Modelling

The other day my studio neighbour came by with some excess modelling material (I don't know what it was - something light and fluffy yet quite kneadable) and said it would dry in 15 minutes, would I like to make something quickly? Oh, I dont do sculpture...we both laughed and I decided to accept the challenge just for the sake of it. I retreated to my studio and began to get a feel for the material. I could manipulate it pretty well but it was kind of dry and would break apart the more I tried to model something. I shuddered as I recalled past frustrations of working with clay in high school. What on Earth would I make? I looked around me and realised that I'm constantly drawing my studio at the moment so I should just make objects that are around me. I tried to make a fineliner pen but it was too hard to roll out so I changed it into a cigarette (funny because I rarely smoke but love rolling cigarettes). The brick mobile phone also wasn't exactly what I wanted but I made do with the material and the tools I had.

It was a fun spontaneous challenge and it caused me to reflect again on the rules that I wrote for a class earlier in the semester about my studio practice. One of my main rules was to make a drawing on paper (a two-dimensional work). I suppose this is a fairly set rule for me but I don't see it as being definitive of my practice. I think that drawing is always my main focus but there are a range of things that happen around the drawing. It's like drawing is a centre for me and my orbiting around it involves a range of thoughts and processes. I guess I just need to keep the orbit reaching out to new things so that the centre is able to expand when it needs. I need to continue being aware of rules that I construct and then test them or break them so I know more about why they are there and if they can be changed.

In setting up an installation of drawings and some furniture a few weeks ago, my advisor said to think of the space as the composition of a drawing. That really resonated with me; the idea that I don't need to think of 2D and 3D as being so far apart.