Detail of skull drawing
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Detail of skull drawing
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Drawing on/in/with concrete
1 June 2020
The experience of drawing on/in/with concrete is a pleasant one. The physicality and the mess is considerable but I want to go big. I’ve worked with small pieces before and the recent act of drawing on my concrete slops reminds me of this.
The coarse drag of the pencils/graphite blocks on the surface of the concrete; the unevenness; the not-knowing what will happen and the sense that my body/experience is working with the materials. Nothing is in charge - all aspects are working together. One is not more important than another.
But the experience is not like drawing on paper. I can’t just start in with graphite but need to construct the drawing surface first.
1 June 2020
The experience of drawing on/in/with concrete is a pleasant one. The physicality and the mess is considerable but I want to go big. I’ve worked with small pieces before and the recent act of drawing on my concrete slops reminds me of this.
The coarse drag of the pencils/graphite blocks on the surface of the concrete; the unevenness; the not-knowing what will happen and the sense that my body/experience is working with the materials. Nothing is in charge - all aspects are working together. One is not more important than another.
But the experience is not like drawing on paper. I can’t just start in with graphite but need to construct the drawing surface first.
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This means moving into a planning, scientific objective mode. I research sizes of shuttering; research weights; research the chemistry. I already know what can go wrong - I have done this before. The weight will be a problem; cracking will occur. How will it be stored / transported?
I make a decision to start with polymer concrete which I know and understand well. I may then move to cementitious concrete. Chemistry!
I want the grayness and the smell of cement but I want the flexibility and toughness of polycrete.
Coincidentally - the builders will be throwing the slab for our new studio cottage next week. (March 2020) I am impressed with the pattern/texture of the reinforcing mesh - I want that!.
I set up the mesh on my shuttering and notice that design elements are operating … work with them.
I make a decision to start with polymer concrete which I know and understand well. I may then move to cementitious concrete. Chemistry!
I want the grayness and the smell of cement but I want the flexibility and toughness of polycrete.
Coincidentally - the builders will be throwing the slab for our new studio cottage next week. (March 2020) I am impressed with the pattern/texture of the reinforcing mesh - I want that!.
I set up the mesh on my shuttering and notice that design elements are operating … work with them.
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I use the building site for materials as the borehole drilling brought up some beautiful rusted ochre. For toughness I use calcrete. I choose not to use graphite powder yet as I am running low. That can go on in the final layer. The application of the grey polymer uses gravity to move it around and I lift edges and tilt and watch and move my body to work with gravity. This is painful! My shoulder hurts…
I have to make two pours - a total of 2kg. I need to watch the weight. I realize that there is no orientation … the shuttering is square. I keep rotating it while the polymer sets. Balance the rust ochre; balance the calcrete; balance the mesh; balance the colour flow - grey, black, white, rust.
I am reminded of the colour that fell off the oxidised copper pipes of my one pair of concrete slops. I want to use that again and think it may provide a visual link. I might also use some copper metal. I find a box of copper clouts in my studio…..hmmmmm.
I have to make two pours - a total of 2kg. I need to watch the weight. I realize that there is no orientation … the shuttering is square. I keep rotating it while the polymer sets. Balance the rust ochre; balance the calcrete; balance the mesh; balance the colour flow - grey, black, white, rust.
I am reminded of the colour that fell off the oxidised copper pipes of my one pair of concrete slops. I want to use that again and think it may provide a visual link. I might also use some copper metal. I find a box of copper clouts in my studio…..hmmmmm.
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12 June 2020
Before I start in on the addition of copper, I need to remove all the surplus calcrete and red soil. Brushing doesn’t work as all my dust masks have been used as virus filters! Fortunately a big industrial vacuum cleaner made the slab a dust free zone. See Excavation video. The experience of exposing the surface is intriguing and feels like an archaeological dig. Cracks, crannies, altered colours of aggregates surface and suggest textural responses. I simply don’t know where the slab is headed but the chemistry seems to be leading the way. Embodied experience makes the process satisfying instead of terrifying. My body ‘knows’ what is going on and only requires my mind to kick in for times of pre-planning. E.g what might I need tomorrow? Do I have it? Need I buy it? |
Once the excavation is finished, I work back into the surface with a thick polymer slurry as I respond to the textured, patterned and coloured clues. The slab is square, so I can walk around it and understand that there is no ‘up and down’. At the end of this process the surface is buried again under piles of soil and calcrete. I feel lazy so don’t excavate but start hammering in the copper clouts with only the patterned mesh as a clue.
As I hammer, I experience another ‘aha’ moment as the resonance of the hammering arranges the loose aggregate into harmonic patterns. I don’t need to think where to put the next clout as I just follow the patterns that the act of hammering is setting up for me. See Hammering video. |
Small piles of calcrete form from the harmonics of the hammering.
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A harmonic landscape!
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The next step is to integrate the concrete with the images I have collected about WATER. I will use big blocks of graphite as a start (because I like the scratchy sound) and then allow my 'fluctuating thinking' to flow in and around the slab.
Christine Hansen (LINK) talks about how this way of thinking allows a depth of not-knowing that develops a sense of trust in the process. Where I end up will be where I need to be.
Another thinker who has influenced me is Tonkinwise (from Studies in Material Thinking) who writes about the the notion of ‘affordance.’ An affordance is an ‘actual possibility’, a ‘promised action opportunity.’ All I need to do is catch these affordances as they occur.
The materials will set up opportunities that my experience and my body will recognize.
Christine Hansen (LINK) talks about how this way of thinking allows a depth of not-knowing that develops a sense of trust in the process. Where I end up will be where I need to be.
Another thinker who has influenced me is Tonkinwise (from Studies in Material Thinking) who writes about the the notion of ‘affordance.’ An affordance is an ‘actual possibility’, a ‘promised action opportunity.’ All I need to do is catch these affordances as they occur.
The materials will set up opportunities that my experience and my body will recognize.
I remember doing something vaguely like this on vinyl in 2017? for an exhibition on Art & Architecture. The collaged pieces were from an old history of architecture book.
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Tonkinwise clarifies this 'body-memory' in the previously mentioned article. We don't know we know until our body starts making and then the déjà vu moment occurs. It will be interesting to see if - at the end of the concrete work - there are any correlations. |
Neith Moore, Corrugated Cathedrals, charcoal, collage on vinyl, 30 x 30cm, 2017.
Cameron Tonkinwise - in an essay on Carter's Material Thinking - hones in what is important to me. He says … “Makers know. They know, or feel like they know, when they are making something new, something that others will consider significant, others who share their making practices, but also others who are only an audience to the made. They know that they know, or feel that what they are feeling is type of knowing because there is a surety, a certainty, that is crucial to the process of making, of making decisions, of deciding what is to be made out of all the possibilities and unknowns at play when making. Only a kind of knowing, feeling like one knows, lets making happen; without the confidence of a knowing, without being able to trust that one knows what one is doing, making would be lost or paralyzed, merely mucking about, amassing options without any criteria for selection.”
Concrete reacting with acid.
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Original copper from the 'Concrete Slops' series.
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15 June 2020
Chemistry experiments are underway again today.
This means moving away from art-making in its so-called pure form. Although my body and experiences are important, I am more aware cognitively of protecting my body:
- don't inhale the fumes (from the acid)
- don't give yourself a chemical burn (acid and hydrogen peroxide)
- wear face and clothing protection against sputtering and splashing (on reaction)
Here the use of colour on the slab is out of my control. The material of copper, acid and peroxide form the colour. I can influence this by what I add; by tilting and allowing gravity to induce runs; but not by brushing. I want to keep out of this process to allow the materials to 'do their own thing', but I find this very scary. I'm used to being in control... I hate being out of control. I imagine people watching me and thinking that I don't know what I'm doing... that I can't do this. Imagine trying to do something like this at school!
Chemistry experiments are underway again today.
This means moving away from art-making in its so-called pure form. Although my body and experiences are important, I am more aware cognitively of protecting my body:
- don't inhale the fumes (from the acid)
- don't give yourself a chemical burn (acid and hydrogen peroxide)
- wear face and clothing protection against sputtering and splashing (on reaction)
Here the use of colour on the slab is out of my control. The material of copper, acid and peroxide form the colour. I can influence this by what I add; by tilting and allowing gravity to induce runs; but not by brushing. I want to keep out of this process to allow the materials to 'do their own thing', but I find this very scary. I'm used to being in control... I hate being out of control. I imagine people watching me and thinking that I don't know what I'm doing... that I can't do this. Imagine trying to do something like this at school!
An A4 sketch of some 'water' solutions around me will provide a visual reference to start some graphite drawings once the chemicals have settled down. I postulate that scale changes may also prove effective when I start drawing.
Neith Moore, Tap drawing, 2020, graphite on cartridge paper, 30cm x 21 cm
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Tank photo, 2020
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Yet untitled, Soil, calcrete, graphite, copper, chalk, mesh, fibreglass tissue on a polycrete slab. 150cm x 150cm
More chemistry and more drawing today. The polycrete slab seems to spend most of its time being corrosive and WET!
My hands are burning from the chemicals even though the pliers are there. At least the graphite block and the chalk are not vicious.
Keeping my focus on WATER!
Concrete drawing - Water - 1200mm x 1200mm
I'm using photos I've taken of the intricacies of developing a water supply from scratch. The web of pipes will occupy an illogical space and I'm rotating the concrete slab as I go to destroy any representational 'up and down'. and illusions to landscape. I'm conscious of my position as a 'privileged White woman' in a context that I can do something about getting water and I'm not at the mercy of relying on an erratic and expensive supply.
I find that the mesh and the overlapping of pipes is starting to provide some structure although I'm still relying on chance.
I find that the mesh and the overlapping of pipes is starting to provide some structure although I'm still relying on chance.
Jeanette Unite, Geo-Logic, 30cm x 30 cm
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I followed up on the lead Kathy suggested on Jeanette Unite.
Very inspiring! She works within the mining industry and manages to balance the materiality of the geological samples with mining imagery in a way that enhances meaning. " ... artist Jeannette Unite has been developing a highly personalised subject matter out of the public face of mining operations, recycling detritus leftover from industrial sites as pigments ground into her drawings and paintings." LINK to her website. |