A New Direction- Paper...

After working on the acetate boxes for weeks, I decided that I wanted to change the direction in which my project was going. To do this, I began by looking back over my learning agreement and starting from there. I decided that I wanted to start using paper again as this is where my project began and where it side tracked off into acetate. Paper is a natural resource and would therefore be beneficial to my theme of ‘nature vs. manmade’. Some amazing pieces have been created from paper and after doing some experimenting with it, paper reacts brilliantly with light, better than acetate does. Paper blocks the light whereas acetate allows light to pass through it, because of this using paper would be more useful for me when working with light and reflections. Artists who have used the similiar aspects of; light, paper cutting and reflections have made some incredible designs.  

Julia Lohmann used laser cut dry pieces of seaweed to create this amazing lampshade. She used Kelp strips and then sewn them together. If the kelp was not in the shape she wanted, Lohmann would re-shape them whilst they were wet to create new and unique forms structures. The structures would then be placed around a rattan; Lohmann believes the rattan to be how the skeleton is to our bodies, the inner structure that holds the form.  Lohmann believes that seaweed could be used as a form of leather and other materials.

Sean Davies designed this lampshade as part of SketchUp; it was then modified for construction in Rhino. Created from six large sheets of strong paper, the pattern was cut out by laser cut and fixed together using fabric fasteners. Tilted ‘Lamp X’, I find this piece effortlessly beautiful, the reflections portrayed in the images are exactly what I am aiming towards creating, they are visually clear and the amazing reflections created add decoration to a room. The decoration aspect is important for me, as I do want my work produced to be visually pleasing.

 

Working with paper is going to be amazing. By just how my sketchbook is presented, I think it is clear that I am precise about particular things and working with paper is going to be one of these times. I like to present and portray precise structures that I have found through research and primary photographs. Sticking with the simple cube net shape, I began by cutting out my simple form of a shell. When working with paper cutting, I like to work small scale because I think it makes apiece look better because it has a lot of linear detail, especially when working from one structure, if I was to work with multiple structures, working larger would be necessary. From my photo’s it is clear to see that paper reflects shadows so much better than acetate.

Now, my experiments are rough samples, to give this sample a professional look and to experiment with scale, I would try-out with using laser cutting as it would save time and give the paper a better finish and professional finish like the examples below.

Installation Design...

As the triangle experiment went well, I decided to create another version of it using a different net shape and a different natural form. I chose to work with a cube net shape to create more layers and the natural form that I selected to work with was a set of leaves, which would demonstrate a clear connection with nature. I created more of these boxes than the triangles so that my composition and scale would be bigger. I projected these without attaching them together because at that moment in time I was not completely sure on what composition I was aiming for. When photographing them and playing around with the composition, I began putting them in order of size. Size in order would clearly demonstrate the order within my theme but as the two photographs below show this composition would not work, it is effortless to a fault. Playing around with composition and scale is definitely something that will become more apparent in my major project.

Once that I had made all of these boxes, I was not completely sure on how I was going to use them. My aim for my outcome is that it would either be an installation or interior based so for this collection, I wanted to turn it into a small-scale installation that would be suspended from the ceiling and that is exactly what I did. Seeing this up, I feel a great deal of accomplishment, I created something that I was finally proud of and it represented my theme of 'Order and Chaos' alongside 'Nature vs. Manmade'. The precision of the boxes represented the 'order' as well as the man-made, as they were created by me, the 'chaos' and 'nature' was represented through the natural forms printed on the boxes as well as the presentation.

On a larger scale I would like it to be presented similar to that of Susie Macmurray's work 'Echo' because her work is something I have always been drawn too. I think this is because most of her work is installation based and this is where my passion lies. Macmurray's work 'Echo' looks stunningly presented, it is a beautiful site-specific composition that is placed in what looks like a church. As it is so stunningly beautiful, I was surprised that her installation was created by using violin bow hair and hairnets, unusual materials. I would like my outcome to be similar to that of Macmurray's, I would achieve this by making my collection a whole lot bigger, Macmurray's installation consisted of 10,000 hairnets, so my collection would be time consuming but would hold the same effect of Macmurray's, this being the fragility and delicateness of the collection.

 

A New Direction...

This week I have taken the advice that I was given in tutorial about making a collection of my net shapes. I decided to limit myself to working with one net shape and one natural form so that the collection did not become too chaotic. I chose to continue using the triangle shape inspired by Laura Binyon’s work, which I had seen at last year’s degree show. Triangles are a simple shape to work with and they do not create too many layers that would blur the digital printed images any further.

My initial concern about the collection was there composition, so I re-looked over primary images that I had taken last summer for some inspiration. This is where I came across my primary images of Yoko Ono’s work at the Tate Gallery in Liverpool. Titled ‘Parts of Light House’, this beautiful cluster of 55 glass tetrahedral prisms inspired my own composition. It was inspiring because it fit perfectly with my theme of ‘Order and Chaos’, this composition in conjunction with the layers of natural form worked chaotically together, with the element of ‘order’ clearly presented in the individual triangles.

 

Working with light is something I have always enjoyed, I think this is because I think light makes my work look better, it highlights my works good qualities but will also show my works faults. In my tutorial it was said that the qualities of the LED electronic lights that I was working with wasn’t bright enough so I thought I would use the projector light to photograph my work on so that I could get brighter and clearer photographs. From looking at my images below and others that I have, the projector was a brilliant idea, the photographs are much brighter and clearer and they portrayed aspects that were not visually clear before now. It clearly portrays a 3-dimensional appearance, which gives my work the classification I was after. It also highlights the layers of natural forms, which are visible through each individual triangle. Using the projector has also defined my linear detailed digital drawings making them visually clearer, they appear bolder and they appear more literal. Whilst photographing my work, I became intrigued by the refection’s that were being projected. Using the projector abled me to view my work as 2-d and from another angle, the bottom. I like that some lines are defined bolder than others are, it adds to the quality of my work being 3-dimensional.

Using the projector gave me a lot more to consider, this sample could work 2-d and the scale could be much larger as the projector could attain that.

I decided to add some colour to my photographs and the projections by using colour jells that I had purchased. I chose to work with the colour green because my theme is looking at nature and the colour green is a clear element of it. I like that colour was brought into it but I think for now, less colour is better. Using one bright colour like the images show was too much, it reminded me off kryptonite, something I was not looking to achieve.

Whilst I was at the projector, I began playing around with changing the composition. Because of the fixing agent that I used to attach the triangles together, they could be moved; I exploited this quality and photographed other possible compositions. I like how the triangles can be stacked upon one another, doing this has made me give some thought into scale. So far, I have been working rather small scale with the odd larger scale model but I envisage these compositions on a large scale. A large scale that would tower over the audience, by doing this my natural forms would become abstract. With the light source being a constant feature on all compositions, different flecks of light appears, creating a rainbow of beautiful slight colour. This amount of colour does not ruin my work; it enhances it by giving it more detail, maybe this is how colour will play a role within my work. 
   

Development...

Some on my 2-d drawings and the work of Laura Binyon from last year's degree show inspired this experiment. Binyon used the same shape in her final piece and her composition and presentation was simple yet interesting to look at, her worked seemed to be installation based like mine but hers was also site-specific.
 

Each pyramid is made out of acetate with different forms printed on them, each representing a different aspect of nature. The acetate holds the pyramid structure well and visually presents the forms printed clearly, however, the acetate does slightly blur the forms reflections but I do not think there is another material out there that would not do the same.

 

Using a stronger light source may improve on this. Some forms work better than others do, the simple shell form is my favourite because the detail is linear, simple, pattern orientated, abstract and visually clear. I have not positioned them in any particular composition as of yet because I think there needs to be more of them.

 

Experiments...

 
Nature is visible almost everywhere. I created this experiment to convey this and present a sample to demonstrate a diversity of nature and its forms. It consists of three different sized acetate boxes placed within one another, demonstrating the idea that we are surrounded by nature. Each box has a different digital printed drawing on them to demonstrate the different elements found in nature. This experiment was small scale but I could imagine this being presented to an extremely large architectural space that allows the audience to move in and out of each box (room/space). I am intrigued that most of my interior aimed experiments have made me think larger in the form of architectural spaces.

This sample was created for experimenting with the material acetate and movement. All of my samples so far have been created with a certain precision in order to convey the 'order' within my theme of 'Order and Chaos'. The shapes created remind me of fish, I digitally printed a drawing I did of shells on the acetate surface, the individual structure of the pattern portrayed the 'order' within my theme as the height, width and colour was consistent, the composition is where I began to play around with the 'chaos' within my theme. At first, I began laying them out in a similar position to that of Claire Brewster's, 'Tropical Birds'. I found this layout to be too ordered so I began being more loose with the composition, by letting them lie where they fell, stacking them sporadically, placing them closer/further apart whilst recording it as I went along. From what was pictured, I could not see where these could fit within art, so I drew from them and what I drew gave me more of a composition idea than the actual pieces themselves did. The 'fish' positioned close together and attached would create an interesting sphere form, inspired by my digital drawing; it implies the aspects of flexibility and movement. From this, I could imagine this experiment leading onto a sphere shaped, interior light shade that would reflect the 'fish' shapes across a room.

I chose to work with paper and acetate in my experimental work because they hold structure incredibly well but as my experimental work progressed acetate became a prominent source for material choice because of its opaqueness but with that came acetate's faults, being that flexibility and movement was limited. This sample was about experimenting with these elements. I do like working precise but with movement and flexibility, the outcomes are not restricted. I find that flexibility and movement is not essential when creating my pieces but that it becomes an issue when considering composition, giving my pieces flexibility and movement limits the chance of breakages as it is made with change in mind. I chose to work with circles to add variety within my experimental work, I placed each circle slightly on top of each other to represent chaos from my theme, the repeated patterns printed on them, placed any way added to this also. As much as I like the option of movement in my pieces, I think it would limit my outcomes to 2-d and it is 3-d that I want my work to aim towards.

        

New Visual Research...

 

I decided to look at fruit for more primary imagery; some are naturally grown on trees making it appropriate to research. Each fruit has a unique structure within them, strawberries and kiwis have better structure within them to work with, as there is more detail. I began simply block printing with the fruit to create visually appealing patterns. In some of them, the pigments from the fruit ran into the ink adding slight colour detail, which was lovely and unexpected. It made me consider using delicate colouring in my work but I felt like I was not ready to use explore with colour. From the block prints, I digitally drew from them capturing the detail that I perceived and thought would make interesting abstract forms, the kiwi produced some linear constructions. I played around with the compositions of the prints and applied them to acetate.

 

Artists who have used fruit in their work before have mainly been painters who work 2-d; I want my work with fruit to be 3-d because that is what I want my outcome to be.

I began by forming 3-d net shapes again, as they worked so well before, this time I used the acetate sheets of fruit forms. I continued to use acetate because it allows the viewers to look through the net structures and using acetate reflects beautiful shadows. The fruit patterns formed the ‘chaos’ within my theme of ‘order and chaos’ with the precise net boxes forming the ‘order’. I made a number of these boxes that varied in shapes, sizes and patterns. I like that the patterns reflected are abstract and do not literally convey fruit, it adds a decorative look, which would be beneficial for me when working towards interiors. I find this beneficial because I want my work to be visually appealing and my fruit forms being more abstract than literal provides this.

Being that these experiments portray shadows, I think creating a collection of these would work brilliantly as an installation, especially if light was involved. However, realistically, multiples of these attached together would form a nice light shade that would be suitable for interiors. Doing this would create a lampshade that projects my natural patterns around a room, similar to that of Thyra Hilden and Pio Diaz but maybe not as visually clear.       

Acetate 3-d forms...

I created these net boxes of individually shaped hexagons to look into making my previous experiments more 3-dimensional. As I have said before, I do like working to particular measurements and instructions because when followed properly, the results should look perfectly complete with a professional finish. However, when it comes to making 3-d shaped boxes using nets, my results have never been perfect and I find this frustrating. Using hexagon nets found on the internet, I created two different height sized 3-d hexagon boxes. The larger black hexagon box has a better finish that the white smaller one, maybe because of colour? Now I have found a way of turning this structured shape of honeycomb more 3-d, I want to experiment with them, focusing on the elements of materials, colour, pattern and size.

 

 

After using acetate for the beehive experiment previously and the material holding its structure and working so well, I thought I would use acetate to make some net hexagon boxes as I know it reflects shadows beautifully and reasonably clear. Instead of using the same honeycomb pattern as the printed pattern on the acetate beforehand, I decided to go back to my previous digital drawings of natural forms and use them instead for variety in pattern and forms. For my first hexagon net, I used a more detailed linear drawing of a beehive that did not have a precise mathematical layout. I am impressed with the results, more so because the material holds the hexagon structure so well. I like using acetate because it allows me to look through what is produced, it also when combined with light creates/reflects larger but more faded shadows of the natural patterns drawn.

 

Looking into spider webs is fascinating; they create amazing shapes and show incredible design and structure. Spider webs are viewed to be considerably small with a lot of time and effort put into creating the habitat. Before I viewed spider webs creepy and as a sign of spiders and dirt but looking at these drawings. I think the spider web shape would be interesting to work from, I can vision large suspended spider webs from the ceiling in paper, paper spider webs creeping through corners and maybe even using vanishing film with threads on a sewing machine would be interesting.

For this hexagon shaped net box, I digitally printed my spider web drawings onto acetate. In some area’s the shadows are just clumps of darkened shading because the print onto acetate was too dark which is disappointing. Doing this has made me realise that the smaller linear patterns drew create/reflect better shadowing. In this case, less is more.

Acetate Honeycomb Structures...

 

As I was impressed with the paper beehive experiments, I wanted to play a little bit further with pattern and material choices whilst maintaining the same honeycomb structure. Because I would like my final design proposals/ideas to contain an element of light, shadows seem appropriate to begin looking at also and at the minute I like focusing and playing around with the idea of shadows and patterns and how they are reflected across a room. As a starting point, I began focusing on using acetate because it allows light to pass through it. I started by digitally printing onto acetate, using patterns that I have already found and looked at from nature. Starting with the honeycomb shape because it has proven well to work with before, I began cutting, slicing, making indents and folding to produce these. I like working with the honeycomb form because for it to form right, order and particular sizes, cuts and measurements are needed. I like working precise to produce something specific and perfect. This brings order in my work and chaos if it does not work properly.

Paper Honeycomb Structure...

 

I have always found turning flat drawings or prints into 3-dimensional objects challenging, so I decided to take the simple shape of a honeycomb, found in a natural occurring beehive and turn it 3-dimensional using paper. I chose to use paper clips as the joining agent because I thought they would be a simple way of connecting multiples and it is unusual. I began by folding a line of 6, 3cm by 3cm squares but leaving a lip at the end to connect each side. I began repeating this process. I like the shape but using paper at this thickness and size did not hold as well as I had expected, for the shape to hold better next time, I would either change material or make the honeycomb shape smaller or bigger.

As the first experiment of using paper and paperclips was successful up until the shape not completely holding its structure, I decided to go back to re-creating the shape but making sure the height was smaller in hope of it holding the structure off a beehive more successfully. This time the measurements were 2cm by 3cm, with the width remaining the same. I used smaller gold paperclips because it was all I had available to join the multiples together but the shape still was not holding as well as I want. I want to continue playing around with the beehive structure as it is a natural form that has a lot of room for manipulation and it is something I found interesting and re-occurring in my research.

I wanted to photograph the beehive running up a wall because beehives are normally found growing on found objects or hanging so, I decided to work with found on found objects. Maybe it would be a good idea to take smaller samples out and photograph them on natural and man-made found objects? Now the honeycomb shape remains structured and pure but I would like to play around with this shape alongside other natural occurring forms to manipulate this structure, maybe making it more distorted.

 

As my previous honeycomb structures have not held as well as I had hoped due to the sizes, I went on to create this sample created from heavy duty cartridge card, but the size has been decreased by a third of the other experiments. This sample took a lot more time because it is so small and therefore awkward to work with. The results however, were a lot more promising than the others were, mainly because the structure held and no paperclips were used as the joining agent, instead I used double sided sticky tape so that the finish was perfect and presentable with no mess.

 

I like working with this structure because it clearly shows order, order that comes from a natural source, this being the bees who created this honeycomb beehive. This structure running up a wall with lighting would be an incredibly unique piece inspired by nature’s order but manufactured. Not only is the structure 3-d and has slight flexibility, it also creates and presents beautiful shadows, as seen in the photograph on the left hand side. I wanted to begin my experimenting with paper as it is a natural resource but if this was to be manufactured the material choice would definitely need reconsidering to make the finished piece lasting for a lengthy amount of time.

Gathering Visual Research informed from Natural Forms...

Looking through old photographs of my holiday for inspiration, I came across these photographs that I had took of a sea turtle in an Aquarium and noticed how detailed their skin and shell are. The shapes found on the turtle’s skin and shell reminds me of shattered glass, it creates unique shapes for every crack. As the shell is like a shield, if I was to experiment with this shape and structure, I would like to work with a hardened material or the strongest paper card that I can find to represent the shell being protected and to protect. Some turtle shells can survive fossilisation showing how strong their shells are. Turtle shells are also sometimes used for identification in classifying different species. In nature lies beautiful design, ordered creation, all created for a specific purpose, I want my work to represent ordered design and structure in Nature and Manmade.

Seashells are a hard protective layer that once belonged to an animal that lives in the sea. Empty seashells are ordinarily found washed up on beaches, the shells are normally empty because the animal living inside either has died and has been eaten or has rotted away. The term seashell usually refers to the exoskeleton left behind from animals without vertebrate. Seashells vary in sizes, shape, structure and colour, which make them an interesting natural ordered form to look at.

 

 

Beehives are naturally occurring structures, consisting of a densely packed cluster of hexagonal cells that is made entirely from beeswax, called a honeycomb. The cells are used to store food such as honey and pollen. In addition, more importantly the honeycomb is used to house the offspring. The word store brings many ideas to mind, especially when working with this hexagon shape.

Drawing leaves digitally...

Typical leaves are long and thin, externally they are commonly arranged so that each leaf is exposed to light as much as possible with little shading from other leaves, circumstances such as wind and heavy rain conditions can prevent this from happening. Some plants do naturally adapt to such conditions. Leaves no matter the shape or size hold design; the internal of leaves are designed in favour of the leaves survival. Words to bear in mind: internal/external, exposure to light and adaption.    

I began digitally drawing from primary photographs of leaves, looking to capture shape, pattern, texture and more importantly 3-dimensions. Digitally drawing is essentially flat but from looking at the drawings of leaves in both black/white and colour, I have captured more than just a leaf, it becomes experimental, I feel like it can become something other than just a flat leaf.

I printed some of the drawings onto acetate; it allows me to physically shape, mould, bend, fold, cut, crease and anything else. At this stage I did not want to jump into shaping 3-d models, I wanted to cut and play around with the composition to distort the leaf image so my work does not remain literal.

 

These are my results; I am intrigued by the honeycomb shaped design as the shape can be found in a beehive, a natural habitat. I am pleased with how the natural forms are influencing not only my drawings but experimental structures.  For now, I think I am best off researching into natural forms a little more before narrowing myself down.         

      

Nature- leaves linear structure

As I am looking into nature vs. manmade, I began exploring nature. Nature holds many elements that could be helpful to study such as design, fractures, linear structures, overgrowth/growth and the obvious floral patterns. I started by doing some small-scale drawings that capture the detail found in natural matters. I wanted to look at natural forms that hold pattern, shapes and are 3-d so I have been focusing on plants, leaves and flowers.  

I created these rough prints to demonstrate the linear design structure within the shape of a leaf. The linear structures within the leaf remind me of veins in a body and the shapes found on butterfly wings, all this is evidence of natural order.  

This sample was influenced by the linear structures found in leaves; I did simplify the structure, as I was not sure whether the paper would hold the shape properly. It consists of 4 individual leaves, cut and made using thick heavy cartridge paper to hold its construction. I am struggling with turning dimensional work into 3-dimensional pieces I find it difficult. If I had not bent and angled the leaves, they would have remained dimensional. I created these leaves to capture the linear structure of a leaf but as a collection, I do not think it does, individually it clearly portrays leaves but gathered the leaves become confusing and distorted. Am I being too literal?

 

I photographed these images on a white background as well as on the window at different times of the day. I wanted to capture light coming through the leaf structure.       

Yasuaki Onishi; 'Vertical Emptiness', a Crystallized Forest...

Yasuaki Onishi; ‘Vertical Emptiness’ Crystallized Forest

I was stunned to see these images I find it innocently beautiful. It reminds me of a place a child would dream off, something fairy-tale. It is beautifully portrayed and it was all made from hundreds of hanging layers of hot melted glue that hung from upside down tree branches, it was then coated in urea. This clearly demonstrates the mix of nature and man-made but in this case the man-made interference improves on nature. This crystallized forest has a clear connection with the environment. There are also scattered leaves and snowflakes dotted about chaotically. I find it amazing how something so large, unique and fragile was created by simply draping hot glue over upside down branches. I would love to go and see this. Just to see whether it feels like a fairy-tale to walk next to it or through it.