Monday 18 March 2024

Construction

After cutting lots of paper and cardboard templates, finally I can start making. I am starting with the tallest piece as (I'm thinking) that one will be the biggest challenge:




First problem is solved - keeping the slab of clay upright and vertical:


Adjusting the thickness of clay that can be extruded for constructing the wall. I like the bevel  edge on the extruder die, it will speed up construction and minimize handling: 


First and second row in the making:
\


And another template, this one to keep the curve consistent:


First piece:


My plan seems to be working well so far:


The one on the left is just made, and the one on the right has been refined:









Sunday 17 March 2024

Conception

 How does a sculpture start? For me, it starts with the inner search, “brainstorming”, listening to the inner dialogue, rummaging through the thoughts, ideas, images… picking them up and examining them…. are they good, suitable, interesting, worthwhile, achievable…. what do I want to say and how do I want to say it…..

And slowly, from that soup of chaos a concept starts emerging. It takes time.

This one started with the framing of the space; ellipses reminiscent of the galaxies:


and perhaps of Stonehenge:



It need to grow bigger to have presence in the outdoor setting, however the components could not be bigger than my kiln space. Solution: split them in 2 and create a gap:




It means twice as many pieces, but visually more interesting shape. And
the wider ones should be shorter, and narrower ones taller:

It is a good start.







Wednesday 28 February 2024

The World Within, Sculpture By The Sea Cottesloe

 

Sculpture by the Sea is an amazing event. This year it celebrates its 20th birthday at Cottesloe, Western Australia. It has an older sister event at Bondi (check David Handley’s SxS story here).

Previously I have applied and participated in 5 SxS exhibitions in Cottesloe and 2 in Bondi.

This year I had the honour to be invited to participate at the big “20” at Cottesloe, and without that invitation this sculpture would not exists, I would not push myself to and over the limits to transform the intangible into the tangible.

If you are in Perth WA, come and see the exhibition. It has an enormous creative energy and it nurtures and supports many local, national and international creatives and artists. Not only the exhibiting artists, but also the tour guides, educators, volunteers and site crew. Most of them are artists themselves. See you soon at Cottesloe!



Monday 7 November 2022

Emergence - beneath the surface

 Emergence is currently exhibited at Venice art biennale

Personal Structures - Reflections exhibition by the European Cultural Centre

23.4-27.11 2022

in Palazzo Mora



Here is a video work by Aliesha Mafrici

Emergence Beneath the Surface:




and another one by Jesse Collins

filmed in ClayMake Studio







I hope that you like it



Tuesday 8 February 2022

Emergence

My new work: Emergence is finished and ready to leave the studio. Today I will show you a few images of the finished work, and later on I will share behind the scenes and work in progress shots. For those interested, the work will be wall mounted. It is 3.3 m wide and 1.7 m tall. It is mostly wheel-thrown and fired to cone 6 in an  electric kiln.



At ClayMake Studio


My work is largely inspired by microscopic images of pollens and planktons, corals and natural structures.

There is such diversity, rhythm, playfulness of form in those tiny objects, but what intrigues me most is the abundance of little individual variations, complexity of the form and their beauty.

To me those forms symbolize life. Universal life.

I play with the idea that natural objects on different scales share the similarities and visual language we intuitively recognize and respond to:  we are made of the same materials and share the same origins and the environment. All living organisms on the planet are intricately connected.  






In this work, I am exploring the transition between order and disorder, process of change and transformation, edge of chaos as a creative force. I am referencing complex adaptive systems – such as ecosystems, societies, and economies – systems that maintain themselves between randomness and consistency where they can somehow use both in order to configure and reconfigure themselves, evolving to become more complex.







“But understanding emergence has always been about giving up control, letting the system govern itself as much as possible, letting it learn from the footprints. We have come far enough in that understanding to build small-scale systems for our entertainment and edification, and to appreciate more thoroughly the emergent behaviour that already exists at every scale of our lived experience.”

Steven Johnson, Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software


LABYRINTH - a book.....second half

 
















Labyrinth was exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2021

LABYRINTH - a book .....first half