Week 7 to 20/12/2011

This is the final week of this brief so I have been working on my final pieces of work. I have made framed pieces to hang on the wall. The site I have chosen is the long corridor which houses the art rooms and the beauty therapy departments as shown in earlier photos from my site visit. The corridor is long and bare and at the moment very clinical.
My reasons for choosing this position are that the work links both departments as does the corridor. The pieces are made by the creative industries departments and are inspired by the beauty therapy department.

The pieces as I have said were inspired by the beauty department and there are five pieces in the set. I have been working with embossing and these two pieces are made from embossing onto somerset paper. The pieces mimic two movements made in a facial massage. The embossing process was also relevant to the work because as the massage procedure emulates movement and pressure so the pieces were made by pressure of the plate onto the paper. I have also included a lino print, again made by pressure and in the style of a massage movement, but in black to add contrast to the embossed pieces. 

Movement made when massage the ear.

Facial massage spiral on the cheek

Spiral on cheek finishing pressure points

The next two pieces are inspired by the hots stones therapy. The first made from and embossing plate again using pressure and the second from hot glass.

This final piece was made by fusing and slumping 1mm glass stringers over a spiral of ceramic fibre string. This fusing of fine stringers is a process I have used before and have enjoyed experimenting with it again. I like the fragility of the glass in the final piece. I enjoy working with glass but I am sometimes disappointed with the finish. It can be too thick and unrefined when working in a small scale. This technique give me the delicacy I am looking for.

I have also been working with another piece which is inspired by the traditional Alloa industries of glass making and weaving.  

I have been investigating craft and tradition in some depth and the dictionary definitions of the word tradition are: 

A long established action of pattern of behaviour in a community or group of people that has been handed down from generation to generation.

A body of long-established customs and beliefs viewed as a set of precedents. 

The handing down of patterns of behaviour, practises and beliefs that are valued by culture.

Tradition relates to social custom it is cultural and passed down often by word of mouth. Glass and weaving are traditional craft materials and the skills of making are passed down in the same way and it is also inherently cultural.

I have also been reading the work of T S Elliot's Tradition and the Individual Talent. This essay has been extremely beneficial to me in my creative thinking for this brief. I wanted to make something which touched on the tradition of the town but not merely to imitate the past. As Elliot says "if the only form of tradition consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its success, Tradition should be positively discouraged."  This is how I feel about contemporary craft   practice, valuing and acknowledging the past but being current and aware of our palace in time. Again to quote Elliot, "knowledge of history, the temporal and the timeless makes the artist most acutely conscious of his place in time, of his contemporaneity.   

With this in mind I have developed a piece which is inspired by Alloa's traditional industries, using traditional craft materials but in a new process of weaving with glass. The glass and the weaving touching on the past or the temporal  and the work, both this piece and my beauty therapy pieces, reflect the new industries i.e.  the creative industries and the beauty industries which the college offers to meet the needs of both the community and modern employers. 

This piece I would site on the creative industries side of the corridor opposite the other pieces which I would site on the salon side of the corridor. 

week 5 & week 6 26/11/2011-08/12/2011

For the last two weeks i have been working on final pieces I still have two directions.
The first is the massage movements. I have made embossing plates and lino cuts of these movements and printed lino and embossed onto somerset paper.

embossing plates

I used this technique because a massage is about continuous movement, pressure points and pressure applied. the process of making these pieces is the continuous line and pressure applied to produce the line mirroring the massage procedure. the pieces would be framed and hung on the corridor in the Alloa campus between the art and the beauty department.

I have also been continuing to work with glass and weaving. this woven piece was fired in the kiln again to fuse it together. I am disappointed with the results as it looses some aesthetic appeal and delicate detail.

I have more pieces in the kiln and I intend to glue it together and miss out the second firing. 

I have also slumped some 1mm stringers and will also be working with these. They are very fragile and delicate and I think I may be able to produce a piece which is thread like. I will also glue these pieces.

Craft techniques and the hand made are an integral part of my practice and although I do not always use the materials of glass and weaving in the traditional sense I feel that the materials themselves and give meaning to the work and add value to the concept behind the piece.  

1mm glass stringers

  

Week 4 18/11/2011-25/11/2011

This week I have been working on the next stage of glass weaving process. The first stage was to slump glass strips over fibre paper. I have now woven the strips together using 1mm glass stringers in mostly clear with just a few coloured stringers. I have also prepared another 2 pieces for first firing which I will do next week.

Glass after first firing slumped over fibre paper

Glass stringers woven through slumped glass strips

Glass prepared for second firing

I think that this may form my final piece as one of my original concepts was to look at the historical industries of Alloa which included both glass making and weaving.

This week I have also continued to look at the growth industry of beauty therapy, a course delivered by the Alloa campus. I have been developing the hot stones therapy concept and working with the circle using blind embossing on a plate made with string and embossed onto blotting paper. I have coloured some with inks and like the effect that the blotting paper gives as it not only absorbs colour but takes on the form of the plate.

I am going to continue to develop this further this week and will be making more plates using the massage movements and pressure points I was looking at earlier. I want to see if I can not only visually convey the mechanics of the treatments but also the physical sensations.

Finally with this in mind I have also been working with printing from glass plates as well trying to combine the prints with the lymphatic system in the body and giving the illusion of relaxation and drifting or melting away.

  

Week 2 & Week 3 5/11/2011-17/11/2011

I have been looking at hot stones used in a specific area of massage the heat radiates from the stones through the body and I have been drawing with inks and fine line pens.

I Have been continuing my use of glass as a printing medium and exploring the use of string in an ever increasing circle to convey the radiance of heat from the central point outwards.  

I have also been thinking in more depth about the concept of beauty and purity and considering working with white on white. I have been experimenting with paper making and although I don't know if I will use this process in my final work it is a process that I think may be useful. I have been making paper with glass frit as an inclusion to incorporated the old industries of Alloa and string to represent the woven industrial history of the town.

 

At the same time I have been working with glass inks and drawing as a continuation of my previous work on brief 1 The Emperors New clothes. The treatments I have been exploring benefit the lymphatic system of the body and I have been drawing images inspired by these systems and microscopic images of the central nervous system. 

From this point I have been starting to think about not only the physical but mental feelings of the client when receiving a massage or beauty treatment. Feeling of weightlessness drifting dissolving away.

I have been looking back at some of my previous work, in particular this sectioned drawing and thinking again about the movements of the facial massage. I am working on a sectioned face using only marks made that are similar to the lines of massage.

 The final drawings this week are concentrating on peacefulness and purity of the single line. I have been thinking about peacefulness calm and imagining what a person feels and what they imagine or daydream about when they receiving a facial.

Practical work this week has involved preparing glass to be slumped over fibre paper. When fired I hope to weave these pieces with other strips of glass to make woven glass. 

Week 1 Studio Practice 04/11/2011

I have been looking at some images of beauty therapy practice. The movements made by the therapist during a massage and facial massage are specific to the area of the body or face that they are working on. In my sketchbook I have been experimenting with these lines.

These line drawings are taken from the movements made by the therapist when performing a facial massage. The finger tips rarely leave the clients face and the movements are made in spiral motions or straight lines depending on the area being worked on. The dots are the stopping points and there is slight pressure applied at these spots. I am experimenting with line in my drawing and seeing if there is anything interesting that can be produced by drawing by using the movements and rules of massage.

Another treatment I have been exploring involves hot stones and I have been using this treatment as inspiration for drawing. I will see if anything comes from this.

Studio Practice 1 Brief 2 Alloa Campus 16/10/2011-04/11/2011

Photographs from site visit to Alloa Campus. 25/10/2011.

Long corridors Large Windows

Wall of glass windows overlooking the town and the Ochills

The historical industries of the town are glass making and weaving. The college prospectus states that it is to offer courses that meet the needs of today's employers. Naturally with my own background in craft practice the things that interest me a glass and weaving. I have been studying the courses on offer and note that growth industries are in hair beauty and hospitality. So my thought process has been running in this direction.

1. Alloa historical industries Glass and Weaving
2. College to encourage courses to meet the needs of today's growth industries
3. New developing growth industries Hospitalities Hair Beauty Therapy.
4. My materials choices in current practice Glass and Print concepts Glass and Weaving.

The Campus Salon Is on the same corridor as the Art rooms.