ARTISTS TALKING

# 44 [26 July 2010]

Invitation to my Residency Show this wednesday in South Ken in London:

Opening 

Wednesday 28 July
6.30 – 8.30pm
Artists’ talks – 7pm 

Exhibition continues

29 July – 20 August
Wednesday to Friday (or by appointment)
11am – 4.30pm 

Royal British Society of Sculptors
108 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3RA

This is an open invitation to anyone who has been following my blog or would like to come along.

I've been busy getting ready for this. The catalogue in particular has been a little bit painful and lots of hard work, but hopefully it will be worth it.
Tomorrow I go in to help install the pieces. I have made 2 new plinths especially for the 2 enzyme related pieces as I wand to attach the sculptures straight to the plinths and get rid of their bases. So I'm excited to see how they look.

I also haven't really seen the 3rd piece finished except in photos as I didn't quite finish the patina stage when I returned to Italy. It is all still a little nerve racking, and hopefully I'll be happy after tomorrow.

I guess I also need to finish and wrap up this blog at some stage, which would be sad. Maybe I can do another post show posting, so this doesn't have to be the last one...

Talk soon, and maybe see you on Wednesday.

# 43 [30 June 2010]

London London London!  And taking stock

The shock of returning from the residency is beginning to wear off. It has been so hectic I can't believe a month has already passed since I got back. Initially I found it hard adjusting back to the complexity of my life back home. One particular day when I’d forgotten my oyster card made me want to return to my straight forward life in Pietrasanta.

I’ve been thinking about what I’ve learnt from my residency, and a very strong thing is about working method and how to create the climate for me to do great work. In Pietrasanta there is such a strong work ethic. I’m sure this stems from the marble carving tradition and if its going to take 6 months to carve a work, you want to keep putting the hours in. But it really normalises the idea of doing an 8 – 10 hour day, 5 or 6 days a week. I don’t think you are creative for every hour of that, but by putting in those studio hours, you can in some ways take your time to do the work well and push it to its limit.

Since being back in London I had a great chat with a musician/composer friend, and he was advocating that you just need to get the work done. He thought anyone could start something, but not many people could finish. I’m not entirely sure I agree with this, as I used to have that fear of the blank page and I often procrastinate before starting a piece. But I can see what he meant, the studios of many artists, and apparently the computers of many composers, are littered with unfinished work. Once you start something, you need to push it through to completion.

What was great about my residency was that I was working long hours and under pressure which I often do when I am up against a deadline. But the great thing was that I also had freedom if I wanted to experiment, take a tangent or just wait and look at the work some more. I need to recreate these conditions on an ongoing basis. I often worry that only obsessive compulsive people make great artists, which I don’t think I am. But I do love it when I get a little bit lost in my work. Again the musician  thought that too many composers did this, and that you could keep changing and rechanging a work, and not realise when its finished.

I think this is an interesting duality, either loosing steam on a piece for whatever reasons (often other pressures and leaving it too long) or over working a piece till it looses its magic. Hmmm, knowing when to finish is an art in itself.

This reminded me of Helaine in her catalogue talking about the theory that you could (or even should) complete a work in a single sitting. In that way, the purity of a single thought or way of looking at your subject matter would come through.

Before leaving Pietrasanta I was fairly clear about the sort of work I wanted to be doing for the next 6 – 12 months at least. I decided that I’d learnt so much from each of the 3 pieces I did in Italy, that I wanted to continue working on the same scale, in a limited number of materials and try to complete at least one new piece a month. This was partly inspired by looking at Yves Dana’s catalogue of work, and in the 80s he was doing 13 – 15 works a year. The obvious way to fund this is that I need to start selling the work, and to look for a gallery. In some ways the scale of work and the style would lend itself to this.

But since I’ve been back in London, I’ve started to wonder whether I want to start heading down that particular route, and whether it will limit my options in future. I feel like I’m trying to create works that really say something, but I feel uncomfortable with the idea of them being thought of as luxury decorative pieces to complete a wealthy lifestyle. However, the only sales I have done I haven’t felt like this. In fact, it was been an amazing process knowing that (my handful of) clients are so taken by my work that they want to live with the pieces permanently in their homes. 

So, dilemmas dilemmas.

# 42 [28 April 2010]

2 days left!

All a bit exhausted and emotional... Took my mother and son to the airport today, and when I got back to the flat this evening it seemed so wrong that they won't be back. I've been terribly selfish a lot of the time and taken total advantage of my mothers nurturing nature, but I've enjoyed our 3 months living our simple lifestyle together. I went to put radio4 on the iplayer and had no-one to ask what to put on. And all the other residents of the apartments say it won't be the same without my 2 1/2-year-olds cheery 'hello' as he run's around the courtyard and garden.

Boy, does it take a long time to get something cast in bronze! I finished my enlargement in clay before easter, and we've been rushing it through all the stages, but it very nearly wasn't done in time this week:

Wed 31st March - finished the clay

Thursd 1st april - Lorenzo formatory, drives my piece to his studio, and does the first coat of rubber

Fri 2nd april - second coat rubber

Tuesday 6th - Plaster jacket

Wed 7th - long story day missed

Thursd 8th - opened, cleaned, taken to foundry

Friday 9th - cleaned again, prepared and cast in wax

Monday 12th - finished casting in wax, opened up hollow and started touching up inside

Tues 13 & Wed 14 - me touching up wax and sculpting inside of work

Thursday 15 - first thing in morning - we put the beak of the bird back on, and put wax in queue to wait for its sprues to be done. Alfredo did the sprues in the afternoon

Friday 16th April - in the morning I touch up the wax post sprues going on (the metal bars that were used to hold it in place had left holes that needed filling) Then it was waiting in the queue for the ceramic shell to be done.

Sometime the next week, I think on the tuesday, I started getting worried and talked to Raymondo about whether it will be done so that I can touch up the metal before I go, not for the first time, but I think he then talked to someone, so it jumped the queue

Wednesday 21st April - the difficult hollows that are virtually enclosed have ceramic added first, then the wax is touched up again, and the red pins are added which will be where the air and bronze escapes during the pour

Thursd 22nd - ceramic shell layers start, and it dries in the cupboard between layers.

Sat 24th, I have a chat with Nicola about whether it will be finished in time, we go look at in the cupboard still drying, with more layers on. He says he's not sure if it will be ready to be poured by wednesday or not (eek)

Monday 26th - I pop into the 'fusione' room, and my pieces are sitting there, looking like they are done in the ceramic. I ask Enzo when they will be poured: "not sure, maybe friday" was the response I got. *gulp* - why can't they be done sooner, I ask, explaining about the fact that I'm leaving and want to finish and patina them before I leave. And also that I wanted to show it on thursday evening when I have my little "thankyou, leaving party and show of my work" Festa.

They were going to wait for other ceramic shells to be ready too, as it will be poured 'hot' and normally they do a whole crucible of small ceramic shells at once. I start feeling very guilty as I realise how out of the ordinary and annyoing it would be if they do mine straight away. But I do mention that Ivan had rushed the ceramic shells through on their own for me... 

I find it very hard to understand Enzo. He wears ear plugs so he tends to talk really softly (worried about shouting maybe?) and the radio's on loud, so I wasn't quite sure what he'd said. I saw Nicola as I headed upstairs and explained situation, very gratefully asking if anything could be done.

Tuesday 27th - my shell is fired and wax melted out

Wed 28th (Today!) - it was poured just before lunch, chipped out and sand blasted by 5pm

tomorrow I do the chasing!

# 41 [20 April 2010]

Yves Dana - and my catalogue reading

I know I've mentioned him before, but today in my 'pausa cataloga' (not sure if that is good italian) I read a beautiful book of his sculptures from cover to cover. It felt like falling in love, so exciting and enjoyable, I just wanted to suck it all up...

So, at least once a day I try to spend somewhere between 15 and 30 mins looking or reading the catalogues in the foundry office (today I just got sucked in and it was an hour, oops). I started this about a week ago, but should have done it when I arrived as there are so many I don't have a hope of getting through them all before I leave. Its nice as it has the added benefit of getting to know the folks in the office better.

The last few days I've been reading Helaine's 'mythology' catalogue which is amazing and really useful. Yesterday I read how she was influenced by a writer to who said it should be possible to create a work in a sitting, to work intensely on her models till they were done, and then do very little changes in the process of translation and enlargement. 

This was great and timely advice, as I'm currently working on my third piece, and having tried to work it out in a few small maquettes (I think I was working too small and it didn't really help) I decided to launch into the piece as I am creating a surface related to a group of figures in the geometry of a pyruvate molecule. I initially thought I was maybe missing something by working too fast, and nearly getting it in the first sitting. But following that reading, I've decided to try to get it as fast as possible so I don't go astray or lose it.

Reading Dana today was also useful. His response to his materials - he initially worked in iron, then moved to stone, now also works in plaster for casting in bronze - he is inspired and challenged by the hard materials. I was also intersted that he works on his pieces directly without doing maquettes. 

Another thing I noticed was how prolific he was at the start of his career when he was doing his iron works - around 14 works a year, which is more than 1 a month. This has given me the resolve that when I return I really need to set myself a similar aim for the next year. I think I need to get lots of works done as you learn so much from each one. And the size I've been working now is fine - 40 - 80cm or so... large enough to challenge but small enough to get done and push to its limit and fully resolve in the timeframe. 

So, feeling in a transition phase but in a good way - sucking up the last of what I can from Pietrasanta, whilst beginning to look to the new chapter that will open when I get home.

Meanwhile the doom of the ash cloud seems to be chiming with the work I'm developing!

# 40 [19 April 2010]

Pietrasanta's at last getting warmer - and opening up like a flower...

And with the warm sunny weather its is filling up, foreign artists are arriving, and the ones that are here all year, seem to have come out of hibernation in their studios.

Friday night's drink in the piazza after work, turned into 8 of us going for a nice dinner, and ended up with 4 of us drinking take away limoncellos or cafes (in expresso size polystyrene cups with lids!) on the steps of the duomo, with one of my party playing the piano accordion. I felt like I was in a film...

Nearing the end

But I only have 2 weeks left, so I feel like I need to make the most of every opportunity and experience. Part of me is also now looking forward to being home, in my own place with my family, and to starting a new creative phase in my own studio. 

But I'm also very busy trying to finish my 3rd piece. Today I started in earnest putting the figures into a framework. On Helaines suggestion I had worked on some small maquettes, but in the end decided that the piece isn't that big, and the structure is so dependant on its interaction with the molecular figures that I just had to launch in to the piece and work it out in that.

I've been using pastellos of the hard brown wax. I love making the pastello, and I'm getting quite good and quick at it. I dip my hands in a bit of oil, then pour a laddel of molten brown wax into the basin of cold water. I then start needing the wax together first in the water then soon out of it. There is something so sensual and pleasing of needing the warm wax in my hands.

I've had a bit of help from Angelo to construct a framework, but mostly I've done it on my own, as the foundry was very busy, with at least 3 artist in either inspecting work, or working on things, and Angelo was running from one to the other with his usual calm - however now that I know him a bit, I could tell that under the calm exterior he was a little hassled by all the different directions he was being pulled in.

I'm excited by the piece, and was gutted when I realised it was already 12 and lunch break. Anyway, back at the flat for a quick lunch, then I can continue with the piece. I'm trying to work intuitively but whilst keeping in mind the ideas and feelings I'm hoping to express.

My mother and son are just back in now, so I'll stop here.

# 39 [13 April 2010]

Casting in wax continued:

So, last night in my blog I had got to the point where the mould had been closed, and Mauro had filled a pan of hot molten wax.

He and Carlo then poured the big saucepan of wax into the closed mould, and then the magic of 'how long to leave it' took place. 

Some of the techniques of casting are fairly easy to learn, most are possible to learn but take a while and will need practice, but there are other techniques that seem like the dark arts and continue to be a mystery to me. The trick of how long to leave the wax in the mould so you get the right thickness seems just one of these.

They know the mould, they know what the weather is like, they know how hot the wax was when it went in, and they do this thing of scooping off the skin from the top of the wax look at the thickness of the walls as it develops.

After a few short minutes, its ready, and the wax gets poured out back into the same pan. Then its filled with cold water to be left for an hour or so to cool and harden fully.

In the meantime, I cast the 'beak' bit of my piece which had been moulded separately. It was a lot smaller, but I did it all so much faster, as I now knew how, and was proud that I barely had to ask Mauro much advice.

It was about an hour later when that was done, so we then opened the main bit of the sculpture - it was like being a small child opening a christmas present... and great to see my piece in the lovely dark black wax.

# 38 [12 April 2010]

Only 3 weeks to go!

Slight panic and a desire to spend 24 hours a day in the foundry have set in, as I realise that I only have 3 more weeks till the end of my residency.

However, I think it will be ok, although it is hard to tell how long something will take when you've never done it before.

I've been a bit quiet on the blog in the last week and a half as I had a little break for the easter weekend, then had a busy week last week, with a visit from the representative of the foundation funding me, as well as my husband.

However, on the work front, I've finished the mould of my clay sculpture and I've spent the last 2 days in the foundry casting it, so here are details of the process and some shots.

Casting in Wax:

I started casting on friday but having spent some time with Angelo learning how to make modeling wax, I only got as far as cleaning out my mold and preparing it before it was lunch time. 

I cleaned it with a small metal tool, and the compressed air. Then to prepare it, I gave it:

- a layer of oil on the rubber (with a brush)

- a layer of grease on the plaster (only the bits that will come together, not the back)

After lunch I started layering up the wax. I took a small saucepan of the black 'painting wax' and heated it further on the gas rink, but without letting it boil.

Then I started painting it into the mould. It was actually harder than I thought it would be. It was important to go straight from the pan to the mould with good hot wax, and dabbing quickly a thin layer of wax. I had to reheat the wax every 5 minutes to keep it very runny.When I had a full coat of think, I then went over the whole surface again a bit more thickly to ensure there were no bits where the white of the mold showed through the thin wax.

Then a third layer was added of swirls to key the surface well - the trick was to make the wax look a bit cloudy/opaque/purple.

I then needed to reinforce the peaks inside the mould. If you don't do this then these bit would end up with thinner wax, and then might not come out in the bronze.

To do this, I needed to prepare the 'pastello' - a warm soft brown wax that can be used almost like clay, but becomes very had when cooled. I had already learnt to do this before. I poured a ladle of the molten brown wax into a bowl of cold water, then with a bit of oil on my hands I needed the wax into a ball, quickly taking it out of the bowl, and needing it throughly so that it is all soft and mouldable.

Slowly I added spines to all the bits of the mould that created ridges, and small blobs on any little points.

The mould was then ready to be closed. They do this with neat little u-shaped bits of metal that you hammer on to the plaster edges to hold it together. 

Mauro then lifted the mould using the gantry crane, and rested it on a low support, propping it to ensure the hole in the base was level.

I again made some more 'pastello' and made a 5 cm wall round the top, and a spout to make it easier for them to empty it.

It was then ready to have the wax poured in, but as I am out of space and its now late, I will continue this in another post tomorrow.

Weather

On friday when I was doing all the above (up until closing the mould), it was boiling in the casting wax room - it was 26.8°C! On saturday I got my flip-flops out for the first time, and it was lovely sitting in the main square having lunch - it felt like english summer.

However, Sunday morning we were woken to the loudest thunder I've ever heard, that went on for about 20 minutes, with a huge downpour and wind.

It cleared up later and was even sunny, but I've got back into my thermals as it is really quite chilly again!

# 37 [30 March 2010]

Very nearly finished...
(continued from previous post)

I worked well yesterday afternoon and this morning, and in particular on the wing like side of the piece. I ended up sculpting the striations almost individually, as there were such complex curves and forms, that it worked better that way, than using a tool with grooves in it. I realised I'd lost a lot of the form, not just that the texture of the surface hid the form, but that the forms were more complex than what I had.

Around 10 today I heard a car horn beep, and opened the gate to Helaine accompanied by Salvatore (her assistant here in Pietrasanta, a lovely Italian sculptor). I think as the sun had come out, and I was pleased to see them I was smiling, but Helaine commented on it and when she saw the piece she went 'ah yes, you've got it...' and could understand why I was smiling. 

We had a quick chat about it, and then she mentioned that yesterday Tom was surprised by how much time she was giving me. She said that she wouldn't if she didn't think I'd listen to her and take it in. She also added that she knows I won't always follow her advice exactly. But I am really learning from her, and I realise how lucky I am.

Anyway, better run back to Marcello's to put the final touches and talk to the 'formatore' (mould-maker) Lorenzo.

# 36 [30 March 2010]

Its taken longer than I'd thought, but I'm nearly finished...

I've nearly finished my clay piece, probably just this afternoon and I'll have finished sculpting it in clay. I'm hoping the mould maker Lorenzo will come by this afternoon so we can discuss making the mould, then it will need to go to be cast in wax, at which point I think I may have some work to do on the inside of the piece...

It is very exciting and a bit of a relief that the end is in sight. On thursday I invited Nigel down to have a look at it - and he commented on whether I wanted to get the changes in rhythm and texture that there were on the model. We talked about how to get the texture of the striations - and he suggested that I could make a tool.

On friday I did a lot of experiments, filling notches in my 'hollowing/carving' tool, carving grooves into a piece of wood, and one end of my large wooden tool. At times it was going well, and it enabled me to get the texture of the piece, but at other times I was being a bit frustrated.

Yesterday (monday) morning I was a little expectant as I knew that Helaine was back and she hadn't seen the piece since the friday before last, when I'd only done about a day of building up the clay. I was looking forward to her input, I was interested to know whether she thought I should move away more from the model, or keep using it as my point of reference. And I was a little nervous to know what she thought about it

She arrived mid-morning with a visitor - Tom Flynn - who she described as an important critic. Straight away my blood pressure went up a few bars, but I tried to keep calm to get the most out of the opportunity of 2 sets of eyes looking at it.

The overall judgement was the the form and shape was working very well, but that in places the surface texture was letting the piece down - in particular in the area that I had been working on the most! Tom said some really interesting and useful comments - my model had an amazing amount of tension and energy, which would be good to translate through to the clay piece. I think he really liked the model and they both agreed that I should try to get it cast into bronze as well.

Helaine also mentioned that the editing and changes that I'd done relative to the model were working well. We talked a bit about how to get the texture and the uneven striations, and she told me that in the past she had used metal combs to good effect (I had shown her my attempts at tools).

When they were leaving Helaine asked if I was still doing the life class drawing and expressed an interest in seeing my drawings. As I had my sketchbook there, I offered to show them both, and as Tom was keen to see them too, I got it out with a bit of trepidation - I was suddenly worried about what failed embarrasing experiments I'd end up showing them. But they both mmm-ed and ah-ed appreicatively. Tom said it was great to see someone drawing and bemoaned the fact that so few art students are drawing.

It was also interesting to see how the drawings had evolved over the 6 or so weeks, and their relationship with the work I was doing. In the later ones I've been trying to draw the curves and structures of the figures, I'm sure influenced by finding forms and curves that are striated in my piece.

It all went well, and Tom seemed very interesting and easy going, but I still felt like I'd had at least 5 expressos after they left!

Yesterday evening I googled him, and found a wonderful catalogue of Almuth's work which he had written the text to, which I read cover to cover.

http://www.tomflynn.co.uk/

http://www.tomflynn.co.uk/AlmuthTebbenhoffCatalogue.pdf

(Lunch now ready so I will continue this later)

# 35 [27 March 2010]

7.20 am Saturday Morning: Gutting!

So, I decided to go into the foundry today to continue with some work I'd been doing before I started doing my enlargement at Marcello and Roberta's studio. Given it was only half a day and I'd have to get back into something I hadn't touched since tuesday before last, I decided to try to get a full 5 hours in before the foundry shut at 12.

Last night I packed myself a little breakfast of biscotti with nuttella instead of having my usual porridge, and I thought I'd supplement it with a strong 'cafe' from the wax room.

As I was cycling there through a very quiet Pietrasanta, I suddenly had a worry as to whether they would be open. I hope there isn't another strike I don't know about. Or would it be quiet as it is nearly the end of the month. At the end of February there were only a handful of people there on the saturday as the rest had already done their maximum number of hours for the month. But that time the 1st was the monday, Its not the 1st till Thursday.

But yes, as I approached the foundry there were about 2 cars in the carpark and only a single vespa, and most of the foundry was in darkness, including both the 'officina piccola' - where my 1st bronze is nearly finished - and all 3 of the wax rooms. I still walked all the way up to the wax rooms, just to double check I couldn't get in... then on my way down again saw Enzo from the 'Fusione' department, who confirmed that hardly anyone was in as they'd all done their hours already. He said normally if people are going to come in, they'd be in by 7, but some might come at 8.

So, here I am back at the flat, with a mug of earl grey sitting on the terrace on a slightly chilly grey morning! I'm going to go back a bit after 8 and hopefully someone from the office will be there to let me in to the wax room. Or if not, I might spend the morning in the office looking through the catalogues and books on the artists they work with. At Marcellos I discovered that he has some amazing books, including Mythologies about Helaine's work, and a survey of Dana's work between '82 and the late 90s I think.

So, before I go back, I will pick out some of the shots of the ceramic shell process I took a few weeks ago and add them to this post.