A clip of the original video sculpture which is around 20 minutes in length. Materials include an old wine box and around 15kg of gray firing clay. This is the first performance of two (photos of thee second can be viewed below). The recording picked up the genuine and first hand responses of other students in the class, which are, in a way, the life and soul of the sculpture. The process leading up to the making of piece is detailed visually below.
The first action of pushing clay through mesh
Close up of clay pushed through rag
Clay Pushed through food netting
I made this video sculpture when attending the course 'Sideways Sculpture' in Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop from October - December 2016. One of our objectives in the course was to use and document clay's texture and form in alternative ways. I was inspired by the action of squeezing clay through mesh. It was effective in terms of the physical satisfying motion but also the intriguing and complex patterns that emerged as a result. First pushing clay through a rag cloth, then orange netting and then later plastic loofah, I found these delicate and feather-like tendrils. They were at once organic in the action and then quickly lifeless once fallen off of the mesh. I wanted to do the same but on a slightly larger and more permanent scale that would capture the satisfying action and beautiful movement of the emerging clay.
Here are both versions of the installation side by side. The one on the right was made using a handmade box out of plywood with sire mesh secured to the back side. The video of this sculpture is about ten minutes in length. I am hoping to take this work further very soon, perhaps as a live installation or a screening of the original footage. Watch this space.
