Next week the third trimester for the MA starts (where the emphasis will be more on the research paper). Due to unforeseen circumstances, my plan to work on my practice in the time between trimester #2 and #3 (the Spring Break) had to be put on hold. However, while not working on practice, per se, I spent time reflecting over the practice that I had produced to date and I could see patterns emerging, forming into potential archetypes. I doodled these in an attempt to make these ideas concrete.

Archetypes

My practice is underpinned by an exploration of taking the post-colonial concept of hybridity into the visual world. To date this results in the dividing line (a metaphor for the “third space”) resulting from two fields (themselves metaphors for “cultures”).

I — Linear(ish) Bisection of Color Fields

Executed as fiber sculpture. Two Hard-Edge Color Fields. The division bisects the pictorial space. The deviation in the bisection can be tight or loose.

II — Non-linear Bisection of Color Fields

Executed as fiber sculpture. Two “Soft-Edged” Color Fields (achieved by interleaving). The division is based on geometric curves or non-linear constructs.

III — Waveform bisection of Color Fields

Executed as fiber sculpture. Two color fields. The division is inspired by an audio waveform. The division is an approximation of the waveform for a specific word or phrase.

IV — Generative (Minimal) Bisection

Generative. Minimal: the figure is the division, the ground is empty.

For aesthetic reasons the pictorial space is a square and the dividing line bisects it. With generative art it is possible to ensure that the bisection is mathematically correct, i.e. the area of each side of the dividing line is the same.

V — Doodles

Ideas sketched quickly to concrete them before they disappear. Sometimes raw and unprocessed — brush pen on paper; pencil on paper. Or brought into the digital world and unashamedly processed.

VI — Open Weave

Unlike my other fiber art sculptures, in these the fibers are not woven horizontally into color fields, but are at angles, with large amounts of negative space. This is an attempt to adjust the focus of the spectator to the fiber itself, and that it is a sculpture but one on a canvas and so melding sculpture with a pictorial space.

Thoughts

It has been interesting to look back at the work I have made and see how it has developed into recognizable archetypes. I plan to continue exploring these to see how they “flesh out” and whether they form a coherent series of work.

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