A Festive Update!

Since I am coming to the end of my Festive holidays, I think it is time I updated my blog with the final outcome to the remaining briefs for creative practice! I felt as if I tried my best and worked towards the deadline well and efficiently as i completed my final piece days in advance and produced an installation piece which also seemed to be visually attractive as well as conceptually sound.

The Artists Statement

This glass artwork is a direct response to the Alloa brief which required a creative response towards the newly build campus.The material of glass was chosen as this is a material noted for being fragile and from this I want to recreate this fragility into a piece which also idolises density. The glass symbolises the past of Alloa as well as their notable future and the future of the students within it through the opening of opportunities as the glass can be seen to represent, as unlike mirrors, glass enables the viewer to shift between looking at it, and looking through it. This is similar to the mentality of someone focusing on their future potential by studying at the college. Glass as a material can symbolise the formation of realisations that students go through whilst they adapt to further learning, by allowing a clear image of their aspirations to be ‘seen’.

The rectangle shape of the glass has developed from the idea of building blocks which represent the future for Alloa and from research into shapes, the rectangle is a familiar shape which depicts honesty, order and formality and is also one of the most common shapes we ever encounter. This then represents the idea of the bricks representing the ethos of the college through a nurturing sense, something we depend on to further ourselves as well as give order to our lives and the provide us with the formality to build our future and seek out potential opportunities.

The red stringers used in the glass has connotations of courage, as well as leadership and denotes will power which are qualities relating to the pursue of opportunities and without these, this would not be made possible. The orange evokes enthusiasm, creativity, determination, success and encouragement and with this colour, the description of a dedicated student can be realised, devoted to learning and achieving as well as drawing the viewer into the piece visually. Yellow stimulates mental activity as well as having connotations of intellect and energy. In addition to this, it visually captures attention and is depicted as a ‘spontaneous’ colour and adds vibrancy to the design, furthermore it also evokes qualities of the brain as we adapt to learning and by stimulating the brain we are opening up to a better learning experience and without spontaneous actions during our learning pathway, opportunities can be missed. Green relates to growth and nature and suggests stability and endurance as well as signifying ambition within an individual and this can be seen as symbolising the growth of Alloa as a town as this is visible throughout the new building as well as the nature that surrounds it. Amongst these vibrant colours, I have added a contrast to the piece to illustrate that each student is different to the next no matter how similar we seem and this will be done through the use of black and white. White represents purity and goodness and more importantly implies a successful beginning. A touch of white to the piece suggests a new beginning in the right direction for Alloa and the achievement which will be attained through this. Black indicates power and formality as well as strength and the addition of black indicates that in order to find and realise any of these characteristics above, we need the will power and inner strength to seek out these attributes.

The contrast between straight lines and the triangular shape reflects the research undertaken into shapes, and the triangle can be interpreted in two ways, either as an unstable entity or steady strength. By pointing the triangle upwards, I am focusing on the positive side to the triangle yet this shape still evokes a volatile situation in addition to the already fragile material that I am using. The straight lines that stand alongside the abstract form suggests that from chaos, order can be found and as they are also linked with revelations, this coincides with my theme as it is about the revelation of opportunities and potential and the exposure of ideas and stability.

Bricks are used to conceal but my decision to use glass as my material opens up the conceptual thoughts of seeing through any barriers to continue our evolution into our future. The staggered effect will further the concept of bricks, but as I have allowed some of the original glass to be seen, this conserves the thought of preservation of Alloa’s past which has become the foundations of their future through the use of my glass bricks. The glass has links to Alloa’s industrial past and the make-up of the brickwork is significant to the building of a future. I want to draw the viewer in and encourage them to walk to the very bottom of the corridor, to experience every inch of the campus and instead of merely walking past or seeing through the glass, they can appreciate all it stands for and feel stimulated to walk further therefore representing the concept of progressing further to eventually seek out the opportunities that are ahead of us.

What I want the viewer to see from every piece of broken glass is the connection that each crack has with the next. This highlights that although there are many people at the college which the initial crack would be indicative of, each of the individuals is destined to their own pathway and should strive to find their way through anything in their way of achieving what they desire. This also illustrates the fragility of glass, and how this strong structure can be broken at the slightest touch therefore implying that by creating a brick pattern of glass, I am indicating that barriers are made to be broken and as glass is constantly evolving alongside the discovery of new techniques to use with this material, this implies the thought of progression, and how although something may seem ‘finished’, it is never really the end but instead the start of a new beginning.

Pictures of Final Piece

The above pictures illustrate the final glass productions which were made by the same process as my previous maquette which was made using incompatible glass. The only difference in the process was the change of glass which I decided to source all from A&J glazers to avoid any incompatibilities from arising again.

Photoshop

The next picture illustrate the editing that was involved in this project as this was site specific and my glass bricks were made for a specific space and I wanted to bring the piece to life by installing it in the chosen space via Photoshop.

I tried various different options for the placement of the bricks within the chosen space but found this one to work best and display the concept to its fullest.