Finished medal.

The final medal and ardunio housing. After a struggle to get the two to fit, I have managed to create a lithopane that allows light to travel through and housing for an arduino that fits the heat sensor, ardunio and medal.

The  inspiration for this piece came from the “Mabinogion” and the film “Hedd Wyn”, which is about the Welsh poet Ellis Humphrey Evan’s life and experience in the first world war. Arianrhod is a Celtic deity who is associated with the moon and fertility, she features in the collection of stories – The Mabinogion. She also appears in the film Hedd Wyn as an apparition in the moon, when he is in times of need. The medal is an object to be held and cherished, and I have attempted to reflect this in the worn look I have achieved through over-firing the transfers and creating a raw feeling edge on the medal. It is an object that has been tossed in the hand over years. I feel that the ardunio housing would be an addition to this keepsake. It creates somewhere for the medal to be displayed and also allows the medal to be lit and the apparition of the face to be seen without holding it up to the light. The housing for the arduino, although made to seem like an addition of the medal has been made using an old technique called Raku. Raku means enjoyment, comfort or ease when translated which is also fitting for the use of the artefact.

Lights at Boys Village.

I have edited the pictures to look quite eerie, as if the lights are almost hovering over the background, I decided to keep them as a warm glowing colour like a domestic bulb because of the domestic setting I have chosen. The village may be abandoned and forgotten, but for seventy years each summer the sons of coal miners in the valleys called this holiday village home. In a similar sense the work I have created works to the theme of abandonment as all of the parts I acquired from second hand shops and Splott Market.

I have worked with found objects and other components to create these, which is a new way of working for me. At times I have found it hard as they have their own form which I have had to follow and even make changes to my original design to accommodate for their shape and size. The lights are still versatile, which is something that has been important from the beginning. They can be hung or placed almost anywhere from a variety of angles, as I have illustrated with other pictures I have featured.

Lightbox.

The “raw” aspect of my “Raw and Readymade” project has been realised.

I am really pleased with the finish I have achieved, as the finish of objects is usually my downfall. With this piece I have spent so much time perfecting the edges of the box and even cleaning up the bronze cast bulb.

When switched off the light simply looks like a bronze cast on a wooden plinth, which has connotations to artefacts found in a gallery environment. The novelty value of this laser cut box, the light that appears to become the base makes it appear to be more of a low art piece, one that can be bought for a fair price and placed on someones mantlepiece.

It is this contrast in the piece that is important to my values as an artist.  The line between “high art” and “low art”is something that is not usually challenged, as art will fit into either of the categories to become a successful piece. I have created a piece of work that fits into neither and both, all at the same time. This leads to the notion of the piece of work not having a context, which for some will be true and something easy to accept.

However, for me this fits into the Avant-Garde as it is challenging our perception of what “high art” and “low art” are. Duchamp’s fountain is a prominent example of this, the “readymade” artefact was placed into a gallery environment, where it did not belong. At the time it was not accepted as an art object, which projected the idea of the Avant-Garde. Once the artefact became accepted into the art world the context of the piece was lost as a compromise had been reached. This piece speaks of the moment where an artefact is accepted into either a “high art” or “low art” environment and it’s context is suddenly lost. The work is devalued by its acceptance.