Last night I crumpled and then spray starched a small piece of fabric. I removed the clamp this morning and the fabric tho not completely still is staying in place. Now I know what to do I am going to do larger scale works. Although I think my choice of fabric was not that effective as I got a pretty netting, I think the starch would work more effectively on a more tightly weaves fabric such as cotton.  Today I need to go college shop buy un-bleached cotton and manipulate it in to a shape,maybe  through the use of other objects. I am then going to cover it in the spray starch and leave it over night. If it is successful in holding its shape I need to consider how I am going to display it at the church show next week.  Today I need to look at the images of the milk in tea experiment and my previously sketches as a plan for the shape I am going to manipulate the fabric in to.

The fabric starch worked well, it kept its shape and only took twenty four hours to set. I need to experiment to see what weight the fabric can take however as the starch is not as strong as i thought it would originally be. The shapes are also quite hard to manipulate, i am finding it hard to create complex forms that will hold in place. With the starch the shapes need to be quite simple. 

In my project proposal i said i would explore the ephemeral, i think looking at clouds would be trying to capture the temporary. Clouds are always moving, a stationary cloud would be capturing that movement. I think sculptural, fabric is not very common, sculptures are usually associated with these great monuments that never move. I like the fact that i am taking a very flexible fabric and trying to force it in to a shape that will last. I also like that it tricks people, when people see fabric that expect it to be soft and movable, thought he use of spray starch i am changing it state. I think it would be interesting to look at the notion of the uncanny in reference to my ideas as this explores something foreign and familiar at the same time. I am not sure if this project will successfully create movement, i do not think it will work how i imagine it to. I will need to experiment and see if it does communicate this seance of time and if not how to change my work so that it does. It is a natural occurrence tho, i think it looks back at the theory of the sublime. 

I was interested to see if my work could become sublime, i think throughout looking at nature, clouds i can further explore this theory. Clouds are beautifully and yet can become dangerous, can change and become storms and tornado's. It will be interesting to see how i develop this idea and see if i am success full in communicating this idea. 


Dietrich Wegner "skin deep"
I came across Wegners art through searching for cloud art, I thought it would be interesting to look at cloud patterns to inform the shape of my work as well. Wegners art looks at unnatural clouds like atomic bombs. "Playhouse, by sculptor Dietrich Wegner, is a twenty-foot-tall tree house posing as an atomic mushroom cloud, representing the contradictions between “two conflicting ideas”." He looks at how his work can communicate safety, a childhood tree house, a sanctuary and yet at the same time danger and harm.

I found Wegner's work really interesting, i love the size and detail to which he makes his sculptures. His work to me also communicates movement through the shape and familiarity of it, i can see that it is a sculpture of a cloud, that can change and move. I found his sculptures really exciting and imaginative, they make you want to explore his work. I want my own work to be like this, i want it to be able to communicate the notion of something temporary like clouds and the movement of the natural. I also like the material he has used. I think it would be really interesting to experiment with wool and wire and see how easy it is to manipulate. I also like how it looks unstable and temporary as a sculpture with it having a smaller base than top, it looks structurally unsafe. I love the way his art combines and depicts mixed emotions, safe and dangerous  it invites people to explore it.

I think the size of the sculpture add to the work, it makes it more untouchable, it communicates the magnitude of the message he is trying to communicate. the conflict between the soft inviting materials and yet dangerous atomic shape brings an uneasy tension, making people drawn to his work more through the confusion he creates. 

Wegners key themes that i think are communicated through his work are, childhood,thought the use of a tree house commonly associated with a place that children build to be free, have fun and feel safe above. protection, a soft cloud that encase a childhood home, high above from harm ad danger, untouchable. disasters, the shape of atomic explosion, something that deviates people and takes peoples lives. nature, clouds a common thing seen in the sky, just an every day common sense. sublime, how his work is beautifully and yet gives an over whelming sense of fear thought the shapes. How his work becomes apolitical and shows the end. uncanny, exploring conflicting emotions, looking at something that is normal with a foreign scene wrapped around it. 

The notion of the uncanny 

The “Uncanny”11
(1919)
SIGMUND FREUD

"Sigmund Freud introduced the concept of 'uncanny' aesthetic theory (the German word being Unheimlichkeit, which literally translates as 'un-home-like-ness'). Freud coined the word 'uncanny' to describe distinctive aesthetic experiences elicited by art works associated with certain feelings of mild distress, anxiety or disquiet.  Freud was looking at the uncanny in reference to how it can make people feel conflicted, give them that sense of something that is not quite right. 

I read about a past exhibition about the uncanny and the unexpected called "The unnaturally strange". The exhibition looks in to materials and their meaning, the artists look at what "naturally" exists and manipulate materials to communicate their ideas. Included in the exhibition are artists who work with unlikely materials such as US dollar bills, a crocodile tail, car filler, slate, flies, feathers, fur, books, diamonds and sound, as well as time-honoured processes such as oil painting, gold leafing, watercolour and taxidermy The exhibition displayed work by Fiona Hall, John Lyall, Lisa Reihana and Pat Brassington, Michael Zavros and Peter Madden. 

I think it would be interesting to look at the uncanny, my work is starting to explore this notion. I want my work to confuse people, to make them feel conflicted, a moment frozen. I like the idea of experimenting with materials, manipulating them in to something else. I think materials are also important in my work, i want to explore different methods of making and building up work. 
ST. Martins church
we are displaying our work on Monday so i have been thinking more and more about what would be a suitable experiment to display. Today i brought some silk and spray starch and have done a large experiment  I hung the fabric form my ceiling and used balloons and clothe pegs to manipulate it in to shapes. i found it a lot harder than expected. The shapes do not look as fluid as i would of likes. I need to leave it over night to set but so far it looks like a sodden mess. I am no longer sure it would be a good idea to use this as my display experiment  i think maybe a combination of the fabric with cotton or other stuffing would be more successful  I think this would allow me to manipulate the fabric more easily and get a more correct shape. I need to now buy some wool or stuffing or see if we have any spare around the house. tomorrow i will get some cotton wool and some thread from the shop. Although maybe the starch will set on the fabric all right i cant imagine it at the moment with all the pegs and balloons inside it so i will have to wait and see.

New Idea
I am going to look at the artist Albert Seveso, i think it would be interesting to get inspiration from his ink in water art for the shapes i need to include in my sculpture.

I am really excited by this idea i think it will look really interesting though the use of everyday objects and the unique shapes crated, also this is a really easy method of creating and developing, it allows me to manipulate the shape more effectively. Although i think with the plastic bags and all the shapes combined it might be hard to make out the shape so when i have built the main body of the art i will experiment with ways of covering it more effectively and maybe look in to colors to help me communicate this feeling of movement. It has been two hours now and the fabric is starting t go hard, i am really excited to see it with out all the pegs in. I just need to be more patient with it and allow it to set. 

I though i would do a little experiment with different types of tea, i use twinning fruit one, i though the milk going in to the different colors would look really cool and exciting. I learnt that milk curdles on contact with the tea and goes a disgusting think milk color. The picture was also really out of focus. I do not think that tea is a good way of capturing movement in water it is not showing up very effectively on the camera. I then decided to try and use the tea as ink, i set up a wet tea bag above a cup of water and photographed the tea as it splashed in the water. These photos i think came out a lot better and showed up more effectively. 

 I am really excited by these pictures and although the photo could be better and more focused i love the way it shows the movement in the water, how it has captured a moment in time.

Sketch Book 
I wanted to do quicker drawings, ones that gave the sense of movement and tried to quickly capture the ink as it hit the water. I wanted to be less preciousness about these drawings just trying to communicate a sense of spreading and growth. 

I like the unrefined quality of this drawing, the quickness and the hints to tone. I think that it captures ripples and the ink dispersing. I want my sculptures to have this kind of quality, a rawness to them, something that has been spur of the moment and not labored over. I think by doing this it has a spontaneous element that draws people in, makes people want to experience it. I prefer the drawings to the photos, they add mystery to the work, people can not be sure about what i have draw but with a photo the experiment it more black and white, more obvious  I want to experiment with this theme more through my work.