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.