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Inflatable Collar.

So, inspired by the pigeon's failed courtship, I wanted to make a collar that puffs up and inflates, like the feathers on birds often do.

I started with a sketch from my sketchbook, and then made some more practical drawings, thinking of shape and volume.

Then I took some measurements, using myself as a model- neck, chest, collarbone to bottom of ribs,. I made the bottom layer first, making adjustments, adding darts to make it fit better to me, then copied it, made it bigger and added gussets to add more volume to the top.

I'm making this collar out of polyurethane acetate, a biodegardable plastic. Before cutting out my pattern, I did some testing, seeing what colours would take- wax, alcohol markers, acrylic markers. I did some stress test, seeing how it took pulling, what other adhesives worked with it- pva, hot glue, latex.

Then I cut out my pieces, and will weld them with the specialty welder on Monday.

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Sketchbook Thinking for Sculptures to fix to the body

As we had to expand on something we've chosen previously, I picked Birds, as I think they have a lot of room for exploration. Specifically, I was inspired by something i had seen the day prior- a pigeon, trying. and failing to woo a mate with a mating dance- bobbing and up and down, spinning in circles, puff his chest up and down as the objct of his affection tried to politely run off. The movement fascinated me (it think my fascination with the pigeons ability to become amorphous is quite well documented), and it got me thinking about posturing- changing the body, the way it looks and moves, to attract attention. I explor ethis idea of expanding, and then the opposite- of constriction.

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My project is about Birds, but more specifically pigeons. They way the move, the way they contort and reform their bodies into a multitude of shapes, the way they flock together. I think most importantly, though, its about the joy and light that pigeons bring with them in our day to day lives

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Wobble bird

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Pigeon Sticker Project

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Pigeon Sketchbooks

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Army of Little Birds.

Found this little gut in a charity shop and enjoyed how simply yet elegantly it invoked the image of a bird, so i set out o make a flock

I glued the figurine to a board, and sealed the gap between the two to create a smoother mould, and protect the unglazed stomach from the silicone. Then I formed a wall around it so that the silicone would stay where I needed it. After sealing him away, and then waiting for 16 hours, I had my mould!

I tried to make fat balls, using lard oats and birdseed with them at first, to give back to the pigeons who have inspired me greatly, but i could get a formula that would hold.

Instead, i decided to keep it simple and make up a variety of wax models.

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Artist research: Peter Firmin and Bagpuss

Bagpuss was a British Stop Motion television show that ran for 4 months in 1974. It was produced by Small Films. It was created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, the latter of whom I would like to focus on as he was the artist of the two.

Firmin was an english artist and puppet maker, using 'whatever of was laying around' to bring a his whimsical creatures to life. He worked at the Central School of Art and Design, before he was approached by Postgates to work on the show. He agreed because he thought that children's television needed an overhaul, that children shouldn't be talked down to. Wanted to design creatures that were had character, and not be overly cutesy- he did not particularly care if the children liked .

He's been involved in a number of different shows, he's most proud of Noggin The Nog, and while they're all fantastic, I am going to focus on Bag puss.

I just love his designs- they feel so worn, so well loved, I love his use of different materials. As a fellow creature maker, I find him very inspirational.

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Smoosh bird, just in time for Pancake Tuesday. Plasticine, shaped into pigeon, then smooshed.

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Dry Point- Print

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Tracy Emin

Tracy Emin is a Contemporary Artist, known for installation work. I’m drawn to her by her broad range of mediums and materials, having made painting, prints, sculpture, found object, film and video, a work method I really appreciate and relate to, as a self-dec,armed multimedia artist.

While not related to my project, I wanted to briefly mention her latest Installation, “I followed you til the end”, in the White Cube, because it is an incredibly moving, profound piece of work. It moved me to tears while I was researching it, and was very impactful to me, would highly recommend.

“Distance of your heart is”, a series of bronze sparrow sculptures scattered across Sydney, is much more fitting for my project. Obviously, there’s the bird aspect, but it think more than that I really love how she uses the space she’s in, anchors it to the landmarks around it- placing it along side the Obelisk Of Distances. It’s art for the public, art for the unassuming, and I really like it.

That’s all

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Scrunch Birds

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Scale project- big as you can, small as you can.

I enjoyed this- I am admittedly bad with scale, I often work quite small, so have the excuse to go so big- the paper was the length of my wingspan approx- was nice, as was the excuse to work within my comfort zone of smaller paintings (the biggest small piece is approx the length of my thumb)

The larger piece is more abstract , using blues oranges to paint something indicative of a pigeon swirling and spinning through the air.

The smaller overs are a close up of a previously painted bird, and an even closer close up of the pigeons eye. The last is what I’m calling a water drop bird- a drop of water is put down and the pagers and pigeon watercolours are added and swirled will the water settles, then the little face and feet are added with ink afterwards

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Assorted paintings

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Another piece from the life drawing session- I though it looked rather coastal, sea sidey. Added the sand castle in suggestion of a peer

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Live painting

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Birb