Victoria Rance; Metal structures and body pieces.

Tree of Forgetting 2005 Victoria Rance
Steel and Silicone Bronze

     

                                            

Tent Victoria Rance
Steel and Silicone Bronze 

http://victoriarance.blogspot.com/

Julie Major; mixed media sculptures.

'Blanch' 2009; plaster polymer, waxed felt.

 60cm x 60cm x 35cm.

Thanks Esmarelda for putting me onto this work; these pieces are fascinating. The way she has combinated metal, ceramic and fabric together is really successful, also the way she balances intense colour with neutral shades and with white. Very organic shapes and structures that suggest all sorts of things! Piercings with emergent elements that could be biological or part of an exotic plant or animal. The contrast between soft, yeilding surfaces and hard, sharp, aggressive forms creates the sort of tention I would like to achieve in my mixed-media pieces. 
It would be interesting to see them made on a larger scale.

http://www.julie-major.com/docs/artworks.html

(Top) 'Cherry Picking' 2009; plaster polymer, waxed felt, glass bead

126cm x 100cm x 24cm.

(Bottom) 'Sweet Spot' 2009; plaster polymer, fabric

42cm x 42cm x 22cm.

'Collar I' 2009 plaster polymer, fabric, gesso 

30cm x 30cm x 12cm. 

Foundry Workshop; 15/10/2009

Fantastic session in the foundry with Phil and Bill. We covered two types of sand casting; made individual casts from 'patterns' using closed 'flasks' and then worked together to produce a large 'open cast' piece.

Great to get my hands dirty and start learning new techniques.

Something very primordial about the process. The colour of the crucible when it came out of the furnace at 800 degrees, an incredible pink! Seeing molten metal in the flesh....it looked like mercury and had an unreal quality to it, like something out of terminator 2 when first poured, then quicky took on a leaden grey appearence as it cooled and contracted. 

The sounds, smells and phsical nature of the processes were really exciting. I felt privileged to be there, to witness the pouring and to see the qualities of the metal in different states. 

Took some images but will document the process more methodically when I have another go. 

Lu made a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUJ1MaQ2kgA

Transition; passage from one place or state into another. 

Transmutation; a changing into a different form, nature or substance. (chem) the conversion  of one element into another, either spontaneously or artificially.

Transform; to change the shape, appearance, character, or disposition of.