quick project- 16may14

The last couple of weeks have been filled with getting things done in preparation for Collect 2014 and after being away for a week in London, I come back to the studio ready to work. I got lots of great feedback and I'm buzzing with new ideas. While talking to people at the exhibition about my work, the more I repeated and explained my concept, the better I interiorized what drives me to create and why. Especially, I have been pondering on the importance of preciousness and the role this concept plays on the development of my work.  

Preciousness not only represents valuable objects, but more so ideas. I find that my quick projects are precious because they jump start creativity and led to the creation of new ideas. And this friday I treated myself to a day of playing in the workshop to recharge batteries and start fresh.

So this is the particular reasoning behind this quick project: 1.My friend Che gave me one of the porcelain bowls he works with. I was drawn to the material and had an impulse to interact with its form. 2.Engraving or taking away to create pattern. Love how the diamond 'v' wheel creates a pattern that reminds me of leaves and nature-like arrangement. 3.Applying paint to use markings as a stamp. 4.Beautiful prints as product of the engraving. 5.Different mark-making with black pen to create more texture. 6.Cut-outs of the pattern. These remind me as if I was looking into a microscope and seeing tiny organisms. 7-8.From the off-cuts of the paper, played with the paper and created these mini 2D sculptures.

I love to document these type of exercises because these are the starting points to great ideas. Giving myself the time to execute and play around with the material without anticipating the outcome. 

~Photos by julibd~   

quick project- pattern & color blocks

I sometimes find myself repeating this pattern on and on... I wondered why until I understood that this relaxes me. Very simple and effective way to decompress the mind, just let ideas flow and relax. Then again, this is the reason why I do these quick projects.

In this particular one, the words that came to mind when appreciating the outcome were: stamp, rugs, patten & wall mountings... Imagine this on a greater scale, in fabric and woven onto a wall? Ja ja lots of ideas come from one simple sketch and never know what can come from this later on.

~ drawings by julibd ~

quick project- Limón Dulce or Sweet Lemon

Its been a month since I got to Costa Rica for my holidays, and it has been lovely to be able to relax and compare/contrast how different life is here. Not to mention the 20º + weather and constant sunshine and how this is soo different to the scottish one (of course !) ja ja. But this is a great opportunity to really savor and be grateful for our way of life here. 

One thing that I really love from here is that if we fancy orange juice, limón dulce or lemons, we can go out and take it from the tree. It doesn't get better than this (in my opinion). As my vacation is coming to an end, before going back I want to observe my surroundings and record some of the aspects. This is the purpose behind this quick project and hopefully works as inspiration for a new body of work...

ps. Sunshine loves this too ;P
~ photos by julibd ~

  

[ visual thinking ] first week of april

So basically this is me trying to make sense of my thought process throughout my [mix and match] collection. For my final submission, I've been asked to explain what research methods I am using in my practice and I hadn't realized how the Visual Thinking is such a huge part of my artistic process. I am planning on including all these drawings as part of the piece, because I feel these communicate a more playful side to the objects themselves and in the end, communicates the personality of the collection. Hopefully this will encourage engagement, discussion and more creative responses from my audience.  So.. there you go!
~ photos by julibd ~ 

[ in the workshop ] second week of march

The countdown for the Degree Show has officially started now! It is very exciting yet a bit sad how time is running out and my two years of MFA are coming to an end. I wanted to share a bit more of my process and what I am going to be doing these couple of weeks. These are some photos of the works in progress and snapshots of some of the first [ Mix and Match ] nonfunctional vessels. 

{ Visual research and my understanding of the glass piece- Sketch and photo of the Mix and Match component. Alabaster/white color overlay with engraved pattern} Love the thickness and the play of the pattern. This was a gift from Che. He has given me several blanks that he was going to throw away, and I am glad he didn't. I started to saw off into bits and this is where these amazing components came from. 

This pictures above show: - two of the Mix and Match nonfunctional vessels in the inicial 'quick project' stage, - action shot of the saw cutting parts of the mint green blank and - the last one shows all the other new parts from the sawed blanks. I am very excited to start cold working these and playing around to build the other nonfunctional vessels. Laters!
~ photos by julibd ~ 

< Quick Project > Jan. 18th 2013

"Quick Project - Jan. 18th" This mini animated gif shows my thought process in action when playing around with the glass 'rings'. These were engraved this week as part of my component collection. Also I am fascinated with the casted shadow and how it gives a whole new dimension to the simple  engraved pieces.

~ photos by julibd ~ 

< Quick Project > Manufactured glass versus Craft

Ever since I got back from Pilchuck, I tried to practice Michiko Miyake's Quick Project technique. This consists on giving yourself time to do sketches, drawings, collages, pretty much anything, to stimulate the creative process and come up with new ideas without any restrictions from your brain. This is basically trying to avoid sabotage and let your creative side of the brain be the boss.

This is one of the many that I've done since. This is particularly interesting because I am using a bottle mass produced and constructing a new connection to Craft, by engraving unique marks.  

The picture above shows the process from beginning to end. Step 1, 2, 3 & 4.

~ photos by julibd ~