window sill

It's been a while between posts. A variety of things have been keeping me occupied, including a new macbook. I've never really used OS X before so I've had to learn to do stuff a bit differently. Just little things. I really really like it. So far anyway. Nothing has broken yet.

It's lucky i got it when i did because my desktop PC decided to ignore its CD/DVD drive. Not good when you've gotta send a CD of photos (last post!).

I've been spending way to long downloading and changing icons around. I have so many icons now, i have three sets of insect icons. One is specifically bees. Another set is internal organs, and another is little felt characters. I think they're called felt critters, funnily enough.

This is not all I've been doing, of course. I have also been doing some studio rearranging. Firstly it was minor change, the things on my windowsill got rearranged. Some of the things that were there i put in a little show (at project, artist run space where i do stuff). I also got some little things back from Wollongong city gallery. The photos are of my rearranged windowsill. And then i did some bigger changes, made a mess, and cleaned it up (mostly).



The exhibition is an open entry type thing, it was a last minute (well night before) decision to go in it, swayed by director-chairperson Sara. She is very persuasive. I am actually vice-chair, though i feel something of a fraud. Sara's never missed a committee meeting so I've never had to fill in.

I did help hang the show, though i didn't work as hard as some other people, as i had an urgent thing to finish that i don't really want to talk about.

Plus hanging other peoples work drives me a little mad sometimes. The other folks hanging will vouch for that because they had too listen to the cursing and swearing. And i don't usually swear that much. Actually, hanging my own work drives me mad too. But somehow not quite so mad. At least most of my stuff isn't in straight lines, i think that makes things easier. And of course i know which way round it goes. Most of the time anyway.
And if i put a d-hook (not that i really ever have a need for them) in some ridiculous spot that made my work jut out at 90 degrees from the wall i would only have myself to blame.

And then of course there's sitting the gallery, which the participants in the exhibition do. For the most part this works out fine. But occasionally someone doesn't show, and the gallery is not open when it should be. And you only find out about it later when someone gives you (and the gallery) crap about it. Obviously it is the absent person they should be so very irritated at. But of course they don't know who they are (or why they aren't there) so you're the next best thing.


Not that ARIs aren't good fun too.

malleable fiction

Some odds and ends sitting on the window sill of my studio. Lots of them use the crumpling i've been doing a lot of lately, combined with papier mache. I called them FICTILE MEMENTOS. I like the word fictile, it sounds to me like it means 'fictional' but actually means 'malleable' or 'formed of a moldable substance' and is often used in relation to pottery. These two meanings aren't so different really, both imply a constructed entity, one of them , perhaps, a little more tangible than the other.



Some of these pieces were in a group show at FIELD in Newcastle a little while ago -

newly crumpled

A new way to crumple! Well new to me. I am sure serious crumplers know all about it. I have found very little instructional information so it's an assumption, but a pretty safe one i think.
It involves turning the thing inside out repeatedly and creating a fold each time. These ones are made with sewing patterns, and wax.



Previously my crumpled things had all been variations on the technique used for the piece in my last post.

exchange (Bundanon)

Hisako was very interested in the origami crumpling i was working on at Bundanon. She gave me some of her calligraphy that she said was 'practice' or 'mistakes' to make 'something new.' So i dyed the paper and made it into a crumpled piece. Had no wax (or saucepan for the wax) at that point.

We ended up deciding that some workshops for one another would be a good idea. Hisako taught us about calligraphy (shodo), which, i discovered, is extraordinarily difficult,though very enjoyable. Sunanda and Dhaneshwar gave some cooking lessons. And i did origami crumpling. Which was a bit of a challenge because i'm still learning.



In my Bundanon studio; Sunanda Khaduria, Dhaneshwar Shah, Hisako Tsuzuku and Hiroshi Tsuchiya. Unfortunately i didn't get any close-ups of the pieces that we made, but you get the idea.

It took me a few days to figure out exactly what it was i was doing when crumpling. I showed everyone how to make a simple 4 pointed form, like this -



The fewer the points, the easier; four is also visually effective and often looks better than eight or sixteen. But it's enough to be interesting, and the structure can stand on its peaks, or in the outer 'arms,' like the one above.

By that stage i had found an old saucepan in Sunanda's studio and had bought some wax during one of our weekly trips to Nowra, so we dipped the pieces in wax, and i assisted with the shaping as the wax hardened. I was very impressed with everyones work, and they were all rather pleased with themselves, and i was quite pleased with myself, too!

Hisako became quite devoted to crumpling, this is one of the pieces she made later on, with a bit of help with the wax -



I was very taken with this one, so took a few photos.
Hisako's enthusiasm was quite a thrill for me, I had the feeling that maybe, just maybe, i had played a part in another artist (one i greatly admire) finding a new way of working, a new avenue to explore.

I am still working with Hisako's 'mistake' calligraphy, she was very generous! Some as collage,
some 3d things. At some stage there'll be pictures.

crumpling

I have been trying out some ‘origami crumpling’ – I saw some images of pieces made using the technique, and found a youtube video showing the process. I had to try it! Have a look at the video. I wish I could crumple like that guy. I find it more difficult than the usual origami – much more awkward and unwieldy. But I will keep practicing.

There is very little information on the net about the processes and techniques involved. At least I found very little, considering the wealth of information about origami generally. There are lots of amazing photos though. Google origami crumpling! Have a look at the work of Vincent Floderer.

This piece is made from an old sewing pattern. Tissue paper or something similar is needed for crumpling, so patterns are perfect. Not sure yet what i am going to do with my crumplings. They may develop into some sort of sculptural pieces.