SELECTION OF WORK
I want to consider the works below – they are all about nesting/nests and making 3D work for outside installation and drawing explorations of their form. I see the connection with nature as the nest of the sociable weaver and the connection to the wire work of artist Claire Falkenstein.
Links to Key entries in my learning log:
REFLECTIVE COMMENTARY
Considering the final body of work I want to share for this course; I have looked mainly at the nests I made and their accompanying drawings. I find the explorations lead to a more solid practice, which is ongoing and sustainable. I was pulled into the making by a need to explore materials and bring in more making by weaving techniques, using natural fibres. My research into the work of Claire Falkenstein inspired me to make different shapes and look at nature for shapes I could explore. These works will not be realistic representations but more an exploration of form and negative space within the work. Suppose I make it with natural fibres and steel wire. In that case, I can consider more ideas of Falkenstein, namely that work could be explored and manipulated at will – I could consider that the audience interacts in this way with the material. As a hanging work it could cast shadows and play with light flowing through the work. The exploration below is 110 cm long and can easily be suspended. It is clear that much more material is needed to cover the work in order to ‘become a nest’. A list of the materials used can accompany the work.
I like that the work almost shares the ‘unseen’ – in nature, we cannot view inside these huge nests – I could make little chambers/channels inside the piece. The idea that birds make choices regarding nest location, architecture, and the materials used during construction fascinates me. It becomes a metaphor for my own exploration of nests as a home and place of safety. and space to care for, not just in terms of maintenance, but socially or within a family structure. Reflecting on the nest works, I feel there is a connection with my Research practice where I also considered care and interconnectedness. Care is not just about holding things together, but also recognising interdepency and vulnerability. In my making, I think I would like to state that the work became making by thinking with care.
I stay open to the idea that this body of work will mainly be shown in nature where the landscape can absorb it, and it will be left to leave a few traces behind eventually. I want to think of ways the nests could collaborate with nature, and one thing that came to mind during discussions in peer-group crits, was that birds could use the materials for constructing their own nests; they could sit and perch on it and I could document these interactions.