Carving Workshop

Thoughts/descriptions/reflections on the carving workshop I did with Quarry House Collective‘s Ellie Brown:

• We began with sifting through found imagery – a particular focus on forms in the images, bodily and organic forms with edges seemed to work best, although perhaps this was influenced somewhat by Ellie’s choice of images as this is what her practice revolves around
• We then set about collaging, finding similarities between different forms, amalgamating etc
• Ellie’s forms were more contained and finite whereas mine where less individual forms and more images sprawling across the page which had lines in common
• The process of taking recognisable images/objects and abstracting them through cropping them felt very reminiscent of what I do with my sculptures – taking fragments of objects and assembling them based on form and shared lines – in some ways I could consider my sculptures 3d collages
• There were pre-prepared blocks of plaster ready for carving – each a slightly different shape or size – even these in and of themselves were very sculptural, capturing the folds of the plastic bag they were cast in etc
• The one I selected was cylindrical which made for nice round edges on the side but did meant I struggled equally to carve the sides as the piece would have a tendency to roll around
• It was also challenging to get away from the initial shape of the block, although this just takes time and patience
• The process is very meditative and really draws you in – you become obsessed with the emerging form and materiality – immersive and hands-on
• Carving is a good medium for capturing the liminal in-betweenness that I am looking to capture, although obviously it is a lot more controlled by my own decision making than the objects I find
• Perhaps I could make plaster sculptures from my assemblages? Making my assemblages more into preparatory maquettes almost?
• Ellie’s work uses carving similarly to create in-between forms that are simultaneously bodily but not recognisable as a discrete body/bodies – I need to ensure if I use plaster sculpting that my work doesn’t steer too closely towards this!
• In chatting to ellie I reaffirmed to myself the need to take my work bigger and away from the glue – perhaps looking more intentionally into more robust methods of assembly, i.e. with a drill and rods?
• How could I incorporate carving into my current work? Could I carve some of the items I find such as the bricks? What would I carve them into? I could carve them so the found objects fit together more snugly? I could also incorporate the drawn element into the carvings, either drawing straight onto the carved form itself or wrapping with clay as I have been doing previously.
• Could I maybe use the plaster as a way of attaching objects together, instead of glue? Perhaps by creating a mold, throwing objects in with the plaster and then carving them out?
• Ellie also mentioned the possibility of joining quarryhouse collective for a residency when they have them up and running which would be an amazing opportunity
• If I wanted to have a go at this myself I’d need a mallet, chisel and plaster