Thinking about a body in a nest – layer the work with meaning. It also takes me to the work of Ana Mendieta, whom I studied earlier in the course. I consider her Silueta series, which she did from 1973 to 1980. She would lay somewhere in nature in this work, like in the dirt or grass or against a tree. Then, she would cover her body in materials she found – flowers, mud, etc. Mendieta produced over 200 works of art using earth as a sculptural medium. I wonder about using the nest, which reminds me of this play with the impermanence of living (ephemerality of nature) compared to our need for shelter, safety, and belonging.
The object ‘collection’ is also growing. I have been working with Copper recently and took photos to keep the making up to date. Again, the preparation of the materials and the repetitive nature of making are now such a point of contemplation. The words of Phylida Barlow came to mind when she spoke about her sculptural process. In a video I viewed, she discussed when the sculptural process takes over the making and that high point in that moment. In a way, making these ‘pots’, I remember the touch of working with clay and shaping a form – it again reminds me of the wire as material and how it is so different from clay, but yet not so different…..
Recent drawings of my wire material – these loops fascinate me and I am contemplating to make an upscaled drawing on Hannemule paper.
I need to work on the ‘grey scale’ and tonality in these drawings. I think they are too harsh—I want to find the shimmer of the wire, and thinner, more defined marks. In my little crit/support student group on WA a fellow student recommended I work with graphite. I can consider to work with mechanical pencils with fine core, wood-cased graphite pencils (3 or 4B) as well as ArtGrtaff blocks (I have some water soluble blocks) and a tin with graphite powder which I can mix with water to use as a paint application – it will get more ‘metallic’, and that is what I am looking for as an outcome. Someone also suggested an 8B – as ‘fatness-wise’ it comes close to charcoal, which they know, I love.
Shadows are indeed 3dimensional forms!
A fellow student suggested in a crit session that I consider working with wax. I have never worked with it, but I have researched its materiality to consider whether I should. I do like the idea of using wax to retain imprints. I like the idea of working with the cold wax method when painting. In terms of working with cold wax, adding up to 1/3 Cold Wax Medium to 2/3 oil colours is recommended. Beyond this amount, one should add approximately 25% Solvent-Free Gel or Galkyd Gel to 75% Cold Wax Medium. Adding these mediums will increase the flexibility and durability of the resulting paint layer, making it less prone to cracking.
Wax has a long history in art. It has been used for its malleability and ability to capture fine details, and it is employed in various forms, from sculptures to anatomical models.
Material Properties are sensory qualities –touch, smell, and visual appearance. These properties allow it to evoke intimate and tactile responses from viewers.
Wax often symbolizes transformation and fragility. Its ability to change states (from solid to liquid) can be seen as a metaphor for change and impermanence.
In contemporary practices, artists use wax to explore decay, preservation, and memory themes. The material’s ability to hold imprints and eventual decay can serve as a powerful commentary on the passage of time and the ephemeral nature of existence.
Below, I placed the nest over a drawing of a body. Again, ideas of being contained or protected are being considered. The body is in a relaxing position.
Nest – the body inside a nest is contemplated.
How to link her work to mine: In much of her work, Mendieta considered the ideas of displacement and exile in relation to her Cuban heritage. Her work is about loss which could be both a symbol as well as a source of inspiration.
I also looked at a work of Barbara Hepworth I recently discovered, Winged Figure, 1963. The full-scale prototype for the sculpture, is on permanent display at The Hepworth Wakefield, and is nearly six metres tall.
I enjoyed the first armature of the prototype for Winged Figure she made. The final work measures more than 20m in height.
Morris Singer Art Foundry Ltd|Hepworth, Barbara; Winged Figure; ; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/winged-figure-311747
“I think one of our universal dreams is to move in air and water without the resistance of our human legs. I wanted to evoke this sense of freedom. If the Winged Figure in Oxford Street gives people a sense of being airborne in rain and sunlight and nightlight I will be very happy. It is a project I have long wished to fulfil and this site with its wonderful oblique wall was quite perfect.”
Considering a Nest as a community project
I did more research on the German born artist, Andreas Hetfeld after I listenend to a podcast where he spoke about his interest in social or community based projects. I learned that a nest by him, called, Nest op Het Kiel, 2006 was a community project which involved 1200 people over three years to create this work of art. By this time Hetfeld had already completed two nests, on on private land and the other in a museum. It was called a social-artistic project, ‘Nests on the Kiel’, for and by all residents of Kiel and in collaboration with visual artists Andreas Hetfeld and Suus Baltussen. The project had a preliminary phase of no less than three years and was concluded in 2009 with a study day and publication (authors: Annemie Morbee, Rik Pinxten and Ghislain Verstraete) for the professional field and a photo book for the people of Kielen.
On his own website, Hetfield wrote the following:” The building can be seen as a natural intervention in a metropolitan environment. More than 1,000 people from very diverse cultures helped for 6 weeks with the realization of the 4.5 meter high Nest with a diameter of approximately 12 meters.” The nest was made from freshly pruned willow branches that were planted in the ground. The branches shot, which made the nest live and grow. The Nest was adopted by the community after its completion and has been cared for ever since. The organic structure has two arched entrances to the east and west. (https://www.hetfeld.nl/nl-nest-3.php)
In the spring of 2008, Andreas Hetfeld and Suus Baltussen, in collaboration with hundreds of residents, built a giant nest on the lawn of the Potenblokken (Social housing by Renaat Braem) on the Kiel. The idea was to create one large structure together with all the cultures living on the Kiel and to work around the theme of ‘nests’ as a symbol for our multicultural society. All residents of Kiel were invited to help build. Associations, neighbourhood groups, classes, families or a group of friends could all help create this work of art.
Nests on the Kiel wanted to use this artistic project to get people to think about living, building and living together.(https://veerman.be/project/bij-buurten)
making thoughts
By making wire objects with my hands, I engage in thinking that integrates mind, body, and material. This embodied cognition allows for an intuitive, responsive, and mindful creative process. The physical experience of nest-making requires precise hand-and-finger coordination and repetitive actions, which I find both satisfying and contemplative. This interaction with the material is a dialogue between the maker and the medium. As I shape the wire, it shapes my thoughts and ideas, leading to an evolving creative process informed by the material’s characteristics. I feel this places the material at the forefront of my making. I am also more aware of what I make from my context – a personal response at a specific time. I want to focus more on the idea and action of making as a process. Can I say the work is about dematerialising the art object?
Daniel Buren pasted his signature stripes around cities, demonstrating an action of attitude that becomes form. These works, and many others, dematerialised the art object, focusing less on aesthetic judgement in favour of the idea and action of processes. Understanding these works relies on understanding the context within which they are made, often created in response to social and political situations of the time. I am painting the shapes in my wire nest as I explore abstract forms and shapes
I started with blue and then moved to yellow and green. I worked with acrylic, drawing inks and charcoal.
More exploration with green/yellow
I feel the work below is more successful. In a student crit group where I shared these drawings, a student suggested the work of artist Anna Virnich, a German-born artist who works with textiles but almost in a painterly way. (see blog post on artist researched) Understanding Virnich’s approach, I am inspired by her use of materials to convey fragility, depth, and a sense of floating. I can consider how different materials and layers can add complexity and depth to my work. Like Virnich, I can aim to create pieces that transcend their physical forms, inviting viewers to engage with them on multiple and sensory levels. I can consider sound. Considering her approach to textiles, I asked myself if I could treat the wire as a dynamic, porous material capable of interacting with its environment. Should I explore manipulating the wire to create a sense of intimacy and corporeality, perhaps suggesting the presence of life within the nest? Could the work become more dynamic and engage with their surroundings and viewers on more levels?
I enjoy that the work explores different perspectives about shape and form—or are they becoming focal points of the nest? As large-scale drawings, they emphasize the structure’s immersive, connecting and enveloping nature. I also feel this is another way of looking at or investigating the thing or a translation of the form I see -the nest and most probably a way into it.
Only time will learn. could it become a drawing of the structure – I discovered this by researching the work of Anna Hepler recently. I realise these works made me more aware of processes when working. I have the drawing, the photo image and the object – but is it the endpoint? I do not think it is. And doing the next work, just confirmed that I am not yet finished with my process of making with wire. Hepler says in a lecture: ….’how can this thing that I make, let me know what the next thing might be’. I just love this clarity on process whilst making and still exploring.
I enjoy how the nest plays with form and formlessness when I place it. As the works are abstract, I feel they are not confined by conventional forms or structures and this almost allow them to exist in a realm that feels boundless and free.
The following drawing, using frottage, was inspired by a recent OCA online lecture/
