Sculpture Elective pieces

 

Some of my pieces from the painting elective ..

Recreating a Fraud painting

Installation painted with palette knife

Installation

Installation study

Charcoal and ink

mmm..... Food for thought....

Okay... I get the fact that we have to try everything out.... and I get the fact that we have to choose only one option ... but... what I don't get is how this process is meant to work when you love doing all of the electives...
I have just finished my sculpture elective and im even more confused than ever, I love the freedom of expression that this dicipline offers and that a group of people working together in a brainstorming session can have such varied takes on the same word. 
To look around the studio today and not to see any two pieces that were even remotely connected was astonishing.  The fact that sculpture is fundamentally conceptual is more than I could have imagined, how could an artist not be happy in this area?
In the past two weeks I have managed to produce an array of pieces that I can only describe as eccletic.  Who knew that a ball of string and an old battered palette could go on such a journey.  I am truly overwhelmed by the endless posibilities that this dicipline offers, however... how do I know if it is really the one for me?

During the painting elective I worked hard to learn the techniques to enable me to produce a successful piece and I felt a huge sense of achievement when these techniques proved successful.  Yet in sculpture the pieces seemed to take on a life of their own and almost dictate their own direction, so would it be true to say that the achievement I felt on their completion was belittled by the fact that I had no real techniques to qualify them as successful? 

For the moment I suppose I will just have to leave the final decision in the laps of the gods, who knows where my mind will lead me after the next elective, so onwards and upwards and roll on ceramics.....

Sculpture elective...

I started my sculpture elective this week and it really couldn't be any further away from last weeks elective.  The approach is very different, even relaxed to an extent.  We started off the week with a group brain storming which I found extremely interesting, its hard to believe how many tangents you can go off on when your given one word.
From this initial brain storm we were able to list a huge amount of verbs to which we then individually broke down into words that interested us personally.  I chose words like devour, intoxicate, salivate, convert, emancipate and cannibalize.  From these lists we discussed with Mike ways of initiating them into the manipulation of materials.  I finally settled on 'To Cannibalize', as I felt that this was the word that would give me the greatest scope.
From there we were left to work out materials and processes that would enable us to use the verb and in doing so get us started and a path of discovery.
All in all the first week was a time for exploration.  Can't wait for week two.

The end of the painting block...

I finally reached the end of the 2 week painting block and all I can say is PHEW!!!!  I have to admit that its been 2 of the busiest weeks iv ever had.  We started in week one with life painting and learning about tone, colour plains, background, paint techniques, composition and under painting (to name but a few).  It seemed to me to be like a very weird speed painting class and I found it difficult to keep up at first.  Its hard being told that you have to complete two paintings in a day and some days it was extremely frustrating.  Week two was a little more relaxed, I'm not sure if that has to do with the fact that I was now used to the routine or that the tutors were slightly easier on us, but whatever it was it felt like I had more control and in my mind that was an enormous relief.
We spent the week building installations which we then painted.  At first I found this tedious and again was disillusioned by the process but as the days progressed and I started to implement the techniques I had learned in week one, things started to slot into place.  I even found myself looking forward to starting new pieces and trying to discover my own style.
All in all I found the whole experience to be both exhausting and enlightening.  I don't think for one moment that I know anywhere near enough about painting but I feel that in the two weeks that I spent in the studio I have now got the very basic skills needed to get onto the first rung of the painting ladder.