Wk 25 - Water Clock - Montclair Project: EBB // Flow
FIND THE FINAL WORK AT IN SITU HERE -
https://youtube.com/shorts/A19tE408hN4?feature=share
This week really tested the few people who actually put effort into this project. Last minute set ups, refusal to turn up/contribute work, shoddy presentation and general disrespect to Robyn who runs City Flower Garden Studios and Kathryn who manages the Keiller centre. I’m proud of the work I was able to put in but wholeheartedly ashamed of the turn out of the project. I’m not afraid to name names but I think it’s pretty clear who did and who did not support the team.
My professional practice developed a lot over the course of this project doing PR imagery, leading meetings, recording minutes, etc. but will choose to discuss the work I actually made for the project as it is one of the few things I had near full control over and thoroughly enjoyed designing making and presenting.
Evaluation
I learnt a lot in building this piece and for one of the first times had to go through a prototype phase instead of just sketching and development and my thanks have to go to Malcom from Art Practice wholeheartedly as without him there wouldn’t be a project to show.
However there is much I would do before I would say I am finished with this concept. For example,
The waterproofing capabilities of wood is far from ideal especially when it’s not treated properly so any and all leaks are catastrophic to the integrity of the wood itself. Most of this was resolved before the initial exhibition opening and any further problems were sanded and filled out before assessment however to pretend the problems aren’t still present would be ignorant of me
The handles supporting the wood crack under the weight of the buckets once filled with water
The acrylic seals aren’t and never fully were sealed at the seams meaning water flooded through damaging the wood on the first trial run
The water that warped and dampened the wood festered under the lining causing mould spots to develop underneath - safe to say the piece in this iteration won’t likely make it to another exhibition
The plug in the bottom bucket doesn’t drain neatly into a vessel below so would require a tube or pipe to funnel the water safely
I want to play around with light and colour on this piece - in this instance I’m glad I stuck with the monochrome but I always wondered what potential there would be to add a coloured liquid inside or to bounce light off the waters surface to create refractions on the wall. I began to touch on this concept when exhibiting for degree show when I put a milky (non-milk) substance into the bottom buckets. I felt using something more luxurious than water added a sense of intrigue to the piece, made the exchange more sacred and also hid all the ghastly workings under the waters surface!
As for next steps and pieces I would be interested in bringing back the same piece but in ceramics instead - the wood is so beautiful but not only would ceramics be sturdier and less likely to warp I feel it grounds the piece more with a physical weight? I’m imagining large stoneware bowls with dripping oozing glazes layered one above the other. This also opens up potential in building other ceramic water features such as garden items but also bathroom sinks.
I also got feedback from one of the visitors at the exhibition in the Keiller Centre to integrate a pump and remove the manual element of filling and decanting water. This is something I had access too but unfortunately didn’t have time to experiment with fully.
Artist Inspo
wolfgang laib - Milkstone
This work is one that I’ve known about for years - not directly but through a primary school teacher who spoke highly of the piece. Although he is no longer with us he is one of the primary reasons I study what I do and it felt right for this piece to come back to me
Milk stone is a square of cut marble with a thin layer of milk spread across the surface. There is something powerful about the juxtaposition of fluid milk and solid stone held together by a (surface) tension yet appearing so at peace and still.
I want to play more with liquid as a medium and it’s ability to hold and be sculptural and (more often than not) it’s inability to be at rest.