Responding to Nature
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Responding to nature. Hannah Redfern Hughes 1 Health benefits of nature: Mind advocates for the use of Eco therapy. This specific type of therapy, which includes doing activities outdoors in nature, is found to help with mild to moderate depression and anxiety. I will always personally attest to the benefits of nature, specifically when I go for a walk with the aim of finding a green space or just to listen to the sea. I find it a very relaxing experience and helps to relieve any everyday stress. Own image. 20/07/20. 18.28 PM. Darren y gesail. 2 "Nature And Mental Health". Mind.Org.Uk, 2018. Bonnie Kemske Sarah purvey ‘Cast Hugs’ is an interesting way to get the viewer to interact with an object. I think that exploring the forms and texture I use could be a way to encourage interaction with my vessels. I wanted to include Purvey’s work because I was interested in her mark making and how she can convey the energy of the landscape through it. Fig 1.Kemske, Bonnie. Cast Hugs. RCA, London, 2007. Fig.2, ‘Grazed’. Part of Purvey’s Landscape series. 3 Helen Carnac Richard Long The translation of drawing to vessel is what interested me about Carnac’s work. Fig.3. Richard Long. Walk of Seven Cairns. 1992 I’ve referenced one of Long’s text-works because he is known for using walks at the centre of his work. I was interested to see how he used different mediums to document them. Fig,3. Helen Carnac. Each other. 4 Field trip: Stanmer Park – 17/10/20 Field trips and working on location have always been an integral part this project. Photography, audio recordings, videos, drawing and making with clay have been the main ways I have developed my research and specifically documented the walks I have been going on. Both own 5 image. Field trip: Recording at Brighton beach – 06/11/20 Transcript for audio: “I’m sat on the beach listening to the waves roll in. It’s calm. The sun is shining on my face. Barely any wind. (I sigh)” Own recording. 6 Nov 2021. Brighton Beach 6 Own image. Brighton beach. Drawn on location. Pebbles on the beach. Brighton Racecourse – 23/11/20 “I didn’t expect it to be this peaceful. I can see the whole of Brighton. I’m looking out to the sea, it’s so cloudy, but there's bits where the sun is breaking through. I can see it shining on the horizon. The air smells so fresh. Those clouds are looking grey.” Own recording. 23 Nov 2020. 13.42 PM Brighton Racecourse. 7 Own image. View of the sea from Brighton Racecourse. 23/11/20 Field trip Brighton beach – morning visit on 9/11/20 Video stills – A direct response to my surroundings. I used found tools to make marks. The use of video enabled me to document my research into making on location. 8 Fieldtrip: Collecting clay at Southerndown beach -21/01/21 I used clay that I had dug on location, therefore in turn for taking some home with me I wanted to leave an offering for the beach and nature to take back. Video stills. 15:37 in the afternoon. 9 26/02/21 – Documenting a walk by making. Making a pinch pot whilst walking the 3 miles from my house to Southerndown beach. Using the rhythm of my steps to guide the shape and picking up textures of the walk along the pathways. 10 26/02/21 – I had reached my destination and finished the pinch pot I had made earlier in the walk by rolling, drawing and writing into it. 11 “The morning frost has melted away, I revisit the same headland, I can’t get enough of this place. I loved to finally view the cliffs I walk regularly in another light.” Own recording. 27/02/21. 10.31 AM Dunraven Bay. 12 Own image. 27/02/21. Dunraven Bay. Documenting textures – Plaster casting at Rottingdean 22/11/20 Result: successful stamp to use on future vessels. Application of plaster. Research into textures. Result. 13 A response to Brighton Beach Here I have documented in coil-built vessels by carving and printing with found materials, how a visit to the beach makes me feel. The text used are my thoughts of the beach and walk, I plan on continue to work with text in my vessels. ‘The waves hear my worries and washes them away.’2/11/20 14 Replicating textures found in nature I love finding natural textures on my walks and celebrating these discoveries. Own image. Machynlleth, lichen. 17/09/20.15 Southerndown Beach I returned to the place I left objects made using clay from that beach, as if on a pilgrimage to calmness. I found the clay had melted away. 21/01/21 21/01/21 26/02/21 16 Material research: Processing collected clay Part of my research has included developing my own slips from local clays at my home in south wales, so I can use them to decorate my vessels. Collecting clay at Breaking up clay. Sieving dry clay, added Slip Southerndown. water. 17 Material Research: Cwm Nash clay. At home in South Wales some of the cliffs have iron running through them. I collected some from Cwm Nash Beach, made it into a slip. Slip and glaze test. Raw material. 18 Material research Using the slips from Southerndown and Cwm Nash beach to colour the clay. A matt and a transparent glossy glaze create an interesting contrast in texture. 19 Fieldwork: Potato printing in Monkswood, Wick. Woodland trust – 22/02/21 To create a reminder of my presence, I temporarily marked my journeys. Using this potato stamp and slip made from the Southerndown clay. 20 Drawing research. I collect materials on my walks. Drawing these items helps as part of my research into textures, simplifying what I see, allows me to build up other layers using different mediums. 21 Fieldtrip: Drawing on location at Southerndown beach, 23/01/21 Charcoal on paper. Drawn on location. 22 23/01/21 Drawing research: I used the slip I made from clay dug at Southerndown, to print with the seaweed I also collected there. 23 Drawing with slip ‘A sea view by listening to the waves’. 09/02/21 24 ‘A walk to Woodingdean’ I used the plaster stamps, made on location. To create the overall surface pattern I used a plant (picked on the walk) to smooth the coils together. Unevenly cut rim to create a silhouette of the landscape. 25 Transcript of audio recording, carved and inlayed into the vessel. Mark making I use mark making and drawing to document my walks and then translate those onto my vessels. Before After 26 Mark making and material exploration Coil-built vessel, with text written on the inside walls. Carving inspired by drawings done on location at home in South Wales. 27 My intention is to create a collection of vessels, that communicate my experiences of nature and walking to the viewer, with the hope that they can also understand the peace and calm it can bring. 28 References • Slide 2 : "Nature And Mental Health". Mind.Org.Uk, 2018, https://www.mind.org.uk/media-a/2931/nature-and-mental-health-2018.pdf. Accessed 12 Dec 2020. • Slide 3 : Image of cast hugs from: "Bonnie Kemske". Royal College Of Art, 2021, https://www.rca.ac.uk/students/bonnie-kemske/. Accessed 2 Apr 2021. • Slide 3: "Cast Hugs". Bonniekemske.Com, 2021, https://www.bonniekemske.com/cast-hugs. Accessed 15 Nov 2020. • Slide 3: Purvey, Sarah. "Profile — SARAH PURVEY". SARAH PURVEY, 2020, http://www.sarahpurvey.com/profile. Accessed 26 Nov 2020. • Slide 4: "Helen Carnac". Helen Carnac, 2021, http://www.helencarnac.co.uk/#/edge-and-shore/. Accessed Feb 2021. • Slide 4: "RICHARD LONG OFFICIAL". Richardlong.Org, 2021, http://www.richardlong.org/index.html. Accessed 12 Feb 2021. 29.