From Paper to Plaster
Following her work in the George Brown Botanic Gardens collecting reference material for the project through drawing and painting botanical forms Dawn moved back to her studio at Tactile Arts (19 Conacher Street, next to the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT). The next stage of Botanically Porcelain involved working through the design and development stages of the project to create a set of 3D plaster models.
"This process starts with drawing... lots of drawing. Pinning down all the possible ideas floating around inside my head. Referring back to the drawings and painted studies from the botanic gardens and working out potential shapes and forms that might communicate my intentions."
"The sketching takes place in clay as well as on paper because the final work will be three-dimensional and that added dimension needs to be considered. In the early stages there will be lots of different ideas but fairly quickly many are discarded and it becomes a process of narrowing down the possibilities and focusing on refining the one that works the best."
The final plaster models were carved from solid plaster blocks. Block and case moulds will be made from these 'masters', and then the production moulds will be made from them. The final work will be cast in the production moulds using liquid porcelain slip.
"This is the most important part of the project. The success of the final work relies completely on the decisions made at this stage and its easy to become consumed by self-doubt and anxiety as you pour all of your emotions into the search for the best possible outcome."
"This process starts with drawing... lots of drawing. Pinning down all the possible ideas floating around inside my head. Referring back to the drawings and painted studies from the botanic gardens and working out potential shapes and forms that might communicate my intentions."
"The sketching takes place in clay as well as on paper because the final work will be three-dimensional and that added dimension needs to be considered. In the early stages there will be lots of different ideas but fairly quickly many are discarded and it becomes a process of narrowing down the possibilities and focusing on refining the one that works the best."
The final plaster models were carved from solid plaster blocks. Block and case moulds will be made from these 'masters', and then the production moulds will be made from them. The final work will be cast in the production moulds using liquid porcelain slip.
"This is the most important part of the project. The success of the final work relies completely on the decisions made at this stage and its easy to become consumed by self-doubt and anxiety as you pour all of your emotions into the search for the best possible outcome."
Sketching in clay: examples of testing out early ideas in three-dimensions.
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Dusty work: working outside on some early plaster prototypes.
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Back to the drawing board: design review and development.
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Looking for forms that communicate with each other.
Not a bad view from the office!
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and even dance together.
A progress check: reviewing work and planning final revisions that will unify the different forms
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Back outside: Faceting, refining and smoothing.
Three of the finished forms.
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Nine finished forms were made, from which seven were selected to send to Victoria for case mould production. The final form needed to be paired down to describe 'budding botanical', a sense of growth and movement within a series of forms that were individual but clearly unified as 'belonging' together.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
