Initial Ideas: Mini Outcomes

After looking into a range of different artists, I began to expand my work into some larger outcomes. When looking at the work of Chad Wasser (http://chadwasser.com/), I couldn't help but be inspired by his inky work that reminded me of something you would find in a science lab, growing in a petri dish. As a result of this inspiration, I began to work on PVC, drawing onto and painting the surface with acrylic paint to create the organic shapes found in his work, before stitching into them and leaving hanging threads. I constricted myself to working only in a circular piece of PVC, adding to the petri dish feel. I created a number of these for my sketchbook, before going on to create nine as mini outcomes, which I would later mount on the wall, inside actual petri dishes.

As the project developed, I began looking into a number of paper cut artists including Crystal Wagner, Karen Margolis and Mary-Button Durell. While looking into these artists, I was reminded of the work of Anna Sebestova (http://cargocollective.com/annasebestova), which I believed would translate extremely well into the paper-cut technique. This led me to create a huge A1 sized paper-cut of her work, which also incorporated areas with raised layers in a contrasting colour. I really like this outcome, particularly its incorporation of layers, which is something I enjoy working with.

Later on in the project, I decided to revisit the petri dish idea, this time taking inspiration from an artist called Klari Reis (http://www.klarireis.com/). Klari uses petri dishes as her frame, and creates some beautiful pieces of art by adding dyes and pigments to a resin like plastic - epoxy polymer. I created my own work in response to this, in a way that was more suitable for my own resources. I used PVA glue, pouring it into a petri dish before adding inks and powder pigments to it. Once the glue had dried clear after a few days, the pattern the ink/powder pigment had made was revealed. I later extended my ideas by adding hanging threads and beads into the PVA, or drawing onto the petri dishes and dried glue to add to the patterns the pigments had made. Here are some of my favourites.

       

        

Word Count: 375

Initial Artist Research

Anna Sebestova

One of the first artists I looked into was Anna Sebestova (http://cargocollective.com/annasebestova). I was initially intrigued by the simple, yet effective, line work she creates. I decided to focus mostly on her work into mushrooms, and the patterns that she derives from them. I wanted to see how her work would translate into different media, so I explored using techniques such as stitch, ink and monoprint, as well as more traditional media like fine liner. I really like the simplicity of her work and how, when put into a repeating pattern, it begins to look more complex.

 

Melissa Bolger

Melissa Bolger (http://www.melissabolger.com/) was another artist I researched into in the early days of the project, and I really enjoyed responding to her work. I really love the inky quality to her work, and I found myself thoroughly enjoying my time researching it. I worked mainly with ink and fine liner, yet also explored using stitch as well as working on different surfaces such as acetate. I find working with ink particularly enjoyable, as you are given a lot of freedom and the ink does a lot of work on its own as it spreads and drips down the page.

Chad Wasser

A third artist, who inspired me greatly, is Chad Wasser (http://chadwasser.com/). I really like how unique his work is, and how it almost looks scientific. I was eager to respond to his work in a very stitch based way, as I felt the very creative and ‘free’ nature of his work would translate well into stitch. I worked on PVC and used acrylic paint to create the splotchy shapes before stitching into it, leaving hanging threads for an almost decayed effect.

 Word Count: 278

The Brief: Biomorphic Form

When I was first given the project titles that I could chose from, I was immediately intrigued by the Biomorphic Form brief. At first I was unsure of what the project would entail, so I was eager to research into biomorphic artists. Once I had a clear understanding of exactly what biomorphic form was, I was overwhelmed with ideas and inspiration. I was immediately interested in taking my project down a more textiles based route, as I feel that this is where my strongest skills lie, and it opens up a lot of doors to techniques I can use and combine. I could burn and distress different fabrics and work into them with ink, stitch, beading and foiling to create structures and forms which have a life of their own. I could also work onto a variety of different surfaces such as PVC, acetate and calico. I could then combine free, expressive media like ink and watercolour, with more controlled media such as fine liner. I would create very detailed line drawings of interesting patterns such as those found in cells and bacteria, and add expressive ink splashes to give contrast to my work. The use of more expressive media like ink in this project appeals to me greatly, as I find it tends to give very dramatic results that seem to evolve on their own. With just a tilt of the page, the ink works on its own to create art that seems to live and move like the living organisms it is inspired by. The thought of extravagant fashion outcomes also crossed my mind, I thought of huge shoulder and neck pieces with layer upon layer of 3D structures, all inspired by beautiful living forms such as coral.

Word Count: 290