UCA Farnham

Degree Show and assessment is finally here. I have today and tomorrow to finalise set up ready to be marked and then it is celebration time!

I have a room to display my pieces in, so after a lot of hard work painting the walls and cleaning the floors I darkened the space as much as I could, to allow for the torch arrangements I have previously posted about.

Currently I am writing an appraisal about the show. Overall I am happy with my pieces but wish the room could have been a little bit darker. I have displayed my supporting material in a plan chest, which fits in with notions of the archive present within my work.

Good luck to everyone in their degree shows! Must dash, lots to do!

2 weeks to go until degree show and I finish, a scary but exciting concept. Things are really coming together now and this morning I took the final pictures of my pieces going in to be exhibited and put together a portfolio for my Professional Futures Unit.

There still needs to be a fair amount of organisation regarding the location of my space for degree show, as it needs to be pitch black and this is going to requiree some negotiation. But all the pieces have been moulded and casted in wax, and I bought another bulk load of torches and batteries the other day – much to the confusion of the cashier I am sure.

I have also been applying for jobs recently, and last week I found one which would be perfect, so fingers crossed I get it. It is exciting thinking about starting my career, but also nerve wracking..the pressure is on!

Good luck to everyone in these final few weeks!

Over the last few weeks I have been rushing around trying to sort out some changes to my degree show proposals. After some ideas sparked from another seminar I presented, I realised I wanted to take the viewing experience of my pieces into a different direction.

At this time I have also been doing my ‘admin’ including writing an artists cv, statement and setting up a temporary website for uploading images of my work (which can be seen here: http://karysmunns.tumblr.com/)

As this last month is extremely stressful I am very glad my dissertation deadline was back in February, a huge weight off my mind. However the result day for this is looming, being in 13 days time. At the moment I have been making sure my journals, research and theory are up to date. I have a lot of test pieces, but still feel it is not enough, the requirements state ‘a body of work’ which is really quite vague.

I will sign off this post with my latest artist statement:

Our proximity to dust is investigated through the architectural forms where dust gathers, scrutinising what is pushed to the fringes and drawing from the idea of the fossil. Using a moment of illumination, an intimate relationship with the spectator occurs, drawing attention to the sublime and fantastical within the monumental trace of our energy spent. The mundane is elevated through delicate gestures providing an enticing insight into the quiet yet interruptive territory of the discarded. My work is ritualistic, obsessive and immediate, with an absence resonating through the work that creates a preciousness within its intricate materiality, creating a relic.

Last week I had a lot of progress within my work. I needed to build some boxes to house my wax pieces, which are to be illuminated by torch light and viewed by a keyhole sized gap in the box side. I had previously been experimenting with a cardboard prototype, which was not ideal but perfect for calculating distances and hole size and trying out the perspective of the viewer.

I finally built some wooden boxes, 4 in total of varying sizes, each with a different element, mirrored insides, magnifying lens affixed to eye hole etc. I am very pleased with how these turned out and am looking forward to getting the response of the spectator, when I show them in an exhibition at the start of April.

The viewing of the wax pieces is intimate, and the torch light subtly highlights the gestures of the places in which dust gathers, displayed in a relic like form.

This week I presented a seminar on my work, which raised some interesting questions in debate following it. My pieces in relation to the territory of debris sparked comments that I was moulding half a world due to the nature of dust only ever covering a top side, a point which I hadn’t previously considered, but has captivated me since.

It is important for me to clarify in my work that the gathering place is my current interest, as those who have seen my work in previous semesters will know I focused on the dust particles themselves. My work has shifted recently, whilst still addressing our proximity with the material and its relic like preciousness.

I have been moulding each individual place in my studio where dust has gathered. From the skirting boards and pipes, to screws in the walls andthe tiniest staples jutting from the surface.

The obsessive process and materiality is of high importance to me and allows intimacy in creation. This intimacy is something I am keen to bring to the viewer, and I am using the moment of illumination by torch as a tool for this. Most recently in my practice I have been building boxes which allow the spectator to peer through a key hole sized gap into an enclosed space where the wax pieces are subtlety lit by torch. The shadows created and the way the items glow in the light gives them a new presence and accentuates their form.