IMMERSED IN MAKING

I am currently in the process of making my final outcome for the Degree Show and external show at Asylum in Peckham, London. Making five large white faux leather abstract shapes in the hopes they can be interacted with much like children's soft play areas - but large enough for an adult to interact with, inclusive environment for all participants not just the play of children. This is one of my most ambitious piece:

Scale - My largest piece 'Slope' is 1.4m L, 2.5m W, 0.8m depth! This is a lot of area to sew and stuff whilst trying to maintain its intended form.

Material - I am using a faux leather as a substitute for PVC which is what is used in soft play areas. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the material it is tricky to sew on a machine which means I am hand sewing each form - not ideal! Usually with this kind of play equipment, it has foam that is cut to measure inserted in the fabric... this is too expensive for my budget and so I opted for using toy stuffing. Although this is a material I am familiar with in my making it is not as firm as form and will take a lot of time to compact the fibres in the shapes.

I'm surprisingly fond of the laborious process of sewing as it is therapeutic and I think it's important when making tactile-based work to make things by hand. However, one and a half weeks into solid sewing everyday has become nothing but painfully tedious and the scale of the work makes it feel as though I am not getting anywhere. After finally completing the outer material 'shell' of 'Slope' I enlisted the help of my boyfriend, Tom, to help de-stuff previous work and stuff the new shape as due to the scale it would have been a tricky task to complete this soft sculpture on my own. After meticulously planning the day of making, it did not go to plan and it was as if I'd made a monsterous being that was out of control!

DE- STUFFING OLD SCULPTURES

STUFFING OF 'SLOPE'

END OF DAY RESULTS - ONLY STANDING DUE TO TOM PROPPING UP THE SCULPTURE

The stuffing of the shape 'Slope' felt like an impossible task, it required more stuffing than I had (around 10kg) and, unlike my previous work which could be done by hand, this form required the entire body to fill - even then, it looked lumpy and the general form was lost. It did not stand up due to the immense weight and require Tom to prop up the form. It was definitely not playable if it could barely be handled. What started off as quite a humorous task/game where we would kick our legs to push stuffing to the middle base curve, became quickly frustrating. I just wanted the sculpture complete so I could move onto the next one especially with looming deadlines ahead of me.

In reflection, I wished I had filmed the process. It was humorous and presented the shape less as a sculpture but as an autonomous being, larger than life and a consuming form that disregards the aesthetics of sculpture. I've learnt that the process can be playful, play doesn't just have to occur when the 'product' is finished. Tim Stott in reference of Carsten Höller said that"...to express certainty is more ‘pathetic’ and more dishonest than to express experience, doubt and perplexity…” (Stott, 2015:55) . Perhaps I over plan my work and embracing the 'failures' or the uncontrollable haptic nature of making would broaden my practice in a more playful, humorous and honest experience.

Here I have attached a short GIF of a video documentation of my time inside the sculpture forms, completely immersed under the material and using my whole body to fill the space with stuffing.

Monstrous Beings

During recent times, my home has become my main studio space and this has meant my home has become overwhelmed with art projects and sculptures. The many soft sculpture squares from my interim show piece 'Delve' (2021) are stuffed into the spare room of my house, they have become somewhat annoying and, as my tutor described, it has turned into room 101. I wanted to use this experience as an opportunity explore this idea further about object agency and the work less as passive sculpture but beings that take over the space. I began by collection all of the rings together and picking different locations in my house where I would try to stuff as many sculptures as I could into the space. I used a large understairs cupboard, the stairs, bath and my car. I really like that, although I was placing the sculptures, I felt as though I was collaborating with the pink and yellow squares as ultimately they would fall or squish in whatever direction they want. They twisted and fitted through the banister of the stairs and seeped out of the cupboard like a monstrous being. I used low camera angles to connote that the shapes had power, some kind of authority over the space.

I think that the use of the home as a setting made the work more visually interesting as well as relatable for the viewer. Of course the white cube provides a blank surface which is beneficial when displaying work, however, it is devoid to some extent of the outside world and by exhibiting my sculptures in and around the home gives the shapes more agency as they are 'invading' a home rather than a space intended for displayed art. I didn't want to distract the viewer to these images by using more furnished or cluttered areas of the house and perhaps this is from doing art for several years that I want the clearest white cube space I can make within the given location. Maybe if I had of made these photos with other objects in the frame it would have felt more natural, a lived in home as opposed to a blank canvas. But, on the other hand, too many elements in the photographs may have shifted attention from the 'invasion'. In future works and projects, I won't shy away from using my house or other spaces with pre-existing contexts as both object and setting can work together to make an entirely new dynamic.

'Invasion' (2021)

I've really enjoyed the fact that these sculptures are not a gentle or passively playful as what maybe originally perceived of these pastel pink and yellow soft squares, that they've evolved into something menacing, albeit in a humorous almost kitchy way. The squares are not just object but could reflect this idea of the otherworldliness infiltrating it's way through the space. I wanted to play on this idea further, explore the next stage of this sculpture invasion. I use the term 'sculpture' lightly as perhaps now they are passed being curational objects. I've explore the idea of location but I wanted to relate it back to the idea of the space and relationship between the participant and object, the body and material.

I began by setting up the squares into a pyramid in my living room and started to interact with the squares and I had someone to photograph and document different stages of the process - firstly, by jumping in (perhaps this is the curiosity stage) my legs often entangled in the air as if being dragged into what looked like a really odd looking portal or simply a stack of squished cushions. Secondly, using one arm and leg at a time I peered out into the exterior space which could suggest trying to come to terms with a new environment (exploration stage). Finally, it then became about escape as I tried to exit the tower dismantles and toppled over me and I begin to explore again! It is interesting to note, that I wasn't acting through this or saw it as a performance, that it became my way of exploring the sculpture and, in fact, it wasn't that 'friendly'. The sculpture is heavy, oversized and at most times it did feel overwhelming like I was being consumed. I was as if the work was no longer participant lead but directed by the shapes themselves.

Like the previous experiment, I used the space fo the home to 'stage' these exploration of object agency. I did not originally want to make the space feel to clean or devoid of any other context, however, I felt the pyramid didn't have as much impact as the experience of the interaction. I began playing round with using virtual background, one was a white cube space but this felt to clinical. I had several background that I had made for my clay animation and these had the otherworldly quality I was imagining. Cutting out each of the 24 images out I added in a series of clay backgrounds altering from each image, this was surprisingly visually interesting and it made it feel as though this interaction was taking place in a virtual space beyond the safety of the white cube or the context of home. What I've learnt with these experiments is to not take my practice too seriously, that the work can have humor and not be necessarily as polished as a white cube installation but still have impact and reflect my research and developing artistic practice.

FULL VIDEO - https://lucywinnicott.wixsite.com/artwork/consumption

Interim Show Crits

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CRIT W/ ROSIE GIBBENS AND SMALL GROUP

I really liked the style of this crit as I got to see others immediate reaction to my latest film work 'Delve' through a two questions - "What does it look like?" and "What does it make you think of?". The crit was conducted through the text box on Zoom so instead of it being a chatty crit like most, people as soon they thought something about the work would write it down.

It was interesting to see peoples take on the work, things I wouldn't of associated with my practice as well as repetitions in the responses - perhaps the ones repeated were more important/distinguishable when watching. Themes of comfort and connection to the body were key areas of the feedback. I feel as though my practice often tries to emulate feelings of comfort or a therapeutic nature alongside playfulness through soft sculpture and it was relieving to know that people viewed this in my work without being prompted to feel a certain way. The connection to the body, however, I think translated differently to other people than I had originally intended as recently my work has been exploring the sculptures that create attachments to the body - the pyramid sculpture provides a space to be incapsulated in a den-like space but also to be worn like a costume. What I think this work ended up was a feeling of being inside the womb - due to the claustrophobic space and having warm pink and orange hues created from the lights. Although this is not necessarily a negative take on my work, this isn't what I want. Now that i have the pyramid made I want to explore it further - getting others to interact and also document myself wearing the sculpture: How would I wear it? How would it affect movement?

Here are the responses from my work:

Ideas of comfort

Ideas of the connection to the body

What does is look like? Medium, materials, colours, form

· Fabric, Stitching, Craft

· Pastels

· Soft, squishy, comfortable, comforting, candy colours, atmospheric

· otherworldly

· glowing light

· body, sweets, soft, squishy, opening

· Craft, toys, play

· Bodily

· Motherly , Womb

· Cotton

· an opening

· meditating

· Light, sound, slow movement

· Caves

· soft

· crevice

· Therapeutic

· portal

· Intestines

· Saturated red tones

· Opening

· dreamy

· Circular rings, built up, cone, pyramid

· Soft Fleshy Tones

· sewn

· Illusion

· dreamy sound

· balanced

· Stacked

· Like meditation

· Therapeutic

· glimpses of sky

· waiting

· looking

· Playful

What does it make you think of? Emotions, concepts, issues, images, memories

· Relaxing effect from background sound

· pink and warm

· Soft and warm

· Yoga/spa studio

· Womblike

· Whale relaxing sea music

· Invasion, immersive,

· safe

· Protective yet enclosed space

· Calming and tranquil

· New experience

· bunker, protected, loud

· Subtle feelings of entrapment

· Relaxing space to play

· consuming, esophagus

· Gazing into an unfamiliar space

· Never being shown the whole sculpture. Experiencing it in fragments

· Childhood memories

· Sensory room for children with disabilities

· home, dwelling, nest

· Childhood soft play

· Sound is comforting

· I feel like a little person or animal exploring a world way bigger than me

· meditative

· in the night garden

· A game almost like hide and seek

· Feels like I’m on a journey in the set

· curiosity

· Like a man made space similar to natural mountain sky light

· like being born?

· searching for something, something missing/lost?

· Interaction, hand

· Safe space

· Or like being transformed in some kind of way

· hopeful

· glimpse of sky feels hopeful

· Rings, natural forms

· Comforting

· Layers

· Makes me feel confined in a way

· fluctuating, allowed in/out

· When enclosed

· regulated, buzzing

· I want to also be in sculpture

· Contrast between confined and free

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CRIT W/ ANDREA AND SMALL GROUP

In my third and final crit, similar themes of the idea of the womb and the body were apparent as well as the idea of an immersive space that some found comforting but others found claustrophobic/ trapping. I really like Abi's comment about dismantling the pyramid sculpture as perhaps the work shouldn't be physically pre-determined - allowing the viewer control of the structure of the form and subsequently how play takes place.

· It makes me think about being born.

· Something kind of spiritual/sexual about it

· I really like how you've placed the sculpture in the physical, geometric studio space.

· I love how immersive it is, it really gives you this overwhelming feeling of being inside.

· I think the sound works really well.

· I’d like to see the sculpture un-structured as play isn't always that formulated, in my mum's preschool they aren't supposed to tell the children what to play with they let them decide and can end up chaotic but fun and whimsical.

· Could you get inside and try and move it, see how it would struggle and be pushed?

· The video mad e me feel a bit panicky about being trapped inside, especially with the music selected.