Materials as Language
WHAT DOES IT SAY?
WHAT COULD IT SAY?
WHAT MIGHT IT SAY?
I found the session today with Simon extremely useful as it forced me to confront and consider the tacit knowledge I want to instil in my designs and how the objects and explorations I’ve made so far have begun to communicate their function, and without explanation.
I was happy that Yun - Chien’s initial comments included 2 of my 8 key words BALANCE & PLAYFUL and allude to a 3rd CLOSED LOOP ( rebuilt with spare pieces ) I was worried that that because my work is abstract, and im working through ideas at the moment, that my areas of interest wouldn’t be at all clear, so it made me feel confident that elements were starting to flicker through. . When people cant touch the object themselves - which is particularly the case at the moment - including images with hands interacting can help instill a context of scale and an understanding of materiality. I want people to feel invited to touch my work and participate and I was really relieved when Vittoria opened with that in our group seminar, and I feel hopefully it communicated the human CONNECTION and influence to my work. Notes from the seminar above right also seemed to cover a few more of my core words ‘NATURAL’ ( like rocks) MEDITATE ( relaxing and calming ). I was particularly happy with this comment as the over arching aim of my project is to evoke calmness through objects, and I have been working instinctively with shapes and form so far, so it was interesting to hear that they resonated with someone else. I really want to dig deeper and understand what about these shapes communicated a calmness and investigate why - perhaps it is organic shape or the movement?and if so why? is there something to learn there that can elevate what I think are maybe over used or generic shapes and forms into a more original aesthetic that speaks with nuance of my aims. The words that were missing are ANIMATED, & EPHEMERAL. I think documenting using multi shot/ before and after/ .gif will be a good way to showcase work if it includes movement or change to communicate animation.
I spent the afternoon experimenting with Mycelium which is a combination of hemp and fungus which is grown into compostable packaging. Im really interested in experimenting with its use in art, which in my case also encourages interactions to induce play and calm. I used small dowel to join the shapes and create a hinge so the objects in combination could be positioned in many iterations. The movement to they indicate hopefully checks off the word ANIMATED too. Although light weight and sculptable which are big pros for me, the material is quite crumbly when the objects are moved as I intend. I began adding layers of paint which helped seal the material and added soothing colours to the beige natural tone. I considered that adding more layer or even a varnish might add more strength, However it made me wander if the material might still be composable and fulfil its purpose. by coating it to make it more useable, would I actually pushing it to no longer function as intended. This lastly makes me think about my final word EPHEMERAL.