After some health&safety info (and a scary story about a schoolgirl who had her hand in quick-setting plaster and lost 8 fingers as a result), we had two 5-minute presentations about "an artist who influenced us". Charlotte chose
Sidney Nolan, and this was a revelation to me. I knew of the
Ned Kelly paintings, but not the background - or that Nolan painted vast friezes and murals
like this one, The Snake (Peking Mural), 1973, 30 panels in "wax crayon" (encaustic?), each measuring 112 x 81 cm and consisting of six images -
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I talked about
Dorothy Caldwell and how she abstracts the landscape and makes "spaces for contemplation". These images from Robert Shaw's 1997 book,
The Art Quilt, were my introduction to her work -
I brought in "The Lake/The Moon" - and almost forgot to take it out of the bag. Of course people were longing to touch it - so I let them ... the red dots are french knots, and the smooth areas are tactile too -
The work of the morning was to clean out our plaster moulds, coat them with dissolved soap and then with oil, and then cast the cement fondu. To mix it, you add the powder to the water (whereas for mixing plaster it's the other way round) -
.jpg)
The coating needs to be tapped in, to make sure it's right close to the plaster.
.jpg)
The rest is poured in, and scrim can be added for reinforcement. This all has to happen quickly. Then, as cement fondu needs moisture to set, the mould is wrapped in wet newspaper and put in a plastic bag.
.jpg)
Here's mine waiting for its coat of oil -
.jpg)
Wear gloves - and use your hands for mixing it, so as not to have lumps -
.jpg)
In the afternoon we worked on the project for in front of the building. One of the items that was there is this manky hairbrush - yes, that's a representation of a head louse -
.jpg)
We developed our ideas in sketchbooks or on worksheets, and talked about some of them.
.jpg)
My project seems to be evolving to make more of the "doors" rather than the "rooms". It still doesn't feel quite right, but one of the constraints of this project is time, so it would be best to start somewhere and keep going, rather than dither about what to do.
like this one, The Snake (Peking Mural), 1973, 30 panels in "wax crayon" (encaustic?), each measuring 112 x 81 cm and consisting of six images -.jpg)
I talked about Dorothy Caldwell and how she abstracts the landscape and makes "spaces for contemplation". These images from Robert Shaw's 1997 book, The Art Quilt, were my introduction to her work -
I brought in "The Lake/The Moon" - and almost forgot to take it out of the bag. Of course people were longing to touch it - so I let them ... the red dots are french knots, and the smooth areas are tactile too -
The work of the morning was to clean out our plaster moulds, coat them with dissolved soap and then with oil, and then cast the cement fondu. To mix it, you add the powder to the water (whereas for mixing plaster it's the other way round) -.jpg)
The coating needs to be tapped in, to make sure it's right close to the plaster..jpg)
The rest is poured in, and scrim can be added for reinforcement. This all has to happen quickly. Then, as cement fondu needs moisture to set, the mould is wrapped in wet newspaper and put in a plastic bag..jpg)
Here's mine waiting for its coat of oil -.jpg)
Wear gloves - and use your hands for mixing it, so as not to have lumps -.jpg)
In the afternoon we worked on the project for in front of the building. One of the items that was there is this manky hairbrush - yes, that's a representation of a head louse -.jpg)
We developed our ideas in sketchbooks or on worksheets, and talked about some of them..jpg)
My project seems to be evolving to make more of the "doors" rather than the "rooms". It still doesn't feel quite right, but one of the constraints of this project is time, so it would be best to start somewhere and keep going, rather than dither about what to do.
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