Grooving exhibition at Motherwell Theatre and Concert Hall

Grooving exhibition at Motherwell Theatre and Concert Hall

 

Grooving exhibition at Motherwell Theatre and Concert Hall

Grooving exhibition at Motherwell Theatre and Concert Hall

Install at Motherwell Theatre and Concert Hall

With the work safely packed in the back of the van, Anne-Louise and I made our way to Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre to install my exhibition, Grooving.

On arrival, we met Isabel who assisted in the hanging of the exhibition.

Once the works were unwrapped, we tested how they would attach to the rods that are the hanging device at the venue. As usual, there were a couple of technical issues, but we found solutions (lets just say that cardboard came in useful...again!)

 Working out the arrangement of the pieces

The arrangement of the works was determined, in part, to the nature of the hanging system and how many rods the gallery has. Although I had made 15 works, only 14 could be exhibited, and so the work that was proving to be most difficult to attach to the rods was left out.

Anne-Louise and Isabel helping with install

I am pleased with how the work looks in the context, and hope to find another venue to exhibit the series.

Monday 2nd September - Batons attached!

As the start of my exhibition at Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre and draws closer, I am now doing the final preparations to the work ready for the install on Wednesday.

I drilled holes in the batons to be inserted into the back of the casts. The screws on the rods that the work will hang from will then go into the batons.

Some of the casts needed a bit of sanding on the back, so I made good use of my rasp.

Batons have been glued into the backs of the works

 

I glued the batons into the majority of the casts, and coated the backs of the remaining four casts in diluted polymer.

I tried to match the front colour of each of the casts with a paint sample card and experimented with different orders of colour. As much as it is useful to do such an exercise without the work (the more I move the casts, the more likely they are to get damaged), the final order will ultimately be decided upon on Wednesday when I have them in the space and decide how many to include and see how they interact with the gallery surroundings.

 

Experimenting with the order of colours

Sunday 1st September - casts revealed

The moment of truth - taking the casts out of the moulds - is always rather daunting, but exciting too.

Casts removed from their moulds and left out to dry

 

Thankfully, yesterday's fears of the plaster not setting were not necessary. I am pleased with the colours, and they work well with the other casts.

I wrapped the other casts to protect them, and when they were piled on top of each other, the layers really complement each other.

 The casts wrapped and piled on top of each other

  The casts wrapped and piled on top of each other

  The casts wrapped and piled on top of each other

I applied more of the diluted polymer to the casts, doing the backs of the casts that I had added polymer to yesterday, and coating the fronts of the casts that I removed from the moulds earlier today.

  The casts laid out to dry after they had been coated in diluted polymer 

I am slightly concerned that the newest casts are still fairly damp as they were only just removed from their moulds. In an ideal world I would wait until they have fully dried before installing, and I hope that adding the polymer to the surfaces while they are still moist will not be problematic.

Saturday 31st August - casting continues

Since my last batch of casts did not set properly, I have been slightly set back from my intended production schedule.

I spent today producing some new moulds, and then creating another batch of 'object paintings'. Hopefully these will set in time!

 Base layer of plaster in the new moulds

I also coated the surface of the other 'object paintings' that I intend to exhibit with diluted polymer. I wiped this on rather than brushing it on as I don't want any brush marks showing.

 'Object paintings' drying once they have been coated with the polymer dilution

There are a few reasons why I am coating the surface with the diluted polymer:

- the surface develops a slight sheen which then emphasises the texture of the mould
- the surface becomes stronger and does not scratch as easily
- the surface becomes waterproof
- the colours retain their vibrancy and tone (as opposed to fading)
 

'Object paintings' drying once they have been coated with the polymer dilution 

As is usually the case before an exhibition, my studio is rather full, and it is getting more difficult to find places to leave work to dry. I certainly need to be careful when walking around the studio.
 

Troublesome Thursday

I've come across a few technical problems today.

When removing the most recent casts from their moulds, I noticed that a couple of batches of coloured plaster have not set properly, and so they would not be of good enough quality to exhibit.

Unfortunately, the pale beige colour is one of the dodgy mixtures, and I included this colour in most of the casts made this week.

I have opened up most of the moulds that I have been able to, and hope that they will dry out now that they are exposed to the air. If the plaster sets as it should, then it will be a huge relief!

Otherwise, I will have to carry on making more casts this weekend in order to have enough to install in the exhibition next Wednesday. I had planned to spend the weekend tidying up the edges, coating the casts in polymer and attaching the hanging fixtures to the work, ready to be packed next week. However, this may be delayed if I need to be doing more casting.

 Casts drying out

 These are a few of the casts that could fully be removed from the moulds. Unfortunately the dark teal front layer of the cast (far left) separated from the other layers, and so can't be included in the exhibition

These fragments came off the edges of the cast with the dark teal front layer

Wednesday 28th August

Today I added more layers to the ongoing casts, and took a couple of casts out of their moulds.

Tuesday 27th August

Today I tested out different concentrations of polymer : water to cover the casts. Although I have added polymer into the plaster, I want to add an extra layer of diluted polymer so that the works will be stronger, the surface will be protected, the colours will retain their vibrancy, and to enhance the sheen on the surface.

 I tested the different dilutions on this scrap sheet of plaster

The stronger the polymer concentrations, the more it seemed like an added layer, and it also became cracked, so I will use a more diluted version.

 This image shows where the polymer has cracked

I also began a new batch of casts, and these are some of the colours I used.

Colours of plaster mixed today

Colours revealed - 10th August

Today I unwrapped all the pieces that were ready to be removed from their moulds. This is always an exciting, but nervewracking process.

I am going to be away from, and will miss, my studio for a couple of weeks while I visit my family, but I am please at the progress I have made this week in readiness for my exhibition in Motherwell at the beginning of September.

casting - 9th August

Today I added more layers to the casts already in progress, and also begun a new set of casts. 

The above casts will by ready to be removed from their moulds tomorrow.

Using the 25cm x 25cm squares for my forthcoming exhibition in Motherwell will allow me to present a range of diiferent colours, and they will be light enough to hang on the wire hanging system used by the gallery.

However, I would also like to try to make some larger scale works using the same process, and so today made a bigger mould and poured the first layer of plaster into it. Increasing the size introduces a number of issues that do not arise when working with the smaller squares. For example, the pieces will need to be reinforced with a fibreglass material in order to give strength and prevent cracking (hopefully). I also find it more challenging to make large batches of plaster that are smooth and lump free. Pouring large amounts is also more difficult, and ideally another set of hands is required to ensure that the plaster is evenly distributed.

Below are some test casts that I have been producing to record the colours made and test out how different colours complement each other.

Plaster squares 06/08/2013

I've been doing more casting today, adding layers to the casts that I started yesterday. I also made a couple of new moulds and will add more layers to them tomorrow.

Today's colour range :

 

 Some of the colour tests that Ive done over the past few days were ready to be removed from the moulds:

Plaster squares 05/08/2013

One of the pieces I made yesterday was ready to be moved from it's mould today, and to my delight, it turned out well, with no cracks!

I am now in production mode, with the intention of creating a series of coloured plaster squares with a single colour on the face, and multicoloured layers around the edges. I have chosen a range of colours to use, so the squares will have different combinations of colours, but these colours will all be in the same range.

Today's colour scheme is:

Ongoing work 03/08/2013

Success!The casts I did yesterday have worked. I enjoy the simplicity of the single colour face of the squares, with the multicoloured layers around the edges.

I begin by casting the square face, allowing that to dry overnight before adding another mould inside the square and filling the rim with layers of colours. The inside mould is the shape of the batons, so once I remove the mould and the plaster is dried, the batons can be placed inside and used to mount the work on the wall.

 

I now intend to produce a series of these works in a given range of colours.

This experiment was also successful, but I would need to use a file to tidy up the edges of the hole.

I was attracted to the colours of nail varnish, and thought it may be interesting to use the nail varnish in some drawings. The surface quality is rather lush, especially when applied to the matt grey plaster.

These are the colours of plaster squares I made today.