ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [2 November 2009]

Introducing the Bronze Casting Residency:

So, 2 weeks ago exactly I was facing a selection panel of eminent Sculptors and funders presenting my candidacy for this residency, part of which was a plan to set up a residency blog to capture my experiences and the knowledge I will gain. The next day I got the phone call telling me they had chosen me - I had to make the lovely Lisa at the RBS repeat herself just to make sure I ‘had’ not ‘hadn’t’ been selected!

The next few hours were a rollercoaster of emotions from elation to worry and guilt as to how we were actually going to organise this: the main issue being my darling child who is not quite 2.

I am now settling into the job of organising the various elements of preparation for the residency between the other commitments I currently have and my broad categories are:
- Project (more of this later, but will involve enzymes so I need to find an enzymologist to collaborate with)
- Childcare (where, how, who…)
- Blog
- Italian (will be essential as the artigiani in the foundry speak little english)
- Going Admin (flights, accommodation etc)
- Being away Admin (like sub-letting studio, teaching commitments…)

This first blog post is a bit rushed as fitted in during a nap time, so to finish I will just add a bit more information about the Residency (currently I don’t know all that much more than was on the application form so this is mostly paraphrased and copy/pasted from that).

The residency is offered through the RBS (Royal British Society of Sculptors) and is only open to RBS members. I’m a member as I was awarded a Bursary by the RBS last year.

The aim is to enable a professional sculptor without previous experience of working in bronze to learn the technical aspects of the casting process, thus expanding their skills and developing their practice. The residency offers the successful candidate the opportunity to work alongside the artisans of the renowned Fonderia Artistica Mariani, developing an understanding of the lost wax process, from the creation of their own models in clay and wax to the finishing stages with chisel and patina.

This is a fully supported residency for three months from February 2010.
It includes:
•    2 return trips to and from Pietrasanta (from anywhere within Europe).
•    Apartment rent, including utilities but not phone.
•    Studio rent.
•    Stipend of 800 euro per month for living expenses.
•    Introduction to techniques of enlargement in clay, plaster casting, mould making and bronze casting.
•    Casting of 2 small pieces produced during the residency and the cost of theircrating, packing and shipping of the said sculptures and models.
•    Accompanied visits to other foundries & studios.

So... follow this blog over the next 6 months to see it all fit into place

# 2 [10 November 2009]

My Application for the residency:

As not much is happening yet on the residency, I’m posting the images and text I sent in as part of my application for the residency. Here are the three main questions from the application form along with my responses:

Please describe your experience of modelling.
I discovered and fell in love with clay when I was 11, as a result this medium feels like safe ‘home’ for expressing form and ideas. Today I work across a variety of modelling materials, including modelling wax, clay, plaster and even experimenting with expanding foam for working on a large scale.

Please give a brief outline of what you hope to achieve during the three month residency and explain why it could only be realised in Pietrasanta.
I anticipate immersing myself totally in what sounds like an amazing sculpture focused town. I am interested in the effect on my work to be in a different critical context. I suspect that the strong carving tradition and skilled craftsmen coupled with a variety of international contemporary practitioners would provide different feedback to what we are used to in London with its strong focus on concept and ideas. Through 3 months cut off from the usual background distractions of developing my career and the responsibilities of personal life, I would be hoping for a ‘quantum leap’ in my practice. At the very least I would be looking to return from Italy with a new set of sculpture techniques and news ways of seeing my work.

Do you have a project in mind that you’d like to pursue during the
residency? If so, please describe it.
During the residency I would like to focus on 2 areas:
1. Experimenting with combining cast bronze with constructed bronze elements
This relates to work I have been doing using constructed geometric forms in copper and brass combined with cast figures and forms. I would be interested in seeing how best the lost wax techniques could be exploited, changed or played with to produce news ways for me to sculpt.
2. Exploring surface texture and colour and how this relates to form
I have been experimenting using tempera paint on textured plaster surfaces, and I’m beginning to understand some of the effects of colour and texture on perceptions of form, and how this works sculpturally. I would like to translate this work over into bronze and patinas. I had tried learning about different chemical patinas in the past, but was limited as I was trying to patina resin bronze, which is a very poor substitute for bronze.

The 5 images are those submitted with my application and are of recent work.

# 3 [10 November 2009]

Where does the time fly to? I can’t believe it is already eight day’s since the first post here. The last week has been a bit frustrating as nothing seems to be moving that fast, and very few decisions have been made, but I’m beginning to get a picture of where I’m going and sorting out what I’m going to do. Lots of questions still hang over how I’m going to arrange childcare and seeing my son, but the good news is the pictures and layout of the flat I’ll have in Italy look great and I can imagine sharing it with my mother and my son for some of the residency without it being too hectic. I’ve also had an email with lots of information from the main contact in Italy which was great.

Meanwhile life continues in London. Today I spent the morning teaching at Hampstead School of Art, then I delivered a sculpture I had sold to a friend. It was interesting seeing the work installed in a domestic setting. I quite like the feeling of sending my pieces off into the world to have their own journeys.

This afternoon was earmarked for catching up on stuff on the computer, but I’m running out of time again. I feel like I haven’t done any applications for other opportunities since I was shortlisted for the residency, but I really should as I won’t be doing any of that for 3 months in Italy. I’ll need to have some other things to have lined up for next year when I’m back, and I feel like I need to keep the momentum up. It seems like I’ll need to spend a lot of my ‘work time’ (when I have childcare) at home on the computer this week rather than in the studio where I’d rather be. But at least I’m sleeping better now – last week I had a few nights when I couldn’t get to sleep as I had so many things rattling round my brain. I would then be tired during the day and not get as much done as I needed to, so then had more to worry about at night!

I will try to post again soon about the application process and the selection panel / interview for the residency – I think my scientific brain means that I feel I need to document the *whole* process. But maybe it will be interesting to compare the plans and objectives with what happens on the ground in Italy.

# 4 [4 December 2009]

The interview: my proposal for Pietrasanta

It now seems a while ago, but on the 19th October I was invited for an interview at the RBS headquarters on the Old Brompton Road. I had been told that I was to give a 10 – 15 minute presentation on “what I hoped to achieve if I was awarded the residency”, and that I could bring maquettes, drawings and handouts if I wanted to. This would be followed by questions.

Slightly nervous about this, I decided to prepare well and try to sound as confident as I could. I didn’t want to read out a prepared text as I always think that ends up being quite lifeless, but I as I felt it wasn’t actually that long to get across all I wanted to, I decided to have a very clear structure and I mapped out a ‘mind map’ of what I was to say (image attached). I practiced once to check on timing, but again didn’t want to repeat it too much, as I didn’t want to loose the genuine enthusiasm of saying it from the heart.

After a brief intro thanking them for the opportunity and giving a brief background to myself and practice, I did the old essay technique of briefly telling them what I was going to talk to them about: the 2 techniques I wanted to learn, the project I had planned, and my strategies of getting the most out of the opportunity.

2 techniques I want to explore

1. Combining cast bronze and constructed bronze elements
This relates to work I have been doing where I’ve used cast bioresin figures and constructed geometric forms made of copper and brass rods, as well as other works using human figures to represent molecular structures. I showed my man inscribed in a tetrahedron, and my molecules: carbon-carbon – with two men connected together, and carbon dioxide – a man (the carbon) connected/held by two women (the oxygens). They were interested in the materials and techniques I’d used, and I told them of how I would love to create a huge DNA helix made up of people representing the atoms all in their correct geometries.

2. Surface texture and colour – perceptions of form
I showed them an image of a new work – Nature/Network I had recently completed where I’d experimented with texture in the plaster and colouring this using tempera paint. I also showed them a sample work so they could see the colours and textures close up. I think too often with cast materials there is such a temporal separation between the modelling material and the finished form. I wanted to experiment with different textures and how this would effect the patinations possible, and how the patination would change how we perceive the form.

(there is a limit on word count per post – so I will continue this in a new post)

# 5 [4 December 2009]

The Interview part 2: Project for Pietrasanta (cont. from previous post)

I then presented my proposed project: to represent an Enzyme

This is an idea for a work I’ve recently had. Enzymes are proteins that are the ‘do-ers’ in all living things, they make all reactions happen – from the breakdown of food, to muscle movements, to reproduction. They are so elegant, have simple forms which includes an active site. This is like a lock, that the ‘key’ (the substrate – i.e. the things that gets changed by the enzyme) slots into like a key fitting in a lock. They are also so varied in shape and size. I showed them an image of an enzyme.

The work has 2 elements which allow me to explore the 2 techniques:

•    Molecular construction – i.e. the chemical that fits in the enzyme, to be represented as small figures, like the carbon dioxide except more extensive – to be modelled in wax – that  will help me to learn constructed bronze

•    Main shape – a large abstract-like form (except it is actually the exact shape of a real enzyme), to be modelled in plaster – that will allow experimentation in texture and patination

Getting the most out of the residency
I once overheard Alexa Holt (of Cove Park) say that a particular artist “knew how to approach a residency” so it had been very successful. I never got to ask her what she meant… How do you approach a residency?

My plan: clear structure, with space for reflection and creativity

Capturing knowledge: how to record? Notebooks + this blog

Getting most out of Pietrasanta – already speak Italian, revise before arriving.

Getting most out of extra time (away from family responsibilities and building career activities) – Ideas diary (daily personal diary, Mike Tyson-esque drawings/sketches of ideas for new work)

Conclusion
I know a lot of people (including my family and at the organisations involved) will be working hard to allow me this opportunity, so I’m prepared to work very hard to make the most of it.

I had presented to a panel of 6 people. They then asked me quite a few questions but were very nice and interested throughout, and they also told me a bit more about what I might expect in Pietrasanta.

I then packed up my maquettes and headed home on a bit of a high after the adrenaline of it. I felt I had done myself justice and it would all be up to who else was up for it. But then I started worrying that I would be up against more experience and talented sculptors, and it all seemed a bit unreal, even more so after I got the call the next day saying I’d got it.

I have since been working on the preparatory work for the project, and I’m off to Oxford next week to look at Enzymes! More of this in another post.

# 6 [21 December 2009]

Little things, big things and problems of unknown size…

I have been working on my Enzyme project – and am getting quite excited about it. However, I’m also aware that I don’t want it to take over totally so I leave room for other ideas and experimentation with all the bronze casting techniques. With a view to this, I want to limit the size of the enzyme sculpture – but this is a little bit more complicated as I can’t go too small on the figures or they won’t be castable. I think the limit is 3mm for the bronze to flow properly.

So – I did some research and calculations. A carbon-carbon bond is between 120 – 154 picometers (pm). Picometers are what they use to measure atomic dimensions.

        1 picometer is 1/1,000,000,000,000 m (pretty small!)

Most small molecules are measured in Ångströms (Å) which is 100 times bigger than a picometer, for e.g. Water is 3Å.
Proteins and Enzymes are measured in nanometers (nm), which is ten times bigger than an Ångström. So:

        1Å = 100pm
        1nm = 10Å = 1000pm

A typical globular protein is about 4nm. So, if I made my carbon-carbon bond about 12 cm long (roughly the scale used in my diamond inspired sculpture), then my total sculpture would be 4 meters – which would be quite an undertaking! That is assuming I can find a suitable enzyme that is only 4nm – some might be even bigger than this.

So it I want to reduce the scale of the total sculpture, I could try reducing the scale of my carbon-carbon bond, aka my figure-figure distance. The man in the middle of my tetrahedron has arms & legs of 3.5cm from the centre of the figure. This is probably the limit of how small I can go, as the wrists on this are about 2 x 3mm, and the tips of the fingers are 1mm. I will probably have to wait till I’m at the foundry to find out if I can get away with this. Even so, this would give me a 7cm carbon-carbon bond length, thus a 4nm protein would be about a 2m sculpture – still quite big! Hmm, worrying…

# 7 [29 January 2010]

I'm leaving in the morning

So, after 3 months of preparation, and the feeling that life has been on hold for a while, I'm leaving tomorrow morning for italy.

I still feel like my head is full of admin and practical things, and I'm looking forward to being in the apartment in Pietrasanta and taking a breath and reflexion before I start at the foundry on monday.

So - I decided to drive to Italy so that I could take lots of tools and toys and things with me. Decamping half my studio along with the nursery has been a bit of an epic task. I have all the bags, including for my mother who'll be joining be later, pilled up in the corner of the room, so tomorrow morning I'll pack up the car and leave by 10. Eurotunnel around midday, France by 2.30 local time, then about 6-7 hours driving to somewhere near the alps called mullhouse for an overnight hotel stop. Then on Sunday another 6-7 hours to Pietrasanta. This residency it definitely turning into a family affair: I've persuaded my Brother to help me drive down there, as my husband is left 'holding the baby' on his own. Its very kind of him, and unfortunately he has to be back in london for work on tuesday so he'll be flying straight home on monday lunchtime!

Useful things for others planning a residency in Europe:

EHIC: european health insurance card, can be ordered easily online from here: http://www.ehic.org 

Car insurance - some companies only have 60 days or european travel included as standard, but a few have 90, so its worth shopping around. I've had to cancel my existing policy and take out a new one, which I had to do before I left the UK. I haven't found any company prepared to do more than 90 days (and my residency finishes in about 92 days time) so I may have to drive the car back, then fly back for the last week...

I have been posting ads online, and pinning up posters, but I still haven't found someone to sublet my studio. I one person going to see it on monday, so fingers crossed... I've also decided that someone needs to set up a website or mailing list for artist studio vacancies, as there is nowhere (as far as I have been able to find).

The places I have posted:

Arts Admin mailing list (needs to go in the lonely art section): http://www.artsadmin.co.uk/contacts/edigest/edigest-post.php

http://www.cida.co.uk/

Artelier - the artquest studio swap service

I tried posting to artnews (http://www.artsjobs.org.uk/) but it didn't appear on the newsletter, so I guess they won't post studio vacancies.

Also tried to post here, but never got my account approved:  http://www.creativespaceagency.co.uk/noticeboard

Anyway, last minute packing calls, I will try to post again once I get to Italy.

Briony

# 8 [3 February 2010]

First impressions of Pietrasanta

So, its Wednesday morning and I’ve finally had a chance to catch up on sleep and reflect on the last few days. Today is a festival – the patron saint of Pietrasanta – so the foundry is closed and this beautiful town is apparently full of stalls (I’ll be off out to explore after this post).

The journey down was ok but quite tiring. My brother was a star and came with me to share the driving. We had snow and freezing conditions, the salt spray from the roads made the windscreen filthy. I’d cunningly forgotten to put the antifreeze in my windscreen wash so we had to stop occasionally to clean the windscreen so we could see where we were going. But it was a stunning route through the alps and the Gottard Tunnel.

We arrived Sunday afternoon and Valentina very kindly met us at the Autostrada exit, to show us the route into town as it was the first day of Carnival and there were street parties and people in fancy dress all round Pieatrasanta. Amazing to arrive in a stunning medival city, and see people wandering around as furry animals, or children with hats almost twice their size.

After Valentina showed us round and we’d managed to empty the car, we wandered around the central square which had an exhibition of large marble sculptures which was coming down the next day, we had a drink at a bar on the square then an amazing 3 course meal at ‘il gato nero’ – i.e. starters, pasta, and main course, I looked longingly at the pears poached in wine, but just didn’t have any space for it.

The next morning I had fun driving my brother to Pisa and getting lost, but managed to make it back to meet Valentina at 11.  After a brief chat to the guys dismounting the sculptures in the main square (I loved the fact that the main guy had a belt with buttons controlling a crane, which he still continued working as he caught up with Valentina) she took me to the foundry.

The Fonderia Artistica Mariani is amazing. Having visited a few dark and dusty foundries under railway arches in London with slightly ‘heath robinson’ techniques, I thought I had an idea of what a foundry was like. Mariani’s is housed in a 2 storey factory type building, with windows on both sides upstairs and high ceilings, which make the wax rooms on particular lovely light rooms in which to work. Everything is highly organised and tidy. It is full of works in various stages of completion, all neatly arranged either on shelves or the floor.

First we went upstairs to the wax rooms – in the first room I entered, large rubber moulds were open, and about 3 artigiani were painting on layers of wax – an first outerlayer of softer moddeling wax in red or black, followed by a thicker harder brown wax for strength. In the next room, the wax sculptures were out of the mould but now suspended in a framework of steel bars, and they were having runners and risers added, and in the third room, all the seams and imperfections were being removed. This third room is where I am starting work (but more of this later).

Downstairs we saw sculptures now encased in the ceramic shell, standing in lines like white ghosts waiting to go into the kiln for firing and melting out of the wax. Then in the next room I saw them doing a pour – the amazing colour of the bronze as it goes in. Nicola, the son of the owner who was taking us round, showed me the sheets they use to record all the details of each pour – including the weather and humidity. It all seems far more scientific as they continually strive to improve the technique. I’m wondering if I could do some work linked to their processes…

Then we saw the two rooms where they bronze pieces were worked – a room for small pieces where artigiani were grinding and polishing pieces, then an amazing room full of giant sculptures being put back together after having been cast in sections. The final area was for patination, where I saw a huge head which was a bright electric blue (copper sulphate I think) in an intermediary step of the colouration process.

As I’m out of time and space, I will tell you more later.

# 9 [5 February 2010]

Yesterday’s fair in town was great, I learn the following:

- When buying a sandwich I’ll get asked if I’m married 

- Its ok to carry round a 3 foot axe, as long as the head is in a plastic bag

- Shinny black puffa jackets are *the* fashion item – I saw a family in which not only the 5 year old, but also a 1 year old in a buggie, were wearing matching shinny black puffas to go with their mother, aunt and grandmother!

I also bought olives and dates and dried apricots and a melon and a big plait of Garlic, and the local speciality buiscuits – which are like mini crispy pancakes. But I resisted getting a vegetable grater/slicer, a quad bike or a robotic donkey who waged his head from side to side energetically.

They work 10 hours a day in the wax room in the foundry: 7-12 and 1-6, it’s a long day. I supposed it is ok if you are doing the work most of them are doing; quite relaxing touching up of the seams on the waxes. I don’t think I’ll be able to do 10 hours of creative work a day, but it might be interesting for my stamina to try! Most of the other departments finish at 5pm – maybe because they do more strenuous work… I saw them do another ‘pour’ today – or as they call it ‘La Fusione’. It is amazing, the colour of the bronze and the sound of it as almost glugs down into the moulds.

I also had a great lunch – I met Julia Vance (www.juliavance.no): a great Norwegian Sculptor who comes from a lettering background, and now works in marble. She still uses letters a lot in her work and it has an interesting aesthetic that seems to be all about proportions, spacing and balance. She took me to ‘croce verte’ (green cross, I thought she was taking me into the local hospital!) which is a place where they do cheap lunches for the needy (and artists). You have to become a member, which I might investigate. You can get a 3 course meal with water and wine for 9€s. As we arrived she met another Norwegian sculptor Håkon Anton Fagerås (www.fageras.com), along with an Italian Guiliano Corelli (who works at Shakti Studio, where you can just use/rent the space, near Hakon's Studio). We had a great lunch (I had Macaroni di Mare and Insalate) talking a mix of Italian, English and Norwegian.

After lunch Hakon invited me to the marble studio where he works. It is run by Marco Giannoni and they do a lot of work for artists. Hakon is working towards a solo show in Oslo in March, and had just finished a stunning sculpture of a man balancing. The marble had such an amazing quality – it was a little bit grey but luminous and soft, and he had left the surface with the marks of the chisel, which meant just a very slight texture, and a trace of how he had worked the form. The pose was simple yet very powerful. 

At lunch we had been discussing the different emphasis of conceptual artists (who work in the realm of ideas and leave everything to the artigiani), vs artists who care and are involved with the detailed aesthetic and form and the decisions that arise as a work progresses. This seems to be a topic that comes up a lot in Pietrasanta, as many artists have their work made here – for e.g. Marc Quinn (who actually seems to spend a lot of time here), Damian Hirst, Kevin Francis Gray (who has his work done a Marco Giannoni’s where I was).

But my first trip to a marble studio had a big effect on me, it was almost as if ‘marble’ had caught my eye, flirted with me, and I kind of felt excited and exhilarated by what it might offer. I definitely would like to have a little ‘go’ at marble whilst I’m here. I know I’m here for the bronze casting, but in a city so full of talk of marble it would be a shame not to make the most of any opportunities I can find.

I then had a great afternoon back in my cosy wax room, finishing off my Italy relief and starting a new experiment in ripping and dripping wax – but I must go into my first week’s wax experiments in more details in another blog post.

# 10 [8 February 2010]

The Wax

So, in my first week at the foundry I have been experimenting with working directly in wax. I'd discussed this with Helaine Blumenfeld over christmas, and we agreed this would be a good way to settle in to the foundry at the start of the process, that wax might be an interesting medium for me, and with the aim in the next week or so to create something that I could then take through the whole lost wax process.

I had developed some ideas I wanted to experiment with. These were related to recent reading I've been doing - Collapse by Jared Diamond (a fascinating account about why certain civilizations failed and some were able to survive - when faced with changes in climate and overexploitation of their environment) and Six Degrees by Mark Lynas (a graphic account of what we think will happen with each degree of global temparature rise).

So my ideas are around man's interaction with our environment: erosion, deforestation and climate change. I think other ideas influenced by the recent Haiti earthquake - plate tectonics, volcanoes and earthquakes, seem also appropriate given the nature of wax and bronze casting.

I have included some images of my first wax experiments.

At times it has been exciting and rewarding, at others a bit frustrating. Back in england I had been playing with ideas of erosion using plaster, which really lends itself to this. Wax is different, and can have a slight tendency to look plastic when I melt and drip it. But I've discovered a point when cooling from melted that I really like using. And i've starting finding some ways of working the wax to create forms and textures that are begining to work.

In parallel to the wax texture experiments, I have also been casting some small tetrahedron men in black modelling wax, and starting to put them together. I thought it was going to be too small to cast in bronze, but the foundry have said we can try.

Helaine came to the foundry this morning to see my first week's work, and especially liked the 3 experiments I've included in the images here. Her feedback was really interesting and useful (this was on top of a great chat I had with her yesterday afternoon at her studio).

One of my experiments was a large relief map of Italy that I had done - I felt I was referring to the renaissance tradition of the bronze baptistry doors in Florence, and to the influence of italy and being here on me. However, I wasn't sure where I had gone with it - it became very decorative, and I think I had got too attached to this. I then wanted to try to work into it a man's presence, but it didn't seem possible.

Helaine responded by remembering what Knut Steen had said to her when she was starting off (and had lots of energy and ideas):

"Its a great idea, but its not a sculpture"

I am really excited and energised by the process of this residency. It is very hard and probably not necessary here to capture what I have started to learn from my 2 chats with Helaine. However, I feel on the verge of a breakthrough, that I am beginning to see things differently. 

One of the things I'm begining to see differently are my ideas - I think I'm being too literal with how I put them into practice, that I'm too tied to them.

Often I have big ambitious ideas - that I start to form, then there is so much work going into creating this initial vision that this absorbes me totally and I haven't left room to requestion it, letting it change, be spontaneous and develop. My humanosphere has been an example of this, but perhaps this has also been a result of my change in work process since motherhood. In a lot of ways it has improved, I feel I've been procrastating less, getting on and pushing through with work, but I think I may have lost a bit of the re-questioning and looking that is so important. 

Helaine picked up a pair of my figures and placed them on my small island - it looked amazing, and we both smiled. In some ways this was what I was intending with these different experiments, but somehow I hadn't thought to bring them together yet!

With this small action she has set me off in a new exciting direction of experimentation...