Trip To The British Museum

Whilst taking a trip to London I decided that going to the British Museum would be great for this project. I went to see in particular the Dinosaur exhibition. Within this exhibition the bones of many different types of dinosaurs are displayed. I found it interesting to look at the variations in the different types of dinosaur skeleton. Just from looking at the skeleton you were able to tell what the dinosaurs ability type was. For example some of the dinosaurs had hooked beaks, relating to birds of some type. Other dinosaurs had very large bottom legs, having the power and height.

I found this trip a helpful experience to look at other bone types. It was interesting to view a different type of bone to the small bone types I have been working with.

Considering Other Animal Parts To Cast

I have a collection of skulls which I thought would be useful to look at when experimenting with casting. I wanted to try and attempt to cast the skulls, and get replicas of these skulls which I could then use within my project. After talks with Ang she advised me to use the smaller skull which was a birds skull. This was due to the skull being less complicated with less areas that would get the cast stuck in them. She advised me to fill in all the holes with clay before casting. However, she did say that it is likely that the skull would be damaged through the casting process. I decided against casting these skulls in the end as they are quite precious to me and hard to come by. I didn't want to damage them through casting and there was no guarantee that the cast would be successful. 

Rabbit Skull: 

Bird Skull:

Interesting Article Relating To The Use Of Animals In Art

I have found this article on the internet by 'Occupy For Animals!' relating to the use of animals within art. I found the article interesting due to its strong negativity towards the use of animals in art stating that it is wrong on all accounts of using live animals and dead animals. Although I have strong views on what is right and wrong regarding the use of animals I believe that the views expressed in this article are from an extremist animal rights point of view. These views are not a general view from the public.
This article is interesting to look at however for my own studio work and for my future dissertation proposal aims of writing about the use of animals in art. Personally I have been a vegetarian for around 8/9 years, and although I disagree with the slaughtering of animals for human consumption I have different views as to the use of animals within art. Throughout my personal practice I have been using animal bones and body parts within my work. Many of the bones that I have collected such as my bird and rabbit skull that I tried to use earlier on for casting have been collected whilst I was wandering around fields and or sides of roads. I do not know as to the story of the animals before they have died and what their cause of death has been. Some may have died due to natural causes, some may have died due to being hit by cars or interaction with human contact. It is not for me to know the stories of these animals of what has happened to them before they have died. I have not personally killed them for my own gain, more to the point just using their bodies within my work and collecting them after they have died. I see no harm in using the bodies of these animals after they have died as I am not causing any deliberate harm to their bodies.
The article that I have read disagrees with this opinion saying that it is disrespectful to use the bodies of animals. I can see the point of view that using an animals body could be viewed as disrespectful in a sense of using a dead body for your own gain. I found the article on the whole an interesting read.


Article website:
http://www.occupyforanimals.org/art--animals-killedused-in-the-name-of-art.html

Steven Melton- Casting Artist Research

Stephen Melton is an artist who works with themes of death throughout his practice. I was first drawn to look at him due to his casting working with dead birds on crosses. This series of birds on crosses was brought a lot of attention from such as the Guardian newspaper, and they were included in the book ‘Ghosts of gone birds- Resurrecting lost species throughout art’. In a statement about his work Melton said: "I found the birds used within this series whilst wandering through landscapes, perceptibly having been killed for either sport or ‘land management’. The cross, though laden with Christian meaning, in this instance draws reference to the pagan use: life. The key to a sustainable future is to surely live in harmony with our ecology. Does the unnecessary killing of any species upset the balance…or do they have the answer to how we can live in a sustainable way?"

These pieces clearly have a deeper meaning to Melton, and are in fact symbolism to the attitudes in which he believes our species have. The symbolism of the cross will automatically be linked to the crusifiction of Jesus on the cross. The cross has become symbolic in the sense of sacrifation, in the biblical sense Jesus gave his life to save the lives of others. Within this piece and from Melton’s quote we are able to see that the cross featured in these pieces is symbolic for us as humans being the ones that are sacrificing the lives of other species for our own need. The sacrifice is not for any gain for others, but in fact greed from ourselves, sacrificing a life for our own entertainment.

The objects themselves are bronze casted using resin and found objects such as those of the dead birds. You are able to see Melton’s passion for nature and conservation in his pieces, using reclaimed and recycled wood to even create the wood for the birds crosses. Melton’s work is much more of a statement about humanities perceptions in the world rather than the life of the bird. The bird has been given up and sacrificed for us. 

These birds show a link to my current studio project in the way in which they portray animals showing human characteristics. They have taken on a sacrificial quality, related to Jesus being crucified on the cross. The lines here have been blurred in what species is taking on what quality. 

Surveilance Footage

Currently I live opposite a nightclub called Sugarcubes. To fit in with my project I decided to film some footage of people outside of the nightclub. After one of my crit sessions this idea was suggested. Humans often show their most animalistic sides when under the influence. People tend to let go, relax more and get into fights.

I filmed the footage from a bedroom window that looks out to onto the street where Sugarcubes is located. The camera was well hidden as I wanted to get footage where people did not know I was filming them. Often when people know they are being filmed or photographed they act up for the camera. They will often play along, do things that they would not normally do. This is the reason why I wanted to keep the footage undercover.

I want to now take the footage further and edit it. I want the footage to have a darker feel to it, and for the sounds to be muffled and more animal like.

Stills from the footage:

Change Of Plan

After my disaster with bleaching bones I decided to have another look around to try and find different animal parts to cast. I went into a local pet store in which I found a pig trotter and a cows ear which are meant as dogs chew toys. The pig trotter especially appealed to me. I was looking for a symbol to represent the Animalisation of humans. Hands are a vital source for communication for humans, they are what we touch with, how we enable ourselves to feel things and others.

I began to cast the trotter in Latex. After a chat with Rob he decided that this would be the best way to go about casting the trotter. My aim was to make wax casts of the trotter. I wanted a material that I would be able to remold and that would be flexiable and easy to use. I also chose to use wax as I thought the trotters would take on a nice effect when cast in wax.


Starting to cover the trotter in latex:

Pig trotter with dried latex, marked with lines for covering with modrock:

Latex Cast of trotter covered with modrock, ready for filling with melted wax:

Melting the wax ready to fill:

After melting the wax I needed to wait for the wax to cool down before pouring it into the mold. I was using the hollow casting technique in which I poured the wax into the mold, swirling it around to cover all of the mold. I would then pour out the wax and then do the same thing over and over again. After a thick enough layer of wax covered all of the mold I was able to leave the wax to cool.

Result Of Bone Bleaching

I left my animal bones to soak in a solution on half hot water half bleach. I changed the solution every 24 hours for three days. I used metal scourers to try scrape off alot of the tissue beforehand on the bones to make it easier for the bleach solution to soften up the tissue. After 24 hours I went back to the bones and tried scrubbing more of the flesh off. The softer red meat flesh was coming off well, however the muscle tissue attached to the bone was not shifting anywhere.

I left the bones to soak again for another 24 hours. After this I went back to the bones, this time taking a sharp knife. I tried using the knife to cut off the muscle tissue from the bone. Some of it I was able to cut into and then peel off the bone. The rest again was too hard to peel off.

Again I changed the water/bleach solution and soaked the bones again for 24 hours. After returning to them again I was still unable to shift the muscle tissue and some of the meat would still not come off. By this point the bones were starting to become very smelly, and stank of rotting. This made it impossible for me to carry on working with them as every time I went near them I would gag! Even when changing the water solution they never lost their smell.

The bones were sadly way to big for me to boil, so I had no other choice but to sadly bin them. However I managed to photograph them before throwing them away.