I decided that I would look at more traditional art forms for this project and focus on educating myself on traditional practices. After looking at art restoration I discovered stone carving as a form of architectural restoration. I then looked at different forms of masonry, pargeting and casting. I discovered FOSSIL on a visit to the RA; seeing historic architectural casts of antique columns inspired me to try and replicate these designs myself. On the search for contemporary artists who still upkeep traditional methods such as these, i was introduced to Darryl Brown and Lotti V Closs. I had already been looking at Ian Murphy for the old style architectural aesthetic, but the abstract approach from Closs and Brown’s geometric style gave an interesting insight into how this project could be developed into something completely new.
Due to the time restraints of preparing a portfolio alongside thy is project, I was only able to experiment with 3 different mediums, so I have decided to continue and develop this project for my ‘Final Major Project’ (FMP) so I can reach my potential in the developments I began. I started by carving into breeze-block to create the most traditional looking Corbel. As breeze-block is so airy and light, carving it is easier than carving soapstone, with the added danger of it crumbling easily. I also wanted to work with clay so I cast this breeze-block carving with modelling clay to create a relief.
This idea of casting gave me an idea to create a series of Corbels. I began by using hot wire to carve into foam to make a base shape for a Corbel. I was to then vacuum form this shape to create a mould to pour plaster into. This would create a base for me to make a series of differently carved, but consistent in size corbels. However due to time, I ended up making a clay cast of this foam block I carved and building a design onto it. I broke bits off once it had dried to give a distressed, derelict look to it. The white clay- resembling porcelain, gave a fragile look to it.
I ended up displaying these two corbels as my final outcome for this project. I would have liked to have made more. I displayed the white Corbel perpendicular to the breeze-block one. This curation gave a contemporary twist to the pieces, the shadows formed also adding an interesting geometric effect to the pieces. To develop I would like to experiment carving wood also and perhaps playing with materials of softer textures.
