Sources

www.annacalvert.co.uk

www.concretecanvas.co.uk

www.elenasalmistraro.com

www.elizabethdelfs.com

www.irisvanherpen.com

www.rockinthatbling.com

www.stephaniebatesdesign.co.uk

www.stephaniehamer.co.uk

Overview

Overall I am pleased with the outcome of this project, I am pleased with the look of the piece and I am happy with my end presentation of it. I feel  that I have been successful in producing a piece of sculpture taking influence from tribal jewellery and the idea of restricting movement or function. I am pleased with my material choice also which I feel works well with the simple design of the piece. The material choice also allowed for the use of a range of colours and the rigid material fits well with the idea of restriction.
I decided to present the piece on the wall as I felt that it was secure and allowed the viewer to interact with the piece. The reason I displayed the piece with no reference really of the body was maybe to allow people to read the piece as they see fit.
Although I am pleased with my outcome I would have liked to try out more things with the finished piece, I would have like to photograph the piece on body as well as maybe try and create a short stop motion showing the movement of the piece as I feel that is another interesting aspect of it, but those are things that I still plan on doing following assessment.

Artist Statement

Although we have to write proposals for our negotiated programme and I have been told to keep redefining what I'm doing and why, I found the prospect of writing an artist statement difficult  so I looked online to see what an artist statement sholud include as a starting point. Here is my my first attempt at trying to write at an artist statement;

I am influenced by fashion, tribal adornment and jewellery in general, as well as the idea that restriction and discomfort are elements accepted within most cultures when it comes to dress and adornment.  I like the use of simple shape and form repetetively and am also drawn to the use of acylic and how the use of the laser cutter can give interesting and precise outcomes.  As a tactile person I try to create work that encourages touch (or at least the desire to do so). My piece is a sculpture inspired by the idea of restrictive adornment however it also can be worn.

Potential For Future Ideas

diff fixings layouts ways to put things togetther etc like dem and jo said other ways of realising or finishing project

Tutorial 01.05.2012

At this point I had produced a more detailed working drawing of the piece i wanted to create with measurements and how the mechanism would work, I had also perfected the drawings on 2-D design that I needed for the laser cutter and had laser cut test pieces from both mount board and acrylic. We discussed the finishing off of the piece as well as the fact I should look at alternative outcomes and potential for future ideas and present them on my blog.

 

These are pictures of the test pieces, I was satisfied with the shape etc and so my drawings were finalised. I had decided to use a 6mm rod to act as the pivot so that the pieces could still open and close but would still be secure, I also wanted to cut out small spacers to put in between each of the layers.

Jewellers

Anna Calvert

Mainly works with silver using traditional techniques and makes all of her pieces by hand. She uses soft leather and manipulates it to capture organic forms and partly encase them with silver. Her aim is to create fresh pieces that have a soft and sensuous tactile element that will enhances the interaction of the piece for the wearer to enjoy.

Stephanie Hamer

 

Stephanie is an emerging contemporary jewellery artist, based in Manchester. Working mainly in plastics, and exploring the use of colour, shape and pattern, Stephanie strives to create jewellery that is striking, modern and fun.
Stephanie's work takes inspiration from everyday scenes that are usually passed by without really being noticed. Sights such as a radiator grills, electrical wires and spilt paint can capture her imagination. After photographing these scenes, Stephanie digitally manipulates the images to create a series of repetitive patterns which she then uses within her work.

 

Stephanie Bates

Stephanie Bates' current collection of wearable pieces have been inspired by architecture and its constant change through destruction and development over the years. Gloucester Docks and Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, both of which are currently seeing great change through regeneration projects, have been a focus of hers. Other urban buildings in Birmingham include old, graffitied warehouses in Digbeth, blocks of flats in Perry Barr under demolition exposing their history, and the newly built, angular steel structures alongside these, that have offered interesting contrasts for her to study. She combines mixed materials including precious metals, concrete, wallpaper, enamel and spray paint with traditional skills and modern design technology, to create jewellery & objects.

These are three jewellers who's work I really like, I like that Anna Calvert's pieces combine both rigid and soft materials, I feel as though Stephanie Hamer's pieces have elements similar to some of my own work (simplicity, repetition and her use of plastics), I like the structural element of Stephanie Bates work as well as the simplicity of her pieces.

 

 

tutorial 24.04.2012

At this tutorial I explained that hadn't managed to get much work done over Easter, however I did take in some sketch ideas for my final piece. I wanted it to be made up of repetitive layers encompassing parts of the head, neck and or waist and I was told;

• i needed much more rigour,
•  my ideas/ sketches needed to be more detailed as they were not readable the mechanism I had in mind was not apparent from my sketches dem suggested the idea of it being able to move with the/ a model
• i needed to make scaled models and acrylic prototypes
• i need to consider the presentation as i intended on presenting the piece by itself/ jo suggested photographing it on a naked body with v static
• time needed to be planned to ensure everything was finished on time etc. 

 Looking at my drawings I realised I needed to make my design ideas clearer and much more concise so they were readable to others, I also began trying to perfect my drawings on 2-d design ready test on the laser cutter.

Show Don't Tell Crit

There were a few things higlighted at this crit, they were;

• my approach was to controlled and needed opening up.
• I needed to exploit more materials and think about soft sculpture.
• to be less obvious and think about using different parts of the body.
• maybe thinking about mapping the body and using the body as a shape to work around.
• I needed to make a decission  between whether my work was going to be sculptural or decorative
• it was said the work needed to be more than just about restriction.
• presentation needed to be thought about and maybe I should present the work without human presence, by itself.

Following the show don't tell crits I  decided to alter the design of the piece so that it encompassed the neck, some of the head and maybe the waist. I think this piece of work will be a piece of sculpture based on jewellery that is decorative. Taking influences from tribal dress and jewellery in the sense of colour and shape (geometric shapes and patterns). I will need to take my time on getting the drawings perfect so the pieces fit together well and have a good finish I will take measurements from the body for the sizeing of the piece.

Tribal influence

I again looked at the neck rings worn by mayan women and men in some african tribes where the rings are added from the age of 5 and are thought by many to stretch the neck but they actually slowly deform the shoulders, making the neck appear longer. I want to try and create a neck piece based upon this tradition that will keep the neck extended to its full extent.

Tutorial 13-03-12

Things that were brought up were that I need to produce more experiments and be less prescious about them, if they end up being more successful I can go back to them after and it was also suggested I look at braces,deformity and the body and how it changes with age.
I am trying to prohibit normal body function but at the same time make it look beautiful/ decorative so i need to deal with the function first and then move onto the beautifying of the object.

I looked at braces used for medical purposes but also found alot of images where braces were used for fashion shows and photoshoots.

I also looked at ageing and the body the main things that stood our for me were that the body get weaker less able more fragile and less agile it also needed much more support like walking sticks etc.

Restriction cont...

 

I experimented a little with jersey to try and create something restrictive from an otherwise comfortable and un-restrictive fabric but don't really feel it was very successful. 

expressive jewellery

I have been looking at expressive jewellery as I feel it will help me to find alternative approaches to my own work.

Elena Salmistraro

I like the angular but delicate look of these origami inspired pieces.

Elizabeth Delfs

I came across her work whilst doing some research I like the delicate materials she uses to produce quite architectural and sculptural pieces.

Tutorial 21.2.12

In my tutorial we talked about me trying to do more experimentation both subtle and more expressive. Another thing that came up was that I needed to constantly redefine what I am aiming to achieve, at the moment I feel that I want to produce a piece of body adornment that prevents normal function and restricts the wearer through weight, scale or construction but that is aesthetically pleasing.

Iris Van Herpen

Iris Van Herpen is a dutch designer that it was suggested I look at because of her sculptural work and also because of the processes she uses. On her website she comments;
'In all my work I try to make clear that fashion is an artistic expression, showing and wearing art, and not just a functional and devoid of content or commercial tool. With my work I intend to show that fashion can certainly have an added value to the world'
I think her work is beautiful and feel that she straddles the boundaries between art and fashion well.

I looked at a video where she talks about her processes and new technologies she uses to help produce her work. 

Concrete Canvas

These stools are made by Florian Schmid using concrete canvas, the fabric is impregnated with cement and when water is added remains malleable for a short time and then becomes hard and is dry within 24 hours to create a smooth but stable finish. 

Exaggeration

Big Fat Gypsy weddings was suggested to me due to the size of the dresses and because of the scars that are caused by the weight of the dresses and the corsets.

The heavily embroidered sari's worn at Indian weddings can be extremely heavy, A friend said she felt weak during her wedding as result of the weight.

I also looked at some of the hats worn at ascot as they are very expressive and as a result are sometimes difficult to wear.

 It seems that occasional wear is where people take more risks, push more boundaries and are willing to be less comfortable.

Questions raised at pitch a plan

During pitch a plan the question of whether I wanted my work to be more expressive or subtle was raised , its hard to be sure at the moment as I feel I need to experiment more before I can give an answer. Initially I think I had envisioned my outcome being more expressive/ exaggerated but now I have started to experiment I think looking at more subtle outcomes is also interesting. I was also asked about what materials I planned on working with but again I am unsure as I don't know what I am going to be producing and I also want to experiment with different materials. In addition to that I plan to experiment with restriction, scale and weight and I'm not sure whether my work will be a response to just one or more of these areas.

Restriction

I have looked at things like bondage(including japanese bondage) and stocks among other things that are made to prevent movement.  

I have begun to experiment with rope and ribbon to limit movement.