Part 4 Reflection on Feedback

I have spent a significant amount of time reflecting on the feedback I received from my Tutor on Part 4 (Tutor, 2021). Overall I would say that the feedback was positive and encouraging. The general course of the work that I am doing seems to be productive, but with plenty of food for thought as scope for improvement.

I’ve decided to respond specifically to some of the comments from the feedback in the following sections.

Developing my practice

I’m pleased to see you have begun to develop ideas and highlighting specific areas of your practice to focus on. Subject matter and context will be key in underlining your practice, so pay particular attention to what materials you use in order to investigate your thematic ideas. (Tutor, 2021:5)

Try to maintain room for the unexpected and keep fluidity within your process to allow things to appear and change. Experimenting with processes will be important, allowing you to relinquish control of your materials and discover happy accidents, which can imbue work with unknown qualities. (Tutor, 2021:5)

Assignment four

Project 7: Relief Sculptures

Write up: Project 7 Bas-relief

Project 8 Casting, internal space/ external form

Note: Updates to the article have been made in response to my tutor’s feedback (Tutor, 2021) on the work. These updates have been coloured to provide an indication of the response.

Making the components

As the instructions suggested, I started by making a set of initial components. Some of these were quite smooth, others heavily textured. Injecting plaster into a balloon was interesting, and made some good bulbous pieces – almost like fruit. These can be shaped somewhat as they start to harden.

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Project 7 Bas-relief

Making a start

The first step was to build a frame and fill it with clay to a reasonable depth. I also tried to ensure that the clay surface started out fairly level:

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Building the frame and filling it with clay

Part 4: Sketchbook

Ideas and experiments

The following shows a range of drawings, mainly ranged around thinking about possible pieces of work. There are a range of media included, and many of the drawings are referred to in the Projects for this part more explicitly.

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On reflection, I have been doing a lot less drawing, in my sketchbook and otherwise, for this part than I probably should. My tutor has commented on this (Tutor, 2020) and it is an area I need to focus on to help my progression. That is as true for general sketching as it is for the development of ideas.

Research point: Casting, internal space/ external form

Tony Cragg (b.1949)

Cragg’s sculpture is often regarded as the ne plus ultra of what was once called concrete abstraction. The restless interplay of shapes and spaces and his use of a range of materials, some with a longer history in art than others (stone, wood, and bronze in contrast to fiberglass, Kevlar, and stainless steel, which are sometimes vividly painted), support this. (KUSPIT, 2004)

Fig. 1. POINTS OF VIEW

Research point: Bas-relief

Baptistery doors, Lorenzo Ghiberti

YouTube video covering the gates:

Fig. 1 YouTube video discussing the restoration of the Gates of Paradise