Cait Morrison Art Blog

The work is installed in the degree show, after a tricky hang. Very grateful for the stolid efforts of tecnicians Ash and Paul.

My catalogue statement:

‘Ghost of a Blind Spot’

My work examines our innate subjectivity, and tendency to harbour blind spots in our perspective towards those around us.

I have a particular interest in our apparent difficulty in acknowledging any personal advantage acquired through social inequality. When confronted with indications of such privilege or advantage, we seem prone to taking a position of denial. We retreat to the relative comfort of our blind spot, and from there continue to enjoy an advantageous experience of the status quo.

How can we adjust our perception of those around us, in order to really see their personal experience of inequality, and to respond to it?

My previous work has explored human involvement in contagion and epidemics, and the relationship between physical fragments and remnants of human memory.

‘Ghost of a Blind Spot I’

Mixed Media Sculpture

Various Dimensions

2019

‘Ghost of a Blind Spot II’

Glass

Various Dimensions

2019

This work is inspired by the writing of art historian Penny Florence, who draws links between the “grand narratives of modernism and today’s culture of difference”.

Glass artist Dave Chihuly

I’m learning so much about this material now. It’s so hard to work with. You have a lot of risk in terms of outcome. You have to be brave!

“Waiting for the Art to Unfold”

“..Sometimes when you go for something and it doesn’t all completely come together, still that effort has real meaning for people.

“Vulnerability and humility are what we look to art to provide...to pull back to something very true and honest. And sometimes, you can’t do that without showing some cracks and some flaws. So in the end, failure can be inspiration.”

- Sarah Kaufman, Arts Critiic

I’ve been working with some difficult materials and processess, and predictably, therefore, achieved some unplanned results. These have, however, been visually interesting, and I have a decision to make whether they have a relevant part to play in the work and so to include them or not.

That’s where the authorship lies, Stewart reminds me. It’s taking a little time to let go of the defined mental image I have in my head of the final work, I need to stay open to the development of the concept and its manifestation.

The missing central mass of the glass cast figure is an interesting accident. Where is it’s relevance to my current theme?

I was very pleased with my photographic sessions with the soft sculptures and perspex, and how the camera controls the encounter between work and viewer. I am conscious that perspective is a key element of the installation I have planend for the degree show. Viewing the sculptural pieces will allow the viewer to choose their own approach to the work, and they will, as the studio allows, move around and change their perspective.

However, their are some connections between the works that I would like to offer to the viewer for consideration. These may not align for the viewer naturally, with so many angles of approach and differing individual heights etc, and so I will offer them photographically. I have the work cleaned up now, print-ready, and I will have them enlarged and mounted for inclusion in the show.

It has taken several rounds of cleaning to remove plaster from the work

This has been far more work than it looks. As well as making the original sculpture and then mould-making, I’ve had to cast far more bodyparts than I envisaged (due to bubbles, misshapes and breakages), and the finishing has taken over a week. So much rasping, then filing, then sanding.. i’ve had to get smart about safe working, wearing a mask and goggles to avoid noxious fumes and dust.

Constructing the figure proved impossible single-handed, I needed an extra pair of hands. It was still extremely fiddly and took several hours. Precision was required bacause, using epoxy adhesive and perspex joint dowels and sockets, once a bond was made it beame permanent very quickly. We got there after an intense few hours, and I was very happy to see it take shape and become present. The posture was always going to be key to making it relateable, so I took care not to forget to step back and check the posture was right.

Can’t wait to see the results once the glass is cleaned up - it will take some work, I need to not break it..

Second try at firing the faces with sheet glass. On reflection, the first panel was composed in quite a formal way, and this maybe didn’t come across as a representation of people - it looks geometric, a robotic or godlike array of faces.

This time, I am trying a more naturalistic arrangement of faces in the larger panel. I hope to convey more of a sense of my personal experience of ‘the crowd’ or ‘humanity’.

Bubbles and holes have formed in the slumped sheet, possibly where water has remained in the casts prior to firing. I will kiln dry the next batch of casts.

Otherwise, the piece is very interesting, and seems to be only a few tweaks away from working. I’m glad I have a batch of faces more or less ready.

Its taken two weeks of trying to dry out the mould for the glass figure, and a lot of time trying to work out how to get the kiln controller to accept a suitable firing programme for it. Ash and Paul in the studio have put a lot of effort in to helping me. After a final 4-hour kiln dry, the mould cleaved in two when being removed from the kiln to allow for removal of the risers prior to firing. Its been an attention-hungry endeavour, preparing this cast, so it is very disappointing for us all to have it fail after so much effort. TOO MUCH effort, of course, I should have known it wouldn’t work out..

Casts - keeping a supply ready for firing

I keep on casting kiln-proof face casts, so that if one firing fails, I am ready to try again. Although it is relatively quick now to mix plaster and make a cast, the surface finishing of the cast is time-consuming. The finish must be smooth and free of loose particles - these would become bonded in the glass. The casts also need time to have dried out completely, as moisture will ruin a glass kiln firing.

Making alginate and ModRoc plaster face cast. It is an unpleasant experience for the model, and needs to been carried out as quickly as possible. It took a high number of unsuccessful attempts before I was able to get three good, resuseable casts.

Once I had a number of firing-suitable plaster/silica mix casts, I was able to paint them with releasing agent and create moulds from them to increase the number of casts I can make. I have worked out that I need to have 10 face casts to fire a square-shaped arrangement, and the casts will be destroyed with each firing, so I need to have the ability to create more faces quickly should I need a second attempt at the slump-glass firing.

The surfaces of all the casts needed perfecting and smoothing.

Composing the work in the glass kiln at glass artist Sarah Brown’s studio in Tewkesbury.

My alternative to a kiln-fired glass figure - a plexiglass resin cast. I made a clay figure, with no wire, so that it could be cut into parts and and used to make individual moulds from Vinamold.

I then had to pour crystal clear polyester resin into the moulds, which in theory, when cured can be assembled into a clear, glass-like figure. As resin is tricky to work with, smaller moulds mean that any section that doesn’t work out can be recast without having to recast the entire figure. As it was, I had to recast pretty much every part at least twice in order to get enough good pieces to work with.