Feeling Proud

Yes, I am feeling very proud.
Everyone worked so hard and produced some lovely sculpture.

trying the tools

One of the ladies produced this on her first day, never having used the tools before. The shapes are representative of the roofs on the flats opposite. Definitely going to incorporate these into the final design.

Greenock

After Cromarty, I ended up Greenock bound.

Quite a history this place has.

The Tate & Lyle sugar refinery was based here and ran until 1997. It was closed due to high taxes on sugar cane (mostly from the Caribbean) and quotas enforced by the European Union. The quotas were introduced to protect European sugar beet farmers. Between 1941 and 1946 it had to be rebuilt because of bombing damage.

I have shamelessly been checking out wikipedia for some of my information which correlates with other webpages as well as stories from the residents I've spoken to.....so feel fairly confidence it is correct.

 image from the Daily Record (online)

Greenock was an important player as a world port. Because of this many manufacturing companies grew up in the surrounding areas. The usual works connected with sailing; sailcloth and rope works, sawmills, then of course there was always a brewery, often a distillery, a pottery, as well as a flax mill and a paper mill. Added to that a large cooper works and a straw hat manufacturer.

All in all a very busy place.

If you are interested, then this webpage will give plenty of information even if a little hard to read.

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/117910

Apollo & Dionysus

I played around with the relationship between the two pieces because that is, of course what the whole point is with the two brothers, Apollo and Dionysus.

The stones were exhibited like this at the Dalhousie building during The Humanities Postgraduate Conference.

The inspiration behind this sculpture is Nietzsche’s ‘The Birth Of Tragedy’, a reading in my Philosophy module. The duality of Apollo and Dionysus as suggested by Nietzsche within Greek culture compelled me to produce a sculpture that embraced that nature. The Apollonian character, known for form and structure is in opposition to the Dionysian chaos and passion. Although it is the tension that holds the two in balance which most interests me. Balance is the key to being able to live in this world and Nietzsche believed that the ideal person was one who was able to maintain this stability by using qualities from the opposites that are part of human nature.

Sandstone and soapstone are the two materials chosen and I have used them because of their diverse textural and visual qualities. The beginning of a sculpture is visually chaotic as there is no apparent direction or structure to the work, there is a constant refining before a form begins to take shape, where I am using control to enable the structure to appear. I prefer to use hand tools when carving, because then, the act of sculpting involves me in a dialogue with the stone and I feel a kind of transcendence from the here and now.

On their own, the two pieces are unsteady but it is when they join and accept the other half when balance occurs.

Finally! 'Apollo & Dionysus'

After even more sanding with varying degrees of fineness and then onto wet & dry, the sculptures are ready for the wax.

A wee preview of images before fitting them together.

More Philosophy Module Sculpture

The sandstone has changed quite a bit....

.... and so has the soapstone.

Much filing and sanding has been the order of the day, and many of those days too.

Philosophy module sculpture piece

the beginning

The early stages of the sandstone piece.









This sculpture came about as the practical assessment for my philosophy module during the Masters course. The module itself was called 'Tragedy's Figures, Aesthetics, Politics, Philosophy'. An incredibly fascinating subject that involved much reading and inevitably, talking. The idea of making an artwork as part of the assessment process is only in it's second year and I think works really well.

More process images.

Once the sculpture got to this point, I then had to work on it's partner, which is a soapstone piece.

From here on, things started to get a little more complicated because I had to begin working the stone so that they would both eventually fit together.

'Flow II'

New sculpture........I said there was more to follow.

This is 'Flow II'
The research I do always influences the sculptures and this time I'm reading about liminal spaces and turbulent flow.

Long time No Blog.

Found myself all embroiled with life offline again, and I do think that is a good thing but, that means no blogging.
So here I am again.
Woke up too early to get into Uni, therefore time to add some pics.

One of my new sculptures, the piece is made from sandstone which had originally been part of a building. I like the recycling aspect as much as the colour.

The name is 'Flow'. Enjoying putting holes in my stones.
There are more to follow.