Borders - Exhibition Prep - Part 2

I wanted to reference the work I created for the first Borders exhibition, which was a set of two lino printed train-ticket-inspired outcomes. One baring the train code for Colchester and the other for Ipswich. 

From this first work, I borrowed the colour orange (inspired by train tickets) and the train station codes.

However, the work otherwise is different, taking something very 2D and making it 3D. The letters of each train station code are cut out of sheets of cardboard and painted orange. 

The cardboard will be layered to create letters that feel object light and more solid. However, they will still be lightweight. 

I will go over the letters a few more times with the orange, to try and achieve a nice flat colouring.

I've not really considered the display. The first outcome was displayed on the floor, so it might be poetic for these to be too.

fine - part two

Wooden boards prepared, it was time to decide on the text. This work was created in response to a brief for artwork relating to mental health week. The phrase that kept coming back to me was 'I'm fine'. 

I wanted to play with these two simple words and what they mean, by using letter placement to portray this. Is it the truth, or is it a cover? I wanted to play with the ordered v's the messy. 

Placement became important. I have two words but three boards, how will I negotiate the space? What does it mean to keep repeating this phrase? Does it make it mean more or less, or make it meaningless?

Borders - Exhibition Prep - Part 1

The first half of the Border exhibition, a joint exhibition between Colchester Art Society and Ipswich Art Society took place in Firstsite last year. This year sees the second half of the exhibition take place at Ipswich Art Gallery.

Offered the opportunity to exhibit the same, or a new piece of artwork, I took the opportunity to create something new. 

My initial idea was to create something 3D, a sculpture of letters. I want them to be interactive, and moveable. On a plinth? On the floor? 

Shadow might be important, though I am not sure yet. Colour will be important. As will size.

fine - part one

This work starts with the destruction of an old outcome. In my art practice, I often reuse materials. These wooden boards have been sitting in my studio for a number of years now. I had a set of three and thought they would be good to use for a new project as the text on them previously was now unrelated to my art practice.

The challenge was removing the text, as I had previously tried painting over the text in black acrylic, but the text was still visible and it meant I lost the wooden board aesthetic. Next came white sprite, then sandpaper. We had a winner. Working with the grain of the wood I was able to remove the text. Some of the paint residues became embedded within the wood as I worked. But as long as the text was no longer there, I was happy, as that was the main aim.

Top to bottom, you can see that I got better at this as time went on! I found wetting the wood and working with sandpaper resulted in much cleaner wooden boards. Overall I am pleased that I've been able to get this ready to use in a new outcome.

Identity

This work represents my current experience as an artist with a dual identity. I am an artist, but I am also a teacher. I am an artist-teacher. The three colours, red, blue, and purple, represent this coming together...not quite aligning identity. 

The work takes its colours from Alan Thornton (2013) who states that artists are red, teachers are blue and thus the artist-teacher is purple. 

As my work out where I sit in this identity who I am becomes distorted. Am I an artist to some and a teacher to others? Who am I when I am on my own?

The layer of the text is intended to visually show this distortion and in turn, distorts the reading of the word too.