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!
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.
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