.
This links in with my theme of hidden space and beacause I was looking and cocoons and their overall appearance and place I thought it would be a good idea to move away from the studio environment and install them in various places ... each one different to the other.
At the moment I have three or four hanging in my studio space in front of the window and then I have two other cocoons around the building by the first year door and then on the stairwell down to the materials store.

 

 

 

Ceramics preparation

I'm taking a ceramics class tomorrow . I want to try and design a piece which co-insides with my project at the moment.
I've been drawing and painting sea creatures and sea cucumbers which are really interesting so i'd like to possibly create one of them of some sort of cocoon structure but thats why I said sea cucumbers beacuse they are shaped like little cocoons but they have loads of different textures to them.


'Kristin Braun' ceramics

'Jane Street' Sea ceramics

Inside the creature

I don't want to leave my previous ideas of cocooning and hidden spaces behing me beacuse it would be quite foolish!
I'm on a rollercoaster of ideas but they all come from each other I just need to join them together!
The sea and it's hidden alcoves and creatures is just a fresh source but obviously I will link it to looking at the hidden spaces in the college like the basement which also contains alcoves and cave like spaces.
The image of the opened cocoon just gave me anothe perspective of a different angle within the structure instead of looking at things head on...take them apart and try and look at them differently.

Frances Lambe

I did some research in the ceramisist and sculptor Frances Lambe.
I found her ceramic pieces to be very interesting and thought provoking.
Lambe often works with marine objects and creatures which kind of ties in with what i'm looking at at the moment.
The pieces are often done in white plaster or clay that is not glazed!
I printed off some images for my contextual notebook that I found .
I like the way the pieces and objects have an almost un-finished or un-polished look about them , they look and resemble very organic forms from the seabed , like sea erchins and spikey marine creatures.
I am quite interested in looking at the hidden parts of the sea and what they may contain?
Afterall only 30% of our oceans and marine creatures have been un-earthed and investigated , which leaves such a large area to discover.

Hyperbolic crochet coral reef

I have found something solid to work with.
I found some marine books in the library which contained so many beautiful photographs of the underwater world!
The sea is a massive open space , however about scientists conclude that only 30% of our oceans have been discovered!
There is a massive proportion still left to find!
A couple of years ago I went to see 'The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef' in my hometown of Dublin.
It was held in the science gallery.
This textiles exhibit is not only a reflection of textiles in art but it is also a plan of scientific and marine awareness. The reef was constructed by Margaret Wertheim and her sister.
Wertheim is a science writer and is from America.
The reef is constructed using tons of different types of wools , recycled plastics , cans ,twines ,buttons , you name it!!







The reef is all completely handmade by groups of women which Wertheim wanted to include in the project. The reef took six years in total to create.

Takahiro Kimura

Kimura is an animation expert and an illustrator , He was born in Japan in 1965.
Kimura uses collage largely in his works.
In 1999 he started a project in which he planned to construct and draw 1000 human faces depicting various emotions and personalities.

Though I am quite interested in various aspects and contradictions which people have inside, I attempt not to think about them in the stage of creation. I’d rather devote my attention to force of line and exquisite balance of form, mass, composition and color so that sense of existence of my works, which are inclusive of said factors, can stand out.

If I hold up the emotion of human being, which is so complicated and elusive, as theme of my work, the work will be unable to catch up with the emotion and the work will be undistinguished. Therefore, in a state of selfless, I command not feeling but solely my aesthetic sense and attempt to create my work.'

'TAKEN FROM TAKAHIRO KIMURA WEBSITE'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.faceful.jp/2618/about

Ignacio Canales Aracil

Ignacio Canales Aracil has created a collection of sculptures made from dried out flowers and shaped into protective like forms that you could go inside.
The collection is called 'Fragility in Time'.
I found the sculptures to reflect the changing natures of humans.
“The roughness of the process which requires lots of physical effort contrast with the delicacy and fragility of the finished sculpture” says Ignacio.

Animals that go into themselves!! we're all animals at the end of the day!

I started to look at a broader scale of introverted behaviours ...snails are a common animal/insect or whatever they are scientifically called? slimy little things anyway!
Snails retract and go inside their shells when they want to sleep , get some warmth and more importantly protect themselves against possible threat!!
The shell on there backs are a safe haven , a place they can curl up into and hide from the world!
Humans also have defence and protection mechanisms.... the term 'going into their shell' or 'gone into themselves' is a common methaphor for somebody who may be threatened or under some sort of stress!!
we can do this metaphorically or with clothing or both?
This observation again links me to my project so far as I am now on the track to looking at changes in behaviour due to everyday issues...positive or negative.

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is an artist , photographer and film maker.
Her work may be described as feminist as she depicts herself in most of her photographs dressed up in various outfits all depicting different moods and objectives.
I have chosen to put her up on my blog as a source of inspiration because her personality changes so much in each photgraph and the so  does her dress!

Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayhan December 2008

I came across Hussein Chalayans designs in 'Fashion now' by Taschen!
My project is taking yet another leap in a different direction as I focus my attention away from the issues of the world like religion and its cocooning effects towards a more personal area in my life and one which I am more familiar with!! Identity and perception!!
As a young woman who has just entered third level education I am no stranger to the crazy changes of my peers.
New settings demand new personality changes I believe!
I think it may be naive not to discuss the fact that all of us alter our personalitys in new situations.
Fitting in is something we all crave sometime in life and maybe more times than we think!
Some people go into their inner selves and become shy , others are boisterous and want to impress!
I thought this image was a good reflection on how personalitys change and perceptions are formed!
We move away from the norm and try to become appealing , interesting people...whether we actually are is a different story!

Mike Nelson

I was looking at an installation on youtube by an artist called Mike Nelson. The installation is called 'The Coral Reef'.The installation was held in the 'Tate' in London!
When you enter it's a maze of dirty cab offices , junkie hide outs sleezy dodgy motel rooms and references to terrorist hideouts and torture cells. It is certainly an umcomfortable place to be and to make things a hell of alot worse you are led to deep into the filth and corruption that you cannot find your way out.....trapped some might say!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUsaSnyvZnA&noredirect=1

Evelynn Glynn

I found this artist who is a former student of LSAD. Her website is called 'Breaking the Rule of Silence' It's an extremely interesting website which deals with a history of LSAD as ' The Good Shepherd laundry' there are also stories from women who were penitents in the asylum many years ago.
I took this ladies thesis out of the library last week and read it , it's called 'Left holding the baby'
I'll leave a link to her website in this post!
http://www.magdalenelaundrylimerick.com/biography.html

Exploration Images

Second floor in the church building......an old bath covers the old infirmary door which is now all bricked up

Empty space at top of stairwell

LSAD explorations

In the coming days I will be exploring the hidden spaces within the college. I have noticed there's a door on the second floor in the church building that is boarded up with bricks! I found out that it used to be the old nuns infirmary. The sick nuns would reside there and then they were taken to the church across the landing into a small room to watch mass! I've also noticed some boarded up old windows in the same area on the first floor of the church building! The attics also are un-used spaces so i'll try my best to access them however I belive they are out of bounds at the moment due to health and safety!

3D experimentation

I just thought I'd upload some of the 3D experimentation work that i've messed around with last week!! Still on the theme of trapping the human form and wrapping objects with different materials just to try things out....these are not finished pieces !!

Clay body and twine wrapped around....it's supposed to be suffocating and uncomfortable

wire and fabric wrapping

Cheryl L Parry

I found this artist Cheryl L Parry whilst researching the magdalene laundries in Ireland!!


This installation is an exhibit of pieces of furniture and other items found in Magdalene Laundries!! I find it quite interesting as the space becomes filled with items from the past...looking at the photo there seems to be an air of regiment and order!!

Exploring the space around me!

I've decided to look into the background of LSAD and it's purpose before it became and art college.
I knew myself that at one point it was a magdalene laundry and housed Limericks outcasted women.
I took some pictures of the church building and some features that reminded me of entrapment .


This is an eary looking building! It was called 'The good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry'

I'ts hard to believe that so many fallen women ended up in this same building in which I study now.
The resemblance is definetly still prevalent as this part of the building is still intact.
I thought of looking into the buildings roots as the women were literally trapped in these places unable to leave sometimes even dieing here.


Some of the nuns that were part of 'The good shepherd laundry'

I found a very interesting link which tells the story of the building http://magdalenelaundrylimerick.com/about.html

This definetly wont be the end of my search to uncover some hidden truths about this place in which i will be spending four years of my life in!
I think it's important to know the history of spaces which we spend large parts of our lives in.

Exploring 3D

This week I began to explore some 3D ideas to bring into my project.
Confinement is still key in my explorations and I wanted to try out different ways of confining the human form. The reason for this is that I was looking at entrapment in really uncomfortable spaces.I researched Gregor Schneider as an example.



Schneider creates uncomfortable rooms and people in bizare positions and coverings.
This photograph is part of a compilation of work by Schneider in which he enlisted people to die infront of others as part of his exhibition.....it's safe to say all of the people were terminally ill ,however I found this an extremely interesting piece of work!!!
“I want to display a person dying naturally in the piece or somebody who has just died,” he told The Art Newspaper. “My aim is to show the beauty of death.”

Some 3D paper weaving I was experimenting with!! It's supposed to resemble a wrapped body at the end.

It's not the best finished piece of paper weaving you've ever see but it was just experimentation!!

I will be trying this method out again for sure.

Thanks to Elaine for showing me this technique today in the 3D workshop.