EXAM: Combined Printmedia and Art Project Sem. 1

For my first semester exams, the two units of Art Project and Printmedia were marked in a combined exam. Below are some photos from my presentation, as well as a summary of the exam process. Some people would consider this format rough, but I'd rather have a fifteen minute presentation than a three or four hour written one. 

PRINTMEDIA

ART PROJECT 291

The exam process was as follows: 

   1. Set up in a panic an hour and a half before your time slot (I got 11:30am). The work of both units must remain easily distinguishable and ALL work including crappy sketches, notebooks, failures and successes must presented. 

  2. The three markers arrive and are tutors from other departments that have never seen your portfolio before. Luckily I was allocated a sculptor, photographer and painter. 

   3. Introduce your two portfolios with an artist statement for each unit. 

   4. Walk out of the room for five to ten minutes. 

   5. The tutors will call you back inside. You now have five to ten minutes to answer any questions they can and will throw at you. 

   6. Your exam is over! Now quickly tear everything down and toss it carelessly in the box it came in. Since you are a nice person, help the person after you to set up because you will probably need their help later. 

Because I had only two hours sleep the night before, I went back to college and slept until dinner. 

End of exams. 

Thankyou Sal for sending me these photos from your phone!

The only thing I forgot to bring to my exam was my camera, which was inconvenient. 

Growing Crystals at College: Day 2

More crystal growth progress!

This project was produced for the BA Fine Arts unit, Art Project.

The copper sulfate crystals below are photographed at two days old. 

I expanded the growing setup from the first day. I found some ceramic saucers and glass ash trays in the op shop for fifty cents each and decided to start farming seed crystals with them.

The main task of the day was to refresh the copper sulfate mixture in each tray.  

Closeup of the new glass ash trays. I set some seed crystals from the plastic plates into each bowl to promote crystal growth.

The balsa to the top left was removed from the copper sulfate solution as a physical growth record. 

Balsa wood soaked in copper sulfate solution. 

Detail view of the removed copper sulfate soaked balsa wood. 

Detail view of copper sulfate soaked balsa wood. Two pieces were isolated into glass jars to promote stronger crystal growth. 

Seeded copper sulfate solution in a glass. 

The copper sulfate solution had begun to grow out beneath the cockroach. 

Ceramic plate with copper sulfate solution- no seed crystal. 

Ceramic plate with copper sulfate solution- small, flat seed crystal. 

Ceramic plate with copper sulfate solution- larger, flat seed crystal. 

Ceramic plate with copper sulfate solution- loose cluster of seed crystals.

Ceramic plate with copper sulfate solution- bonded cluster seed crystal. 

Copper sulfate crystal growth progress of the plastic plates. 

Copper sulfate solution only- small, scattered seed crystals have grown. 

Copper sulfate solution with fibre glass- small, scattered seed crystals have grown, but have formed predominantly on the fibre glass. 

Detail view of the edge of the crystal covered fibre glass. 

Detail view of a plastic plate, filled with copper sulfate solution only. I clustered the seed crystals together to see if they would, in the coming days, bond together into a single, larger crystal. 

Growing Crystals at College: Day 1

Get ready for a long series of posts!

Here begins some of the process documentation I had to provide during my exam for Art Project last semester at university. Each day of copper sulfate crystal growth will be separate from the next because there are heaps of photos to show. The entire collection had to be bound into two separate books for my presentation, disregarding the extra book for the crystals grown at home. 

I 'declared' the ME Theater balcony as my new work space with a warning sign (safety first) and established a set up to grow my copper sulfate crystals. 

A sample of the first tests I grew at home using copper sulfate. These have been varnished and left to dry on the balcony (varnish fumes aren't nice). 

Balsa wood soaked in a copper sulfate solution. 

Detail view of the copper sulfate soaked balsa. 

Four glasses with copper sulfate solution. 

Cockroaches, especially dead ones, are very common in my college's suburb. It was an opportunity to test whether copper sulfate would grown on organic matter. 

Three plastic plates, found abandoned in a kitchenette. 

Fibre glass was tested as a frame for the copper sulfate crystals to grow on.