Sculpture – Page 2 – Sally Wakelin

Compositional Errors

Its so easy after the event to see where I went wrong. I was using my brother’s Canon 70D, much heavier than my 350D and with an unfamiliar lens but no excuses, I must have left my sense of composition in my other bag.

What interested me was the pylon reflected in the water but a vertical shot which included at least some of the pylon against the sky would have been much more interesting. I do like the feint imperfect reflection with the broken cables rippled on the surface but it might have been better to move around so I had more water and less tree reflection at the far edge of the pond. There is a bright red spot of a man’s sweater top left and a dull spot of an Elizabeth Frink steel head sculpture in the top right, both of which I could have made more of somehow.

Thomas Heatherwick Sitooterie II

Architecture, Art, Landscape, Photography, Sculpture

I am a great admirer of Thomas Heatherwick’s work and this week had the chance to see his Sitouterie in an Essex garden.

It is a hard subject to photograph but I went for the simple approach, looking in from the outside and looking out from the inside of the same corner. The metal spikes are hollow with amber translucent material at their tips so showing tiny spots of amber light on the inside. A young girl who happened to be there at the same time called to her grandfather “Grandpa, come and see, its the best bit of art I’ve ever seen” (I think she might have been 7 years old at the most!)

Shadows and Slots

Art, Photography, Sculpture

I am continuing to explore creating shadows with simple forms. These 3/4 plaster spheres have been filed to make a slot and then all 49 placed in a grid with the slots randomly positioned. Who knows why but looking at it makes me feel calm and peaceful, (although a little annoyed that not every sphere is in focus) must try harder. The spheres are about the size of a mint imperial, no-one has been fooled yet luckily, they could be nasty if swallowed!

Creating Cast Shadows

Art, Design, Jewellery, Sculpture

Somehow I seem to have found myself moving almost full circle in my use of scale. I began with intricate delicate jewellery in silver and moved abruptly in a dramatic change of scale to a few bulky fabrications in painted MDF, then mild steel sculpture as big as I could make it. I yearned to go bigger, larger than life but for that you need money, strength, a whole workshop full of specialist equipment, space and hopefully a commission. After a liberating but all too brief dalliance with pleated paper and an even briefer sojourn with copper sheet, I adopted a more restrained approach, all white sculpture on a domestic scale in a medium quite new to me until now, cast plaster. Gradually and almost without realising what was afoot, the scale has slid back down, close to jewellery sized pieces.
Throughout this whole exploration of materials and processes, runs my habitual theme of repetition, it seems to be the one constant, indeed it is undeniably quite my favourite. And of course my second favourite, the aspect that sits so well with repetition – cast shadows.

Slots

Design, Photography, Sculpture

A while ago I had access to a laser cutter and made this piece from white cartridge paper, which is great for casting shadows and for photographing through.

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: