Nat

Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to fully create a functioning monopoly game as I don't have property cards - but I will definitely do this.

The printed board face was glued to a piece of board, cut and then wrapped in clear book covering. The cards were double sided taped to playing cards and cut.

The internet told me I could use clear tape, printed imagery and water to create imagery on clear plastic that I can then use on my stained glass window. This worked well, but not well enough as the wet paper is near impossible to rub entirely off the adhesive of the tape leaving the imagery surrounded by a cloudy colour. This meant I would have to do the words and face manually with a marker.

My iteration process began with a terrible pen sketch > average photoshop drawing which I then printed 3 times and penciled in extra elements > feedback from flatmates > final photoshop version

Some photos of the painting process. Extra elements such as a flag, helmet and sword were also painted and then superglued together.

Still got more to go but here is the journey of making a Richard Branson Crusader astronaut. Starting with a mood bored.

I did several different versions of the above sketches and got my flatmates to give feedback.

I made a rough drawing on photoshop of the design I was most happy with after feedback and different iterations. Unfortunately the modeling clay kept falling apart so I made a wire frame to create the structure I needed.

Baking (above) went well, thankfully nothing cracked. And painting (below) has begun with several base coats of white.

I don't have any other colours currently so I'm going make the flag and figure out how to get it standing upright.

Today I began by mapping out the remaining week's due dates to give me a sense of my workflow for the end of this semester.

I will fill in the boxes with tasks once I have a clearer picture of what I'm going to make. Things have been thrown off slightly with lockdown, so I decided to do some thinking about what I can do in lockdown considering all my constraints.

I want to make three artifacts that each represent one of three themes: deification, colonization and commercialization. This is because through my research I've identified these as the most significant in relation to the colonization of space by Bezos, Branson and Musk.

I then focused on how I could make a faux stained glass window in lock down, and to my delight it is possible! There are adhesive lead and translucent glass paint available that gives a great effect. A poster frame can be used as a suitable foundation.

To keep the momentum up, I've started more prototyping of space colonisation with clay. Below is how I initially tried to make an astronaut, but it was going to be far too big (waste of clay) so I had to restart with a new technique and a smaller scale.

Below is the second version.

Below is a model version of the "moon rushmore" I did a collage of. Unsure if I'll make it as it is somewhat removed from the colonial art style. Unsure at this stage.

Pitches/crits were very helpful and impactful for my studio, in fact I've changed almost completely what I'm doing.

As I was pitching and while I've been reading the books on Nuclear Free and Documentary "The Fifth Eye" on Five Eyes, I've realised that these topics are simple too vast and complex and to simplify them feels wrong but also out of my limits. However, there is a topic I'm very interested in and have been working/researching on for the past year: The Ethics of Space. I made a film satirising Rocketlabs involvement with the US military last semester and thoroughly enjoyed it, so to rekindle my creative fires I want to dive back into similar territory as I've lost my passion for the original project. Additionally, the skill required for carving to a level that I want is also beyond the scope of this paper and my abilities for the semester.

My work in space, image and sound has been about the billionaire space race, and after confirming with Clint I've decided to pull this to become my studio. What fascinates me about this topic is the mainstream portrayal of Bezos, Branson and Musk as these modern day Tony Starks that are going to save humanity through space. What I find concerning about this is how these men made their money, how our current systems have enabled them to grow so much power and how they are looking to colonise space (which is currently very unregulated). It brings into question ideas about who owns space and why are these men pouring so many resources into space when they could be doing so much for humanity.

I did two collages to get the ball rolling with the concept of portraying these men as modern day colonisers to challenge the current "rose tinted" glasses perspective that is currently mainstream.

Learning how to carve and gaining confidence has been my recent focus. Understanding the limitations of my current skills, tools and materials and how they relate. To test this I used a small block of wood and for about four hours worked at it.

I learnt the importance of carving under control. It was easy to feel the chisel cutting along the grain nicely and getting greedy which often resulted in going over the lines I had drawn or cutting too deep and the wood subsequently splintering. I found this process a great way to get a feel for working with the wood while not having any risk factor attached.

Above is a basic sketch of the double sided mural I've been thinking of exploring. Initially I was going to machine aluminium as I feel metal is "out of touch with humanity" as it is inorganic, cold, hard and aluminium would be machinable at AUT. After discussing with Krishna, I've come to realise that perhaps plastic would be a better route for two main reasons: It's much more attainable (aluminium is $$$) and more easily machined. HDPE is the number 2 plastic and it can be safely and easily melted down and compressed into blocks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-igxhoGEQFU&ab_channel=BrothersMake).

Below is an image of the type of results you can get through this method.

This will also give me an additional design element to incorporate into the "out of touch" side - colour.

To begin getting a feel for carving, I made a jig that can go on top of a work bench that is up against a wall. This way I won't loose energy by chiselling on a table that rocks or shifts.

Below shows how with this particular scrap piece the grain is anything but straight as it's near the edge of the tree, as opposed to the middle.

I know next to nothing about keeping chisels sharp, so I went to the 3D labs and Angus sharpened the chisel for me and taught me how to keep it nice. I found that my hands and wrists got quite sore as I'm new to it, but I'm not too concerned about this as they will strengthen.

Narrowing down my "NZ political identity" theme has led me to research NZ history beginning with something I thought would be a great example : The 1981 Springbok Tour.

One News is doing a retrospective series on the 1981 tour as its 40 years since the mass protests. The Auckland War Memorial museum also has some protest gear from the protests on display.

What I've come to learn is that although many protested the tour due to the apartheid in South Africa, many (including the government at the time) decided that politics had no place in sport and therefore the games should go on. This muddies the waters for me as I want to use carving to show examples of NZ standing up to and winning fights for humanity, in this case many stood up but the country was divided and the government didn't make a stand.

This lead me to the Nuclear Free movement, which moved from mass protest to government legislation. I was told stories of this growing up and felt both pride and amazement as I learnt what the country I call home did in the face of huge powers. I've begun reading David Lange's book "Nuclear Free - The New Zealand Way" to fully understand what occurred to inform how I will design my carving.

I've begun working on a workflow and researching whakairo (Māori carving). I'm not going to do Māori carvings as I understand this isn't my place, however it's no secret the mastery of story telling through carving that is traditional for Māori - so being able to learn from those techniques and practices will help inform my own practice.

I went and bought some secondhand carving chisels today as I feel my best next steps to make are learning the feel of carving so I understand the limits of my tools, the material and use those to inform what designs are possible.

Although unable to do much work on my project for a week due to sickness, I have been thinking about it subconsciously and am beginning to form something that I connect with.

Above are some notes from discussions today with Gayle, Hannah and Claudine around the topics of carving and NZ political identity.

Over the break I've been quietly thinking about what topics of interest I would like to explore this semester. I made a satirical short film last semester that challenged New Zealand’s hushed involvement in United States Military Space initiatives under the guise of Rocket Lab’s celebrated Kiwi innovation.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this thanks to the passion and purpose behind it - something I hope to replicate this semester in my studio work (and life?).