SArchibald-WrightArt

German Fluxus, Joseph Beuys, was a performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist. Beuys main concept investigates humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; accumulating an extended definition of art claiming “a creative, participatory role in shaping society and politics.” “He is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of the second half of the 20th century.” In 1982, for documenta 7, Beuys proposed to plant 7000 oaks each paired with a basalt stone. The 7000 stones were piled up next to an old oak tree in front of the Museum Fridericianum. The concept seen as a gesture to green urban renewal, the idea was that the smaller the pill of stone the more tees in the cities. The installation took five years to complete over different cities around the world.  “Beuys's concerted effort to physically, spiritually and metaphorically alter the city's social spaces - economic, political, and cultural, among others - is what finally c...

To prepare these questions i wrote down all the things that i wanted to get from the interviews. From this i compacted them together to form concise questions. To test the questions i asked family and friends to check there isn't any closed question and that they are questions that could lead to a in depth, detailed response. Using this information i created the questions bellow, hoping that these will give detailed answers that will be beneficial to my research.  Questions prepared for interviews: .        To what extent do you see yourself as the author of your work? What role might your audience play in this? Is it a joint enterprise? If so, how does this function? examples? .        To what extent do you consider your audience when you create work is it solely for your pleasure or for the pleasure of others? Examples? .        Do you think the audience is necessary to your work? . ...

Looking back on my creative past drawing was one of my main focal points, however this has slowly decreased as i develop my practise into other forms of media. Now drawing is a few quick sketches her and there to trail ideas but nothing substantial or of any detail. Going into the workshop unsure of what i was going to be drawing, i told myself to have an open mind and not to second guess what i was going to draw. In stead i drew the first things that came into mind. Firstly drawing the ginkgo tree, clearly evident as this has been the main focus of my work so far. Once completed i found that i didn't know what else to draw as the ginkgo has been the focal point of my investigation. I then thought about what i enjoy about plants and thought back to when on walks, wandering with no intentional direction; allowing my environment to guide my walking. From this i being noting down things that intrigued me on these walks: Landscape water, steams, waterfalls rock formations, cliff...

Evidence in sketch Book  The aesthetic i envisage for the tree are that of vines. I want it to look very natural with flowing lines that curve round the trunk to then form the branches. Without bending the metal poles to see how they bend and move its going to be hard to work out how construction is going to take place; it is going to be a series of trail and error. I collected a series of images together to give inspiration into possible was i could construct. Personally i like the trees made from just metal rode rather than a built tree trunk. The third picture showing an abundance of metal poles moving in all different directions, is most like what i had envisaged for my own sculpture. Its creates a feeling of ciaos yet it also connotes the feeling of escape and breaking free. This linking back to the bombing of Hiroshima and how there was ciaos and instruction resulting in the yearning to want to break free from the destruction and escape to civilisation also link...

Following on from the idea of filling the tree full of leaves i began to investigate different techniques for making the leaves and different possible materials. Using different paper, fabric and wire to create the most appealing creation. I found out that i must not only consider the aesthetics but resilient as nobody wants floppy leaves. Using the coloured crepe paper meant that i could recreate the act of the leaves in autumn turning from green to yellow which is a spectacle in Japan. Bunches these leaves together making them more sturdy as the crepe paper is flimsy were the leaves presented on their own. I also like the brown paper leaves if they were possibly coloured yellow just with them having more structure to them. Moving on from this i intend to make more of both the crepe leaves and the brown paper leaves hopefully making a branch to attach them to to asses the model before committing to a certain idea. 

Having an engineering background i learnt welding while at college, even then i wasn't to great at it. Knowing that to build a metal tree, welding would be hard to avoid, also wanting to challenge myself meant i must practise before the real thing. Things started off pretty slow yet but managed to get the hang of doing just a simple weld without having to join two pieces of metal together. It did make me think while doing this a possible 'painting' with out using paint but actually welding the design on to a flat piece of metal *IDEA*. When it came to actually welding pieces together i still need a lot more practise. I like doing delicate pieces as well as messy large scale things that are less delicate yet with welding its a delicate process that is messy in a way. Having big gloves making it hard to hold the gun and then not being able to see quite what your doing to then having it happen so fast is something i'm most definitely struggling with. Should it be a ...

Evidence of Sketches in Sketch Book I began looking at the Ginkgo tree from finding the leaf in my families back yard. Keeping the leaf as its unique qualities resulted in me being fascinated and only desiring to explore into this species further. I intend to make a life size structure of the tree in metal as previously discussed - relating back to the first hand witness Akihiro Takahashi, stating that only the metal frame work of the houses at the Hiroshima bombing were left. Not wanting to make the structure as a memorial as such, as i don't see myself to be able to be in such a  position in which i would be able to do; seeing as i have no personal connection to the bombing it doesn't feel right to create such a memorial. Even more so i don't want to impose the fact that i am creating such a piece in honour of eradicating nuclear warfare/energy, although i don't agree with this, this isn't the initial intention for the piece. I want to create somethin...

My initial thought process for deciding to make leaves castes from bronze comes from the notion that these plants are presented as some kind of trophy to cities. By using bronze it gives the impression that its much more precious than casting it in steel. Using a metal material is also taken from a witness account who was there when the bomb went off in Hiroshima. Akihiro Takahashi survived the bombing in Hiroshima and describes the devastation left behind. He describes the buildings only being recognisable by their metal frames, as that was all that was left after the blast. Furthermore the resilience of the ginkgo tree emphasised further by it being the longest living tree deserves to be made of a material such as bronze. Anything other than bronze such as paper, clay or even steel wouldn't be as glorifying and 'prize' like.  Having done bronze casting before to make plaques i felt comfortable enough to take this further ad cast leaves in this material. Firstly i e...