Sunday 26 July 2015

Starting new pieces

It's always daunting but at the same time, exhilarating, starting a new body of work as I'm sure every Artist and Maker knows...

Last week I started to play with folding new forms from sheet metal, aiming to make wall pieces entirely from metal rather than mounted on wood. 

I cut this oval shape from a copper sheet that I'd first created a verdigris patina surface on.  By scoring a 'v' line in the metal, I was able to fold the shape.  This week I'll be making accompanying forms to join to this one, in contrasting metals.

Off to a good start, watch this space... 

Friday 17 July 2015

Crafts Council Hothouse 5 - final workshop!

I spent yesterday with 'Hothouse 5', a group of emerging Makers who've been working over the last 6 months with the Crafts Council to establish an excellent grounding in both the creative and business aspects of making a living from their Craft.   On this, their last day of training, it was really clear what a significant change the programme had made, predominantly in confidence, and in the ability to articulate really clearly what they're trying to achieve over the next three years of launching their career.


 The group each presented their creative business for 10 minutes, followed by peer feedback from the group, alongside Katia Stewart, talent development manager at the Crafts Council, myself, and Karin Jordan, who runs postgraduate entrepreneurship courses at our venue, Plymouth College of Art.

I left Plymouth feeling energised, despite my early drive over from Bristol in the morning!

Monday 6 July 2015

The attraction of metal

                                         


                                                      
THE ATTRACTION OF METAL  


With metal and metallic colours being incresingly popular in interiors, I've been thinking about why I have become so passionate about it as a material.  



Image from, Spruce Furn

When I was studying, I experimented with different materials; ceramics, cast resin and wood, but it was metal that seemed to suit the way I liked to make; I could put a piece I was working on down, for a day, a week, a month, then come back to it.  Apart from the colour of the surface changing as it oxidised with the air, the metal remained unchanged, ever ready for me to pick up and keep working on it. 

In contrast, it's how metal changes over long periods of time in outdoor contexts that fascinates me; a rusty corrugated iron shed, a verdigris covered bronze sculpture, an oxidised lead roof.... 




I took these photos in Berkeley, California, and in Denmark


Our mastery of the earth's natural resources teeters in delicate balance with nature who takes them back through their exposure to air and rainwater; a play between the preservation and decay of metal.

Blacksmith, Image from Jayperoni

Metal is commonly a functional material, used to create tools, electric circuit boards, strong architectural structures, amongst millions of other applications.  Some metals are hard like steel, and some are soft, like lead.   By varying the quantities of each metal in metal alloys, we create new metals with properties designed to fulfil particular functions, for example super stength, flexibility and reflectivity.  This is true in large scale industry, but also when making in metal by hand.


Image from freepatterns

What I love most about metal is the potential to use its properties; including colour, which can be manipulated with chemicals and heat, and texture, which can be created through engraving and acid-etching, to create images in its surface.


Metal wall pieces



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Rebecca Gouldson