March 2025
Charcoal Drawings for Millbank Tower Showcase
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At the time of preparation for the Millbank Tower Show, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to present... The time I had in between to prepare was limited, and I wanted to do something new rather than show my previous Unit 1 drawing. I decided to just let myself loose and work intuitively with the large cartridge paper roll sitting in the studio's corner and my willow charcoal. I guess this was out of impulse, as I couldn't really think of anything else but to draw. Initially, the large sheet of paper I cut out felt quite intimidating, so I folded the large paper into squares. Folding it half, then half, and half again... Until around the paper became a grid of 4 x 7 grids. This made it feel more comforting to approach if I started drawing on these individual squares, almost like when starting a new sketchbook and choosing a random page to draw without the pressure of having it be perfect.
Initially, I thought of continuing my study of the knot drawings, but I grew a little tired of them, so I chose to draw through memories, random shapes and forms that felt intuitive at the time, the outline of my shoes, and play with positive and negative spaces within the boundaries of the folded grids, also going slightly off. Shading, smudging, and erasing in repetition. Maybe a little narrative or fictioning was translating from my head to paper; I was drawing on the grids, as I was drawing the dog-like creature, or the rings, a flower emerging out of nowhere, textures of grass, and a dark sunrise. I'm not sure if I can make sense of it, and wasn't sure if other people would make sense of it either, but I chose to trust in experimenting with this.
I came to overworking the paper at one point, when I erased a bit too aggressively and swiveled the large paper around my small desk to work on a specific area, and the tightly folded paper began to rip around the edges. This didn't really bother me too much.​
Setting up at the Millbank Tower:
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Realization in the process of installing this work: the paper can be something sculptural.
It doesn't have to be laid flat and upright against the wall. Luckily, there were plinths and large wooden boxes provided in the exhibiting space, and eventually my large-scale drawing was curated to be installed on these stacked wooden boxes. It was unexpected yet enjoyable to play around with the arrangement of my two-dimensional drawing onto something three-dimensional. We used small office paper clips to clip the edges of the paper on the rim of the boxes and nailed the drawing on top of the box so that the paper stays still and doesn't fall off the wooden structure.
I liked how some of the edges of the folded paper stuck out slightly, giving more dimension and shadow to the drawing itself. A lot of new ideas started to emerge in my head while installing this piece. It felt like the work I originally thought was confusing, was coming to terms with the object itself, and even a sort of unconventional dialogue was being made of it... If that makes sense? This push and pull of working with the drawn medium and the material it was put up against, was something to be noted.
March 2025
Ceramics Sgraphitto Project
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Sgraphitto—Italian for "scratched away"—is a technique that involves scratching a motif or image into the clay, often revealing a secondary colour below the surface slip.
Sarah Woodfine and James Duck arranged this project from the Ceramics department at Camberwell, which allowed us to experiment with various drawing techniques on ceramics. James taught us his expertise in working with clay, mark-making on clay, like engraving or creating different types of textures onto the surface, and how the chemical reaction of certain types of glazes can bring out these drawings from the fired ceramics. We learned that it is easiest to work on porcelain when it is bone-dry to incise more precise detail on the clay.
Giving the MA Drawing cohort some porcelain clay, we created some test tiles to try different techniques.
I was interested in the incision of engravings and carving onto the porcelain. It was a nice change from working with something other than paper, the clay being malleable and delicate. As well as the consideration of the timing of working with the clay invoked ideas of the temperamentality of the material; the porcelain cracking easily when it is too dry.
I like this test tile piece the most, I once again had the imagery of knots in my head and decided to try to translate that idea onto clay. I worked through carving first while the tile was near bone dry, letting it dry a bit more and then sanding a little bit on the raised ledges to make it seem a little bit more rounded, and next thing you know, the porcelain tile cracks right in half.
I think for a future note as well, I should start by making much smaller test tiles, with one singular mark to visualize and lay out my options for how the sgraphitto might look, instead of getting too attached to the three tiles that I made (which were bigger, meaning it was more time-consuming than it should have been). In the meantime, I might put this project on pause; as much as it does interest me to create a more planned project with ceramics and particularly porcelain with it's paper-like features, it is more time consuming. I feel that I don't have enough time in the year that I have in this MA course to make and fire an ambitious ceramic piece by the degree show or the end of the year. I would like to solely work on the medium of paper and pencil, as there is so much that I'm learning now with my drawing research and practice.
*** to be referenced:
James teaches us how to create paper-like effect on porcelain-
he rolls a slab on the ceramic press to get an even flat slab of clay, cuts a square piece and creates subtle indentations/raised edges around the clay.
26 March 2025
Seven Sisters Cliff Drawings
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I got the chance to hike the Seven Sisters Cliffs in East Sussex, a coastal walk with views between Seaford and Eastbourne along the English Channel. The cliffs are formed from sedimentary rock, chalk, which has been sculpted through thousands of years of erosion. I learned that the sea is continuously eroding the cliffs, with 30-40 cm of the coastal edge crumbling away each year. It was such a beautiful experience to walk so high along these cliffs, taking in the view, and draw my observations just on the cliff's edge. In my sketchbook, I drew the lines of the cliffs' edges to where they extend down the coastline, where the horizon of the sea begins, and where it meets the shoreline below, as well as the fine texture of grass surrounding me. I traced and filled in the shadows of grass and fauna overcast on my sketchbook with the graphite I brought with me.
Although this one-day trip could be considered a getaway from the hectic city lifestyle, I realized how nature and a place like this can evoke new and old memories. Being able to draw the scenery of somewhere so peaceful, but also aware of it being a landmark prone to erosion and safety risks along the cliffs was something I resonated with in my own practice; With the subject of knots and objects that I draw and the emotional aspect I unintentionally transfer onto my drawings.
A looser and energetic practice of observing and breaking down the information in a mindful and meditative tone. The immediate observation of the "now" of a place that I may not see again anytime soon, or might potentially change drastically from something as uncontrollable as nature. Based on my experience at Seven Sisters, my art practice/research could touch on how these elements of the realization of a place can be candid, and the emerging insights can be facilitated during the creative process.
APRIL- MAY 2025
OBJECT DRAWINGS
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After my tutorial with Paul Coldwell and the consideration of the idea of place emerged from my trip to Seven Sisters, I wanted to create a quick series of work that considers my relation to my objects in the surrounding environment, bringing a charged energy to these objects through various drawing techniques of:
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shading
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cross-hatching
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erasure of positive and negative spaces
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tracing and outlining around these objects with the paper
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enlarging and enhancing of objects more significant or smaller on paper than they are in life
Some of the objects that I took as reference from my studio and in my room, such as:
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Scissors, that I drew larger than it is and made a cut up
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My heavy set of keys that contains access to my flat, mailbox, and workplace. I traced around the keys multiple times and shaded around the negative space of the keys.
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A traced outline of my laptop and plastic pipettes individually drawn in circular motion to create an effect
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perfume bottle with my set of worn-in headphones, measuring tape
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They weren't exactly still-life drawings; I wanted to leave room for symbolic representation of the object to explore complex ideas and emotions.
The goal was to find ways to create a narrative of these everyday, mundane objects through drawing, and explore the passage of time and memory depicted with personal imaginary elements and intimacy.
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In collating the drawings together, the narrative isn't strictly linear as I wanted to touch on something more on the lines of the interior/exterior figures and how these objects can either intertwine or contaminate each other.
Sketch above: An idea that might be useful in the fruition of the upcoming MA Show in July.. To create some sort of large open storage of these drawings, in relation to my body. Whether the drawings surround or fill the body? The word, encasement, comes to mind.
To reflect on- Placing in relation to the paper, the spatial relationship