Wimbledon Art College Summer School: Day 1

A few of the materials I used

I am currently attending a four day Stage and Screen summer school at Wimbledon Art College.
Today was mainly the introduction to the course and getting a feel for the area in which we will be presenting our 'final piece' on Friday.

Paper straws pierced into the cup

 In today's lesson we were also asked to create drawing mechanisms using various materials such as tape, plastic cups, straws and modelling clay which would use ink or charcoal to make a mark on our A2 sheets of paper. 

Tape to seal up the holes to prevent leakage

One of my favourite mediums is ink, so I decided to create a sort of ink dispenser using a plastic cup, some straws and gaffa tape. 

Using a craft knife I pierced some holes in the bottom of the cup and then inserted the straws into them. I then sealed it up with gaffa tape.

I then poured ink into my 'mechanism' and held it a few inches above the paper whilst moving it around. I really liked the effect it created, and once the ink had start to run out it started to produce little dots which I used around the edge of the main ink pattern.









To push the piece a little bit further I experimented with masking tape by sticking onto the ink dots and then smoothing my finger over it which spread out the ink a little. I liked the way the tape made the ink underneath it appear lighter and I think it added more visual variety to the piece.

 I think that the purpose of this exercise was to explore other ways of making marks other than just using pencil, and to loosen us up and get us used to experimenting. I found it quite liberating to just be able to make a piece of art without having to conform

 to a strict brief like we usually have to do at school.