VISA 1301

Faculty of Arts

Study Guide

VISA 1301 Material and Form

Study Guide

VISA 1301 Material and Form

The course materials in VISA 1301 have been provided to you for your private study and educational use only. TRU grants you a limited and revocable license to access and make personal use (including permission to print one copy) of the Study Guide for the purposes of course related study. These materials may not be further distributed.

Copyright and Credits Copyright © 2015 (Revised), 2014 (revised); 2011 Thompson Rivers University. All rights reserved.

The content of this course material is the property of Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and is protected by copyright law worldwide. This material may be used by students enrolled at TRU for personal study purposes only. No part of this work may be forwarded or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the Intellectual Property Office, Thompson Rivers University; [email protected].

TRU seeks to ensure that any course content that is owned by others has been appropriately cleared for use in this course. Anyone wishing to make additional use of such third party material must obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

The 1988 edition of this course was developed in cooperation between Emily Carr College of Art and Design, the Open Learning Agency, and the Provincial Education Media Centre, with the assistance of the Ministry of Advanced Education and Job Training.

Course Development Team, 2nd edition, revised 2014:

Course Reviser:

Program Coordinator, Faculty of Arts:

Associate Dean, Arts:

Course Editor:

Media:

James Lindfield, MA

Michael Looney, MSc

Ronald McGivern, MA

Dawn-Louise McLeod, MEd

Jon Fulton, BFA; Rob Swanson

Course Development Team, 1st edition

Writer and Presenter:

Program Co-ordinator, Humanities (OU):

Program Director, Telecourses (ECCAD):

Television Director:

Course Designer:

Tom Hudson, PhD

Sharon Meen, PhD

Elisa McLaren

Bernard Motut

Norah Kembar

Course Reference: VISA 1301 SW1

Thompson Rivers University 805 TRU Way Kamloops, BC, Canada V2C 0C8

Table of Contents Unit 1: Wood .................................................................................................................... U1-1

Unit 2: Metal .................................................................................................................... U2-1

Unit 3: Plastic ................................................................................................................... U3-1

Unit 4: Paper ..................................................................................................................... U4-1

Unit 5: Fibres .................................................................................................................... U5-1

Unit 6: Particles ................................................................................................................ U6-1

Unit 7: Stone ..................................................................................................................... U7-1

Unit 8: Earth ..................................................................................................................... U8-1

Unit 9: Liquid ................................................................................................................... U9-1

Unit 10: Space ................................................................................................................ U10-1

Faculty of Arts

Unit 1: Wood

VISA 1301 Material and Form

VISA 1301: Material and Form U1-1

Unit 1: Wood Introduction

Note: DVD 1 includes two video programs: Introduction and Wood.

Wood begins its existence as a living, breathing organism, and the role of trees involves all other breathing things, including ourselves. We have become increasingly aware of our dependence on trees and their part in the ecological balance. The mighty forests that once covered about sixty per cent of the earth’s land mass have now shrunk to six per cent and are still decreasing. So it may seem rather ironic that to suggest exploring the qualities of wood and find further uses for it. However, the intimacy of working with wood may induce a greater respect for it; creative activity generally uses relatively little wood, and the results demonstrate the admirable qualities of the material.

Note: In this course, terms that are in bold font type are in your Glossary; other terms may be in italics. (Bold font is also used for emphasis.) Remember to refer to the Glossary whenever you encounter new terms in this course.

Sources, Classification, and Characteristics of Wood

Sources of Wood Trees are evergreen and deciduous, broad-leafed and coniferous, and their trunks are the source of wood. This organic material consists of bundles of fibres, running in the direction of growth of the original tree. Trees are the tallest of all plants; they are also the most durable of living structures. The oldest living thing on earth is possibly a bristlecone pine about 4,600 years old, in California’s White Mountains. The largest living thing is a giant California sequoia, a redwood close to eighty-five metres high and over thirty-one metres in diameter at the base—though a cypress in Oaxaca, Mexico, is twelve metres in diameter at one metre above ground level. Probably even more amazing, a single banyan tree sending out shoots can create a mini-forest covering close to three hectares.

The durability of trees is part of their protective survival. They can withstand most weather conditions, reaching up to acquire a substantial share of the changing energy of sun and rain. But as with all organic things, their sequence of growth leads to changes of form, to deteriorations and decay—the vulnerable cycle of all living things. People are often horrified by decay, but decay is as necessary and as functional as growth.

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U1-2 Unit 1: Wood

The growth pattern of a tree determines the nature and structure of the wood—its texture, density, and structural direction. See illustration 1 at the end of this unit to view a detailed cross-section of the five essential parts of the tree trunk, which are listed next:

1. The protective outer bark

2. The inner bark, or phloem, which provides an easy passage for the sap to feed new wood cells

3. The cambium—only one cell thick, this layer powers the growth of the tree, continuously producing wood and phloem cells

4. The sapwood—or soft, “active” layer—where the sap flows into the annual growth ring; in a period of fast growth, the annuals are wider apart; slow growth brings the rings closer together

5. The heartwood, which is the dead centre of the trunk; it gives the tree strength and rigidity

A felled tree of wet, green wood dries out and shrinks, so it has to be seasoned—that is, subjected to controlled drying. Once a slow process, seasoning can now be carried out in days or even hours by accelerated drying in kilns. However, even seasoned timber is liable to warp—by twisting, cupping, or bowing.

Classification of Wood Wood is classified as softwood or hardwood, depending on the tree source rather than on its actual hardness, as might be expected. Some softwoods are harder than some hardwoods!

• Broad-leaf trees such as oak, walnut, birch, maple, cherry, and mahogany produce hardwoods.

• Coniferous trees such as pine, cedar, fir, and redwood produce softwoods, regardless of their actual hardness.

Wood of all types is used by carpenters, joiners, cabinet makers, and craftspeople, such as instrument and tool makers. It is also used extensively for construction by builders, engineers, and architects. Designers use it, often in relation to other materials, while artists exploit it for their own individual and aesthetic purposes.

Characteristics of Wood Because of its structure, wood splits easily in the direction of growth. According to how timber is cut, the fibrous nature of wood provides a varied organic pattern, known as the grain. The decorative quality of the grain has always been exploited by craftspeople and artists. Grain varies naturally, according to the type of tree and its

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U1-3

pattern of growth. Straight-growing pines and similar trees have a relatively simple grain pattern. The grains of walnut, sycamore, or pear are more complex and have a more attractive grain. The decorative appeal of grain is essentially the appeal of abstract pattern. The grain of the wood may also show the dark forms of knots, the cut-through remains of earlier branch growth.

Trees are also subject to checks, or cracks and splits, which vary in form and position. Star-shaped checks may appear in the central heartwood, long lateral checks can occur radially around the trunk, and other checks may follow part of the internal line of an annual ring.

Although wood is generally less durable than inorganic materials, under certain conditions, it can last for a long time. It has less load-bearing strength than steel, but, weight for weight, it is structurally strong. Apart from its grain, fibrous structure, and other observable objective qualities, it can also possess a softness of texture and be warm to the touch. It can be rigid or flexible, hard or soft. In colour and form, it varies from dense, black ebony to hollow, pale bamboo; in weight, from heavy teak to light balsa wood.

Working with Wood There are many ways of cutting timber, demonstrated by computer imagery in the video Wood. Illustration 2 at the end of this course unit also shows examples of timber-cutting methods. Some of these methods result in higher-quality wood products than others.

• Through and through cutting is most common and cheapest.

• Plain sawn timber is a little more expensive.

• Flat sawn boards, cut at a tangent to the growth layers, are liable to warp.

• Radially cut board remains flat.

• Quarter sawn timber has to be turned many times to achieve warp-free boards; quarter sawing can be achieved by cutting radially around the log, toward the centre.

• Round the log sawing provides a varied range of sections, suitable for different purposes.

Wood is now rarely worked from the block, except for turning and carving. The trunk of a tree, however, can be cut by a process that “uncoils” thin, wide sheets from the bark to the central pith. These are superimposed one on another, alternating the direction of the grain, then glued under pressure to make plywood. Both strong and light, plywood provides large, even surfaces that are easily sawn. Besides plywood, various compressed boards are made from strips, chips, or particles of wood. All are used in construction.

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U1-4 Unit 1: Wood

Thin sheets of expensive, richly grained, and beautifully coloured hardwoods are cut by rotating the wood against a stationary knife after steaming. Damp steam heat is used to make wood pliable, so that it can be formed into sheets and used in bentwood furniture. These sheets are called veneers, which are usually laminated to the surfaces of inferior woods.

In joinery and cabinet making, there are two basic requirements:

• To make skeleton frames, at right angles, for door frames and other supporting framework; flat areas of wood are used for covering and surfaces

• To construct frames of flat sections of wood joined vertically and at right angles to make container forms, such as boxes, drawers, desks, and cabinets

To really appreciate wood, to understand and exploit it, you must learn its characteristics by actual physical experience. You need to be open to possibilities, responding in your own way to its characteristics by variously cutting, splitting, bending, gluing, tying, binding, and so on. Remember that technology is really about bringing things in relationship to each other in particular ways. Artists and designers have always faced the problem of selecting the best material to realize their concept or idea from the large variety of materials available.

The design, construction, and form of the materials and objects produced from trees didn’t just happen—they were evolved through trial and error. They also represent best-possible solutions of their time. However, that doesn’t mean that we cannot find new solutions in our own time and from our own experience. Each new generation has to rediscover everything and tends to remake everything. We make, build, and construct from our current points of view, according to our needs.

Assignment 1: Wood

Introduction

In Assignment 1, you are required to complete one of three sections.

Detailed instructions on how to work through the assignment are available under the heading “Instructions.” Before you begin work on your assignment, read carefully through all of the following instructions for this assignment.

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Sections Complete one of the following three sections:

• Section 1: Tying, Binding, and Constructing Forms

OR

• Section 2: Joining Forms (choose either Project 2-A, 2-B, or 2-C)

OR

• Section 3: Transforming Wooden Furniture

Notebook and Documentation Before you start work, make sure that you have read “How to Work on Your Assignments” and “Assignment Documentation Requirements” in the Course Manual. For this and every assignment in this course, you must submit documentation of your work.

While working on your assignment, use photographs to document your working processes. See Course Manual “Techniques for taking Stronger Photographs.” Ensure that you watch Tom Hudson’s suggestions regarding documentation toward the end of the video Introduction. Your notebook pages can include brief written notes, drawings, and diagrams. You can also use video. We recommend that you wait to send in your work until after you have completed both Unit 1 and Unit 2. If you are following the suggested schedule you should have finished Unit 1 by the end of Week One.

Improvisation and Research When you watch the videos, you’ll notice that the on-camera students use improvisation to achieve immediate responses to a given material. In the case of wood, we use a length of rigid dowel as this material.

In this instance, it’s more important for you to experiment with different ways you can work with wood. For example, you can explore the materials by trying out primary processes, such as binding, tying, weaving, plaiting, joining, sawing, cutting, splicing, and so on.

Wood is available in so many forms that it is sensible to give some thought to the range available before you start your assignment. You may have to collect materials sometime beforehand from the forest, building sites, lumber yards, or hardware stores. Make your initial choice of the material you will use for your first experiments rapidly. If you choose Section 2 of this assignment, it will be possible for you to change to other material later.

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U1-6 Unit 1: Wood

Instructions Section 1: Tying, Binding, and Constructing Forms The purpose of this section is to introduce you to ways of creating relationships and forms in wood by using low-technology methods.

1. Start by gathering wood in natural forms, such as twigs and branches found on the forest floor. You will be able to select among forms that vary widely in their scale, flexibility or rigidity, and weight, depending on the type of tree and the age of the material; that is, how much it has dried out.

2. Break, cut, or saw the pieces of twig or branch and experiment with basic joining methods of tying and binding. You can use string, hemp, cord, or any other linear material. Don’t overlook wire as a fastener. Thin black iron wire, such as baling wire, is soft and can be manipulated easily: one wrap around and a twist of the pliers should hold two pieces together.

3. When choosing your fastening material, consider how well it relates to the wooden pieces. Do they look right together? Why or why not?

4. Tie first for functional efficiency using a minimum amount of material, then give some thought to the aesthetics of the problem. Look for ways of tying and binding that create solutions that look better to you.

5. Start thinking about relationships, both the ones created by bringing wood and binding materials together and relationships of form. Try making a series of linear, geometric, spatial forms, or irregular constructions. If you have a supply of flexible material, it will be easy to make curved, arched, circular, and spherical forms.

6. Look at the forms you have created from different viewpoints, or turn them in your hand. Are you working three dimensionally? Can you add other forms or parts of forms to improve your least preferred views of your constructions?

7. Still working on a relatively small scale, begin developing more variations, freely and intuitively.

8. Then, review all you have done by setting out the forms in the order in which you made them. Try to see where you did things in a logical way, or where there is a growth or change of forms. Have you developed a range of methods of tying? Has your technique improved from one piece to the next?

9. Decide which pieces interest you the most and carry out some variations on their themes. Try inverting or rotating forms or try combining two or more forms together in different ways. Which do you like best? Or, do something quite different from what you have already done. At this point, after appraising your work, you may want to change the scale to some extent.

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10. If you haven’t done so already, start thinking about what could be done to extend the forms you have so far produced—for example, how they might be used as parts of a system.

11. Develop three to six examples that differ in form, or are variations on a single theme. The number will depend on the degree of difficulty, your speed of working, and so on.

Photographic Documentation and Notebook • Remember to include: photographic documentation of your research and

work product.

• Make sure your notebook pages contain the following entries:

o Exploratory studies of ideas based on your work so far, and some ideas from your thinking, imaging mind about your process and discoveries

Optional entry: • Small-scale exploratory studies with materials

Section 2: Joining Forms This section gives you the opportunity of bringing forms into relationship with one another by using joining methods. For Section 2, choose one of the following three projects:

• Project 2-A: Join Like Forms

OR

• Project 2-B: Join Unlike Forms

OR

• Project 2-C: Join Unlike Material and Unlike Forms

In the Section 2 projects, you are expected to use creative, personal technology versus standard wood-joinery technology. That said, if you choose to work with joining forms, it would be sensible for you to become familiar with the standard methods.

Standard woodworking joints have evolved because of their functional efficiency. Illustrations 3 and 4 at the end of this unit show examples of several variations of wood joints—and common principles shared by similar types.

The joints you develop must be efficient, too; however, you are also expected to research the visual and plastic aspects of your work, in order to show the functional and the aesthetic in your pieces. (In sculptural works, visual refers the three-dimensionality of the materials used, and plastic refers to the malleability of the materials, to how they can be shaped and changed.) On the functional level, the joints you construct must be efficient, and they must work. On the aesthetic or sculptural level, your development must show a sense of structure in the materials you have brought into relationship.

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U1-8 Unit 1: Wood

Tips on balancing the functional and aesthetic

To make a wood joint of some degree of functional efficiency, you must first prepare your wood. Even if your material is already planed, you should check it for square—you will need a face side and a face edge to work from.

If you are working with natural, organic material, you may consider it aesthetically preferable to have a rough finish or even a degree of primitivism. Rough sawing or adze, gouge, and other tool marks may appeal more than an overall smooth finish.

Project 2-A: Join Like Forms The purpose of this project option is to give you an opportunity to work with similar forms of wood.

• Decide on two forms that are identical and cut from standard timber stock. Work on a small scale for research. For example, take two pieces of easily worked wood, such as cedar, which might be 5 cm in square section, or 3 cm by 6 cm, or 3 cm by 10 cm. Initially, they should be 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches) long, for holding with a vise or clamps.

Note: You can easily find imperial to metric conversion tables online, which can be useful, as both measurement systems are still used.

• You may be able to develop new variations on the common principles of joining wood; for example, a new type of mortise. You may also add one or more additional pieces, such as wedges, to make a joint effective. Remember to give some thought to the nature and colour of the materials you are using.

• Try to present joints and forms that do not directly repeat tradition, by providing completely new forms.

• If you decide you want to join like pieces of circular-section bamboo, remember that nails are never used in working with bamboo. Binding with linear material is required, but it is acceptable to cut the material with a knife or saw, and to drill holes.

• Develop three to six examples, depending on your speed of working, degree of complexity, and time available.

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Project 2-B: Join Unlike Forms The purpose of this project option is to give you an opportunity to create your own technology in working with wood of different dimensions and forms.

• Begin by deciding on your material. Choose material no less than 15 cm (6 inches) in length; otherwise, make your selection from standard timber stock. There is an immense range of possibilities. You may wish to do variations on a particular theme or relationship. One of the on-camera students used sheet plywood with a regular cube; however, you could use sheet plywood with any square, round, or triangular section material, or with a solid.

• When you select your materials, take characteristics of workability, colour, and grain into consideration.

• Remember that you can make each of your experiments with pairs of different wood sections and forms. For example, try joining machine- processed timber of geometric character with some natural forms of wood, such as a piece 10 cm in diameter cut from a small log or a natural “fork.” Or, you might try combining flexible branches with rigid, machined timber, or bamboo with dowelling.

• Develop six examples.

Project 2-C: Join Unlike Material and Unlike Forms The purpose of this project option is to give you an opportunity to experiment with new relationships between wood and other materials, using some form of wood as your basic material.

• Consider the range of wood pieces you have available and the infinite variety of other materials that exist. You can use any form of wood. Base your selection of materials on preference or immediate availability.

• You will can also make other decisions about how many types and/or shapes of other materials you want to join to the wood—for example, do you want to carry out variations on joining only one other type and form of material to the wood? If so, you will want to try different ways to join this material. Or, do you want to join a range of differently shaped pieces of metal or plastic to a standard timber cut or a natural form of wood?

• You may prefer to use different forms of wood with a variety of other materials. As you decide, carefully consider the characteristics of each type of material; that is, whether they are hard or soft, rigid or flexible, thin or thick, simple or complex, and so on.

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U1-10 Unit 1: Wood

• Tactile and sensory characteristics can be used in either contrasting or harmonic relationships. For example, wood, as a fibrous material, can be harmonically related to other fibrous materials, such as felt, fabric, or rope. Or, wood, as a natural organic material, can be contrasted with synthetic plastics, elastic, or rubber.

• Produce six examples . Some will be fast and easy—“low tech”—others will be more complex and time-consuming. Let your interest and available time determine how many you do.

Photographic Documentation and Notebook For whichever one of the Project 2 options you choose, your documentation must include photographs or video, and drawings of the joints both open and closed to indicate how they work. Make sure your notebook pages contain drawings of your ideas about how the joints’ are designed and function.

Section 3: Transforming Wooden Furniture The purpose of this project is to transform one or more familiar pieces of wooden furniture by sawing, reconstruction, and other experimental actions.

If you select a container form, such as a cupboard or chest of drawers, work on the inside as well as the outside, using additional wood.

You will be able to explore more fully if you avoid projects that are intended to produce only a functional outcome. There are many of these projects on the Internet. Avoid plagiarizing these and invent your own project.

Photographic Documentation and Notebook Make sure your notebook pages contain the following:

• Preliminary sketches of your initial transformation plan. Remember, new and more interesting ideas may occur during the process.

• Photographs of your piece(s) of furniture, before, during, and after your experimental transformative processes

• Photos showing both inside and outside views (if you are working with a container form)

• Any relevant notes on what worked well, what did not, and what you discovered in the process of carrying out this project

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Notes on the Reproductions Read these notes on the reproductions shown on the video Wood before you watch it or watch it again, so that you will know what to look for when the image appears. One of these reproductions is also in the Postcard Booklet. The Postcard Booklet has a wide range of additional work in wood. The contents of the Postcard Booklet are informally grouped according to both units and materials: works in wood (Unit 1) are before works in metal (Unit 2). Image numbers are not necessarily consecutive.

Nandaimon (Great South Gate). Todaiji Temple. Completed 1195 CE.

Wood, stone; 25.7 m high.

Nara, Japan.

The great southern gate of the Todaiji Temple of Nara, Japan, was built in the twelfth century. Since the sixth century, the basic structure in Japanese architecture has been timber framework carrying a peaked roof (or series of roofs). Lipped or gabled, the roof usually has a concave curve leading to wide overhanging eaves that turn up at the corners. Although the principal building material is wood, the foundations and terraces are stone.

Todaiji Temple (interior detail).

The main columns of this massive building are almost eight metres high and comparable to the stone columns of a European cathedral.

Sheik el-Balad. Egyptian 5th Dynasty. Circa 2500 BCE. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–001)

Sycamore, pegged arm, and inlaid eye; 108.18 cm high.

Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt.

Although wood deteriorates, expanding and contracting according to temperature and humidity, in a dry climate and protected from insects, it can last for thousands of years—as the wooden statue of Sheik el-Balad demonstrates. As a relatively minor dignitary, he is portrayed directly in wood rather than stone, but the work conforms to the convention of frontal viewing. Notice how the arms are pegged and fitted to the torso. This statue, with its formal step forward, also represents a first perilous advance by the human figure into an increasingly dynamic future. In the history of the single figure, we can see activity increasing in the passage from early statues to the twisting figures of the Baroque period.

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U1-12 Unit 1: Wood

Initiation masks from Suku and Yaka tribes.

Painted wood and fibre; 56 cm high.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire).

Photograph credit: Merton D. Simpson.

Artisans used wood for simple tools, ritual objects, and other artifacts such as these African masks, powerful and mysterious in their fibrous tree-bark settings. Each possesses a distinct structural character. One is spatial, with projecting linear extensions; the other is more solidly and sculpturally self-contained. Masks were used for initiations and religious ceremonies, weddings, and funerals.

Early in this century, African art exerted a profound influence on Western artists such as Picasso, Braque, Brancusi, Matisse, and the Fauvists. However, Western demands for African sculpture often influenced standards for the traditional arts.

Riemenschneider, Tilman. Group of Mourning Women. 1480.

Detail of the Wiblinger Altarpiece.

Painted linden wood; 127 cm high.

Furstlich Oettingen-Wallerstein’sche Bibliothek und Kunstsammlun, Schloss Harburg, Germany.

The great carved altarpieces of both northern and southern Europe provide outstanding examples of wood carving, as seen in this detail from a side of the Wiblinger Altarpiece. This work has been an inspiration for joiners, craftsmen, builders, architects, designers, and sculptors. Painted and gilded, it shows adept characterization, with expressive forms and gestures. Great skill and delicacy with refined detail and complex undercutting of drapery and other forms were made possible by the physical properties of the close-grained linden wood.

In the fifteenth century, wood carving ceased to be anonymous, and individual artists were identified by name. Riemenschneider and his contemporary Veit Stoss were unequalled in their mastery.

Saddle Tree with Design of Court Fans. 18th Century. Japan.

Lacquered wood.

Courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England.

Wood yields readily to tools—to saws, axes, chisels, gouges, and the power tools of the present. This lacquered and gilded saddle tree is an example of fine Japanese craftsmanship. The fluent, curvilinear forms are decorated with designs of court fans privilege. Although designed as a functional object—the frame of a saddle—it meets the highest aesthetic standards.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U1-13

Picasso, Pablo. Mandolin and Clarinet. 1914.

Painted wood; 57.4 × 35.9 × 23 cm.

Picasso Museum, Paris, France.

© 1991 Pablo Picasso/Vis-Art Copyright Inc.

After looking at objects of great technical efficiency and crafted elegance, it is rather a shock to see this construction, based on two musical instruments. This slide is included on the video to remind you that technical skill and high finish aren’t essential or the main objective of the artist. Here, Picasso is being innovative with waste material from his work bench or studio floor. After his Cubist experiments in two dimensions (which began in 1907, rapidly evolving from analytical to synthetic cubism), he made a logical progression from collage to relief and then to a series of explorations in the three dimensions.

Picasso nailed pieces of geometrically shaped waste together freely and instinctively, exploiting the natural colour and form of the materials and adding a little enlivening and descriptive black and white paint. The white-painted, projecting curve defined the space. Picasso the painter put aside the illusion of the canvas and projected his image forward into real space. Hepworth, Barbara. Pelagos. 1946.

Chestnut wood, paint, string; 37 × 39 × 33 cm.

Tate Gallery, London, England.

Credit: Art Resource, New York, USA.

Contrast Picasso’s Mandolin and Clarinet with Hepworth’s sculpture Pelagos, which also uses white paint on wood—in this case, to define a spiral of space passing through the spherical form of richly figured chestnut. The abstract pattern of the wood grain, rich and warm, contrasts with the cool white space, strung like a musical instrument. This contrast of material and form creates exciting tension and makes space as energetic and positive as mass.

A remarkable range in exploiting the qualities of wood is found in the works of Hepworth and fellow sculptor Henry Moore; both studied the natural conformation and grain of wood, discovering the form within the nature of the material. Breuer, Marcel. Reclining Chair. 1935.

Laminated bent birch plywood and upholstered pad; 81.3 × 147.3 × 60 cm.

Manufacturer: Isokon Furniture Co., England.

Collection: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, purchase.

Breuer’s bentwood chair, factory-produced of laminated plywood and upholstery fabric, is a classic of formed wood. It has the elegant lines of the later Bauhaus tradition: it is aesthetically satisfying and, at the same time, it is a good ergonomic design solution.

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U1-14 Unit 1: Wood

Recommended Resources There are numerous books on wood, with a great diversity of focus. Choose those that are technical rather than project-oriented.

Goldsworthy, Andy. Wood. New York: Abrams Books, 1996. Print.

Many photographs of Andy Goldsworthy’s extraordinary work outdoors, using natural wood to create very inventive forms.

Haywood, Charles H. Tools for Woodwork. New York: Drake Publishers, 1973. Print.

A useful small book on hand and power tools for woodworking, describing how to use and maintain them.

Liebson, Milt. Direct Wood Sculpture: Technique, Innovation, Creativity. Atglen: Schiffer Publishing, 2001. Print.

A comprehensive look at all aspects of wood sculpture, with good contemporary examples.

Noll, Terrie. The Joint Book: The Complete Guide to Wood Joinery. Cincinnati: Popular Woodworking Books, 2002. Print.

Illustrations of many different kinds of joints.

Stiles, David, and Jeanie Stiles. Woodworking Simplified: Foolproof Carpentry Projects for Beginners. Vermont: Chapters Publishing, 1996. Print.

A good practical introduction to working with wood; not directed towards sculpture specifically, but some of the ideas can be adapted.

Wagner, Willis H. Modern Woodworking. South Holland: Goodheart-Willcox Co., 1986. Print.

More comprehensive than you will need, but there are useful sections on hand and machine tools, materials and processes, and mass production and construction.

Additional Resources Internet

• Search for “Butterfield, Deborah” on Google Images to find some excellent large, clear images of Butterfield’s horse sculptures made from carefully chosen deadwood.

• Search for “Goldsworthy, Andy” on Google Images and Videos to see his work in wood and other materials.

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List of Illustrations 1. Section and detail: the five essential parts of the tree trunk. From computer

animation by Jeanie Sundland.

2. Methods of cutting timber. From computer animation by Jeanie Sundland.

3. Design notes for computer animation of some wood joints. Tom Hudson.

4. a. Dowel variation on mortise and tenon joint.

b. Japanese double scarf joint. From computer animation by E. John Love.

5. Notebook drawings for variations on a cube theme. Personal development using wood and particle board, with sheet-metal additions. Oliver Kuys.

6. Notebook drawings for lathe project. Experiment to personal development, by Oliver Kuys.

7. Notebook studies for “chairs” project. Personal development. Geoffrey Topham.

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U1-16 Unit 1: Wood

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U1-17

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U1-18 Unit 1: Wood

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U1-19

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U1-20 Unit 1: Wood

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U1-21

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U1-22 Unit 1: Wood

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U1-23

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Faculty of Arts

Unit 2: Metal

VISA 1301 Material and Form

VISA 1301: Material and Form U2-1

Unit 2: Metal Introduction

Note: DVD 2 includes the video program Metal.

Virtually every moment of our lives provides continuous contact with metal—from money in our pockets, the rings on our fingers, and the watches on our wrists. Our kitchens contain a wide range of metal utensils. Overhead, there’s the passing plane, and on the street, there are cars, buses, trucks. Metal reinforcements are hidden in concrete structures around us.

Sources, Classification, and Characteristics of Metal

Sources of Metal Metals are found in the earth’s crust as ores—natural, impure chemical compounds that are mixed and refined to provide the comparatively pure metals with which we are familiar. Some metals, notably gold, silver and copper, are occasionally found naturally in the pure form.

You can find scrap or new metal in scrap metal yards, at garages and auto-body shops, and at hardware stores.

Look for:

• Basic forms of material: rods, bars, tubes, sheets, and so on

• Forms that are visually interesting to you

• Worked materials—any old or discarded metal scraps

• Parts of objects, machines, and manufactured articles—these can all be adapted

• Iron wire 1.5 mm(1/16 in), also known as baling wire

Classification of Metal Metals can be grouped in various ways; for example, as:

• Natural products of earth

• Alloys—artificial combinations of metals

• Ferrous—containing iron

• Non-ferrous

• Precious—rare, naturally occurring, such as gold, silver, and platinum

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Characteristics of Metal The physical properties of metals vary greatly. From an aesthetic point of view, their degree of ductility and malleability are the most important considerations. Ductile and malleable metals can be shaped into various forms, with the application of heat and pressure. For example, when iron is red-hot, it is one of the most malleable, or “plastic,” of all materials. Many metals can also be worked in an unheated state.

Metals can be:

• Extremely hard

• Load-bearing

• Resistant to abrasion

• Resistant to breakage

• Resistant to fatigue

• Resistant to stress

Metal in Art and Craft Smelting of metals was a major step in the development of technology. The concentration of heat to melt liquid copper out of ore was probably achieved in the Middle East around 3500 BCE, and it was found that soft copper could be mixed or alloyed with tin to make bronze, which could provide a cutting edge. Bronze weapons and tools took the place of wood and stone implements in the eastern Mediterranean as early as 2500 BCE.

Metal technology brought about rapid advances in the development of common tools, such as the plough and the axe, which are so well designed and functional that they have scarcely changed. Other technologies, such as wheeled vehicles, weaponry and armour, involved more complex manufacturing techniques and, through history, have required the cooperation n of the craft guilds.

Although iron was known to the Egyptians, the archaeological term “Iron Age” is used only for the period when iron was mainly used for tools, weapons, and ornamentation. Modern processing of iron began in central Europe in the mid- fourteenth century, when it was recognized as having both the capacity to cut other materials and, when hardened, to cut other pieces of iron. With its tempered cutting edge, iron is the basis of all modern manufacturing tools. Development of the cutting edge led to the first steel tools, which were progressively hardened by additions of small quantities of carbon—and, ultimately, to machine tools.

The technology that allowed for the making of bronze led to casting of ritual objects in molten bronze in clay and earth moulds. Using bronze as an art material began a long tradition, a recent example of which is Henry Moore’s Knife Edge Two Piece, the bronze you’ll see at the beginning of the video Metal.

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By the Middle Ages, the working of iron and steel had reached standards of excellence unsurpassed today. The sword-makers of Sheffield, Damascus, and Toledo made products of superb quality. Suits of armour made all over Europe showed the extensive expertise, adaptability, and mechanical ingenuity of the sheet- iron worker. Interestingly, the sheet assemblage method was not used to fabricate human figures until this century. The statue figure was traditionally required to be as seamless as possible! So, modelling, carving and casting were done in the traditional methods, and these were resolutely perfected by the Greeks and Romans.

The distinction between art and craft developed only during the Renaissance of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. At that time, an artist began as an apprentice in a studio, with a master who was a painter, sculptor, or both. Artistic tradition interacts with technical innovation, but often belatedly. For example, early in the twentieth century, constructivists Naum Gabo and his brother Antoine Pevsner used a wide range of metals and plastics. Julio Gonzalez taught Picasso how to weld in about 1928, though Picasso had already—in about 1912—worked with sheet metal and bronze to create early Cubist forms (see the Postcard Booklet).

My own generation in the 1950s was the first to accept the idea that all industrial machine processes and materials were available to the artist. Now, many modern sculptors employ industrial craftsmen to handle large-scale or complex fabrication.

In the 1960s and 1970s, major developments took place in the uses of metal, employing both hand tools and industrial processes.

In the later twentieth century, open-minded and experimental artists discovered new ways of continuing the interaction between art and industry, technology and ideas.

Working with Metal Metals possess a wide range of colour that can be enhanced in various ways. They conduct heat and electricity well and are highly reflective when polished. For precision work, they are the supreme materials.

Metals can be worked in many different ways. They can be:

• Shaped by hammering, forging, and moulding.

• Hardened or softened by heat.

• Drawn out into wires.

• Rolled into sheets and other forms.

In the Metal video, typical methods of working and production are demonstrated by computer animation. The production of available forms—sheets, rods, rounds, hexagons, octagons, tubes, angles, and steel beams of various sections—is followed

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by showing metal machining tools, including a lathe, shaper, and horizontal milling machine in action. See illustration 5 at the end of this unit for an example of turning metal with a lathe.

Spinning aluminum sheet represents a recent development compared to the traditional method of shaping sheet metal by hand. For example, a silver bowl is hand-shaped by hammering a circular disc of sheet silver against a wood block or other form, regularly and systematically, so that the edge is formed into a round. Sheet silver and copper must be softened by annealing (heating and then cooling), as constant hammering “hardens” them.

Sheet metals easily assume folded rectangular and angular forms when bent along a line, by hand or machine, and they can also be rolled into cylindrical and conical forms. Because of the malleability of sheet metal, forms typical of earthenware and glass vessels can be produced.

Forging, casting, moulding, and pressing are common methods of working metals, as are wasting (cutting away) and constructing, which involves fastening and joining processes.

By combining various metal-working methods, many shapes and forms can be produced.

Joining and Forming Methods • Tying or binding is a useful method for fastening strips, sheets, and bars of

metal and can also be used for ready-made forms and objects.

• Adhesives are usually used for small pieces, particularly thin sheet or strips—epoxy can be successful if there is sufficient surface contact relative to the weight or stress imposed.

• Cold-forming methods of attaching, such as bending or using hardware like rivets, nuts, or bolts in working with sheet and strip metals require a hand drill and hammer for rivets, but you can bend sheet or strip metals with your fingers, or twist and tie it with a pliers or a vise.

• Speed nuts and self-tapping screws, which require only a drilled hole and screwdriver, are quick and easy to use.

• Hot methods of fusing include soldering, brazing, welding, and using gas or varied electrical processes; for larger forms, brazing with a propane or butane gas torch is recommended.

• Metals can be joined by using lead-free solder.

In the video program, David is shown carrying out cold-forming activities. These activities require a means of holding material firmly—normally a vise bolted to a bench, but you may be able to improvise using other techniques discussed in this unit.

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Thin sheet aluminum is so soft you can press it around any cylindrical form—a rod or tube—held in the vise or clamped at one end. You can fold it by clamping it down under a strip of wood or metal, then pressing down, using another piece of wood, or holding it between two pieces of angle iron.

Strip-wrought iron (three millimetres/one-eighth–inch) can be bent cold; still cheaper material, such as soft steel, can be treated similarly. You can also twist and bend these materials between the jaws of a vise. You can make angles upright in the jaws of a vise by putting the metal horizontal in the vise and hammering it against the side.

You can use soldering—the simplest heat process—to join small-scale wire forms and constructions of thin sheet-material. An electric soldering iron is the fastest way to fuse the two pieces of metal together with hot solder and flux. If you use this method of metal working, choose lead-free solder for the least toxicity. For larger forms of material, brazing with a propane or butane gas torch is recommended.

Metal-Working Tools The simplest metal-working hand tools and their basic operating principles) have not changed in a very long time. We still use these basic tools:

• A common edge, or face, of hardened steel or other abrasive material in contact with the metal to be cut

• A cutting tool locked in a holding form to make contact between the cutting surface and the work

• Rivets available in soft iron, aluminum, copper, and brass in a variety of standard sizes

• A hand drill and hammer to use rivets

• Ordinary bolts and nuts

• Pliers—either general purpose or long-nosed

• Wrenches

Don’t be afraid of tools. Tools are merely parts of systems, used and controlled by the operator. By themselves, tools have no capability to make anything on their own hook. After all, robotic tools are programmed by people.

When we choose to use a tool, we must accept its range of action, particular limitations, and the characteristic forms it can produce in order to use it in a creative way.

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Metal Finishing In addition to grinding and polishing, metals can be finished by:

• Sand-blasting

• Plating, using tin, nickel, electro, or silver

• Metal spraying

• Galvanizing, or hot-dipping in zinc

• Anodizing (used for aluminum, increasing its natural oxidization to provide a coloured, protective surface)

• Painting—this provides a protective coating, but is less used than other protective processes because of its relatively short life

• Coating with plastics (resins)—some have a short outdoor life; however, acrylic, epoxy, polyester, and urethane are fairly durable

• Coating with baked enamel—one of the most durable finishes for steel, which rusts under a coating, given any atmospheric penetration

Abrasives, which are a form of a wasting tool, are usually granular or powdered, glued to cloth or paper, and graded for hand or sanding tools. They are also available as discs or belts. “Wet and dry” paper—or an abrasive sheet plus water—is excellent for hand finishing.

Assignment 2: Metals

Introduction In Assignment 2, you are required to complete two projects. Many of you may have little or no experience working with metals in a workshop situation, nor will you be able to duplicate the conditions that the on-camera students enjoy. So, the assignment for this unit requires only levels of technology that suit your experience and any tools and equipment that may be available to you.

Before you begin working on your assignment, read carefully through all of the instructions for this assignment.

Remember: Advanced technology doesn’t guarantee good work. Simple tools and methods have been used to create masterworks in many cultures. In each video program, you will notice that there some students working with simple technology.

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Projects and Options For this assignment, you are required to complete two projects and submit photographic documentation and notes for both:

• Project 1: Soft Wire (one of the simple or intermediate technology options)

AND

• Project 2: Scrap Metal (one of the simple or intermediate technology options)

While working on your assignment, document your work using photography. Document your ideas in your notebook pages. Include your drawings, written notes, diagrams, and photographs. You can also use video. Refer to the Course Guide for instructions on how to send in assignments.

When you have completed this assignment, (Projects 1 and 2) send in your photographic record and your notebook pages. If you are following the Suggested Schedule, you should have completed this assignment by Week Four. We recommend that you send in your documentation for Units 1 and 2 in one batch.

Instructions Project 1: Soft Wire For Project 1, choose one of the following two options:

• Option 1-A: Simple Technology

OR

• Option 1-B: Intermediate Technology

Option 1-A: Simple Technology This option is provided to give you the opportunity of experimenting with the capabilities of soft wire.

1. Using black iron wire (or similar, easily manipulated wire), carry out a series of experiments, working on a smallish scale. Exploit the varied capability of the material: it can be straight, curved, controlled, or crumpled. Wire can be used to build as well as to bind; you can bend it with your fingers or use a pair of pliers to twist and tie pieces together.

2. With pliers, you can also form 3-mm-(1/8 in-)diameter wire or thin rods with little effort, and use finer wires to tie them.

3. Then, make a series of geometric forms. Refer to the Universal space families illustration in the Course Information Guide for examples of forms. Work from simple to complex to create your own geometric structures. For example, if you like working on a really small scale, you could make some fantastic jewellery.

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4. After your first exploratory use of the iron wire, use it to create images and forms derived from the human figure or from the animal world. Start with individual forms, but freely develop your ideas to involve pairs or groups, and, if necessary, provide a context, with wire or other material. For example, the American sculptor Alexander Calder made a circus: this work is Calder’s Circus (1926–1931).

5. Turn your pieces around to make sure your forms are three dimensional— when you look from different angles, the sculptures should show different aspects. Avoid flat silhouettes. Make sure that the lines of the wire are exactly as you want them (curved or straight, and so on).

6. Take any sheet or strip material that can be formed cold, and join it with “cold” fasteners, for example, drilling and wiring, rivets, screws (self- tapping), nuts and bolts, or glue. Keep the structure to a scale and a complexity that you can carry out effectively.

7. Alternatively, instead of one structure, you may find it easier or more interesting to make a series of simple related or contrasting structures, such as a geometric series, each form involving only two, three, or four pieces, from strip or sheet. If you choose to create a series, it would be useful to first draw variations in your Notebook, showing different ways of relating forms that are similar or different in shape.

In this serial way of working, after making the units, you can decide how they will be presented: as a series, a group, or a number of forms in relation to each other and in a specific space.

You will notice that some of the students in the video program use various types and gauges of wire mesh, ranging from superfine mesh to chicken wire, and four- square to hexagonal patterns. Others use perforated sheet and expanded metal. Using any open-structured material, carry out a series by bending and forming metal by hand on a relatively small scale.

You also may use other materials such as wire, rod, strip, sheet, or plaster, in conjunction with the mesh in the development of any preliminary ideas.

Your final piece(s) may be abstract or figurative.

Option 1-B: Intermediate Technology This option is provided to give you the opportunity of working with metal using heat-processing methods. If you have access to a metalwork bench, vise, and metal- working tools, along with some form of heat, carry out any of the project alternatives listed under Option 1-A.

1. Begin by selecting your materials.

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2. Experiment with ways to realize your ideas in systems of joining and technical methods made possible by your equipment, like welding. The theme or subject matter may derive from the materials and forms you select —it’s your choice, whether abstract or referring to the human figure. Remember: Most vertical structures can be associated to the human figure.

3. Alternatively, you may link your sculpture to—or derive it from—anything else in the world around you, whether materials or a setting.

Project 2: Scrap Metal For Project 2, choose one of the following two options:

• Option 2-A: Simple Technology—Relationships

OR

• Option 2-B: Intermediate Technology—Brazing or Welding

Option 2-A: Simple Technology—Relationships 1. Pay a visit to your local scrap metal yard and look for interesting pieces that

have a particular form. Whether the forms are geometric or have a character special to their previous function is up to you. Visiting a scrap yard can offer an unparalleled opportunity to work with a wide range of forms, colours, textures and scales. Although it may take some effort to locate and travel to a scrap yard, the effort can bear fruit through the rest of the course.

2. If you want, look at the Student Projects section in this unit to see how the students in the videos worked with scrap metal.

In the video program, you’ll see how some students used scrap materials. For example, Helen works by trial and error with pre-cut materials, trying out different relationships among circular, internally cut geometric forms, cut discs, heavy metal cable and the remnants of machine parts. She tried out different relationships, before arriving at a series of forms that included a suspended structure. This is an example of the simplest technology—merely bringing things together in relationship and making a personal context for the materials. See Illustration 6 at the end of the unit to view Helen’s Notebook studies of improvising with scrap metal constructions.

Geoff also uses materials found in the scrap yard so he does not have to construct all the parts for his Pegasus. He does, however, have the problem of how to join them together, which he solves by welding, drilling, and tying with wire.

3. Explore your selected forms to develop a number of possibilities.

4. During your working process, remember to document your work in your with photographs and on your notebook pages.

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If scrap dealers are not amenable to you purchasing small quantities of metal, try asking if you can physically move objects around on the site and then photograph them, or ask for permission to photograph the forms as they currently are placed on site. By carefully composing photographic images, you can discover a series of contrasts in form, colour, texture, and other interesting characteristics.

Note: If you are unable to use or purchase metals from a scrap yard, please discuss alternatives with your Open Learning Faculty Member, as you will still need to find a way to do hands-on exploration with metal as a physical material.

Option 2-B: Intermediate Technology—Brazing or Welding Begin by selecting your scrap metal materials.

1. Explore and experiment with your materials, using trial and error.

2. Develop and complete your sculptural ideas, by welding.

3. The theme or subject matter can derive from the materials and forms you select. Or, you may have ideas that you impose on the material from anything in the world around you.

Safety Caution: If you are pregnant, avoid welding of any kind because of the potential hazard from the fumes.

Notes on the Reproductions The following reproductions are on DVD 2 in the video Metal and/or in the Postcard Booklet.

The Ardagh Chalice. 8th Century. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–006)

Gold, silver, bronze, glass, rock crystal; 15 cm high.

National Museum of Ireland.

The Ardagh Chalice, made in Ireland, is an amazing example of early Christian metal work, from the Golden Age of Celtic art. It involves two forms: a hemisphere and a cone. Broad areas of plain of plain silver are interspersed with panels of exceptionally fine filigree work in gold.

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There are further additions of bronze and silver with enamel crosses. The panels of filigree are interlaced and the decoration shows the traditional Celtic preference for whorls, circles, spirals, and other decorative linear forms.

Cellini, Benvenuto. Salt Cellar for Francis I. 1539–1543.

Gold, enamel, and ebony; 28 × 34 cm.

Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, Austria.

Thief, liar, brawler, and possible murderer, Cellini was also a Renaissance man: goldsmith, medallist, sculptor, designer, and writer. He owes much of his fame to a flamboyant autobiography. After an extremely violent period, involved in sieges and sacking, he fled to France to work for Francis I. This gold salt cellar—Cellini’s only major work in precious metal to escape destruction—shows his brilliant virtuosity, impressing us with ingenuity and skill. Function gives way to fantasy; a container for condiments is obviously less important than a divine conversation piece.

As salt came from the sea and pepper from the land, Cellini made a boat-shaped container for salt under the guardianship of Neptune, while the pepper in a tiny temple is watched over by the goddess Earth. On the cellar base are figures representing the four seasons and the four parts of the day (night, dawn, day, and twilight).

Verrocchio, Andrea. Monument to Bartolomeo Colleoni. 1435–1488.

Bronze; 395 cm high.

Venice, Italy.

Photo credit: C.P. Czartoryski, 1991.

Verrocchio, another typical Renaissance man—sculptor, painter, goldsmith— possessed exceptional versatility, even among his proficient fellow artists. The Colleoni monument stands in Campo dei San Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. I first saw it in the heavy rain of a winter day; it looked almost black and threatening. The fiercely advancing horse bearing Colleoni the mercenary, his chin and shoulder thrust forward menacingly, is the image of brutal force and resolution. It is probably the greatest equestrian statue in the world. Verrocchio died before the work’s completion, but it was finished in 1496 by Alessandro Leopardi.

Caro, Anthony. Sun Feast. 1969–1970.

Painted steel; 181.5 × 416 × 218.5 cm.

Sun Feast rises from the ground and flows along a horizontal platform like waves against a horizon. The curves flow from a strong circular profile on the left and leap up on the right. A sequence of rolled and curved sheet-steel forms, reminiscent of

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ploughshares and propeller blades, rolls over like a lazy wave—to be stopped by a vertical rectangular plane. You can read the work from left to right and reverse, or from front to back and reverse. When planes become curves, they present new surfaces as you move around them; they are the most “changeable” of three- dimensional shapes.

Mendini, Alessandro. Coffee and Tea Service. 1982.

Silver.

This service is made up of forms based on spheres and ovoids, which provide the hollow-ware bodies with a satisfyingly simple flow of surface and contour. These forms are a good example of how the plasticity of sheet metal allows it to be shaped to conform to characteristics more natural to ceramics. The slender tube pedestals and handles, which look unnervingly thin, actually exploit the load-bearing capacity of metal—and, at the same time, provide a quality of poised elegance. The small flags or wings add a stylistic frivolity of personal trademark.

Rogers, Richard, and Renzo Piano. Centre Pompidou. (1977).

Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou.

Paris, France.

Centre Pompidou, nicknamed the “Beaubourg,” was completed in 1977. Designed by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, the centre rises in brash contrast to the surrounding stone buildings of the old Marais district. It looks like a building turned inside out—or a lobster with its bones on the outside. Everything is supported by an exposed steel structural form of hollow and solid members, of considerable engineering invention and sculptural elegance. It looks like a composition of standard industrial elements, but was in fact custom-designed, engineered, and fabricated.

The building has five stories of clear space above ground, but half its accommodation is below ground. On the east facade, all services are exposed and polychromed: blue for air-conditioning, green for water, and red for elevators. On the west facade, a Plexiglas-and-steel elevator carries visitors to all floors and provides varying views of Paris.

Apart from its collection of works of art, visiting exhibitions, public library, and audio-visual and music centre, the Beaubourg is a national institution with regional affiliations. The French will learn to love it as much as their Eiffel Tower.

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Picasso, Pablo. Bull’s Head. 1943. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–005)

Welded bicycle handlebars and leather bicycle seat; 42 × 41 × 15 cm.

Picasso found these two objects next to each other in a mixed up pile of objects. He reported joining them together in his mind to make a bull’s head before he even had time to think. The sculpture so outraged viewers when it was first exhibited that it was torn off the wall. He had been making work from found material since 1913 and went on to make many other sculptures using found objects: for example, Baboon and Young, in which the mouth of a baboon is made out of two toy cars. Picasso’s leap of imagination shown in Bull’s Head has influenced generations of artists.

Cabinet with views of Kyoto. Early 20th Century.

Iron and gold; 15 cm high.

By courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England.

This tiny cabinet is Japanese Komai work. Made of iron, it is overlaid with gold. The doors of the cabinet are decorated with views of Kyoto and the cabinet is further embellished with filigree and inlay. Precious though this portable container is, it was no doubt crafted to hold and transport even more precious jewellery and miniature objets d’art.

Picasso, Pablo. Violin. 1915.

Painted sheet metal construction; 100 × 63.7 × 18 cm.

Picasso Museum, Paris, France.

©1991, Pablo Picasso/Vis-Art Copyright Inc.

Picasso’s Violin combines the analytical attitudes of Cubism with the artist’s own powerful subjective responses. The sheet-metal pieces are placed in relationship by instinct and by trial and error, and most of the work is painted in blue, with a black and white diagonal pattern. A combination of painting and structuring, the work was created at a time when Picasso was determined to see how far he could revolutionize the perception of an object by moving from two dimensions to three. He extended the painting forward into real space, demonstrating how early Cubist approaches in painting were closely related to sculpture.

Talking about the early Cubist paintings, Picasso suggested that, since the colours did no more than indicate differences in perspective, or planes inclined one way or the other, it would have been enough to cut them up, and then assemble them according to the indications given by the colour, to be confronted with a “sculpture.” So an apparently “knockabout” construction actually has profound significance in twentieth- century art. (See the image of his Guitar in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–008.)

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Paolozzi, Eduardo. Hamlet in a Japanese Manner. 1966.

Cast and fabricated aluminum, in three pieces:

109 × 110 × 97 cm,

154 × 183 × 185 cm, and

165 × 175 × 110 cm.

Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland.

Paolozzi was a great manipulator of collage. This work is an assemblage of three parts; they are permutable, that is, movable into various arrangements. This potential for variation of form in space has obvious environmental implications.

Although Paolozzi’s titles usually had little or no significance for the sculpture, in this case, because of the three forms and their spatial arrangement, one can’t help relating the work to theatrical form. The forms seem to present a dramatic sculptural incident—a variable performance of machine presences.

Paolozzi was never primarily concerned with working in the classical sculptural tradition. His restless creative mind was always searching for new living totems, new symbols of our time. This work is also typical of his machine style and industrial form. Another version was intensified in its visual complexity by being painted with colours that flowed over and contradicted, rather than conformed to, the geometric structure.

Caro, Anthony. Georgiana. 1969–1970. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–007)

Steel, painted deep red; 155 × 292 × 472.5 cm.

Georgiana playfully combines steel circle and arc forms, with a connecting series of waves made from ploughshare forms and rectangular shapes. Together these are arranged in a loose, open triangular configuration. The apparent lightness of this piece derives partly from Caro’s placement of negative spaces. The circular and rectangular shapes have been hollowed out to create negative spaces. These, together with the arc and wave forms, set up another set of rhythms across the piece. Similarly, one rectangular form lies horizontally on its edge and is echoed by another held vertically. Each shape element lightly touches its neighbours as though providing just sufficient contact to pass on its energy.

Mabunda, Goncalo. Untitled Throne. 2011. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–062)

Welded guns and shells; size unknown.

Mabunda grew up during Mozambique’s sixteen-year civil war. His sculptures are made from a stockpile of decommissioned weapons left over from the conflict. In these pieces, he refers to African traditional thrones, carved seats, and symbols of power. Mabunda’s careful placement of weapons and use of negative spaces has created poised and ironic works that both embody the waste of lives and resources used in the conflict and suggest the possibility of a more hopeful future.

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Recommended Resources Bedford, John R. Metalcraft: Theory and Practice. London: John Murray Publishers, 1968. Print.

International metric edition. Small but comprehensive, workshop-based, and well-illustrated.

Hessenberg, Karin. Sculpting Basics: Everything You Need to Know to Create Fantastic Three-Dimensional Art. London: Barrons Educational Series, Inc., 2005. Print.

Not specific to metal, but contains a section on working with wire. Project- oriented, with consequent limitations in creativity.

Plowman, John. The Encyclopedia of Sculpting Techniques: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2003. Print.

A wide-ranging guide with a section on working with metal, including brazing, metal assemblage, welding, and riveting. Includes many photographs and examples.

Walker, John, R. Exploring Metalworking: Basic Fundamentals. South Holland, IL: Goodheart-Willcox Co., 1976. Print.

Good technical material; design level of projects is generally low.

Additional Resources Internet

• Search for “Kapoor, Anish” in Google Images—shows large, highly polished mirror-like sculpture reflecting the sky, and some other work in metal.

• Search for “Woodrow, Bill” in Google Images—earlier work shows cut sheet metal from car hoods or washing machines, made into different elements of a narrative.

List of Illustrations 1. Some available forms of metal: rod and tube. From computer animation by Jeanie

Sundland.

2. Typical welded joints. From computer animation by E. John Love.

3. Design notes for computer animations. Tom Hudson.

4. Horizontal milling. From computer animation by E. John Love.

5. The functions of the lathe: turning. From computer animation by E. John Love.

6. Notebook studies for scrap metal constructions, drawn while improvising. Helen Yeomans.

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7. Notebook drawings for turning forms on the lathe. Oliver Kuys.

8. Notebook studies for relationships of metal parts. Ed Person.

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Faculty of Arts

Unit 3: Plastic

VISA 1301 Material and Form

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Unit 3: Plastic Introduction

Note: DVD 2 includes the video program Plastics. The supplementary videos contain a section on working with plastic and forms.

Since the end of the last century, industrial chemists have invented a vast range of synthetic materials that we generally refer to as plastics. All forms of life are based on large molecules made of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms combined with other elements. By using heat, pressure, and catalysts, chains of molecules, or monomers, can be linked to form more complex molecules, or polymers. For well over a century, chemists have been selecting monomers and joining them in complex high polymers. The types of bonds that hold the polymers together within the chains determine the ultimate characteristics of the plastic material—its hardness, optical properties, tensile strength, and so on.

Sources, Classification, and Characteristics of Plastic

Sources of Plastic Although plastics are synthetic—human-made—substances, they are the result of subjecting natural products to chemical processing. Plastics contain chemical elements present in coal, air, and water, but they are actually synthesized from other common materials. Cellulose is made from wood pulp or cotton; organic acids are made from coal tar; casein is made from skim milk; and many products are derived from corn, potatoes, peanuts and soya beans.

Classification of Plastic Plastics may be classified in a number of ways. You will learn about the two main groups, thermoplastic and thermo-setting plastic in this unit. You will also be introduced to expanded plastic. Within each of these groups, plastics differ according to the way they are manufactured.

The heating and moulding of thermoplastic materials is similar to the heating and forging of metal. Both soften when heated and harden when cooled.

Oil paint dries when solvents evaporate—the oil belongs to a family of materials known as organic polymers. Casein and egg used in tempera painting are similar materials. During drying, they undergo polymerization to make more complex molecular structures.

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U3-2 Unit 3: Plastic

Today’s plastics possess an incredible range of properties and characteristics. They may be hard or soft, dense or open, heavy or lightweight, porous or non-porous, rigid or flexible, elastic or limp, translucent, transparent, or opaque, flammable or heat resistant. They can also assume various forms, as solids, liquids, foams, fibres, films, sheets, coatings, and adhesives. Solids can be blocks, rods, strips, tubes and extrusions of many kinds.

Characteristics of Plastic

Acrylic Acrylic is the most transparent of all plastics and—with ninety-two per cent light transmission—more transparent than most glass. In the trade, I’ve heard it referred to as “water-white.” Acrylic pipes light—that is, it transmits light from one edge to another with very little loss of light. You can take a piece of acrylic rod, bend it to go around a corner with a reasonably wide radius, and when you shine a light at one end it will be piped to the other end.

Acrylic has great potential for constructions and sculpture. It is available in sheets and other shapes in more than fifty colours. It can be bonded with adhesives or solvents, and the transparent liquid form can also be coloured and cast. Unfortunately, acrylic can be damaged by gasoline, cleaning fluids, acetone, and even perfume, and it is highly susceptible to scratching.

Polyester Resin Polyester resin has been used by artists more than all other plastics combined. Because of its great durability in external conditions, I used it to make an outdoor mural in the fifties. However, it was really in the sixties that artists discovered its value for sculpture and constructions.

Modern Plastics There were forerunners of modern plastics. Papier-mâché, a centuries-old Chinese development, is an example of liquid plastic. The paper is bonded with a solvent that evaporates and hardens. Various ceramic clays were the precursors of modern thermo-setting plastics; they hardened and became fixed in form as a result of a chemical reaction induced by heat.

As often happens with new materials, plastics were created to resemble and substitute for objects and artefacts previously made of organic materials, such as ivory, wood, bone, and leather. Gradually, plastics were recognized as useful and interesting for their own sake.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-3

Synthetic plastics were revolutionary because it became possible to create desired characteristics instead of being limited to the specific properties of natural materials. Theoretically, you could say to an industrial chemist, “Make me a material that possesses properties ABC or XYZ.” It was possible to modify the characteristics of synthetic material by adding material compounds and colour.

Fibreglass-Reinforced Polyester Fibreglass-reinforced polyester has been used for a great variety of sculpture, from the abstract forms of Phillip King to the figurative realism of Duane Hanson (see Tourists in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–009).

Fibreglass-reinforced polyester is used commercially for making boats, car bodies, helmets, luggage, tool boxes, swimming pools, theatre sets, baths, storage tanks, skis, fishing rods and numerous other objects that require strong material that is lightweight, springy, and heat resistant.

Working with Plastic There are more than fifty major families of plastics, with many varieties in each family and with new ones being continuously discovered. In fact, the nomenclature or names of plastics can be rather confusing. There are family (generic) names, chemical names, and commercial (trade) names. For example, acrylic—the family name of one common plastic —is made of polymethyl methacrylate, which is known as Plexiglas in North America, Perspex in Britain, and ShinkoLite in Japan.

Thermoplastic When heated to varying temperatures, thermoplastic softens without chemical change. It can be formed and reformed. Scrap material can be ground and used again. You can manipulate these plastics easily by heating, bending, and twisting them; by pressing them against or between formers; and by vacuum-forming them in various ways.

Common thermoplastics include acrylic, cellulose acetate, polyethylene (polythene), polypropylene, polystyrene, and vinyl.

The thermoplastic most used in the video program is acrylic sheet, which is perfectly safe to use cold; however, it requires the use of a VOC mask when heated for forming. In the video program, we used an electric heater in the top of the vacuum former to soften the acrylic sheet, but you could use almost any electric heat source.

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U3-4 Unit 3: Plastic

You need to be able to hold the heat source over the material for the time it takes to soften the acrylic—which will depend on the thickness of the strip or sheet. You could also lay the acrylic on an old, unwanted large baking sheet or sheet of scrap metal and heat it outside using a blow torch at medium temperature, moving back and forth under the baking sheet. When it has softened slightly, take it off the sheet and form it—either freely, by hand, using protective gloves, or by pressing it around a preformed object.

Thermo-Setting Plastic Thermo-setting plastic remains hard and unchangeable after being formed by heat and pressure. To alter the form of the material or object, you must saw, cut, drill, or waste by other methods. Thermo-setting resins and adhesives are supplied as viscous liquid or powder, with a hardening agent that may be liquid, paste, or powder. They are almost always used with a filler—wood, powder, cotton flock, or fibreglass—which bonds particles or fibres to strengthen the material.

Common thermo-setting plastics include epoxy, polyester, polyurethane, alkyd, phenolic, and silicone.

Expanded Plastic Plastics of this type form a group of their own. They may be either thermoplastic or thermo-setting, according to the resin chosen for expansion. You can vary their uses to suit your requirements by controlling their composition and density properties. In the video program, you will see a student carrying out experiments with expanded plastic on a small scale, first by free foaming and then by filling moulds. You can also cut expanded plastics with a handsaw, rasp, file, or hot wire.

Polystyrene and polyurethane are the most common foam materials, available in solid blocks, sheets, and bars. You can also buy then in two-part systems that can be poured or sprayed. Styrofoam (foamed polystyrene) is compatible with polyester but dissolved by epoxy.

On the DVD for this unit, you are shown industrial processes in which fluid plastic materials are given shape. Plastic, in the form of a liquid, powder, granules or flakes, is shaped by calendaring, laminating, sheet forming, or coating into intermediate sheets from which final products can be made. You will see various moulding processes demonstrated, including blow moulding, compression moulding, and transfer moulding, as well as injection and extrusion moulding, which are shown by animation. Refer to illustrations 1 to 4 at the end of this unit for explanations of these terms; also, remember to refer to the Glossary.

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Environmental Considerations Plastics revolutionized manufacturing, art, and design. It was considered a triumph of synthetic chemistry to produce materials that were so resistant to natural solvents, weathering and time, and had dramatic new medical uses. But now, in a world littered with virtually indestructible material accumulating as trash, it has become critical to find more ecological solutions. We need to demand the development of more biodegradable and weathering polymers to avoid smothering our environment with indestructible synthetic waste. Perhaps, reducing our individual and societal consumption of non-biodegradable substances would be a start towards more environmentally friendly living.

Assignment 3: Plastic Introduction In Assignment 3, you are required to complete two projects from two different sections.

Detailed instructions on how to work through the assignment are presented in the following pages, under the heading “Instructions.” You will also find information on working with forms in plastic, in the supplementary video on DVD 6.

Projects and Sections Complete two projects: one from Section 1 and one from Section 2. Complete and submit documentation for your choice of a project from both of the following sections:

• Section 1: Experimental (choose either Project 1-A, 1-B, 1-C, or 1-D)

AND

• Section 2: Personal Development (choose either Project 2-A or 2-B)

Documentation and Notebook Remember that for each assignment in this course, you must submit documentation of your work. When you have completed your assignment, your documentation must show photographs of 3 or 4 examples of each of your project options. Include various stages of development and different vantage points at completion that show different relationships between your pieces of work. Crop and magnify the images as much as you are able. Use drawings and brief written notes about the progress of your projects in your Notebook pages.

If you are following the Suggested Schedule, you should have completed Unit3 by Week 6. We recommend that you wait until you have completed Unit 4. Send in your Notebook pages and photographic documentation for both Unit 3 and Unit 4 together.

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U3-6 Unit 3: Plastic

Getting Started Selecting Your Material Acrylic is a thermoplastic that we used in the video program and that you may wish to use in your assignment. It is the most transparent of all plastics and—with ninety- two per cent light transmission—more transparent than most glass. In the trade I’ve heard it referred to as “water-white.” Acrylic “pipes” light—that is, it transmits light from one edge to another with very little loss of light. You can take a piece of acrylic rod, bend it to go around a corner with a reasonably wide radius, and when you shine a light at one end it will be piped to the other end. You may need to darken the room to see and photograph this.

Acrylic has great potential for constructions and sculpture. It is available in sheets and other shapes in more than fifty colours. It can be bonded with adhesives or solvents, and the transparent liquid form can also be coloured and cast. Unfortunately, acrylic can be damaged by gasoline, cleaning fluids, acetone and even perfume, and it is highly susceptible to scratching. If you buy sheet acrylic (Plexiglas), you will find that the surfaces are covered in paper or plastic film. Leave this protective cover on until the last moment before heating. You can draw on it the protective cover before cutting. Otherwise, draw directly on the acrylic with a grease pencil or non-indelible soft marker. You can use the same cutting tools for acrylic as for wood or metal.

The most common thermo-setting material you are likely to use is polyester resin. This resin has been used by artists more than all other plastics combined. However, it was really in the sixties that artists discovered its value for sculpture and constructions. Colour could be introduced, and laminates of varying form and thickness could be made by the cold, hand lay-up method.

Polyester and epoxy are virtually interchangeable for laminating and cold-casting, but polyester is much less toxic.

Using Additions The most common thermo-setting material you are likely to use is polyester resin. When, in the past, we may only have been able to add colour to the surface of a finished object, with synthetic materials, we can add colour at the initial level of production so that the object is coloured all the way through. Colour could be introduced, and laminates of varying form and thickness could be made by the cold, hand lay-up method.

You will notice in the video program that the cold lay-up process requires you to add a catalyst to the resin before applying it directly onto your former or to the fibreglass reinforcement.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-7

Fibreglass reinforcements vary, but the most common type is chopped strand mat, which is available in different weights. A lightweight type is the easiest if you are laying-up over a complex or angular form. Heavier weights and woven mats are suitable for flat surfaces or for work that must have considerable strength in any direction.

Fibreglass-reinforced polyester has been used for a great variety of sculpture, from the abstract forms of Phillip King to the figurative realism of Duane Hanson (see “Tourists” in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–009). Polyester and epoxy can be used for casting, as you will see in the video program, and they are convenient for small- scale experiments, such as geometric solids. They may be transparent or translucent, or you can make them opaque by adding dye, well-mixed powder pigment, or commercial plastic-based pigment.

You can also add other materials, such as finely sifted gypsum (plaster) or other compounds, which will reduce the curing speed when you have added the catalyst to prevent cracking and discolouring.

Besides colour and curing compounds, you can add flat materials—sheet, perforated, or expanded metal—to your laminate by folding or curving actions. You can also add other pieces of coloured plastic, or simply paint on a surface with a palette of different transparent and opaque resin colours.

Using Fillers Besides being useful in casting, in large works, fillers are an economical addition to resin. They also modify the resin in many useful ways:

• Sawdust added to resin makes an interesting material more amenable to carving.

• Silicone makes a softer consistency.

• Sand, fine soils, talc, chalk, clay, cement, and plaster are compounds that can be used to provide surface textures or material suitable for small carvings.

• Metal powders and granules also serve as fillers.

Using a Release Agent You must always prepare the surface of your plastic formers or moulds with a coating of a release agent; otherwise, the resin will act as an adhesive. The release agent provides a thin plastic film over the surface and can be washed off after the job has gelled—or set—too hard. PVA—polyvinyl alcohol—is a common commercial release agent, but wax can also be used. Brush or rub it on.

Finishing Your Work

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U3-8 Unit 3: Plastic

Work can be trimmed by cutting or sawing. In the video program, we used aluminum as a former, with a smooth or polished surface so that the final work would not require polishing; but, when working with other formers or moulds, you may need to finish with abrasive wet-and-dry paper and a commercial polish. You can also embed objects in resin, use surface inlaying, or collage a selection of paper and illustrated material.

Working with Plastics Safely There are obvious limitations to working with plastics at home. Two major inhibitors are the lack of suitable tools and the danger of toxicity.

However, most plastics can be cut with the hand tools you use for wood and metal. Some thin sheet, particularly flexible thermoplastics, can even be cut with scissors.

The toxicity of some materials, for example epoxy and polyurethane—which I don’t recommend, can be overcome if you work outdoors or in a well-ventilated space. If you are working outdoors or in a well-ventilated space on a small scale, over a short period, a partial vapour face mask will suffice if you are using polyester resin. But if you work on a large scale indoors you will require an exhaust system and you must use a full-face vapour mask. Although polyester has become much less toxic over the last few decades, when the catalyst is added, toxicity still increases.

Safety Caution: Many plastics are chemically inert under normal circumstances, though some—for example, expanded polyurethane and polystyrene—will give off very toxic gases when heated or burnt. When working with potentially toxic materials, even outside on a small scale for short periods, always take adequate precautions: Do not melt or burn Styrofoam: It produces very toxic gases which can effect immune regulation.

• Use a mask with cartridges formulated to absorb and filter out volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

• Use a barrier cream if your skin is sensitive to fumes.

• Wear rubber gloves when using resins.

• Wear face or mouth masks and goggles when cutting, sawing, or grinding fibreglass-reinforced resins.

• Wear gloves to stop glass particles penetrating your skin, where they could cause itching, discomfort, and sometimes festering. Glass particles are probably more dangerous than the resins.

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• When heating plastics use protective gloves, ensure good air ventilation— preferably outdoor access— and wear a vapour mask designed to keep out VOCs.

• If you are pregnant, or about to become pregnant, it is prudent to avoid heating plastic and/or the use of catalysts or resins that give off fumes.

• Review the safety resource information and resources in your Course Guide before beginning your assignment in this unit

Section 1: Experimental Collecting a range of scrap plastic materials of all kinds can be an interesting experience. You will find plastics already manufactured into objects, and you may also find leftovers from production. Try to use some of these discards creatively.

Begin your projects by carrying out a series of experiments with one or more types of plastic.

Remember that an important part of your experimental work is to make drawings of what you have made. This provides documentation of your work, as required in the assignment and it also allows you to respond to the possibilities of your work and develop new ideas. Look at illustrations 5, 6, and 7 at the end of this unit, for inspiration on how to document your own ideas.

You can draw and diagram experiments to develop your work plans as you are carrying them out, or at the end of a work period, or at the end of the day.

Whenever you are working and when you photograph your work, look closely at your forms. Notice which are similar and belong to a family of related forms, and which have contrasting shapes that are accentuated when they are placed together or beside each other as complementary forms. See also working with forms in plastic, on the supplementary video on DVD 6.

In this section, complete three or four examples of one project:

• Project 1-A: Scrap Objects

OR

• Project 1-B: Acrylic Strip and Sheet

OR

• Project 1-C: Thermoplastic Sheet

OR

• Project 1-D: Thermo-Setting Resins

Complete one of the following projects:

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U3-10 Unit 3: Plastic

Project 1-A: Scrap Objects 1. Gather a large collection of scrap plastic objects, remove their labels, and select

various samples of one type of form, e.g., bottles, flexible and rigid tubes.

2. Explore the forms and material by arranging, cutting them, making slots in them, interlocking them. Try combining them in different ways—sometimes, this may be a simple inversion of one object, or recombination of several objects, which can generate a range of new possibilities.

3. Remember to work three dimensionally—look at your work from different points of view, and work vertically as well as horizontally.

4. Try different arrangements. Make some kind of formal order, or create physical relationships by putting one form inside another, locking forms together in some way, suspending them, and so on.

Note: This project may involve plastics of different types, but only thermoplastics should be heated. See Oliver Kuys’ drawing of heat-sealing thermoplastic sheet in illustration 5 at the end of this unit for a model.

Project 1-B: Acrylic Strip and Sheet

Safety Caution: For this project, you will need safety gloves and a VOC mask.

1. Use scrap or bought acrylic (1.5-3 mm/1/16 to1/8–inches thick) in strips of different widths.

2. Experiment by heating and forming the material, outside, not in an oven. First, free-form the plastic by hand, and then form it in relation to other material—wind it around a rod of wood, metal tube, or a triangular or square section. It can also be twisted and bent in other ways.

3. Experiment with sheet material. You can use a rectilinear piece of sheet material or cut it to a specific shape—curvilinear, asymmetric, and so on. Try different ways of bringing two or more of the forms you have made into relationship by placing or connecting them in some way—by gluing, cutting/slotting, or drilling. View how acrylic sheets respond to light by shining a light on the edges and on the broad sides in a darkened room.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-11

Project 1-C: Thermoplastic Sheet Flexible thermoplastic sheet is cheap and available in large sizes—for example, as garbage bags. It can be black, white, semi-opaque, or transparent, and it is available in different grades (thicknesses). Or, experiment with bubble wrap, for example.

1. Start by experimenting with smaller pieces—only a few feet square—to explore its characteristics. You will find it has little elasticity, for example. You can cut, pull, and “deform” it into various surface structures, or stretch it over forms, wood, or wire frames. Try also some other processes, such as sewing, gluing, twisting, plaiting, and holding water.

2. Using larger sheets, try hanging or suspending them from above, and/or raising the sheets off the floor. Some grades will hold a form with little or no support.

3. Respond imaginatively, and try to make contrasting relationships.

Project 1-D: Thermo-Setting Resins

Safety Caution: For this project, you will need a mask capable of filtering both fibreglass particles and VOCs from resin and catalyst.

1. If you are interested in thermo-setting resins, find a local supplier and ask for polyester suitable for the cold lay-up process and for a suitable catalyst for the resin, to make it gel and harden.

2. With basic resin—which may be slightly coloured and a little opaque or absolutely clear—use lightweight fibreglass of chopped strand mat, about 30 to 50 grams/1 to 2 ounces in weight.

3. To begin, use a flat sheet for a former. Aluminum is best, but you could also use other sheet material that is smooth, clean, and not too absorbent.

4. Cut the fibreglass slightly oversize—approximately 2 cm by 3 cm all around, depending on the size of the job—so that it will be easy to work, provide a strong edge and release promptly from the former or mould.

5. Before applying the resin, apply at least one coat of release agent—so the resin does not stick to the former. When you are proficient and can make an even, bubble-free laminate of two or three layers of glass and resin, you can go on to a variety of experiments. Be careful not to use too much resin. If you do use too much, it will form a glassy, unsupported surface on the back of the form. When fibreglass is sufficiently saturated, you can see it and touch it on the surface.

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U3-12 Unit 3: Plastic

6. Experiment with colour, free and controlled. Try inlaying and collage. Use different fillers, such as plaster, and powders of various kinds. Then, try working over or into formers or simple moulds, such as folded metal or ready-made forms like bowls and hemispheres. These experimental trials can be the first step of your personal developments. For casting and lay-up, you can buy slightly more expensive transparent resin.

7. When laying-up the glass and resin, if you want a smooth surface, whether coloured or transparent, you can brush on a layer of the catalyzed resin and let it gel—or harden—to a “tacky” consistency before brushing over again with resin, then lay on the sheet of fibreglass and press it down with the brush.

8. Add successive layers of glass and work in the resin with brush or roller to produce the strength of lamination that you require.

9. If you are working and laying-up into a more complex plaster mould, you will probably not be able to use anything except a brush and very small roller. You can also make small tools for this purpose from cut and shaped pieces of wood.

Section 2: Personal Development Complete three or four examples of one project:

• Project 2-A: Scrap Plastic Objects

OR

• Project 2-B: Free Form

Having carried out your experimental work, looked at it critically, and discovered something of its possibilities and implications, you should now be ready for further developments.

When viewing the video program, notice how students found different ways to use various types of plastics, which often determined how the work was developed and presented—the format of the work.

For example, one of the students in the video program, Kuan, cast a fibreglass and resin piece from either side of a piece of rolled and folded steel. So, he laid out the two yellow pieces side by side in front of the vertical metal former. Another student in the video program, Cathy, vacuum-formed a series of nine pieces that, by heating and softening, had undergone a series of changes and deformations from their first life as firm plastic bottles. These she made into one large square piece. Cathy’s drawing of her work is shown in illustration 8 at the end of the unit. Yet, another on-camera student, Adrian, started with a collage of materials in resin, which he then made boxed and double- sided, with a handle for carrying—a transparent “briefcase.”

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-13

In illustration 6 at the end of this unit, Brent Hohlweg’s rough Notebook study of his installation provides one more example of how to create a development might be done using various plastic materials and forms.

Complete one of the developments described below:

Project 2-A: Scrap Plastic Objects 1. If you worked from scrap plastic objects, you should now have some

responses to those materials and forms.

2. You could work with plastic objects, scrap plastic or expanded plastics used for packaging by cutting them, working with knives, and then reconstructing them with other materials to make large-scale reliefs.

3. You could try painting the objects to make your work coherent and either unified or diverse in colour.

4. Your experiments can be enlarged or made more complex.

5. Is your idea best developed for a particular place—on the floor, wall, or ceiling? Or set in a corner, or suspended? Would it be more effective out-of-doors?

Project 2-B: Free Form 1. If you used rigid scrap strip and sheet, you can now cut and glue it to create

many geometric forms.

2. If you are using transparent Plexiglas, you can form it with a little heat or, by gluing and drilling, add it to other forms (such as coloured threads or string), or add larger sheets. Transparent material acts as a space form or space modulator—you can extend from its surface or work on both sides of it simultaneously.

3. You can also introduce coloured material, ready-made material, or pigment and resin. As you see in the video programs, in her last on-camera experiments, Cathy made an interesting piece that held a large stone and a group of smaller stones. You may, of course, use your plastic with other material, so long as the plastic is dominant. Multi-coloured fibres, strands of nylon, or fishing line can be incorporated into transparent and/or coloured thermoplastic forms, e.g., rigid or flexible acrylic and styrene.

4. If you experimented with flexible thermoplastic sheet, and are working on a larger scale, you might use other materials for support or weighting. Try pulling the sheet taut, or letting it hang loose, weighted at the bottom. If supported, but resting on the floor. It will hold water, with or without dyes or pigment. You can make tents, “clothes,” drapes, or wrapping with the sheet, or use it with natural or artificial light. Low cost and large dimensions make thermoplastic sheeting one of the few materials that lend themselves to installations.

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U3-14 Unit 3: Plastic

I am sure that you will have other ideas—or can extend my suggestions. In the video program, you will see simple uses of formed sheet metal as moulds, bending curves, or angles. You can use a single three-dimensional form to make standard units for different relationships, or to make forms in different colours. You can also add other forms, both “behind the front surface” when laying-up or, finally, on the front. Such additions must be related formally and by colour, tone, or texture to the rest of the image.

1. If you have experimented with laying-up polyester resin and fibreglass, its many possibilities may be apparent to you.

2. You could work in two or three dimensions—on a small scale and inlaying other flat materials, or using collected materials for flat or relief collage.

3. If you move to a larger scale, you will find these materials flexible and adaptable—you can change the type or weight of the fibreglass, alter the colour, etc. If the scale is more ambitious, you may also find the resins are messy, sticky and hard work, as rolling resins on a large scale is much more difficult than working on tabletop-sized pieces.

4. You could instead work serially, using a relatively small scale—only a few feet square—and make a number of pieces, rather like tiles, which can be arranged together on a wall. One of my first commissioned pieces using fibreglass-reinforced polyester was a mural for a children’s playground. I chose this material because it was virtually indestructible and could be washed with a hose.

5. On another direction, remember that clothes can be shaped and padded with newspaper to make sculptural forms, and that adding resin will make them rigid. Resin is tough—it is used for boats, ships, canoes, car bodies, skis and furniture—as well as for sculpture.

6. In the video program, you will see simple uses of formed sheet metal as moulds, bending curves, or angles. You can use a single three-dimensional form to make standard units for different relationships, or to make forms in different colours. One of the on-camera students, Craig, used a folded sheet aluminum former to make a coloured relief of fibreglass-reinforced polyester, and painted it so that its appearance changed when viewed from different points in his final piece.

7. You can also add other forms, both “behind the front surface” when laying- up or, finally, on the front. Such additions must be related formally and by colour, tone, or texture to the rest of the image. Kuan used casting-grade polyester resin to fill moulds cut from cardboard; however, he did not have time to develop these into a format.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-15

8. Developing your work involves trying out different approaches and versions of the same basic idea and then finally developing the piece.

9. Avoid just trying out one idea on a large scale.

10. By using your imagination, and by trial and error adjustment of your arrangements, you can bring forms together in unique relationships.

Note: In the Course Manual, we suggested that you might want to carry out your personal development works as installations or environmental projects.

If you wish, you can choose to adapt any of the development projects above to either an interior or exterior installation.

Notes on the Reproductions The following are on DVD 2 and/or in the Postcard Booklet.

Gabo, Naum. Linear Construction in Space No. 2. 1972–1973.

Plexiglas with nylon monofilament.

Reproduced with the permission of Nina Williams.

Gabo and his brother Pevsner were among the founders of the Russian Constructivist School. Interested in scientific ideas and inspired by mathematical models of functions, they exploited new materials to express their dynamic ideas about form. As early as 1926, Gabo used large sheets of transparent plastic in a design for the set of the ballet La Chatte for Diaghilev. In the 1930s, he carried out a series of translucent variations on a spherical theme from which many later forms were developed.

This is one of them, a version of Linear Construction in Space. It is made transparent acrylic, thermoplastic sheet (Plexiglas) and is strung with nylon monofilament. The work continues the Constructivist preferences for form independent of solid volume; it lines and plans activate space and combine to make the space as positive as the material form. In fact, when looking at the original, it is often difficult to see where material and space begin and end.

King, Phillip. Genghis Khan. 1963.

Fibreglass-reinforced polyester resin; 213.5 × 366 × 274 cm.

King was one of a group of British artists who developed the sculptural possibilities of synthetic materials in interesting ways in the 1960s. In Genghis Khan, he effectively draws on the attributes of glass-reinforced polyester-resin lamination. The principal form is the cone, which opens and makes a fluid contact with the floor; the upper form is almost two-dimensional and, although abstract, has organic, flower-like connotations.

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U3-16 Unit 3: Plastic

King uses a rather monochromatic surface here, but in other works he was attracted to the possibilities of colour. (Making your own material, casting the forms on formed sheets or plaster moulds, allows you to control the surface quality completely and to achieve exact colour.) After a period dominated by Constructivist forms, colours, and geometric shapes, King—always inventive—extended the organic aspects of his work by drawing on the more tactile qualities of wood, slate, metal, and brick.

Tucker, William. Memphis. 1965.

Fibreglass-reinforced polyester resin; 3 units.

Tate Gallery, London, England/Art Resource, New York, NY.

In Memphis, William Tucker uses fibreglass and resin to make three differently coloured standard units. Like other British Structuralists, during the 1960s, he worked in synthetic material, developing a new range of sculpture that exploited unmodulated colour and smooth regular surfaces. These forms are of sheet material, and they indicate volume rather than the full implications of mass. The colours provide a sense of lightness, but the arrangement stresses the force of gravity. However, as separate forms, the units are open to reassembly.

Oldenburg, Claes. Giant Pool Balls. 1967.

Plexiglas balls; 50.8 cm;

Wood rack; 50.8 × 304.8 x 274 cm.

Los Angeles Country Museum, Los Angeles, CA.

Anonymous gift through the Contemporary Arts Council

Oldenburg is part of the American Pop Art tradition, in so far as he uses popular everyday objects as a starting point. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he is simply celebrating mundane things—though he does find them targets for witty and satirical comment. He uses a wide range of materials and has developed a major “non-sculptural” range of three-dimensional forms, replicas that vary from being tightly engineered hard-geometric to soft-stuffed. His drawings and maquettes are fascinating, revealing his interest in two- and three-dimensional language.

Sometimes, as in this work, Oldenburg is excited by the notion of replication that is exact in form but extravagantly increased in scale. He may change not only the material but also the construction and tension of the original form. The actual siting of monumental projects creates surreal implications and increases the measure of transformation and meaning of the object.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-17

Student work. Pneumatic Sculpture. 1965.

Coloured polythene, Plexiglas, and air; 137.16 cm square.

In the sixties, although fibreglass and polyester resin were the most popular materials for sculpture and construction for many artists, there were explorations into the use of other synthetic materials. One was polythene sheet, for large-scale environment projects.

This construction of opaque, coloured polythene was made by heat-sealing each of the four units, filling them with compressed air, and then bolting them together. It has a well-engineered industrial look about it and was accompanied by other units on floor and ceiling.

Arc de Triomphe. 1989.

Draped in red, white, and blue thermoplastic mesh for cleaning.

Paris, France.

When I was in Paris in 1989, they were preparing for the bicentenary of the French Revolution. Walking out of the Metro, I was confronted with the enormous Arc de Triomphe draped in red, white, and blue thermoplastic netting. Certainly, this tricolour shroud was not intended to be a work of art, but rather an effective shield from the cleaning process. Nevertheless, it possesses something of the spirit of the occasion and would have fitted into any number of Impressionist paintings of the city.

Cragg, Tony. New Stones. 1982

Various plastic forms and scrap.

The title of this work by Cragg tells you quite a lot about the artist; it is enigmatic, wryly witty, and indicates an almost archaeological interest in materials. Cragg made this collection from waste forms, parts, and scrap of both thermoplastic and thermo-setting plastics. They are ordered on the ground in the order of the spectrum—the pieces varying in colour, light and dark, warm and cool—though they could be picked up and put down again in other orders. The pieces are arranged in the practical layout of any non-art presentation, like a collection of archaeological specimens. Yet, they have the intriguing unexpectedness found in much of Cragg’s work. He creates three-dimensional pieces of simple, minimalist power, enhancing them with materials he finds and builds into new forms; he combines disorder and structure, pushing, piling and placing with a free sense of revealing his processes, whether abstract or figurative in content.

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U3-18 Unit 3: Plastic

Dubuffet, Jean. Group of Four Trees. 1971–1972. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–010)

Epoxy and polyurethane over steel; 11.5 × 12 × 10 m.

Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY.

Dubuffet was always one of those fortunate, non-classifiable individuals. His earlier works were predominantly two-dimensional, paintings that recall the intuitive power of work by very young children, naive images by mental patients, and, in particular, indigenous forms,. In later years, he tended to work more in three dimensions and was excited by his discovery of plastics, especially of expanded polystyrene, which he felt could be of great use to sculptors. He carried out some immense structures, including buildings and environmental installations. This image shows one of his modest street sculptures; you can see the tiny figures in the background. Although the surface structure and finish are plastic, the work is supported by steel-reinforced concrete, since plastics have yet to achieve the load- bearing capacity of steel.

Kienholz, Edward. The State Hospital. 1964–1966. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–011)

Plastics, resin, and other media; 244 × 366 × 296 cm.

Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Photograph: Statens Museet, Stockholm.

Although Kienholz is comprised with Pop artists, and seems to have affinities with figurative realists such as Duane Hanson, his work is quite different. From early objects to alter environmental installations and tableaux, his use of materials is always transformative and more surreal than real. The works are often loaded with bitter comment on contemporary life, evoking the pungent odours of miserable conditions, the visual slums where people lead their lives, or the languishing despair of old age punctuated by nostalgia.

The State Hospital is one of his most interesting structures. It shows two figures, or fibreglass and polyester resin, strapped to the bunk beds of a mental hospital. They are first seen through an aperture in a solid door, at eye level. In place of faces, you look into goldfish bowls, bonded into the heads of the figures, where the fish swim mindlessly. The figures are abject, beyond despair; the work discloses a tragic human condition.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-19

Moholy-Nagy, Laszlo. Light Space Modulator. 1926. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–013)

Transparent and translucent plastic, reflective metal sheet, and mesh, and other materials; base 120 × 120 cms.

Kinetic sculpture.

Image based on Photograph Museum of Modern Art. New York, NY. Size unknown.

Moholy-Nagy was fascinated by the play of light, colour, and shadow on space. His kinetic sculpture rotates transparent, and translucent plastic and wire mesh and reflective metal parts to create a range of moving shadows and changing patterns of light, which both tower over and interact with the viewer. The machine had multiple low-powered coloured lights and three high powered spotlight bulbs to create strong shadows. The machine so baffled US Customs that Moholy-Nagy resorted to calling it “hairdressing equipment.” Moholy-Nagy’s work was intended to be used in dance or theatre performances or as settings for films.

Gabo, Naum. Head of a Woman. 1917–1920. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–012)

Celluloid Plastic, Metal.

62.2 ×48.9 × 35.4 cms.

Head of a Woman uses the edges of the flat plastic sheet to suggest the surface planes of the woman’s face. Gabo’s work has strong connections with the carved flat planes African wood sculpture, but uses the then modern material celluloid plastic to create a slightly translucent head. Gabo has also radically extended the removal of surface planes of the woman’s head to create a new expressive image. Instead of responding to the obvious planes of the woman’s face, Gabo has found planes that respond to the interior volumes of the head. Years later, he re-interpreted this head on a larger scale in sheet metal. The metal version is in the Tate Gallery, London.

Recommended Resources McCann, Michael. Artist Beware: The Hazards in Working with All Art and Craft Materials and the Precautions Every Artist and Craftsperson Should Take. Revised and updated ed. Guilford, UK: The Lyons Press, 2005. Print.

Comprehensive overview of health hazards in art materials. Contains a chapter on safety when using plastics.

Plowman, John. The Manual of Sculpting Techniques. London: A & C Black Publishers Ltd., 2003. Print.

A good introduction to a wide range of materials, including a section on different methods of working with plastic. Many photographs showing stages of construction and details. The sculptural examples chosen could be more inspiring.

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U3-20 Unit 3: Plastic

Warring, R. H. The New Glass Fibre Book. Revised ed., Hemel Hempstead, Herts., UK: Model & Allied Publications, 1971. Print.

The basics of fibreglass and resin, including methods of working.

Williams, Arthur. Sculpture: Techniques, Form, Content. Revised ed. Worcester, UK: Davis Publications, Inc., 1995.

A very good and detailed review. Contains a section on different ways of working with plastics. Excellent sculptural examples and many photographs of techniques for working in a range of materials.

List of Illustrations 1. Bag press forming of polyester-reinforced fibreglass. From computer animation by

E. John Love.

2. Vacuum forming of thermoplastic sheet over wooden formers. From computer animation by E. John Love.

3. Extrusion moulding of plastics, with form released from the mould. From computer animation by E. John Love.

4. Injection moulding of plastics, with form released from the mould. From computer animation by E. John Love.

5. Heat-sealing thermoplastic sheet. Notebook drawing by Oliver Kuys.

6. Installation using various plastic materials and forms. Rough notebook study by Brent Hohlweg.

7. Drawing of organization for vacuum-formed wall relief in thermoplastic sheet. Cathy Burton.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-21

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U3-22 Unit 3: Plastic

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-23

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U3-24 Unit 3: Plastic

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-25

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U3-26 Unit 3: Plastic

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U3-27

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Faculty of Arts

Unit 4: Paper

VISA 1301 Material and Form

VISA 1301: Material and Form U4-1

Unit 4: Paper Introduction

Note: DVD 3 includes the video program Paper.

Every day, we handle paper—reading the newspaper, disposing of junk mail, and writing letters, drawing, printing, and painting on it. We use paper for building construction and in mattresses for bedding; the Victorians even made furniture with it. More recently, the architect Frank Gehry designed a range of chairs and couches made from corrugated cardboard (see Gehry’s Wiggle Chair in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL– 067). As you explore paper, you will be amazed at its versatility and the vast range of forms and artifacts that can be made from it. It can be hand- or machine-made, cheap or expensive—even precious, and its tactile qualities vary widely. The significance of paper, however, is determined by the messages and images it carries.

History of Paper Paper is a sheet made by webbing types of vegetable cellulose fibres with water. Its forerunners, as vehicles of information and communication, were slabs of clay, wax- coated tablets, and even stone. But these were rigid forms. With the development of flexible material, such as palm leaves and papyrus (see the section from the Egyptian Book of the Dead in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–014), it was possible to make lightweight writing material that was important in the transmissions of information and the rule of law in early civilizations. Other early flexible surfaces for writing and painting were parchment made from the skin of sheep or goat, or vellum, a fine parchment from calfskin used for the written and illuminated manuscripts of medieval times (see the vellum pages from both the Book of Kells (TRU OL–020) and the Lindisfarne Gospels (TRU OL–015) in the Postcard Booklet).

Paper as we know it began in China in 105 CE (Common Era, or the Current Era; the initials CE replace the Christian AD). It may have been invented and used before then, but we do know that Ts’ai Lun, in that year, patented the papermaking process in the Han Court. The paper provided a surface suitable for writing with a brush and for printing using a woodblock. This is the historical beginning, but there are two traditions, the Oriental and the Western. Although they share the basic process, their production methods and end products can be quite different. Both use locally available materials, responding to the properties of these materials and to the writing and working implements used. They also reflect the development of printing within each culture.

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U4-2 Unit 4: Paper

In the Orient, the craft was carried from China to Korea, and then to Japan some five hundred years later. Many early papers were made from hemp; in Japan, the inner bark of the mulberry tree and the fibres of various shrubs were used. Many other plants were tested, including bamboo, rice, straw, linen, and banana. And, even then, paper was recycled to meet the growing demand.

The earliest known piece of paper, Chinese in origin, was probably made of rags around 150 CE. By 750 CE, paper had been introduced to central Asia and the Middle East, arriving in Egypt, where it was manufactured from about 900 CE. The Moors produced paper in North Africa and in about 1150 CE introduced it to Europe, via Spain.

In succeeding centuries, the craft spread across Europe. There the introduction of movable type in the mid-fifteenth century and the development of book printing stimulated papermaking. Printed paper was a vital factor in distributing information and improving education. It facilitated the recording of the rule of law, the writing of literature, and the documentation of music, science, technology, and ideas generally.

In 1719, French scientist René de Ramur observed that wasps made a very fine paper for their nests from wood fibres, digested in their mouths. This observation led to further plant experiments and the realization that whole trees, with extensive treatment, could produce paper. Later in the eighteenth century, many French Huguenot papermakers fled from Catholic France and settled in Protestant countries such as Holland and England; as a result, the Dutch became masters of the world paper trade.

In 1795, to meet the popular demand for wallpapers, French inventor Nicholas Louis Robert invented the first practical papermaking machine. Robert sent the designs and drawing to his brother-in-law, John Bamble, who applied for a British patent for the papermaking machine, which was granted in 1801. Backed by Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier (of French Huguenot origin), and subsequently modified by a great engineer, Brian Donkin, the early “Fourdrinier” paper machines were in wide use in England by the 1820s.

The machines used today are in principle the same and still bear the Fourdrinier name. It is exhilarating to witness the almost instant miracle that occurs when the soup of water and fibres is transformed by these machines into a great continuous sheet. Their daily capacity is almost forty-four tonnes of lightweight paper, produced as a giant roll, more than four metres wide, which can be cut to the requirements of the market and manufacturing. (See illustrations 1–4 at the end of the unit.)

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U4-3

If printing was an early stimulus to papermaking, machine processing almost brought handmade paper to an end. The great impetus for machine-made paper today is not only the production of paper for printing of all kinds, including publications and advertising literature, but also for packaging, which now constitutes a high percentage of production. In the introduction to the video Paper, I purposely showed you the recycling of packaging material as a reminder that the use of paper is near the top in the wide range of the world’s wastefulness.

Papermaking Technical methods of papermaking may have changed during the last two thousand years, but the principle is the same—the webbing of vegetable cellulose fibres, using water as a binder. Two stages are involved. First, selected raw material is broken down in water to form a suspension of individual fibres, which is collected on a screen. Second, this suspension is spread over a porous surface of felt sheets, through which excess water is drained.

The hand process and methods of working vary from East to West, according to the different materials. The raw materials may be almost any vegetable fibres, depending on the type of paper desired: leaves, straw, bark, rags, leeks, onion, and so on. These materials are washed in running water to remove dirt and impurities, then placed in a vat or trough and hammered or pounded to separate the fibres. When the fibres have been sufficiently broken down, they are kept in suspension in water, which is not changed. This liquid material is referred to as the half-stuff or slurry, and is used for the actual papermaking.

The chief tool of the papermaker is the mould, a reinforced sheet of metal, bamboo, or plastic mesh with either a square mesh wove pattern or a pattern of widely spaced longitudinal wires held together with thinner, transverse wires called a “laid pattern.” The mould pattern imprints itself on the finished sheet of paper, leaving a watermark. So, handmade papers that are not given special finishes are identified as wove or laid papers, according to the type of mould used in the process.

The mould is placed inside a removable wooden frame called a deckle, which forms a low rim around its edge. Then, the papermaker dips mould and deckle into the trough or vat containing the half-stuff, or slurry, of fibres and water. When the mould and deckle are removed, the surface is coated with a thin film of fibre and water mixture. Then the mould and deckle are shaken backwards and forwards and from side to side. These movements have two effects: they distribute the mixture evenly on the surface of the mould and they cause the individual fibres to interlock, strengthening the sheet.

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U4-4 Unit 4: Paper

Excess water is drained out through the mould mesh when it is shaken. The device is then set aside for a short time until the paper is sufficiently cohesive to permit removal of the deckle. The mould is then turned over and the paper material is laid smoothly on a sheet of cloth or felt. To continue production, another felt is laid over the first sheet, and the whole process is repeated. When a number of sheets have been couched—that is, the paper removed from mould to felt—the pile is referred to as a post, and the whole is subjected to pressure to remove any remaining excess water.

The separate papers, stacked and pressed, are dried by evaporation. Rough-textured papers are pressed lightly for a short period, and smooth papers pressed heavily for longer periods. You will find that your papers vary greatly in colour, density, and tactile quality relative to the material or combinations of material that you select.

In the program, you will see Lorraine carrying out an even simpler, quicker process of tabletop papermaking, based on the Nepalese method. (A step-by-step guide is presented in this unit.).

Artists Using Paper The twentieth century saw a revival of hand papermaking, created by the interest of artists and craftspeople. Many artists have begun to see paper as a flexible and exciting medium, inexpensive and technologically undemanding. They have the choice of making handmade paper, working with an experienced specialist, or adapting material from the fine-art and book-paper markets.

Major artists of the past, such as Rembrandt and Goya, made use of high-grade handmade papers as a ground for their prints. More recently, artists have used paper as a medium itself. Picasso and Braque used paper in their Cubist collages and other masterpieces; and, in his final years at the Hotel Regina in Nice, Matisse created giant coloured-paper cut-outs—some more than nine metres long (See examples of their work in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–017 to –019.) Among leading contemporary artists, Robert Rauschenberg, Kenneth Noland, and Frank Stella have been attracted to the possibilities of the medium and engaged in papermaking projects. Hand-produced artists’ books are extensions of the more traditional role of artists as book designers and illustrators. A visually exciting example of some of the possibilities of paper/card folding and cutting can also be seen in the work of Hiroshi Ogawa. (See the Recommended Resources at the end of this unit.)

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U4-5

Assignment 4: Paper

Introduction To Begin Working with Paper Become a collector! Start a folio, or filing system, of all types of paper, card, and packaging material that is mostly composed of paper. The range of paper materials available is surprisingly large. You’ll probably find preformed paper in varying weights and finishes and an excellent range of coloured material, as well as “specialties” such as graphic paper, tissue paper, grease-proof paper, and so on. This will be a resource for your experiments and later developments.

For your basic experiments, start with small sheets of white paper—such as duplicating paper. Cutting, tearing, piercing, folding, wetting, twisting, rolling, etcetera can all be done directly to this paper. Thicker paper and thin card can be scored, cut, and folded, as Cathy did in developments that led from simple research to sculptural paper forms (see illustration 5 at the end of this unit).

Cardboard can be scored, folded, cut and sawn, and constructed with or textured by peeling layers away. It is load bearing on its sides and especially on its ends. See, for example, Gehry’s cardboard sofas and chairs.

After these initial responses and experiments, you need to decide whether you are going to make your own paper as Lorraine, Helen, and Brent did, or exploit existing paper for sculptural developments, as the rest of the students did (See illustrations 6–8 at the end of this unit).

Materials for Papermaking Virtually any natural fibrous material composed of cellulose made into a semi-liquid pulp consistency can become paper. For example:

Natural materials: Artichoke, bamboo leaves, banana leaves, bran, cabbage leaves and stumps, cornstalks, cotton stalks, elm leaves, esparto grass, eucalyptus, flax, gladiola leaves, hemp, hay, hibiscus, hollyhock, iris leaves, jute, leeks, mulberry, nettles, onions, potatoes, rushes

Waste and found materials: Blotting paper, card, construction paper, cotton and other fine rags, old blue jeans, packaging, paper bags, paper towels, soft particle board.

Paper with Other Materials In your experimental approach to paper, you may find that other materials go well with it. Certainly, there is a natural compatibility between the fibres used to make paper and the same fibres in their natural state. Such combinations give vitality to

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U4-6 Unit 4: Paper

the paper surface by changing the colour or texture, and they also reinforce the structure of the paper. Alternatively, you could try contrasting combinations; for example, the flowers from one type of plant and the fibres from another. Natural raw material can also be used for layering—putting the material between two pieces of paper, one of which should be translucent so the layered content can be seen.

There may be constructive and functional reasons for using rigid or flexible material, especially if you want to construct a relief of work in three dimensions—to make a screen or geometric construction, for example. (See the ideas presented on three- dimensional development earlier in this unit.) After your basic experiments using commercial or your own paper, think about how you could add some other material. Work from simple to complex, at first using no more than two materials. Try pairing paper with one other material without necessarily fastening the two together. Experiment, and then build on that experience.

In the video program, you will see examples of more complex combinations.

Lorraine’s involves a wide range of basic materials. Paper made from bulrush, leek, cranberry, and garlic is combined with flowers, seaweed, and cornstalks—all very organic relationships. (See illustrations 9 and 10 at the end of this unit.)

Brent uses dense pulp to make a series of reliefs—not making paper in the traditional sense, but rather using paper to make objects. These panels give him the opportunity to combine the pulp material with parts of the material in their original form; the zipper emerges from the blue-jean pulp; the shirt collar and buttons rise phoenix-like out of the white cotton pulp, and so on.

Helen combines her handmade pulp with Hessian sacking, leaves, and other materials.

Here are a few other materials that could be combined with paper, particularly for collage or relief or even for three-dimensional assemblage:

• Natural fibres: Raffia, reeds, thread, twine, string, help, rope, cord, sisal

• Synthetic fibres: Thread, nylon stocking, etcetera

• Paper: Tapes, card, newspapers, magazines

• Plastic: Tapes, strip, or sheet (polyethylene), nylon filament or rope, cellophane wrap and strip, plastic mesh, various resins, adhesives

• Metal: Fine metal wires, welding rods, woven wire, light metal mesh, chicken wire (for papier-mâché construction)

• Wood: Various veneers, thin plywood, rods, dowels, branches, twigs, bamboo

• Animal: Bones, leather, fur, feathers

• Plaster: Chalk, talc, clay, terra cotta, ashes, earth, stone

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U4-7

Papermaking Based on a Nepalese Process This method is demonstrated on-camera by Lorraine.

1. Select your material—bulrush, cornstalks, etcetera and/or prepared abaca sheets.

2. Wash the stalks and cut into 7 to 10 cm/3 to 4 inch lengths.

3. Soak them for two to three days.

4. Boil with washing soda for three hours.

5. Chop strips finely or tear apart, depending on the desired results. (Long fibres will be visible in the paper, which can be thin or thick.)

6. Put approximately 125 mL/one-half cup of material in the blender.

7. Add formation aid (15 mL/one tablespoonful). (Formation aid is traditionally mulberry root or synthetic polyethylene substitute).

8. Add water until blender is three-quarters full (too little water strains the motor).

9. Place the mould and deckle over a vat of water (or large square plastic basin) and pour the blended liquid into the mould.

10. Take the mould and deckle from the vat and separate mould from deckle.

11. Place cotton (piece of old sheet) material over the surface of screen.

12. Press to drain off some excess water; press down again with felt on top to drain off additional water.

13. Have a thick pad ready. Pressing firmly on the edges of the cotton with fingers, pry up the edge and “peel” back the flap of cotton.

14. Lay paper down on flat board and press with rolling pin.

15. Set out to dry.

Three-Dimensional Development of Handmade Pulp Any of the following processes can be used to give handsome paper a sculptural dimension.

Embossing Embossing is a method of producing a slightly raised image or pattern in paper. It can be achieved by hand or machine-printing processes, or by using a simple bookbinding press. If you attempt hand embossing, you can create an image, using low-relief forms cut out of metal or wood, found or pre-made forms, and wire or plastic mesh. Select your paper carefully. It should be absorbent, but not too soft; strong enough to withstand pressure, but not so thick that it won’t take an embossed image. Dampen it slightly before pressing into it, then rub and burnish it with the back of a spoon. This will provide a “blind” print, or low relief, without colour. You can combine coloured or printed material in the paper before embossing it.

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U4-8 Unit 4: Paper

Embedding This is the fusing of paper pulp and an object to create a new form. Objects or materials can be embedded on the surface or deeper. Place the objects in a tray or shallow box, pour in the pulp, and leave it to dry. This will take some days, depending on the thickness and density of the pulp. Alternatively, heavier objects may be inserted into the pulp when it is dry enough to hold them in position. You can leave forms embedded or remove them to leave an impression or sculptural relief. Consider shallow surface pattern as well as deeper relief impressions.

Sculptural Reliefs These can be made by pouring liquid paper pulp over low-relief forms or shapes. When dry, the paper is carefully removed, leaving an accurate negative impression. Use a flat dish or tray; lightly spray the surface of the objects with a release agent (vegetable spray—non-stick aerosol) to allow easy removal of the paper relief. Pour two or more layers of well-agitated pulp rather than one heavy dense layer, to achieve a better flow. You may also use colour, or a different colour for each layer. Experiment and improvise!

Casting Casting is done by pouring pulp into a form to make a lightweight cast, thus avoiding the excessive weight of plaster cast. The pulp can be white or coloured. Use simple moulds—found objects, clay, or plaster—for easy release. When appropriate, wash and clean forms with detergent and spray with a non-stick aerosol. Assist drying with a little heat from a hot air vent, the pilot light of gas oven, or a sunny window. (These are useful for drying any pulp forms.)

Layering Thin found objects and forms from nature are placed between two layers of paper, making a laminate. One paper layer is heavier and supportive, the other more translucent so the filling can be seen or partly seen. You can use decorative items, such as coloured material—but use colour with discrimination. If the material is dry or hard, soak it for two to three hours before layering. Couch the first layer of damp paper onto felt with material for insertion on top, and then apply the next layer of thinner damp paper. The final layer may completely or partially cover the lower areas. Dry naturally.

Note: The final result may be a little uneven.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U4-9

Using Ready-Made Paper If you choose not to make your own paper for your assignments, consider some of the following applications for ready-made paper:

• As a ground for drawing, painting, and various printmaking processes. Remember to also work in three dimensions.

• To make decorative papers, such as coverings for walls, containers, book covers, etcetera by colouring with brushes, sponges, card, and cardboard.

• As a tool for “combing” or “graining” air-brushing, spraying, wax resist or masking tape, marbling, and stencils.

• To make books as “art publications.”

• To make paper collage or papier-collé images.

• To make relief and three-dimensional objects, using roofing and other building papers, card, cardboard, boxes, tubes, rolls, etcetera.

• To make geometric structures that exploit the texture or structure of the material (corrugated paper, for example).

• To paint or cover with other papers (tissue, graph, etcetera).

• To make papier-mâché) for the development of three-dimensional images or objects.

• To make three-dimensional paper collage.

• To make jewellery with paper that will hold its form when twisted, laminated, rolled, or spiralled around dowels.

• To make models of objects or architecture.

• To prepare maquettes for three-dimensional projects to be carried out in another material.

• In combination with lightweight wood frames, to make screens or other household objects.

• To make folders or portfolios to hold work.

Sections and Projects For Assignment 4, you are expected to complete and document Section 1 and your choice of one of the Section 2 project options:

• Section 1: Experiment with Paper and Card

AND

• Section 2: Project options (Choose between:

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U4-10 Unit 4: Paper

• Project 2-A: Make paper

• Project 2-B: Develop an Experiment.

• Project 2-C: Use Ready Made Paper

• Project 2-D: Combine Paper with Other Materials.)

Before you begin working on your assignment, read carefully through all of the instructions for this assignment.

Documentation and Notebook pages • Your photos should show a selection of: Your experiments with standard units of

paper and card. Further experiments exploring the characteristics of various types of paper and card. Include also photos of the progress of your chosen projects.

• When displaying and photographing your paper works, especially those with sculptural surfaces, you can experiment with side lighting to show the texture of the surface. Try to use contrast within the work itself and also between the background and the work.

• Your Notebook should include: Diagrams and notes of your observations, explorations and developments.

Note: Remember, you are being encouraged to explore and to invent. Please avoid using pre-existing Origami patterns. “Forms of Paper” by Hiroshi Ogawa show how some of the basic Origami folds can be extended. Also, see the Recommended Resources for additional ideas.

If your work is small-scale and fairly sturdy, you also may wish to send examples of your work to your Open Learning Faculty Member.

If you are following the Suggested Schedule, you should have completed Assignment 4 by Week 6. We recommend that you send your Notebook and other documentation for Assignments 3 and 4 together.

Instructions You are expected to complete Section 1 and one of the Section 2 project options.

Section 1: Experiment with Paper and Card For this assignment section, begin by selecting one type of paper. I would suggest standard white sheets, such as duplicating or printer paper. The following exploration is very important for gaining understanding of your material. It is when you appear to be running out of ideas that continuing to explore can produce new discoveries.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U4-11

Begin your exploration with immediate physical responses to the material—folding, tearing, punching, twisting, cutting, sewing and slotting and everything else you can think of, for about fifteen minutes.

Next, collect a variety of other types of paper and card.

Spend about half an hour or more exploring what characteristics of the paper, thickness, rigidity, etcetera best meet the needs of the character of the form—what can be folded readily, scored precisely, and then bent, crumpled and so on? Which types of card allow complex forms and constructions to be created? Cardboard is capable of supporting considerable weight. See, for example, Frank Gehry’s Wiggle Chair made out of corrugated cardboard ( Postcard Booklet: TRU OL-–67).

Section 2: Project Options Read through and then select one of these projects:

• Project 2-A: Make PaperOR

• Project 2-B: Develop an ExperimentOR

• Project 2-C: Use Ready Made PaperOR

• Project 2-D: Combine Paper with Other Materials

Project 2-A: Make Paper 1. First, decide on the particular method you will use. Earlier in this unit, you

found a general description of a papermaking method, and a description of the basic Nepalese papermaking method used by Lorraine. However, other methods are described in books on hand papermaking that you might want to consider. Do choose a method, which is simple, convenient and does not require much equipment—especially if you have no previous experience.

2. Next, decide on a range of materials. Use those which are readily available. (See the list of paper materials earlier in this unit). Make a range of small sheets as samples, using different fibres and combinations of fibres.

3. Carry out further development by choosing one of the following:

o Make a sculptural relief(s) by pouring liquid paper pulp over a three- dimensional form or material.

o Embed objects or natural materials in paper.

o Layer or laminate thin found objects between two layers or paper.

o Cast by pouring pulp into a form or mould.

o Emboss by pressing paper over a low relief form.

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o Explore three dimensional constructions with your paper or with folding, cutting, and slotting pieces together. Try making your own handmade paper.

o Experiment with light transmission through your paper.

o Develop a composition, using the different colours and textures in your paper.

Project 2-B: Develop an Experiment For this project option, you may develop any aspect of the material experiments you carried out in Section 1. Consider changing the scale, making combinations, sequences, contrasts of shape, etcetera. Or, you could think in terms of rhythms of shape, form and colour. Experiment with placement of the different elements first. These can be developed on the floor, wall, tabletop, and so on. Then, having made your decisions on arrangement, glue them to a board, attach them to the wall, or develop another system to show them. Document your process with drawings, photographs, and video as you try out different arrangements in order to find the composition that you like the most. (See one of many possible examples: Le Courrier by Georges Braque. Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–018.)

Project 2-C: Use Ready-Made Paper You may carry out any development based on, or selected from the list “Using Ready- Made Paper” earlier in this unit. This could include working on the surface of the paper to develop images or patterns, then using this paper in a three-dimensional way. Or, you could consider developing a three-dimensional object or form from preformed paper, such as tubes or boxes. Possibilities are endless, so select a subject, scale, and materials that suit your interests and circumstances. Remember to look at your work from different angles, and keep turning the work around to create interesting views form each point.

Project 2-D: Combine Paper with Other Materials Reread the earlier part of this unit, “Paper with Other Materials.” Choose your other materials from the list. Using handmade or ready-made paper, combine it with other papers and materials to create a relief or three-dimensional mixed-media structure, in which paper is the most significant material.

Notes on the Reproductions The following are on on DVD 3 in the video Paper and/or in the Postcard Booklet.

Bible. Illuminated manuscript. 12th Century.

Vellum.

The Dean and Chapter of Durham, England.

This detail of an illuminated manuscript is one page from a twelfth-century Bible. Manuscript means written by hand; illuminated, that the text is illustrated or enhanced for spiritual enlightenment. It is an excellent example of the formal relationships of letter, line,

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and space, and of the balance of decorative letterforms with the scribe’s calligraphy. The piece is a portion from Ezekiel, Old Testament, and was produced at Durham, in the North of England, then a centre of religious learning. This Bible is typical of manuscripts done on vellum, a fine parchment from calfskin, which was the forerunner of paper. (See other examples of illuminated manuscript work done on vellum, in the Postcard Booklet.)

Gutenberg, Johannes (printer). Gutenberg, or 42-Line, Bible (Detail). 1455.

Mainz, Germany.

Gutenberg’s invention of letterpress printing was the brilliant beginning of a new era. Its technical achievement rests on the use of a press for printing and on the introduction of setting and printing with moveable type. Gutenberg’s method of casting type by hand evolved from his training and experience as a goldsmith. He was familiar with cutting letters on plates and cups and for trademarks, and he produced pilgrims’ badges that were shallow-cast of soft metal in a mould. Various types of screw press had been used in Europe for at least a thousand years. Oil- based inks were already in use, and—most important—abundant paper was available. So, Gutenberg’s press can be seen as a fine example of creative synthesis.

The new invention underwent the usual misunderstanding and misapplications. At first, Gutenberg and other printers tried to copy the scribes and calligraphers, using a profusion of different styles—the Gutenberg Bible, using austere Gothic “textura” type and coloured illuminations, is difficult to distinguish from the medieval manuscripts on which it was based. But, by 1480, printers had recognized the intrinsic autonomy of the new letterpress craft. Development of the printing press represented a huge democratic step forward, since it made reading (and thus the acquisition of knowledge) widely accessible.

van Rijn, Rembrandt. Hundred Guilder Print. 1639–1649.

Etching, drypoint, and burin; 27.8 x 38.8 cm.

Trustees of the British Museum, London, England.

The original title of Rembrandt’s Hundred Guilder Print was Our Lord Healing the Sick. The popular title came about because the artist bought back an impression for that amount. (Now, you couldn’t buy it for ten thousand guilders!)

A print on Japan paper from an etched copper plate with additional dry point, the work represents a high point in the artist’s career as well as in the etching process. The subject is not confined to the healing of the sick, but actually illustrates the whole of Chapter 19 of St. Matthew’s Gospel.

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Note: Japan paper apparently did come from distant Japan. Rembrandt used common “Japan,” which was pale golden, with a silky surface that, when inked, produced crisp lines.

Picasso, Pablo. Violin. 1913.

Carbon, paper, gouache, crayon, chalk.

Musée Picasso, Paris, France.

© 1991 Pablo Picasso/Vis-Art Copyright Inc.

Picasso said that he could readily envisage his Cubist paintings translated into three dimensions, so it is not surprising that after the rigours of analytical Cubism he began using other materials in collages. Soon after making works with newspapers, coloured paper, wallpaper, and cardboard, he moved into three-dimensional relief construction that included wood and metal. But it was not in the tradition of sculpture that he worked with such a sense of structural and spatial urgency.

This work shows the transition from two-dimensional to three-dimensional collage. On a background surface of crayon and gouache on newspaper, an empty cardboard box has been fixed, bottom up: a paper strip passes through cuts in the box, with additional drawn lines to suggest violin strings. Paper, card, scissors, and glue were all that it required—plus Picasso’s ingenuity and dynamic vision. Picasso had a strong sense of material and surface, and he was forever alert to the materials around him.

Matisse, Henri. Sorrow of the King. 1952.

Cut-out paper; 292 x 294 cm.

Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France.

© 1991 Henri Matisse/ARS New York, USA.

Matisse’s Sorrow of the King is a cut-out paper structure—one of the works of his later years, some of which are more than nine metres in length. On the left of the picture, the green nude and the central musical motif are backed by geometric horizontal bands of colour. On the right, against the vertical background, the figure of the dancer is light and open, with strong dynamic arcs and curves.

The cut-outs were, according to Matisse, the result of “drawing, and more drawing from nature,” then, when his hand was sufficiently practised and the form had evolved in his mind, cutting the images spontaneously. He also said that scissors could acquire more

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feeling for line than pencil or charcoal and that cutting straight into colour reminded him of the direct carving of the sculptor. So, it was this “carving” process, not snipping and clipping the hand-coloured sheets, which Matisse used to make these large paper works.

Reese-Heim, Dorothea. Kartuschen. 1988.

Paper, thread; 60 x 60 x 10 cm.

Reese-Heim, a German artist, uses handmade paper with thread and other fibres to achieve works of considerable delicacy and strength. In this work, she presents a varied tactile range, providing the qualities of relief sculpture and textile. Fine fibres within the structural paper rolls combine with filaments and threads laminated in the sheets and wind around the rolls. The varying smoothness and colour range of the blues contrasts with the heavier tactile and informal darker fibres.

Mack, David. Adding Fuel to the Fire. 1987.

Magazines, newspaper, car body, furniture, etc.

Installation. Barcelona, Spain.

This large, ephemeral installation by British artist David Mack makes a somewhat humorous critical comment on our consumer society. He layers quantities of waste material (magazines and newspapers) to produce a sculptural tidal wave, on which float obsolete objects. The work implies that we could all end up submerged in a sea of waste paper.

The public was able to watch Mack at work on this installation. In fact, public involvement was a vital performance aspect of the work.

Gehry, Frank. “Easy Edges” Body Contour Rocker.” 1971.

Laminated, corrugated cardboard; 81.3 x 87.6 x 97.8 cm.

Manufacturer, Easy Edges Inc.

Collection: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA.

Gift of the manufacturer.

Canadian-American designer Gehry created “Easy Edges” Body Contour Rocker most improbably, from sheets of cardboard. Singly, the sheets possess little load-bearing capacity—but, laminated, they can bear a substantial body weight. The curvilinear section strengths the form, provides the rocking motion, and provides a fluent sculptural structure of considerable aesthetic merit.

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The following is not on the DVD, but it is another example of Gehry’s work:

Gehry Frank. Wiggle Chair. 1972. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–067)

Laminated, corrugated cardboard, fibre board, round timber.

Vitra Design Museum.

Now a well-known architect, Gehry designed these chairs by using the vertical strength of laminated cardboard. Both cardboard’s versatility and ready availability were key aspects of Gehry’s designs. He has developed a strong clear design which combines both forms found in nature and industrial materials.

Five-year-old child’s construction. 1960s.

Scrap paper, card, sprayed with metallic paint, crayon, chalk.

This work in scrap material shows clearly how instinctive the constructive idiom is to the child who constructed this work and transformed collected paper, card rolls, and lids to make equivalents—no attempt is made to copy actual parts—for the functional parts of an old steam engine, and then sprayed them with a metallic finish.

At the British National Exhibition of Children’s Art, where the work was shown, I asked the boy what the yellow plastic mesh bag was for. “Smoke,” he said. This demonstrated a constructive logic, since the plastic was the least substantial material used in the work.

Recommended Resources Elmert, Dorothea. History of Paper Art. Wienand Verlag, 1994. Print.

A historical survey rather than a “how to” book. Contains a wide range of fine examples of sculptural uses of paper, including paper making, paper casting, and paper art. In German and English.

Heller, Jules. Papermaking. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1978. Print.

A comprehensive text on the theory and practice of papermaking, including experimental approaches and illustrations of artists’ work.

Hopkinson, Anthony. Papermaking at Home: How to Produce Your Own Stationery from Recycled Waste. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK: Thorsons Publishers, 1978. Print.

A basic, practical introduction to papermaking.

Ogawa, Hiroshi. Forms of Paper. Trans. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1971. Print.

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A visually exciting exploration of paper folding to create inventive paper forms. Ogawa shows a range of techniques he used in paper folding, and the simple tools required. Mostly photographs, some text, translated into English.

Shannon, Faith. Paper Pleasures: The Creative Guide to Papercraft. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987. Print.

Covers various aspects of paper: its making, including innovative approaches, and its uses for three-dimensional constructions and decorative applications.

List of Illustrations 1. Recycled cartons are broken down and mixed with water in the hopper; waste, wire,

plastic, etc., are removed. From computer animation by Jeanie Sundland.

2. Paper slurry passes from headbox to fourdrinier. From computer animations by E. John Love.

3. Paper passes through calendar rolls for finishing. From computer animation by E. John Love.

4. Final roll is cut into desired widths. From computer animation by E. John Love.

5. Preparatory studies for experiments with paper. Cathy Burton.

6. Exploring the boxes, two to three dimensions. Geoffrey Topham.

7. Idea drawings for exploiting jigsaw puzzles. Craig Takeuchi.

8. Preparatory drawings for a card-on-water project. Oliver Kuys.

9. Experiments in papermaking with natural fibres showing photocopies of source material. Lorraine Yabuki.

10. Photocopies of experiments combining natural fibres with paper. Lorraine Yabuki.

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Faculty of Arts

Unit 5: Fibres

VISA 1301 Material and Form

VISA 1301: Material and Form U5-1

Unit 5: Fibres Introduction

Note: DVD 3 includes the video program Fibres.

You have already learned about fibres in various forms in three previous units. Wood results from the cohesion of cellulose fibres; however, it is often worked counter to its fibrous nature. Making and using paper on the program, students were involved with a wide range of natural fibres, relying on broken-down cellulose fibres to web together and bond after being mixed with water. Even the use of plastics turned up a variety of synthetic fibres and glass fibres that were formed into chopped strand mat and woven sheets.

Unit 5 will explore these fibres and others not yet examined—no doubt finding new characteristics that can be used in the development of new forms.

Note: In this and other units, you are being provided with more information than you need to simply to complete the course. The idea is to provide you with a broad background on the material under discussion, so that you can understand how others have worked with it, and be encouraged, at some later date, to explore it further yourself.

Classification and Sources of Fibres Fibres are classified in four main types, according to their origin:

• Animal (derived from animal tissue)

• Vegetable (derived from vegetable sources)

• Mineral (derived from mineral sources)

• Synthetic (produced by chemical or industrial processes)

Animal Fibres There are two main kinds of animal fibres that differ structurally. They are silk and hair (which also includes fur and feathers).

Silk Silk is spun in continuous filaments from the abdomen of various types of insects and spiders. “True silk” is produced by only one insect, the silkworm, which is really a caterpillar of a moth that spins its cocoon of silk. The length of silk depends

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on the size of the silkworm cocoon, and the thread is cylindrical in section. “Wild silk”—also known as “tussah” silk and the raw material for shantung fabrics—is produced by several related species of insect; in sections, the thread is rectangular and tends to be irregular. The silk-like threads spun by spiders are not used in textiles but are sometimes used in precision optical instruments.

Hair The commonest animal hair fibre is sheep’s wool, which differs from other hair because the fibres are not smooth. Hairs vary according to the particular breed of the animal, but individual hairs can be as long as seventy-six centimetres/thirty inches, or, more usually, about half that. In wild sheep, the wool is short, soft underneath, and protected by coarse longer hairs. Domestic sheep are bred for long fleeces.

Wool is used for a vast range of woven goods and is often combined with other materials in fabrics and textiles. The hairs of other animals, such as the Angora rabbit, Cashmere goat, camel, alpaca, and vicuña are also used as textile fibres. Even the hair of certain rabbits and cats is sometimes spun into yarn, but is more often employed in the production of fur felt. Cow and horse have been used for textiles and upholstery. Horse, camel, sable, and badger hairs are used for paint brushes. The range of quality of materials produced from animal fibres is extremely diverse, but woven materials for the fashion industry predominate.

The natural hairs of fur provide a valuable source of tactile sensations, and this is exploited in manufactured products. The flexible skins are used as clothing and for lining and trimming garments. Any fur is worthy of consideration for studio projects.

Natural feathers can be included in the context of fibres. They have been used as decoration in most cultures since primitive times, and are often incorporated in clothing, particularly in Central and South America. You can see examples of the uses of various fibrous materials in the Postcard Booklet.

Vegetable Fibres The chemical composition of vegetable fibres is predominately cellulose. The principal vegetable fibres are of five structural types:

• Grasses: Entire stems and leaves are utilized. Esparto grass and raffia leaves are among many types in this group.

• Leaves and stems: The tough fibres found in plant leaves and stems, particularly stems that carry sap.

• Seeds: The soft seed-hair fibres surrounding the seeds of certain plants.

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• Tough fibres: Generally referred to as basts, which grow between the bark and stem of certain plants and shrubs. Tough fibres are also found on various palm tree trunks. Palm leaves have a strong sheathing, and they are also a source of fibre.

• Fruit cases: Coverings of tropical fruits, such as coir, from the outer husk of coconuts (used for ropes and matting).

Cotton is a seed-hair fibre and the most used and adaptable of all fibres. The only other commercially useful seed-hair fibre is kapok, which cannot be spun, but is used for upholstery stuffing and is suitable for “soft” sculpture.

Linen is made from flax, a grass. Course cloths, twine, and cordage are produced from hemp, jute, and ramie. These vast fibres are used in the manufacture of cordage, but they can also be woven into quite fine textiles. Other vascular fibres, such as sisal, Manila hemp, and yucca, are used for ropes and similar products. Even fibres from pineapple can produce textiles. Esparto grass not only forms a basis for paper, but is woven with other fibres to make hat and matting. Cotton and flax form the basis for the finest rag papers, while coarse fibres such as hemp, jute, and Manila are used for wrapping paper and packaging materials. Hemp is also used today in clothing and was used experimentally in conjunction with sisal and wheat fibres by Ford Motor Company in 1941, to create lightweight but very strong car bodies (see Recommended Resources). Wood fibres and sugar-cane fibres are made into building boards.

Mineral Fibres Glass fibre, or fibreglass, is the only fibre of inorganic, mineral origin that is used to any degree in commercial fabrics. It is made by melting glass and blowing or drawing the molten glass into thin flexible threads.

Fibreglass (as you saw in the previous video program on plastics) is made into an extensive range of products of different weights and weaves for industrial applications, particularly as reinforcement for polyester and other synthetic resins. Fibres of asbestos are also woven or felted into course fabrics. They are no longer recommended for use as insulation; their application today is limited to essential fire protection. Insulation is now often manufactured from a fibrous substance made from limestone or siliceous rock. Very thin metal strands are sometimes combined with other organic filaments in specially woven gauze for industrial products.

Synthetic Fibres These play an extensive role in fabric production; apart from textiles for clothing, textiles for clothing, blankets, and upholstery, there are many industrial uses. The

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products of synthetic chemistry, these fibres have become increasingly important since the introduction of rayon in the late nineteenth century. They are classified in three main types, according to their base:

• Cellulose

• Natural or synthetic protein

• Synthetic resin

Synthetic cellulose fibres came into commercial use first, and they are still the most important synthetic fibres. Some cellulose fibres, such as wood pulp and cotton linters, are chemically reconstituted so they are not truly synthetic. Non-cellulose, true synthetic fibres are usually made from petroleum. Nylon, introduced in 1940, is now made in a range of types suitable for clothing, coated fabrics, belt drives, ropes, brushes; and, even substitute human arteries. Nylon is notable for its elasticity, but can also be used in parachutes and as a component of space suits. Acrylic fibres, such as Orlon and Acrilan, are resistant to sunlight, moths, acids, and many solvents. These synthetic fibres are often mixed with other fibres to make tents, awnings, and protective clothing. Polyester fibres, such as Terylene, are in common use.

Properties of manufactured fibres depend on their chemical composition and physical structure, which are, in turn, influenced by manufacturers’ needs for their products. The function of a fabric, for example, will often determine its surface qualities, its weight, warmth, compactness, softness, and so on. Some products require elasticity, other more inelasticity. Spandex can be stretched like rubber, and Spectra 900 is ten times stronger than steel.

Working with Fibres The use of fibres was one of the first craft applications of primitive peoples and date from the New Stone, or Neolithic, Age. Cotton was used in Egypt as early as 3000 BCE.

Thousands of years ago, weaving was done with reeds, rushes, and osiers. Today, weaving is still the commonest method of working thread—like fibres. Knots were almost certainly one of the earliest developments of primitive technology. They were first used to make and fasten tools and weapons, then to set a snare, tether animals, last poles and bind things together. There was a functional concern to find the particular knot best suited for a specific purpose, whether to fasten a hook to a fishing line or to bridle a horse.

Different aspects of function developed to include decorative embellishment, combining other material such as leather thongs, animal sinews, flax and other twisted fibres. The decorative knotting of the Arabs, known as macramé, which is from the Turkish makrama, meaning bedspread, moved to the West and even to the Indians of North and South America. Some of these traditions are still alive today.

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But knotting (and macramé) was not simply the decorative addition of fringes and trimming, it was also significant as part of maritime art and craft. The development of sail and complex rigging made for increasingly complex use of cordage; and sailors whiling away a few leisure hours invented many knotting variations to produce their own patterns of macramé.

The knotting of fishing nets was another important early technical development, which has continued to the present—except for the increase in the scale of nets and the introduction of synthetic filaments and fibres.

Early examples of three-dimensional knitted forms are the cylindrical structures found in Coptic tombs, apparently extensions of footwear or “leggings.” They were probably made by knitting on a circular needle or a wooden circle with pegs around the edge—similar to the tatting of my childhood, where tubular cores were made by encircling the hold of a cotton spool with small nails, knitting the loops and pulling them through the spool. On a larger scale, such forms could be useful structures to pack or stuff. Knitted shapes could be designed for stuffing; similarly, any ready- made fabric tubing, with or without reasonable elasticity, can be used to make three- dimensional and sculptural forms.

All knitting was done by hand until 1596 when an English clergyman, William Lee, invented a machine that could knit stockings. There have been many refinements since then: ribbed stockings, then the shaping of heels and toes in hosiery, and, finally, automatic full-fashioned machines. Small home knitting machines can produce a reasonable range of basic forms and also produce pattern. I once designed a series of knitting patterns, based on motifs in some of my sculptures and constructions, which were incorporated into a knitted dress my wife wore to the opening of my exhibition.

Fibres are essentially flexible, and they are usually long in relation to their width. All natural fibres, except silk, are limited in length and average between about one-and- a-quarter and twenty centimetres/a half-inch and eight inches (wool fibres, as you learned, run longer). Natural fibres of limited length are known as staple fibres and are generally spun into yarn.

Manufactured fibres, in long continuous strands, are called filament fibres. These can be used singly as yarns, or blended with other filament fibres, then cut to length. To process filament fibre into yarn, only twisting is required. The amount of twist determines the character of the material: light twist for softness, tight twist for hard material. Threads and yarns can be woven, knotted, knitted, plaited, or felted. Three common methods of working with fibres are described next.

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Weaving The craft consists of interlacing two or more series of threads at right angles to each other. The longitude threads are called the warp and the transverse, the weft (or woof). Diversification can be achieved by varying the number, or the materials, of warps and wefts. In the introduction to the program, you will see computer- animated diagrams of weaving patterns and digitized images of the varying tactile qualities of material and pattern, including:

• Plain or taffeta weaves, which can be varied in colour and pattern by using different colours for warp and weft. A regular variation in colour and sequence produces a check pattern. The greater the degree of variation, the greater the complexity of the pattern.

• Twill weaves, which are used to make serge, worsted, jersey, covert cloth, gabardine, drill and denim.

• Basket weaves, used for plaids and skirting.

• Satin weaves, used for satin, crepe satin, and damask.

• Ribbed weaves, for poplins and piques.

• Pile weaves, commonly used for velvets, plushes, corduroys and Turkish towelling. Loops create the pile and can be cut or uncut.

• Dolby and Jacquard weaves, which produce complex patterned fabrics for upholstery, drapery fabrics and brocades.

Fabrics and textiles are fundamentally painterly, and can even be used with a pictorial end product, such as tapestries (see the Bayeux Tapestry example in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–024). A designer of fabrics respects the nature of the material and the process of working it. A good textile reveals warp and weft and is clearly fibrous. The tactile properties should be apparent—ranging from soft and smooth to warm and rough; appealing to our sense of touch, and visually stimulating. All weaving aspires to produce a surface with a particular texture. Most fabrics are made to have contact with the body, as clothing, bedding, and furniture upholstery. Although our initial response to the fabric may be to the attractiveness of colour and pattern, it is ultimately the tactile property of the fibres, the “hand” of the fabric, that we respond to.

Hold a piece of cloth up in front of you and try to “read” it—to analyze its structure and get the “feel” of it. The computer images can help you do this. Computer drawings, simulations of the over-and-under weaving process, and digitized photographic images are all designed to provide you with the tactile equivalent of the actual woven material.

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Knotting and Macramé Some useful knots are the lark’s head, the square knot (or reef knot), the many variations of the half hitch, and the more complex braided cordage knot—the sennit—made in flat, round, or square form, using from three to nine cords. The knot is a basic unit, and its repetition creates the surface patterns found in the hammock and fishing net. Changes in the types of knots and fibrous material used can produce complex, ornate, and sculptural art forms.

Knitting and Crochet In knitting and crochet, the basic principle involves interlooping or interlocking yarn, using either a hook (crochet) or two or more needles. This can form a close, textured structure as a flat, flexible sheet, or as garments or coverings such as gloves, helmets, etcetera. These products are commonly referred to as knitwear.

There are many complex patterns and conventions and an extensive array of yarns in various textures, weights, and thicknesses available. Fortunately, by using only the most basic stitches (plain and purl, stocking stitch, etc.) you need not stay within the conventions of the craft, nor need you copy the patterns and designs of others. This is an example of where the methods and work of others can be both informative and stimulating; however, it is better to start by exploring the possibilities of simple stitches, different weights of yarn, etcetera, for yourself. You will soon find that experimenting promotes ideas. Manipulation of the material, developing a sympathetic “feeling” for it, is the source of much design inspiration.

Apart from knitting with wools of different weight, colour and texture, you can use many other materials, even incorporating different materials into the same two- or three-dimensional structures. Designers and artists have knitted strings, cords, twine, ropes, coloured parcel string, ribbons, waxed sealing cord, nylon, fishing line, white cotton string, sisal, hemp, flexible or elastic plastic strips, and plastic-covered wire.

Student Projects You will see that students in the program use a range of fibres and approaches for their projects. Some work with fibrous material, others exploit ready-made material, particularly fabrics and garments, and a few are enterprising in their use of fibres in mixed-media projects.

Their works illustrate the diversity that results from individual choice of materials and the development of individual responses, ideas, and concepts. What is apparent from all the projects is the flexibility of most fibres and of materials made from basic fibres. All such material can be explored and used simply for its inherent surface qualities, or it can be looped, hung, suspended, and stretched across space or over

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forms. By using additional material or forms, it can also be twisted, stretched and weighted by a variety of means. Think also about the combination of harmonic or contrasting material and form.

The natural tension and other characteristics of fibres and fabrics can be demonstrated in a given space or installation. It doesn’t necessarily have to be on a larger scale. Ropes and nets of different weight and tension can be used on wall, floor, and ceiling, and in space.

You will have a number of options in the assignment for this unit; however, you should be aware that there are an infinite range of possibilities which could be available to you. If, like Ronaye and Mark, you already have some experience in the use of fibrous material or in particular craft, don’t hesitate to exploit it—but try to widen your experience by attempting something new. If you can go to a forest (as students on the program did, for their environment project for this unit) you might like to make your own collection of supple branches, twigs, or shoots for exploitation as structures, screens, shelters, etcetera. At a lake, you might find rushes and reeds that can be woven into containers, nests, and baskets.

Kuan makes an interesting beginning, using netting—which can be draped, overlaid, or constructed in a variety of ways—first on the floor and then on the wall. He eventually contrasts the black net with expanded aluminum mesh by hanging them in close relationship. Then, he contrasts the multi-coloured threads: one group looped and lying freely, but bonded onto a curved resin surface, the second suspended in space in front of the net. The work shows his rapid response to the materials and his even quicker flight of imagination to arrive at an ordered concept.

Craig stretches and staples ready-made clothing to boards, producing relief relationships that he then embellishes with paint. The contrasting forms are analogues to figures and totems.

Lorraine begins exploiting her wide range of collected material, stretching or suspending natural fibrous forms on a fibre-covered frame (see illustration 1). From an old straw hat, she creates a “collector’s item,” reconstructing it as a nest with grass and moss, decorating it with a wood feather, and surmounting it by a real bird’s next containing quail eggs. Her final piece is a tour de force based on a piece of driftwood made fibrous by the wearing effects of sand and sea. Bronze found on the casting floor and a moulded leather mask are added to make a well-integrated and moving form (see illustration 2).

Brent makes transpositions of form, taking soft, flexible, muslin fabric and making it rigid. First, he stitches the material onto a metal framework (circular at one end, square at the other), stretching and twisting it taut; then, he paints it with transparent catalyzed polyester resin. This is an example of almost instantaneous

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sculptural form, which suggests the many possibilities of stretching materials over frames and forms. Tent structures could be one category of stretched form; kites another. You can probably think of many more.

Contrast these with more inert forms, stuffed or shaped by inserting other forms, as Ed does in his outdoor project (see illustration 3). Inert forms—flags, pennants, banners, sails—can be transformed by wind.

Some forms can be achieved by development of the surface, particularly by using colour. Cathy collects fabric samples, excitingly patterned and richly coloured, and brings them together in a large wall hanging. It shows interesting contrasts, between colour and tone, black fabric and white cotton canvas, and heavily stitched red-and- blue felt. Added drawing makes printed fabric motifs “grow” over part of the surface (see illustration 4). This is, of course, basically collage with some rudimentary stitching and embroidery, though not in the conventional craft tradition. Some craftspeople stay within the confines of various traditions, others seek to extend—following a more open-ended “fine-art” direction, a personal and exploratory approach to material, processes, and form.

Probably the most fundamental piece of work is by David, who, faced with a bale of new green hay, has the bright idea of making a figure. This basic concept is then strikingly developed by using Rodin’s Thinker as the model for Hayman. (It would be even more interesting if we could have a shot of Hayman contemplating the remains of his original substance)!

Mark is obviously experienced in dealing with fabric; he designs directly on the dress-form “figure.” His method involves trial and error processes in which he has to make decisions to find a good solution. As the dress develops, adjustments are made, drawings are carried out and the machining is completed. Later, the finished dress is worn by a model in an installation.

Lisa’s work is an interesting example of what can be done with rudimentary technology: simple fastening, piercing, lacing, and “weaving” became part of the rough-cut hessian T-shirts. They evolved into larger wall pieces.

Effective and creative textiles do not necessarily depend on elaborate equipment. Ronaye—the only student who had any experience of weaving—carries out stimulating experiments on a small tabletop loom, and her larger-scale project is made on a primitive frame. The project was successful because she was still exploring material and structure; developing a personal, even instinctive, sense of design. You could see this in the variations and relationships of the materials that Ronaye used and in the sense of surface and space that she achieved.

TRU Open Learning

U5-10 Unit 5: Fibres

Assignment 5: Fibres

Introduction Your project for Assignment 5 must include both experimental and developmental stages. Instructions on how to work through each of the project options are on the following pages. If you have some special skill, or wish to incorporate a technology you are familiar with into the project option you choose to do for this assignment, please do so. However, do explore even further than your familiar ways of working. You could try new ways of working or incorporating different materials into your work. Extend your experience!

Before you begin working on your assignment, read carefully through all of the instructions for this assignment, look also at the relevant section of the Postcard Booklet.

If you are following the Suggested Schedule, you should have completed Assignment 5 by Week 9. We recommend that you send your photographic documentation and notebook pages for Assignments 5, 6, and 7 together, including any relevant work examples.

Project Options Complete one of the following six project options for this assignment:

• Project 1: Use Flexible Mesh

OR

• Project 2: Combine Fibrous Materials

OR

• Project 3: Craft Fibrous Materials

OR

• Project 4 Collage Materials

OR

• Project 5: Make a Rug

OR

• Project 6: Combine Fibres in a Mixed-Media Project

Before you begin working on your assignment, read carefully through all of the instructions for this assignment.

Documentation and Notebook Make sure your documentation includes:

• Drawings, brief notes, and diagrams of the processes used in your work

• Detailed documentation of your work

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Note: If your work is small, light and unbreakable, you may send it to your Open Learning Faculty Member in addition to your photographs and your notebook documentation.

If you are following the Suggested Schedule, you should have completed Assignment 5 by Week 9. We recommend that you send your photographic documentation and notebook pages for Assignments 5, 6, and 7 together.

Instructions Project 1: Use Flexible Mesh

1. Using any type of flexible mesh (such as fishing net of various gauges), experiment with the material on a small scale. Try out different materials and document your different versions in photographs and notes. Then, develop the ideas that you respond to the most.

2. Next, develop your experiments to work on any convenient scale in two or three dimensions. Design your project for the wall and/or floor, or for space. Include ropes and other additional fibrous material, if you wish.

Project 2: Combine Fibrous Materials 1. Research with a variety of different fibrous material—twine, twigs, wool,

rope, nylon, etcetera. Photograph your different combinations and develop those you find the most visually interesting.

2. From this experience, work towards combining one material with another, using a basic technology such as tying, twisting, or knotting.

3. Then, think of ways to combine your materials and forms into an organized whole for an indoor or outdoor setting.

Project 3: Craft Fibrous Material 1. If you have some experience with techniques that involve fibrous material,

such as weaving, macramé, knitting, and crochet, choose one of these and select the material range you will work with. Then, try out by arranging different materials together in order to select the combinations you are most interested in. Photograph your different versions. See if you can explore even further than your previous work with fibre.

2. Make small experimental structures, and then move to a larger scale. Alternatively, design and make a product. This can be some type of functional product with, of course, aesthetic implications—for example, a dress, hat, or knitted form.

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U5-12 Unit 5: Fibres

3. You could create a new “fine-art” form—combining your initial material with others to develop a mixed-media context.

4. If your chosen process is weaving, remember the following: 5. Structure is the fundamental element in weaving and it creates the basic

characteristics of the cloth. 6. On the simplest structures, you can make virtually endless variations. 7. Fibre colour and texture, although important, should be subordinated to the

structure of the woven fabric. Project 4: Collage Materials

1. Make a collection of fabrics, sheet material, samples, cut-out pieces from old clothes, or any cheap material.

2. Working experimentally on a relatively small scale, try to relate up to three pieces. Do this by cutting, to establish a scale relationship—for example, putting small-patterned pieces with larger, plain material. Try contrasting materials, then making harmonic relationships, and so on. This is a vital part of the composition process because you can rapidly try out, by placing different fabric pieces together and documenting the variations. In this way you can try out a range of possible colour, texture, shape combinations, to see which you like the best. Photograph this composing process so that your Open Learning Faculty Member can see your ideas developing.

3. Next, try to find a system of relationship so that you can bring more materials together, or work on a larger scale. You can think of this first as collage; simply glue or tack pieces together or layer one on another. It’s essential to keep the whole process in a continuous state of development in these early stages.

4. When you are confident of your direction, you can fasten pieces more permanently together.

5. The piece can be evolved very much as you wish—it can be hung, laid flat, stretched on a frame, or attached to a flat board. You can think of it as appliqué embroidery, or you can evolve it into a new format of your own.

6. Decide when to use adhesive, when to stitch, and how that should be done. Parts may be flat, padded or quilted; they may be drawn on, or elements may be tied. You can’t do everything in one piece, so select and organize—you are in control.

Project 5: Make a Rug 1. If you have some specific experience or want to master a new craft, try making a

rug. Because of time constraints, you could design the rug in your Notebook and submit examples or photographs of the fibres and stitches to be used. Document by photographing and note-taking how you try out different colour, pattern and texture combinations before you start the actual weaving process.

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2. You should begin experimentally, but ultimately your selection of material will be determined by structural requirements, with particular importance given to colour and tactile qualities. Some artists have had their works on paper or canvas transposed into rugs and tapestries that have for centuries been the most pictorial form of fibrous art production. But that is an elaborate and laborious process beyond the scope of this assignment!

3. You could, however, make a small rug, about the size of a prayer mat, by a variety of means. Ronaye’s handsome “loom” of wood strips attached to the floor and wall to take the warp could be a quick way to “weave” a mat in the style of a rag rug. Also, consider other craft methods, such as braiding and knotting. Remember that the heavier the fibre, the quicker it will be to work.

Project 6: Combine Fibres in a Mixed-Media Project 1. Choose a range of fibres and arrange them in a structure or mixed-media

format.

2. Try out different combinations and placements as you begin the composition and photograph the different variations as you work.

3. This project may be carried out on any scale, in any situation or site. An example of this way of working is Helen’s totems, which use a great variety of fibrous material. Her three totems worked well in the installation she made with Brent, where they were contrasted with abstract architectural forms of fabric and polyester.

Notes on the Reproductions The reproductions for this unit are on DVD 3 in the video Fibres and/or in the Postcard Booklet.

A village on the Lake of Kainji.

Nigeria.

Fibres are still fundamental to some societies. This bird’s-eye view of an African village shows public and private areas separated by screens of fibrous matting. The mud walls and floors of local housing are reinforced with reeds from the lake, and their roofs are probably made from millet straw and local grasses. These buildings are cool and effective structures, which can last a surprisingly long time. Easily repaired and replaced, often with portable roofs, they are completely at one with the environment.

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U5-14 Unit 5: Fibres

Chuckwukelu, Mike. Mask. 1988.

500 pieces of wood, fabric, and mixed media; 300 × 200 cm.

Anambra State, Nigeria.

Exhibited at Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 1989.

Chuckwukelu is a Nigerian who works in the African mask-making tradition. The structure I photographed in Paris is made of lightweight materials and has both abstract and representational decoration; it represents complex tribal beliefs and is used ceremonially. Following the custom, after a ceremony is completed, the structure is carefully disassembled to await the next significant ceremonial occasion.

Oppenheim, Meret. Object. 1936.

Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon; cup 10.9 cm diameter, saucer 23.7 cm diameter, spoon 20.2 cm long; overall height 7.3 cm.

Collection: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (purchase).

© 1991 Meret Oppenheim/Vis-Art Copyright Inc.

Oppenheim was born in Berlin in 1913. At eighteen, she was introduced to the Surrealists who, with the Dadaists, attempted to shock people into a new intense awareness, using the “stuff of dreams,” accidents, and fortuitous events. She was a painter, but it was her surrealist objects that brought her fame. Made from everyday utensils, they were covered in fur and leather. The cup, saucer, and spoon are horrifyingly covered in rat’s fur, which produces surreal sensations. When I look at the cup, I can feel my lips receding from the revolting thought of touching the rat’s fur.

Oppenheim was celebrated in the Surrealist group as the “fairy woman who all men desire” and was the subject of some of May Ray’s most beautiful photographs.

In the first half of this century, no artistic movement had such a high proportion of active woman participants as Surrealism. Apart from Oppenheim, Dorothea Tanning, Leonora Carrington, Mimi Parent, Valentine Hugo, and Hanna Hoch were all identified with this movement.

Khan, Muniza. Ikat Ribbons. 1982.

Silk.

Reproduced from The Structure of Weaving, courtesy Ann Sutton.

These fine silk Ikat ribbons by a young British design student are elegant and delicately processed. Their plain weave has been enriched by colour in warp or weft or both. The yarns are dyed only in certain areas, by binding them with another material, such as raffia or plastic, which resists the dye. Certainly, these ribbons look beautiful and complex: however, these results are achieved by variations of colour rather than by weave.

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Abakanowicz, Magdalena. Brown Akaban and Heads. 1976.

Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and

Exhibition Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

Abakanowicz is one of the world’s greatest weavers. She has transcended the norms of traditional weaving, taking woven and knotted materials into new sculptural and spatial territory. Her large-scale installations are always satisfying—and sometimes magnificent—syntheses of space and materials. The abstract surface of sensory delight is full of invention. Some of her works represent figures, with sisal and rope making equivalents for bone and muscle.

Morris, Robert. Untitled. 1967. (See Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–027 for another of his works.)

Felt, 264 pieces; 1.27 cm thick.

© ARS New York, USA, 1991.

As a leader of Minimal art, Morris has worked with many materials; but he is known for his use of non-traditional media. For a series in the sixties—of which this untitled piece is one— he chose felt. The felt is dense and heavy—natural, grey fibres “felted” (matted) together in a monochromatic and proletarian substance. In earlier stages of development, he formally hung a few pieces vertically, side by side, against the wall. But in this piece he has moved away from a simple study in grey and gravity, sewing hundreds of pieces of 1.27 cm-thick felt. The pieces are differently sized, but basically geometric in shape, so they can hang, fall, curve and loop. In 1967, this represented a new soft sculpture and fibre-art form, readily evolved and even participatory, as a result of viewer action and intervention. Although lacking representational context, the work can still provide tactile stimuli, a meditative maze for eye to mind.

Kubota, Itchiku. Willows (left); Nah 2 (right). 1982–1983.

Tie-dyed, hand drawn silk, gold thread.

These traditional Japanese kimonos are simple in their structure, but complex patterns of weave and colour give them an opulent look. Tie-dying was used to colour the basic yard, but the silk is combined with gold thread. After weaving and making up the garment, there was a further addition to the patterning by hand drawing.

Both forms have a bilateral symmetry, with severe geometric forms at the top and flexible fold below. In the kimono on the left, the pattern is an all-over repeat on three wide horizontal bands of colour. The garment on the right is more sculptural, with completely asymmetric colour blocks and patterned areas. These are objects of amazing decorative artistry, and you can imagine their sculptural complexity when actually worn!

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U5-16 Unit 5: Fibres

Féraud, Louis. Four Ensembles.

Fabrics as clothing, dress, and fashion constitute the greatest us of fibres. Here are four garments designed by Féraud of Paris, with embroidery by Féraud and Nini Gill.

The first outfit shows a long jacket, of almost Oriental splendour, in emerald green and Venetian red crepe de Chine. The floral decoration is embellished with miniscule beads and buttons.

The second is a bolero over bodice—or bustier—that combines exotically coloured knitted fibres and is extensively embroidered with tiny coloured beads.

The third is a short, collarless jacket of Shantung silk, beautifully embroidered with beads and buttons in harmonic colours.

The short jacket of the fourth ensemble is elegantly embroidered with gold and silver metallic thread, over a long dress in subtle brown shades, with a pleated structure.

The following are not on the DVD, but they are in the Postcard Booklet:

Goldsworthy, Andy. Leaf Horn. 1996. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–070)

Sweet chestnut leaves and thorns.

Goldsworthy has carefully sorted leaves by size and then pinned them together with thorns to create this spiral horn. The form of the horn itself relates to spirals found in nature and the strength of a ram’s horn. Yet, it is made out of a fragile material, held together with the thorns and the design intentions and will of the artist.

Goldsworthy, Andy. Rowan Leaves Around a Hole. 1987.(Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–059)

Rowan leaves.

Goldsworthy has sorted a range of colours from very dark red to very light yellow from the disordered coloured leaves of the rowan tree. He has juxtaposed the light yellow leaves against the blackness of a hole dug in the ground, to create a strong tonal contrast. This provides both a visual charge and a focal point for the composition. With very simple means, Goldsworthy has created a circular form with its own aesthetic richness, which seems allude to the planetary system, eyes, and the earth itself.

Recommended Resources Broudy, Eric. The Book of Looms: A History of the Handloom from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1979. Print.

A history of looms, containing excellent information and photographs.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U5-17

Creager, Clara. Weaving: A Creative Approach for Beginners. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974. Print.

A good book for the beginning weaver.

Ellis, Marianne and Jennifer Wearden. Ottoman Embroidery. London: V & A Publications, 2001. Print.

Very intricate embroidery using colour and dense pattern to create fabrics of intense vibrancy and vitality.

The Hemp Revolution. Dir. Anthony Clarke. 1995. Video.

A documentary on the history and uses of hemp, including the hemp, sisal, and wheat straw car body made by Ford in 1941. Available on the Internet and in some libraries.

Komatsu, Eiko, Athena Steen, and Bill Steen. Built by Hand: Vernacular Buildings Around the World. Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, 2003. Print.

Some inventive examples of the use of fibres. A wonderful testament to the creativity and ingenuity of people all over the world who use available materials, such as fibre and earth, to make their dwelling places in a wide range of forms. (This book may be available in the public library system.)

Sutton, Ann. The Structure of Weaving. London: Bellew & Higton Publishers, Ltd., 1982. Print.

Excellent technical information on weaving, from drawing and design to finished work; well-illustrated.

Waller, Irene. Designing with Thread: from Fibre to Fabric. New York: Viking, 1973. Print.

Fibres and their many applications—knotting, macramé, crochet, weaving, etcetera—are well covered in this text. (Also available as Thread: an Art Form, from Studio Vista, London.)

Weltge, Sigrid Worttmann. Women’s Work: Textile Art from the Bauhaus. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. 1993

An excellent series of colour photographs of the astonishing weaving done by women at the Bauhaus. The women were marginalized at the most radical design and art school of its time. They produced magnificent abstract, complex weavings that used colour theory and design to great effect and beauty. In addition, there are sections in the book, showing their initial and working drawings and planning process. The work, though dating from the 1920s, looks completely contemporary today.

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U5-18 Unit 5: Fibres

List of Illustrations 1. Drawing of experiments incorporated into a frame structure. Lorraine

Yabuki.

2. Bark, vegetable fibres with leather mask. Personal development by Lorraine Yabuki.

3. Page of notebook drawings. Ed Person.

4. Concept and details for personal development. Cathy Burton.

5. a. Basket weave.

b. Honeycomb (cellular structure) weave.

c. Plain weave.

d. Herringbone (diagonal zigzag) weave. e. From computer animations by E. John Love and Jeanie Sundland

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U5-20 Unit 5: Fibres

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U5-22 Unit 5: Fibres

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U5-24 Unit 5: Fibres

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Faculty of Arts

Unit 6: Particles

VISA 1301 Material and Form

VISA 1301: Material and Form U6-1

Unit 6: Particles Introduction

Note: DVD 4 includes the video program Particles, to accompany Unit 6. See also the supplementary video on particles.

In ancient Greece, the word atom was used to describe the smallest piece of matter or particle that could be conceived. Our knowledge of the atom has increased and our concepts of matter have changed, but the atom remains largely invisible (remember that there are more than 100 million of them per square centimetre—or about 250 million to the square inch), and it takes sophisticated technical aids to see one. In the video program Particles, you will see an atom as a field ion micrographic image.

Particle physics is the branch of science that seeks to describe the fundamentals laws governing the structure and behaviour of matter. We can’t go into that in detail, but it is important to understand the implications of particles in structure. Knowledge of the existence of particles tends to make us take a wider view of things and enhances our sense of scale.

On the cosmic scale, we are somewhere between the macrocosm and the microcosm. There are numberless stars in our galaxy, and we are only one galaxy among countless others. We know that the bright points that appear as particles of light in the sky are stars, though the nearest star is 100,000 times more distant than our sun. At the other end of the scale, we know that our world is filled with microbes and bacteria which affect us, even though we can’t see them.

Think of the structure of the forces around you, in the room where you are sitting, which is receiving the light and colour of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is energy, wavelike particles, or photons, which are structured by the fixed velocity of light at a constant 300,000 kilometres/186,416 miles per second. We ourselves are energy. Our bodies are structures formed by energy; an agglomeration of cells, built of molecules, which are in turn built of atoms and other particles. We are a kind of electrochemical soup, spiced by many particles.

The particles of life form a multitudinous diversity. Within this diversity, there are many similar categories. We can think of ourselves, for example, in relationship to other living forms: the cell, the molecule, the egg and the seed. The cell is the basic structural unit of living matter; the molecules conduct metabolism, processing our energy.

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U6-2 Unit 6: Particles

When we think of seeds, we think of things that are small but that grow as an extension of reproduction, as is illustrated in this poem:

A million million spermatozoa,

All of them alive:

Out of their cataclysm but one poor Noah

Dare hope to survive.

–Aldous Huxley, “The Fifth Philosopher’s Song”

Through a light microscope, at a few hundred magnifications, you can readily see indigenous organisms—single-celled plants and animals (and some that are neither) such as diatoms, amoeba, and paramecium—in a drop of water. At a few thousand magnifications, or with an electron microscope, you would be able to see the unicellular organisms we call bacteria; they are among the smallest living cell particles. They occupy all the earth’s environments air, water, and soil, as well as plants and animals. Certain types of bacteria are found in most food products. They serve the essential function of breaking down dead animal and vegetable matter— without them, human life on earth would be impossible. Unfortunately, there are also parasitic bacteria that live in animals and vegetable matter. Some of these living particles can destroy life in very much larger organisms—Homo sapiens included!

In our world of unseen particles, we must consider the dynamics and role of particles, rather than thinking of them as objects. We see the changing effects of light, and we should realize that particles play a direct part in the phenomena of colour in the atmosphere. Minute particles of dust affect the short wavelengths of light and produce atmospheric colour of great variety. Without particles, there would be no sunsets! As we look into the distance, through different densities of atmospheric dust, colours change in quality. Colours also change as a result of the space behind the atmospheric dust; the blackness of outer space creates a blue sensation—the sky—when we look into space through semi-opaque atmospheric dust lit by the sun.

Sources and Classification of Particles

Sources of Particles

Erosion In the production of particles in nature, erosion is the principal factor. Erosion results from the continuous activities of natural forces—water, wind, heat, gravity, gases, and plant life.

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The constant force of the ocean waves, moving boulders, stones, and soil, is an example of why water—rain, river, and ocean—is the most important maker and mover of particles. There is a long-term rhythm of change in the breaking down of cliffs and rocks by the sea and the building up of sandy beaches that can eventually become fertile soil, as shown in illustration 1 at the end of this unit. The sea moves, grinding the rocks and mingling the sand with silt brought down by the rivers. Up in the mountains, the glacier grinds its moraine deposits to be washed away by streams and rivers. On the delta, the silted river changes the formation of the land, as shown in illustrations 2a) and 2b).

The soil and rocks of the earth’s crust are subject to more or less continuous erosion. In soil erosion, weathering affects the surface layers of the earth. Many parts of deserts are covered with “pavements” of tiny hard pebbles, which are the intermediate stage before sand. Small rock fragments, once broken down, are moved by wind and piled up as sand dunes or spread as layers of dust. A strong, prevailing wind is capable of building up mounds of sand up to a height of 150 metres/500 feet, but more often the desert sands are slowly moving oceans—the dunes assuming a regular crescent shape (barchans)—which move continuously like slow waves across the desert floor, as depicted in illustration 3.

As you can see in the computer animations in the video Particles, and also in illustration 4, extremes of temperatures between night and day are enough to break rocks into particles. Daytime desert temperatures can reach higher than 54°C/130°F in the shade; at night, it can drop to below freezing. Such rapid expansion and shrinkage fragments the surface of rocks.

Even humans are subject to erosion, continuously losing innumerable tiny particles of dead skin as a result of bodily movement and motor activities, abrasive contacts, and changes of temperature.

Classification of Particles Particles can generally be classified under the usual categories of animal, vegetable, mineral, and synthetic. In the video program, we use a broad selection from the mineral category. Some are fundamentally particles; others are the result of various processes, such as sawing, grinding, and milling. Powders, particles, and small pellets are prepared for various plastics processes—heat mouldings are combined with synthetic resins to simulate stone surfacing for the construction industry.

As well as protons, electrons, and neutrons, advanced technology and theoretical developments in science have let to the discovery of many new types of particles; they have been referred to as a nuclear zoo. Some are ephemeral and exist only briefly; others spin and spiral continuously in what physicist Denis Postle calls a “gigantic cosmic dance.”

Standing on a beach when the program for this unit was being filmed, I was conscious of the conflux of particles all around me. I had a clear sense of their

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U6-4 Unit 6: Particles

diversity and unity, and of the total interdependence and interconnectedness of all things—the atmospheric dust above; the plankton, algae, and mineral salts in the sea; and the particles of sand and fragments of shells under my feet.

Before you start your assignment for this unit, pick up an object. Hold it, see it as a single entity, a fixed form, but recognize that it is a collection of particles, changing its subatomic structure continuously—approximately once each 150,000th of a second. Describing a like-minded experience, around the turn of the nineteenth century, William Blake wrote we could “see a world in a grain of sand,” in his poem “Auguries of Innocence.”

Working with Particles Particles have long been connected with making art, but usually as part of a compound material—powdered pigment mixed with a vehicle such as oil, for example—or of a process, such as sand casting.

Traditionally, natural earth and mineral pigments constituted the body of the pigment, as well as the colour. Modern paints may still be made up of ground particles, but some are supported by chemically inert synthetic material such as acrylics, their colour based on dyes.

Indigenous art often makes us aware of the composition of pigment because the pigment used is seldom refined. Particles of ash, earth, and carbon are often apparent.

In many traditions, images are made of discernable particles—for example, The Navajo coloured sand paintings of the southwestern United States (See Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–028) and the widespread Rangoli sandpainting tradition in India. In Hindu rites in India, white and coloured powders are frequently used to decorate the human body, animals, and ritual objects. They are also used as paste or liquid dyes, or simply thrown as powder—usually followed by a splash of water!

Artists have often used sand as an addition to the support (canvas or wood) to give a different texture to the painting surface or ground. Picasso and Braque were adding sand to their pictures in 1912. On the beach at Juan les Pins in 1930, Picasso made a few sand reliefs, combining beach findings—seaweed and other vegetable matter—with cut-out cardboard shapes, gloves, and so on. He sewed and glued the material onto the rear of the canvas stretcher, which he used as a frame, then coated the assemblage with sand.

More recently, Yves Klein carried out a series of canvases that used sand of different densities, together with pieces of sponge, glued to the surface. Each canvas was then painted all over, but restricted to one colour. (See also Laurent Mareschal’s work with rice and spices. Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–071.)

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Small pieces of stone, tile, or coloured glass have been used to make patterned or pictorial mosaics since ancient Grecian time. In Italy, the church of San Vitale in Ravenna (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–029) and the cathedral of San Marco in Venice possess splendid examples of Byzantine Mosaics, made from small glass cubes that often included gold.

Sand In most casting processes, apart from sand casting, particles of gypsum are added to water to make plaster, which can range from fine dental quality to coarse construction grades. For sculpture, the development of synthetic resins led to the use of powdered stone compounds and wide range of other natural powders for casting. However, the more expensive bronze powder is generally used as a surface treatment because only a thin layer of it is needed on the casting mould.

Possibly, you remember how, as a child, you enjoyed manipulating sand: its fragmentary character, slipping through your fingers when dry, taking the imprint of hand and foot when dense and moist. These tactile sensations are important initial responses in learning to control material. Once you have some experience of a material, then forming it follows more or less intuitively. Remember, the bucket and spade of your childhood also introduced you to volume and construction.

If you want to refresh these memories, and you have access to a beach with the kind of sand that can be modelled and sculpted, you could begin by working in relief, then move into three dimensions.

• First, test the sand. It should hold together and show the ridges left by your fingers when you press it to make a rudimentary hand-form. Avoid surface sand, which is usually coarse, dry, and dirty.

• To create a relief, wet down a pile of sand, flatten and even it off, then carve it with an old palette knife, small trowel, or simple tools made from pieces of wood.

• For three-dimensional carving, use moist sand. You will need to make supporting walls or use boxes or cut sections of large construction cylinders as simple temporary supports. To give cohesion and structural strength, pack the sand, tamping it down with a block of wood or steel plate on the end of a piece of pipe.

Other Types of Particles There are, of course, innumerable other particles that are not used in the video program, including food, other organic particles and, even, particles of liquid. Think of particles blown through an atomiser or fixative spray, or any of the coloured metallic or stone sprays. These should be used sparingly so that the pattern of the

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particles is visible on the supporting form. How could you use raindrops? Try to think of a way to capture the pattern of falling rain.

Transparent and Reflective Surfaces Particles on transparent surfaces (glass and Plexiglas) offer possibilities. Mirrors can be used to multiply the effect of particles—an example by Robert Smithson is used on the program, which you will read about in the Notes on the Reproductions. Consider using mirrors with the commonest everyday particles—salt or the dust that is everywhere. In streaks of sunlight, we can see dust particles suspended in the air. They can take a day to fall three metres/ten feet, but, in time, can be carried hundreds of kilometres. After the volcanic eruption at Krakatoa, volcanic dust was carried several times around the world. Think about what kind of surface could be used to capture dust, which we automatically draw in when we find it laying on a surface.

Light Then, there are particles of light; how could you make an equivalent of the light particles of the night sky? At a more immediate level, you could use the pixels of light of a computer—using the menu to provide you with particles points on the screen and on a printout surface. With the aid of a computer, it is possible to mix particles of sound with image patterns.

Custom Made Rather than using readymade particles, you can make your own. If you live in an area where coloured minerals and mineral earths are available, you can break them down first with a hammer, then grind them in a pestle and mortar. Readymade chalks and crayons can also be pulverized into particles. Black, white, and coloured particles can be used on various surfaces such as paper, sandpaper, and rough unpressed paper—look at a Seurat drawing and note the black Conté particles on the surface of the paper, leaving points of white paper showing through. Large sheets of flexible transparent plastic, such as polyethylene, could be used to suspend particles in space, or as the surface treatment for a hung or supported construction.

How you exploit any of these materials will depend on your response to them, on your selection of other materials, and on the context in which you use them. This subject is a little different to those we have already dealt with. You can’t go to the library and find a book to cover the creative use of particles—so your experiments and research in this assignment are going to be more than usually important.

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Student Projects Now, let us consider the particle materials chosen by students in the video, and how they use these materials.

Cathy begins by experimenting with fine dry casting-sand to make vibration patterns, and then blowing forms onto boards. This leads to a series of wall boards, each glued and covered with a particular particle. Tone, colour, and texture are considered in her choice of materials, which include sand, clam shell, and sawdust; you can view these in illustration 5.

Kuan’s improvisations on the floor use moist and dense beach sand with wooden boards as forming tools. Further explorations use fragments of fine pine needles with sheet metal forms.

Oliver pursues two projects: casting blocks of plaster (in milk cartons) for hand carving, and mixing Olivine sand with unibond resin in a blender, making the sand into a cohesive mass by adding carbon dioxide.

Brent explores simple sand castings. Using coarse dense construction sand to hold an impression of his hand, and then filling the mould with a plaster made of gypsum particles and water. (The desired amount of casting sand can be washed off with a spray and powder colour applied. This needs to be sprayed with a fixative.) His final project explores sand in relation to other particles—stones and sawdust—in a “sand garden” developed in a shallow tray.

Ed’s concrete, made from cement, sand, and small gravel, is combined with other materials, first on a small scale and then on a large scale, using imbedded vertical metal forms.

Adrian dyes and dries wood sawdust particles and fragments making the three primary colours. You can develop a wide spectrum by mixing amounts in pairs to make the secondary colours. Do this in a small open cardboard box. Yellow and blue produce green; yellow and red produce orange; and red and blue produce violet. The smaller the particles, the more readily your eye will read the mixed colour. Consider it a three-dimensional variation on Seurat’s Divisionism, or division of colour. Adrian limits himself to difficult figurative imagery, but you could try free abstraction, using different areas of colour and exploring proportions.

Craig uses broken clam shells in his first experiments, extending this to development on the floor where he juxtaposes the shells with sections of white plastic tubing to make “shadow” forms and various projections and penetrations. You will see an image of his work in illustration 6a).

Lorraine prepares Velcro hands and other three-dimensional objects to which she glues fine sand. She extends her idea by adding a variety of particles to found objects, such as shoes and gloves. Her work is shown in illustration 6b).

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Geoff packages a wide range of particles—sand, gravel, small pebbles, sawdust, wood chips, and metal particle—in transparent plastic tubes. However, in his final developments, his instincts as a painter take over. On a base of fine sand in a shallow box, he does a series of freehand paintings, using dry pigments. You will see an image of his work in illustration 7.

Assignment 6: Particles

Introduction Complete one of the following six projects for this assignment:

For Assignment 6, you are required to carry out one of the six project options outlined next. Detailed instructions on how to work through each of the project options are presented on the following pages. Before you begin your assignment, take time to read through all the options.

• Project 1: Sand Sculpture

OR

• Project 2: Beach Installation with other Natural Forms

OR

• Project 3: Indoor or Patio Sand Garden

OR

• Project 4: Transformations of Natural Forms and/or Human-Made Objects

OR

• Project 5: Computer Exploration

OR

• Project 6: Personal Choice: work with a range of particles that interest you

Photographic and Notebook Documentation Remember that documentation at every stage of your experiments and personal development is particularly important, due to the unstable quality of many particles—or the way you choose to work with them. For example, you may want to capture a series of moments, or shifting sand, or falling rain.

Whichever option you choose, your documentation should include: • Drawings, diagrams and descriptions on your notebook pages that outline

your discoveries, ideas, materials and methods. • Two sets of photographs—one set that documents your experiments and a

second set that documents your personal developments

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If you are following the Suggested Schedule, you should have completed Assignment 6 by the end of Week 8. We recommend that you send in your documentation for Assignments 5, 6, and 7 in one batch.

Improvisation and Research Before making your selection, recall the range of particles used by the students in the video program and ask yourself:

• Which particles did you feel drawn to? • Which particles that weren’t used are of interest to you?

Another way you can explore your interests is to look around different parts of your home, like your kitchen or an outdoor area, to see which particles you encounter that appeal to you. Look at texture, scale, colour, and other characteristics. Yet another way you could explore your interests is to try listing all the particles you can think of in your Notebook, as a way of stimulating your imagination. As you make your choice of particles you want to work with, consider which types are available to you, and the work space you will be using. If you are working in a limited space, such as a tabletop or small space on the floor, cover the area with sheet material—plastic, tarpaulin, plywood. You might make a simple frame to contain the particles, or, if you are working on a board, build edges to contain the particles. If you plan to work outdoors, you might be able to take over a children’s sandpit for a while, or set apart an area of the garden by staking it with vertical boards. Alternatively, you may choose to work on a project that calls for unrestricted space. Because particles can be rapidly moved and redistributed in a different configuration, it may be tempting to try to hurry this assignment. However, to explore some of the potential of particles may require patient work. For example, the complex Tibetan sand mandalas can take days of meditative work to create. Similarly, the installation Beiti (2011) by Laurent Mareschal using spices, rice and acrylic templates, took him a week to complete. (See Postcard Booklet: TRU–OL 071.) Whichever option you choose, try making small trial combinations of different particles in different arrangements: patterns, furrows, etcetera. Then, having photographed your experiments, choose several of those combinations you respond to the most and work further with your project.

Instructions Project 1: Sand Sculpture

1. Experiment with mixing sand and water to achieve a good consistency for relief or three-dimensional development.

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2. Make a series of small pieces to work out your subject matter, figurative or abstract, and your methods.

3. Once you have decided on your subject, scale, tools, and the consistency of sand required, define an area with boards or string. If necessary, flatten the sand before beginning. Review the commentary on sand carving preparations earlier in this unit before you begin.

4. Complete your final relief or three-dimensional personal development.

5. Document your step-by-step activities and the result at each stage. They will not last long!

Project 2: Beach Installation For this project, you may need to find a part of a beach that contains not only sand but also branches, bark, logs, seaweed and so on.

1. Decide if you want to use other found objects, waste material, or even things not found on the beach.

2. Experiment with various tools, to see how you can use trowels, spades, rakes, etc., to move sand, fix objects, and make patterns and textures.

3. Try out a few ideas on a restricted scale—perhaps developing a portion of what will become a larger installation.

4. Once you have decided on your final direction, stake out the area with string or rope and smooth the sand down to proceed with your project.

5. Make sure to clearly express these aspects of your idea:

o Any strong personal response to the nature of the materials.

o Effective organization or structuring of all elements.

6. Make sure that you organize and work on all areas within the frame of your camera—smooth or otherwise modify all parts of the beach so that you can immediately see around your installation.

7. Record your progress as you proceed!

Project 3: Indoor or Patio Sand Garden If you do not live near a beach or sand site, consider the possibilities of a sand garden. You can create a small garden indoors on a large board (much larger than a coffee tray) or a larger one out-of-doors in a garden or yard, on a terrace or patio.

1. Make a collection of particles and related materials that can be used in association with each other. You should achieve some measure of stimulus by the variations and contrasts of related forms.

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2. Define the space you wish to develop. For your explorations, use one area, or a series of small spaces.

3. Try various arrangements of different particles, contrasting or relating texture, form and colour.

4. At the development stage, extend the work to include:

o A number of related areas OR

o A larger series OR

o Use of a larger scale

Project 4: Transformations of Natural Forms and/or Human-Made Objects 1. Consider the word “transformation.”

2. Make a collection of natural objects—stone, sponge, wood, roots—and/or human- made objects and consider how you can transform them by the addition of particles. Particles can be glued to the surface, poured over, dipped on or sprayed.

3. Experiment, and then decide on a range of particles. If you use only one type, you will create directly relatable, homogeneous surfaces. Alternatively, you may wish to contrast types, adding stone particles or stone spray to transform metal or metal particles to alter a stone surface, and so on. Particles can also be dyed and mixed to change their mass and surface characteristics.

4. Appraise your work not just for visual appeal but for tactile qualities and other aspects of sensation, of “feeling things” in the mind.

5. Once you have experimented with a range of particles and objects, proceed to developments.

6. Decide how you can use the pieces you have made:

o In a context, organization, or display

o Indoors or out-of-doors

o Formally or informally

o In relation to nature

o In relation to a human-made environment; for example, by placing them on shelves or a table, or in drawers

Project 5: Computer Exploration If you have a computer, explore the possibilities of particles, first experimenting on the screen and then advancing to personal developments using printouts.

1. Think of the pixel as an electronic particle. Starting with the smallest marks on the menu, begin with black-on-white, proceed to white-on-black, and then if you have the printing capability, move into colour.

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2. Use a range of different-sized marks. The particle points denote position; they can also be grouped formally or informally.

3. When you have printed out a few sheets, think of their possibilities as three- dimensional forms. For example, you could:

o Fold them.

o Roll them into cylinders, cubes, cones.

o Make or find cardboard forms that you can cover.

o When making your printouts, consider using colour—especially in relation to other natural or dyed particles.

o See if you can make an interesting contrast between two and three dimensions and also between printed and natural particles. Consider using actual particles and printouts in combination.

o You could also try drawing more particles in different sizes over the printed particles. This will give even more control over your final images.

Project 6: Personal Choice Select any particles that interest you, from seeds to raindrops.

1. Experiment with the particles, as material in themselves, and in relation to other materials and forms.

2. Experiment with patterns made by using sound or mechanical vibration on particles. (See the work of Dr Hans Jenny in the Recommended Resources section.)

3. Photograph your research and explorations throughout and before developing your larger projects.

4. Work to a personal development in whatever context you prefer, from installations to painting with dry pigment. Be sure to wear a safety mask when working with dry pigment particles.

Notes on the Reproductions The following reproductions are on DVD 4 in the video Particles and/or in the Postcard Booklet.

Atoms of iridium. 1969.

Superimposed micrograph.

Magnified × 350 000, enlarged × 2 000 000.

Photo: Dr. E. W. Mueller.

Iridium atoms are virtually invisible, but they can be seen through the powerful magnifying “eyes” of a field ion microscope. The concentric rings you see in this

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micrograph are facets of iridium; the dots of light pinpoint the locations of individual atoms. The red dots are atoms that have evaporated or corroded away, whereas the green ones are probably atoms of gas that have been absorbed.

Collision of subatomic particles (quarks).

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois.

Subatomic particles, with names like kaons, muons, pions, and quarks, are elusive and ephemeral. Although they are invisible, their actions can be tracked as they pass through a special environment—a bubble or spark chamber. The bubble chamber records the collision and action of particles, creating negative images such as this one. In the image, neutrinos (neutral particles) are beamed into the chamber at nearly the speed of light, causing a collision with particles on the left. At this point, arcs and spirals of energy spurt out in dynamic patterns—the traces left by the moving particles. (Ignore the white circle; it is part of the bottom of the chamber.)

Diatoms in a drop of water.

At a mere 1500 magnification, a drop of water reveals an exquisite collection of diatoms— unicellular organisms. Diatoms are plants, capable of photosynthesis, and most living things in oceans and lakes are directly dependent on their ability to harness sunlight. One can only marvel at the design of these structures that combine both organic and geometric factors. And, also at the fact that a similar single drop of water contains millions of atoms!

Oasis Landscape of the Soul in the Algerian Desert.

Photo: George Gerster.

The Saharan landscape has thousands of craters, some as deep as 54 metres (180 feet), protected from encroachment of the great wavelike dunes of the desert by fences made of palm fronds. Date palm trees are planted in these hollows so their roots can reach into the water beneath the sand. This is one way to make a successful stand against the creeping sands, but the desert is always active and ready to take over.

Heizer, Michael. Desert Ride.

Photo: Gianfranco Gorgoni.

Heizer worked in a desert area of Nevada, and the pieces he made there are generally categorized as “earth art” (though he also painted and made prints and sculpture). Heizer produces on a large, even heroic, scale and his subjects are often about the displacement and replacement of material, such as masses of earth or rock. This drawing is an example of the displacement of particles: the dust, sand, and small pebbles of the desert surface. A physical, direct form of drawing, it is also ephemeral and will be eroded away by natural processes.

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Heizer, Michael. Desert Dust Drawing.

Photo: Gianfranco Gorgoni.

The drawing looks dramatic, even mysterious. Heizer’s method might not be acceptable to ecologists; the desert also contains small living organisms, which would have been disrupted in its making. Heizer is always seeking to make something artistic of normally unused materials and to explore their creative possibilities.

If you are wondering whether this is art, remember that many artists have also asked that question—and then set out to answer it.

Smithson, Robert. Gravel, Mirror, and Dust. 1968.

91 × 548 × 91 cm.

Gallery installation.

Smithson wrote that pavements, holes, trenches, mounds, heaps, paths, ditches, roads, and fences all have aesthetic potential. Unconcerned with traditional art aesthetics, he explored the possibilities of working directly with raw materials in his work, whether in the great Spiral Jetty (see Unit 9) or in this modest interior piece.

Many artists in the sixties and seventies were influenced by the emerging ecological movement to seek a new relationship with nature. Smithson chose to begin in an indigenous way, working without predetermined forms and ideas, putting aside concepts of scenic beauty. He was concerned with the development and variation of themes, the juxtaposition of material and what he called, “the back and forth thing”—working back and forth between the rough outdoors and the smooth interior, between “site” and “non-site.” In this case, transferring earth, the raw reality of nature, indoors makes the room an abstract container. Smithson used mirrors to fracture surface, to dislocate and transfer space, and to duplicate mass. It is not surprising that this piece deals with illusion and reality.

Kapoor, Anish. As If to Celebrate, I Discovered a Mountain Blooming with Red Flowers. 1981.

Powder pigment and wood.

96.5 × 309.9 × 304.8 cm.

Tate Gallery, London/Art Resource, New York, USA.

Kapoor makes unusual sculptural forms, singly and in groups. Some are simple variations on primary and other geometric forms; others have a complex organic character. However, what is remarkable, even paradoxical, is that the solid wood forms are covered with powder colour, which does strange things to our perception of them.

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The pieces stand on the floor, the colour intense and saturated as if poured over them just a moment ago. They appear to be growing out of the ground; they seem to absorb space and light. We are aware of the significant contrast between the solid wood, a permanent mass, and the incohesive, impermanent colour. So the pieces are a mixture of both stable and unstable elements: tactile, yet not to be touched. For me, they seem to be ritual objects of poetic intensity that is rarely found in sculpture.

Wright, Frank Lloyd. Guggenheim Museum. 1943–1959. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–030)

Steel and concrete.

New York, USA.

The main form of this Manhattan art museum is a circular spiral, gradually expanding as it rises and internally forming a continuous ramp. The continuity and flow of this remarkable form are made possible only by the use of concrete— particles of sand, cement, and gravel, reinforced by internal metal structuring.

Wright had a commitment to organic forms, and he intended to find alternatives to right- angle-dominated architecture (of which he was also a master). He also intended that visitors to the museum would take the elevator to the top of the spiral and then walk down to the ground floor. The gradient is quite shallow, and it might take more than one visit to become accustomed to this unusual environment for pictures and people.

The following is found only in the Postcard Booklet.

Mareschal, Laurent. Beiti. 2011. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–071)

Rice, spices.

Varying dimensions, according to site.

Beiti means “my house” in Arabic. Mareschal has used elements of Islamic tile designs in his installations. From his experiences working alongside Palestinians in West Jerusalem, Mareschal has stated his intention to use the fragility of his work to relate to Palestinian-reported experiences of displacement, and house demolition. By using common foodstuffs and formal design, Mareschal also stresses a shared humanity. The floor is apparently made of glazed ceramic tiles, but is actually made from particles of dry rice and spices to give a range of colours, smells, and patterns. The particles are laid down on a predefined grid, using a series of ten precut acrylic stencils to create different parts of the patterns.

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Recommended Resources Chaney, Charles. Plaster Mold and Model Making. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1973. Print.

An older book, which contains a wealth of written and pictorial information on all aspects of working in plaster and creating casts or molds.

Jenny, Hans, Dr. Cymatics: The Healing Nature of Sound. Newmarket, UK: MACROmedia, 1986.

YouTube video containing Dr Jenny’s original film in which particles respond to various sounds by moving into complex and surprising patterns. Search for: Cymatics Experiment + Hans Jenny

Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena and Vibration. 1967. Newmarket, UK: MACROmedia, 1972. Print.

Dr Jenny’s original books have been republished and show many photographs of the complex patterns produced by the action of sound waves applied to a range of different particles. Additional videos and information are on the Cymatics website: http://www.cymaticsource.com/video.html.

Reichard, Gladys A. Navajo Medicine Man: Sandpaintings. New York: Dover, 1977. Print.

Highly complex and symbolic ritual healing paintings made in fine coloured sand. Many colour plates and extensive discussion of the work. Because the actual paintings are held as sacred, these versions designed for looking at, all have deliberate flaws and areas of colour reversal.

Additional Resources Internet You can find images of Tibetan sand paintings if you search Google Images for “mandala sand painting photo gallery” or “mandala of compassion” by the Venerable Losang Samten. Although not thought of as art by the Buddhist monks, these sand paintings have great beauty and complexity.

Look for Rachel Whiteread in Google Images for series of castings in plaster or cement, taken between or underneath large objects, most notably the interior of a house and a library Holocaust memorial in Austria.

Search Wikipedia for aspects of particles in general or an entry on sandpainting.

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Encyclopedias and Books I recommend that you also look for information on the physical forms of particles in encyclopedias. Look first for listings to do with the physical form of particles. Check the geology section under: sand, sediment, and erosion. Then, look at listings for atomic and subatomic particles. Check sections on nuclear energy and nuclear physics. Biology is a third source for listings. Look for sections on cell physiology and on plant and seed growth. The information on microphotography—using light microscopes and more sophisticated electron and special-purpose optical microscopes—can provide you with marvellous illustrations of particles. The following encyclopedias are available in book form. The online versions may be available at TRU Library but the Internet versions are subscriber-based:

• Encyclopedia Americana

• New Encyclopedia Britannica

• The World Book Encyclopedia

You can also find information in books on microphotography—using light microscopes and more sophisticated electron and special-purpose optical microscopes—which will provide you with marvellous illustrations of particles.

List of Illustrations 1. Shoreline erosion. From computer animations by E. John Love.

2. a. Sediment from mountains and scoured river bed forms the line and flow of the river.

b. Sediment builds up; areas are covered by new vegetation and ox-bow lakes are formed.

From computer animations by E. John Love.

3. a. Formation of barchan dunes by wind.

b. Wind flow across a barchan dune.

From computer animations by E. John Love

4. Hot-cold rock erosion in desert climate. From a computer animation by E. John Love.

5. Organization study for installation using particles. Cathy Burton.

6. a. Drawings showing progress from exploration to personal development. Craig Takeuchi.

b. Photocopy of collaged particles and drawing of objects covered in sawdust, sandpaper and metal particles. Lorraine Yabuki.

7. Notebook drawings of initial ideas. Geoffrey Topham.

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Faculty of Arts

Unit 7: Stone

VISA 1301 Material and Form

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Unit 7: Stone Introduction

Note: DVD 4 includes the video program Stone, to accompany Unit 7.

Stone can have awesome weight, authority, and physical presence. Many cultures have valued stone for its potential as a significant image as well as for its functional uses. Though we seldom build with stone today, it still represents for us the primordial excitement of the earth’s formation, the eons of material evolution, and the long, continuous cycle of rock formation. We are aware of its ability to survive and outlive, not only ourselves, but many human generations—and, even, civilizations.

Sources, Classification, and Characteristics of Stone

Sources of Stone Stone is part of the rock that forms the solid crust underlying the earth. It can be detached from the rock mass by natural forces (as depicted in illustrations 1 to 3 at the end of this unit) or by being quarried in usable pieces for building, civil engineering, and, of course, sculpture.

In the video program, you will see that some students made good use of the stone saw, but it may be that you do not have access to one. So, it is important that you find other ways to respond to, and work with, the material without many technical resources. Fortunately, there are many ways you can enjoy stone. The most important is, probably, collecting them. Many kinds of stone are usually available naturally in almost every locality—on the beach, in a riverbed, below cliffs and rock faces. You will find that stone is worn and weathered by sea and river, and by wind, rain, and changing temperatures.

Found or quarried stone can also provide you with a wide variety of geometric forms that are roughly cubic, similar to a pyramid, or angularly polygonal. These will contrast with rounded and ovoid forms. I remember a beach in Wales where almost cubic blocks of stone fell from the cliffs onto a surface of undulating smooth rock. There, worn by waves, they were eventually transformed into almost perfect spheres, which would be arranged in various cavities, or rolled and actually bounced over the surface of the rock.

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Classification of Stone An inorganic mineral, rock can be classified into three types:

• Igneous: Produced by heat and volcanic action

• Metamorphic: Transformed by natural forces, such as wind, water, heat, cold, and pressure

• Sedimentary: Borne by wind or water and then consolidated

Characteristics of Stone In the cycle of rock evolution, one rock type can be changed to another. For example, igneous rock can be worn away by erosion and reduced to fragments and sand. Look at illustration 4 at the end of the unit for a visual image of this process. In time, fragments of this nature may become consolidated into sedimentary rock, which may then be subjected to forces that transform it into metamorphic rock. If the metamorphic rock undergoes increased heat and pressure, it will eventually melt to form magma—subterranean molten rock—that, when it cools, forms igneous rock.

Rocks are generally aggregates—or mixtures—of minerals. Some of these minerals, such as coal, asbestos, bauxite (a chief source of aluminum), borax, and phosphate, are non-metal rocks. Others contain valuable metals, such as gold, iron, copper, lead, zinc, and tin that can be smelted from the ore. Because of their scarcity, colour, and optical effects, some minerals are considered precious, or to contain precious treasures of the earth. Precious minerals and metals found in sand, gravel, and ore include gold, diamonds, and platinum.

Gem, or gemstone, is the name given to any mineral that is treasured for its beauty and durability. The value of gems often depends on the way they have been cut and polished. Diamonds, rubies, and emeralds represent great concentrations of financial value. Diamonds are desired for their fire and brilliance; rubies and emeralds for their intense colour. Opals seem to have an inner fire behind their semi-opaque reflections and refractions of light.

Reflection refers to light bouncing off surfaces, and refraction to light bending or changing direction as it passes through an object or substance. To understand the difference between reflection and refraction, think of how sunlight gleams brilliantly as it bounces off a mirror, or refracts softly in a rainbow as it shines through the remnants of clouds at the end of a rainstorm.

Many gemstones sparkle by refracting light either singly or doubly. Diamonds and garnets are singly refracting, whereas emeralds, rubies, sapphire, and amethysts are all doubly refracting. If you were to hold these stones in direct sunlight, next to a white card, you would be able to see the single or double reflections of their facets as they refract the light source.

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Stone in Art and Architecture

Paleolithic The Paleolithic era, or early Old Stone Age, which covers at least ninety per cent of the history of humankind, was characterized by its use of stone. The architectural beginnings of this era were natural rock formations, like the overhang, the cave and the hole. Next, building with loose stones developed, a tradition which continues to the present day in, for example, the dry-stone walls that surround fields in the North of England or farms in some parts of Ontario. Individual stones were used as markers and posts and as rubbing stones for cattle and in collections of stone-made cairns.

Pebbles and small stones were chipped and flaked for use as early tools. Paleolithic art used stone as both a life support and mark-making tool. In the cave paintings of Lascaux, Font de Gaume, and Altamira, the variable rock surfaces were used for painting and for incised carving and reliefs. (For an example of incised stone carving, see the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–032.) Stones were also probably the predecessors of the earliest human-made figurines, which led to the first “school” of three-dimensional art. The Venus of Willendorf, shown in the video program and discussed in the Notes on the Reproductions section at the end of this unit, is an example of this (see also the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–031).

Apart from the functional and expressive uses of stone, there was also an early recognition of stone’s symbolic qualities. Vertical stones often personified the human form. Stones were touched, kissed, and made parts of ritual and worship. They were fundamentally related to fertility and to burial. Ceremonial rows and circles of stone exist in profusion in Britain, Brittany, and Ireland. Great stone circles such as Aveby and Stonehenge (the latter is shown in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–033) involved concentric circles and avenues formed from menhirs and dolmens, as you can read about in the Notes on the Reproductions. Tumuli, or barrows—long or conical mounds—were usually associated with burial and funerary rites but also were used as protective earthworks. These stone tombs were quite elaborate, often with a large slab-roofed central chamber and branching chambers and passages.

Neolithic Maeshowe in Orkney, the island north of Scotland, is an excellent example of stone building from the Neolithic era, using slabs from a cliff of stratified, layered rock—a use that preceded one of the greatest technical innovations of all time. Someone, somewhere, dressed a stone, making a flat surface, then repeated the process, putting the two flat faces together so that they met at all points. Later, stones were dressed at right angles so that, made in geometric blocks, they became the primary building unit for thousands of years.

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U7-4 Unit 7: Stone

Old World The technique of cutting and dressing stones for building was advanced in the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and in India, the Middle and Far East, and the Pre-Columbian New World. It is interesting to compare the style and methods of old- and new-world builders. Both excelled in the manipulation of large pieces of stone in immense projects, using minimum technology and no mortar. We can see various techniques of cutting and dressing of stone in the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, the pyramids of Cheops in Egypt, the pyramids built by the Toltecs and Aztecs at Tenochtitlan, and the Inca buildings at Machu Picchu and Cuzco in Peru.

It’s interesting to think about the massive stone Temple of the Sun in Peru in relation to the temples at Luxor and Karnak. The Incas also engineered complex stone terracing for agriculture. Ruins at Sacsahuamán near Cuzco (see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–035)illustrate the classic Inca method of forming walls by fitting large, variously shaped stones together asymmetrically, without regular courses. The walls are also remarkable for their organic flow. The sharply cut profiles of the stones contrast with the “swell” of the wall surface, almost like musculature.

Greco-Roman In the Greek Classical period of the sixth to fourth centuries BCE, building and carving of stone were of fundamental importance. Greek architecture was essentially of stone, and the Greeks—whose ideal of beauty was based on proportional relationships—could appreciate even stone walls for the beauty of their masonry.

For example, many sixth-century builders preferred polygonal masonry, where each block had its own shape. At Delphi (see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–036), such a wall resembled a perfectly assembled jigsaw complicated by the adjoining edges being curved. Other styles included masonry, in which joints alternated to form a regular pattern and trapezoidal masonry, with diagonal joints. For public buildings, stone blocks were fitted together without mortar, but held in place by metal clamps. Where marble was used, walls were scraped from top to bottom with chisels to remove blemishes, and were often complexly coloured.

Greek sculpture, too, was coloured, either stylistically or naturalistically. The white Parian marble statues of artists such as Praxiteles, Polyclitus, Lysippus, and Callimachus were flesh-coloured, with “rouged” cheeks; their vacant eye sockets were inset with blue lapis lazuli stones. The Romans copied the well-known Greek sculptures. They also elaborated on Greek architectural masonry orders to produce Roman Ionic and Roman Corinthian columns. But the Roman genius with stone was most notable in civil engineering—roads, bridges, and aqueducts.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U7-5

Western European These forms of Greco-Roman antiquity were models referred to, copied, and varied in training students through the twentieth century to draw studies of classical casts. Classical sculpture was a dominant influence in the Renaissance, and sculptors such as Michelangelo, Donatello, and Verrocchio all had a thorough grounding in classical art. This training became the foundation of the first art academy, founded by the Carracci brothers in Bologna, and continued through Europe into the early twentieth century.

In Northern Europe, the God-centred world of Gothic art was dominated by the great stone cathedrals. Among the greatest work of all time, the cathedrals represent the apogee of masonry, created by superb craftsmen who moved from one masterwork to another and who, for the most part, remain unknown.

These medieval cathedrals were decorated with architectural features and stone carvings, inside and out (see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–043). Although sculpture is not strictly necessary for the humanization or animation of architecture, sometimes expressive decoration and significant symbols speak to a subjective need.

In the largely illiterate society of the Middle Ages, sculpture was an important vehicle for communicating the stories and teachings of the Bible.

In some styles, sculpture is incorporated into the fabric of the structure; in others, it is added as decoration. In Gothic buildings, the stone towers were fretted and pinnacled, and the geometry of the building “softened” at its corners with carved and sculpted forms and figures. The front of the building and the tympanum were often a riot of sculpture, with interior screens and stalls similarly embellished. Sometimes, sculpture was so much a part of the structure that it could be conceived as being integral—essential—to the whole building.

Buildings in the twentieth century were characterized by glass or plastic exteriors. A sculptor, usually not a participant in the original concept, would sometimes be asked to embellish the building by creating a work for a forecourt or an interior space. For examples, see Henry Moore’s Madonna and Child in Northampton, England, and his sculptural decoration of a free-standing wall for the Time-Life offices in London. See an image of his Recumbent Figure in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–039.

Contemporary sculptors working in stone, such as Isamu Noguchi, provide sculpture for specific places, create environments of stone, or use stone with other materials as he did at the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York and in the marble garden at Yale University. Read more about Noguchi in the Notes on the Reproductions.

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U7-6 Unit 7: Stone

Working with Stone Artists are still compulsively drawn to stone. Working in close contact with stone, which carries its own history through geological times, is a means of coming to grips with where we are and what the earth is. Henry Moore saw the planet’s stone ridges as its bone structure, showing through the flesh of earth.

Types of Stone If you want to carve stone, you need to have a basic understanding of your material. Each kind of stone is different and has qualities that call for working in different ways.

Igneous Stones Among these are stones with hard densities that require harder chisel points of tungsten carbide.

Granite has a range of colours: whites, blacks, reds, pinks, mixed and mottled surfaces of subtle beige and grey, such as Labrador’s blue-and-green and Swedish granite’s red-and-green.

Basalt is smooth-textured and dark grey or black.

Obsidian is glassy, and flakes under pressure.

Sedimentary Stones Stones such as limestone are also variously coloured, with textures ranging from soft to hard and tough. They can be cut with steel tools but are too soft to polish well. The Pyramids were built of yellow limestone. Pure limestone is white, but impurities in the stone make yellow and red (iron oxide); grey (carbon, blue, sulphides); or green (chlorites). Limestone is often used by beginning carvers.

Sandstone, found in a range of red, buff, and brown, is generally porous and doesn’t weather well in cold wet climates; however, when cemented with quartz, it is tough and durable. The hard, fine grains of sand in the stone can rapidly wear down tools.

Slate is actually a dense form of highly stratified shale. Although brittle to cut, it can be worked with files, rasps, and abrasive tools. Often classified as a metamorphic stone, slate is not as dense or as cohesive as most in this classification. Slate is similar to shale type sedimentary stones in its quality of fissility, or capacity to fragment in thin layers. Slate is suitable for shallow relief carving.

Metamorphic Stones Metamorphic stones are often the best for carving. Various forms of these stones are described next.

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Marble is a crystallized form of limestone. It is fine-grained, can be worked with fine- edged steel tools, and takes a high polish. Plain or figured, its varieties include white, pink, green-and-white, and blue-grey-and-white.

Onyx is a translucent marble with striations of red, brown, or yellow.

Soapstone, a popular material for beginning carvers, is smooth and usually black, grey, or green.

Serpentine can be cut with a knife; it is green or blue but its flaws present problems.

Alabaster is a delightful stone for the beginner; very soft, it has a subtle variety of colours, white, cream, yellow, and pink. Its principal attraction, however, is its translucency.

Within igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic classifications, stones may be soft or hard, dense or porous, gritty or smooth, fine or coarse, light or heavy, even or weathered, plain or coloured, figured or blank, stratified or solid, flawed or unflawed, translucent or dense, and so on!

Minerals such as quartz can look very beautiful, and I’ve found large pieces of amethyst on a beach in the west of Ireland. Inexpensive polishing kits are used by amateur “rockhounds” to bring out the colour and pattern of stone, though sometimes the natural condition is more appealing. Stone jewellery made with limited technology, using wire and epoxy glue, with thin strips or small sheets of metal such as copper and aluminum, could be interesting. Think of how you could use the pieces in relationship to different parts of the body.

Synthetic Stones Synthetic stones made from various cements and plasters can be another good form for carving. Cement can range from white to grey, but colour can be added. The cement powder plus water (not too much) takes from two to eight hours to set, at which point you can start carving it. Then, a further ten to twenty-five days must be allowed for it to fully cure at roughly 20°C/70°F. To avoid cracking, cover the carving with moist cloths during this slow drying period.

Cements and plasters are certainly easier to carve than stone. You can start with a cast block roughly the dimensions of your final form; or you can pour it into a rough approximation of your final form, and then carve it when set. Cement can also be poured around a Styrofoam form that can be removed later, so that you have a hollow, lightweight form. You can use old knives, saw blades, spoons, and plaster working tools. If you pour plaster or cement into a box, first line it with thin plastic- flexible polyethylene will do. If the box is small, simply coat the inside with Vaseline.

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U7-8 Unit 7: Stone

When the mix is set (fifteen minutes for plaster and two hours minimum for cement), remove the supporting form and carve directly into the material. If you want a more refined form and surface, let your roughed-out form dry out for about a week, then complete carving the finished surface.

Plaster and cement may be applied to many different armatures: wire mesh, small- dimension chicken wire, expanded metal (iron or aluminum); also to constructions of wood lath and Styrofoam. In fact, you can use anything that will hold the cement or plaster until it sets.

Other forms of building and moulding with synthetic stone can be found in books on sculpture and casting. Relief moulding is the easiest way of reproducing a form of limited dimensions without undercuts. Start by pressing forms (wood, metal, etc.), or carving into a thick slab of clay. Build clay walls around the mould and pour in plaster or cement to set. Then remove the plaster or cement relief form from the clay and clean up the surface. Another form of synthetic stone is made by mixing ready-made stone compound, in powder form, with a synthetic casting resin such as polyester or epoxy. Apart from making a cast form, I found that I could also make the material dense enough to turn it on a lathe.

Formal Aspects of Stone Let’s consider briefly a few of the formal characteristics of these natural materials.

Mass and Volume When mass is positive, space can be considered as negative, in a traditional way. Or think of mass and space as contrasting forms and forces. Think of shape and dimension, which is the combination of planes in a solid. If a rock is spherical, or has a combination of compound curves, the surface of planes is continuous. When there are distinct changes of curvature in convex and concave forms, think of the positive and negative aspects of the form. Concave curves are space pushing into the form and convex curves are forms pushing into space. Think, too, of how light affects the form, changing it over the course of a day, or how the form absorbs or reflects light according to its surface. Mass is not so much a negative element of space as a penetration and displacement of space. Stone has a dominant mass; I think other materials, such as a block of wood, depend more on bulk. Many other materials, such as constructed forms of sheet metal and plastic, possess only volume. You need to walk around a three-dimensional mass, seeing it from all points of view and synthesizing the experiences and the sense of weight in your mind.

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Line Line relates to mass as the observable edge, or contour, often stressing the sense of mass and creating volume. Scratching or cutting into the stone surface can accentuate contour. Tying other materials such as string, twine, or wire around stone is also a useful way to reveal form. Even simply using chalk lines on dark stones can be a useful method in relating stones in a group or large assemblage.

Texture and Surface Quality The texture and surface often reveal the structure of a stone, from the pitted to the almost fibrous quality of some minerals and stones. We can feel not only the rough and smooth but also the temperature of a stone, such as the granular warmth of a piece of sandstone, or the smooth coldness and marble.

Colour There is an incredible range of colour inherent in rock and stones Natural colour may be superficial, penetrate the stone, or make up the total colour of the mass. A single stone may contain many gradations of colour, of varying warmth and coolness even within the grey scale, which give it a visual vitality. Stones from the same location and formed geologically by the same processes will be harmonically related. To see the colour in all its nuances and richness, brush off the dust and loose particles, wash the stone with water, or rub it with oil. You may have a preference for coloured stones. At the BC Lower Mainland site where we filmed the video programs, the predominant orange-brown stone was offset by grey-blue rock, making an interesting contrast.

Light Both natural and artificial reveal the stone or sculpture differently, stressing or diminishing particular characteristics and aspects of the form. Light and shade, or chiaroscuro, are fundamental to how we see and negotiate objects in space. However, the language of colour is more complex. In cut and polished surfaces or in crystals, colour may depend on the refraction and reflection of light.

Space Space is not strictly characteristic of stone. However, since stone is given form in space, you need to learn how to combine both elements effectively. When looking at artists’ work, try to see how the artist has used the material and formed it relative to space. Looking at Brancusi’s Fish (Postcard Booklet TRU OL-042) it is evident that the form has been flattened so that it both penetrates and divides space, just as a fish moves in water. The combination of dark grey marble and its lighter horizontal striations with the smooth flow of continuous form is very spatial when poised above the three-part pedestal. This is part of the sculpture rather than merely its base.

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U7-10 Unit 7: Stone

Sources of Stone In the video program, some students made good use of the stone saw, but you probably won’t have access to one. So, it is important that you find other ways to respond to, and work with, the material without many technical resources. Fortunately, there are many ways you can enjoy stone. The most important is, probably, collecting them. Many kinds of stone are usually available naturally in almost every locality—on the beach, in a riverbed, below cliffs and rock faces. You will find that stone is worn and weathered by sea and river, and by wind, rain, and changing temperatures.

Found or quarried stone can also provide you with a wide variety of geometric forms that are roughly cubic, similar to a pyramid, or angularly polygonal. These will contrast with rounded and ovoid forms. I remember a beach in Wales where almost cubic blocks of stone fells from the cliffs onto a surface of undulating smooth rock. There, worn by waves, they were eventually transformed into almost perfect spheres, which would be arranged in various cavities, or rolled and actually bounced over the surface of the rock.

Tools Carving Tools There are two basic ways to process stone. You can break or pulverize it, usually by striking the stone at right angles to the surface. Or, you can waste it, by cutting small pieces out with the tool, usually at an angle of less than ninety degrees.

Hand Tools Hammers: These should be made of iron, which is more flexible than steel.

Chisels: Tooled chisels may have a number of points, which break up stone across the surface plane. The number of teeth varies. Flat chisels have straight cutting edges, and are used to create a smooth surface, after the tooled chisels have removed stone to create the form.

Points, or picks: These are used to rough out harder stones; used directly, a point breaks the surface; at an angle, its action is more like that of a chisel.

Bush hammers, or bouchardes: These are a combination of hammer and points projecting from the striking surface, so these tools both cut and hammer. They are good for roughing out.

Abrasives: These are used for surface treatment. Your carving may call for the use of rasps and rifflers to smooth the surface. If you want a very smooth surface, polish with abrasive wet-and-dry papers or use a buffing machine with an abrasive block. Fine-textured stones, such as marble and alabaster, take a high polish. Coarse stones, such as sandstone, can’t be polished at all.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U7-11

Power Tools These can be used, but they deprive you of the intimacy with the material that comes from working it by hand. Electric hammers and grinders are available, but pneumatic compressed air tools are often preferred. You will need to fasten the material effectively while working. Clamps can be used for small stones; blocks or beams of wood can be bolted down, gripping the stone, to hold larger stones in position. You can also fill canvas or plastic bags with sand and use them to grip the stone as you carve.

Student Projects Kuan collects a range of smaller stones and plays a game of balance and suspension, using twine and a suspended wood form. There is no transformation of individual stones, but an exciting context of relationships.

Helen wires stones into a wheel construction that is immediately seen as having totemistic implications. On a smaller scale, the work could be a form of amulet or jewellery.

None of the students collect crystalline examples or semi-precious stones, such as lapis lazuli.

Geoff also collects stones to build without technology, using principles of balance and suspension. He builds a miniature wall from pebbles, and, above it, a long inverted arch (see illustrations 5 and 6).

Helen collects scrap and offcuts of stone masons and lays them out on the floor, playing a continuous game of improvisation in response to their various shapes and colours. Her arrangements seem to be imbued with a sense of the human figure.

Craig combines stone with other materials. He uses the stone saw to cut a channel deep into the stone in which to place a sheet of Plexiglas. The contrast between the mass of the rock and the transparent sheet is extreme, because the transparency indicates space. Craig experiments by scratching the Plexiglas and cutting into its surface, and also by painting and taping the sheet. In the final piece, he indicates relationships between the rock (representing the earth), fire (represented by carefully cut copper mesh flames), and water (represented by scored and painted rain and clouds).

Lorraine, an assiduous collector, brings together stone, sheet metal, and coal in a wooden tray. I particularly like a work where she uses a large round stone, cutting channels around it and impregnating the channels with thin strips of carpet to provide a form with strong tactile contrasts.

Ed finds cylindrical drill cores with a smooth, cement-like surface. He combines these with sheet metal to make interesting forms, contrasting solid and sheet, solid and space, by using expanded metal in an arching form.

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U7-12 Unit 7: Stone

Adrian instantly sees a relationship between the form of a particular stone and a loaf of bread, commenting that it is made of “stone-ground flour.” He goes on to find or make other equivalents for the contents of a sandwich, including lettuce out of a thin sheet of aluminum painted green.

Oliver is the only student in the program who carves stone. It is his first attempt, though he has carved some plaster blocks in the Particles DVD program.

David and Brent are intrigued with the idea of transforming stones with colour; both use metallic paint.

Brent is interested in a play on value, using gold paint on facets of the stone and accentuating it with the remaining unpainted areas. Some surfaces receive only one layer of gold; others are progressively built up with several layers.

David is intrigued by the implications of time in the rock; he experiments with fast and free gestural marks, painting and repainting, using silver paint to work the image into the pitted stone as well as onto its surface.

After their individual developments, David and Brent work together on an installation.

The second installation, a collaboration between Geoff and Lorraine, is an effective combination of suspended and “grounded” stones.

Geoff finds some rusting ready-made wire structures, which he cuts up to contain a selected range of small stones and then suspends from the ceiling.

Underneath, Lorraine arranges her collection of stones in small groups in relation to the suspended forms.

Apart from the few cut stones, almost all the student projects require little or no technology, but rather a feeling for the stones and an appreciation of their characteristics.

Preparing to Work Drawing Since you can’t draw a finished form on the stone, you need to have a clear idea of it in your mind. One useful way to clarify your ideas is to make preparatory drawings on paper. You will still have to project your mind’s-eye image onto the stone while working, as well as looking at what you are doing, and what is being evolved. To help with this, you can frequently redraw with a wax or dark pencil a kind of profile of the sculpture. Some sculptors keep drawing on the stone while carving. This is another way of transporting the mental image onto the stone.

Be sure to keep rotating the piece, carving and drawing from different sides to get a sense of the whole form. Alternatively, you might choose to evolve something more intuitively, finding the form as you experiment with the material. On a larger scale, you can work around the form.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U7-13

Modelling Making a model, or maquette, is a traditional way to begin working out an idea before carving. Use the maquette simply as a working guide. Do not copy it exactly. Some sculptors work from clay models, but it is better to work from a carved model, if you can. You can make one by casting a block of plaster in a cardboard milk carton, or by carving a piece of fairly hard clay.

In the nineteenth century, a pointing machine was used to copy sculpture from clay models and to increase the scale of the model into stone. With a pointing machine, and using drill holes as guides, the artist could leave the final work to journeymen carvers, many of them trained in Italy, but intimacy with the stone was sacrificed.

Material When you decide to carve, you must first find your stone. Unless you already know about stone, visit a working stonemason who can supply you with a variety of stones, scrap material, and information. Try to choose the right stone for your particular idea or form. If you have to reduce the stone to an approximate size; ask the stonemason to cut what you want with a stone saw. Or, if the stone is large, it can be notched by cutting or drilling and then split by driving wedges into the notches.

Stone carving can be a long process, but a long-term work allows you to develop ideas for variations and extensions of the piece you are making. You alone can decide when your work is finished. Base your decision, not on when you have copied a model precisely or even when you have completed a preconceived idea, but on when you know that you found the form and released it from the stone.

Imagining the Form Captive, also called Awakening Slave, or Awakening Giant is a well-known marble carving, close to three metres/ten feet high, by Michelangelo (see Captive Saint Mathew and Awakening Slave Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–040). Many people believe that he intended to carve a figure in the round, but I don’t share that belief. If he had, there would have been carving on all surfaces. Instead, the work was carved from front and sides only, the struggling figure gradually emerging from the block of marble. You can see, indeed feel, the direct carving: the point marks and the teeth marks of a claw chisel. The figure is lying backwards and, if carved in the round, would be completely off-balance, unless there was a contrived counterbalance, which I don’t believe Michelangelo would have used.

It is interesting to compare this work with Rodin’s Danaïd (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL– 041) in white marble. It also portrays a nude figure emerging from the stone, but, unlike The Awakening Slave, there is no sense of release, or of a complete relationship between stone and figure. Rodin modelled his figure in clay, which was then carved by a professional stone carver. The work was inspired by The Awakening Slave , but the difference in the process makes for a difference in the form and its quality.

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U7-14 Unit 7: Stone

The Creative Mind The creative process depends on the use of one’s senses and mental capability. Most artists work by intuition and instinctive response. Works are evolved mentally and physically: the artists’ inner logic is accompanied by a self-conscious awareness of material and process. Sculptors sometime have a problem sustaining the idea and image of what they want to achieve over a long period. They have to maintain the vitality of the work through its slow unfolding.

A number of artists have used pieces of stone for what they are—the transformation that takes place is purely conceptual. Richard Long makes lines and circles of stones and cairns, leaving a trail of his travels and activities in many parts of the world. Carl Andre placed rough uncarved stones in a downtown area, contrasting them with the formed and controlled material of the urban environment.

It’s relatively easy to approach your work with preconceived ideas based on drawings and models, and simply work toward the end product. If this is the case, you may find you can incorporate new ideas into the work as it is created. However, like many artists, you may prefer to use materials in more immediate ways. Everyone has to find an individual way of working. You certainly need to develop skills and learn general ways of using material to express ideas and form. But how you organize forms depends on your individual artist’s sensibility; that is, on your experience and personal vision, and on what you have to say. Directly and indirectly, you can say a lot with material—and the material can say things to you, revealing its properties and characteristics as you work with it.

As you are learning, stone is infinitely varied, and its characteristics will determine its workability. So you have to decide which tools and processes suit it best. If stone is a new experience, you must begin by trial and error-for example, by choosing a soft stone for carving, and then finding out how to work it with the tools you have available. Like a primitive man, you can begin by testing the surface, scratching it with a hard, sharp tool, then cutting and hammering it.

As you learn about stone and other materials, you are learning how to work creatively as an individual. Work with awareness, responding to what happens as you handle and form the material. Through experiment and research, you will inevitably gain ideas for personal responses. After working instinctively, spend some time looking at, and thinking about, what you’ve done. Looking analytically is important: your assessment defines your standards and preferences.

Remember, no one works absolutely logically or totally intuitively. We all travel in both these worlds of the mind.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U7-15

Assignment 7: Stone

Introduction For Assignment 7, you are required to complete one of seven project options. Once you have chosen your project, first make a large collection of stones, or select stones for specific purposes, such as carving. Then, using a hands-on approach, research the nature of the material and explore possibilities for development. As a general rule, use little or no technology.

You will find detailed instructions on how to complete each of these project options in the following pages. Some suggestions on different ways of working are also provided to help you get started.

Project Options • Project 1: Relate Stones to Each Other

OR

• Project 2: Relate Stone to Other Materials

OR

• Project 3: Make a Stone Garden

OR

• Project 4: Create a Stone-Water Relationship

OR

• Project 5: Make a Direct Carving

OR

• Project 6: Make Stone Jewellery

OR

• Project 7: Carve Soapstone, Alabaster, or Limestone

Notebook and Photographic Documentation Your Documentation should include:

• Brief notes on the materials, tools, and techniques you are using

• Drawings or diagrams showing the development of your ideas

• A set of photographs that illustrate the development of your project from beginning to end

• If you choose to complete Project 6, you may wish to send in your developed piece(s) if your work is small enough to mail conveniently.

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U7-16 Unit 7: Stone

Note: If you are following the Suggested Schedule, you should have completed this assignment by the end of Week 9. We recommend that you send in Assignments 5, 6, and 7 in one batch in Week 10.

Project 1: Relate Stones to Each Other Make a large collection of stones of varied character. Experiment to find how the stones can be related to each other in different groups and formats. You could carry out this assignment option in a specific location, such as a garden, patio, urban space, field, beach, or forest. Small scale developments could be carried out on a table, bench, or portion of floor.

Project 2: Relate Stone to Other Materials Examine stones you have collected to determine their specific characteristics. Consider how you might use any stone or number of stones in relation to other materials. The scale is up to you, as are the format and presentation.

Do not attempt to put everything into one complex collection of material. Start by relating only one stone with one other material, and then develop this relationship in different ways. Remember to photograph your work as your development evolves.

Project 3: Make a Stone Garden Choose a corner of a garden or patio not less than 2 metres by 1.5 metres/6.5 feet by 5 feet, in which to design and make a stone garden. Clearly define the area. The garden should present a wide range of stones of different scale: large stones and pebbles, smaller stones, very small stones and pebbles. If you need to, use small amounts of gravel and sand. To accentuate the character of the stones, you may feel that other materials should be included. Use them in small quantities.

Project 4: Create a Stone-Water Relationship There is a fundamental relationship between the elements, particularly between stone and water; think of ways you can emphasize this relationship. If natural resources, such as a stream, river, or beach, are inaccessible, you will have to think of simple ways to organize water. You might find that transparent plastic sheet (polyethylene) in a frame could be useful. Be discriminating about any other materials you choose to add, so that they do not diminish the water-stone relationship.

Project 5: Make a Direct Carving If you have the proper tools, experiment with available stones and carry out a direct carving. You may make a model, or maquette, by carving a piece of hard clay or plaster. Alternatively, you can make up some cement, following the method

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U7-17

described earlier in this unit, and carve that, using simple tools and adapting old ones. You will need to work outside, wear safety goggles for eye protection and a plastic mask to avoid breathing dust. Project 6: Make Stone Jewellery Collect a range of small stones and pebbles that range widely in colour, shape and texture. After an experimental period of trying different relationships and groupings, design and make a series of pieces of jewellery. Use rigid and/or flexible wires or other linear materials, or adhesives such as epoxy, to connect the stones. Project 7: Carve Soapstone or Alabaster Using soapstone or alabaster, carve a stone with the largest dimension approximately 20 cm (8 inches). Or, carve two smaller stones in relation to each other. You may begin by doing preparatory drawings and/or carving a maquette from hard clay to plaster, or you may work intuitively by direct carving. You will need to work outside, wear safety goggles for eye protection and a plastic dust mask to avoid breathing soapstone dust, which contains asbestos.

Ways of Working For Projects 1-4 and 6 Here are some of the many ways you can approach your assignment:

• Collect materials. • Sort materials, looking at size, form, colour, surface etc. • Explore the material: for example, you could try stacking, or suspending. • Look for aspects of the stones that you respond to. • Combine material by simple technical means. • Relate materials without technology. • Combine stones of the same substance. • Combine different types of stones. • Collect other materials or ready-made objects to combine with stone: liquid

and solid-oil or water with stone; line and solid-stone and string, wire, rope; sheet and solid-netting, plastic, or fabric with stone.

• Consider gravity and anti-gravity, location, elevation, suspension and balance. • Think of measure, direction, proportion, not only of your stones but also of

the space between them. • Think of ways of containing, or presenting stones: in various boxes, shelves,

drawers, glass, metal, etc. For example, Heizer dug into the desert and lined the pits with concrete in which he placed large natural stones. Some Minimalists made crates and other structures to contain stones placed in galleries, or simply arranged them on the gallery floor.

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U7-18 Unit 7: Stone

Notes on the Reproductions The reproductions are shown on DVD 4 in the video Stone and/or in the Postcard Booklet.

Quartz, fluorite, and amethyst crystals.

M.Y. Williams Geological Museum.

University of British Columbia.

Vancouver, Canada.

Crystals are the portion of matter that has a definite, orderly, atomic structure and an outward from bounded by smooth plane surfaces. Crystals embody the many forces and processes that continually change the form and structure of our earth. The atoms that compose crystals are arranged in regular patterns that determine the shape and growth of the crystal. The type of atom determines the various properties of crystal, such as it colour, hardness, lustre, and optical qualities. Almost three thousand mineral species are known—and fifty more are discovered every year.

A perfect crystal specimen is very rare. Although all rocks are composed of crystalline minerals, variable geological conditions seldom allow perfection. Crystalline structure is the accepted criterion of solidity, though solids that have no crystalline structure—such as ordinary glass—are really more similar to liquids. The immediate fascination of crystals is their plane surface structure in geometric form—for example, the octahedral crystals of sulphur, cubic crystals of rock salt, and hexagonal crystals of amethyst and quartz. The study of the growth and shape of crystals is called crystallography.

Pavlovian tools.

Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) stone.

Moravske Museum, Brno, Czechoslovakia.

The Paleolithic Age was characterized by the making and use of rudimentary chipped stone tools. Earlier tools were of wood, bone, antler, and pebbles or hand- sized throwing stones. A major step forward was the development of the hand axe, not a handled axe, but a pear-or almond-shaped hard stone that could chip other stones. Later, a new stone tool industry was based on flakes of stone, such as flint. Special tools, like those shown, were made from carefully flaked shapes of flint and other hard stone. There were three tool classifications: core, flake, and blade.

Core tools were basic chipped pieces of rock that could be used as implements. Flake tools were formed when flakes struck from a core rock were used as new implements. Blade tools were the result of striking off long, parallel-edged blades. Smaller chips could be removed by further striking and refining the edges.

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Using these simple methods, a considerable range of specialized tools could be made: scrapers, points, awls and borers, gravers, chisels, gouges, and knives. They were the forerunners of the hand tools of today.

Venus of Willendorf. Circa 21,000 BCE. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–031)

Paleolithic, carboniferous limestone; 10.8 cm high.

Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.

This is one of the most famous of Paleolithic fertility figures and belongs to the first known “school” of three-dimensional art.

This little figure is not typical of contemporary standards of beauty, but, as a fertility symbol, it shows exaggerated female anatomy. The limbs are abbreviated and the head is purely symbolic, with formally carved, curled hair. By emphasizing parts of the body, the form shows aesthetic decisions and preferences, and, in sculptural relationship, working toward a unity of the parts.

The sculpture of this period was invariably small, realistic, and portable; charms and amulets are examples. Works like this may be an early demonstration that art is a basic human need, satisfying the creative desire to record and reproduce aspects of life and the world around us. The polishing of such forms may have been an aesthetic consideration, since it took place before the polishing of tools. The other form of Paleolithic art was monumental images rendered in paint, incised design, or relief on the walls of caves (for incised caving see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–032).

Stonehenge. Circa 2400–1200 BCE. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–033)

114 m diameter.

Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in a circular setting of large standing stones; it was once surrounded by an earthwork. The original form, built in the late Neolithic and early Bronze ages, consisted of a number of concentric rings and an avenue outside the existing group. Pillars of igneous rocks—bluestones—were transported by water from the Preseli Mountains in Wales, and erected in the centre of the site to from two concentric circles. Soon after 1600 BCE, some eighty large blocks of Sarsen stone were transported from the Marlborough Downs, about thirty-two kilometres/twenty miles north, and erected in a circle of thirty uprights, capped by a continuous ring of stone lintels. The surfaces were dressed fairly smooth and the lintels carefully shaped and curved. The stones are of exceptional size and up to 45.4 tonnes/fifty tons in weight.

Stonehenge is unique among the megalithic monuments of Europe. Probably, it was constructed as a place of worship; however, the nature of the religion is not known. Any supposed connection with the Druids has no historical basis.

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The Erechtheum—South Porch. 421–409 BCE.

Ionic Temple.

The Acropolis, Athens, Greece.

The Erechtheum is a temple situated on a difficult site on the Acropolis and built in the Ionic style. The decorative and structural details are famed for their excellence, with exquisite Ionic columns on the east and north porches. The third porch (the subject of this image) shows the caryatids forming the Porch of the Maidens.

These figures are remarkable for their grace and perfect balance. They stand erect, with the body weight on the back foot, and the other leg relaxed, the knee projecting forward, displacing the drapery. The vertical folds of the drapery strongly support the upper figure and reflect the vertical flutings of the Ionic columns of the rest of the temple. In contrast, the folds on the upper part of the body flow downwards, accentuating the sense of gravity. It seems to me that, although these figures are usually cited for their graceful rhythmic upward movement, they also substantially convey the countering down thrust of the weight of the entablature and roof above. Remember that the Greeks at this time had no concept of space but only of place. Their philosophical notion that “everybody is at a place” seems well exemplified by this remarkable work.

Ellora. Circa 5–8 BCE.

Facades of Hindu, Buddhist Cave-Temples, India.

The image shows only part of the entrances to the series of temples of Hindu and Buddhist origins. These cave temples are hewn out of solid rock and extend deeply into the hillside. Some have up to three stories. The largest is close to forty-six metres/150 feet square, but the most remarkable is the Kailasa Temple, fifty metres/164 feet long and twenty-seven metres/88.5 feet high. It is exquisitely covered with exceptionally vigorous sculptures of Hindu deities and mythological figures.

The best of Indian sculpture combines cosmic grandeur and infallible balance, associated with the gods Vishnu, Preserver of the Universe, and Shiva, Master of Cosmic Dance. Some figures are in erotic and voluptuous poses. Others reflect India’s traditional polarities of asceticism and indulgence. It should be remembered that these so-called cave temples, particularly the Kailasa, were entirely hewn from the rock and are not actual caves.

The Nave—Durham Cathedral. 1093–1133 CE. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–043)

Durham, England.

Because the cathedral at Durham was built in a relatively short time—a mere forty years—it is entirely Norman in design, and in a unified style. This mighty building is regarded as the outstanding Romanesque Church in Europe; indeed, as one of the world’s greatest buildings. It was extremely innovative for its time. The transepts were remarkable for

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having the first high-level ribbed vaults in Europe, dating from about 1110 CE. In the nave, vaulted later, the huge piers are alternatively circular and compound. With a circumference of seven metres/twenty-three feet, the circular columns are deeply incised with geometric pattern. They support the arches, which in turn support the first great transition to the Gothic ribbed vault with pointed, transverse arches.

Detail of three columns—Durham Cathedral.

In the video Stone, you can see the detail of the great piers, with diamond-and chevron- incised carving; also part of a larger compound column. Look a little more carefully, and you’ll see the stone courses, curved and dressed. Sometime in early history, one of the most important technical innovations took place—dressing stone, so that two flat-surfaced stones, placed one on top of the other, would meet at all points. Dressed to right angles, the geometric-shaped stones became the principal unit of building for thousands of years.

Royal Portal, Kings and Queens of Judah—Chartres Cathedral. 1145–1150 CE.

m high.

Chartres, France.

During the night of 9 June 1194, lightning destroyed most of the original cathedral at Chartres, except for the crypt and the west front. This west, or Royal, portal was incorporated into the new cathedral, bringing the total number of statues (including those of the north and south sides) to the more than seven hundred that adorn the building today.

Although these four elegant figures are far removed in time, appearance, and belief from classical Greek art, the Royal Portal does represent a similar subordination of the sculpture to an overriding architectural design. However, there is no contradiction between the structural and sculptural functions of the figures. The Gothic sculptor, with his developing sense of space, elongates the figures, and—as in the Erechtheum caryatids—accentuates the verticals of the drapery. He imbues his figures with the sensation of lightness, even of uplifting movement-a link, no doubt, to spiritual beliefs and religious concerns. These figures are much less naturalistic than the caryatids; you’ll notice that, on the left-hand side, there are a number of very small, sculptured figures. The scale is hierarchic—that which is most important is largest—but it also varies, according to the architectural functions and surface space.

Skull of rock crystal. 1878–1881. Forgery. Formerly thought to be from Aztec Empire.

Carved rock crystal, 21/6 cm high.

Trustees of the British Museum, London, UK.

Light is a moving, fluctuating element, and when it moves over the surface of a solid object that is also transparent—like this crystal skull—the changing light or the movement of the observer continuously transforms the object and the impression made on the senses. So, the

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polished rock crystal skull is not only seen through, it is also highly reflective and mirror- like, creating sensations of movement. This penetration of light through a solid sculptural object is certainly paradoxical. Compare this work with constructions in transparent plastics by Naum Gabo, or a highly polished metal form by Brancusi. Transparent and translucent sculpture was also made of moulded, blown, and drawn glass at Murano (Venice) and Limoges (France) in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Other forms of skulls continue to appear annually in Mexico’s popular celebration on the theme of death.

Recent microscope analysis indicates the use of machine tools to grind the quartz and polish the surface, technology that was unknown in the Aztec Empire (1300– 1521 CE). Both this and similar crystal skulls were first publically shown by the same dealer, a further indication that leads the British Museum to now conclude this carving is a 1878–81 CE fake originating in France.

Noguchi, Isamu. Double Red Mountain. 1969.

Persian Red travertine.

33 × 101.6 × 76.2 cm.

Courtesy of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc.

Noguchi has worked in a wide range of material an on an extremely varied scale- from relative small pieces (such as the work shown) to public gardens, environmental structures and fountains in many cities around the world. He has said that the essence of sculpture is the perception of space, the continuum of human existence; like some other modern artists, he has been concerned with giving order and meaning to the energy and implications of space.

However, in Double Red Mountain, which can be seen as a small table sculpture, the forms thrust upwards, and the top surfaces are polished smooth in an apparent contact with space. It is like the rocks in a Japanese garden, which are seen as protuberances from the fundamental mass of rock below the soil, a contact with the earth’s crust. For all its small scale, the work evokes the landscape—but an essentially human landscape, systematically eroded by mind and hand, rather than by wind and water.

Recommended Resources Andrews, Oliver. Living Materials: A Sculptor’s Handbook. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988. Print.

A good section on stone in Chapter 6, “Stone Carving.”

Balfour, Michael Balfour. Stonehenge and Its Mysteries. New York: Scribner’s, 1980. Print.

An intriguing account of the great megalithic monument, its stones, and its construction.

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Burkitt, Miles. The Old Stone Age. 4th ed. New York: New York University Press, 1963. Print.

A good, basic pocketbook, covering all stages of development during the Stone Age.

Feininger, Andreas. Stone and Man. New York: Dover Publications, 1979. Print.

A photographic exploration that provides excellent images of stone as it appears in various places, buildings, and sculpture.

Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pharaohs. Ed. Carolyn Feuerstein. New York: New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999. Print.

Shows a great range of carving in stone with varied subjects, forms, scales, and surfaces, from relief carving through finely smoothed hard sculpture to massive carved blocks.

Goldsworthy, Andy. Stone. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994. Print.

Photographs of Goldsworthy’s constructions in stone that work with the landscape to make inventive and visually powerful structures.

Liebson, Milt. Direct Stone Sculpture. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1991. Print.

A thorough survey of stone carving, with excellent examples from the twentieth century and clear, photographic demonstrations on how to work with the stone by hand or with power tools.

Meilach, Dona Z. Contemporary Stone Sculpture: Aesthetics, Methods, Appreciation. New York: Crown Publishers, 1979. Print.

Although dated, this book provides a useful review of relatively recent sculpture: its aesthetics and methods. The selection is international.

Read, David. The Art and Craft of Stonescaping: Setting and Stacking Stone. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 1998. Print.

A thorough and well-designed book that addresses many aspects of working with stone in different landscape projects. Many clear colour photographs throughout of demonstrations and finished projects.

Valentine, John, 2007. Sculpting in Stone (Basics of Sculpture series). London: A&C Black Publishers Ltd., 2007. Print.

A thorough discussion of stone carving and a step-by-step guide to a number of complex projects in a way that allows the reader to use the techniques with their own design and subject matter. Shows examples of relief carving and three- dimensional work.

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Additional Resources Internet Stephen Cox. Search Google Images and Artcyclopedia.

• Cox makes very subtle use of form by carving in stone.

Andy Goldsworthy. Search Google Images.

• Goldsworthy uses the shape and scale of stone and does not modify or carve the stone, but instead selects very carefully as he constructs his inventive forms.

Peter Randall-Page. Search Google Images.

• Randall-Page’s work involves relief carving over the surface of large rocks, using spiral and circular forms situated in the landscape to great effect.

List of Illustrations 1. Tectonics: when large blocks or plates move along fault lines. From computer

animations by E. John Love.

2. Ice wedging: alternate freezing and thawing of water – the ice expansion levers rocks apart. From a computer animation by Jeanie Sunderland.

3. Rock slide. From a computer animation by E. John Love.

4. The eroding power of windblown sand often creates unusual land forms. From a computer animation by E. John Love.

5. Drawings of experiments with stone. By Geoffrey Topham.

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Notes for an installation. By Geoffrey Topham

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Unit 8: Earth

VISA 1301 Material and Form

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Unit 8: Earth Introduction

Note: DVD 5 includes the video program Earth to accompany Unit 8. Please also watch the supplementary videos.

This unit is about the permeable layer of earth on the surface of the rock crust rather than about the planet Earth on which we live. We can extend this definition to cover any dry land—soil in all its varying conditions—which we often refer to as ground.

The soil of the earth, the uppermost layer above the rock mantle, is significant because it covers most of the land area of the world and serves as the foundation of plant, animal, and human life. Among the important functions of soil is sustaining vegetation. Agriculture produces more than ninety per cent of all our food. In the forestry industry, soil-connected activities produce many other materials we use in everyday life, such as cellulose, fibres, and leather.

Composition and Classification of Earth Soil is classified by its chemical composition, colour, texture, depth, and structure.

Earth is made up of organic and inorganic matter. Its chemical composition is an aggregate of unconsolidated mineral, vegetable, and animal matter that is produced by the combined action of wind, water and organic decay. The inorganic particles that make up most of the soil’s volume are weather rock. The organic matter comes from living, dead, or decaying plant and animal substances. Earth also has a liquid content—soil water—which is a dilute and complex solution of chemicals such as bicarbonates, nitrates, sulphates, and phosphates, all of them soluble nutrients used by plants.

Colour is a minor factor, but it allows us to distinguish soil layers easily. Soil colours range from white through brown to black, depending on the amount of humus present. Humus is a constantly changing mixture, representing every stage in the decay of organic matter. Different-coloured earths have been used as the basis of pigments since the earliest times. Traditional earth pigments include raw sienna, burnt umber, Indian and Venetian red, and terre verte. Reds and yellows are quite common and indicate the presence of small amounts of iron oxide.

Texture is important if you plan to work with soil; the proportions of sand, silt, clay, and humus provide many variations. Textural groups include sandy clay, silty clay, clay loam, sandy clay loam, silty clay loam, sandy loam, silt loam, and so on. Soils with a large percentage of fine particles (clays and loams) contain water and mineral

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material. Heavy clay soils tend to contain an excess of water and have a dense texture that is not particularly conducive to plant growth. If you have a garden, you already know something about the types of soil in your own locality. Every gardener also knows the value of soil organisms that break down plant and animal tissues, releasing nutrients into the soil. Creatures that live in the soil incorporate humus into soil, where it is gradually broken down by the microorganisms that release its constituents for crop nutrition.

Depth is the element that changes the composition and structure of soil. According to its depth, soil density can vary from soft humus to fine impervious clay, coarse permeable sand, and gravel, which in turn vary and regulate the content of water in the soil. With depth, soil grows denser and falls into layers, called horizons (see illustration 1), which differ in texture, colour, and consistency. A complete succession of horizons from the surface ground downward is known as a soil profile. The most common horizons are:

Horizon O: This term is sometimes applied to the surface layers of dead vegetable matter and decomposed humus.

Horizon A: The next layer, often dark in colour and rich in organic matter.

Horizon B: Directly below Horizon A; rich in clay and poor in organic matter.

Horizon C: The subsoil, consisting of partly decomposed rock material.

Horizon D: The bedrock on which C rests.

The nature, number, thickness, and arrangement of horizons are important in the classification of soils. It is not necessary for us to consider the details of structural and chemical classifications, but we can consider some of the geographic and climatic factors. Vegetated regions—polar tundra, coniferous forest, grassland, rain forest, savannah, dry forest, and desert—follow a definite pattern to which the distribution of soil is related. Although climate and environment play the largest part in forming mature soils, factors such as movement and transportation of material, topography, and biological activity—all in the context of extended time— also determine soil profiles.

Working with Earth In this unit, we explore working with earth in two ways: through clay and pottery, and through earthworks.

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Pottery Even before the development of agricultural communities, in the Middle East around 5000 BCE, nomadic peoples carried with them their pottery cooking vessels, food bowls, and drinking cups (see the Postcard Booklet for a series of examples). Pottery was produced in China from about 3000 BCE, and since then virtually every civilization has produced pottery in various forms.

The Chinese used a pottery wheel during the Shang dynasty, 1500–1000 BCE to make pottery, but the pottery wheel may have been in use even before then. Certainly, the wheel was an early milestone in technical evolution—though, at first, it was operated by hand. Not until the seventeenth century, when wheels with a pulley and cord were invented, did the kick-wheel come into being. Today’s wheels are rotated by electrical power.

Earthworks (Earthworks, Land Art, Environmental Art) Each unit of this course includes internal installation and external environmental projects. The installations may be said to reflect our everyday situation, living and often working inside geometric units of enclosed architectural space. The environmental projects, on the other hand, are reminders that we live in a world in which there is an incredible variety of physical material and natural form. These two aspects of environment—internal and external—engage in some measure the polarities of our personal experience of physical environment.

Historical precedents for these activities can be found in the evolution of responses to landscape, and by the changes in spatial concepts of this century. Landscape seems to be one of the most enduring of artistic inspirations, but it was not always so. For a long time the landscape was mostly unknown, a formidable and forbidding place, full of evil spirits or evil men, bandits and outlaws. Gothic illustrations show small tamed areas of nature, in some convenient corner of the castle where plants and flowers could flourish: the cultivated “paradise gardens.” From Giotto on (culminating in the great pastoral figure paintings of Giorgione), the new concept of representing directly observed natural forms identified the landscape as an increasingly important background to life. Dutch realism opened up the landscape vista for its own sake, without figures. By the nineteenth century, landscape dominated the visions and vistas of art—represented in intimate water colours and panoramic views by Turner—setting new ideals of beauty. To this day, for a majority of people, the idea and ideal of beauty exists as an image of the landscape.

Humans have always had the desire to have some essential relationships with nature, using its materials, propitiating its gods and devils; it is an ageless and instinctive impulse. The history and form of gardens indicate something of that

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changing relationship, from the recreations of a corner of paradise, the formal geometry of Italian and French gardens (notably Versailles to the “natural” landscaped parks of England (Stourhead, Stowe, and Castle Howard). The picturesque landscaping showed a new confidence in dealing with nature, saying, “Look—it’s beautiful, not frightening.”

The Japanese garden constitutes perhaps the greatest single contribution of the Japanese to the history of world art. It emphasizes year-round continuity by effective use of various evergreen plants. Colour is controlled; stones are specially selected (texture, shape, and size) for a particular role. Streams, pools, and waterfalls may be natural or simulated, creating the sensation of a landscape in miniature. The garden masterpieces of Katsurarikyu, Ryoanji, and Tenryuji, created centuries ago, are perfectly preserved today.

Twentieth-Century Developments Early in this century, interest in landscape diminished somewhat for artists, who became preoccupied with technology and with widening the categories of what art could be. Significantly, many new systems rejected the dominant approach of representing what was seen from a single point of view.

However, since the late fifties and sixties, new attitudes to landscape have appeared which are not about representation in the traditional sense. Artists have been attempting to discover new relations with the landscape, trying to create a new intimacy with nature. This has meant the artist’s entering into nature, not so much by looking at it, as by experiencing it physically. There was an increasing variety in what could constitute art, and entering into the landscape opened up many new possibilities.

Creating new landscapes was, for some artists, more important than simply decorating the environment with pieces of sculpture. The developing tendency was to work with nature and the landscape rather than against it. Instead of looking for a view, the artist was busy looking for a site in which to work. It suddenly strikes me that entering into the work of art has become important, as Jackson Pollock entered physically into his painting, sometimes standing in it to make his gestural marks without a baseline.

Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi has created gardens and environments at UNESCO in Paris, in New York and in other cities. They may be seen as a new sculptural form, but one that contains many aspects of nature: a form of landscape rather than a single sculptural object. Certainly by the late 1960s, many artists were questioning the prevalent notion of art as object—that is, a painting or piece of sculpture, something self-contained, to be imposed on a room or placed in an environment.

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Site-Specific Pieces Working on the site could present different options, going along with nature, preserving the natural appearance of materials or environment, or taking processed material into the site. This might involve taking ready-made forms onto the site—as, for example, in Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels or Christo’s Wrapped Coast, in which ninety-three thousand square metres/one million square feet of Australian coastline were wrapped in plastic sheet. With vast areas of landscape available, the scale of operations increased considerably. Robert Morris’s Observatory is about 91 metres in diameter; Michael Heizer’s Double Negative is more than 457 metres long, and Dennis Oppenheim’s Identity Stretch is 305 metres by 91 metres.

Other artists worked toward intimacy rather than imposition. So, if there was no longer a concern for the direct portrayal of nature, there was a new interpenetration between humans and nature. In many cases, it was important that the spectator become part of the physical being of the work, and the work was often used by the spectator. There is a direct link here to the role of the observer as participant in the “happenings” of the early 1960s.

It is not necessary to keep to an “artistic” norm of landscape. You can work anywhere, in an abandoned space or derelict area; it doesn’t have to be traditionally picturesque. Everywhere we see our effects on the land—proof that, for good or ill, we can’t set ourselves apart from nature. Robert Smithson showed a preference for sites that had been (as he said) “disrupted or pulverized.” He certainly wasn’t looking for any “nice, artistic” landscapes. Nature could be reordered, reclaimed, reconstructed. On the wall of a quarry, he wrote, “fragmentation, corrosion, decomposition,” which seems the antithesis of creative building.

Working on a site, creating non-portable works, artists often produced documentary evidence and by-products—samples of earth or rock, photographs and maps of the site—which could be used in galleries. Richard Long walked the world, leaving the trail of his creative and physical responses in lines and in cairns and circles of rocks, as well as in gallery works formed from rocks, wood, slate, and mud. Michael Heizer ambitiously rebuilds the landscape and (because of the scale of his activities) replaces his sculptor’s hammers and chisels with pneumatic drills, bulldozers, earthmovers and explosives. The earth is engaged as a sculptural material: a forty- seven-tonne piece of granite was placed in a rectangular depression in the desert at Silver Springs, Nevada as an example of “displaced mass” in 1969.

Artists working in the environment interact with the landscape in varied ways, and their attitudes range from ecological indifference to activism. There is nowhere on earth that could not be considered as a suitable site for something by someone.

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Working with Clay and Pottery Clay is a significant component of earth and owes its origin to the decomposition of certain rocks. Common clay contains kaolin or china clay. Clays vary in plasticity—their ability to be formed or moulded when moist. The more plastic clays are used for making pottery because, when dry, the formed clay can be fired in a kiln or baked until it becomes permanently hard (though somewhat brittle). This plasticity allows an unlimited variety of forms, an endless range from a flat tile or simple container to complex three-dimensional representations of natural forms, such as the human figure and abstract modelling.

Whatever the origin of the pottery, the process and principles of its production remain basically the same. Steps in the making of pottery include:

• Preparing clay

• Shaping or casting (hand-built, thrown, or cast)

• Decorating

• Firing

• Glazing

• Refiring

Shaping can be done by hand, on a wheel, or by using a mould. The hand process entails either hand-building the clay and pressing it, or else rolling and coiling the clay in spirals or rings, pressing them together and smoothing them.

Casting has become increasingly important as a production method. In this process, a liquid mixture of clay and water (this mixture is called a slip) is poured into an absorbent mould. The water soaks into the mould, leaving a thin deposit of clay, which can be fired once it is dry (and the mould has been removed).

Decorating can take place at this point. Designs can be painted or drawn on the dried-out clay vessel before it is put in a kiln and fired. See Elisabeth Fritsch’s finely decorated work in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–067.

Glazing may start with a coloured underglaze (biscuit) applied before the first firing. A final glaze may be applied to the biscuit-fired pot, by brush or spray, or by dipping the pot directly into the glaze. After firing, the glaze has a glassy surface, which can be coloured, solid, opaque, or transparent.

Pottery Classifications There are three basic classifications for pottery:

• Earthenware

• Stoneware

• Porcelain

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Earthenware clays are selected for plasticity, hardening qualities, fusibility, and colour. They include unglazed, simply baked clay, such as terra cotta and bricks. The commonest earthenware forms are ordinary household pottery, crockery with lead glaze, enamelled ware and other translucent, semi-translucent, or opaque glazed forms. Selected clays, baked and coated with a slight vitreous glaze—such as ancient Greek vases—are lustrous and can be elegantly decorated.

Stoneware clay has higher silica content than earthenware. When fired, this vitrifies the clay body to produce a dense, hard form. Stoneware made from coloured or dark clay, coated with a salt glaze, is used for stoneware crocks.

Porcelain is characterized by hardness, semi-translucency, and resonance. It has a body of clay containing silica and kaolin, usually with an alkaline glaze. Some porcelain is commonly referred to as china or chinaware. See also Kiki Smith’s sculpture in porcelain Woman with Owl (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–072).

Pottery Forms Basic clay vessels are thrown in one piece. Any subsidiary parts, such as handles, spouts, and lids are added later, luted on while the clay is still moist, by means of a wet solution of clay, or slip, which acts as an adhesive. When throwing, the clay is centred on the disc of the wheel. The potter’s hands shape (throw) the desired object as the wheel rotates.

You will notice in the video program that I ask Oliver and Lorraine to begin by throwing simply. They start by throwing the forms typical of thrown clay— beginning with the hollow cylinder, which requires good vertical control of the form, and then throwing progressively towards an open hollow sphere and variations of it.

Along with the cone—thrown first with a wide base, then as an inverted cone with a narrow base—these are the fundamental forms created on the potter’s wheel (see illustration 2).

Pottery Functions Variations on these forms are usually determined by functional requirements. Pots are used primarily for eating, drinking, containing and storing. They are also used for display, as flower and fruit containers, vases and so on. The variety of forms in Greek pottery shows how the interpretation of functional design involved considerable concern for proportion and for the relationships of the various parts— handles, bases, necks, feet, rims, and lids; the result is a superb combination of functional and aesthetic qualities. Simple variations on the hollow spherical form, which must have an opening of some kind, provide us with functional possibilities:

• If the objective is to contain a maximum quantity, the opening will be as small as possible.

• If the object is to provide maximum access to its contents, the opening will be as wide as possible—that is, a hemisphere (half of the hollow sphere).

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• An opening of less than half the surface will provide a round vase or jar.

• A form less than half the sphere makes a bowl; when a quarter or less of the sphere is used, the result is a shallow dish or plate.

Any of these rudimentary forms may require necks, or rims, to strengthen the edge or make it suitable for domestic use. A footing will often be necessary, so that forms will “stand” or “sit” effectively. Handles are a secondary feature; two were developed for heavy vessels, one for lightweight ware or for pouring. A spout on a pouring vessel must not drip, and the handle must be wide enough to grip and to keep the hand away from the (possibly hot) body of the vessel. These are elementary functional design requirements. The balance of spout and handle on either side of the body of a teapot can be a serious sculptural design problem—and its effective solution a rare aesthetic achievement.

Pottery Vitality Casting and throwing depend on the cohesive plasticity of clay. But, as the clay changes shape on the wheel, the combination of hand and material produces strength of form that has great psychological appeal. This organic vitality in thrown work is not present in the more inert and passive method of pouring liquid and clay particles into a porous mould. However, the designer can vitalize the process by effective design of form, relationship of parts, combination of units, and, of course, surface effects. Surface texture, pattern, and decoration must relate to the line of the form, so that what may be lost in organic vitality is gained in proportion and precision.

Clay Forming Experimenting with clay Explore the material by trying out different actions on the clay. Try making a range of simple marks in the clay, try making slabs, coils, and joining one piece to the next. After you have completed this initial exploration, you will have a much stronger feel for the material and a better sense of its possibilities.

Preparing clay You will need to find actual clay, not self-hardening, brightly coloured, or plastic “clay”—such so-called “clay” is not suitable for this unit.

Packages of prepared clay can be purchased inexpensively, ready for use; you can further prepare the clay by “wedging” it, to make it more plastic. Local community centres that offer clay classes may also be a source of clay. As noted in the previous paragraph, synthetic or plastic clay is not adequate for the assignment in this unit.

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Knead and pound the clay against a firm, hard surface. If you want to add sand or other aggregates, do so at this point. If the clay is sticky and difficult to work, you can add grog—a clay that has been fired and ground up. The thicker and larger the work, the coarser and more open the body should be. Grog and other aggregates do this; sand and pumice give a different texture and “feel” to the clay. If you have quite a lot of clay, store it in an airtight container; for example, in a tin box or tightly tied polyethylene bag.

Clay Modelling Techniques Modelling with clay is done using various techniques, which include direct building, forming, and modelling over an armature; building up, cutting away, and hollowing out, or building around a newspaper core. Large pieces can be made by uniting smaller pieces made by these methods, which are then fired or cast.

Modelled work, if it is thin enough, can be fired in a kiln. However, if air is trapped inside the work, the piece will explode as it is heated. Consequently, if the piece is more than two inches thick, the form will need to hollowed out and a hole made in its base. This will make sure that the piece has an air vent, which will let hot air escape from inside the form.

If the modelled form is made around a wood or metal armature, it cannot be fired. Instead, a plaster mould can be made from it and a more permanent sculpture can be made in the mould, either from plaster or cement. Or the work can be left to dry out and then painted. The unfired piece will be fragile, but if solid enough, can survive. The nineteenth century French artist Daumier produced a series of satirical heads in unfired, painted clay that are now over a hundred years old.

Modelling using a newspaper armature Large, hollow forms such as heads or figures can be constructed in a way that permits their firing in a kiln and so made much more permanent.

This technique involves wrapping clay around a central core of tightly wrapped newspaper and making a hole in the base to allow hot gases to escape later when the kiln is fired. When finished, the piece should be allowed to dry for several weeks and only fired slowly when the surface of the piece no longer feels cool on the cheek.

Note: View the supplementary videos for a demonstration of building a life- size head.

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Clay Tools Tools can vary—basically, your tools are your hands and boxwood modelling tools of various flat shapes. Wood tools with open wire ends are useful for cutting away. Or, you can make useful tools from pieces of plastic or wood, or old knives and spoons. I’ve found that, when working on a fair-sized scale, a good slab of wood is useful for beating the clay mass into its basic form.

Clay Weight If the piece involves a considerable weight of clay or requires the form to be balanced or held erect, a supporting armature is required. You can make this of metal pipe, wood in square section, or some form of screening, such as hardware cloth, chicken wire, or expanded metal. You can also wrap the main supporting armature with burlap, sisal cloth, and twine or wire, which help to hold the clay to the armature. Or, you can make crosspiece butterflies as Lisa did and wire them to the basic armature.

The armature doesn’t have to approximate the final form of the finished work. It is basically a structural support somewhere in the centre of the clay mass, holding it up. Unlike quick-setting plaster, clay doesn’t harden quickly and will not support its own weight. Simply add lumps of clay of a suitable size to keep covering the armature, until the form begins to take shape. The pieces should be pressed and interlocked to give strength. Make the pieces somewhat smaller as you approximate the final shape of the mass. Then push, press, squeeze, and model the form.

If you have to leave a work in progress, wrap it with a damp cloth or towel. Overnight, put a polyethylene bag over the wet towelling. If it should dry out a little, spray it with water.

The surface of any modelled form is a matter of personal choice—which will be influenced by your modelling methods, along with the demands of the subject and form. Once you have completed the modelling, allow the work to dry out completely (uncovered) before casting.

Slab Construction Slabs of clay can be made rapidly either by slamming down a block of clay onto a dry canvas or newspaper covered table, or by using a roller to roll out a slab of even thickness. (You can control this by putting pieces of board six or twelve millimetres/one-quarter inch or one-half inch thick on either side of the clay and rolling until the rolling pin makes contact along these board strips). If you simply use a roller, you can also use a sharp skewer, knitting needle, or toothpick to cut away any areas that are thinner than the body of the main slab.

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Slab construction requires that the pieces of clay be effectively joined. You can do this by taking a small amount of the clay you are using and adding water to make a liquid or slurry. When two edges or surfaces are to be joined, roughen them by scratching or incising with a wire tool or rough-ended piece of wood. Cover this tooled surface with the clay liquid mix, then press and knead the two surfaces together and add whatever additional clay and surface reworking are required until a strong bond has been formed. (You can use this joining method for all types of construction with clay). See the supplementary videos, for a demonstration of slab building.

Slabs lend themselves to construction of house or box shapes or abstract planar forms. Flat slabs of clay can be cut up and made into tiles.

Coiling To make coiled pots or other coiled forms, first roll the clay with the palms of both hands to produce coils of equal thickness along their length. Once you start building, roughen the surface of the first coil by scratching it, add clay slurry and then follow by another coil, pressing down lightly. Blend the two coils together by pulling the clay up and down, from one coil to another. Then, add another coil. By making the coil slightly longer or shorter, you can begin to establish the basic line or profile of the form. Repeat this procedure until you achieve the desired form. Then, blend and scrape the coils smooth, with the blade of a knife held vertically. This allows you to refine the profile and overall shape of the form to a precise degree and prepares the surface for texture or other surface characteristics.

Smooth the coils, so that they no longer show. Avoid leaving the coils showing. Leaving the coils visible is one of the most common and impractical elementary school clichés of working in clay. Smoothed coiling lends itself to great shape variety. Smoothed coiling is an excellent and versatile low-tech method of achieving a hollow product of uniform wall thickness. The results can have great presence and visual appeal. (See the Postcard Booklet for varied examples of working with smoothed coil techniques. In addition, Hans Coper’s work, which although partly thrown on the pottery wheel, shows great awareness of both the vitality of the clay surface and the use of form (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–60).

Pinch Pots Pinch pots can be made by starting with a hand sized ball of clay. Then, insert your thumbs into the centre of the ball and turn the ball round in the palm of one hand as you squeeze between the thumb and fingers. These pots can be carefully shaped with a knife and also combined in different configurations to make a range of forms.

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U8-12 Unit 8: Earth

Moulding You can press clay into any number of ready-made moulds, such as bowls or colanders, or build it around tubes (use paper towels to stop clay from sticking to surfaces). Experiment by adding grog or sand to your clay. Your forms can replicate the mould, or you can use the mould to create basic forms, which you can refashion into irregular forms, for example, by modelling, pinching, or providing differing rims and edges.

Clay and Pottery Finishing As you can’t glaze for these low-temperature firings, add surface interest with texture, by marking or scratching the surfaces. For slab building, roll out the clay on rough surfaces and relief textures—for example, sacking, or corrugated, geometrically perforated or expanded metal, or plastic.

Used Clay Used clay, too stiff to work, should be dried naturally until it is brittle, then pounded up and soaked in water to make it soft and plastic. At this point, it can be mixed with dry clay and grog to the required consistency. To slice clay, use wire tied to pieces of dowel, which act as handles.

Building a Kiln A simple kiln for firing clay can be made at little or no cost, using old bricks and waste sawdust, and you can build it in a corner of your garden or on waste ground. You will need about twenty ordinary building bricks to make a small enclosure two bricks square and two bricks deep (see illustration 4a). Leave an air hole in the front and use a loose brick to control the intake. Pour in the sawdust to a depth of ten centimetres/four inches and embed the dried clay forms in it five to eight centimetres/two to three inches apart. Pour more sawdust over the pots and make another layer of pots and cover with more sawdust. Place four bricks across the corners of the square to narrow the opening and top up with more sawdust. Make a twist of newspaper and stick it in the top of the sawdust; light it to start the sawdust smouldering (see illustration 4b). Place an old metal garbage can lid or sheet of metal over the opening; smoke should slowly curl up through the gaps in the bricks.

If you are more ambitious, you can double the size of your brick kiln vertically, by increasing the brick courses. But, remember, the larger the kiln, the more ventilation you will require. Introduce pieces of tubing between bricks at least halfway up, and from different directions. Sheets of wire mesh can be laid across between the bricks and layers of pots, so that the objects don’t fall against each other as the fuel burns away. You can fire such a kiln from the bottom, starting with wood kindling, wood chips, and wood shavings, which can also be introduced as a sandwich halfway up the kiln. This will increase the burning rate and cause differences of colour in the pots. Increase ventilation to complete the firing by pulling out one or two bricks from the base of the kiln.

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Alternatively, you can make a clamp—that is, dig a hole in the ground. You will require three or four pieces of metal tube placed in different directions, from outside the rim down into the bottom of the hole. Start the fire with wood kindling, pour in sawdust, and arrange the pot layers as before. Cover the pile with the original turf and, if it rains, with a lid.

If you use a metal bin, be sure to create sufficient ventilation at the bottom for the sawdust to burn completely.

Kiln Fuel Your kiln can be whatever size you need, provided that each object to be fired is surrounded by five to eight centimetres/two or three inches of slow-burning fuel. Sawdust is a suitable fuel, to which you can add peat, leaves, dried grasses, and crumbled bark, which burn at different rates, to produce variations of colour in your objects. In sawdust firing, the clay must be heated to a minimum of 500°C to 600°C/932°F to 1052°F before the structure of the clay changes from its plastic form to rigid pottery. A gently smouldering sawdust heap will produce more heat than a domestic oven, and it is easy to make.

Enclose the sawdust to conserve heat and prevent draughts (don’t fan the fire too much, or create rapid changes of temperature). Make your ventilation hole or holes adjustable, and ensure that the fire burns gently, irrespective of any wind variations.

Drying and Firing Objects should be allowed to dry for at least a week, until they no longer feel cool or damp when placed against your cheek. Large sculptural heads may take much longer to dry, even in the summer. No matter how thoroughly you dry clay objects in an even atmosphere before firing, some moisture will remain. To remove it, and avoid the possibility of the objects bursting under steam pressure, fire them for at least one hour at 100°C/212°F. Within about fourteen hours, the sawdust should slowly burn away and the fire-hardened pots can be removed, still warm, from the ashes.

For this kind of simple firing, you will be using earthenware or pre-tested local clay. You will not be able to glaze objects fired by this means; the temperature is too low to produce the dense, even surface required. Stoneware and porcelain clays cannot be used in a simple kiln. They are fired at 1200°C to 1350°F/2192°F to 2462°F, using more sophisticated firing methods.

Depending on the clay used, objects fired in sawdust will be black or dark grey— from the carbon in the smoke, or the iron in the clay—with patches of light grey, red, or pink. When the atmosphere is less smoky, any iron in the clay will oxidize and burn red with lighter variations. Lighter colours are also the result of more ventilated areas in the kiln. By varying your fuel (as described above), you can produce interesting colour variations.

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U8-14 Unit 8: Earth

Remember the basics of firing: dry fuel, dry clay, hollow forms with air vents, and slow heating and cooling. Objects expand as they are heated and contract as they cool; they will crack if either process is conducted too rapidly.

If you have access to a kiln, you will need to let the clay dry for at least a week before firing. Keep the temperature of the kiln at 100°C/212°F for at least an hour, but preferably for three hours. Then, start raising the temperature in hourly intervals in at least three steps, until the kiln temperature is at maximum. The kiln will need an automatic shut-off for when it reaches sufficient temperature. You will need to allow an equal length of time for the kiln to cool down.

Raku Firing Raku firing is a process that provides remarkable results. In traditional raku firing, pots are first biscuit-fired and allowed to cool. Glazes and decoration can be applied, after which the pots are placed directly in a red-hot kiln. Within ten to twenty minutes, the glazes will have melted and the pots can be withdrawn. At this point, they are quenched in water and/or smothered in peat or sawdust and this process further, and sometimes unpredictably, affects the colours.

However, for raku, you require a kiln that will burn cleanly and with consistent temperatures of up to 1000°C/1832°F. Raku is truly one of the “arts of the fire,” an intriguing combination of prepared form and creative accident. (For more details on this and other methods of firing, consult your local library for resources.)

Student Projects Although only nine students participated in this unit, each achieved a distinctive and individual way of working. To cover a really comprehensive range, we would have needed many more students.

Here is a list of methods of forming that the students employ and a brief comment on their specific objectives.

Moulding Brent takes impressions from the surface of wood with clay slabs and fashions a replica of part of a wood log.

Also in this category are Ed’s clay extrusions; later, he goes on to build constructions.

Building Kuan builds with bricks, learning to make cement and lay the bricks. To achieve a deep arch form, or barrel vault, a week before the project was filmed, he built the bricks over half of an empty metal drum, which was later withdrawn. The mortar needed time to set.

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Such a form suggests interesting variations. A similar form could be made up inside the metal-drum mould, or the arch could be stood on end as a curved wall, and so on. The piece could be a permanent feature of a garden or patio.

Kuan makes his piece rather amusing by including a model TV set made from half a brick and a contrasting round natural stone. You could think of bricks built into various containers, and combine other types and categories of material.

Modelling Lisa is committed to modelling heads, the first a generalized male head, from memory, and the second directly observed, of Cathy. Lisa makes an armature by attaching wood crosspieces with wire to a substantial vertical post.

Cathy also chooses to model; she makes a small standing figure. It was Cathy’s first attempt, and the armature she makes for her standing figure is rather frail. It could be supported with an attachment to a standing post, or by simply running a piece of three-millimetre/one-eighth inch wire from the back of the waist, out to a right angle and down to the base and angled again to fasten it in position with a staple or two.

Construction I have put David’s work into the construction category because he uses building bricks and wood construction, rather than classifying it as an earthwork or environment, which the upturned layers of grass sods might suggest.

Throwing Oliver has had a little experience of throwing. The forms he produces are basically geometric, developing into combinations of two-form pots. His finished work includes a piece that has been raku-fired.

Lorraine has had no previous experience, except an introduction and demonstration a week or so before we filmed the sequence. She, too, tries to produce a range of forms (see illustration 5), and her combinations results in some interesting relationships of formal thrown pots with more informal pieces (some quite organic) attached. By adding some natural forms, she makes each piece reflect her particular interest in collecting. Of course, these additions will be burnt away in the heat of the kiln, but I’m sure that, given time, Lorraine will find ways to develop her idea.

Environmental Geoff’s work, planned for an external environmental setting, combines earthwork and construction (see illustration 6). The dark surface of rich, peaty loam will, of course, change colour in time, but the other contrasts of cruciform grass—lawn,

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U8-16 Unit 8: Earth

wood, and metal geometry—are well considered. They would be impressive on an architectural scale. You will see how, in its final form, the work is successively increased in scale.

Other Possibilities Having more students would have allowed for more experimentation with small forms, given more time in the studio. Certainly, it would have been possible to make a whole range of equivalents for the figure without using armatures—particularly lying, kneeling, sitting, and squatting figures. Working on subjects with such a sense of mass—squeezing and pressing, moulding the clay in your hands—gives you the opportunity to show your inventiveness by trying different interpretations and equivalents for any one idea of a pose or character. These small subjects would also be excellent for showing the expressive handling of the clay, developing the form rather than the finish. Red terra cotta clay could work well for such a project.

Other possibilities not explored fully were some of the very oldest clay-forming traditions: hand-forming “thumb” pots, and rolling clay into rings or lengths that are then spiralled to form shapes. Clay can be formed in geometric shapes and then pressed together with thumbs. Fingers or a wooden tool can be used to add indigenous patterning. Clay forms can also be smoothed and decorated by painting, but using the colour of the clay as the basis of the linear or area decoration. Coiled pots can have multiple forms by a process of metamorphosis; begin with a circular coil and gradually change the form until you end with a triangular form. Remember to scrape and remove all coil marks so that the form shows through precisely and clearly. You can reverse this, or end with a square. Think of how many permutations you can draw and make. Also, invent any number of compound forms, combining thrown and coiled forms. Remember that another early tradition was building with slabs of clay, in relief or three dimensions.

Consider these various possibilities when you select your project, next, in Assignment 8. Also, try to decide where you could use clay forms or other mass for casting using gypsum plaster. Relief modelling can also be made more permanent by casting.

Assignment 8: Earth

Introduction For Assignment 8, you will complete one project only. Your chosen project must include both experimentation and personal development.

Before you begin working on your assignment, read carefully through all of the instructions for this assignment.

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Project Options For this assignment, you are required to complete one project from the following six options:

• Project 1: Moulding

OR

• Project 2: Coiling Pots

OR

• Project 3: Slab Building

OR

• Project 4: Simple Figure Modelling

OR

• Project 5: Portrait Head

OR

• Project 6: Environmental Project

Documentation When you have completed your project, send in:

• Notebook drawings, diagrams, and descriptions outlining your objectives, materials and methods

• One set of photographs or a video to document your experiments and a second set of the same to document your personal developments

If you are following the Suggested Schedule, you should have completed this assignment by the end of Week 10. We recommend that you wait till you have completed the next assignment and then send in Assignments 8 and 9 in one batch.

Instructions Project 1: Moulding

1. Experiment with the plasticity of your clay: roll it out, make marks in it, tear it and cut it up. Select pre-made forms—round and square tubes, balls, bowls, etc. as the basis for a series of clay forms. If the objects are metal, you may need to line them with newspaper, so that the clay will release from the object, when you remove it. Consider joining several forms together to make larger more complex forms. Try these out with different combinations, or modify the shapes after you have joined them together, adding and subtracting clay as you need to.

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2. Determine the size of the form relative to the thickness of your material.

3. Consider the scale. Begin with relatively small forms, and then increase particular forms to the scale you want. You may make a series of containers or display units, or a series of forms in association with another material. Respond to the character of the clay and change it when necessary by adding sand or grog.

Project 2: Coiling Pots 1. Roll out lengths of clay as a preliminary for making coiled pots.

2. Experiment with different diameters of clay and make some small experimental forms. Vary the way you fashion the pot, building out from the centre of the base. Join and fuse the coils to present a continuous surface suitable for incised, scratched, and pressed decoration. When you are confident about the basic process, move on to the next step.

3. Carry out a series of smoothed coiled pots; create variations on a theme of your choice or make a series in which the top and the bottom of the pot have a radically different shape. The form of the pot will metamorphose in the process of building; e.g., circular base to triangular top and/or the reverse; circular base to square top and/or the reverse; triangular base to square top and/or reverse.

4. Remember to smooth out the coils so that you can define the form. Make a vase or large bowl. Avoid leaving any coils showing. If you were to leave the coils showing (an elementary school cliché), you would be leaving the pot unfinished and preventing yourself working accurately with form and lines of your work. You can draw a silhouette of the form you want, and then as you are working, check the sides of the form to make sure the profile you want is emerging. Scraping back the sides or adding clay will allow you to fill in hollows or smooth out bumps, until you have the exact profile, lip and base you want. (See Egyptian and Mimbres coiled pots and bowls Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–045 and –046).

Project 3: Slab Building 1. Experiment with clay building using slabs. First, roll out a sheet of clay; not too

thick. Experiment with fastening the pieces you cut from the sheet, working first with flat rectangular slab and strips. Then, try other simple shapes. Give some thought to shape and proportion, particularly when dealing with geometric forms. See the supplementary video for a demonstration of slab building. Also, experiment with the texture or consistency of the clay, its surface character and texture. Roll out your clay on different materials, such as hessian, jut, wood, and corrugated material. Try curved slab forms. See also Elisabeth Fritsch’s work in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–067.

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2. From these experiments, let your ideas grow toward personal development of one or more final products. Piercing, patterning, scratching, or carving into the clay to make patterns and decoration is optional.

Project 4: Simple Figure Modelling 1. Using clay without armatures, make a series of small (longest dimension,

fifteen centimetres/six inches) modelled forms based on the human figure. Use a mirror or a friend to check proportions, and overall shapes, etcetera. Work experimentally and not necessarily realistically. You may take the opportunity to look at how various peoples and civilizations have used clay to deal with the human figure. In the Postcard Booklet, see both the Neolithic female figures (TRU OL–048) and Kiki Smith’s contemporary sculpture in porcelain Woman with Owl (TRU OL–72).

2. Without armatures, certain poses are difficult to achieve. You will find that “self-contained” positions (kneeling, squatting, reclining) and seated figures provide many possibilities. This project is a test of your personal inventiveness more than an essay in finished products

If you want to make larger figures, you can use sponges or twists of newspaper to provide a simple external armature and to support the clay as it dries. Alternatively, carry out this assignment as indicated above, but use animals as your subject matter.

Project 5: Portrait Head 1. Make an armature suitable for a life-size head. Use a strong wooden board as

the base and a vertical wooden post, to which you can fasten wire with cross- pieces or “butterflies” to hold the clay in place. Or, you can attach thick wire directly to the post. Or, instead, you can use a newspaper core as demonstrated in the supplementary videos. Wrap slabs of clay around a preformed newspaper head and then model the basic shape of the head before addressing the features. If you intend to fire the head in a kiln later, you will need to make a hole in the base of the head to allow hot gases to escape. Without an escape hole, the gases will explode your work.

2. Build up the clay to make a portrait modelled directly from your chosen model. Do a series of preliminary drawings from a few points of view— profile, three-quarters, front and back, etcetera—until you have acquired a basic response to, and understanding of, the character of the subject. When modelling, keep moving around the model. Try to work over the whole form, modelling the main planes, curved and flat, before starting in on particular parts. Feel and use the plasticity of the clay, and model and carve, rebuilding and remodelling when necessary. You are dealing with a live subject; your hands and eyes must also be alive.

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U8-20 Unit 8: Earth

Project 6: Environmental Project 1. If you have a convenient garden or patio space or access to a piece of waste

ground, you may prefer to do an environmental or site project.

2. First, consider the site. Pace it, look at it from different points of view, feel the surface, and think of its possibilities and its characteristics. Is it flat or does it already have a particular form? What is it composed of? Is it soil, and, if so, of what type? Does it contain stones or roots? The quality of the earth is important—you may have to move some as well as dig it.

3. Consider the scale of your operation. Don’t be too ambitious; think of the time involved.

4. Plan to use any aspect of naturally existing features—turf, rocks, etcetera— but make earth the dominant material. You may use “soft” or “hard” earth. You may consider the project as a garden in the widest sense, but it must be unique.

5. Alternatively, you can present your project as a new, environmental format. Bricks (which are fired earth) or clay may also be incorporated as a built feature of your structured earth project.

Notes on the Reproductions The following are shown on DVD 5 in the video Earth and/or in the Postcard Booklet.

Female idols. Paleolithic.

Clay; 22.8 and 20.32 cm high.

Moravske Museum, Brno, Czechoslovakia.

These Palaeolithic clay female figurines found in the Danube Valley are probably derived from pre-classical works from the eastern Mediterranean islands—though it is somehow fitting that the earth mother, which they represent, was made from the clay of central Europe rather that the marble used in Cyclades. The small figurines are highly stylized: the breasts are clearly indicated; the hips and thighs are emphasized and exaggerated. The legs of one are quite thick stumps; the other’s are more gracefully tapered. The characteristic arm gesture is simply a lateral axis in one and an angular variant in the other. The heads are only simply indicated, but there seems to have been some attempt at changing the surface texture on the more developed figure. So I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these mother-goddesses were further decorated with pigment, like painted Moravian pottery.

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Hydria of the “Painter of Madrid” vase. Greek. Circa 5th–4th Centuries BCE.

Black figures on a red ground.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, Spain.

The gifted inhabitants of the Attic Peninsula in Greece—particularly in Athens— from the sixth to the fourth centuries BCE produced an abundance of art of extremely high quality. Their genius in working in three dimensions and in various materials, notably metal and stone, was to have a far-reaching effect on the rest of the world. Exekios and other first-rank masters evolved a wide range of clay pottery forms, which came to dominate the market in Greece and elsewhere. Governed by the prevailing system of proportion and a commitment to technical perfection, the pots were made of high quality red clay and decorated with an excellent black glaze. This hydria, or water jar, of black figures on a red clay ground by upper and lower friezes of animals and incidents, with variations of scale in the decorative forms. Later painters replaced the black figure technique by the reverse process (known as red figure) in which the figures appeared in red clay against the black-glazed ground. In both styles, elegant design and dynamic draughtsmanship supported real or mythological subject matter.

Farm in Northern Ghana.

Clay dwellings.

Photo: Gert Chesi.

The village was, and still is, the nucleus of African civilization. Whether built of mud and earth, rock, branches or grass, the buildings always seem to grow from the ground, like natural forms in the landscape. The villages also embody the cultural traditions, as you can see in the special forming and decoration of these buildings. With their thick earthen walls they provide insulation against high and low temperatures. The beautifully curved forms of red earth have the great formal strength reminiscent of shells or good hand-formed pottery, and, like pottery, have been fired—but only by the sun. The black and white geometric decoration seems to be stretched in tension around the curve of the forms and the large pot in the tension around the curve of the forms and the large pot in the foreground further suggests the significance of the round form in this culture. Also, the use of the materials shows how the village was responding to the particular resources of the environment, remaining as self-sufficient as possible.

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U8-22 Unit 8: Earth

West African wall structure.

Deteriorating wall of bamboo fibres, palm fronds, and mud.

This detail of a deteriorating West African wall reveals the interior structure. It is a typical combination of earth particles and water, making mud, which was applied to a structure of fibrous lengths of tied bamboo and palm fronds. Compare this with modern metal-reinforced concrete.

Chinese tea pot. Circa 18th Century.

I-Hsing Ware.

By courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

In Neolithic cultures, the most ancient art was pottery. Perhaps only China had the privilege of a genuinely artistic Neolithic civilization; it produced magnificent, highly decorated painted pottery. However, when I first saw this teapot, made much later in seventeenth-to- eighteenth-century China, I couldn’t help but mentally relate its powerful dark form to those earlier Neolithic wares in black and grey. The design problem—how to relate the large central volume to the smaller additional forms of handle and spout—is still with us. The artist has achieved a very satisfying sculptural unity by surmounting the large basic ovoid with a hemispherical lid, topped by a small spherical form for lifting easily with two fingers. But it is the almost black, basalt-like density of the surface that gives theses complex forms such unified and related contours. (Incidentally, China gave us porcelain and chinaware, exporting great quantities to Europe, where the cult of Chinoiserie greatly influenced taste in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries).

Aislabie, John. English garden at Studley Royal. Circa 1720.

287.5 hectares (710 acres).

North Yorkshire, England.

Great English gardens are usually a combination of lawns and grass with water, trees and shrubs. They reflect the change from the symmetrical geometry of Italian and French gardens to a picturesque “natural” irregularity. The new view of nature was of a gentle pastoral world in which rude nature is subtly reorganized. This required a perfect knowledge of the land and the objects in it (whether natural or artificial) and infinite patience in planting and maintenance. Studley Royal was laid out by Aislabie in the 1720s; his design included straight-sided canals and water gardens of circular and crescent ponds that were flanked by classical temples (in the Claudian manner). This asymmetrical landscape was set in a valley near the visible Gothic ruins of Fountains Abbey, which became the focal point of the valley. In the early nineteenth century, Studley Royal was considered “one of the most spectacular scenic compositions” in England.

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Shigemori, Mirei. Japanese garden, dry-landscape garden. 1939–1963.

Earth, rocks, plants.

Tofukuoji Temple, Kyoto.

This Japanese garden was laid out and altered by Shigemori relatively recently, between 1939 and 1963. The garden—an example of dry-landscape gardening— continues a great tradition of Japanese art (seen today in the preserved masterpieces of Ryoanji, Katsurarikyu, and Tenryuji). The artist usually had in mind the experience of an actual landscape; drawings would often show the landscape used as a model for a small landscape garden. Although greatly reduced in scale, the garden would still be monumental in form. In the Japanese garden, the representation of landscape is both abstracted and reduced to essentials. It is artistically concentrated, by intuition and by tradition, and involves the transposition of material and idea into a new artistic form. Rocks thrust upward, as if projecting part of the earth’s crust through the soil. Or they are surrounded by raked sand and pebble particles, like islands in an ocean bay.

Citrus plantation.

Morphou, Cyprus.

Photo: George Gerster.

The citrus orchards of the Mesaoria, a fertile depression between the mountain ranges of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean, are here seen from the air. Their pattern lies over the land like the gridding of a modern city—an imposition of rectangles on the landscape. Dark, deep patterns of green or younger sunlit forms glow against the deep reds of the earth. From this position, the orchards reveal the conquest of nature by geometry— civilization as subjugation. For all its formal strengths (like a well-organized abstract painting by Paul Klee) one wonders how vulnerable such an imposition would be to the elements; however, well-grown trees provide their own wind break.

Vegetable field in the New Territories.

Hong Kong.

Photo: George Gerster.

A rather different scene from the last—again viewed from above—is this agricultural landscape in Hong Kong. Here the geometry of the fields exists within the natural conformation of the land. Chinese Taoist philosophy requires that one should understand nature and be ready to compromise with it, to adapt to it. Agriculture is seen as a way to cosmic harmony. The straight line is considered to be soulless and geometry godless; hence, the paths around the upper ground and the flow of watercourses fit naturally into the landscape. Not resistance, nor imposition, but

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adaptation was the guarantor of good fortune. Natural irregularities could be combined with organization, so fluid natural boundaries contain the well- marshalled battalions of growth in the inevitable geometric pattern of planting.

Morris, Robert. Earthwork. 1968.

Mixed media: earth, peat, brick, steel, felt, copper, aluminum, brass, grease; 6.1 x 7.62 m.

Exhibition installation.

© ARS New York, 1991.

This earthwork, the first of its kind, was shown at the Virginia Dwan Gallery in New York in 1968. The artist referred to it as a spread of substances or things that are clearly marked off from the rest of the environment; there is no confusion about where the work stops. In this sense, the work is discrete but not object-like. It is one of those works made when sculptors were tending to react against the making of single sculptural objects. At the same time, it is a first attempt to relate what the artist was doing on a site by making a “non-site” work in the gallery. The earth is the subject—not simply a ground or base, a resting place for objects—and Morris does add other materials (which tend to be fragmentary or linear, becoming part of, not interrupting, the form of the mass. The thin rods and wire are spatial forms that penetrate the mass while contrasting with it. Can you smell the pungent earth? Later, Morris filled most of the available gallery space with earth, altering it every day, subtracting elements until at the end of the show nothing was left but a series of photographs of the work in progress.

Smithson, Robert. Spiral Jetty. 1970. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–047)

Rock, salt crystals, earth, water; 457 m long.

Great Salt Lake, Utah.

Photo: Gianfranco Gorgoni.

Aerial view photo: George Gerster.

Smithson created large-scale excavations and earthworks. Using the earth as both material and subject, he fashioned a new landscape—here, he moved material on a large scale and placed it in a completely different context: water. He virtually extends the land mass by a linear spiral into the waters of the lake. Although the construction is planned and predetermined, the spiral mathematically correct, the material appears as it was taken and unloaded. It is rather informally disposed, containing earth, sand, stones and rocks of various sizes. The process of moving and unloading builds the spiral road, so that this environmental form is a quite immense synthesis of material, space, significant form and the imaginative power of the artist—not forgetting the physical manpower and equipment required to make it.

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You saw the architectural use of the spiral in mass, in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum, and this counterpart in earth links water and space. The spiral is universal: it is drawn by children, used by indigenous peoples, and logarithmic spirals are the bases of many forms in nature.

It is also interesting to see that water algae have concentrated around this new home and coloured the water red.

Butterfield, Deborah. Horse No. 1. 1983.

Red mud, branches, sticks, metal armature; 218.4 x 346.4 x 94 cm.

Butterfield’s horse is made of red mud over an armature of steel and chicken wire. The sticks, branches and mud emulate the basic structure of the horse’s body and stance without recourse to precise anatomy. The work is eminently recognizable as a horse—even if it couldn’t take its place on the Parthenon. Its rough abstraction and the seemingly perfunctory application of some of the materials give it a primeval appearance.

From the ordinary workhorse to Alexander the Great’s warhorse Bucephalus, horses have great significance and many associations for us. The artist provides us with an icon that is loaded with metaphor and meaning.

Smith, Kiki. Woman with Owl. 2004. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–072)

Porcelain clay; 9.25 × 8.25 × 3 inches. Edition of 24.

Smith’s work has been primarily concerned with the human body. In Woman with Owl, she has carefully defined the female figure and a very large owl, so that we become aware of both the weight of the owl and the seriousness with which the woman regards her task in carrying the bird. We are invited to participate in a mythological and symbolic event as though we are participating in a shared dream. Smith has used the spaces between the owl and the woman as part of her composition.

Coper, Hans. Large Spade Form. 1978. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–060)

Clay thrown on pottery wheel and modified by hand.

Coper developed his work from his control and skill in wheel thrown pottery. His interest moved towards flattened sculptural forms that relate to vessels and vases but function as objects of expression rather than utilitarian pottery. He has used the spontaneous nature of wheel thrown pottery—there is only one chance at a time to get a particular wheel thrown pot to work. Then, he has added another form—the base and joined to the flattened top. The clean, spontaneous, precise lines and carefully rounded and flattened forms and the mat surface all contribute to a singular sculptural clay form of great presence.

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Fritsch, Elizabeth. Optical Pot. 1980. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–067)

Clay form, made from slabs, hand painted with glaze.

In this example of Fritsch’s work, both the flattened vase form and the painting on the surface hover between two and three dimensions. Her work shows her precise and patient control over her material, hand-built form, and glaze painting on the flattened surface. At the same time, Optical Pot has a playful lightness and rhythm about it. Fritsch has taken great care to smooth the clay so that both the surface and the profile of the pot are without any distracting bumps or hollows. This allows the viewer respond to the presence and form of the pot and the geometry and rhythms of the glazed surface.

Recommended Resources Eliscu, Frank. Sculpture: Techniques in Clay, Wax, Slate. Philadelphia: Chilton, 1959. Print.

This is an older book, but contains an excellent section on working with clay, which provides detailed, clear directions on how to use various techniques. Contains photos of processes by Conrad Brown.

Komatsu, Eiko, Athena Steen, and Bill Steen. Built by Hand: Vernacular Buildings Around the World. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2003. Print.

Buildings made by hand. A wonderful testament to the creativity and ingenuity of people all over the world who use available materials such as earth and stone to make their dwelling places. The book contains many fine examples of the use of earth to create dwellings in surprising and functional forms, including large multi-storey buildings. (May be available in the public library system).

Peterson, Susan. Working with Clay: An Introduction. New York: Overlook Press, 1998. Print.

A well-produced book with many photographs, showing a wide range of techniques of working in clay and good examples of finished work.

Additional Resources Internet Hans Coper: Search Google Images.

Very finely worked and dynamic ceramic forms. Coper’s work was frequently made to stretch the possibilities of a vase form.

Lucy Rie: Search Google Images.

Subtle and very thin, fine work thrown on the wheel. Very carefully incised and decorated.

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Online or Community Library Reference Texts • The Larousse Encyclopedia of Earth (1965)—a marvellous book that covers all

aspects of its subject, past, and present

• Any texts on working with clay, landscaping, soil, and stone

• Collier’s Encyclopedia

• Encyclopedia Americana

• New Encyclopedia Britannica

• The World Book Encyclopedia

List of Illustrations 1. Soil profile showing horizons. From computer animation by Jeanie Sundland.

2. Fundamental geometric forms, basic to pottery. From computer animation by E. John Love.

3. Tiles and tessellations. From computer animations by E. John Love.

4. Making a sawdust firing kiln. Computer drawing by E. John Love.

5. Notebook drawings of built and thrown pot forms. Lorraine Yabuki.

6. Notebook drawings on earth installation. Geoffrey Topham

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Faculty of Arts

Unit 9: Liquid

VISA 1301 Material and Form

VISA 1301: Material and Form U9-1

Unit 9: Liquid Introduction

Note: DVD 5 includes the video program Liquid to accompany Unit 9.

Water is the liquid that we will explore in this unit.

Water is vital to all life. Fortunately for us, it covers nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s surface. It fills the vast ocean beds, where the first forms of life on earth grew. This life- sustaining liquid makes up most of the animal blood and plant sap that nourishes living tissue. Water is a major constituent of living matter, accounting for fifty to ninety per cent of the weight of living organisms. Your body is about sixty per cent water, which, as part of your blood, circulates nutrients and disposes of waste materials. A chicken is about seventy per cent water and a pineapple about eighty per cent.

Sources, Properties, and Composition of Water Sources of Water: The Hydrologic Cycle Water is never used up. It constantly recirculates, replenishing the earth. When you drink a glass of water, you may be drinking the same molecules that gave refreshment to your ancestors. However, because of geography, vegetation, and climatic conditions, rain does not fall evenly throughout the world. There are droughts, which cause deserts, or too much precipitation, which causes destructive floods.

The original cycle of water was the result of hydrogen and oxygen being among the gases when the earth was forming. When the earth began to cool, atoms of these two gases joined to form water. The earth was still too hot for water to exist as a liquid, so steam cooled to form thick clouds. Finally, the earth cooled sufficiently for some water to remain liquid, and vast amounts of water vapour in the clouds condensed and fell to the earth as rain. Depressions in the earth’s surface were gradually filled with water, and the shaping of the oceans and continents began.

This water—or hydrologic—cycle involves continuous evaporation of ocean, river, and lake water, and even of moisture from the soil, by the sun. Therefore, an immense amount of water is always suspended in the atmosphere in the form of vapour, which is blown by winds across the sea and land. As water vapour is lighter than air, moist air is less dense than dry air at the same temperature. Some of the water vapour forms clouds that—when they accumulate more water vapour than they can hold—return the moisture to earth as rain or snow. Sun, air, water, and gravity keep the water cycle continuous. Other factors that affect the cycle are the transpiration of water by plants and the condensation of water vapour by cold air (see illustrations 1 and 2).

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The precipitation of water by gravity returns water not only directly to the oceans but also to the earth, which acts as a giant sieve. Some moisture stops on the surface for a time and disperses as surface run-off. Other water permeates through the ground until it meets rock and can go no further. It is known as ground water and is the source of water from wells. The topmost level of groundwater is called the “water-table.”

The hydrologic cycle causes geographic changes. The sea continuously erodes the land, and rain beats down on it, washing soil into rivers and cliffs into the sea. The cycle also keeps the earth’s climate from getting too hot or too cold—and it regulates our own body temperatures.

It’s as well that the hydrologic cycle is continuous—but even this won’t be much use if we continue to contaminate the atmosphere. Fresh, pure water is infinitely precious. A human being requires about 11 litres (2.5 gallons) of water per day to maintain bodily tissues; but, for other needs, we each use up to 225 litres (50 gallons) daily. As water becomes increasingly scarce, water treatment plants must clean and chlorinate our supplies. This most common substance on the earth is an absolute necessity in our lives, and we really take it too much for granted. Let’s consider it something to celebrate and try to use it sparingly and creatively.

Before looking at ways of working with water, consider how others have used and are still using water, first for predominantly utilitarian purposes—as a tool—and then creatively.

Properties of Water Water, along with other liquids, is one of the three states in which matter exists. The other two are solid and gaseous. A liquid resembles a gas more than a solid because its molecules are not fixed to each other in a rigid pattern. They are, however, not as free as in the gaseous condition; there is sufficient attraction in liquid molecules to keep them loosely together. Like a solid, liquid has a definite volume, but, unlike a solid, it has no shape of its own. A pint of water will change its shape when poured from a glass into a bowl, but the volume remains the same. Conversely, a gas will expand to fill the complete volume of its container.

At a given temperature or pressure, a substance will be in solid, liquid, or gaseous form. For example, water transforms with changes of temperature. If it is heated beyond boiling point, it changes into steam—a gaseous condition; if cooled below freezing point, it changes to ice—a solid. It is significant that water freezes from the surface downwards, that ice is lighter than water and, in this solid form, floats. Ice, and water in its other intermediate solid states—snow and frost—crystallizes in the hexagonal system.

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As a liquid, water also seeks its own level, on a horizontal plane. Think of the surface of the sea, or a bowl you fill with water. If you fill a watering can, the level in both of the can and in the spout will be the same.

The surface of water has a tension caused by the molecular structure, which acts like skin. This is called surface tension, and it helps things float. Try putting a greased pin or needle on a settled surface of water and you’ll see that it will rest on the surface instead of sinking.

A most valuable property of water is its capacity to dissolve a wide variety of substances. Given time and specific conditions, nearly all known substances will dissolve in water to some extent—hence, its name of “universal solvent.” Consider how valuable this single property has been to artists, who have used water as a medium and vehicle by mixing it with pigments and dyes.

Composition of Water Ancient philosophers believed water to be a basic element, and it wasn’t until the late eighteenth century that water was proved to be a compound, containing two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen; thus, its chemical formula: H₂O.

Pure water is odourless and tasteless. It may be perceived as possessing a tinge of colour when in large volumes or because of light and reflected colour.

Seawater contains as much as three per cent sodium chloride—so is described as “salt water,” or saline. Sea salts vary considerably and can include calcium, iodine (which you can often smell), bromine, sodium, and magnesium.

Other waters are called “fresh” (but seldom are), and some waters near marshes and bogs are “brackish”; that is, somewhat saline. Minerals colour water as well as provide different tastes, depending on local geology. Spring waters have been exploited for their medicinal values at spas. Rainwater in industrial areas may contain oxides of nitrogen ammonia, sulphurous gases, and other contaminants that produce so-called “acid rain.”

Water contains various organic compounds, which are derived from decaying matter. As you will see illustrated in the video program, numerous micro-organisms (living varieties of protozoa and insects) as well as vegetable forms (diatoms and bacteria) exist in water.

Water in History Great civilizations have risen where water was plentiful and have fallen when the rains failed. Early humans worshipped rain gods—maybe some farmers still do, praying for rain for their crops. We have learned to exploit water and use it as a tool—to irrigate land; to move it for use first by aqueducts and later via modern piping systems; to harness it to turn turbines to produce our light and heat; and to transform it by processing it in desalination plants.

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Artificial Waterways Canals and aqueducts are artificial waterways constructed for navigation, irrigation and drainage. Canals have been used since the earliest times, in early Babylon, India, Egypt and China. If you had water resources like the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, for example, it was very useful to connect them. Ship canals were used to connect inland centres to lakes or the sea; others—notably the Suez and Panama canals—to connect seas with oceans. Roman engineers created aqueducts, such as the one in Nimes, France, built in 14 CE. Its channel is supported by three tiers of arches of stone blocks, 259 metres/850 feet long and 55 metres/180 feet above the River Gard. There is a similar masterpiece in Segovia, Spain (see the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–049).

Canals required level stretches with locks to raise and lower the water level as the altitude increases or decreases. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Industrial Revolution stimulated the development of a vast network of barge canals. Alongside them, horse-drawn barges moved between cities and ports. Such canals are still used in some countries, though now they are plied by tugs and tow-boats that push or pull trains of up to forty barges.

Steam Energy Formulation of new scientific and engineering principles led to the invention of many efficient industrial devices and machines.

During the nineteenth century, steam (water in hot vapour state) engineering and the steam engine made possible the trains that largely replaced water canals as a means of transportation. Steam became an important component of engineering technology. The steam engine transformed the heat energy of steam into mechanical energy, by allowing the steam to expand and cool in a cylinder equipped with a movable piston that could drive an engine. Steam turbines—a further exploitation of steam—harnessed the energy of steam flow. In a turbine, high pressure steam strikes a series of curved blades situated around a revolving wheel, or drum, and turns it.

The steam engine was the first important development in the use of water since the water wheel—and that was in use when the pyramids were being built.

Hydraulics Hydraulics is the application of fluid mechanics to engineering devices that make use of liquid—sometimes oil, but usually water. The flow of liquid can be controlled through pipes and channels, storage dams, pumps, and water turbines. Hydraulic presses, brakes, nozzles, valves, and jets are other methods for the control of liquid. Jacks and other lifts for heavy loads are based on hydraulics development for use in the construction industry.

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Life Support/Enhancement Water has long provided some people with a living and others with leisure. Commercial and sport fishing in the world’s oceans; swimming for relaxation and diving for pearls; transporting oil by tanker and skiers by powerboat—there are hundreds of examples.

Water attracted earth’s earliest human residents. For example, the “cradle of humankind” where Stone Age life developed is a site on Lake Rudolph in Northern Kenya. Think of the cities of the world that have been built on the banks of rivers: Rome, Paris, and London, for a start. On the northeast coast of what is now Italy, people from the mainland decided to build Venice on the waters of the Adriatic. In a lagoon, they created a unique city, a place of visual enchantment and continuous magic: a work of art in itself. Other cities, such as Amsterdam, Stockholm and Leningrad, have tried to pattern themselves to some extent on the Venetian model.

Water in Art Historically, the principal use of water in relation to the arts is in fountains. The great Renaissance and Baroque villas of Italy used fountains to marvellous effect, spouting water in intricately related streams and jets. Fountains were also traditional in Persian and Arab architecture, like the fountain in the centre of the Alhambra, palace of the Moorish kings in Spain (see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–050). Ornamental pools are universal—what would the Taj Mahal be without its reflecting pools (See Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–051), or the lesser-known river behind the palace?

However, it was in France, at the palace and gardens of Versailles, that water was most effectively used. The mile-long Grand Canal and magnificent fountains with sculpted figures are supplied by a water system that is almost 160 kilometres/100 miles long. Peter the Great of Russia was inspired by Versailles to construct (at his own palace, the Peterhof) a tiered Grand Cascade, ornamented with gilded statuary, which spouted and flowed down the Gulf of Finland.

On the video program, you will see how liquid has been used by contemporary artists. Water has not been a primary material for artists, but a few have used it very effectively. Isamu Noguchi, in particular, has shown us the power and beauty of water, using it with discretion and sensitivity in his sculptural gardens and environments.

German artist Hans Haacke also responds to water—often with ecological and social concern, as in his Rhine Water Installation, which used Rhine water, fish, pumps and plastic containers. In other works, he has used refrigeration units to make relatively permanent ice forms.

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Michael Singer uses water for the format of constructions, as in his First Gate Ritual Series, which involves wood frameworks on rock supports, in and over the waters of woodland pool.

Past students of mine have used water in many ways. One used water with foaming liquid detergents. He made a glass box that, when automatically filled with foam, activated the interior sculpture, an octopus-like form whose flaying appendages spurted water and washed the interior down before the cycle began again. In another work, three shiny black spheres, mounted one on top of the other (a hard piece of sculpture) were gradually covered with soft foam that flowed out of the top of the sculpture, gradually obscuring the whole work with glittering froth. Other students combined sculptural forms and constructions—particularly blown-glass industrial forms—on water.

• Sculpture and environmental projects in the future will undoubtedly often make use of natural forces and phenomena, and particularly water. Andy Goldsworthy has produced many inventive and inspiring examples of using water, snow and ice. (Look online for the video Rivers and Tides about Goldsworthy’s work with water). The energy of tides, rivers and streams is readily available and every form of liquid can be used, from ice and snow to the sea.

• One student made wooden frame boxes, lined them with translucent paper, showing her own photographs of waves. She then placed tea lights inside them and documented the event, as she floated the boxes at night, moving through the dark, on the waves of the sea.

Many combinations of water with mechanical and electronic machines are possible—for example, small electrically powered units to drive waterborne forms. Using water to make art depends on the artist’s abilities and preferences, and also on a willingness to experiment and explore. Even traditional watercolours can be rejuvenated in new contexts and relationships with various materials.

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Language of Water Consider the following table of terms that are associated with water. These terms may help you to think of possibilities for working with water in your assignment. Some of these terms are in the Glossary.

absorption atomizing atmosphere

capillary action cohesion colour

cooling corrosion dispersion

dissolving distillation dyes

evaporation environment fire

fishing flotation fountain

freezing frost glass

gravity growing heating

hoses ice melting

Mylar oil pumps

rain reflections siphon

snow solutions spiral

sprays steam suspensions

transparency translucent vapour

vibration viscosity

When you do begin your work with liquid, start with a direct and intuitive response that involves physical contact, as you have with all the other materials you’ve learned about so far in this course Try spraying, splashing, moving the water,

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shining lights through it, making the water as flat and calm as possible. Try freezing water soaked cloth into different configurations, and so on. Even something as simple as placing a stick into water and looking at the distortion of the image may give you ideas. Children provide a wonderful example. Playing in the bathtub, they come to appreciate that certain things will float. They learn how to fill containers and pour water, which gives them a measure of confidence with the material. They like to smack the surface of the water with their flat hands: it makes a splash and a sound!

Student Projects In their improvisations, the students respond to memory triggers and to the activation of sensory and psychological cues. To be creative with the medium, however, they must go well beyond an intuitive response and focus on the specific properties and characteristics of water.

Lisa begins by packing dyed water in thin plastic material. The colours are related in various ways—complementary, harmonic—but are generally intuitive. Her final work is made up of plastic bags that are partially filled with controlled mixtures of transparent colour and tone, and presented in a logical sequence on a wall panel.

Lorraine’s initial experiments are with opaque-coloured liquid: water plus well- mixed powder colour. Transparent bags containing violet, red, and orange are suspended over containers of yellow, green, and blue. The bases of the bags are punctured and the colours dripped into their complementary counterparts to create colour greys (see illustration 3). Her final work is a series of partitioned trays filled with transparent dyes. Two or three trays are overlaid, creating fascinating and changing colour relationships (see illustration 4).

Adrian siphons liquids down through a sequence of stepped glass containers, connected by transparent plastic tubing that held oil and coloured water. In the process, both the viscosity and colours change. The final movement is through the branches of a white-painted tree.

Oliver begins by researching vibration patterns, first using an electric drill held in a vice, on which shallow metal trays of water vibrate. He follows this by using two drills with wire attachments to make concentrate patterns in the water. Finally, he simulates and makes wave motions of varying speeds (see illustration 5).

Brent explores relationships of coloured water and other materials, using a series of related trays. He draws on the various qualities of glass, mirror, and stone— particularly in relation to substance and light.

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Cathy begins with research into viscosity, using water, dye, glycerine, and cornstarch packaged in test tubes inverted in a dish. Her personal development explores the range of transparency, opacity, suspension and viscosity in long transparent plastic tubes, forming a suspended screen.

Geoff clearly has a concept relating to ecological concerns. In a water-filled tray (polythene wrapped around a wooden frame), he pours sand, dust, gravel, and oil. To this sludge (which included some natural colour effects), he adds a series of inflated plastic bags containing imagery and various sociological and ecological messages.

David prepares a series of sound structures: coloured bells, chromium-plated tubes, and bamboo clappers (leftovers from Kuan’s previous bamboo structure). These are later attached in a line and powered by a water wheel. A long steel rod makes a flowing wave movement and activates the sequence of sounds.

Daryl volunteers to work with mini-fountains. Using a tank of water with rocks, he experiments with various jets and pierced rubber tubing, ending up with five forms of jets, sprays, and falling water (see illustration 6).

Note: Because of the difficulties of creating installations with water in the studio, we went outdoors for this program. First, we spent some time improvising in the children’s waterpark; then, in the large pool, we combined forces on a project dealing with aspects and forms of flotation.

Assignment 9: Liquid

Introduction At this late stage in the course, I suggest that you set your own assignment for this unit. However, if you do not come up with an idea after you have carried out your hands-on exploration, consult the Recommended Resources at the end of this unit, and, after putting in some serious thought, select one project from the options below.

You will find detailed instructions on how to complete each project option in the following pages. As usual, document the process.

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Project Options For this assignment, you are required to complete one project:

• Project 1: Water Tray

OR

• Project 2: Water Containers

OR

• Project 3: Water Power

OR

• Project 4: Water and Colour

OR

• Project 5: Moving Water

OR

• Project 6: Water Sculpture—Flotation

Documentation and Notebook When you have completed your assignment, you should send in documentation of both your research and personal developments, including:

• Your Notebook work, showing your drawings or diagrams and descriptions of the development of your ideas through both phases

• A set of photographs or video that demonstrates your research and the evolution of your personal development

Note: If you are following the Suggested Schedule, you should have completed this assignment by the end of Week 11. We recommend that you send in Assignments 8 and 9 in one batch.

Project 1: Water Tray Make a water tray. Take four wooden boards and fasten them together at the corners to a board, considerably larger than a tea tray, to make the sides of a large, tray. Line this with polyethylene sheet—white, translucent, transparent, or black, according to the requirements of your project. Experiment on a small scale with various materials that exploit water, mirrors, found objects, and cut and constructed forms, and then develop these ideas into a project using the tray as a whole. Or, transfer your ideas to include the bathtub.

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Project 2: Water Containers Start with self-sealing (Ziploc-type) plastic bags or transparent plastic or glass bottles, and then add water and/or other liquids in a way of your choice. You may for example, want to suspend, hang, or fasten the containers to a board or wall; stand them on the floor; arrange them in a construction; or shine lights through them. You could also vary the shapes of the bags by using elastic or tape. This project could also be adapted to an external situation.

Project 3: Water Power Think of a project that uses the energy of a stream or river, or the tides of the sea. Find a suitable site and demonstrate the results of water energy. You may also find that rain, a more limited from of energy, is effective in the transformation of material.

Project 4: Water and Colour If you are interested in colour, experiment with dyes or pigments of various kinds in water. Decide on the type and range of containers you wish to use—transparent plastic bags and containers; plastic tubing, flexible or rigid; glass bottles; or test tubes. Be prepared to modify the shapes of the containers and combine containers. Try out different colour and shape compositions or use these to demonstrate particular colour concepts. You could also experiment with different lighting to see how the different liquids transmit light. Or, try out different densities of liquid—for example, oil and water—to see how colours react with the different densities and mixing between them. Or, you could try using sound to vibrate the water and create patterns of colour. (See Recommended Resources for more ideas).

Alternatively, you could freeze the coloured water in different-shaped and -sized containers and then carefully construct with the resulting ice forms.

Project 5: Moving Water Think of any principle or method of moving water from one place to another; or of using water to move other things. Build a construction to demonstrate the process. Other liquids may be used with (or instead of) water.

Project 6: Water Sculpture—Flotation On the surface of a lake or pool, make a construction in the materials of your choice, designed in relation to the water. The form may float by itself, or you may build a raft as part of the structure. Use found objects and containers if necessary—empty metal drums, plastic tubes, bags, pipes, or anything that can be made to float or will hold air.

You may prefer to work on a small scale; for example, in an aquarium. If so, use the full depth of the water as well as the surface. If you choose to work on a small scale, you may need to refine your found objects, such as plastic containers. Refine them by removing labels and other visual clutter.

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For either indoor or outdoor work, consider the form of the flotation device, try out different arrangements until you find the one most suitable.

Notes on the Reproductions A drop of plankton-rich water. 1980.

Radiolarians and diatoms.

Photo: Peter Parks.

This is a view of plankton-rich water magnified 675 times. Plankton is a collective term for a variety of marine organisms—microscopic algae and fungi, including diatoms and radiolarians—drifting on or near the surface of the water. You can recognize the diatoms shown (you’ll recall this image from Unit 7), and the radiolarians are easily identified by their radiating extensions. A litre of lake water may contain more than 500 million plankton organisms; they are so numerous that they can colour the water red or green. Marine plankton is a primary source of food for marine organisms—the first link in the great aquatic food chain. It may even be a food source for us someday.

Wright, Frank Lloyd. Fallingwater. 1936–1937.

The Kaufmann house.

Conneville (Bear Run), Pennsylvania.

Wright’s Fallingwater was designed in 1935, fairly late in the architect’s career. Wright described this house as leaping out over the falls, which gives a clue to both his organic and structural sensibility. He used cantilevered beams of reinforced concrete to extend the terrace that are the basic form of the house. The spatially projecting planes echo the rock ledges of the natural site; in fact, the rock ledge beneath the house penetrates the living-room floor. But the glory of the house is the waterfall that cascades out from under the structure. Wright told his client that he wanted him to live with the waterfall, not just look at it—inferring that he should live intimately with the thing he loved.

The Church of the Gesuati.

Venice, Italy.

Photo: Inge Morath.

Changing reflections in the canals of Venice are a constant delight. They range from the still mirror image, an inverted portrait, to the rippling undulations and flowing ribbons of colour created by a slow-moving gondola and the fragmented images caused by the frenzied wake of a passing vaporetto. The blue sky merges with blue shades in the water; red tiles and Venetian-red washed walls break into tessellations.

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Around the extended image of the Church of the Gesuati, the doors and windows of white Istrian stone fragment into moving particles. Water is everywhere, recreating ephemeral images at every level of abstraction.

Gabo, Naum. Revolving Torsion Fountain. 1975.

London, England.

Reproduced with the permission of Nina Williams.

Gabo’s last public commission, Revolving Torsion Fountain, is sited outside St. Thomas’s Hospital on the River Thames, London. It is an adaptation of an earlier work, a remodelling in plastic of the Torsion of 1929. Gabo did not think of his work as a sequence of completed phases but as a continuous process in which he could return to earlier ideas. He believed it was reasonable and logical to respond to changes in technology and to new materials. As Gabo pointed out, the jets of water in Revolving Torsion Fountain form lines that correspond to his use of plastic filament lines in earlier projects. Stainless steel was used to fabricate the large revolving structure, designed so that jets of water shoot out from the edges of the ribs in a timed pattern, turning the upper section. Gabo combines water, light and moving form to create a marvellous visual experience: water streaming in space and the gleaming metallic centre of the fountain viewed through a changing veil of diaphanous mist.

Gabo’s interest in kinetics is apparent in his motorized works. His ability as an expert engineer was proved by the great de Bijenkorf construction in Rotterdam.

Noguchi, Isamu. Chase Manhattan Bank Plaza. 1961–1964.

Granite paving, black river stones from Japan; 18.29 m diameter

New York, NY.

Courtesy of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc.

The circular sunken garden at the Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York has links with traditional Japanese gardens, if only because the rock Noguchi used in its creation were taken from the river in Kyoto, Japan. A previous garden by Noguchi, for UNESCO in Paris, was a tribute to the form and principles of Japanese gardening, but this garden in New York is purely sculptural. Noguchi thought of it as the swell of the sea, rising out of elemental rocks—the ground of granite blocks is undulating and contoured, with concentric patterns of paving and lines suggestive of ocean currents. The recessed water jets and fountains rise and fall, flooding over the rim. The most satisfying and delightful aspect of the work is the wonderful assimilation of natural and non-natural materials (tiles, glass, and metal tubes) on an urban site, just where we need such projects. And it can be viewed from above; from a rail, one can contemplate the forms on the circular plane. Amid the confusions and distractions of the city, it is an island of sanity.

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Noguchi, Isamu. Fountains. 1970.

Two of twelve fountains; stainless steel.

Osaka, Japan.

Courtesy of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc.

Noguchi was commissioned to create a group of twelve geometric fountains for Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan. The artist approached the work as a challenge to the commonly held idea that fountains only spurt upward. His fountains jetted down over thirty metres/one hundred feet, rotating, spraying, swirling, disappearing, and creating clouds of mist. This was Noguchi’s first major work using water, and it is on a heroic scale, fully exploiting his theatrical sense. The fountains extend over three large rectangular pools for about half a kilometre/one-third of a mile. Emerging from the pools, the twelve enormous sculptures—cubes, spheres, cylinders, and other forms, bristling with nozzles—provide an exuberant water display. Carefully choreographed, it is dramatically illuminated at night. Seen through mist and vapour, the sculpture forms resemble atmospheric objects in a space of liquid particles. Expo ’70 is long gone, but Noguchi’s fountains remain as a brilliant engineering feat and an example of structural finesse and aesthetic complexity.

Christo (Javacheff). Surrounded Islands. 1980–1983.

Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida.

Pink woven polypropylene fabric; 604,500 square m.

© Christo 1983.

Photo: Wolfgang Volz.

Christo’s enormous projects make us aware of the logistics of creating such work, no matter what their effect on our aesthetic responses. We begin to understand the necessity for negotiation and for precise preparation. This project required brilliant organization and structural virtuosity, but the result transcends material and formal issues and provides us with a phenomenal experience and a surprise. Surrounded Islands required more than 600,000 square metres/6.5 million square feet of pink woven polypropylene synthetic fibre, floating and extending more than sixty metres/200 feet from, and around, eleven islands. In all Christo’s work, the point of departure is the transformation of landscape. In Surrounded Islands, he recreates in our minds the image and idea of islands. The landscape is thus rediscovered in new and unforgettable terms. As in any transitory creative activity, the final phase of this work was its complete documentation: drawings, diagrams, collages, photographs, slides, films, books, and journalism. A necessary epitaph.

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Goldsworthy, Andy. Thin Ice. January 10–11, 1987.

Welded with water from dripping ice, hollow inside.

Scaur Water, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

We have already learned, in earlier units, that Goldsworthy is an innovative British artist who collaborates with nature. He works instinctively in the landscape, arriving at new perceptions of it and developing an ever growing intimacy. His work deals with conjunctions of climate and land, growth and change. Finding the place and the material, he comes to understand the land and its complex nature. For him, observation, material, place, and form are all inseparable from the resulting work. He has worked all over the world, including in Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island, which is in Canada’s far north, and in other exotic locations, assembling materials in his own way, using them “naturally”—whether they are leaves or monoliths, stone structures or snow blocks or water and reflections. This piece, Thin Ice, was made over two freezing days. It is hollow inside and is welded with water from dripping ice.

Goldsworthy, Andy. Early Morning Calm. February 20 and March 8–9, 1988.

Knotweed stalks pushed into lake bottom; made complete by their own reflections.

Derwent Water, Cumbria, England.

This second work by Goldsworthy, carried out in the north of England in 1988, looks like an ineffective fish trap; but with a little poetic imagination it could trap the sun or moon.

Recommended Resources Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time. Dir. Thomas Riedelsheimer. Roxie Releasing, 2003. DVD. (Available online.)

This is a wonderful DVD of Andy Goldsworthy’s inventive and surprising work with water and other natural materials. Includes a marvellous sequence of plants joined into a long strand, coiled on the surface of a river. Gradually the current uncoils the strand and it slowly floats downstream following both the undulations of the water and curving with the contours of the river’s course. You may remember viewing two examples of Goldsworthy’s work in the Unit 9 video program).

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Schwenk, Theodor. Sensitive Chaos: The Creation of Flowing Forms in Water and Air. London: Rudolf Steiner Press. 1996. Print.

This book has many black and white photographs showing the spiral forms created by free flowing water and how these forms are repeated in the spirals of some seashells or in the creation of vortexes and even some tree barks. A very thoughtful book, which may spark ideas for working with liquid. May be available in the public library system.

Additional Resources Internet

• Search for: “Simon Butler + Cymatics M4V” on Google to view a short video showing the use of sound to vibrate three coloured strands in water. The sound creates shifting complex coloured undulating nets in intriguing and powerful visual sequences. Or search in YouTube for: “Dr Hans Jenny— Cymatics: Bringing Matter to Life with Sound.” Part Two of Three shows the effects of sounds on coloured liquids.

• Search for “Goldsworthy, Andy” in Google Images to view several images of Goldsworthy’s large scale work with ice.

• Consult an encyclopedia using internet searches and/or community library reference books for general information on water related subjects, such as:

Aqueducts Canals

Fountains Gardens

Hydraulics Irrigation systems

Sculpture with water Water-wheels

List of Illustrations 1. The Hydrologic Cycle. From computer animation by E. John Love.

2. Infiltration and percolation: ground water taken up by plants returns to the atmosphere. From computer animation by E. John Love.

3. Liquid paint drip mixes primary and secondary colours to make dark grey. Drawing to show set-up of experiment by Lorraine Yabuki.

4. Notebook studies for wave machine. Oliver Kuys.

5. Notebook studies for fountain installation. Daryl Paul Ashby.

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Faculty of Arts

Unit 10: Space

VISA 1301 Material and Form

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Unit 10: Space Introduction

Note: DVD 6 includes the video program Space to accompany Unit 10.

There are many definitions and concepts of space, the illusive and complex subject for this, the final unit of Material and Form. You might well find that space is your most difficult area of study in this course because it involves physical, perceptual, and conceptual aspects, as well as diverse subjective responses. However, much of the work in the Postcard Booklet which uses other materials, also have large spatial elements, for example Richard Deacon’s bentwood piece, For Those Who Have Ears #2 (see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–064).

It is limiting to define space as that which is between objects—an interval of area between points. Space is also where events take place. How space perceived at a given time, in a specific culture, has much to do with the way it has been defined in the past. Today, we depend on science for precise observations, with the dynamic concepts of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics replacing outdated static notions of space. In a post-Einstein world, to study space without including time would be inadequate. For us to gain some understanding of the whole range of spatial phenomena, we will need to consider some historical aspects of space in this unit.

Understanding space at a personal level is a process of the growth of consciousness, beginning with the first breath and the first instinctive movements. We begin to orientate ourselves, to know where we are, where we can move and our relationship to other things. As we develop we can accommodate a wider view of space, but still we ask: how? and why? The answers depend on our own curiosity, existing knowledge, new and changing information. We can discover other realities of space in the microcosm and macrocosm, realities beyond our “real,” everyday space.

The space that concerns us in this unit—and with which you will be working as artists—is called actual space, which surrounds objects and in which material objects exist and are perceived.

Concepts of Space For thousands of years, actual space was regarded as having three dimensions: left and right, up and down, forward and back. This kind of space is measurable by the rules of Euclidian geometry and Newton’s mechanics, which are consistent with ordinary measurement of size, scale and distance. However, when dealing with

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astronomical phenomena and velocities, which are very great, relativity physics became necessary. Scientists have indicated that space and time are actually extensions of the same continuum, that is, the structure of time and space is continuous, not separated.

Concepts of the nature of space have depended on the changing theories proposed for the origin and structure of the universe. Even in the sixth century BCE, Greek philosophers theorized that the formation of the world occurred as a natural, rather than supernatural, sequence of events.

The Atomists put forward the idea of an ordered cosmos governed by mathematical relationships; a boundless universe in which the interplay of atoms created endless worlds in various stages of development and decay. These notions were supplanted by the infinite cosmologies of Plato, Aristotle, and Ptolemy, whose ideas became linked with supernatural notions of medieval theology. The sixteenth-century Copernican theory suggested that the sun, not the Earth, was the centre of the universe. This led to significant shifts in concept over the next two hundred years, brought about by the precise celestial measurements of Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), the mathematical discoveries of Kepler (1571–1630), the astronomical observations and “dangerous” arguments of their contemporary, Galileo, and finally the theories of Newton (which remained dominant from the seventeenth century until the development of the theory of relativity at the beginning of the twentieth century). Gradually, minds were opened to the possibility of an apparently infinite universe whose centre has no specific location.

The realization that stars may be arranged into systems emerged in the mid- nineteenth century, supported by William Herschel’s (1738–1822) observations. The Milky Way galaxy as a flattened system of stars and nebulae, isolated in space, was understood about 1785. Early in the twentieth century, astronomer E. P. Hubble (1889–1953) determined that galaxies exist beyond the Milky Way system; also that the external galaxies are receding at speeds which increase with distance; that is, relative to their distance from the Earth.

There is no “time or space” here to go into details of space exploration and its implications, though you may well be inspired by manned missions to distant planets. When astronaut Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon, he said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”—the first childlike steps into the new environment of outer space.

Physicist Albert Einstein’s (1879–1955) general theory of relativity and the later special theory established modern cosmology. The idea of the expanding universe, the dynamic state of outer space, is linked to the prevailing theoretical attitude about the origin of the universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe originated

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in an explosion about ten billion years ago. Immediately afterward, the universe consisted primarily of radiation, but, as it expanded, matter developed and existed dominantly in space. Hubble’s discoveries and more recent findings suggest that the expanding universe will continue to expand in space indefinitely.

This popular concept embraced by the majority isn’t necessarily correct; there is an alternative—the steady state theory—which suggests that the large-scale features of the universe do not change with time. Despite the expansion of the universe, this theory maintains that the universe is kept stable by the continuous creations of matter in intergalactic space. Although the galaxies compensate for the separation, so that the average density of the universe remains the same.

Relativity, Space, and Time The theory of relativity, developed primarily by Einstein, is the basis for understanding the unity of matter and energy, space and time. The Special Theory of Relativity, published in 1905, was the result of consideration of objects moving relative to one another in constant velocity. In this theory, space was redefined: the relative velocity of object and viewer was the crucial factor, not the distance between them. In 1915, Einstein published the Theory of General Relativity, in which he considered that objects accelerated with respect to one another. This theory involved a new approach to the concept of gravity.

The hypothesis on which Einstein’s theory was based was the non-existence of absolute rest in the universe, whereas Newton had defined space as absolute, and at rest. Certainly the cultural influences of these theories are apparent. In our increasing dynamic world, more things move in space, in real-time activities; or events are recorded and made available in different contexts of time and space. Satellites in space provide images instantaneously in different places, and at different places, and at different local times around the world. Increasing use of electronic media, in which images of time and space are often mixed and collaged, means that understanding space and time is essential for coping with the increasingly complex visual language that dominates everyday life.

Rapid changes in technology and the diversity of what we see can be better understood if we have some basic comprehension of space, time and matter, both as a real experience and supported by general notions of art and scientific theory.

Everything in space and time is related to everything else, so nature is a single system. Space has three dimensions, time only one. Time is linear and directional, in the sense that events happen in an irreversible order, which has impetus. It is as if we are being carried forward, but we can only look backward. Space is indifferent to direction: up and down, left and right, can be reversed by changing our frame of reference.

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Apparently, an astronaut in space is able to fully comprehend and deal with the relationships of objects in free space without a base. Knowledge of space and time is interrelated, since we measure time by the path described by a moving body and we measure space by the time taken for a signal to move from one point to another.

Space Exploration The activities of humans in space provide us with new technology and interesting new images. The technology of space often uses traditional materials, metals and ceramics in new ways and also creates demands for new synthetic materials.

The human race may in the future require additional support systems. If the atmosphere continues to deteriorate, we may face the possibility of living in controlled environments, denied the freedom of movement we now enjoy. In space, we would face a combination of stresses: weightlessness and consequent bone density reduction, cosmic radiation, acceleration, vibration, confinement, sensory deprivation, reduced mobility—and, probably, silence. Unique to space is weightlessness, or “free-fall,” which results when the orbital acceleration of the Earth is equal to its gravitational acceleration. In space, we would be removed from the rotational cycle of day and night and seasonal change.

Astronauts apart, more than fifty species, including single-celled organisms, plants, animals, and mammals have been put into Earth orbit for research purposes. In our exploration of space, the search for extra-terrestrial life is not merely a matter for science fiction but a basic concern of biology. The discovery of any form of life, no matter how minute, would permit structural and chemical comparisons with life on Earth. Who knows what other environments distant galaxies might produce?

In our continuing attempt to understand space, exploration plays a leading part.

Space in Art Indigenous people, painting the walls of caves, saw animals moving in their imagination. They depicted the animals on one plane, separated from each other in the pictorial space, or overlapped them and sometimes changed their scale. Australian Aborigines conceived of space as an immense circle. Each culture seems to have its own sense of space, which is reflected in its art and inferred in its political organization, social institutions, and religious beliefs. The Egyptians, for example, envisaged space as a narrow path along which the body and ultimately the soul moved. In their temples and tombs, they constructed pathways enclosed by masonry walls, on which reliefs and paintings led the spectator in a specific direction; inevitably, they believed, the souls would move through the tunnel into the tomb to meet ancestral judges.

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The Greek world was dominated by a sense of “near and far”—a cosmos in which things were close, and completely visible, or seen at a distance. Buildings and temples were built about a centre that was often partially enclosed by a colonnade. The finite structure of the city-state reflected the desire of the Greeks for a central organization. They produced a geometry of regular closed figures, and a mathematically based system of proportion that dictated ideal forms of beauty.

Although Gothic cathedrals induce a sense of soaring, even limitless, space, the medieval European world was God-centred in thought and belief. The universe was believed to move around its centre, the God-made Earth-world. Medieval paintings show a tiered hierarchy of heaven, where beings are given a scale suited to their importance, but the artist has also attempted to locate them in the pictorial space as they would appear in the visible world. Space and time are manipulated in some medieval paintings, so that the image of Christ appears in various parts of the picture, representing events taking place at different times. Justification for this is based on shared knowledge and information rather than direct observation.

As we are dealing with creative processes, we must consider how concepts of space affect the way different artists and cultures use space and work in it. We can consider the use of illusions and sensations in pictorial space, and working with three-dimensional materials in “real” space (see illustration 1). We can begin to comprehend space as a positive rather than a negative phenomenon.

We will find that space has been a proposition and problem within the context of art throughout the centuries, with various rules and many interpretations. Some attention will also be given to architectural space, as it is a major element in modern procedures of designing with space.

Pictorial Space A crucial date in the history of art is 1435, when Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) set out rules for pictorial space in the system known as linear perspective (and also as optical, or Renaissance, perspective). This perspective system was created to demonstrate an equivalent of how the eye sees objects in space. It is a means of delineating solid objects on a plane surface by drawing. The object is drawn with all the distortion and foreshortening that is seen by the eye from a given point of view. All lines and planes that are not parallel to the picture planes converge at vanishing points. Alberti’s system was to dominate art for almost five centuries. An illustrative image of this system is shown in Piero della Francesca’s (1450–1492) The Flagellation (see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL-052).

I believe that this new concern for representing space effectively may have arisen because God-centred space was giving way to a belief in a more significant role for man. Insignificant man needed psychological support to venture into unknown

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space, to take possession of the Earth. Fear of geographical space was not conquered for a considerable time, but Renaissance paintings show new confidence in the understanding of space. Humans are no longer frieze-like, formally immobilized, but depicted in the round, anatomically able to act realistically in their new space. This unified pictorial space represented the harmony of nature and a growing rationality; it also reflected a human-made world in the making.

Linear perspective was a dominant feature of studio and academic training. It was taught and carried out by drawing construction, not by freehand expression, which made it relatively limiting. A serious shortcoming of the system was that it did not allow for response to the nature and quality of space. Appreciation by the Venetians and the artists of northern Europe that space possesses colour, both local and atmospheric, led to the integration of aerial perspective with existing Renaissance systems. Aerial perspective is the result of seeing things at a distance through the atmosphere, which changes the gradients of brightness, saturation of tone, sharpness of edge, density and texture of shapes, and intensity of hue.

Although Alberti’s rules were followed until the beginning of the twentieth century, there were a few heretics. In particular, the Italian Mannerists used elongated figures, often in unusual or unnatural poses, to populate their melodramatic spatial compositions.

Landscape art in Northern Europe continued the chromatic exploration of real space and its equivalence in pictorial space. The British landscape painter Turner, in particular, gave great vitality to his paintings by the use of aerial perspective and by his inspired use of colour. I also feel sure that he purposely used the physical aspect of space—the weather that occurs in space. J. M. W. Turner’s (1775–1851) Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway is a painting of a train crossing a viaduct, but mist, fog, and the colours of light were used as special phenomena of space; in a poetic way, they almost make it objective.

The Impressionists, dealing with light and atmosphere in space, were also responsible for new attitudes. Painting the changing conditions of light and atmosphere necessitated direct painting, working on a number of canvases in one day, and repeating the process the next. Although the Impressionists still worked traditionally, from a fixed point of view, the subject was the changing light and colour of space itself. The Impressionists were very free in the way they placed their canvases, certainly not observing Alberti’s rule that they should be placed one metre (3.3 feet) from the ground. They raised and lowered them, tilting them forward, back, or obliquely to the subject. For them, the canvas was no longer the proscenium of a cubed section of space—like a theatre stage—that it had traditionally been.

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Post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) explored and developed concepts of pictorial space by presenting different spaces and perspectives in the same painting— Still Life with a Basket. Multiple perspectives of the various objects are contained in one composition; objects are tilted, ellipses distorted by flattening or enlarging; the basket and table corners are seen from different points of view. Cézanne realized that, to control the representation of space, he would have to reduce the pictorial depth.

Cézanne’s innovations were invaluable to the Cubists, who brought about the most important change in rendering space since the fifteenth-century. They abandoned linear and aerial perspective and viewed objects from many physical points of view—tending to create a multiplicity of spaces, which had to be brought in the pictorial image. A dictum of Cubism is that the farthest part of the picture away from you is the surface on which the picture is painted. For the Cubists, this brought to an end the old illusions of perspective. However, it is a mistake to think that multiple points of view is all there is to Cubism. If we look at anything completely— visually, physically, analytically—seeing it not only through 360 degrees of space but also from the interior and the exterior, we end up with an enormous catalogue of visual and other sensory information.

Writers have referred to the so-call X-ray images of Cubism. Conditioned to perspectival space, artists did not comprehend the results of seeing analytically from a number of points to view. They totally misunderstood the process; the seeming X- ray images are achieved by simply looking at the interior of the object from a number of visual points to view and selecting or synthesizing. The actual X-ray is one-point-of-view image and is therefore not a good analogy.

As it is impossible to make equivalents for all aspects or parts of an object, selection takes place. Picasso, who famously said “I do not seek, I find” and invented Cubism for his own purposes, was capable of simultaneously determining what had pictorial significance for him and its place in the pictorial image. So, what developed in Cubism was the selection and synthesis of multiple points of view with an even more significant synthesis of the artist’s psychological point of view.

Cubism moved rapidly from two to three dimensions. Picasso worked constructively with linear and planal material, typical of the language of form in space. This opened up new possibilities in sculpture and construction, and also began the population of the “no-man’s-land” between painting and sculpture. You have to remember that in the Renaissance, in spite of brilliant practitioners, sculpture was subservient to painting. Artists now realized that they were free to develop their own artistic language, including new visual and spatial systems and formats. The Cubists never really abandoned pictorial depth, but limited and controlled it according to their needs. They demonstrated that there is a great deal of difference between visually perceived space and pictorial space.

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Cubism is sometimes seen as representing the confusions of the modern age, but it was rather a means of finding a way through the confusions. The movement does, however, represent developments within art which reflected the creative impetus in science and other cultural developments.

The cinema for example, which carried on the theatrical tradition, may have had a fixed screen but it could be used as freely as a Cubist canvas. In cinematography, the frame can be altered by changing the lens, the angle of the lens, or the focus. The point of view of the action or distance from the action is changed at will; the view can be panned or reviewed sequentially in close-up, then modified by editing. The cinema collapses space, time, and distance to show us worlds that we could normally never see otherwise.

In place of rigid and limited perspective, artists discovered and developed a new range of sensations, achieved by new uses of colour and pigment, active in new kinds of space. In the late 1940s, Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) worked inside and outside the canvas placed on the floor, but without using a pictorial baseline. He demonstrated a new capacity for simultaneous thought and action that became known as “action painting,” which was unfortunate, because the term separated action from thought. Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), in his painting Blue Mountain (c. 1908–09), created a homogeneous composition out of images and events seen in nature at different times and places. He demonstrated that the artist does not have to remain motionless in front of the subject, at a fixed distance in time and place. Space and time can be brought together in true post-Einstein developments.

Sculptural Space Sculpture exists in space. Matter and material is given specific form by the displacement of space. Traditionally, this displacement was predominantly by mass; but, in the twentieth century, the form, materials and nature of sculpture have changed and diversified enormously. The development of Constructivism during the second decade of the twentieth century, and constructive practice, accentuated the implications of space by using points, lines and planes of material in preference to mass.

Other forms of engineering and engineered space have developed sculpturally; the use of space on specific sites, and even the use of light and time, has extended sculpture’s range.

Principles of sculptural space and opinions about its organization vary considerably. Certainly, there are no set rules, and preconceptions are often limiting. So many forms in the world of nature can be considered sculptural that we should be able to learn from these natural phenomena. Any movement through the natural environment should alert our senses, helping us to feel the spatial character of where we are.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-9

Space, as we understand it, was foreign to the ancient Greeks. To them, it was not an abstract concept but rather a place where people and object existed. They had a profound sense of place. Although we know of many single-figure sculptures in Greek art, their sculpture was subordinated to architecture. It was part of building rooted in a precinct of architectural space in the city. Yet despite the dominance of frontal sculpture (that is, sculpture designed to be viewed from the front only), there were astonishing developments to figures that indicated movement in space. Greek humanism led to the almost perfectly articulated figures admired by Renaissance artists. In the sixteenth century, Benvenuto Cellini saw that eight or ten viewpoints were needed to see a sculpture effectively.

Gothic sculpture was part of the religious collective of the church; dedicated to the glory of God, it was not seen as art, nor as an expression by a particular artist. Gothic artists and architects did have a sense of space, but their sculptural forms were subordinated to the architecture, like those of their Greek predecessors. Figures adorning the tympanum or comfortably enclosed in niches were within the form of the building and carved in relation to it. However, the elaboration of later Gothic buildings made it possible for forms and figures to be disposed in a greater variety of ways, balanced or poised, on or outside of the architecture, as if ready for flight. Nevertheless, the underlying concept was still subordination of the parts to the whole.

Anything constructive or sculptural that we put into the environment is affected by its immediate surroundings and cannot escape the fundamental relationship between Earth and space. All forms are affected by gravity, not only physically but also by our sense of that principle in action. We can have a sense of gravity along with a sense of the amount of space occupied by the object: by its bulk, volume, or extent as a structure. To the sculptor, everything in actual space is real; tactile values are real and not illusions. To reach out and touch something means intervening in space. Whether in the process of carving away from the mass and introducing space in the process of building in space by modelling and construction, the making of sculpture is a matter of contact and touching.

Positive-Negative Space Traditionally, the volume of space which is occupied by mass, by displacement, is referred to as positive space. The volume of space that is not occupied by mass, but has a proximity and direct influence on how the form is seen, is known as negative space.

An immediate example of negative space is penetration of mass, or a concavity in a form. Since in constructions using linear or planal material negative space can predominate, this constructive space could be considered functional rather than negative. When we look at works by Gabo in acrylic sheet and nylon filament, we cannot be certain where form and space begin and end in the continuum of space and light (see Gabo’s Construction in Space with Crystalline Centre in Notes on the Reproductions).

TRU Open Learning

U10-10 Unit 10: Space

There is the same ambiguity with any transparent material, and there is also an intervening phenomenon when open-structure materials, such as fine wire, plastic, mesh, metal, and woven fibre netting, are used. I prefer to think of this phenomenon as a category of inner space. Any positive mass, pierced or removed in part, can appear as if penetrated by space. We saw this in Hepworth’s Pelagos, and it is evident in numerous sculptures by Moore. He explored the sculptural space found in nature—the hollows and curves of rock forms and caves. Spaces between trees, branches, rolling hills, can all serve the sculptor as a source for a language of spatial relations.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Cubists, Suprematists, and Constructivists explored space by working with linear and sheet material on a small scale in their studios. See for example Moholy-Nagy’s work with space and shadow in Light Source Modulator, in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–013. Picasso’s constructions in paper (now lost) and later development of materials extending from the two-dimensional surface, gave rise to his relief constructions in wood and metal. As an extension of Cubism, these pieces also advanced that philosophy and its processes into real space. Demonstrating that found and waste material may be used intuitively, they gave an exciting redirection to modern sculpture.

It is not possible to list here all the artists who have used space as an integral factor in three dimensions, as a medium, or in environmental operations, but you will find that they are diverse, cutting across schools and groups. Painters venturing into sculpture seem to be particularly attentive to the implications of space—in this respect, Degas and Matisse are as important as Picasso. Look at Endless Column and other works by Brancusi; the reliefs and The Monument to the Third International by Vladimir Tatlin Postcard Booklet TRU OL-053.; Bottle Rack and Hat Rack by Marcel Duchamp; and Development of a Bottle in Space by Umberto Boccioni, which is a particularly explicit example of the new concepts of mass-space relationships (see also his Unique Forms of Continuity in Space).

David Smith (see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL-055) and Anthony Caro (see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL-007), working principally with welded steel, created major works with strong spatial implications. Using standard metal stock, which lends itself to spatial construction, Caro has developed a spatial language with a considerable variety of nuances; he shows great virtuosity with a wide range of planal and linear forms.

James Turrell (1943–) has used light to define space inside his chosen site, Roden Crater, a hollowed out, extinct volcano. Some of his light installations are so powerful and disorienting that he has had to install hand rails to prevent falls.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-11

Rachel Whiteread’s (1963–) work consists of plaster, rubber. or cement casts of the spaces between or inside large objects. One of her large installations, House, was a full-size casting, in cement, of the interior spaces of a two-storey house. Her sculptures have a very quiet, powerful, and eerie quality to them (see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–068).

Space consciousness in the development of forms transcends stylistic boundaries and group ideologies. The Minimalists have provided many spatial references within their formal constructions. Environmental developments and site operations have been notable for extending the implications of space, in scale and form, in diverse contexts.

When we are creatively involved in space, we cannot rule out the responses of all our senses. Sight is dominant when we are active in space, but our eyes alone are not enough to fully comprehend space and its complex range of forms. To see an object in space merely confirms its existence; we should exercise all our senses! In the computer animations, I ask you to respond to the hard and soft feel of textures, and also to their warmth and coolness. We must each respond as an individual to the multi-dimensional world of seeing, knowing, and feeling.

Architectural Space The history of architecture is the evolution of the shaping of space for a variety of reasons and purposes in which function and aesthetics are combined. Different styles of architecture represent the distinctive sense of space in a given time and culture. For example, the pharaohs of ancient Egypt used the pyramid—the form with the greatest base in proportion to mass—to provide security and permanence and to enclose its underground secrets. In the mid-twentieth century, architects in Caracas, Venezuela, built an inverted pyramid, truncated so that it could be poised on a plateau rising out of the city. The inverted base projects into space to receive maximum light, thus providing a functional solution for that city’s Museum of Modern Art.

I will not elaborate on the history of space in architecture, but, rather, comment on the period at the beginning of the twentieth century when a new consciousness of space affected its practice. Before this century, space was considered to be a negative element of a building, as opposed to its positive elements—walls, floors, ceilings, and so on. The form of the building was determined by a combination of its function—a windowless castle-fortress, a many-windowed cathedral—and the materials and methods of construction. Changes in concepts brought about the innovative principles of engineering and methods of construction that made new systems of architecture possible. When architects composed in space early in the twentieth century, they were able to use new load-bearing materials and structural systems, together with novel forms of illuminations, heating, and ventilation. These innovations made possible a freer sculpting of space.

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U10-12 Unit 10: Space

Modern sculpture had shown that space was no longer a mere setting or site but a constituent element of the work. Works by Picasso and other Cubists, Constructivists, and Futurists like Boccioni changed the notions of positive and negative space and had a considerable influence on architectural thinking. In Holland, the de Stijl group, which included artists Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg, architects Gerrit Rietveld and J. J. P. Oud, and sculptor and theorist Georges Vantongerloo, were primarily concerned with problems of space and colour. The doctrine, which involved the use of ninety-degree angles (van Doesburg preferred forty-five-degree angles), and Rietveld’s smooth surfaces and active planes, resulted in such works as the Schröder house (see Postcard Booklet: TRU OL- 057) and Rietveld’s 1917 constructivist Prototype for Red/Blue Chair (1917–1918), which is now in the collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

One of the most important art institutions of the early twentieth century was the Bauhaus—“building house”—in Germany. It was an attempt to develop an academy for modern art that would stress the interrelationship of the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture. In 1919, Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius (1883–1969) introduced ideas and methods in which new concepts of space and functionalism were combined. The architect Gropius understood Cubism, as well as modern advances in engineering and standardization, so was alert to changing attitudes toward space. By 1926, when the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau, a new generation of architects was working with artistic discoveries, using new methods and materials of construction.

This was the generation of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, who drew on advances in engineering to give architectural expression to their new sense of space. The new space/form language required precise engineering to allow for the flowing interpenetration of space, for walls that were often no longer load-bearing but used as planes in space, as van der Rohe’s 1929 Barcelona Pavilion shows. Space was now the means to organize complex building concepts. The transparency of glass was a spatial device that permitted the interior and the exterior to be seen simultaneously. Glass was used to dematerialize building mass; never coloured or stained, it defined space. Planes and rectilinear forms were subtly and intimately juxtaposed and interpenetrating, in unified compositions. Frontally disposed buildings gave way to many-sidedness.

Twentieth-century space-time concepts had practical realizations in this innovative architecture, just as Cubist simultaneity and varied points of reference had achieved in the development of two- and three-dimensional expression. Once again, advances in mathematics and science influenced every aspect of culture. It is of more than passing interest to note that all great advances in geometry, mathematics, and science have synchronized with great developments in art—in the Greek Classic period, the Renaissance, and the beginning of the twentieth century.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-13

Le Corbusier said that “To take possession of space is the first gesture of the living…The first proof of existence is to occupy space…Architecture, sculpture and paintings are, by definition, dependent on space, tied down to the necessity to come to terms with space, each by its own means.”1 And like the other architects of the “new” space, he paid his respects to “the wonderfully creative flight of Cubism” (van de Ven, 1987, p. 190).2

Working with Space Although you may not have access to resources such as lasers, searchlights, spotlights, neon, dry ice, helium, meteorological balloons, and holograms, you will be surprised at the extent to which you can use and activate space with ordinary materials.

You can work either indoors or outdoors, using natural or artificial light or even a darkened space. Remember that, no matter what materials you use to demonstrate your ideas, or what structures are necessary, your subject is space.

• For spatial construction, select linear materials that pierce space, like string, yarn or plastic tape. Consider sheet materials that divide space, such as cardboard, Masonite, Plexiglas, corrugated plastic, and so on.

• For equivalents of space, or as indicators and activators of space, choose water, glass, mirrors, Plexiglas, flexible polyethylene, Mylar, and mirrors.

• Span and define space using light beams from digital or slide projectors powerful flashlights, laser blackboard pointers, LEDs, etc. You may be able to purchase dry ice to create fog from Oxygen supply companies.

• Use colour to activate space and modify distance. (You’ll find that it is itself modified by both.)

• Consider sound and interval in relation to space. • Use reflective material to contrast space, as a new and intense reality, with

illusion and sensation. • In outdoor projects, exploit natural forces, materials, and physical conditions

such as fog and mist. • If you have technical difficulties with a certain material when constructing in space,

try simple techniques, either indoors or outdoors, such as suspending, leaning, stretching, or projecting. Or try pinning and stretching string to the walls and ceiling and attaching it to the furniture or other objects to define the space they occupy.

• Consider using flexible materials: wire, mesh, netting, and fabrics of various degrees of transparency and pliancy.

1 In Le Corbusier: Modulor 2 (1948). Trans. By Peter de Francia and Anna Bostoc. Faber and Faber, 1958, Reprint, 2004 (page 25). 2 In Space in Architecture: the evolution of a new idea in the theory and history of modern movements, by Cornelis van de Ven. Published in the USA by Van Gorcum, 1987.

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U10-14 Unit 10: Space

• You will find that stretchable materials, such as rubber and elastic, can be effectively used in relation to other material.

• You can make large-scale structures of paper or thin polythene sheeting and give them form in space by filling them with hot air from an electric fan.

• Carry out small-scale projects on a workplace or bench. Even an open window or doorway can be used temporarily as the site of a construction.

• Your patio, yard, or garden may provide a suitable site. Alternatively, find your spatial site and materials in the natural environments.

Student Projects The student projects begin modestly on a small scale: mostly tabletop and “low” technology. Even the later personal developments stay comfortably within bounds of the studio. Given more time for preparation and experiment, the level of technology might have increased. Regardless of the technology used, to be given “space” as a subject is a novel situation for the students.

Geoff begins with small-scale experiments with wire, graduating to larger hanging forms made from ready-formed iron wire, which he sprays with colour and ties into a fixed spatial orientation (see illustration 2.).

Brent carries out tests of the load-bearing capacity of balloons filled with hydrogen, dropping water from an eye-dropper into small containers attached beneath the balloons. Later, he engages in a number of balloon forms in an installation and suggests a group effort for an outdoor project: three large meteorological balloons carrying the banners of Material and Form lifted off above the trees.

Adrian begins by building a house of cards but, found to be cheating by gluing them together, moves to the “hard labour” of building forms with hollow bricks.

David experiments with small wood pieces and metal tubes under tension, going on to achieve an excellent demonstration of tensegrity (tension and integrity) with a large-scale piece, using units of constructed angular cardboard forms held in a magical suspension.

Cathy explores the reflections of transparent plastic circles in a mirror-like Mylar construction. Later, she collects plastic bottles of similar size and colour (white), but varying in form. She casts solid forms by pouring plaster into the cut and taped bottles, and then arranges them on a white turntable, trying numerous variations of spatial orientations.

Lorraine experiments with hollow forms, obviously interested in the notion of inside and outside space. Her final development involves balloons trapped inside a stretchable muslin tube, which she makes rigid by applying a thin coat of plaster.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-15

Ed makes a few small maquettes for kites and then settles for a combination of flat and curved surface constructions.

Daryl makes a curving light “tree,” a tube of transparent blue plastic that he fits with a circuit of small lights that illuminate in sequence.

Oliver makes a large-scale structure of stretched cord in a corner of the workroom (see illustration 3).

Assignment 10: Space

Introduction For this final assignment, you are required to complete one of five project options.

Project Options Complete one of the following:

• Project 1: Lines to Define Space

OR

• Project 2: Planes to Define Space

OR

• Project 3: Transparent Material to Define Space

OR

• Project 4: Wave or Wind Powered Material

OR

• Project 5: Illusion and Space

OR

• Project 6: Environment Project

Documentation Some of these projects may be difficult to document using still photography. You may need to use digital video. Please feel free to propose your alternative, if you have another preferred digital format.

If you have chosen a project that calls for transparent materials, you could experiment with different lighting conditions or you should document the results of your work, as well as the planning and execution stages, in your Notebook, in simple drawings or diagrams that show the development of your ideas.

TRU Open Learning

U10-16 Unit 10: Space

Instructions Project 1: Lines to Define Space

1. Using black iron wire of 1.5-mm/1/16-inch diameter (baling wire), which is easy to bend with fingers or pliers, carry out a series of experiments in spatial form. It is important visually to make the lines as clear, and defined as possible, it can take some work to eliminate unwanted wiggles in the wire .

2. Make a range of small forms, freely, or by wrapping wire around selected forms or objects. Make your forms distinctively different from each other; e.g., rectilinear, curvilinear, regular, irregular.

3. Select two or three forms. The scale will depend on your available technology. Three-mm/1/8-inch wire is useful for medium-sized work; 6 mm/1/4-inch iron or steel is about the maximum dimension for cold bending. Make them on a larger scale and design them for a specific setting or place them in relationship to each other on a board or in a particular spot. Experiment with their placement in relation to one another; try looking from different angles as you do this. Even fully exploring the various placements of three objects in space will give many different possibilities. Can you find the exact placement that you like the best?

4. Or, you could work with using wire to define the physical space of large objects, such as furniture. You will need to wrap the wire around the object in sections so that it can be removed and reassembled as a freestanding form echoing the shape.

5. Or, you could define space by using different coloured yarn, string, or even rope, radiating from or connecting particular forms, such as furniture or trees.

Project 2: Planes to Define Space 1. Using rigid sheet-cardboard and wood will be the easiest materials to build a

spatial structure. (Use linear materials for assembly). 2. Experiment on a small scale to work out technology and space relationships. 3. Develop a construction that defines the space. Will it be free in space or will it

articulate a more enclosed space? Project 3: Transparent Material to Define Space

1. Taking a sheet of Plexiglas 3 to 6 centimetres (1/8- to 1.4-inch) thick as your basic material, cut it with a saw and glue the pieces together to construct a rectilinear 3-D space-form. If you have a heat source large enough, try making a free curvilinear form. You may use either of these forms with other material; e.g., wood strips, planes, or blocks, which can be fastened to the rigid flat surfaces of the rectilinear space-form.

2. If you have free-formed the sheet into a curvilinear structure, try relating other curvilinear volume or mass (formed wire or sheet, or even stone).

TRU Open Learning

VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-17

3. Consider colour early in the project. Do not make a merely colourful object that may diminish the reality of the space.

4. Remember that Plexiglas can be drilled, pierced, or engraved with simple marking tools—even the sharpened tang of a small file.

5. Remember also that Plexiglas will conduct light shone against its edges.

Project 4: Wind Powered Material 1. Make a wind-motivated form. Here, it is not sufficient to simply copy an

existing design. The assignment requires you to experiment with the forms of your construction i.e., its configuration scale, colour, markings, flying pattern as it moves through space etc.

2. One student made a large kite of their own design, carefully painted it and designed its tail, then photographed it flying at different heights and close up.

3. One artist attached an inexpensive movie camera to a kite to record the aerial view.

4. Remember that colour and/or sound can be an important feature of a structure in space.

5. Photograph your work as it flies or moves in space, as well as the stationary details.

Project 5: Illusion and Space 1. Using Mylar, mirrors, or any transparent or reflective material, experiment

with illusion and/or reflection.

2. Construct and relate the forms or materials in a spatial organization. Use the material in relation to a constructed form or locate it in a given interior or exterior space.

3. Or, use powerful lights or legal laser pointers to define spaces.

4. One student used a series of laser pointers and the early morning and evening mists in a field to eerily illuminate his defined spaces.

You are not required to spend a long time forming the basic material. It is more important that you develop a series of units that you can arrange in various relationships to consider and explore illusion, sensation, repetition, and reality.

Project 6: Environment Project 1. First, find a site.

2. Using natural materials-branches, for example-create one or more spatial structures that you consider appropriate to the site, for example pyramids or dome structures.

TRU Open Learning

U10-18 Unit 10: Space

3. Your structure(s) can relate to any existing natural features such as a path, pool, trees, soft earth and so on.

4. Remember that space is your principal statement. You may want to define the space further, using rope or string attached to your structure and connecting it to the natural forms around it. When working outside, consider clearing the visual field as much as you can, so that your sculptural intentions show clearly.

Notes on the Reproductions Spiral galaxies.

Courtesy: H.R. MacMillan Planetarium

Galaxies are vast expansion of stars and nebulae (clouds of interstellar gas and dust) that, in the millions, are the principal constituents of the universe. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, was once thought to be the extent of the spatial universe. Now we know that numerous star systems extend infinitely into outer space—as far as the most powerful telescopes can explore.

Smaller components among the galaxies include the solar system and other assemblages of planets, satellites, comets, and meteoroids that revolve around a central stellar body. The spatial universe also contains gravitational fields, various forms of radiation and sources of infra-red, radio, X-rays, gamma rays, and other components of the electro-magnetic spectrum.

They are millions of light years away; but in our minds they can be connected to the personal space we inhabit.

Gabo, Naum. Construction in Space with Crystalline Centre. 1938–1940.

Perspex (Plexiglas) and celluloid, 32.4 × 47 cm.

Reproduced with the permission of Nina Williams.

This work shows spatial form accentuated by the use of transparent material, which tends to dematerialize the form. The edges of the Plexiglas refract the light and, under normal circumstances, other images will be reflected on the surface. The crystalline nucleus, which gives the work its name, contrasts strongly with the dominant curves of the outer spatial shell. In 1920, Gabo and his brother Pevsner had issued the Constructivist Manifesto, which states, “To communicate the reality of life, art should be based on the two fundamental elements, space and time.” They were drawing our attention to more dynamic concepts and preparing us to work with new concepts of space.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-19

Le Corbusier. Villa Savoye. 1928–1931.

Southwest façade and courtyard detail.

Poissy, France.

© Fondation Le Corbusier.

With its elegant functionalism, Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye speaks visually and structurally, in what was then a new way. Poised and projected in space on slim columns, the strip windows that ring the upper floor make a spatially penetrated sandwich. Inside, a stepped ramp leads the visitor up through the open centre of the house to a roof garden. Corbusier professed a desire for harmony between humans and the machine age, at a time when new materials—steel, reinforced concrete, structural glass and plastics—and new engineering would combine to modify architectural space.

Ed White, EVA, Gemini 4. 1965.

Photo: James McDivitt.

Command pilot James McDivitt took this photograph of Ed White in space outside the Gemini spacecraft, engaged in what is referred to as extra-vehicular activity (EVA). It was a sensational image at the time, and it is still one of the most compelling images produced in space.

The Gemini program of the 1960s, when astronauts first floated free in the near- vacuum of space, passed a major milestone in space exploration.

Lunar Module Rising from Surface of Moon: Earthrise.

Apollo II, 1969

Photo: Michael Collins

As lunar module Apollo II rises from the moon’s surface, Earth comes into sight, luminous blue and white. The cratered moon below, its pitted crust drab and inert, now possesses a few human footprints. Astronaut Michael Collins looked across the vast distance at tiny, fragile Earth and photographed a new kind of space landscape.

The initial lunar landing was made in July 1969, when soil, rock, and mineral samples were collected, and when astronaut Armstrong, first onto the moon’s surface, said, to millions of television viewers, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

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U10-20 Unit 10: Space

Morris, Robert. Untitled. 1967.

Steel, 78.75 × 177 × 177 cm.

© ARS New York, 1991.

Morris, American Minimalist, has pointed out that simplicity of shape does not necessarily equate with simplicity of experience. In this form, with its complimentary straight and curved lines and plans, he has made a container from heavy metal mesh that reveals both the inside and outside. Substantial and transparent, the mesh allows the inside of a closed form to become the outside, and the outside to be seen as part of the inside. All the mesh parts are constructed around an open centre, so space penetrates all aspects of the volume as a structure.

Snelson, Kenneth. Easy K. 1971.

Cantilevered aluminum and stainless steel, 6.1 × 6.1 × 30.48 m.

Park Sonsbeek Centre, Arnhem, Holland

Captivated with the geometry of structure and constructive techniques, Snelson experimented with the forces of tension and compression held in equilibrium in space. These two mechanical forces correspond to the muscles and bones of the human body. The tension members are the muscles—the wire cables in Easy K— whereas the compression members are the bones-or the tubes in this work. Buckminster Fuller credited Snelson with the invention of a new structural principle: tensegrity, a combination of the words “tension” and “integrity.” Rigid rods and tubes pierce space; wire cables not only stretch across space, but also complete the structured form in space—a synthesis of mathematics and aesthetics.

Piene, Otto. Olympic Rainbow. 1972.

Polythene tubes and webbing, 1 × 610 × 4 m.

Munich, Germany.

Piene is an exponent of “sky-art.” Using many different media, including balloons, kites, performances, and events, he always involves light and space. He has referred to space as “what you see through the Earth’s atmosphere lit by the sun.” He has also commented that space is a realm formerly reserved for religions—sky and space have been the “home” of the gods in many faiths. In his use of light and air, Piene’s art attempts to fuse the scientific with the visionary.

This multicoloured helium-inflated sculpture was installed for the closing ceremony of the 1972 Olympics in Munich. It comprised five parallel polythene tubes, each measuring one metre/3.3 feet in diameter, connected by transparent synthetic webbing. Each tube was in one of the five colours of the Games of the XX Olympiad. When inflated, the sculpture formed an arch 610 metres/2,000 feet long and approximately four metres/thirteen feet wide. At night, it was lit by forty programmed ground lights equipped with coloured gels.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-21

Morino, Sachiko. An Air Sent from Switzerland. 1977.

Cotton rope, 36.9 × 34.9 × 27.9 cm.

Space is the content of this amusing package. I hope the clear mountain air survived the journey, enclosed in the pressurized aircraft!

Erickson, Arthur. Graham House. Cedar, glass. Circa 1962–1964.

West Vancouver, BC.

Canadian architect Erickson designed this small but spacious house for a Vancouver artist. Built overlooking the ocean, it had a central spatial core; light and space penetrated the whole building. It was reminiscent of the Villa Savoye, but the extensive glazing made it possible to see space through, as well as above and (because of its raised site) below. The house seemed to project out of the almost encircled space of the wooded hillside platform—and also to draw space into it.

Oppenheim, Dennis. Formula Compound. Circa 1980s.

Activated July 1982.

Battery Park, New York, NY.

Oppenheim is known for large-scale machines works, land art and dynamic ideas. In Formula Compound, one of the Firework series of the early 1980s, he celebrated with the temporary release of convulsive pyrotechnic energy, like a launch pad gone mad. For half an hour, a single fuse triggered a chain reaction of light forms and projectiles tracing and overlapping in space. Once ignited, the piece performed automatically, making space visible with a continuous flow of space writing.

Two Can Play. 1983.

Richard Deacon.

Galvanized steel, 183 × 365.8 × 183 cm.

The Saatchi Collection, London, England.

A significant number of works by British sculptor Deacon are constructed in a spatial idiom. He can be uncompromising in his construction and use of material, revealing his process and methods. There is an easy intimacy and no fuss about the work, but once you start responding to it, it becomes quite complex, managing to refer to many things, physical and sensual, and somehow both geometric and organic in association. In the end, the sculpture is a balance of the metaphorical and the physical-like a new machine for digesting space. (See Deacon’s work with space in For those who have ears #2 in the Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–064.)

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U10-22 Unit 10: Space

Whiteread, Rachel. House. 1993. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–068)

Cement. (Now demolished).

London, England.

House was made from the interior casts of a terrace house that was due to be demolished. The recessed spaces of the empty fireplaces, now show as blocks protruding from the wall, to the right of the photograph. Whiteread‘s work in focusing on the spaces between objects in effect reverses object and space. The empty space now becomes a positive object and the actual object is only present in the form of the cast. This makes the overlooked “empty” space both visible and unsettling.

Switch shows the process in a simpler form. Everything looks familiar but is obviously displaced from everyday reality. In practical terms, a mould has been made of the exterior of the switch, and then a cast made from plaster has been made in the mould.

Kapoor, Anish. Cloud Gate. 2004–2006. (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–065)

Steel plate

Chicago, IL.

Cloud Gate occupies a prominent plaza in Chicago and represents the current summation of Kapoor’s work with space and reflection. The idea of the sculpture came from looking at forms taken by the metal mercury. Cloud Gate’s highly polished curved forms, reflects, and bends a vast space. Sky, clouds, and surrounding buildings are all reflected and become part of the sculpture. The sculpture changes as the weather and time change. Kapoor’s work has used the effects of scale, form, and different coloured surface treatments to create ambiguous spaces that develop themes of immateriality and spirituality.

Goldsworthy, Andy. Knotweed Stalks. 1988 (Postcard Booklet: TRU OL–066).

Derwent Water, Cumbria, England.

Goldsworthy’s piece, also known as Early Morning Calm, and which we saw in Unit 9, works with the careful placing of the knotweed stalks. These set up spatial rhythms above the water in a loose hexagonal shape. The stalks are then reflected in the water to create a complete and balanced circular form which seems to encompass sky, space, mist, light, and water.

Recommended Resources Critchlow, Keith. Order in Space. New York: Viking, 1978. Print.

Well-illustrated, with diagrams of geometric order in space from the simplest functions and relationships to the most complex.

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VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-23

Ewing, William, A. Inside Information, Imaging the Human Body. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996. Print.

Highly coloured and detailed photographs of the inside spaces of the human body. Many structures show striking similarity with external forms.

Giedion, Siegfried, Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition. 5th ed., rev. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. Print.

Possibly the first and perhaps the best book about the modern movement in architecture and its relationship to developments in art; a classic that rewards study.

Purce, Jill. The Mystic Spiral: Journey of the Soul. London: Thames and Hudson. 1997/2003. Print.

Shows the recurring presence of the spiral, in both the art, cosmology, and the conception of space of a range of different cultures. The spiral also occurs in natural phenomena such as the shape of some galaxies, vortices, the spiral of plant’s leaves, and the hair on the crown of the human head.

Senechal, Marjorie, and Fleek, George, Eds. Shaping Space (A Polyhedral Approach). Cambridge, MA: Birkhauser Boston, 1988. Print.

A stimulating, practical book that deals with shaping and forming polyhedra, as well as with space perception, form, and function.

Additional Resources Internet It will be worth your time to explore images of the developments of three contemporary artists who are working with space in very powerful and very different ways:

You will find a good range of range of images of James Turrell’s work inside and with the Roden Crater by searching Google Images. You can also find a series of interviews with the artist by doing an Internet search for the “Roden Crater Project – A Perspective.”

Images of Rachel Whiteread’s powerful work, which involves casting the space between, or inside forms, can be found in Google Images, or on the Artcyclopedia and Artangel websites. Take time to view some images of her House sculptures.

Anish Kapoor’s work uses large sculptural forms embedded with coloured particles or highly reflective surfaces to provide viewers with new perceptions of space.

TRU Open Learning

U10-24 Unit 10: Space

List of Illustrations 1. Forms and order in space. Storyboards prepared for computer animations in

Unit 10 by Tom Hudson.

2. Preliminary studies for forms in space. Notebook drawings by Geoffrey Topham.

3. Space installation. Notebook drawing by Oliver Kuys.

4. Bamboo poles in space. Planning drawing for installation by Oliver Kuys.

5. Relationship of two and three squares at right-angled contact. Analytical drawing for plane structures in wood, metal and so on by Oliver Kuys.

TRU Open Learning

VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-25

TRU Open Learning

U10-26 Unit 10: Space

TRU Open Learning

VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-27

TRU Open Learning

U10-28 Unit 10: Space

TRU Open Learning

VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-29

TRU Open Learning

U10-30 Unit 10: Space

TRU Open Learning

VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-31

TRU Open Learning

U10-32 Unit 10: Space

TRU Open Learning

VISA 1301: Material and Form U10-33

TRU Open Learning

U10-34 Unit 10: Space

TRU Open Learning