TASK 1
HALIMA CASSELL
Purpose and intent of work: a symbolism of new beginnings
Halima has a deep rich history that she intends on digging into, she inhabits this representation through the act of carving, using this technique to symbolize the idea of unravelling the forgotten history. She enjoys using the natural tones of materials so they can reach their full potential to act in their innate form, this is so tones and texturesare naturally elevated by elemental and other influences such as light, shadow, and rain. A lot of influence had been sourced from her rich heritage largely stemmed from Islamic architecture, modus operandi, and inspired her detailed engravings. Her work is a combination of historical and contemporary building styles with addition of pattern motifs derived from the North Africans and heavily influenced by a Dutch graphic artist, MC Escher. Whilst working on a project she went back to her homeland to draw more inspiration and to allow a fresh perspective of how to further embed her own identity into her work. These findings and exploration into her culture provided her with a deeper understanding of her own background also she quoted that ‘mathematics and the sacred geometry of solids and voids have always been deeply etched into my subconscious.' which has now come to light it informs her passion for creativity. She always seemed to have a high level of understanding when it comes to mathematics, very logistical almost digital-like, and very uniform links to geometrical forms.
Audience:
Whilst showcasing her work, she started to focus on the impact it had to her viewers. From what she had gathered, her recordings displayed an obvious pattern of behaviour relating to gender. Women were more interested in the spherical forms and/ or curvilinear details however males would be swayed more to square and/ or rectilinear details. With these findings in mind, Halima started to find equity between these two types of designs so that she can cater to both genders.
Additional background:
Her works rely on the material itself to decide what shape she will carve. She works with different materials: Bronze, glass, marble and clay. She now becomes interested in cutting more dramatically into the original form. Until not recognisable as a geometric volume. Her first exhibition was in 1993 Howarth Museum, and after that she has lots of exhibitions every year.
Market:
•Halima sculptural pieces can be sold ranging￡5,000-￡30,000 .
•Her ceramic sculptures take between 100-250 hours to complete.
•She sells her works in galleries and high-end exhibitions and collected by museums.
•Her sculptures are one-off, no any one of the pieces are the same.
Referencing:
•Rink,K. (2021) Halima Cassell. My Shrewsbury. [Online] [Accessed on 17 November 2022] https://www.myshrewsbury.co.uk/blog/halima-cassell/
•Halima, C. (2022) Artist Statement. [Online] [Accessed on 17 November 2022] https://www.halimacassell.com/artist/58bff8dfe5b41/Artist-Statement
•Halima Cassell. Rise Art. [Online] [Accessed on 17 November 2022] https://www.riseart.com/artist/29208/halima-cassell
•Araam: Breathing Space, Authors: Fareda Khan [Book]
TASK 3
VENUE: Analyse & Evaluate
Briefly describe the range of work found in this venue, with consideration for range materials, process and price range. Consider the location itself and the intended clientele. How do the range of prices reflect this market?
Answer
Manchester Crafts and Design Centre have a range of crafts selling in the venue, like jewelry, ceramics, glass, paintings and wood-made lamp shades. The price range is wide, can be found middle to high, from affordable crafts to luxury art pieces. The location of the venue is in Northern Quarter, in an area that gathers a lot of artistic young people and in the centre of Manchester, the venue could attract different range of people that have an interest in handmade crafts to visit.
There is a wide range of prices, which means that there are different ranges of people who would buy products in the venue, the prices generally are not low price, people who buy products in this venue usually understand the value of handmade crafts, and see the product as an art.
PRACTITIONERS: Broaden your awareness
Describe the range of practitioners at this outlet. What do you notice? Select a practitioner and evaluate their process, material, colour, scale.
Answer
There are jewelers, potters, painters, and many designers participating in the venue. They are all makers.
I have chosen Jane Blease, she creates wooden lighting, artwork and jewellery. Her process of making has involved laser cutting wood, hand-embroidery and hand-printed and painted real wood veneers, which shows she has many different crafting skills, kind of having mixed media in her works. The embroidery in her works are colourful, she uses rich and primary colour, and has a big contrast colour palette on the wood piece. She has products that vary in size, from a very tiny round piece of jewellery to a very huge wooden lighting lampshade.
MARKET: Develop, understand and Appreciate
Is the work one –off, small batch or mass produced? One range or a series? Does the practitioner offer work in various price bands? Identify the materials and processes used and record the price of work.
Answer
She creates a small batch of work to showcase in the shop, and she keeps her constant series of design, but she prefer create bespoke pieces to commission. She offers work in various prices, from the lowest around 20 pounds to the highest around 364 pounds. She mainly uses wood and paints and yarn as the material in her work.
AMBITION: Reflection
Name two aspects from this task that supports and will develop your own practice in this unit. Discuss reasons for your answer. Identify two steps you will take to achieve this.
Answer
Setting up the pricing and the target clientele for my work will develop my own practice. I will be able to have a scenario of how my work will be in what market. I am quite inspired by Jane Blease that she has different price range for different product to suit different clients, I think I will design different products, and set them into a different range of prices, then will see how the clients react to the products.
TASK 4
I have tried to search exhibitions, competitions and residencies to apply on Artrabbit and Artshub. I have found two that fit my interest. The first one is a residency that will be held in Finland in spring summer 2023, I applied to it because the residency location and the space there is very organic and aesthetic, it would be great to spend a month there and get inspired by the environment there. The theme Back to Basics also brings me an organic vibe, hence the meditation space in the residency location, makes me imagine that would be a great chance to bring my mind to peace and to create and generate any ideas for my work. However, I am not sure I will go in the end if they choose me, because the fee for the residency is quite expensive.
Another event I found on Artshub and have applied for is The Holy Art Fair exhibition in London 2023. There are a few reasons why I applied to this. First, the exhibition is open theme and open media, they are open to all the artists and collectives, which means I am eligible to apply and I think I got a chance to be chosen. Second, the exhibition location is very attractive, London OXO Tower is a great venue to do exhibitions, there have lots of visitors and it is known for having arts and design events. If I can get in, my work will gain lots of attention from the people. Even though the call entry fee is free, one thing I am concerned about is the fee I need to pay if I am chosen, it is at least ￡400 which is quite huge for a student.
I have also found some opportunities outside the open call art jobs websites. I have applied for Thrown Winter Exhibition 22/23, and my work has been selected and included in their online exhibition. It is happening from 17th November to 29th January 2023. I am very happy to be included, I applied to this exhibition because I think my recent work suits the exhibition themes and their aesthetic. Thrown is one of the UK galleries that I really admired, this is a great chance to make my work visible and also a great experience to build up my CV. Thrown targets the crafts market, especially in ceramics, I think I have targeted the right market to get involved in, and this will lead me closer to the ceramics community to recognise me as a ceramicist. I hope in the future I will have a chance to physically exhibit in their exhibition. Below I have included the poster of their event and my piece of work that has been selected.
The Clay Studio - Small Favors 2023
Background
“Small Favors engages artists' creativity in new and exciting ways with the challenge of making pieces on a very small scale. For some artists, the work they create is similar to what they normally make, but at a reduced scale. Others use it as an opportunity to break away from what they create in their daily studio practice. The works exhibited are incredibly varied in material, form, and aesthetics.”
Requirements
Each work submitted must fit within a 4 inch cube. Size limit is 3.75" x 3.75" x 3.75". Artists may submit up to 3 objects.
The example photo of the Small Favors exhibition.
There are some reasons why I choose this competition. First of all, the final presentation of the exhibition is very eye-catching, putting all the small-scale works in transparent boxes on the wall must be a very beautiful scene. I want my work to be part of this huge white wall. I can imagine it would be a fantastic chance to present my work as an artist. On the other hand, I am attracted by the concept of the exhibition, I could have a very playful and unlimited idea within this concept, making an object that fits into the transparent box can be very imaginative, and there could be so many possibilities to explore. I could make something that challenges my creativity.
I choose to join this competition also because I hope I can have a chance to present my work to a larger audience, exhibit my work in The Clay Studio could introduce my work to the ceramics community, to attract the ceramics market audiences. The Clay Studio have a lot of ceramics students, clients, ceramicist, different artists, curators and people from different galleries to visit, so if my work is exhibited in this exhibition, I will have more chance to get more future opportunities.
TASK 2 And Initial Ideas
This competition's major focus is on making small-scale objects. After I read the instructions and requirements of the competition, I have an idea to make an object sized 3.75" x 3.75" x 3.75", to fits in the 4-inch transparent box. In this way, I wanted to challenge the limitations of the size required in the competition. On the other hand, I want to make something different from my regular studio practice, even though I still want to use clay as the medium in this project, I want to make something that is not functional, not identified as homeware or anything that can be used, just an object.
I have an initial idea of making a slab-built clay cube that will fit in the transparent box. I want to make the cube just a bit smaller than the size requirements, approximately 3.5" x 3.5" x 3.5". On the other hand, I have also considered the exhibition wall, if I present my object in the transparent box, I could make an object that can be looked all over around, and if the audience will look at my work from different positions, I want to do some illusion effect on my piece, to make it eye-catching.
This box will be playing around with illusions and patterns. I will create a big contrast of black lines on a white clay body, making different thicknesses of lines on the box to make illusions, when people walk around the object, they will see the lines moving, and seeing it from a different angle will have different effects.
I have drawn some pattern designs for the cube. I will apply some on the clay tester later.
Practitioners That Informs My Practice.
1) Iguchi Daisuke
He use masking tape to create geometric patterning. I found out his geometric patterning is based on the ceramics object's shape. I am interested in how fine and tidy the lines are created using masking tape, this inspired me to use masking tape to create patterns in my project. Using masking tape can create neat patterns, this fits what I expect my piece will look like, I want my piece to look professional and high-end. I also wanted to design the patterns depending on the ceramic object's shapes.
2) Hsian-Jung Chen
He is inspired by the Memphis style of the 1980s. Some of his works included geometric shapes, bright hues of primary and pastel colours, and repetitive patterns. He is also known for using slabs to create simplified forms of everyday things like trees, plants, flowers, fruits and more. I like how he creates a very clean and tidy surface on ceramics using slab-building techniques. He inspired me to use slabs to make objects in my project. I want my piece to be playful and neat.
Making Of Material Samples
I have made some clay tiles for different applying techniques of pattern designs, I want the pattern to appear as clean and neat, so I test some different techniques on the tiles to see which is the most suitable way to make patterns on the surface.
The first test is using tapes to create straight lines, then applying black underglaze on the surface. After I peal off the tapes to reveal the patterns, I found out some of the lines are blurred, because there are small gaps between the tapes, so when I apply the glaze, it slips into the gaps.
Underglaze is very thin and stable, so I think it is suitable for tape pattern design. But just need to make sure the tapes stick tightly on the surface to prevent untidy patterns.
The second test uses wax resist to draw circles on the tile. I have an idea of drawing circles on the wheel, so when I turn on the wheel, my hand holds the brush with wax and stays still, the circles will be perfectly round. The result turns out good, after I draw the circles, I apply a black glaze on the surface. I hope the outcome will be nice and the waxed lines will not be blurred.
At last, I have made four texts using different methods to make lines on ceramics.
The third test also uses tape to make lines, It is the second right one with curve lines. I apply black slips on the surface, then peel off the tapes to reveal patterns. Because I applied it on a bisque-fired piece, the slips start to crack because they can't stick tightly with it. I found out that making curve lines is more difficult than making straight lines.
The fourth test is the first left one, this time I apply two layers of black slips on a greenware tile. Before the whole piece of the tile become bone dry stage, I use a needle tool to carve some lines on it. Using this method, the surface will have the textures of the carved lines, and the lines can be very thin.
I will fire them to see the results.
Fired results.
The result of the black glaze is quite good, the glaze didn't run and the lines are neat. I also like the textures of this test. Another test for the slip is not too good, some chips are off and there are cracks. I should apply the slip when it's in the greenware stage.
Making Of Testers
I try to make the final product in the process below, if this first attempt outcome is not what I wish I will make this a tester, and then I will know what I have to improve in the making for the final product.
I start to make some slabs and then cut them into squares, these will be the walls of the cube. I have used white stoneware clay for this object.
Then I score the edges of the slabs and use clay slips to stick the slabs together. After I secure the slabs, I add a coil on the corner of the box and press them with the tools, to make sure the slabs are sticking together.
After I finish sticking the last piece of slab, I press the cube tightly around the edges and use tools to smooth the surface. I use tools to smooth the edges of the cube to make it as tidy and square as possible.
I drill a tiny hole in the cube to let the cube dry out completely before firing. After bisque firing, I use masking tapes to draw lines on the cube, I decided to make straight lines with varied thicknesses on the cube. Sticking masking tapes on the surface was interesting, and I am satisfied with the process.
After finishing the design of the masking tape lines, I mix black stain powder with water to make black slips. Then I use a brush to brush the slips on the surface of the cube. After brushing several layers and let it dried out, I tear off the masking tapes and reveal the lines patterns on the cube.
Below is a fast-paced video of me tearing the masking tapes on the cube and revealing the line patterns underneath.
The attempt was not so successful, the black slips have partly chips off and pulled off, which means the slips are not sticking on the clay body well. For improvement next time I will try to add some vinegar into the slip mix and mix it with more water so it will have a more even and consistent surface before tearing the tapes out.
Finish Look Of The Illusion Cube
The slip goes off more than before the firing. I have reviewed and realised it is because the slip is not sticking strongly with the clay body, and that is because of the shrinkage between the slip and the clay body, I should apply the slip while in the greenware stage so that they are more similar in the shrinkage, I will try next time to see will that improve my design, to get a more neat and tidy overall look.
On the other hand, I want to try another pattern design next time, to have a stronger vision and try to achieve a more complicated design. This is a good tryout overall.
Reflection
In this project for Small Favors 2023 competition, I have developed skills and understanding for my practice, I have also been considering which direction will my creative practice go.
For the brief, I have considered creating work on a specific scale, and how will it presents in the exhibition. My first thought was to create an object that just fits the scale requirement of the exhibition, to challenge the brief. As the brief does not have limitations for the work submission, I want to create a cube that has no function but just an object focus on visuals and scale. I found the brief challenged my creative thinking, making a small object allows me to experiment on a small scale, and after experimenting, I could make a bigger version of this object, which I think is a good practice for me.
For the material samples, I created clay tiles to test four different surface decorations, and a cube tester to test the actual look of the final piece. I have used black underglaze, black slip, black glaze to create contrast with the white clay body, apply these materials in different methods, such as using masking tape to create patterns, using wax resist to create patterns, and sgraffito decorations. As I want to create neat and big contrast line patterns in my work, I have to look at the outcome and decide which method I can use. I am satisfied with all the methods, but for this project, I will use the masking tape method to decorate the cube, because I like the tape peeling process, and using tape I can create more different patterns.
In my creative practice, I want to create high-end art pieces and be a professional ceramicist. Understanding different ceramic creative techniques and being able to find my own way to do ceramics is important, so this project allows me to do more experiments and also gives me some chances to join the competition to slowly find my market.
