Amanda Williams - Portfolio

Scratch that last post on setting up a cheap and easy backdrop for photographing art. There’s a better way. Actually there’s a proper way. As luck would have it Paul Leathers was running a workshop on exactly that topic (and what goes on in front of it) yesterday at SODA in Fremantle.

Why am I telling you now? Because it was good, really good, and it may just be worth giving SODA a call. Word was, that since ten people went on the waiting list, in case anyone cancelled on one of the 15 places (not very likely!), there’s a chance they’ll run another before Paul returns to Canada.

The course description went “Paul Leathers has lectured on digital photo-documentation internationally and has documented artworks for institutional collections and individual makers. His images have been published in numerous books and magazines. Photo-documentation is the final step in finishing your artwork! This hands-on workshop will introduce the principles and practices of digitally photo-documenting both 2D and 3D artworks. The emphasis will be on keeping the process simple and inexpensive…”

Worth every minute and the 2 hours traveling each way… and guess which twit left her camera sitting on the kitchen table? Nevertheless, I came back with a dozen pages of notes and confidence sufficient to polish up that undocumented stuff known to be lurking under the studio dust.

Contact: Fleur Schell on noonan@preciseit.com.au or 9433 4836

Also, Paul has a show coming up at Perth Galleries from the 10 April - 3 May.

A thought offered, in all humility, from one who knows not much (if anything) most days. And some days even less…

Found myself in the studio looking for an urgent means to block out the background for a photo of a sculpture. (Yeah - it’s a mess in there - not a blank wall to be had anywhere.) The usual thing the pros have is a tall frame and fabric. Such things can be had on E-Bay but they’re pricey even there. Couldn’t find anything even remotely like that here that might be pressed into service - besides all the bed sheets on hand have patterns on them. Ninja Turtles anyone? I didn’t think so…

Then the desperate eye rested on a stack of canvases. Yes! Add a handful of clamps… Pictures say the rest. Note that the structure is clamped to the table top as well as the canvases to each other. And if they get a bit grubby with storage and use? Well, I reckon they might just take a coat of paint.

Form I (2007) Wood and stainless steel, 600mm x 900mm - 600mm

It’s all over and I’m happy to report that Phi II was awarded a Highly Commended at the Mindarie Boardwalk Sculpture Festival a couple of hours ago. It was a tough contest against a field of awesome professional and emerging artists. I was happy just to be asked to put together a proposal - getting a nod is a huge bonus.

A bit stoked…

Now all I have to do is go hire the rickety trailer again and drive all the way back to bring him home - very slowly over the rough roads - the reverse of Friday’s nail biting escapade. I just hope I can yet again find three strong men and a trolley. And pray that I don’t jack-knife the trailer this time. Oops.

Amanda

After months and months in the planning and making Phi II was this morning delivered to Mindarie Marina for the Mindarie Boardwalk Sculpture Festival & Awards 2008.

No chips, no dingles, no damage. Amazing. It’s not that fragile, of course, being concrete and stainless steel but after a snail pace drive (at less than 60kms per hour) all the way from Chittering to Mindarie… cos I was worried that the rough roads and the ancient hired trailer MIGHT do damage. That’s over two hours folks. Not a nick to be seen. Oh ye of little faith.

Phi II holds blood (scratches making the frame for the moulds), sweat and tears in addition to the more visible materials. Oh, and it froze my fingers working oxide into the wet concrete sometime after midnight on a series of really cold nights… I couldn’t start until I got home each night and it took that long to get the concrete to just the perfect state to work. Yes, with my fingers. OK. I’m fussy.

So what’s the story with it. As Phi II - it’s obviously a next step on from Phi (which brought home the City of Melville prize last year). Hang on, why repeat myself, here’s the official version:

Phi II belongs to a series exploring the golden ratio in three dimensional geometric forms. Sometimes called the divine proportion, and denoted by the Greek letter phi, this ratio is a natural phenomenon which has fascinated scientists, mathematicians and artists since it’s discovery over 2400 years ago.

The outer shape of this work is an icosahedron which is a regular polyhedron with twenty faces each an equilateral triangle. On Phi II these faces are implied by the lacing of stainless steel rope. The golden proportion is found in the more solid rectangles on the inside, crossing at right angles through the centre.

Tension, rhythm and balance are sought between the airiness of the implied space and the rough surface of the concrete and the repetition of line and plane. Phi II is not all serious, watched carefully there’s a fascinating play of shadow traced by the pattern of light.

My interest always in finding something more than the obvious while exploring something that might have been made with a purpose in a time and place unknown. This gives us the most teasing question, simply “What is it?”. That can only be answered by our imagination.

“Without mathematics there is no art.”
Luca Pacioli (1445–1514 or 1517)
Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar and mathematics tutor to Leonardo da Vinci

If you want to go see, you’re going to have to be super quick - the exhibition is this weekend only - with winners announced at 5pm on Sunday May 4.

Amanda

Kinetic sculpture is like mobiles and stuff, right? Art that moves with motors or steam or clockwork. Or rot - I made a still life animation based on rotting fruit - it certainly moved by itself. Among the famous would be Marcel Duchamp with his Bicycle Wheel in 1913 - probably the first. Then race forward to the 50s (which became something of a golden age) with Alexander Calder and Jean Tinguely. All pretty good. For their time.

Nowadays we have Theo Jansen. Take a look…

This - ta dah - is Phi. Or rather a few parts of it… in the studio prior to the final coats of finish that gave it’s metallic sheen. I can’t show you much of a pic because it has yet to be displayed - as I would like it - in a place with good lighting. Soon…

The media is plaster and the illusion of rusty cast iron the result of lots of layers of oil paint. Needless to say Phi was many months in the making. I was mighty chuffed at the opening night of the exhibition when I watched a visitor taking a glance around and then give it a little tap - obviously trying to find out what it was made of. I couln’t resist introducing myself and offering an explanation. It turned out that he was an exhibitor too - a metal piece - a real one - and he a qualified boiler maker.

The shape if it were fully assembled would be a rhombic triacontahedron. The rhombus is in the 5:8 or Golden Proportion - hence the name Phi.

Each of the rhombus was cast from a wooden mould which was laminated and carved - the tricky part being the 144° angles on the underside which when assembled form the triacontahedron. Accuracy was essential here - out by just a couple of degrees and Phi wouldn’t have worked.

So why isn’t Phi fully assembled? The honest answer being that it simply became too heavy for me to lift and turn over after the first 16 pieces. I took a long coffee break and a good look before calling for assistance. I didn’t call. I decided that I liked Phi better in pieces. Five in all. The one large one and then four other smaller groups. I could leave the viewer to decide whether this was a ruin or something had hatched or a kit in making…

The comment from the judges recognised that:

This work presents us with an industrial, weighty tessellated broken shell, providing a sense of consipicuous absence in the space it once contained. The allusions of its manufacture are hard to place - at once gothic and alien, organic or artificial, an article of aggression or protection? A resonant work, well done.

I really can’t wish for more than that. It’s a huge encouragement to continue making work that I really love. And it seems to find viewers who either love it too or think it odd. My work is like that - it seems to evoke a response - rarely a middle ground blah. In a perfect world Phi would find a home other than mine at the end of this exhibition - but that I expect is asking too much. Weighing in at around 40kg in total and I think (I didn’t measure him yet) around half a metre across he doesn’t exactly fit on the average mantlepiece…

Amanda

I’m surprised and delighted to announce that a recent work of mine has won the City of Melville Art Award for Sculpture.

Last night was a hazy whirl of wine and music. I remember shaking hands with the Mayor and lots of hugs from friends. There was a string quartet playing but as much as I love music I can’t tell you what they were playing… the prize is welcome (or will be… the cheque will be in the mail…).

I’m being dragged in three directions this morning between phone calls and stuff I have to do - so I can only promise that I’ll be back to post some images of “Phi” and explain the work as soon as I can.

Amanda