Getting ready for assessment setup.....

After numerous amounts of wrapping, I have carried out various tests preparing to install this work for assessment, some of which are below:

 130mm x 130mm       Wool

370mm x 260mm       Wool

 1340mm x 1060mm      Wood and Wool

 1260mm x 1540mm     Wood and Wood

 1260mm x 1430mm      Wood and Wool

I have not yet made a final decision on the presentation of these pieces.  I will re-try Thursday morning prior to assessment, looking again at various placement options and whether more or less in the space will be beneficial.

Objectduress - Drawing Exhibition (9 August)

I was fortunate to be in a group Drawing show from 9 - 11 August at St Paul Street Gallery 3, which was across both our Materiality and Installation groups.  There were 11 of us in the show and thankfully it all came together on the night!  The images above are of my work, which predominately were site-specific.  All, except one of these works were new and made in the gallery.  

For the larger of the works I wrapped a large part of the gallery railing in wool.  There is a change in inclination along the length of the railing which goes unnoticed and I wanted to emphasise the form found within, where the two parts of the railing meet. This became a performative work within itself.  Whilst spending two and a half days wrapping, I became aware of my body movements throughout and the physicality of the action.  The end result upon wrapping, whether it be this piece, or smaller ones, is as a similar outcome to what I would imagine when taking a piece of charcoal and making the same lines over and over on paper.  The depth and layering created is extremely dense.  I chose white rather than a bright colour as I wanted the railing to merge with its environment and the neutrality of the gallery space.

Whilst making the work and dealing with the numerous knots within the wool, winding the wool up into small balls, I noticed holes in the wall above the railing.  These holes I filled with small balls of green wool (almost tacky or dirty in colouring).  Again I didn't want them to be too bright and stand out against the white of the wall, but white itself blended a little too well.  They became a small quirk for people to stumble across rather than too evident.

Yet, I did have to add my little touch of colour to the exhibition.  I brought across larger pieces of my wrapped wood, but after placing a few around the gallery, realised that they detracted from the other work around.  Instead I simply placed a small red work on a railing above, close to the ceiling.  Again an intentional idea for someone to inadvertently discover.

I do need to thank those people who had more patience than myself and kindly untangled numerous amounts of wool for me!!

Haegue Yang

www.contemporaryartdaily.com/2010/07/haegue-yang-at-barbara-wien/

Haegue Yang is interested in the private space equals political space.  These private spaces are the places in which we learn ourselves about the ideas of communities, the conventional rules, and a place to resist against these.  Above is a work from her 2010 Exhibition titled 'Closures' at the Wien Lukatsch Gallery in Berlin.  Yang has covered open drying racks in wool, and some in fabric.  Upon being wrapped they appear to take on various differing forms, some becoming quite figurative.  You have a feeling that they could take on numerous forms, through folding and unfolding of the drying rack, or like a stack of cards, you could keep adding.

Alyson Shotz

derekeller.com/alysonshotz_work.html

The link above will take you to the Derek Eller Gallery who represent Alyson Shotz.  Above is one of her works, 'Sine' (2011), utilising pins and hand-dyed yarn.  The work creates a 3-dimensional image on the wall.  You can feel the physicality created through this work and the sheer breath or movement that it appears to create.  Due to the repetitive forms, there is a sense of openness to the work, a feeling that it could continue mutating throughout the gallery space.

When Will It Stop?

1260mm x 200mm       Wood and Wool

200mm x 310 mm          Wood and Wool

210mm x 105mm       Wood Wool

.... and yet the wrapping continues

artreview.com.au/contents/174089592-louise-weaver-alchemist

Louise Weaver is an Australian artist who uses both wool and cotton amongst her many materials incorporated throughout her works.  Whether she is utilising one colour, or a multitude of colour, her work shows her sensitivity to her materials through the creation of fantasy worlds for the viewer to enter into.  The work above is titled 'Taking a Chance on Love' (2003).

Wool resting on the floor after having to be unravelled from the start of a piece.  It sits delicately, in the position it fell.  A burst of colour against the starkness of the concrete.  Delicate from one viewpoint, yet robust in its materiality to wrap and hold, whether it be around wood, to form an item of clothing etc.  And frustrating in its ability to wrap itself around itself and form knot, after knot, after knot!!

The Obsessive Wrapping Begins!

1050mm x 175mm         Wood and Wool

480mm x 320mm       Wood and Wool

480mm x 320mm      Wood and Wood

1050mm x 305mm      Wood and Wool

Set up for formative assessment

Progression started from the restrictions to how much wool I used to wrap, to no limitations.  Completely covering the pieces of wood I chose to wrap, creating depth through the layering.  It became a pre-occupation, one piece would finish, and another would have to begin.  Sizing varied, as did colour.  There was no single focus on just one colour and in doing this it became an element of both fun and surprise.  Fun, in the sense of bringing a smile to your face and surprise in terms of just what was hidden beneath the wool.  The materiality of the wool changed the appearance of the heavy hard wood, giving it a sense of weightlessness.  

From my formative assessment mid-way through the drawing paper comments made were:

* You want to know what is under it

* Sense of functionality

* Softness of the wool contradicts the hardness underneath

* Playful

* Bodily

* Tension

* Associations that come with wool - light feelings against body ; knitting

* Obsessive - Repitition

* Becomes pictorial once placed on the wall

* Quite a tease

Following on from the wall drawings I proceeded to set a rule of only using 2 metres of wool to wrap wood.  Then I introduced a third material - 'paint'.  I found that installing these works as above, they became too similar to my studio practice.  The restrictions of only using a specific amount of wool also became a hinderance. 

Drawing - Materiality Brief

The drawing brief I chose for Year 2 Visual Arts deals with materiality.  Looking at what it means to have a studio-based practice, especially one immersed in materiality.  This paper looks at materials and process, testing the relationship the artist has with the material world.  Specifically looking at material relationships, contingencies, permanence/impermanence and the made and unmade.

The first material I opted to use was wool, and the second I introduced was wood.  Below are the start of some provisional drawings I made utilising wool and then adding wood to a few of these.  The process I undertook was to randomly place pins into my wall, connecting the wool to these, allowing an image to emerge through the making.