Studio 2: Project II: Larger Than Life: The Performance Critique

I mixed the royal icing fresh on the day of the performance so that I was in the mindset that I usually am when baking. The icing was applied thickly with the same wooden mixing spoon which gave it a dripping texture when left to set vertically. The royal icing made the mask more fragile as when it was set it would crack under the slightest pressure. I feel that the texture added to the eeriness of the mask purely by its appearance. 

 

On the day of my performance we had an attending visiting artist named Rachel Price. Charlotte, who assisted me in the performance, decided to give me to Rachel to guide which she was quite surprised about. The performance was an extremely uncomfortable experience for myself, because of the heaviness of the mask and the lack of sight, and for the audience because of the awkwardness that reflected off of my and onto them. What stood out to me the most was how heightened my other sense became within a few minutes of wearing the mask. Any bumps on the floor were suddenly mountains and basic rays of sunlight felt like the Sahara desert. I found that the most interesting instruction given to me was to “turn towards the heat” because of how clear it was to me due to the differences in temperature when the sunlight was on me and when it was not. When discussing my performance I attempted to put forward the idea that I am not a feminist artist, although everything about this piece points towards it. Rachel told me that to move this piece forward I could add a comical effect in which I throw pies randomly during my lectures at my lecturers. During the whole critique Rachel really drove the point home that art should make you feel uncomfortable, and this is something that definitely would. Perhaps to begin with I could throw the pies at the walls before the lecture or during. However, while I enjoyed having an interactive audience, I do not think they participated enough, and so for my next performance I will take away the senses of my audience and instruct them. 

Studio 2: Project II: Larger Than Life: The Performance

I removed sight because both in art and in life, we rely so much on our ability to see, and removing the sense of sight heightens our other senses. If we only used sight, so much of what goes on around us everyday would be lost, from music to the smell of freshly-cut grass to the feeling of a hug from a best friend. By removing sight, we are able to experience so much more art, and really and truly see things for what they are, and not just as they physically appear, and by relying on our other senses, our appreciation for other arts, not just fine arts, is deepened and intensified. One of these other forms of art is pastry arts, and I am a baker as much as a student of Fine Art. Baking requires so much more than sight, and arguably requires all these other senses first. you need sound for all baking’s onomatopoeias, touch for textures, taste to make sure everything is done right, smell for the olfactory part of it, and finally sight more for convenience and presentation points than anything else.

To improve on this piece, I would record the sounds of the practice of baking process, and create a sound piece of them to play over the performance.

Studio 2: Project II: Larger Than Life: Wearing the Base

With help from Daisy and Mara I was able to try on the headpiece with the gingerbread and the cupcakes on top. It was very uncomfortable and heavy to wear. The ‘tray’ was not supported enough and so the weight proved too much, causing the support to buckle.

 This was fixed by reinforcing the ‘tray’ with cardboard and more modroc underneath. The mask was then covered in two layers of latex so that it would be safe to eat the icing which would cover the mask, as well as the cake placed on top of the tray.

Studio 2: Project II: Larger Than Life: Creation of Headpiece

With help from Mara, I wrapped cling film over my face and around my head so that the modroc we used to create the base of the headpiece would not damage my skin. I held cling film and damp modroc firmly against my head so that when the material dried it would not be too loose and the way that it fitted my head would not be affected. Many layers of modroc were used to create a mask of my face, so that we could be sure it would not break when I would attempt to put it on during the performance.

After creating a base for the mask I covered it in both white icing and marzipan to test different materials. Similar results were found in that they did not set/ dry entirely, and they both made the mask extremely heavy which would make the it uncomfortable to wear. Both materials slid around on the base and so I need to find an edible material that will secure the material I layer on top of the base in place. On the positive side, both materials were very easy to mould to the shape of the base but practice would be needed so that the finger prints that appear on the material would not be too obvious. 

Mara and I curved modroc around a piece of a toilet roll, which created the shape to smoothly connect the tray. This created a fan-like shape around the edge of the scalp that will act as support for the base of the tray. The tray was attached by wrapping modroc around a piece of cardboard. This was then held in place as more modroc was used to connect the mask and tray together. 

 

Studio 2: Project II: Larger Than Life: Bobby Baker Response

Bobby Baker was the artist who I felt most connected to and whose work was most relevant to practice within the list of artists that was given to me in my one-to-one critique with my tutor. I was extremely fascinated with her “Cook Dems”, in which the artist covers participants in a variety of edible materials for a set of performances. So in response to this I set up a mini studio space in my bedroom and had a volunteer who allowed me to paint her with honey, strawberry jam, and chocolate spread, using only a mixing spoon. I wanted to attempt this in the way that you may do life drawing. The honey acting as chalk, highlighting the lightest areas; the chocolate spread as coal, noting out the shadows; and the jam being used as a blend for the mid-tones. 

From this, a peer suggested that I look at their older brother’s MA website.

 

Studio 2: Project II: Larger Than Life: Cake Wire Sculpture

 

I was given the task of creating something larger than myself and about myself. I chose to focus on my passion for baking as I feel it is a large part of my personality. Chicken wire was used for the shape because it is a material that is used to keep animals safe inside and this reflects the safety and familiarity that baking gives to me during this large turning point in my life of beginning my first degree. 

Studio 2: Project I: Junebugs are Crawling in the Yard

For Studio 2’s first project we were separated into groups to create a 3 minute video, based on our given title, and filmed only with our phones. We were given the title Junebugs are Crawling in the yard. Immediately Robin began to think of collections of people scrambling through densely populated places. We then looked into the title to decipher the meaning and came back with junebugs being associated to scarab beetles, so we set out to film bugs that would scramble as the humans would.

Our final piece combines the chaos of human society with that of the bug world.

Feedback:

– Tone down editing

– Reductive

– Message was clear

– Perversity of humans as vermin

– Sharper, more suprising

– Animation of bugs

– Repetition

– More detail in storyboard for information