Month: August 2015

August 2015 – Interrestrial: Exhibition of Interactive Ceramics

daniellekday 1 Comment
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Walking into Interrestrial, you could be forgiven for any initial confusion. An exhibition built on getting interactive with the artworks – and delicate ceramics at that – confronts all our expectations about how to experience art. Interrestrial asks the visitor to make, to identify, to re-arrange, discover, scratch at, walk among and consume its works.
The foyer of Nishi Gallery, New Acton, is dedicated to Community Vessels, 2015, by Richilde Flavell. In the piece, Flavell asks visitors to select raw clay pieces and shape them into miniature sculptures, which are then placed at a location of choice on the floor, where a large sketched outline of Canberra waits. Walking through this as giants, visitors move towards Verney Burness’ Moving Mountains, 2015, where we are immersed in the shattered remnants of mountain-scapes and fractured icebergs in miniature. These tactile delights are able to be glided and scratched across their plexiglass foundations, becoming new arrangements at the imagination of the visitor. In her practice, Burness photographs her arrangements, creating surreal worlds that reflect from glass and mirror surfaces.
Michelle Lim’s Memories in Motion, 2015, recall memories and sayings, as she invites the visitors to drink from her porcelain tumbler sets to reveal the hidden messages beneath, while Zoë Slee’s Embowered in Porcelain, 2015, arranges delicate bones of porcelain with wool and plum wood into arched, glorious bowers that draw the visitor into their natural pathways.
Isabelle Mackay-Sim completes the artists on display, with her Constructed Entities, 2015, showcasing a series of glazed sculptures that recall floral and organic artefacts. The textured parts are able to be layered and assembled into new combinations, creating alien plant life with excitingly rich surprises.
As recent graduates from the ANU School of Art, the artists shown in Interrestrial have a refreshing vitality and willingness to challenge the professional art world. Not without the occasional unfortunate casualty, Interrestrial is an experimental exhibition experience that will draw in and challenge you to create alongside the artists. The muted colour palette and themes of memory, imagination, and natural beauty create a cohesive group of works within the striking, concrete mass of the Nishi Gallery. Interrestrial is an exhibition not to miss as we welcome in spring and the start of an exciting exhibition season in the nation’s capital.
Interrestrial is on at Nishi Gallery, 15 Edinburgh Avenue, Canberra, from 28 August – 13 September, 2015. Join the event on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/events/389266924604554/

Product Photography – Testing, Testing, 1… 2… 3…

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Over the years, as I’ve worked on collections and witnessed the successes of my fellow designers, the one asset that I think proves the most valuable is the ability to take fantastic product photos. A great photograph of a design will increase the professional look and feel of a website and promotional materials, and will capture the attention of buyers.

This is an area that I’ve always struggled with. I would never recommend amateur photography over professional photography – professional photography is an investment. But, it’s also something that small time designers and early career artists can’t necessarily afford just yet. So, while the tech-gen with their access to iPhones and Photoshop cannot hope to meet the skills of a professional with a beautiful camera, we can use some tricks to make our photos stand out.

The best of these (in my opinion) is the photography light box. A light box will create a soft, ambient lighting while erasing corners in order to minimise background distractions. Usually white, a lightbox might also have a coloured or greyscale background, or utilise a blue or green screen background that can be removed in post-production, and the sides and edges are curved softly with invisible seams.

Light boxes are not that expensive – you can purchase one from eBay for between $50-$60. That said, not every designer has access to those kinds of funds, and sometimes it’s just more fun to make it yourself!

A great tutorial that uses fabric and cardboard is here: http://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Inexpensive-Photography-Lightbox

I didn’t really like the fabric concept, and I already had many of the materials to hand for the idea I’ve been working on, so I went with my own design instead. To make my quick, very basic version, I used:

  • Sticky tape, already on hand
  • Scissors, already on hand
  • Regular cartridge paper, bought from a local art shop for another project
  • Tracing paper, bought from a local art shop for another project
  • A white metal frame, which I bought from the Green Shed for less than $1.00

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I started by wrapping the frame in the cartridge paper, so that it becomes a white box with an open front. In retrospect, the cardboard box in the tutorial above would be a million times easier to use, but the benefit of the frame is that it becomes an opaque ambient light filter from all directions.

Once the frame was covered, I added a curved base into the bottom using the tracing paper. The paper curved up from the front, inner corner of the frame to the back, upper corner. This was the final result:

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You can see that I left a hole in the bottom of the box in which to add a light, but this didn’t actually work. It still has merit as a way to add a stand on which to place heavier objects without having the stand appear in the image, though, so I wasn’t worried.

Next, I placed my piece into the box. The whole space was then lit with a simple hand-held exposed bulb. Mine has a low, warm light, but I think a low, cool light would be better. I held it in place, but a stand, directional lamp would be better, especially if it can be covered lightly with a diffusing screen. More experiments, though, for next time!

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This was the final set up:

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I took the photos with my iPhone. I do actually have access to a camera, but iPhone technology is already better than the lovely (but old) camera my parents bought 15 years ago. The basic photo, without editing, already seemed promising. I took a few dozen, so that when I loaded it to my computer I could pick the best one:

I then used photoshop to just brighten it up a bit, create more contrast and crop the image to a better size. I’ve used Photoshop for years, but I’m still only able to use the very basic level of tools. A license to use the Adobe Creative Suite costs $180.00 for a student for a year, and with that I get access to the full range of Adobe products. I also have some Illustrator experience, which I used to design the Danielle Kathleen logo. I floated this in the corner of the photo, and voila!

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I thought it turned out quite nicely for paper and an iPhone! What do you think?

 

Haiku Collection – Exhibition Opens Today!

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Tonight is the exciting launch of my new exhibition/pop-up shop! I’m excited but nervous- it was a big six months of creating to get here, and I’m hoping it pays off. Above are some snaps of the space before everyone arrives at 5:00pm. Wish me luck! – Danni

Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1614789535431124/