Charlotte Walker Art Foundation Degree

 RE-ARRANGEMENT  The new project brief gives me a lot of scope to work with since it can all be done at home with things I already have, so I wrote down a list of my first ideas of re-arrangements which I would like to work through and then I can develop my favourite ones further.

In the first days of the project, I found the word 'Power' quite intimidating. There are so many ways it could be interpreted and everyone has their own ideas in their head of what power means, which may be influenced by the way they live. For instance, a feminist might hear power and think of female empowerment and the patriarchy, a racial justice activist might hear it and think of black power and minorities. These are all things that I considered, but using the word list that was provided with the brief helped me realise which words I felt captivated by as I began to highlight them and make notes on my associations. Working with text helped me understand how messages can be communicated in different ways depending on the imagery, materials and fonts used. I became fixed on the word 'DESTROY' which led me to think about human impact on the environment and nuclear fallout. I think at this point my ideas really flourished and I came up with elaborate concepts like '...

 When I was researching Brian Mock's artwork and thinking about how it relates to my project, I was reminded of the issue of plastic pollution in the oceans, and started wondering how this affects the creatures that I have been looking at in my work. One thing that came to mind was the way hermit crabs have been 'reclaiming' rubbish in the ocean and using it as their shells, and the images of this on the internet are quite striking but sad. I have chosen some of the images that I found most interesting..

Self-taught sculptor Brian Mock is known for his re-claimed metal creations, and here I have chosen some of my favourites. For me this type of art emphasises how much waste is always being produced that can be recycled if given the chance, and I think it is becoming essential to be resourceful when creating art in order to be remain sustainable and not create even more trash. Here the artist transforms how we perceive the value of scrap metal from low to high, by changing its form and creating beautiful shapes and patterns with an appealing shiny surface - personally I can imagine these sculptures in high status settings like celebrity mansions and fancy hotel lobbies.  The main inspiration I take away from Mock's work is the re-purposing element, and how you don't need to buy the most expensive new materials to create an illusion of expensive looking art. I want to be able to reduce my negative impact on the environment so I will try to continue using unwanted materials like t...

After we broke up for Christmas, we found out that there would be another national lockdown and that we would not be able to return to college until at least February. This means I have been unable to access any of the materials I have been working with and cannot assemble my final piece. So instead I decided to look at what I have in the home that I can draw from to relate to my project, and I produced some sketches and paintings of my cherry shrimp. The focus of my project is the power of natural forms in an artificial world. I am interested in the way certain ancient creatures have endured and survived throughout the ages and may continue to do so after the demise of human civilisation. My horseshoe crabs embody the binary of natural vs artificial, and I wanted to continue making artwork based on crustaceans which, luckily, I had my very own at home. The cherry shrimp are really characterful and entertaining to watch, and I find myself taking lots of photographs of them. I used thes...

This first horseshoe crab was made with only plaster so there are no objects or other things showing through the surface - I think it looks quite eerie in full white but I wonder how it would look if painted or worked into.   My process for the next 3 crabs was to place the wires and other materials into the mould while trying to push them into small crevices and cover a large area of the surface, then pouring the plaster over the top. The one with the screws was successful as I had anticipated from the wax samples, because they stayed in place when the plaster was poured over. To expose them slightly further I sanded the surface, and I think this helped to differentiate it from the plain plaster crab that I made first. Since the exhibition is meant to be viewed from above as people walk around the boxes, I wanted to make sure the screws were visible enough so that people could see it without having to get too close. The next one involved the colourful wires which I laid in the mou...

Today I found some different cables to cut up for my plaster crabs and I really enjoyed discovering what different colours the wires were when I opened them up for the first time, it reminds me again of cracking open a rock and finding fossils or geodes.  This black cable had a flower-like cross section, similarly to the brown cable I cut up previously, however this one was much tougher which is why I used less of it.    I was really happy to find that this next one had a whole rainbow of coloured wires inside. This blue cable had intertwined wires that look a bit like DNA, but with one solid colour and one white with stripes - they also reminded me of rock candy from the seaside. These cables had been painted white in a previous students project. I separated different materials into cups to try and keep organised, this one is full of screws that I have removed while taking things apart. Here are lots of miscellaneous pieces that have come out of the various things I have...