Beginning to Explore Casting and Presenting my Work in an Exhibition.

I had intended to begin my exploration of casting by creating negative space casts of my sixteen ‘Sound Sculptures’, however I discovered that if I wanted to cast directly from the sculpture, I would need it the clay to still be malleable in order to get it out of the plaster cast. This worked out as a positive thing as it has left me with these clay sculptures undamaged, as a document of sound embodied through sculpture that I can use as a comparison against my casts, comparing the outcomes of sound as a solid object versus the void that a sound takes up.

Trial Cast of Sculpted Found Clay

Trial Cast of Sculpted Plasticine

I made two trial casts before beginning the main works, plaster casting being rather new to me. One trial used soft found clay sculpted in the same way as the ‘Sound Sculptures’, and the second used a Plasticine like material. The found clay transferred some pigment onto the plaster during the casting process, which was still visible after removing the clay from the cast shape, whereas the Plasticine did not transfer any notable marks to the plaster. Initially I had wanted to create a pure white cast of the negative space around a ‘Sound Sculpture’, however after testing out both methods I found that the clay version which left ochre pigment on the hollowed out areas actually worked much more effectively. This version offered a contrast between the artificiality of the white plaster and the natural clay, as well as allowing for a trace of the original natural material to be present within the finished product, something that I have tried to incorporate within the majority of my works, going back to my frottage and rock pigment paint pieces of last year.

Process Photographs of the 'Sound Carving' Casts

I then took this method and used it to create a series of four ‘Sound Carvings’ – the name coming from the idea that a sound has carved out the void in the plaster block, and now takes up that space like a physical entity or object. I built a wooden mould to accommodate two casts at a time to slightly speed up the casting process and then cast four cube-shaped ‘Sound Carvings’.

The multiple of four came about in response to my sixteen ‘Sound Drawings’, which I had arranged in a grid on my studio wall, the idea was that the four casts would be placed on a table below the drawings fitting in as a fifth row in the grid. Thinking about presentation in this way was in preparation for exhibiting my work in the exhibition ‘Outside In’ at The Poly, Falmouth.

'Sound Mapping' on Display in 'Outside In', The Poly, Falmouth

The above photographs show my work on display in ‘Outside In’, in a similar manner to how I explained previously, though with headphones playing a loop of the natural ambient sounds that I recorded for my process video a couple of months ago. The idea of providing the audio was in an attempt to place the viewer in my shoes, enabling them to understand my perspective when I am in a natural landscape and creating these works. Had I had more time available I would have recorded the actual sounds that I was drawing/sculpting to when creating the works on display instead of using a sample of natural sounds from another walk in order to make the viewing experience more realistic.

A small group crit at The Poly during this exhibition brought up some interesting ideas, both a few I had considered myself as well as many new perspectives. Reinforcing my use of the sound piece, I was told that the “sound made the drawings come alive” and that it “helps the viewer to comprehend the process” of the pieces. Though an interesting point was brought up that I could have recorded the exact sounds that I was drawing/sculpting in response to as short clips of audio and then somehow labelled them to their corresponding drawing/sculpture so that the viewer could listen to the exact moment in time that I was documenting in each work. This would, however, have been very complicated to display in an exhibition with such a quick turnaround.

The composition of the collective works as a grid referenced to some people the longitude and latitude lines of coordination, which links very well to the theme of mapping which underlies much of my recent work. This, along with the shape of the drawings and sculptures (squares and cubes), references scientific techniques such as quadrats used for ecological measurement. The ideas of alternative measurement and treading the line between art and science are key areas of my current research.