INFORMATION FILE
THIS IS MY INFORMATION FILE FOR CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS FOUNDATION YEAR
2014-2015
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
HEAVINESS
Body positions
Orliac, C. and Orliac, M. (1995) The Silent Gods: Mysteries of Easter Island (New Horizons). United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson Ltd
"With simple stone tools: ticks, chisels and burins of basalt, the master sculptors shaped enormous blocks of tuff."
"After several months of labour, a stone giant was at last born from the eroded flanks of the Rano Raraku volcano"
"The fabulous statues, detached from their rocky keel, were dragged down the slope and then set up in a pit where the sculptors completed their work."
PAMELA LOVE
GEMMA DRAPER
http://klimt02.net/jewellers/gemma-draper
http://www.gemmadraper.com/works/----aflordepiel--2004/
I link fragments and join the disjointed world, day by day. This fragmented beauty could crystallise for a moment into something akin to an alphabet. Cover oneself briefly in this fabric which, revealing what it conceals, concedes us its touch. The exercise is to hold on to this moment. To breath and hold on to it.
STONE TOOLS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_tool
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric, particularly Stone Age cultures that have become extinct. Archaeologists often study such prehistoric societies, and refer to the study of stone tools as lithic analysis. Ethnoarchaeology has been a valuable research field in order to further the understanding and cultural implications of stone tool use and manufacture. Stone has been used to make a wide variety of different tools throughout history, including arrow heads, spearpoints and querns. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or chipped stone, and a person who creates tools out of the latter is known as a flintknapper.
STONEHENGE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge
Archaeological evidence found by the Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2008 indicates that Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. The dating of cremated remains found on the site indicate that deposits contain human bone from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug. Such deposits continued at Stonehenge for at least another 500 years.
Stonehenge was produced by a culture that left no written records. Many aspects of Stonehenge remain subject to debate. A number of myths surround the stones. There is little or no direct evidence for the construction techniques used by the Stonehenge builders. Over the years, various authors have suggested that supernatural or anachronistic methods were used, usually asserting that the stones were impossible to move otherwise. However, conventional techniques, using Neolithic technology as basic as shear legs, have been demonstrably effective at moving and placing stones of a similar size. Proposed functions for the site include usage as an astronomical observatory or as a religious site.
EASTER ISLAND
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/easter-island/
Rapa Nui’s mysterious moai statues stand in silence but speak volumes about the achievements of their creators. The stone blocks, carved into head-and-torso figures, average 13 feet (4 meters) tall and 14 tons. The effort to construct these monuments and move them around the island must have been considerable—but no one knows exactly why the Rapa Nui people undertook such a task. Most scholars suspect that the moai were created to honor ancestors, chiefs, or other important personages, However, no written and little oral history exists on the island, so it’s impossible to be certain.
NATIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Image
TERHI TOLVANEN
http://klimt02.net/jewellers/terhi-tolvanen
"In my work I visualize the relationship between man and nature. I am fascinated especially by the human interference in the nature; the traces that are left behind by the taking care, the organizing or controlling nature. But the nature “fights back”, it keeps on growing and changing. This unpredictable power of life is for me a source of inspiration. This dialogue between control and freedom has become the general theme for my jewelry. "
ANDY GOLDSWORTHY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Goldsworthy
Art process
The materials used in Andy Goldsworthy's art often include brightly coloured flowers, icicles, leaves, mud, pinecones, snow, stone, twigs, and thorns. He has been quoted as saying, "I think it's incredibly brave to be working with flowers and leaves and petals. But I have to: I can't edit the materials I work with. My remit is to work with nature as a whole." Goldsworthy is generally considered the founder of modern rock balancing. For his ephemeral works, Goldsworthy often uses only his bare hands, teeth, and found tools to prepare and arrange the materials; however, for his permanent sculptures like "Roof", "Stone River" and "Three Cairns", "Moonlit Path" (Petworth, West Sussex, 2002) and "Chalk Stones" in the South Downs, near West Dean, West Sussex he has also employed the use of machine tools. To create "Roof", Goldsworthy worked with his assistant and five British dry-stone wallers, who were used to make sure the structure could withstand time and nature.
HIROTOSHI ITOH
http://kleanperspektive.com/2014/05/02/the-amazing-stone-sculptures-of-hirotoshi-itoh/
In his personal work, he uses various stones found at a riverbank near his home (in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan). Using traditional stone masonry equipment such as chisels and saws, he transforms rock, granite, and marble into garments, coin purses, bread, laughing faces, and other surrealistic objects.
MOAI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai
Moai are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on the Chilean Polynesian island of Easter Island between the years 1250 and 1500 CE.Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads three-eighths the size of the whole statue. The moai are chiefly the living faces (aringa ora) of deified ancestors (aringa ora ata tepuna). The statues still gazed inland across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island, but most were cast down during later conflicts between clans.
The moai are monolithic statues, their minimalist style related to forms found throughout Polynesia. Moai are carved in relatively flat planes, the faces bearing proud but enigmatic expressions. The human figures would be outlined in the rock wall first, then chipped away until only the image was left.
The production and transportation of the 887 statues are considered remarkable creative and physical feats. The tallest moai erected, called Paro, was almost 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighed 82 tons, the heaviest erected was a shorter but squatter moai at Ahu Tongariki, weighing 86 tons; and one unfinished sculpture, if completed, would have been approximately 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a weight of about 270 tons. The islanders themselves tore down the standing moai after their civilization broke down.