Sacrificing Pelicans to Petroleum Gods
I am sat watching BBC News 24 as I am writing. I have a wry smile on my face as the Olympic torch reaches the Westfield Shopping Centre, Stratford, East London. What a free advertisement for an Australian company! I have a wry smile, as I am preparing for an exhibition that will be held in a shopping centre (or Mall) in Shepherds Bush, West London. Although Westfield have one of their monstrous cathedrals to unfettered consumerism here, not for us De Beers, Gucci or Louis Vouiton, in the Designer Village, nor indeed House of Fraser or Waitrose. We will be hanging out with the likes of Poundland, Cash Converters, Super Drug and Morrissons at the West 12 Centre (previously known as the Concord Centre) across the road in Shepherds Bush Green.
Maybe I'm an inverted snob, but Morrissons and Poundland are where I do my shopping. My local pub is Belushie's on the Green, and I will be proud to be exhibiting there alongside Turner Prize winning artists (more information to follow) in a venue connected to the local community.
Having had my rant for the day, and having set the picture, I thought that I would share with you a couple of pieces that I am working on, to give an idea of the type of art work I do, and some of the processes involved, (although I will do a step by step posting on 'how to etch a shell casing' at a later date).
Stock picked up in France
I mentioned a while back that I had not long returned from a buying trip to France, and some of you may have seen the Trench Art that I have been selling since I returned.This, however is only part of the story, as I used the trip to pick up blank shell casings for me to etch, three of which I will look at here.
Different patina of blank shell casings
As can be seen in the photograph above, the shell casings come in various sizes, and in various states of surface degradation. After choosing the most appropriate shell, I then spend many hours polishing, cleaning and degreasing the surface ready to transfer my image to it.
Transferring the image for:
'The White Rose'
After tracing my image, I use masking tape to attach the tracing paper with carbon paper behind, as can be seen in the above photographs. The image is then transferred using a ballpoint pen or hard pencil. Once this is done I paint over the image with 'sugar lift', or a super saturated sugar and water solution with pigment added. This is commercially available from Printers Suppliers, however I have made my own in a 'one portion' jam pot by adding water and a small amount of water colour paint to sugar. There needs to be just enough sugar and water in the solution to just desolve the sugar. I will cover this further when I do the suggested post on the processes and techniques required to etch a shell casing.
Design painted in Sugar Lift
The shell casing is then varnished with 'straw hat varnish' (available from Intaglio Print Makers Suppliers, London). When dried, a kettle full of hot water is poured over the sugar lift, dissolving it, and revealing the design to be etched. After this and at other points in the etching process, I would add various degrees of fine detailing using a sharp tool to scratch into the varnish.
My preferred mordant for etching is a solution (active etching agent) of Copper Sulphate, Table Salt and Water, rather than the more traditional use of Acids utilised by other etchers and printers.
Partially worked etched shell casing
'Sacrificing Pelicans to Petroleum God's'
Photograph illustrating the depths of etched
lines and surfaces
Details of the etched image
There is still a lot of work to be done on both of the shell casings to get them to exhibition standard within the next few weeks. Each casing alone can take a month to produce, the etching itself being only a small proportion of this time.
To research the subject matter alone can be weeks of work in itself, however, this is as much a part of the artwork as the physical object and image.
I will go further into the subject matter of both of these works once they are finished, however the inspiration for 'Sacrificing Pelicans to Petroleum Gods' is a report on the Deep Water Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and a report of the same name, which can be viewed by following the link below:
The White Rose is a youth organisation in Germany which challenged the might and authority of the Nazi Government during WWII. For their opposition and bravery, six members of the organisation were executed by being beheaded. This is my tribute to them. Again, once finished I will do a posting specifically on the piece, but for those who would like to read a little about them now, follow the link below to Wikipedia:
We will not be silent.
We are your bad conscience.
The White Rose will not leave you in peace.
(Motto of the White Rose Resistance Movement)
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