Photograph of Litter Sculpture
During the Foundation Year, I managed to get my teeth into many of those areas in which I felt there was an itch to be scratched. Being in the lucky position of having a holiday home in a Fife coastal village, I am all too aware of the state of our beaches. The rather unsightly flotsam and jetsam that comes ashore on the prevailing tide or is simply forgotten during an outing quickly mounts up. This photo is of a sculpture on the high dunes above the beach. I am not sure as to how it comes about but somebody or several people over a span of time laboriously collect the bizarre and mundane off the beach and use it to build this beacon of people's waste.
Pink, Purple Plastic
I went on a quest to see what I could find. Plastic - lots and lots of plastic. In all sorts of pretty colours and states of disintegration. Everything from the plastic tubes of cotton buds to toy soldiers to cups.
Texture
So - what to do with all this stuff! How to use it in order to produce something with a message that is not contrite or obvious? Here is a photo of a development piece in which I explore materials which may be of use to capture the beach litter issue! This is textural and incorporates found objects off the beach.
Flow Development
This is a further development using what I very technically call 'the gloop'. Seems to get the impression fairly well of polluted water and still bears the marks of found objects by imprinting.
Flow Installation
A section of the finished piece which ended up being a sort of installation on a light board. The flow of polluted water is to represent the oily, muddy unclean waters of our polluted streams and rivers which feed into the sea.
Garleton Hill Development
I have always loved this stretch of road. This is made of collage materials and is really about the curves in the landscape.
The Road to Garleton Hill
The final piece. This is actually one of two paintings constructed this way and almost identical. There is this one, very warm in colour. The other is cooler in colour giving a very different sense of atmosphere and light.
Formerly known as Sunny Bank House
A development piece made in response to a fascinating house of great historical importance. The leaf symbolises the environment in which the house sits.
The Large Window
The final process in this particular project was printmaking. Several prints were made using templates of the five main window styles of the house. This is one of the grander windows. The tree silhouettes are contrived in order to mirror the envirnoment and the stitching represents the period of time in which the house was a centre for the wool-dyeing trade.
