Lesson video

- Hi everyone, and welcome to today's lesson with me, Mr. Salvo.

Today, we're going to be creating a sculpture inspired by the work of Veronica Ryan.

So, what you're going to need for today's lesson.

So you're going to need the following equipment, which hopefully you've got at home.

You need one cup of plain flour, half a cup of salt, half a cup of water, and you will need the oven at some point at which you will need some adult supervision with.

You need to set it to 50 degrees centigrade, but we'll worry about the oven part at the very end of this, okay? But you're gonna need the oven at some point during the lesson.

So if you please go and go and collect it those resources, that equipment, and please once you've got those, then click resume and we'll carry on with the lesson.

So away you go.

Welcome back everyone.

So we're going to look at today.

So we've got our intro quiz, of which you completed.

We've then got our introduction into Veronica Ryan's work, and then we're going to talk about choosing your subject matter and then creating a sculpture, followed by your exit quiz.

Now, the key words for today's lessons.

So domesticity, which means home or family life.

And I explain that during the course of our artist.

And maternity, so motherhood and the quality or state of being a mother.

And biomorphic, which means life or form-like, and it comes from combining the Greek words bios meaning life, and morphe meaning the form.

So biomorphic, okay? Now, who is Veronica Ryan? So she was born in 1956 in Portsmouth in Montserrat.

She's an internationally renowned sculptor, so incredibly well-known.

She tends to work with quite heavy materials, like cement, bronze, and led.

And her work is abstract and has a biomorphic quality inspired by pods, seeds, et cetera.

Sorry.

And so, her work.

Yeah, so the big sort of giant seed pod you can see behind her there.

Again, possibly of a fruit or some sort.

It could be a lychee or another fruit, but this idea of pods.

And her work in the past, she spoke about this idea of, we spoke before in the previous slide the key words about maternity, about being motherly and domesticity, this idea of sort of being a mother, being protective, and that I guess the idea about sort of seeds and pods, we can link the idea to mothers and offspring and their children, and the idea about being a pod being very protective, like a mother's protective of the child.

So we get this lovely abstract idea with with our work today and with Veronica Ryan's work where we're talking about this idea of something very organic, you know? A pod, a seed, you know, and how we can tell this idea about that and sort of looking like these natural forms, but also having links to something like motherhood and the idea of being protective and this idea of what a pod does, it protects the seedling inside of it.

And you know, there's obvious links there to a mother carrying a child, and so it's a really fascinating look at the artist and how they create their work.

Now, I would like you please now, wanna ask you to go and find a natural form or an image of a natural form which you can use to sculpt from.

So if you've got a natural form, that could be a piece of fruit, it could be a pine cone outside, and if you don't have one of those things at hand, it just needs to be an image of a natural form, something you would like to sculpt, okay? Please go now and find that object or that image.

And then once you've done that, please hit play, okay? So pause the video and away you go, go! Okay, welcome back.

So can you notice areas of inspiration? So you can see my examples and you can see hopefully Veronica Ryan's work, and I'm hoping you're noticing there this idea of those sort of seed-like natural kind of forms and those patterns.

And we're looking at creating a sculpture today.

So let's begin with that.

So the first thing is this, is you're going to make your salt dough.

Now, it's really, really straightforward and it's as simple as it is on the screen there.

In a bowl, you're just going to mix together your cup of flour and your half cup of salt, straight in together into the bowl.

And then you're then going to gradually add your half cup of water.

And I've put there don't add it all at once because you may need slightly less because just sometimes it takes a little bit less.

So don't just throw it all in there, but rather add it gradually, okay? Stir it together, and it will come together into a sort of ball-like shape and you now have salt dough, okay, and you can then sculpt with that.

And it is really straightforward.

There is no anything right now, you don't need to have any heat.

It is just cold water, salt, and flour mixed together and it comes into a, it'll be a bit like a dough.

Somewhere between like a pastry dough and a little bit like a Play-Doh.

And you'll see it how, and once you've got that, you're then ready.

Now, when you're making your sculpture, I managed to make, with the ingredients I've just given you there, I managed to make those three sculptures that you saw earlier.

And so, it goes really far, but as I said, don't worry, don't throw anything away.

You've probably never used salt dough perhaps, so don't worry.

Just practise, take your time.

It won't dry out.

And as I said, if you need to go back through the video to watch what I've done, then please do that.

Now, I'm gonna actually add my video up now and look at the, show what I've made and how I've made that, okay? So do open my video up now.

So I'm just gonna grab my video.

Now, you'll see here, I've got my salt dough, which as it said, it's just somewhere between plasticine and baking dough for kind of cakes.

And again, of all the tools that you might wanna use for this, your hands are the best and you've got, okay? So with those opposable thumbs and those fingers, you just wanna now work around with that dough and try and get it sort of into a form.

Now, I'm thinking seed pods, so I'm naturally thinking of some form of shape.

And what I'm doing here is I'm just testing out my resource.

I'm just trying to find out how I can use it, you know? How I can shape it.

Does it kind of mould into other shapes? And it's a really great, great practical lesson in terms of you just trying to make something.

We're not gonna draw it out this time.

We've done that in the past in lessons perhaps with me, but we're just going to just make now.

We're gonna just spend some time just seeing what we can do.

So I've just got myself a pencil.

I'm just looking at now the surface area of my salt dough.

Seeing the idea of like, a bit like kind of like an orange or some form of a pod.

Again, I'm not saying it's a particular one of those things, but certainly just trying to look at how it can make patterns and textures.

And I said it goes really far, that simple cup of flour, half a cup of salt, and a bit of water, and you have enough to make three, four, maybe more sculptures.

Now, things I've learned while doing this, is this, is that if you make a really, really one big sculpture, when you do put it into the oven, when you get and adult to help you with that, it will take a really, really, really long time.

So it needs to go into the oven at the end of this, and I'll remind you into the end of the video.

And it's going on the oven's lowest setting, which is like about 50 degrees centigrade.

It needs to go in there for about three or four hours, any bigger, any longer than, sorry.

If you make a really big sculpture, it takes forever.

It takes even longer than that.

So I'd be tempted to say from what I've learned doing this, go smaller and make more of them, and they'll bake easier.

Now, on my video there, I'm just trying to look at different ideas about what might work.

So I decided that I would use one end of the pencil to make some bigger sort of dents.

And again, not like a particular fruit or anything, but I just like that patination work that Veronica Ryan uses on her work.

Now, and I'm just gonna sort of hold up the sort of the piece now here.

And once it's been fired, you can see that it really does look like sort of that lovely kind of clay like finish that you get.

I decided not to have it as 3D, so I had it flattered in the end, but you can certainly definitely see that shape that we've got in terms of it's got that kind of like pebble like, organic seed pod quality to it.

So these don't take long to make depends on how complex you wanna make yours, but it's a great way to produce a number of what we call a body of works.

Again, finished, it's put to one side, I've now got some more.

I'm just gonna get all of my examples, so excuse me for a second.

There we go.

So I've got all of them now.

The next one I'm gonna make now, I thought I'd try and make a different shape.

So I thought about like a, not sort of pair, but I was wondering what I could make it into.

Then I thought about sort of shapes and thinking about Veronica Ryan's work, and I thought about how the idea about maternal, you know, the idea of looking after someone.

So I realised that what I could do is perhaps make a shape of something that was more of, like a foetal position.

And I'm not as happy with this sculpture, I'm gonna be really honest with you, but I thought actually about the idea of, and you'll sort of see it, this idea of this kind of like what should be sort of like a foetal position.

So then you'd have a curled up person.

Now, my mistake and what I think about now is that I think it just looks a bit like a banana and a variety of things.

I do like the pattern well I've gotten there, but the reality is that I think that in my head I had this idea that it would be this, like what we call like a foetal position, you know, the idea of a baby when they kind of cuddle up with their mother.

That's what I wanted to the idea of it being bunched up, but I really misjudged, I think, as I'm being rash with myself, the shape that wanted to sort of, how I want to create that.

And all I did was use the end of my pen to make, again, a sort of pattern.

I think the patterns is maybe a bit too odd and what would be the other point I would sort of, looking back now, and we'll talk about sort of the improvements afterwards, but I think it was important sort of, that's why I'm really pleased I made a series of these.

And I think is that if I made one really big sculpture, A, it would never have dried in the oven.

It would have probably taken almost a day, which is a really bad use of kind of energy, but equally, I wouldn't have had that chance to experience different sort of shapes of that.

So I think that's something I wouldn't do now.

With my sort of third sculpture, I thought rather than doing the sort of seed, I'd try and make this sort of the pod, it would almost go in.

And although, as you'll see, it doesn't sort of fit inside that.

That wasn't really my intention, although it nearly kind of does it if I just hold it up to the screen now.

So it wasn't my intention for it to actually fit in there.

But this was idea of that, if this was the sort of seed and pod, let's say talking about Veronica Ryan's work, this being the child and as being mother.

This idea of the sort of womb almost of the sort of safety of a mother.

So I really like the fact that I've sort of attempted to rather just make a series of these, I've made something that has kind of got this kind of like, it does have a sort of a seed pod like quality.

You can always mention there was this sort of shell of something, I guess is the term I'm using.

And again, just using now whatever resources we've got.

So I just used the end of a pen lid with my pattern work.

So, very short period of time using just those very basic ingredients, materials, or call them what you want.

And we've got, if just hold those up, all three of our sculptures, which I think is a really, really kind of, I think in hindsight now I would've made maybe a series of smaller ones.

A, 'cause they would dry a lot quicker in the oven when we do that.

And equally, I would have been automated greater series of sculptures, which I think when I've had even more of a strong link to our artists, Veronica Ryan.

So that's what I think my kind of sort of improvement is with that.

But I do really like the kind of, I think just what you can achieve with very basic materials was what I'm most pleased with I think with this in terms of, this is just essentially dough.

There's no egg in it.

It's just flour and a bit of salt and some water.

And, you know, if I just kind of, you can hear that.

It really has dried really like quite strongly.

Now you can't sit this outside because it would just kind of go too mush.

So please don't try and do that with yours, but certainly that.

Now, I'm just going to exit my video and come back into my presentation with you.

And you've seen me now using those materials, and I would like you now, please, to begin creating your sculpture.

Just take your time now and make a series of basic shapes.

Don't worry about the pattern work, but please now make a series of basic shapes.

When you've done that, please unpause the video.

Away you go.

Now, welcome back, and I'm gonna go straight into your next task.

You saw me adding patterns and texture to my sculptures, and I would like you to do the same.

So you can do that to all of your sculptures, you can do just your best ones, you can reuse that leftover if something you're not happy with, then just mould it back together and go again with it.

With your patterns, you can use a pencil, a pen.

Any object and make some mark makers, but if you have got an image of a natural form, and you've got the skin of a certain type of shell, you can maybe try and do that now.

So your task now is to add pattern and texture to your salt dough structures.

Away you go.

Okay, welcome back.

So you've done that.

Now, I'm gonna do my what went wells and even better ifs.

So what I'd like you to do once you've made your sculpture, you're then gonna need to get an adult to bake that in the oven for you.

So just to remind you, it needs to go on the lowest setting possible, it's about 50 degrees normally, and it needs to go in there for about three or four hours.

So it's a real slow.

If you try and do it quicker, it will just burn and be raw and won't kind of fire, speaking in terms of it won't have gone hard.

So you can't cook it hotter but quicker.

It just doesn't work like that.

You need to put it 50 degrees and for about three or four hours.

And again, the smaller the sculpture, the quicker it dries.

The bigger, the longer it takes.

Now, we've just done my work now.

My what went well and even better ifs.

So my what went wells.

I'm really pleased that my sculpture inspired by natural forms, and I think I'm really pleased that I've learned the new material like salt dough, and I think you should be too.

And I do think that the sculpture shows a link to the artists.

It doesn't look like her work, but there's definitely a link to natural forms. And I think I've been able to justify that link to that maternal idea about being a mother and seeds and pods and being protective.

Now, even better ifs.

For me, it would be this.

I think I could add some colour to it.

Now, I think what I'd like to do if I had had the chance to is next, I think now that it's dried, I wanna try and maybe paint this.

If I've got paint, brilliant.

If I haven't got paint, well, the next best thing I might try coffee.

I think if I could put glue on this now, it would have a real nice kind of like glaze to it.

It'd have a nice shine.

So definitely some form of colour maybe to give it a brighter kind of quality, a bit like Veronica Ryan's work, I would like to use a wider range of materials.

So I think that with that, I would like to see what else I can work with.

So maybe if I had got clay, if I've got plasticine, I could use plasticine.

Maybe trying to do it with papier-mache would be really, really good.

It'd take longer, but I think I could definitely, if I had a balloon or something, I could maybe make a bigger structure.

And then that would allow me to be more experimental and take more risks.

And so I think that what I wouldn't want to do though, is try and make a massive version of these out of salt dough.

'Cause if I made one as big as let's say a melon, I don't think it would ever dry or it would have to be an oven for probably days, and I think that's a really bad use of resources, you know, in terms of our ovens at home.

So that's what I think I would do.

And maybe would work with something different like papier-mache so I could make a bigger form.

I would now like you to self review your own work.

So I'd like you to write down two things that went well with your work and two things that you could do better.

And I'd like to try and include the key words from the beginning part of the lesson, okay? Please pause the video and do that now.

And then once you've done that, hit play.

Away you go.

Okay, so that's it for today's lesson and thank you as ever for learning with Oak National Academy.

And it's now time for you to take the end of lesson quiz, and I look forward to seeing you next time.

Goodbye.