process notes
2023-ongoing
This is an ongoing project during which I plan to use all the things in my studio to make a series of small culptures: improvising with materials, ideas, and forms. The things in my studio are mostly fragments and pieces of material left over from previous works: like tiny square beads, scraps of wood, textile offcuts, unfinished experiments, plastic bags, cardboard boxes used as packaging; as well as some assorted strange things (a dead moth, a banana skin, a crash barrier). I've previously drawn and described all of these things in the durational drawing project Fragments of a Method. Following that, I made an interactive digital archive of the analogue dataset, titled BitParts. I've used a randomiser to allocate the things from this dataset into groups, to form the material components of each work. As I make these works I'm recording thoughts (a.k.a. process notes) in which living, doing and making overlap.
sculpture group #
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materials it is made from
thing /description of thing
(to see drawings of these things, enter thing # here)
4656 A long, curved because of pressure exerted on it, not because it was cut in that shape, rectangular piece of foam.
4665 A tall, rectangular piece of foam with one sloping short side.
4685 A flat, rectangular piece of oak, varnished or oiled.
4692 A small, square, sliced chunk of beech with a hole through it.
5140 A thin, wide, undulation of sweet chestnut.
5169 An offcut of beech.
5172 A large, triangular-shaped piece of beech with a crack running all the way through the length.
5174 A small corner offcut of beech.
531 A piece of slightly metallic packing foam.
4580 A rectangular cuboid piece of polystyrene.
4671 A pine slat from a dead person’s bed.
4681 A long strip of MDF, painted white on two long, wide, facing sides. Is the side always determined by the longer length and the end by the shorter width, or is it by use?.
4694 A small, square, sliced chunk of beech with a hole through it.
5148 A piece of the same shape as thing 5145 but a smaller size, glued together to form a piece the same shape as thing 5146.
5170 A shim of beech.
4657 A piece of foam that is triangular with bumpy edges.
4662 A small piece of bed mat foam.
4680 A long strip of MDF, painted white on two long, wide, facing sides. A question-is the side always determined by the longer length and the end by the shorter width, or is it by use?.
5132 A piece of elm, cut away from the outside of a pancreas-shaped box, with a topographical grain.
5133 A concave, corner offcut of sweet chestnut.
5134 A concave, corner offcut of sweet chestnut.
5138 A large, rectangular, sliver-wedge of beech.
4579 A cube morphed with a triangle, like a giant iceberg but only the below water part, piece of polystyrene.
4659 A narrow, long, but relatively small compared to thing 4658 strip of foam.
4679 A longer piece of MDF painted white on two sides, and with two holes in it.
4712 A strip of ply.
5135 A split, sharp, splintery-shaped offcut of possibly-oak.
5144 A thin undulation of sweet chestnut, like a slice out of a hill.
5179 A flattish, wavy-gradient thin-wide shard-sliver of elm.
501 A bundle of silk organza offcuts from the textile book ‘Something…Remember’.
523 A pair of offcuts of egg-crate foam.
4578 An almost cube-shaped piece of polystyrene.
4695 A small, rectangular slice of beech.
4701 A piece of quite grainy pine with one rounded edge and round dents from being used to support something that is getting hammered, or from being used to hammer.
5128 A corner of sweet chestnut, cut from the same block as thing 5123.
5143 A flat corner of sweet chestnut, approximately four times as big as thing 5142.
4590 A tiny piece of painted, carved, cut polystyrene, once attached to things 4587-4589.
4592 A small piece of sculpted polystyrene, partially painted, with a strip of painted silicone across it.
4593 A flat rectangle of polystyrene.
5123 An almost liver-shaped piece of sweet chestnut wood, cut from the inside of a box, or cut away from a piece of wood to leave a void which created a box.
5146 A partial piece, similar thing to thing 5145 but half the shape.
5153 A small piece of oak, broken from a larger piece.
5177 An extruded-triangle-shaped wedge of elm.
522 A tall, semi-rectangular piece of medium density foam which might have discoloured.
4583 A relatively small piece of polystyrene with some facets, making a curve, cut from one end.
4586 A piece of polystyrene that has six flat sides but isn’t a cube.
4591 A small scrap of bluish-coloured polystyrene.
5125 A five-sided piece of possibly-oak, with a burnt curved edge, three flat sides and one short end, with a visible, tight grain.
5152 A sliver of oak.
5171 A triangle of beech that gets wider along its length.
3788 A long, narrow piece of egg-carton foam.
4654 A long rectangular piece of foam.
4660 A piece of foam shaped like a shallow cross-section of a mountainous range drawn on its side.
4696 A small, rectangular slice of beech.
4698 A long slice of beech.
5141 An ear of sweet chestnut.
5178 A thin strip, with a reducing gradient when seen in profile, of elm.
4582 A large compared to the pieces above, but not that big, piece of polystyrene with one square edge.
4693 A small, square, sliced chunk of beech with a hole through it.
4697 A very small, squarish slice of beech.
5066 A piece of adhesive foam.
5137 A sliver of beech.
5139 A large, rectangular, sliver-wedge of beech.
5150 A long, small, rectangular offcut of oak with burnt edges.
511 A pair of Panama cotton scraps printed with blends, one being a long, right-angled strip with a corner, and another being a small, colourful square with the full colour spectrum used in the work, a stitched book.
586 A piece of foam carved into a cone shape, with the top chopped off and a hole pierced through the centre.
3787 A small, squarish piece of egg-carton foam.
4658 A tall, relatively slender, piece of foam with a mountainous edge.
4683 A short piece of oak with a split in it.
5124 A bandsawn piece of beech with six sides, four of which are pointy, and two flat.
5149 A long, tall, small wedge of oak, with a crack running all the way through it.
498 A mostly rectangular scrap of leather.
4594 A flat, rectangular wedge of foam rubber.
4704 A squarish, scrap block cut from thing 4707.
5126 A piece of wood, possibly oak, made from two glued-together pieces, remnants of a trial of an idea.
5130 An offcut of possibly-oak, with a shiny, burnt side where it has been cut on a curve with a blunt bandsaw.
5173 A long, eely, halved-fish-shaped sliver of beech.
5176 A long, stretched-out, shallow, wavy on one side flat on the other, strip of elm.
4585 A four-sided extruded object with a hole punched into it.
4587 A piece of polystyrene that fits the same description as thing 4586 but is a completely different shape.
4599 One extruded-triangular-shaped piece of polystyrene with a hole on one side where something rod-shaped has been pushed into it.
4655 A long, rectangular on three sides, piece of egg-carton foam.
4663 A small strip of egg-carton foam.
4664 A small piece of foam.
5001 A shelf-shaped piece of ply.
5175 A thin strip, with a basin when viewed in profile, of elm.
515 A bundle of natural, slubbed linen offcuts, also bought to test as a cover of a book.
4577 A triangular, slightly squashed with one sharp point, piece of polystyrene.
4707 One piece of pine with two channels routed near the outer edge of one flat, long under-side, and one channel routed up the middle of the other, wide side.
5131 An offcut of possibly-oak, with a shiny, burnt side where it has been cut on a curve with a blunt bandsaw.
5142 A flat corner of sweet chestnut.
5166 A wavy slivery offcut of beech.
5167 A triangular, long wedge of beech.
529 A piece of slightly metallic packing foam.
4666 A piece of foam shorn in a gradient with a flat top and Garnethill St written on one end.
4702 An uneven, trapezoid, scrap block, probably cut from thing 4707.
4703 An uneven, squarish, scrap block, probably cut from thing 4707.
5145 A routed, mitre-cut corner of oak, cut from a frame with uneven mitred joints as the routed channel was not quite in the centre of the piece of oak and the mitre cuts weren’t quite 45º.
5154 A small piece of oak, broken from a larger piece formed with thing 5153.
5168 A roughly cut, slivery wedge of beech.
4269 An unprinted, washed, scrunched-up strip of silk organza, tied around things 4263-4268 to hold them together.
4581 A rectangular cuboid piece of polystyrene, slightly narrower than thing 4580.
4661 A rectangle of egg-carton foam.
5129 A corner of possibly-oak, cut from the same piece as thing 5125-5126.
5136 A skate ramp-shaped offcut of elm.
5147 A partial piece, similar thing to thing 5145 but half the shape.
5151 A very small, long rectangle of oak.
process notes
How do you check if you're doing what you think you're doing?
I had good, well-articulated thoughts on the way to the studio, but I lost them by the time I got here.
I'd like to take not being serious more seriously
random allocation messes with the default position
connect, overlap
Problem: too much thinking, not enough doing. Solution: thinkdothinkdothinkdo
Move around. It helps to see things differently.
To make space, you might have to move something out of the way. That thing might be you.
A goal: to keep using a notebook until I get to the end
What if you could make something good from all your mistakes?
Try using what you have before getting something new
Once you've identified the problem, ask "what can I do about this?" Then try something. If that doesn't work try something else.
…...........distraction…...........
I think (know) I'm addicted to my phone
To opt out of a system, do you have to be part of it in the first place?
I get distracted by trying to do too many things at one time. Nothing gets finished (what is finished?)
So, what kind of art do you make?
Infect it with other worlds
My practice relies on leaving things lying around randomly and changing this random lying-aroundness frequently, so a part might accidentally end up next to something unexpected, which might be generative. I guess this might be how evolution happens, by things infecting each other rather than being contained.
What values does the work model?
Begin by defining the territory. Draw a line around it to make it a thing
I tend to be very general, except when I'm being too specific
Be direct and indirect, simultaneously
Make a 5 minute sculpture.
Certainty is a theoretical condition.
I spend a lot of time preparing for events that may not happen.
Can a thing be about a system? Why? Why not?
Things don't always happen the way they're supposed to
My swype keyboard is slowly becoming less accurate. This is the opposite of what's supposed to happen. Maybe my use of language is diverging from average.
how to challenge fixity
Does the structure fit the work or does the work fit the structure?
We have a (pivotal) conversation about not being concerned about “finishing”, but rather presenting an exploration with potential for development.
I question whether experimental sculptures can belong on ordinary structures.
Things proceed incrementally. They are relative, rather than absolute. (Try something, try something else).
In my imagination things always fit together seamlessly. Gaps are almost always unintended consequences. This is a flaw with my imagination, not with reality.
Sometimes it is necessary to start again. This could be because circumstances change; the existing approach becomes unworkable, inappropriate or irrelevant; or you learn something you didn’t know when you began.
A thought on alternatives. At some stage you will commit to an option. This doesn’t mean it’s the right option, or best option. It just means it’s the option you chose.
Many of my wood remnants break. This could be because:
1. I get them from the scrap bin, where they may have been discarded by someone else because they contained knots or splits
2. I bought a piece of wood that was a second
3. I am heavy handed (slightly clumsy)
4. I try to confirm durability or breakability as I go by submitting the materials to stress
5. It is a reality of wood that it has knots and splits which don’t withstand stress
6. I work in a state of near chaos a lot of the time and the mess means things get knocked over easily
7. I am human
Edges, borders, categories, parameters (and therefore gaps), are chosen and imposed. They could equally have been otherwise.
You have to stop somewhere, in the same way that you have to start somewhere.
It is difficult to resist the urge to smooth edges and replicate “successful” experiments. (I wonder if this will happen anyway, a tendency to average.)
(A thought on how I end up with the results I do). There is a flaw in my system. The flaw is me.
I didn’t collect notes the way I initially planned. I realised that in order to explain a process it is necessary to relate all stages, rather than produce smooth, shiny outcomes. (This seemed obvious after the fact)
Initially I attempted to impose order and structure on my project and stifled it completely. The imposed structure left no space to experiment.
The ‘winging-it’ method is actually not winging it at all. It is application of all the knowledge collected from many different practical experiences which may not relate directly to the matter at hand but have definite (or possible) parallels.
I want to reframe gaps as space for movement, re-configuring, re-thinking and trying new approaches.
I have to keep reminding myself that in this project it is ok (or maybe even important) to not know where I’m going.
I could probably be safer with tools and equipment sometimes.
Experiments, life, infect each other.
Sometimes I am overly cautious about crossing the road.
Alternating between chaos and order. Clear space helps me think, whilst a huge mess seems to be one of the conditions for my creative process. It gives a lot to look for order in.
Sometimes the seemingly most ordinary experiments yield the most unexpected results. Unexpected results are a good outcome. They make me question what I thought I knew.
Loose plans are important so there is somewhere to start, and tools and materials to start with.