Growth and Decay | jorg's art

For my independent project, I chose the theme of Decay. This is what I have been working on since February

Research and development

My statement of intent and inspiration behind this project

An artist Evaluation of Kathleen Ryan and my own study of her work

Sketches of faces and a concept idea for a sculpture I intended to make

Observational drawings of mould and an attempt at combining decay with people

The process behind my clay sculpture of a decomposing face

A cobweb I made out of beads and jewellery wire, an eyeball study I made using a sewing machine and embroidery thread, and the plan for my 'in the style of' piece based on Valerie Hegarty's work

Mock Exam: In the style of Valerie Hegarty

This was what I created in my 10 hour mock exam, an 'In the Style Of Valerie Hegarty' piece. Valerie Hegarty incorporates trees and nature overcoming her work, paintings will deconstruct themselves and turn into branches, flowers grow out of portraits and break free from the frame etc. My piece was inspired by this concept. The sculpture is made from a tree branch (and a second tree branch I used as a stand), clay, and paint. I first sculpted each of the faces flat and moulded them around the tree branches, they were stuck on with wood glue. I originally planned to paint the faces realistically, appearing like skin, but I felt they looked out of place. I settled for painting it to match the tree branch pattern around it so the faces would blend in and appear as though they were growing out of the tree. The moss was made from clay again that I pushed through a sieve and painted in watercolour paint.

Deconstructing the face

Various attempts at deconstructing the face and revealing the skull underneath

A two part piece: on one layer of plasticine is the skull, and on the other is the face. When they overlap each other, the scratched away paint reveals the skull underneath

A digital art study of the skull

Sketch of the skeleton

Return to the Earth

Decay of the Mind

Drawing inspired by the effects of dementia and some continual line drawings of the elderly

This textile piece is inspired by the loss of self that comes from dementia. I painted onto a piece of fabric and cut it up into segments. Then, I messily stitched the pieces back together with embroidery thread, joining the pieces together slightly askew.

Picture of my grandad, drawn entirely using the word 'home'.

This is an a3 mixed media piece, inspired by the mini mental examinations that are used to test for dementia. The drawing is of, again my grandad. This piece uses collage, pen, paint, gesso and pencils. The background is made up sheets from real mini mental exams that my mum had from her time as a mental health nurse, ripped up and collaged. I used gesso over these sheets so that the drawing wouldn't be competing with the text behind it. Surrounding my grandad are references to the different tests: the clock face (many patients find it difficult to order the numbers in the right space), overlapping shapes (patients struggle to draw the shapes overtop one another), writing your name, and counting backwards from 100 in 3s. I wanted this piece to represent the feelings of confusion that come with decay of the mind.

Final Outcome Experimenting

This portrait of my grandad I cut up and messily stitched back together to represent the decaying mind. I painted the back of the canvas black to emphasise the fold and cuts.

This was painted on three layers of persepex: one layer says 'Derek', one says 'Daddams' and the final one is a portrait which encorporates letters into the painting.

These portraits were made entirely using letter stamps and ink pads - one in colour and one in black and white.

These three faces are drawn using the three names we had for my grandad: Derek, Daddams, and Grandad.

Final Piece

For my final piece I combined the word art I had been using and the 3D Perspex portraits to create a representation of the mind. I'd use paint on one side and slowly transition into using writing - with words present across the piece. I used a wooden background as my Grandad loved woodworking and I wanted to pay homage to him. I did a mock up design first to practice the transitional effect between writing and painting on A4, then did my final piece in A2.