Exhibition comments

"Excellent, high-quality, thought provoking work."

"An inspirational collection of work that works well as individual pieces and collectively. Produced by a friendly, welcoming group."

"Wonderful to see such variety in such a small exhibition. Clearly individuals, each doing their own thing - excellent."

"A really interesting, varied and impressive show. Am pleased to have seen it, well done!"

"Inspirational works of creativity. I liked the range of media used and am intrigued by the stories behind the pieces."

"Very interesting and imaginative work, gets you thinking!"

Debris; using foam and found objects

Totemic Debris Drift
Foam, mirror, objets trouvés

Photos from the show of Mark H's work; see more on Pinterest

Debris Repeated
Foam, mirror, objets trouvés

Foam a Friend
Polyurethane foam

Frames/Planes; making drawings with objects

Frames/Planes
Copper & steel rods, sheet mirror, bulldog clips, coloured paper, coloured elastic

Photos from the show of Emerald M's work; see more on Pinterest

Mathematics and sculpture

"I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition, especially Peter A's mathematical sculptures"

Tre-foil tre-mobius
Aluminium sheet, nuts and bolts

Photos from the show of Peter A's work; see more on Pinterest

Desolution; wood construction

Desolution
Wood, plastic, tape, metal, rubber

Photos from the show of David BT's work; see more on Pinterest

Presence; paper cut & constructed

Presence
Paper, glue

Photos from the show of Gema S's work; see more on Pinterest

Uprooted; circuit board construction

Uprooted
Circuit boards, acrylic, wire, plastic objects

Photos from the show of Roz EF's work; see more on Pinterest

Stereotype & Enclosed; metal constructions

Stereotype
Knitted copper wire, aluminium tube, car body part, sheet vinyl

Enclosed
Sheet aluminium, steel, sheet acrylic

Photos from the show of Judith J's work; see more on Pinterest

Signs; sheet metal & lightbulbs

Signs
Sheet steel, 25 watt lights

Photos from the show of Peter B's work; see more on Pinterest

Urban orchard; installation using light and shadow

Urban orchard
Sheet steel, acrylic, lighting gels, pavement slabs

Photos from the show of Charlotte R's work; see more on Pinterest

What Lies Beneath; Carving, flotsam & jetsam

What Lies Beneath
Wood, slate and ropes (washed up on the Sussex Coast)

Photos from the show of Tony A's work; see more on Pinterest

Back home

Eleana P's work made it to the exhibition with minutes to spare as she had to fly back to Peru at very short notice.  She named one of her pieces "back home"; it seemed apposite. Unfortunately this meant she didn't see the final install of her work, so by the powers of the internet, here you go Eleana!

Curating & installing a group sculpture exhibition

Two days before the private view and we arrived with the work we were to display (and some we won't; curation is a form of editing... less is more!).

The space seemed to have halved in size; what was acres of room to fill suddenly looked overcrowded. Pieces of work that previously looked massive found their space and looked at home. An immediate lesson to take back to CityLit is the importance of seeing your work outside the confines of the studio.

Framing temporary compositions of light, line, colour, reflection and shadow

Emerald M: "The three dimensional forms of Frames/Place create and frame temporary compositions of light, line, colour, reflection and shadow.

The mirrored panels throw back either reflections of the structure itself multiplied or at an angle, or panels of neighbouring colours, depending on how you are looking at them, or moving around the objects.

Bricolage and objet trouvé

David BT: "My approach is varied in sculpture, mainly bricolage and objet trouvé expressions; in kiln glass work I tend to experiment with burn outs, pâte de verre, slumping, open and lost wax casting and core casting. I still paint in water colours and do considerable work in pastels, loving collage work as well. I also write film scripts and poetry occasionally.

I need these various approaches to my art forms to satiate my inner desire to express myself continually, as I’m a highly active person with an overactive effusive mind. My approach is generally very playful and experimental mixture with narrative, landscape inner and outer, figurative, surrealistic and humour as my main themes; which run through most of my art works...

Checking viewing height of sculpture

Judith J: "Checking what eventual height I should set for this sculpture for people to look into..."

Experimenting with light sources to emulate the sun

Charlotte R: "Testing what kind of light source to use in this maquette. It needs to emulate the sun at various points through the day as it shines through what will eventually be a full-scale public sculpture."

Creating spaces within and without the human form

Gema S: "Studies of the shape of the human body; adding layers to create it, looking at the spaces within it, and breaking down the component parts by looking at the individual body part shapes."

Exploring the structure of words, literally and metaphorically

Peter B: "I make works as a personal exploration of abstract ideas, interrogating the relationship between meaning, form, materials and process. I prefer working in 3D because it allows for the use of space and time, avoiding illusionism.

Transforming debris into uneasy signs and ambiguous realities

Mark H: "Last year's Reflection work (Antibust, A Voyeur Reflects) lead into the pieces made this year; where plastic debris, desolate derelict and harmful, is doubled up to be transformed or kaleidoscoped and made into uneasy signs and ambiguous realities"

Sculpture slideshow - playing with scale

Some of Roz EF's work so far:



See more of ROZ EF's photos of sculpture on Pinterest

Aesthetic reactions related to mathematical and scientific concepts

Peter A: Sculpture is art in three dimensions. A sculpture occupies a space and the viewer interacts with it. The interaction will be a mixture of:

·          Gut reactions: I love it, I hate it, it is beautiful, it moves me, it is transcendental.

·          Cerebral reactions: it tells a story, it makes a point, it illustrates a concept.

·          Craft reaction: how is it made, is it what the artist intended?

A successful sculpture appeals to the viewer at all levels.

My background is in computing, science and mathematics with a continuous interest in the visual arts, especially sculpture. It has become clear to me that much of our aesthetic reactions can be related to mathematical and scientific concepts such as harmonics, ratios e.g. the golden mean, self-similarity and transformations. My art takes these concepts as a starting point and then I use my craftsmanship and artist's eye to create abstract sculpture.

See more of Peter A's photos of sculpture on Pinterest

I believe that some of the positive gut reaction to my work is related to the subconscious understanding of the concepts. If the viewer wishes they can explore the concepts and my art gives them clues, including the titles, but in some cases a separate explanation may be needed.

Recently I have been exploring harmonics, knot theory and self similarity.

Areas that I am considering for future work include chaos theory, polarisation and the Fibonnaci series.

Thinking about lighting and displaying the work

Judith J: I am currently working on a full size ‘faceless hoodie’ knitted in wire. It deals with the fear of the unknown, of what is not understood. An important part of the work is the shadow cast. The piece itself is illusionary and intricate and sparkles, but it casts a darker shadow. Next step is to decide how to display the 'hoodie' and to sort out the lighting.

See more of Judith J's pictures of sculpture on Pinterest

Controlling a sculpture or installation's viewing points to surprise and disorientate

Judith J: One strand of my work plays with perspective, reflections and optical illusions. I make boxes with controlled viewing points to surprise and disorientate. I have made a maquette for my next piece and am now attempting to make it three times larger out of sheet aluminium, a new process for me so two steps forward one step back at the moment...

See more of Judith J's pictures of sculpture on Pinterest

Sculpture as breaking space

Breaking space and broken dreams

Sculpture is breaking space; transforming the environment, through the inclusion of one or more objects.

Tony A: "Breaking has many connotations.  I am interested in the inevitable breakdown and decay of all materials through their reaction with the environment.  As I was brought up by the sea, I am especially keen to use materials that have been carved by the sea.  Not just driftwood, but also the salt stained, rusted metal of broken sea defences, and the sand smoothed stones.

See more of Tony A's pictures of sculpture & inspiration on Pinterest

Breaking-down also influences the techniques I favour.  Much of the work is generally cut or carved, rather than cast or modelled.  I prefer to use discarded and left over materials.  I like surface treatments that illustrate the process of breakdown, of use and wear, such as rust, burning and partial polishing.  To me this is more representative of the real world than the shiny, antiseptic, mathematical shapes of many sculptures, which seek to avoid the effects of time and wear, rather than rejoice in it.