Category: Uncategorised

From digital back to analogue

Our tutor Chris had taken the 3D digital models created in ‘z brush’ last week and turned them back into an analogue paper version. The group’s faces were printed onto dissected shapes to be cut and stuck together. The morning was spent in very focused cutting, folding and gluing. We learnt the different between a valley fold (concave) and a mountain fold (convex) as well as how sticky UHU glue is!

Whilst everyone worked away creating their 3D portraits each member showed the rest of the group a piece of work they had made either at home or at school. We talked about their inspirations as well as the materials and processes they liked to use. This was a fantastic insight into the incredible level of existing knowledge and skill within the group. I hope everyone enjoyed sharing their work as much as we enjoyed seeing it.

By the end of the session we had these brilliant 3D portraits. These will be sent off to London in advance of our visit to Central St Martins College of Art and Design in a couple of weeks where they will be exhibited alongside portraits of the other National Saturday Club members from across the country.

Self portraits: introductions

This was the first session of Winchester School of Art Saturday Club and we were excited to meet the 20 students taking part. Club members are from 5 different schools from Winchester and the surrounding area, with students from years 9, 10 and 11.

After our initial introductions and a short tour the group played a series of warm ups led by third year Printmaking student Georgia de Buriatte. We drew each other, in a variety of fast paced methods, moving around the room for every drawing to loosen up our ideas about looking and mark making. This was a fun way to meet new people; the results were surprising and despite it not being about the outcomes there were some lovely drawings.

Next we headed outside to collect materials from the car park which would be the basis of the next mark making activity. Once back inside we paired up and drew around each other on large sheets of paper. The leaves, stones, feathers, twigs and rubbish were used with indian ink to fill the body shapes with textures and marks. The group became quite experimental; creating new combinations to make drawing tools, using objects to create prints or as stencils, dropping objects dipped in ink onto paper from a height or creating patterns with repeated physical gestures.  We lined up the results for everyone to see each others approaches and discuss the benefits and pitfalls of relaxing control over the outcomes.

Chris Carter, Sculpture Technician and Saturday Club tutor worked with the group to take photographs of each other. At the end of the session he gave us a presentation on 3D printing (including one mind blowing project using the suns heat to create 3D printed glass from sand in the dessert) and showed us examples of works created at the college using this technology. He explained how the images we had taken this week would be used to create 3D models of ourselves in the second and third session.

We hope the first session set the tone for the rest of year where everyone was excited to take part and get stuck in, making work and sharing ideas.