Sustainable living Exhibition - Buckles (Plug-ins)

The definition of Plug- in is:

plug-in

adjective

able to be connected by means of a plug : a plug-in telephone.

• Computing (of a module or software) able to be added to a system to give extra features or functions : a plug-in graphics card.

I especially like the part that says "able to be added to a system to give features or functions" Its feels like this process involves more of breaking away from a "System" to give extra features and functions,  Those functions are wearable art made from found objects, jammed and extended into jewelry.

Anyway here are  two buckles i constructed from the plug. I like the idea of them being smaller, and hopefully they will have wider appeall.

To create an interesting visual contrast i used yellow paint, thats what i had and thats what i used.I just wanted to make it more appealling. Im not so happy with the tiny bubbles. Big bubbles are acceptable but these little surface bubbles are driving me crazy.

I really need to invest in some new colours. I admit i've over done it with this purple.I used a piece of microchip to make a kind of "visual switch" to fill the empty cavity.

Something of relevancy which relates to Street art which has evolved in my research is the way in which i approach creating work.Its very, freestyle, improvised, hands on, DIY. I like it, Its like three dimensional anarchy! 

In the words of Steve Powers, graffitti artist and member of the barnstormers, he explains that when he works, he just calls it as he sees it, meaning things just unravel and each piece is created in a very spontaneous fashion.

Graffiti and street art has a relationship to bricolage, of "use what you can wherever you are in any given environment" Creativity just manifests and then you kind of release it in the moment.

In context to everything - Bricolage

I haven't blogged in a while so to try get back in the flow of the know, just thought id put this out there.

Over the July break i got a new edition to my makeshift drum kit. Previously i acquired a bass pedal which i swapped for one of my belts. A fellow Jeweler friend gave me a drum kit tambourine, which i'm now using as a type of hi hat.  The other day i was washing the dishes (something i will hate till i die) and discovered the interesting sound quality it had, so i have now appropriated it into a sound source.

I've been wondering a lot about the activities i do collectively and if it is all connected to bricolage. I've discovered in my Jewelery making that i'musing bricolage to make street Jewelery, aswell as music and photography. In the construction of a drum kit I have used bricolage too! Objects have been appropriated into sound sources, Plastic boxes have been used as props for stands, and the snare which sits on a plastic box acts as a bass drum.

Theirs this reoccurring theme of improvisation,where i tend to do things very spontaneously.Its a way of using what you have where you are in any given circumstance. In context to percussion taking found objects and arranging them into a type of sequence feels the same as making jewelry, Its like i'm trying to create this improvised melody which takes place in a moment in any given environment.

All this reflection has been rather enlightening and the significance of realization has steered this ship far beyond the notion of recycling. Im pretty happy about that.

Michael Croeser

Michael Croeser is a South African Artist whose chosen medium is charcoal on paper. He uses found objects Juxtaposed with sourced imagery to create spontaneous compositions. The use of found objects to create compositions form the basis of his drawings. The initiation of his way of working resorts to a type of bricolage whereby mundane objects are placed together in order to create his own unique collages which he photographs using a 35mm camera.The photographs become informed references for his drawing. He then maps out large scale drawings based on the photographed compositions and creates large scale charcoal drawings with maximum attention to shading and detail.

Its easy to mistaken the precision of Croesers drawings for giant digitally printed photographs due to the detail of tone and shading and great attention to detail.

The spontaneity in his starting points relates to my work in the way found objects are sourced and assembled. 

More of his work can be seen here         michaelcroeser.wordpress.com

Keith Lo Bue - Bricolage

Keith Lo Bue is an American artist jeweller who makes work from found objects and is referred to as a “stuffsmith”.

He creates jewellery by assembling once vital objects. He uses a vast arrangement of bits and pieces. Materials range from dead animals, and tools as well as a selection of abandoned artifacts.

He is drawn to details of  objects as well as detritus of natural and cultural history. He creates what he describes as a type of visual poetry.

He also describes his work as pieces that connect the wearer with other times and places.

Although he does not refer to bricolage as a distinct characteristic in his work, his vast use of objects to create works, tend to deal with the same working process as a bricoleur.

Bracelet Cuff- Mural Malcolm X

Last week i worked on the fitting and installation of the record vinyl elements as backing inlays. I chose to use record vinyl as it is representational of music culture.

I could also have used black perspex but like the bricoleur i used indirect means.

I used what was accessible and available.

I like the sheen of record vinyl as it has a visually interesting texture. Its not the easiest medium to work with. 

I also like the idea that the vinyl was once a vehicle  which once told us stories through song and now it conveys a new type of story through its new function.

Malcolm X was a speaker, so mabee its back in its right place.

Mabee to subvert the vinyls application could stand as a metaphor for freedom of expression.

Process

I used silver rivets to connect the record vinyl elements to the back of the aluminium cut outs. When hammering the rivets, i knocked off a bit of the paint.

Im not sure if im going paint over the rivets and the chipped paint or embrace its raw elegance.

There is the risk of getting paint on the vinyl, and i want to maintain the stark contrast between painted metal and vinyl.

I also want to fill in addittional detail, by means of making a cardboard stencil and painting in additional detail.

This conceptual piece has allowed me to venture into an interesting way of thinking. For a while i forgot i was making a Jewellery and the concept kind of blurred the line between sculpture, industrial design and Jewellery.

For the construction of the final six pieces i still have to make 48 rivets and 6 catches before this project proves itself successfull. 

I like the way each bracelet stands independantly as its own intrinsic design, and when placed together make up a whole image.

I still need to make the frame to hold all the bracelets in place for display purposes.

Comrades Soldier bricolage

I spent this weekend trading at markets….I thought money was partially satisfying, but their was more dynamic compositions going on in my head.

I had contemplated driving to Pitermaritzburg for the start of the comrades marathon, so i could take some photos. 

On the way home from the market, i crossed over tollgate bridge, and saw the last strain of runners trickling down the road. I knew i had too do something interesting using the natural chaos of onlookers, aswell as the road un inhibited by cars.

I rushed home to get my camera and my now frequently used toy soldiers.

I walked berea road and felt like a free man. Free to do whatever i could with all that i had.

Armed with a 10 megapixel digital camera, and some plastic soldiers i started shooting at the runners.

I think i might have even encouraged some of them and given them something to laugh at. I thought to myself, respect to you running this race and thank you for being a beautiful and interesting backdrop. 

Im sure the ones who noticed will have something to talk about at the end regarding the mad man with the red beard pointing soldiers at them and taking low shots. I got some award winning stares. It was a beautiful bricolage moment, using what i had to create even at the expense of looking like a complete and utter mad man.

And then the police came, and i left the scene of the crime that wasn't  one to begin with. (But at least i got the shot)

Cuff bracelets-Products rim strips

The rim strips are proving to be a great commodity, in terms of useful materials.

They have great working capabilities, are strong  durable, and have a nice clean visual appearance.

They come in dark, and beer bottle brown, as well as yellow. 

As i was culling a tyre i found a yellow rim strip and took the opportunity to quickly produce yet another cuff bracelet using part of the rim strip for the base, and part of a grey bicycle tyre for the interwoven detail.

Im really enjoying making new products. I like the idea that these bracelets can be quickly produced using stock of an assortment of found objects that vie already collected.

This brings me to another vital point that characterizes the behavior of a bricoleur.

The bricoleur makes do with what he encounters, and takes stock of the means he already has.

His means are concrete, as they have an objective existence, but they are also abstract, as they can play a variety of roles depending on the situation.

They are signs. The bricoleur determines these roles by entering into a dialogue with his inventory.  Design as bricolage,Anthropology meets design thinking ,1999 Elsevier science Ltd

Another issue is, i like the freestyle nature of working relatively quickly to produce interesting variations.