My platonic itch well and truly scratched

Stellated dodecahedron in willow and masking tape

 I was unsure about continuing a personal project started last summer for the self directed project. The outcome and the mark I got dispelled any misgivings. Just received my feedback from my tutor and was pleasantly surprised considering my notebook entries were meager, I suppose they were concise enough.

Wire frame dodecahedron in stainless steel

  

Here I'm charting a mythical journey of the divine dodecahedron in it's stellar incarnation as it falls from the heavens to interact with some of it's more material and elemental polyhedra cousins

Stellated dodecahedron in stainless steel

Icosahedron in mild steel with stainless weld - Dodecahedron with wire frame stellated dodecahedron in mild steel

Eureka! it floats!!!!

Stellated dodecahedron in mild steel with stainless steel icosahedron wire frame

Too much stuff!!!

In the words of that sage Mr Homer J Simpson..."every time I learn something new, it pushes out something old!" I'm running the real risk of forgetting how to ride my bike or drive or tie my shoelaces or something. The work load is getting daunting. While transferring tape footage onto a mac today I got a feel of how much fussy and intricate work is involved in editing a video, for real this time, not just experimenting and learning as you go along

Kilmore Quay afterglow

First post in ages, but in my defense I've been very busy, I just haven't made habit of a regular posting just yet. The week in Kilmore for our publication project research was a great success, both socially and for work (and I even got 3 surfs in!). Mick White's inspired idea of 'come dine with me' style dinner parties were great fun and fantastic for class bonding, my beef and Guinness stew went down a storm. Although I got very little drawing and no painting done I did a lot of photography, plenty of writing and a few little sculptures. It was freezing for most of the week and my hands nearly dropped off holding the camera. The early start on Wednesday nearly killed me, 5.30am!!! It was interesting to stay in a very familiar place on totally different terms, taking on a persona that was part tourist, part artist, part bored teenager.

 

Site and Location - in the bag

That's the Site and Location project finished, we presented our films and experiment documentation yesterday afternoon. Some great work on show from my compatriots.

Now all we have to do before May is... 

• A field trip, with research for the publication project
• A self motivated project
• Make artwork, do fundraising and plan opening night for the Fetitt's lane public art project
• An art history literary review
• An as yet unknown media studies project
• Finish the 1/2 hour video for Community based practice group project

PHEW!
All the videos are now uploaded on my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/LO2L68

In camera edit, take 2

After the input from our group crit I decided to re-shoot my in camera edit, this time without any train footage and focusing on my 'Track inspector' character. This video has become essentially a homage to Paddy 'Bunty' Dooley who walked and repaired this track for 33 years. Many thanks have to go to Micheal Carty who braved the cold yesterday as my assistant camera man and took my direction with out a grumble. Cheers Micheal, I owe you a pint.
Video link: http://vimeo.com/59477740

Interview with Paddy Dooley

After the shoot at Killinick I drove over to Mayglass to call into Paddy Dooley, the retired track inspector I'd chatted to on my first site scouting trip. I asked if I might interview him sometime about his career working for CIE. Since he was free at the time he said we might as well do it there and then. Had an nice informal chat, recorded some of his recollections of his job and his thoughts on the closure of the line.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVpkxosP8gY

Documenting Site and Location experiment

Couldn't have wished for better light when I arrived at the old Killinick platform last Wednesday to shoot an experiment for the project. It was cold and clear with low afternoon sun shining down the tracks. got some nice photos and shot some video of the texts I chalked on the rail tracks.

The 24-104 Canon zoom I borrowed off John complements the college's 5D MkII very well and gives off some nice flares,  lovely bokeh too... for a zoom

In-camera edit experiment

A very steep learning curve last Sunday trying out an in-camera edit with one of the college Sony HDV cameras. The screen was on the blink and packed up completely by the end of the shoot. Got some good footage of the Dublin train and the tracks of the closed Waterford line. My little helper was in a bad mood so assistance was given begrudgingly and only after much coaxing, oh the joys of parenting a teenager.

YouTube link: http://youtu.be/1Kf24-WCGTI

Library Move interviews

With our follow-up interview of the gents from the historical community done and an interview of two mothers from the toddler and mother group done today, I'm feeling confident we're finally getting some decent footage. It's been a very steep learning curve for all of us and the few hint we gleaned from this little instructional video were invaluable:

How to record an oral history interview 

Parting words mock-ups

Indrija did an amazing job on the Photoshop mock-ups for the presentation today. Great to see this project moving, just need to jump through several hoops of bureaucracy now. All part of the learning curve I suppose.