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.