Alice Victoria

What is happening to me?

I’ve just spend the last of my money on a dead scorpion and a dung beetle. I’m also planning on turning dead peoples ashes into glass. I’ve been collecting bits of bones where the calcium has almost crystallised into this beautiful green mess.  Roadkill is becoming suddenly so much more interesting.  All this ‘All work & No Play’ malarkey is driving me crazy. At what point should I start worrying? . 

Finally, I’ve found my inspiration. I’ve been playing with ceramic slip today- to be honest I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, I was too excited to research techniques and what not, and just started playing, dipping and dunking. Its seems to be going ok at the moment, except for some dried roses which are very resistant. I’m so lucky that my mum has a small kiln that I can use this summer, and I’m definitely going to take advantage of it, starting with ceramics , and moving onto glass. I still can’t stop thinking about jewellery, so I think it’s time for me to accept that this is where my project will be heading. I want to preserve objects, memories ,possibly even ashes. My cat brought my mum a lovely little birds leg, which I can see as an interesting pendant… Claire Boneham- if your reading this I hope your proud of me ;)

Poppy and myself ventured to London last week, to visit the New Designers Part One Exhibition. To be honest it was scary. Seeing the skills and labour involved in some of the work really made me realise how easy this year has been in comparison to what is ahead of us. Year two is going to be all work and no play, and my ‘jaegerbomb fund’ will have to be turned into materials funding. 

Looking back at the exhibition, I seem to of been drawn to the more ‘unusual’ arts. This may be due to the fact I found the textiles samples to be all quite similar and therefore the work didn’t really capture my attention. I know that there is trends that need to be followed and fashion forecasts etc etc.. but I really felt that I was seeing the same thing over and over again. Don’t get me wrong though, there were a few samples that I loved- for example; a manipulated woven cloth that contained the surfaces of sea urchins (it was really quite something) and laser cut ants that almost crawled up the walls.

However, it was the contemporary applied arts that really drew me in. There was way too many sources of inspiration to mention, but in summary I loved the more ‘surfacey’ (is that even a word?) works. There was one piece that involved dipping thread in salt and letting it crystalise before turning it into jewellery. This almost ‘accidental’ technique really inspired me, whereas I feel a lot of people would of bypassed these unusual necklaces and headed straight for the ‘shiny pretty jewels’. 

I also seem to of been drawn to ceramics?! And its only natural for me to question this as any previous work done with the media has ended dreadfully and was not enjoyable at all. But for the summer project I am going to throw myself in the deep end and explore my new found interests… I am going to draw unusual items and try and pick out what I love about the surfaces/textures/shapes involved. It will be my personal challenge to illustrate hidden beauties, I actually started last night by doing a detailed drawing of a weed (sounds boring right?) yet I enjoyed it. (This is coming from someone who hates to draw..)

I’m also going to get involved with ceramic slip. I really enjoyed using silver clay last project, and that works in a similar way. Initially I want to continue on the jewellery path, but i’m just going to explore and see where this goes..