text catalogue of sculptures by Trev Val dolphin
used in conjunction with the (text info) links in gallery of sculpture by Val dolphin...| scroll to: this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 01 |
on compilation of the web site....
This piece was the result of my first creative interaction with amorphous, sensual
mud since childhood, following several years' immersion in 'solution'-orientated
electronics which had left me burnt out. Naïve, yes, but it whetted my appetite for explorations
which resulted in the works which follow.
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
The result of my first contact with clay since primary school. Templates
were used to mark out rolled clay for the scene and the lettering. Handling
the clay reconnected me with my feelings of vulnerability in both classroom
and playground: my creativity restricted by the same rule as boisterous
peers who had more interest in war. (What's changed?) A memory of the chewy
marzipan texture of St Thomas Body inspired me when considering media to use
here. My impression of the castle from C S Lewis's Narnia Chronicles.
Commissioned as the nameplate of my sister's house, Cair
Paravelle. Cair Paravel in the books overlooks the sea, hence the seagull
with sun-glasses against the cumulus cloud.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 02 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
A piece resting securely on a wide base, broken away, narrowing before
developing into an exploration of mammalian and floral form. Coiled,
burnished. Deep bronze-brown dappled exterior. Red membrane within. So,
here I go. The cautious beginning of a journey. I remember overhearing the
intonations of a bystander glazing her flowers as I sprayed on my raw black
manganese oxide that sucked perception of the surrounding room into it:
"...he's obviously into orifices isn't he..." I would have loved to keep the raw matt black
after firing but due to the limitations of both my knowledge and the firing
process I was unable to achieve this. I expect you could find some orifice
in this piece to display the genitalia of an angiosperm.
on compilation of the web site....
What more can I add? Only that the main reason I did not throw it away was
that I was still finding making such things relatively challenging.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 03 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
A literal and graphic expression in ceramics of my fascination with
symmetry, particularly of the bilateral kind displayed by many living
organisms. I find the appearance of plasticity - flexibility - as applied
to symmetry particularly satisfying to study. I also wanted to do some more
of that lettering with templates after Cair Paravelle because I enjoyed the
way the blade moved through that groggy old St Thomas: like chewing
marzipan... Fired at The Queen's Park Centre, Aylesbury, England.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 04 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
A reaction to Asymmetry. A more organic exploration of a form revealing
glimpses of another interior between its mantle and apparently exposed
inner parts. Coiled and slabbed. The fused oxide presents interesting
metallic bronze-like effects in strong light. A companion of Flower Holder.
Fired at The Queen's Park
Centre, Aylesbury, England.
on compilation of the web site....
I have brazenly messed around with the images of this work, treating them
as a further part of the artistic process. The image on the main
p3d page is reversed out (black made into white and vice versa).
Some years ago I discovered that I responded to this image reduced to three
colours: white, a spectral colour and black; perhaps something to do with the
consequent accentuation of form. The obsessional 'fun' page
includes several of these three colour images plus two reversed-out ones
and two more or less unadulterated ones, of which one is intentionally left
electric blue by my camera flash, and the other earthy in incandescent
light. All the images on the 'obsessional' page link to a screen-size
unadulterated image: an oblique rear and oblique front view juxtaposed. In
case you are in any doubt, there is only one of this work.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 05 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
An experiment into ways of reproducing the effects of weathering and
antiquity upon surfaces and forms. A grotesque but satisfying preliminary
game with rotational symmetry... Coiled, pinched.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 06 |
Commentary:
A use of the exfoliated, weathered-look surface and rotational symmetry
explored in the previous item. A candle-holder to cast interesting shadows.
In conjunction with the matching finned pot, a vaporiser for fragrant
oils.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 07 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
The climax of an affair with limited rotational symmetry. A mottled red
seven-toed webbed foot inspired by an aquatic bird; a dappled green,
reptilian, egg-like belly with eleven noses-cum-fins-cum-handles, fused
with a swan-neck - see Item 14 - culminating in a cactus flower stopper.
Its neck bears the scar of being left near the kiln room light switch! The
thick matt glaze probably provides a significant part of the strength and
thickness over some areas of the belly, so the form is very light, most of
what weight there is being in the foot. Coiled body construction... and
I've not constructed anything coiled since!
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 08 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
The form was worked extensively from a single 4-5 mm slab draped over a
rolling pin. The resemblance to a horned skull was intentional, although
bone-like cracking and deformations were incorporated. The cracking
occurred while I was discovering how thin I could sand then burnish the
horns. An earlier attempt at Item 13, Hornstraps.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 10 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
As with most of my work, planned carefully at the sketch stage, but with
room to improve as I go along. Began life as two slab pots, which were then
connected by narrower female hips. I did not want to make allowances for
viewers' attitudes to sexuality - just do it quite blatantly. My biggest
assertion to that date - using ceramics - that my spontaneous inclination for
sexual and sensual expression is unreservedly 'ok'. I realise that
depending on your culture or 'sub-culture' you may agree or disagree. I
made this form to enjoy looking at and would like you to have that
opportunity, too. In its archaic symbolism, the black may be a
controversial colour. I would like you to see the light, depth and beauty
in it. It was intended to be matt, but I saw the gloss as compatible with
my original concept, and so resisted the inclination to sand-blast it
flat.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 11 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
Thrown, turned and pierced. Colours sprayed on, then dipped. The colours
were intended to bleed through. The matt white was too thick and impervious
and blistered instead. They were redeemed by rolling against each other to
crush off the blister and reveal a speckling of the glossy colouring
beneath.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 12 |
based on the catalogue of the work's original showing....
Intended as one of a family of companions for the Flowering Bird Bottle.
The other Uyerghphoonts remain, as yet, on paper. Their name is suggested
to me by the noise made by blowing across their mouth, the long neck and
mouth being a feature they all have in common. The base was thrown and
joined to the neck. All the Uyerghphoonts have round bottoms intended for
standing in sand - inspired by the uncompromisingly beautiful shapes of
ancient pots made for use where firm, level surfaces
to place them upon were probably uncommon and the extra strength and
pleasure of handling the vessel more important.
This object was referred to by one critic, I seem to remember, as "obtuse" or a
word that sounded very similar, which in no way describes its shape. I sort of agree....
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 13 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
A remake of Desolation - with a new identity which has far
transcended that of the original. The shape was the first in which I
consciously strove to achieve more than one meaning. I found the smooth
white stoneware far more enjoyable to work than St Thomas. I joined two
large sheets and a base to make this, rather than the one sheet used in the
first attempt. I used templates to cut the sheets before joining them. A
far more smoothly executed and more graceful construction than Item 8.
Scraped, sanded and finally
steel-wool finished. It resisted many horrendous knocks after firing, with
a wonderful glass, bell-like chiming: it is not much more than 2 mm thin in
many places. Then I tried drilling a hole in its base to secure it to its
stand for my Aylesbury exhibition, and split one corner off it, with just a
little too much pressure of the masonry drill tip. The clean fracture lines
follow the contours and hence stress lines beautifully within the precisely
shaped material.
on compilation of the web site....
When I was offering this work for sale, I put the price up in view of the time taken to
do the breaking and remaking. I still enjoy the work enough to consider maybe making bronze or stainless steel castings of
it as if it were never broken, with the same satin or a mirror
finish. I realised it was an ideal piece for casting while miserably
contemplating its damage...
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 14 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
Coil and slab hybrid construction. Begun whilst still making major steps in
becoming familiar with the medium. The third form I made began immediately
after Tucked as a response to her femaleness. Shows my prevailing interest
in the revealing, cut-away edge. I developed the hand made, tubular phallus
as a light and strong way of creating a handle. The technique of making the
tubes is used in several pieces already mentioned. The would-be handler
thus immediately encounters the cultural taboos around the penis. I
actually used it to resolve some of my own hang-ups! The damn thing sat on
the top shelf in my studio for five months be fore I dared take it to get
it fired! By way of technical counter- point: also a game with interiors,
orifices and exteriors, of a type known as a Kline Bottle, I think. The
glazes did not work as I'd intended. Instead of sharpening up the red on
the inside, the underlying white reacted to give a dull liver brown, and
the matt Woodland intended to knock the shine off the Rockingham fused into
it and went mottled. Maybe I'll have another go at stoneware glazing one
day...
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 15 |
Construction was slick and effective, all-sheet. Took about two working days. The symbolism was not as easy to piece together as the clay with this one. A satisfying form and finish...
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 16 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
A piece combining elements of Doll With Fins and Hornstraps. The outer
jacket was wrapped around while plastic, and surplus material removed as it
hardened. Originally symmetrical, it lost one wing during its birth.
I used black cellulose paint as a water-resist while
making the embossed markings by sponging the dry but unfired clay
where not covered by the paint.
The parts of the form correspond roughly to: armour,
or cape, decorated with breasts, splashes of milk, intestine, hand, foot,
mouth, teeth, eye, or moon and bird, liver and claw symbols; torso, with
breasts or beaks or arms; and head, or phallus or tongue or faeces or a
being during birth. The whole piece is intended to illustrate that
emotional response to a form is determined by previous experience or
conditioning and not just by the inherent characteristics of the form.
Thus, for instance, the opposed pointed elements may be seen as aggressive,
sexual, nurturing, well formed, malformed or humorous, or any or all of
these in rapid succession depending on the experience the viewer is
relating them to. The piece is not stoneware fired as I love the purer
white of the material in this less oxidised state; it has, however, far
less strength. It may be suitably glazed and fired, eventually.
The vivid colouration of this image was obtained by by manipulating it with image processing software. Every image on this site has been edited in some way - but unless stated or obviously otherwise, edited in a manner intended to reproduce it as realistically as possible. Here, I have bent parts of the spectrum of colours and brightnesses, in some cases as far as their opposites. In this case I had two motivations: the black on green of the original photograph felt to me like too much to show twice; so I bent the dark and green parts of the spectra to their contrasting opposites. This also had the effect of creating the reds and metallic colours which accentuated the theme of the piece: the contrasts in the human condition between the complex, vulnerable visceral interior and the exterior often clad in armour. The shadow being rendered bright has also made it easier to make out the fainter part of the outline of the piece
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 17 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
Started life as a small, unprepossessing bifurcated pot while I had an hour
to spare. Sat on a shelf in a plastic bag for a few months while I
concentrated on other creations. It changed and grew organically from waist
to arm-pit height. I suppressed the mechanical response to smooth out the
external overlap between the 'thorax' and 'abdomen' sheets, and thus
created the appearance of a ragged garment. The idea was to glaze only the
sleeve-like 'garment' part, in perhaps red or chocolate brown, thus
creating the additional possibilities of an ice-cream with melted chocolate
over it, or a head and shoulders with a conical hat with antlers upon it...
The tubular head-mouth and short-sleeve arms were then designed carefully
but skeptically and slotted in and shaped as a unit. Considering my
original expectations of the piece, I'm delighted and amazed by its life.
Being constructed so lightly, it needs to be weighted with sand as otherwise
it overbalances. Being only biscuit fired, it is also fragile, and
needs careful handling.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 18 (shown with item number 22 ) |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
A creature - female, I think - akin to a snail, a pebble and a bean sprout.
She is definitely in communication with her companion, Robust Tube Being
(whose entry is here).
Her body was shaped from two sheets in bowls, kept inflated by air
pressure, and mated with the separately-constructed base and neck. Her neck
was reshaped several times to achieve the desired effect from all viewing
positions. She has several different surface textures that my other smooth,
'young' creations do not have. I speculate on my semiconscious connections
between her appearance and her lifestyle. Fired in a framework containing
almost as much material as the piece itself, to preserve her precise
posture through the heat.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 19 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
Another successful form that I fabricated from a hurried sketch on the way
to some other forgotten goal. Very simple elements were prefabricated from
template-cut sheets of clay and then assembled as they stiffened. Thus a
relatively quickly constructed piece involving no repairs and minimal
adjustments, that emerged from the firing with no flaws whatsoever and
near-perfect poise. A woman whose sensuality I have portrayed in her
pregnant belly and pouting mouth, or a wading bird taking a glance up from
probing a wave washed beach with its bill. The precise construction of the
piece can be determined by examining the minute variations in colouration of
the clay where the sheets were joined and the water content slightly
different. I may make limited edition slip-mouldings and bronzes of this
piece.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 20 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
A primarily humorous piece that is also successful in other
respects. My 'cut and shut' sheet technique being firmly grasped, I spent
roughly equal times on construction and finishing, and taking about an hour
spread over several days to gestate the design. Spot the man with the baggy
pants having a piss, or the bird-jug whose tail is its handle... Amusing to
watch people's reactions to!
on compilation of the web site....
Note that the large image of the work shows it with a metallic sheen that
was the result of me playing with the image to achieve better clarity from
a less-than-ideal photographic negative and deciding I liked the effect
better than a straight look; it does also reveal the form of the work...
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 21 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
The forms produced in an attempt to build a tube for one of the other
pieces on a sand core fascinated me so much that I wanted to keep them and
so slipped them together to make this item, reminiscent of a coral or worm
cast. Put it in your fish tank.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 22 (shown with item number 18 ) |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
My second attempt at this animal, or the third if you include Flower
Holder, which turned into something else because I couldn't at the time
make the tail or neck in my sketches. Still not what I was trying to
create, but an entity in its own right, and a close friend of Elderly Earth
Animal (whose entry is here). A relatively heavy piece for me, as I was running out of patience
with this scheme and not wanting to take chances with it collapsing again.
Robust Tube Being is a male of the same species as Elderly Earth Animal in
the peak of his stamina. Being made 'quick and thick', he has cracked a bit
in firing, but in places that indicate that his structure really does
relate to his appearance. You will find some of the original core for his
neck as the tentacles of Polystyrene Sea Anemone.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item numbers 24.1, 24.2, 24.1e and 24.2e |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
An idea lifted from some ink bleeding through a piece of paper on which I
was designing a layout for an exhibition. I found myself having a strong
emotional response to the form I extracted from the scribble on the paper,
and so began exploring what I could see three dimensionally. Visitors'
enthusiasm for the forms became clear when they would reach for them to
fondle in their hands whenever in my studio.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 25 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
The piece of polystyrene, smelling of diesel and fished out of the Grand
Union Canal, had been sitting around my studio for weeks, while I
mechanically manufactured uninspiring or technically improbable ideas of
what to do with it. Sitting in the bath (with a friend) one day, the idea
of a Polystyrene Sea Anemone seemed so ridiculous that I decided to make
it. The tendrils are the remains of the cable-TV wiring lying around my
studio which I'd been using as a removable core for building Robust Tube
Being's neck around. The textured surface was obtained by careful work with
a blowtorch. It no longer smells of diesel.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item numbers 26 and 26e |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
Two days before I had arranged to go to the South of France for a month,
ostensibly to work, I was doing frantic calculations as to how much plaster
I'd need to make a solid life-size Encounter and coming up with twice the
weight my van could carry... I abandoned the idea and went to France
tool-less for a holiday. Staying with a friend, in her newly restored
ancient farmhouse, I found an offcut of replacement floor beam, a hatchet,
a chainsaw and a hammer and chisel and set to it. Leafy's Back was inspired
by the shape of my lover's back, which I saw a lot of, as we didn't bother
with clothes in the heat. I have selectively exaggerated or simplified the
elements of interest to me. Finishing with abrasives was undertaken in the
garden in England. Made out of sunlight (by photosynthesis) and shaped
almost entirely in the sun. The first woodcarving bigger than a hand that I
have made.
I have considered producing further castings in earthenware and even in bronze from this piece.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 27 |
The story of this work is quite long and forms a separate page. Click for the story of the work.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 28 |
from the catalogue of the work's original showing....
My first attempt at hand building in this way with earthenware. Two very
simple sheets formed into cylinders and worked to foot and calf shape. The
beginning of an attempt at Encounter in clay: by the time I had got this
far I had decided to use a more appropriate technique for the original
idea. Crashed some mental gears realising that these forms had their own
value and were worth completing. Sanded then glazed to seal the otherwise
porous surface.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 29 |
based on the catalogue of the work's original showing....
A return to the techniques of sheet fabrication that I used with some of my
early pieces, but with a less plastic clay. My original idea was to produce
an object that could be identified as both strongly male and female, with
minimal fuss whilst being attractive and tactile. Zipped together in an
afternoon, but seven months later still standing on the shelf awaiting
firing or some of the sort of attention leading to re-evaluation which
transformed Tummy Sleeves from a mundane object into an emotive one.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 30 |
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 31 |
I have no images of this work at present.
And the work itself is a thousand kilometres away....
A powerful, perhaps African female figure in a kind of yoga posture that would fit neatly into a small ball but punctuate it with spiky feet,
knees, buttocks, breasts, elbows and dreadlocks
forming a starfish like headdress a bit like a mediaeval court jester's hat.
Grinning widely and defiantly poking her tongue out at all who would censure her.
The second attempt at this piece, and this time a successful maquette. I'd love to cast her in bronze and flexible materials too!
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 32 |
A piece executed with relatively goal-orientated directness, intended to be a visual pun in which the flower as well as the pot is made of red earthenware. Unable to leave it at that, I also required that the amaryllis like flower allude to a sinuous but amply breasted woman waving her arms and breasts around. And, er... her skirt was intended to be the pot. I still think it's pretty, particularly the contrast between the burnished earthenware skin and the scraped fabric pot.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 33 |
Surrounded by controversy and then taken without my consent around 1999, this work has a long story on the separate page with the link below.
Please contact me if you know of the work's whereabouts.
Click for the story of the work.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 34 |
Inspired by a rock formation on a Brittany beach, all 10 tonnes of which I wanted to take home with me. The sea had tightly but smoothly carved numerous pits and prominences on a room-sized sheet of rock, which in combination with various football sized, egg-shaped boulders warmed by the sun, made a field day for appreciative feet. My attempt at a reproduction does not do it justice but has become both a reminder to try it again one day, and to extend the form well into the dimension of height, so it may be climbed in and out of too. The tactile boulders for feet idea has been utilised around Chris Stewart's swimming pool, while the extended height idea will appear in the potential projects section when it goes on line. The dairy farmer who farms around Redfield watched me reassembling it outside and pronounced that it resembled pile of cows entrails. He should know. Plaster does not long resist the English climate, and the expended polystyrene core began to cause a nuisance as it too decomposed, so the work was disposed of while I was abroad.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 35 |
If you know the status and whereabouts of this little demon, do drop me an email.
Centrepoint Community was an infamous and successful institution, at least in New Zealand, until
the jailing of some of its most powerful members for drugs and sex offences.
But that is another story that fills several books. Suffice it to say they were radical and successful in a very conservative state.
They were successful because they all worked hard at many different businesses. One of those businesses was a small pottery,
churning out mainly low-key stuff for a local market. Visitors were accepted on the terms that they work pretty hard too,
so naturally, I went for the pottery. Between knocking out slabbed serving dishes to a formula, I assembled this artifact which perhaps
reflects some of the sexual energy of the place rather better than the serving dishes. A bit grotesque, I think, but as much for the sombre
glazing as any misconceived form. You can see all there is to say about it, so I'll just add that it holds liquids and pours well!
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 36 |
A group of several similar blackened, spherical, pierced, metallic glazed racu objects, fitted with lamps. The fate of these objects is unknown and as I have no photos, they are not otherwise included in the catalogue.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 37 |
For explanation of the patterning of the piece, see catalogue item number 33, made from the same timber. Leopard table was carved almost entirely with a chainsaw, resulting in a relatively rapid development of the form. Aside from being noisy and malodorous, I find a well set-up chainsaw a sensitive and sophisticated tool. The problem for the unskilled user is that it is so effective as to be unforgiving to the point of being lethal. But used within its limits I find a chainsaw has less bad manners than a hand-held circular saw, or even an electric drill. The exterior surfaces of the form are, like most of my works in wood, polished to almost a mirror, but the concavities retain the raw cut marks of the chainsaw teeth, which complement the fungal pattern and contrast with the mirror-like parts.
The form sort-of alludes to the human, and probably the female at that, if its narrow waist is taken into account. If this one were to find a happy home, it would certainly inspire me to have a go at more of them!
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 38 |
The partner with whom I lived when this was made, Evelyn Marsden. This group of portraits is characterised by a determination to develop my potential to create lifelike figurative forms as well as the surrealistic ones in which I considered myself fluent.
I am presently in mid-construction of a life size commemorative sculpture of Evelyn (Leafy), who died in June 1997. The sculpture is essentially suspended due to commissioned work which demands completion, the need to get this site on line and the availability of a suitable model. I am currently hoping to work towards a completion of the maquette by the end of 2002.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 39 |
Unlike the portraits of the same period, which which were mostly life studies, this figure was composed from various photographs I had taken for other works, in combination with detailed measurements. I hate the sight of it these days: too idealised and with some hideous incongruities. It looks OK from some angles, one of which I offer you. I may sort out the incongruities some day... though it'd be much more fulfilling to make several more simple figures, given an obliging model etc.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 40 |
The daughter of my partner at the time, the latter the subject of the previous portrait. I found it quite a shocking experience rendering the flesh of a much younger person, after having delighted in the intricacy of the skin and sharper bones of her mother. I feel very self conscious about having broken the artistic taboo and tried to capture the grin. Self conscious in that I have substancially captured it but that the human mind can base so much of its evaluation of another's character upon the almost infinite subtleties of the tweakings of the corners of the mouth and eyes.... Poor model had no doubt exhausted her surfeit of spontaneous good humour by the end of the sitting too...
A relatively swiftly executed piece, in three stages: preparation of the armature and rough shape; working with the model for just a few hours, and final tidying of the surface. I used a completely different surface finishing texture (as well as material) to her mother, to reflect the different character of the skin. Here I used a wet brush to work out all the minute spatula marks which pulled my eye into them and added a dozen years to her appearance. I find my stylised hair texture tiresome, perhaps because it was almost a default. Perhaps I should study how the problem is classically approached. If you have a handle on my character yet, you will realise that I ploughed into these portraits with no guidance whatsoever, teaching often seeming more restrictive than enabling to me, and finding recorded information often more difficult than discovering it from first principles. There comes a point, however....
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 41 |
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 42 |
We now come to my last works of this period, during which circumstances were making it ever more difficult for me to work creatively.
This work came to a halt in the process, but I have not given up on it.
Here is a description of its process and how I would like it to proceed.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| catalogue item number 43 |
The materials for this work were given to me by The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. The timber had fallen as a result of the storms of some years before. I don't have the precise details to hand, but the Zelcoba, an eastern European elm, was recorded as being planted in the 18 th century by the king of the time. I will expand upon this in later editions.
I carved the form of the speedwell-like flower from the full girth of the poplar using a chainsaw and an Arbortec carving tool attached to an angle grinder, finishing the surface with high speed flexible abrasive discs on the angle grinder and, ultimately, progressively finer abrasives by hand. The 100 + kg section of wood I reduced to a mere 15 kg or so, still showing the outline of the trunk of the tree but now a cone of petals just a couple of centimetres in thickness. The soft wood needed to be reinforced with resin during and after carving. The flower form is essentially complete but requires additional strengthening and mounting on a stem, adding of the basal leaves as a stand, made from slices of the Zelcoba, and to finish it off, a cushion with tassels in the form of the genitalia of the flower. The completed sculpture will form a usable recumbent chair approximating in size to a fairly substantial arm chair.... Another one in the queue for the studio.
Excuse the liberties taken with the photograph... Claudia being at least as pretty as the flower, I found it fun to play with the image.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
| end of catalogue listing |
You have reached the end of the catalogue of my "first wave" of sculpture. After these works, I moved on to constructions shaped by my new circumstances, without fixed abode or studio. The constructions satisfied my desires to combine creativity and technical ingenuity and to promote environmentally friendly systems, as well as my inclination to make large and useful things. They were made on site, in a relatively clement climate and therefore did not leave me needing to organise a studio. They could be divided into technical works, executed creatively, such as solar heating systems; and artistic ones executed technically: specifically, three swimming pools, to date. These works are covered in the sections entitled notable technical works, and dolphin organic swimming pools respectively, of www.wavesculptor.com and eventually, perhaps, also by following this timeline on from the sculpture section.
| scroll to: previous | this | next | more navigation |
appendices |
the Queen's Park Centre, Aylesbury, England.
Housed in a small, converted Victorian school, a short stroll from the historic centre of the town, The Centre is host to various performance related and creative hand skills workshops. The workshops are both occasional specialist events and regular weekly classes, daytime as well as evening. All are priced just sufficiently to cover costs. The atmosphere when I was there was very friendly. Such a gem is obviously the work of dedicated people. As I understand it, the centre was brought together by Malcolm Thackwray who was still holding the reigns when I worked there. The technician who nursed all my works of that era through the kiln was Ray Thorn. Jeanne Preston was the ceramics tutor who tolerated and sensitively directed my rampant flounderings in my new delight, whilst simultaneously trying to encourage others somewhat more reserved to go for it. Thank you, all of you. Without you I would have looked longer for an opportunity.
Unfortunately, because my work shared the Centre's electric kiln with whole classloads of other's works, and had no venting arrangement, I was only able to do oxidation firing, so I left some of the white stoneware pieces biscuit fired to preserve their whiteness.
The Centre has a domain name but at the time of writing, no server that is answering the telephone. Maybe you'll have better luck: www.qpc.org There are also several other web sites connected with the centre, which a simple search will reveal the current status of.
| scroll to: previous | this | next |
| gallery related document navigation |
site navigation to more of this site or respond to it |  show the Val dolphin gallery page | |
| ||
edition 1: 2001, November 18th | ||