Sunday 17 February 2019

Fire...

A theme that is starting to strike a chord with me is 'fire'.

Fire features in many of the different belief systems as a creation element or as a death ritual.  I am drawn to the materialism of this with glass; also created from fire and also a transformative material when exposed to fire and heat.

I had the chance to attend the quarterly meeting of the British Society of Scientific Glassblowers at the City of Glasgow College last week and spent some time watching a demonstration by the renowned glass artists Tom Young MBE and Ian Pearson.


 A very quick example of Tom Young's angel series.

The results of Ian Pearson's very amusing 'tale of the Hedgepig'


Ian Pearson very gracefully spent time to speak with me and to talk through some of his processes while doing a 1-2-1 demonstration - thank you Ian!

This image shows the drama of glass being transformed in a bench burner, reaching temperatures over 800'C


This was a very worthwhile visit as it not only allowed me to meet fascinating technicians and artists, to receive invitations to attend their places of work but has given rise to some great ideas for development.  Watch this space. 😉


A New Month and a New Brief

Where has the time gone? It is February already and I'm now half way through my Degree year.  My last series of blogs related to the Studio Practice 1, briefs 1 and 2, now it's time to start Studio Practice 2 which allows me to define my own brief.  Sounds easy but where do you start?  Do I take on a subject that I have been wanting to do for a while, do I try and identify something completely new or....do I look at the journey I have been on so far and develop a theme I have found interesting?

Well, I REALLY enjoyed the development of the last Destiny brief, in particular the theme of ascension, as one belief of life after death.  Researching the Norse beliefs also raised an intriguing question: why do we refer to some belief systems as religion but we call others myths?  'Myth' infers a lesser belief system, its based on stories and tales however when I think about it, it seems we only refer to Greek, Roman and Norse beliefs as myths, all of which have been superseded at one time or anther by Christian systems.  But what is the basis of the Christianity, or any other system for that matter, other than stories and tales that have been set out in a more formulated manner?

I do not want to offend any individual, group of individual, communities or any collective with this investigation however I do want to progress this question and how the various systems perceive creation and death.  I apologise if any of my readers feel offended or unhappy about this theme or where it takes me however I will be undertaking my research and my artistic development forward with absolute impartiality and, hopefully, a respectful sensitivity of all cultures and belief systems.  Please do contact me if you have any concerns.

So, let's get started...  My proposal and mind mapping


How quickly our mind develops an idea...


Antemortem

Antemortem This piece portrays the culmination of six months of research and development into the meaning of life, death and the inf...