the making of [MOTHERcreate]

The construction and concept of the piece changed ever-so slightly, lthough the basic premise did stay true to what I intended to achieve. As stated below, it was based on the concept of GAIA, trhe Earth Goddess.

The hardest part of the process for me was getting the shape into the CNC people at Uni, I usually hand saw my work but with the sheer size and scale, I needed help. This meant that I hand to vectorise my hand drawing into Illustrator, convert it into another file and then use a dongle to open up another program so that the CNC machine could read what I saved. This in turn had to be done again because I added an extra six inches and I should really save in millimetres. I couldn' t buy any wood until this process was over with. In all, it took a week from asking until doing.

When the two side pieces was cut I then quickly bought and naiuled the central portion and had a free standing structure. It was very wobbly and thought I needed to adhere it slightly so I bought some Expanding Foam. I sprayed the central portion and it looked a mess. I left and went home and didn't sleep, mulling over what I should do. I thought of getting canvas and stapling it tautly and then..schting..CARDBOARD and GUMMED-STRIP.

When at Uni, I invaded the bins and found sufficient cardboard and promptly started boxing in. A tutor said that she didn't like the hardened foam..but I did and was wondering what to do with it. After boxing most of it, I had it driven to the gallery space and placed it where it was going to be shown. I then carried on with the construction and as this was the next day, began painting with a mixture of Blackboard paint and Radiator Enameled white paint. With some new expanding foam I filled the small gap that I have intentionally left and molded it to look liuke it was oozing from the area. It was the first time that I've used this material. I had a concept of Chaos..the father of the planet and the whole concept then took shape.

For some reason the structure began to sag, the cardboard after getting wet and then painted fell over the wooded sides. I asked my fellow artists what to do and had the suggestion of buying a roll of cardboard..at 6.30pm. I phoned the relevant people and the best response was to wait until the next morning.

I thought long and hard about what to do and took a scalpel to it and began to slice chunks off the sculpture..all the sagging bits and began carve it back into shape. From wanting to destroy it to doing cosmetic surgery was a fine line, a very fine line indeed. This took me until 9pm when I had lunch and when I finished encircling the piece, I picked up a paint brush and applied sand-infused black paint in large expressionist waves. I then left at 10.30 for my bus home.

The day after I asked a fellow artist to buy some black paint ready for me to use and she did some painting for me. She then suggested to leave areas un painted as she thought it looked good and fell in line with my concept and work ethic. After reaching the gallery, I agreed and when a mini-understanding with another exhibitor was over with, I began the finishing touches. With shifting slightly the location and adding sifficient lighting..I have the sculpture that I have before you.

I do think now that I have created my first ever sculpture. The other pieces that I have done are/was constructions and structures in that I have constructed them. With MotherCreate I have sculpted the materials with implements and thought of it as a completely different process. It was a lot harder to make and the work evolved over time and I had to use my wits and intelligence to overcome the obstacle. I have learnt a lot of processes both creatively and mentally and I think I have grown as an artist.

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The Final Concept behind [MOTHERcreate]

The outer shell is Gaia, She isn' t perfect but is beautiful, the insides is Chaos who is post-coital and is oozing after the unison. The white smooth wood circle is the earth and humanity.

We try to make what we have perfect as in GM Food, Biotechnology and the like but we have Chaos and Gaia looking over our shoulders (and with the light effects that are placed over the sculpture) and as they are omnipresent, do their utmost to remind us of their powers as in natural disasters, warfare and disease.