Anthony Caro evaluation part A

Olivia Grain  

Anthony Caro project evaluation. PART A 

Throughout this project, I've had to collect a lot of primary research to help me get to know and understand abstract sculpture.  I collected a lot of this on our trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Hepworth gallery, where Anthony  Caro's work was being exhibited.

I quite like this piece as its really colourful pulls the viewers in.

This piece doesn't really intrigue me, as it doesn't look very eye catching or creative.

This is my favourite piece as it looks more technical and interesting.

 I found this quite valuable as I was able to see all the different sculptures he had created and what made each piece unique. Observing the sculptures in real life made it a lot clearer to see if they were either created on a small scale or a large scale. On the other hand, I found it harder to draw the sculptures from real life as I am used to seeing them on a smaller scale and enlarging them as I draw, where as this way I had to draw them smaller, which I found difficult. 

 My primary research for this project turned out quite well, as my images from the trip were of good quality, and I was able to draw a few quick sketches of his work using different medias such as pencil and graphite, which I believe worked quite well.

 I think that my research is quite effective, as not only have I researched Anthony Caro's work

This isn't one of my favourite sketchbook pages as it looks a little plain compared to the others I have created.

but I have also researched a wide range of other artists such as, Alexander Calder, who's work is most like Caro's,

 Barbara Hepworth, 

MC Escher, who mostly focuses on Architecture, 

Frank Stella

 and Peter Dahem, who creates a lot of paper sculptures.

 As I had done a lot of artist research, it helped give me a lot of direction on which artist I wanted to focus on, so I chose MC Escher, and brought some of his work into my designs. I decided to create a floor mounted sculpture, as a lot of Caro's work was floor mounted. I also found out that Caro was inspired by the renaissance era, so I started drawing some renaissance architecture such as, buildings and stair ways and incorporated these drawings into 3 abstract designs. I included colour and annotations on these designs,

This is one of the renaissance drawings that I have drawn.

These are the first 2 designs that I created in my sketchbook, which I really like as they're different and unique.

This is the 3rd design that I had drawn in my sketchbook.

This is another renaissance drawing that I did in my sketchbook.

 to show how they would be created by using materials such as wood, clay and plastic. I decided to create the first design I had came up with, so I then drew this up as my final design in more detail  and began coming up  with measurements.

This is my final design page that I created in my sketchbook, showing how it will fit together.

My base was going to be created from wood and be 25 by 25 cm in size. The pillars in the design were going to be 30 cm in height and 8 cm wide, so that it wasn't too small and the arches and balustrades were going to be 9cm wide so that they would fit perfectly in between the 4 pillars and join together.  

In the workshops I have been in so far, I have learnt a few skills and methods such as, in ceramics I have learnt how to create a mold by using plaster, which consisted of mixing 1 and a half cups of plaster to 3 cups of water, however these measurements will changes depending on the size of the mold being made; this will come in handy if I ever need to create another mold.

This is how I created the pillars, by carefully filling it with clay.

This is the mold once it had been set.

This is the final product that I created using the mold.

Also in Print making I have learnt how use a new printing method, by engraving a design onto perspect, which I am going to use to print onto my final sculpture.

This Is an example of printing onto paper. 

This is an example of printing onto cotton, which I think worked better as it looks a lot clearer.

 I have also created a paper maquette, which I think turned out quite well, however I think that it could have turned out better if it was more 3D, so I decided to try and create a 2nd maquette to make it look more 3D, but it’s a lot more difficult than I thought, as I'm  not very good at creating  3D nets. 

This is the first paper maquette that I created.

In photography, I created a Suspended paper sculpture, however it didn't look very effective so I had to try and change the way it hung by wrapping it around itself to create lots of different sized hoops/ circles. 

This is the page I created in my sketchbook for the photography workshop, which I really like as I think it is quite creative and colourful as the images lift up and the writing is hidden underneath.



This is an example of what my paper sculpture looked like when it was being photographed.

This is what my sculpture looked like once I had changed it, which I thing works quite well as it is more abstract.

To date, I have managed my time quite well, as I have managed to finish almost everything needed for the deadline, however I have yet to complete the 3D workshop, as our class missed the first workshop we were meant to participate in.

In Thursday's art class, I continued created the last few pages of my sketchbook. I created an artist research page on frank Stella,  an American painter. I drew some of his work using acrylic paint which I thought worked really well, also if I have time to do so, I will cut out sections of the image and make it more 3D, by placing it on pieces of cardboard.

I really like this page as it is quite colourful, which helps to catch your eye.

I also created 2 pages for photography, ceramics, and print making to show what I created in the workshops, however I think that I could have made the ceramics page more interesting by adding more colour and creativity into it. For the photography page, I created a red brusho in background, to give it a little colour, and glued the images onto the pages by their sides, so that they acted as a door, which when opened showed the writing about the workshop underneath, which I really like as I think it creates a good effect. I have also started drawing different lengthed lines across the page to try and create the paper sculpture effect, which I really like. For the printmaking page I created, I added a purple brusho ink background, and included some images of my work, with the method of how I created them.  I have also included the methods of how I created things in the other 2 workshops.

Later on during the day, I also started creating  a second maquette, however I found this very difficult to make it 3d, so I was given help from our assistant Ben. It took me the rest of the afternoon to try and create a net for the top of the pillars, which turned out okay, however it wouldn't fit together properly, which is where Ben came in and helped me create a new net, which so far looks like it will work really well, as I didn't have time to create it. 

I have now got 2 more pages to create in my sketchbook, and my 3d workshop to do for our deadline on Wednesday.

ART FEMINISM CONTEXTUAL STUDIES

ART FEMINISM: contextual studies.

Judy Chicago, born 20th July 1939,  is an American feminist artist who is known for her art pieces that examine the role of women in history and culture. Her aim was to teach women the skills needed to express the female perspective in their work and to help develop feminist art. Chicago taught her first female art class in 1970 at the frenzo state college. Chicago is mostly known for her art piece, " The dinner party" which is widely regarded as the first epic feminist art work and is used to show symbolic history of women. There are 39 place settings used to represent 39 historical famous women, along a triangular table.

I really like what Chicago stood for, as it shows that women are just as capable of doing things as men are, and aren't just stereotypical females who'd stay home and do house jobs. 

In Today's workshops, I was first taking part in printmaking, creating a perspect to use for my final sculpture with jess. I came up with some design ideas in my sketchbook, which I didn't think worked very well, as I came up with the designs on my own and didn't use images to copy it.

Because of this I came up with another design, which I  researched from Renaissance patterns. I chose to use this as my final design, as it included more detail and because Caro was inspired by the Renaissance era; so it linked quite well.

 I then had to etch this onto perspect, however I only had half a day to complete printmaking as I had photography later on in the day. I found this difficult to mange my time as it was quite a difficult design to create. I had to place the perspect over the design and use a cutting tool to engrave the design.  This took quite some time to do, so by the time I was done, everyone else had already started printing, because of this I stayed in throughout dinner do that I didn't fall behind and completed 6 prints. I first had to place some ink on the surface, and use a piece of cardboard to scrape it down the perspect so that it was covered properly, I then had to use newspaper to buffer it so that the ink got into all the gaps, and place it under a roller with a piece of damp paper over the top, which when rolled through would print the design onto the material. These were some of the outcomes.

This is an example of printing onto wood, which I was going to do on my final piece however, the result wasn't what I'd hoped, therefore I might have to print onto either cotton or calico and glue this onto the Base of the sculpture.

This is an example of printing on paper, which worked better than printing on wood however, it isn't as clear is I wanted it to be, which may be because of the ink either being too thin or too thick.

This is the perspect that I created, which has already been inked and ready to be printed.

This is an example of printing on cotton, which I think worked better than printing on wood, and a little better than printing on paper as it looks clearer. This is the material I may use to print on and glue to the Base of my final piece.


Once I'd moved onto photography, I had to create a paper sculpture, which is another one of my weaker points, I first began cutting abstract shapes out of a a2 piece of paper and began to bend them back, however this didn't work very well so I decided to create another design and began to cut thin diagonal lines all way down the page. Once I'd finished cutting out the lines on the page, I began to mess around with it and try and fold it different ways, however due to the way I'd cut the paper, I had to have it hanging so I twisted it round so It looked like lots of hoops tsngled together and pinned it at each side.

We then began to use the equipment in the studio, changing the ISO levels and effect on the camera, to create different lighting and effects on the sculpture.

In Thursday's class, I continued creating sketchbook work on artists such as MC Escher. Unfortunately, as Escher creates such complicated work, I only completed one sketchbook page however, I think that this page came out really well, with how much detail is included in it. In next week's lesson I hope to have completed another 2 pages in my sketchbook, so that I only have 2 more pages to complete for my deadline.

In yesterday's workshop with Deborah, I began making pillars for my final sculpture. I first had to create a model of a pillar so that I could create a mold; which would make every pillar Identical. I needed my clay  and rolled it out so that it was ready to be used. I then drew the Shape  of the pillar that I wanted to use and cut the shape out of clay. Once my model was finished i used half a cup of plaster for every one cup of water used. All together, I used 3 cups of water and 1 and a half cups of plaster to create the mold. I had to mix these together until there were no lumps of plaster on the mixture and until it began to get thick enough to pour over the model. Once this had been mixed together, I had to put the model onto a piece of board and place 4 other boards around it, making sure it was secure by rapping string around it, so that the mixture wouldn't leak out. I then pored the mixture over the model and had to wait around 20 to 30 minutes for the mold to fully set.

When the mold had fully set, I then had to role out clay to place inside the mold; to create the final pillars. The first mold was done by Deborah, so that she could show me how to do it properly.

 

once Deborah had shown me how to do this properly I had to repeat this process 12 times so that if any were to explode in the kiln as they were being fired, then I would have 2 spare. After I had created all 12 molds  I then had to go round all the edges with a wet toothbrush to score it, and roll a piece of long clay to place on the top, so that the pillar to be placed on top would fit on better. I then used slip to seal the gap between the 2 pillars, so that they would be strong enough to stay together.

I really enjoyed this workshop, I only had one complication when I was

creating the pillars, however it happened multiple times; the clay would break quite easily if I didn't do it thick enough, there fore I had to either add more clay or redo the mold, which effected my time management, therefore I had to stay behind to finish them so that I didn't fall behind.

On Thursday, I completed my final caro piece in my sketch book, which I thought worked really well. I drew a piece of Caro's work in grey pencil, using different tones, then created the background by gluing newspaper all over the page and painted it a bright yellow, so that it would contrast. I also added some more backgrounds to my work, using brusho inks; however it didn't dry properly so the ink has now printed onto some of the opposite pages, which unfortunately I cannot fix. I may have been able to prevent this from happening, by not wetting the page too much. Later on in the day, I also started drawing an a piece of work by an artist called Mc escher, who's work looks a little like the work in my sketch book so I used him as an example. The piece of work I have drawn is a drawing of a building, which is a little like an illusion. I drew this in pencil so that it looked more like Mc escher's work, and thought it looked really well, however I have yet to finish this piece and now plan on drawing some designs for the flooring of my sculpture for tomorrow's class.

In yesterday's art class with Deborah and jess,  we started off doing a card folding activity, which was meant to help us within our project; using a craft knife and scissors. We had to follow the directions given on the 10 pieces of paper, which started out quite easy and got more difficult the more we did.  I found this activity quite hard, as I couldn't get the hang of it. I didn't know which way to fold the paper, or if I was even folding the correct t piece, so jess said that I could move into my card sculpture that I had started last Thursday. All my components had already been cut out, so I began painting each component to show how I wanted my final piece to look like. I had cut out 8 pillars so that I cut put two together to try and make it look 3d, however when I began to construct my model, I'd lost one of the pillars so I couldn't create it how Id hoped. Due to this, I had to compromise and just use 4 of the pillars. I created 4 folding stands, so that the pillars would stand in place and  began to glue the other components onto the pillars. I also realised that because I'd drawn the archways that were drawn smaller in my sketch book to show the distance, I'd cut them out smaller too so the smaller arches didn't reach the pillars. This is something I will have to remember when I start created the components for my final piece.

In Thursday's art class we continued creating designs for our final piece, from the Renaissance paintings we had researched. I first drew some of the images as they were seen in the picture, and began to alter them to make them look more abstract like Anthony Caro's and Alexander Calder's work. Once I had came up with a few ideas, I chose the best design and started drawing it out as my final design; this time using colour and tone and writing what material  I would be using and why. I quite like my final design as I think it fits well with my project, however, I found it quite difficult to come up with designs as I didn't know how to make something look different to the proper image so that it looked abstract. I also started cutting out shapes to create my miniature sculpture out of card. However, I had to come back in to college today so that I could finish it within the next few classes.