Preserving and presenting artworks and artefacts which reflect the history and achievements of graduates of RGU

Object of the Week

This week’s Object of the Week is ‘Circle’ by Rebecca Fry. Her work was collected in 2015. It consists of eight circular plaster casts of oranges, tangerines and satsumas; the negative spaces created represent and are evocative of female genitalia.

Artist’s Statement:
We begin to live and age. When something is cast, it is frozen in time, its reality is paused and it becomes a different form in its negative space. Only when the negative space is cast, does it become a copy, a repeat of its existence.

Each plaster cast is suggestive of the Yoni. The circle of eight circles symbolise the lifecycle, the symbol of infinity and DNA. The forms that have been cast represent the lifespan through being a natural material which grows, lives, ages and eventually fades

As soon as we are born we begin to die. I closely compare the fragility of the earth to the fragility of human life and believe that damage to the earth and the environment is damage to us; the abuse of one directly affects the other.

Using materials as metaphors I represent the life cycle, through the process of fertility, growth and aging, and the human connection with nature.

My practice also confronts gendered binary opposition. Through nature-culture, absence-presence, and male-female dichotomies, I address gender and transgender identity.

My work symbolically represents sexual objectification and challenges societies set standards about beauty and perfection. Each cast is different and beautifully imperfect, much like bodies and body parts can be. The Vesica Pisces is within nature and the human body, we are nature, we are connection, shape and form. It is the shape of creation.

Want to select the next Object of the week? Check out our online database and our exhibition map, find something that deserves to be spotlighted!
To submit a piece, contact b.harkness@rgu.ac.uk. Tell me who you are, what you picked and why you picked it.

Object of the Week

Masters Year Architecture Project Oyster Farm, Sean Gaule, 2010

This weeks object of the week is a masters year architecture project by Sean Gaule. His project is the design of an oyster farm and was collected in 2010 when Gaule received a Purchase Award for his work.

The material for this project was produced digitally. We often collect high quality copies of this type of digital work from architecture students who receive Purchase Awards. This is sometimes accompanied by physical work product or supplementary materials and statements.

The digital materials collected are carefully stored and, thanks to their high quality, can be printed in a range of different sizes. This gives us lots of options about how and where to display them.

Object of the Week

This week’s object of the week is a series of prints by Pamela MacKay.

These artworks are Black and white images created using woodcut on mdf.

They combine flowers, plants, and natural shapes with hard straight lines and industrial forms, resulting in very striking images.

Pamela MacKay is still a practising artist. Too see more of her work, check out her website: https://www.pamelamackayart.co.uk/about

Object of the Week

This week’s object of the week is ‘Five Shark’s Teeth’ by Ben Veera. The piece is a Perspex case containing two lines of model teeth. The top line is titled ‘Veritas’; it is three variously sized sharks teeth modelled separately in ivory colour acrylic, silver colour metal and colourless glass. The second line is titled ‘Leviathan’; it is two shark’s teeth (one black, one white).

A self published book entitled “Amplifying the Real”, written by Ben Veera and printed by Blurb.com, accompanies the case as part of the Degree Show Purchase Prize 2010.

Front cover of Amplifying the Real, self published book by Ben Veera, 2010

Ben Veera’s degree show work included his research inspired by the worldwide sale of endangered shark species objects. He questioned whether product design and the production of replica Sharks teeth could assist in reducing the sale of genuine endangered shark species teeth and jaws. Having 3D scanned fossil Megalodon teeth he developed a manufacturing process and carried out market research, selling replica teeth to collectors, whilst gaining their feedback. In the long-term, Ben envisaged that an extension of this approach via museum collections could be used as a diversion from existing worldwide contraband markets.

Page of Amplifying the Real, self published book by Ben Veera, 2010

Object of the Week

This weeks object of the week is Archive 2, by Simon Ward. The piece combines elements of sculpture and installation. It consists of 3 slip-cast bronze boxes with hand modelled and wheel thrown elements made of various materials including porcelain, plywood, mdf and pine.

Simon Ward’s work has, at times, been concerned with challenging the rolls and contexts of porcelain in both the interior and exterior environments. This has occurred through cross-cultural exchange via residency programmes in japan and Europe, resulting in exhibitions in galleries, museums and restaurants, and permanent, site-specific large-scale sculptures.

Wooden box like construction. On the top sits three long dark coloured trays that contain various odd looking items with no obvious purpose. — Archive 2, Simon Ward, 2008

Artist’s Statement:
This piece of work titled ‘Archive 2’ is one of a series of works commissioned by the Dick Institute, Kilmarnock for my first major solo exhibition in Scotland. This work is representative of pieces of my work awarded prizes in the Korean Ceramics Biennale. The seemingly unconnected items contained in the porcelain boxes, suggestive of a past life/ function make reference to the collection of objects in the artist’s private collection. This work elevates the ordinary tool like qualities to a purely visual level.

DRAWn-INg

The aim of the recent Scott Sutherland School DRAWn-Ing connect and reflect event was to allow students the space to enjoy and develop their drawing practice, supported by their tutors and peers.

The following exhibition presented a selection of inspirational work that highlighted the beauty and utility of the hand made drawing – still an invaluable skill for an architect.

We’d like to thank all the staff and students from Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment that took part in the DRAWn-ING event. We were very pleased to support the exhibition of these works alongside hand drawn pieces from the Art and Heritage Collection.

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