A stick itself is a discarded part of a tree, fallen through rot, violence or human intervention. Once a stick, that part of the tree is truly in the process of disintegration - it is only a matter of time before it is recycled and back in the earth as mulch helping another plant grow.* So I see the stick as a temporary thing which makes it much more precious. It can be encased in varnish, polished, carved etc but it is no longer alive or growing.
Sticks have been used throughout mankind as a tool; chimpanzees using them to fish out ants from tree bores to mankind making weapons and tools from them.
The use of the stick that i have chosen for this project is that of the wand. A wand or pointy object can be used to shape an idea on another surface. The surface could be soil, sand or if the material is charcoal, paper. This use of the stick for expression through writing and or movement is my interest in the stick.
For this project I have decided that the end piece will not physically contain a stick but the movement of the stick will shape the final piece that I will form.
I requested my brother to photograph himself with a slow shutter speed whilst shaping with a stick his relationship to earth. This links to my point earlier that the stick is slowly returning to earth so its connection to earth is stronger than its connection to life.
He did this and sent me 30 photos. Due to photographing during daylight, the shutter speed could not be as slow as I would have liked due to the continual exposure causing white out. I would suggest the narrowest aperture setting whilst doing this exercise.
I loaded the photos into Photoshop Elements and created a flip book which is like a slow framed video.
From this I traced the outer most point of the stick until I recognised a consistent pattern. The Pattern was a chaotic mix of lines. This I drew on a flat piece of glass and then built up the gaps between the lines with a mixture of frit and silicone. The sculpture needed to represent the movement of the stick through the air so I made sure it was a shape that represented movement and strength.
The making was in layers and waiting for one layer to dry before adding another one. The white silicone didn't bond as well as the transparent silicone and became soft and loose when I dipped the whole shape in food dye. I followed my intuition when it came to making this glass representation of the sticks movement using unusual materials, forms and tools to create the final piece.
Overall I am happy with the final piece. It has made me think outside the boundaries of the college workshops and I have used materials I never had before as a result.
*an exception would be the willow stick.
