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Artist Research

Osamu Watanabe

“The magic of sweets”

Osamu Watanabe is a prominent artist who has transformed the art of sweet decoration into a captivating art form.

In 2000, Watanabe ventured into a new artistic field that he developed known as ‘Fake cream art’. This distinctive style uses artificial food materials to craft decorative and edible-looking treats inspired by various themes.

Source: Whitestone gallery (2024) osamu watanabe Available at: https://www.whitehouse-gallery.come/blogs/artist/osamuwatanabe Accessed: 4/12/2024

Watanabe’s incredible creations really inspired me when i began my search for artists to relate to my assemble project.

I had been focusing a lot on a single theme in my artwork (cake). I realised when looking at Watanabe’s work that it was important to experiment more not only with colours but different desserts not only cakes but ice cream, cupcakes, fruits all sorts of different delicacies.

This helped me when coming to the end of my assemble project as I branched out more, researching how different desserts were assembled, making note of it and interpreting it in my own style.

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Animation workshop - nov 25th

I chose to work with polymer clay as the medium for my animation project. I wanted to make a whole cake first and then make a bigger sliced version for the second half of the animation. 🎂��

I had more difficulty working with the polymer clay then the regular clay i used in my previous workshops as it was a lot more solid and difficult to shape. However heat from the palms of your hands or radiators helped soften it to be moulded and mixed.

Creating the shape and design of the cake 🎂

The finished cake design. I also finished the enlarged sliced version incorporating the same colours and designs as the original cake.

Finished animation!! 🍽️🍰🎂Its basic as it was my first time animating and using the stop motion app. I encountered a few difficulties but ultimately i really enjoyed the experience.

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Continuing plaster workshop day 2 -nov 20th

I wanted to make a silicone mould this time so Using another clay slice of cake i surrounded it with a clay wall to ensure the silicone doesn’t leak.

I measures out the liquid silicone and powder and mixed it until it became pink in colour. I then poured the liquid into the clay mould. I set the mould aside to solidify overnight.

The next day i removed the clay and was left with my silicone mould.

I filled the mould with a clear wax to clean the excess clay from it. And once that dried i removed it and was able to pour in the red wax id chosen for the finished cake.

Finished product.

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Plaster workshop - nov 19th

For this workshop i wanted to make plaster moulds of clay cakes id created in continuation with my exploration of the assemble theme.🍰

With the help of my plaster tutor we brought my clay cakes to this machine which melted a plastic sheet to the shape of the cakes.

Once the plastic sheet was formed to the shape of the cakes i filled them with plaster and let them to sit over night. Due to the height of each slice of cake the plastic sheet wasn’t able to transfer all the intricate details of the cake so if i was to redo them i would make sure the toppings of the cake weren’t as high.

The next day i took the plaster moulds out, i wasn’t entirely happy with the way they came out but I’ll have a clearer understanding of how to improve it next time! 🍽️🍰

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Clay plus workshop -14th nov

For the second day of this workshop i wanted to create a slice of cake. The point of making this cake wasn’t the finished piece but the journey of assembling everything to create the final product.

I started off with a slab of clay and measured out the sides, top and bottom of the cake. I also used a special piping tool that i used to create border and icing detail on the cake.

In the process of assembling the sides, i used slip to attach the pieces together.

The finished cake, i really enjoyed making the details of this cake and seeing it all come together.

A week later my piece was fired in the kiln and i was able to photograph it properly.

On friday 22nd nov i was able to glaze my piece.

Finished piece🍰

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Between the bridges project -nov 4th

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Clay plus workshop -nov 11th

our instructions for this workshop Making a dissembled pencil from clay.

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Clay plus workshop -nov 11th

We were told to bring in an object and take it apart.

We were then tasked with making a part of that object from cardboard in preparation for clay.

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Cardboard workshop -oct 22nd-24th

Continuing with my exploration of ‘assemble’ i wanted to explore how a cake is assembled.

Instead of creating a perfect object i left it unfinished and messy it looks like its still in the process of being created making it easier to figure how how it was assembled.

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Cardboard workshop -Oct 21st

Today we were given an exercise “disassemble a piece of cardboard then re-assemble those pieces to create an object”.

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Camera work and lighting workshop -oct 8th

Today i explored ideas for the theme assemble. I wanted to assemble a love story between two people. I did this using objects that i placed on a projector and experimenting with different lightings and backgrounds.

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Camera work and lighting workshop -oct 7th

Today we explored the journey of how different types of lighting, shadows and materials can dramatically alter the mood of a photograph. I experimented with natural and artificial light, Different fabrics and materials, learned how to manipulate shadows to enhance different features on the subject.

Our first task was taking a passport photo. We then expanded into more creative options, exploring unconventional techniques and compositions to push the boundaries of traditional photography.

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Images from scale/action workshop with Eoin McCormack.

We started off with 30 second drawings of the figure then 1 minute and 2 minute drawings. We also did some drawings with our non dominant hand.

The main focus of this workshop was to explore a more free and expressive form of sketching.

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Our final piece for radius project completed!

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Once we had the building of our structure completed it was time to paint. We wanted to incorporate two colours into our design inspired by the gazebo in peoples park.

We used masking tape to cover the areas that would be painted white and then once they were secured we brought the piece to the drying room where we spray painted it red.

Once the red paint had dried we removed the masking tape and began painting the rest of the area white.

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Adding smaller details to the piece

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Creating the structure