The Half Way Mark

Fourth year, the last year, all set up for our first assessments! I'm loving my little shelves! It's really wonderful seeing everyones work hanging up and quietly come together. It's going to be a great degree show.

I hung antlers over my space they are supposed to accompany a drawing but I didn't get around it and did not want to rush it, it will have to wait till next semester!

Mother Video

Mother is a very poor quality video shot on my hand held camera. I took shots of the fawns while in the states as well as scenery from around home on the same camera. I was trying to make it look like a super 8 film by turning it into black and white, but the quality is so poor I didn't need to do much to get this quality. I made this on a program on the mac. I tried using premier pro but couldn't figure it out. I wasn't able to figure out how to take out the sound or add sound in this program so the sound is as is. The text is based on the Grimm's fairytale Little brother and Little Sister. Im not sure about the text so i made one with and one without text. Let me know what you think. These are a work in progress. Ideally I would like this film to be played on a very small screen which would also help with the quality.

Mother from Emily Robards on Vimeo.

mother-notext from Emily Robards on Vimeo.

Little Cones

I have made two ceramic pieces with hopes to make more. They are original made from a drawing which was inspired by one of my photographs. They were made with a slip cast of a paper cone, the liquid ceramic is poured into the cast, left to dry then poured out again. You are then left with a fine hollow ceramic cone. After the second firing the decal is added then it is fired again. I had two holes drilled in the top of each one, this is so you can hear the sound piece which is projected from a small speaker inside them. The sound piece is my own from a project my mum and I did a few years ago and can be heard below.I need to research better speakers, right now I have one on loan and the sound is very poor, crackly and tinny.

A special thank you to Kieran Whitelaw my first year tutor and college ceramics tutor who kindly helped me make these!

The two pieces in the kiln ready for their last fire.

This figure is supposed to look like she is immersed in fur/hair.

This is the first figure she is meant to be emerged in leaves.

Little Deer

I should have posted these at the beginning of the year as these photos are what I started my project on. I had the privilege of looking after some orphaned fawns over the holidays while staying in America, (they were reintroduced back into the wild once they were old enough). They have been a great source of inspiration. With these photos I have been looking a lot of stories and such, especially Little Brother and Little Sister, by the Brothers Grimm. These were taken with my Olympus and Diana camera.

 

Orangutan

This is another tapestry and pen drawing piece, similar to the swan one. Again this originated as a digital print.

"Sometimes I wonder why I am still single..."

Swans II

This is another version of a sewn piece I did. I think this one is a lot more successful. It is a pen drawing with tapestry.

"I miss the days when we were first in love..."

Human Faces Screenprint

I have been working on a screen print the past month or so. After having to re-correct lines, ext. It has still not turned out successfully, very crooked, very frustrating. It is based on a drawing I did a while ago.There are two here, the top one is as close to right as I could get and with the bottom, the line is slightly off, I kind of liked it though, for all its faults. even if I did manage to get the line right I would still have to redo the whole thing has its all very crooked through out. If I remember there are six colours in this print, plus a light glaze to tone down the background.

Richard Learoyd

Richard Learoyd is a contemporary photographer who has very little presence on the world wide web, therefore there is next to nothing written about him.

He creates fantastic still life's using dead animals and birds,made by camera obscura; these photos are reminiscent of the early Surrealists. Many early Surrealist's would arrange objects in combinations that would challenge reason and summon subconscious and poetic associations. Surrealist leader Andre Breton believed that this new form of sculpture, called assemblage, had the power to punter the thin veneer of reality, and tap into the subconscious mind. As Breton stated, 

"To aid systematic derangement of all the senses…it is my opinion that we must not hesitate to bewilder sensation…" (source)
His dead hares remind me of Joseph Beuys works, such as 'How to explain pictures to a Dead hare.'