Virginia King

Virginia King  was born in New Zealand 1946 and is a Sculptor.
I came across her work while i was researching into Trace Elements and Natural Forms and I am very Fond of her work.

I love the materials she uses , very light looking and airy materials, which reflect light and fit into the surrundings. its a very modern use of material including stainless steel. and different metals. I would like to use this kind of material in my Cave project structure, something to completely contrast against the natural material of the cave.

I like the abstract shapes she produces, including circles and curves and trys to repeat the same shape all the way through the design, including texts or circles throughout. i like the idea of using cut outs aswell in the designs, making the sculptures look see through in places. It really adds to the design,
I would love to see some colour in her work instead of just plain metal colours however could that take away from the beautiful shape sculptor designs she creates?

I would like to take the shapes she creates as inspiration for my own designs for my cave like structure.

With me creating a space for an art exhibition including sculptors maybe Virginia Kings work can be shown there! you never know.

Florence Art Trip

With School I went on an Art Trip to Florence which was very exciting as I'd never been there before.

We visited the Academia Gallery and the Uffizzi Gallery which are the most famous Galleries in Florence, these Galleries contained the very famous 'David' by Michaelangleo and 'The Birth of Venus' by Sandro Botticelli

These two magnificent pieces of art work were so inspiring to see in person, the first thing that hit me was the size of them, both of these art works were absolutley massive and overwhelmed me. they definitley had the wow factor and not just because they are so famous.

David is standing at the end of a long corridor and it somehow draws you in, it makes you keep walking towards him. He is so precise , even up close the detail on the stone work is brilliant and I am In aoar at how amazing it is and how long it would have taken to complete and move around. It is amazing from all angles.

The Birth of Venus is so subtle with its colours and just makes you use your imagination at what the Artist himself was thinking when he was painting it. Renaisance Paintings like this always have a story behind them aswell as how incredible the painting brushstrokes are.

Im not really  renaisance fan but seeing these artworks were very interesting and will never be taken away from me.

We also visited the catherdrals and churches in the area as well as the Boboli Gardens on an amazing day in the sunshine. It was lovely to have the fresh air plus walking round a famous Buildings grounds.

We also visited Sienna which was a fabulous little town at the top of a hill, For all you Twlight fans out there, this is where Twlight: New Moon was filmed, which i found very exciting.  We walked up to the top of a tower which showed us a panaramic view of the rooftops of Sienna, an absolutley beautiful sight.

On our last day we walked up the top of the famous catherdral in Florence for a panaramic view of Florence which was just as wonderful.

Overall this was one of the best Research trips I've ever been on and would definitley reccomend it if your an art geek like myself. Plus the italian food is fab!

Fin Noir - Design Set at Paris Fashion Week

http://www.frameweb.com/news/fin-noir

I came across this article as I was browsing the Frameweb website and thought it was a great installation that maybe I could use it to inpsire me with my Cave Project.

I love how the hooded like shapes come down from the ceiling and straight to the floor with an opening on one side to frame the clothes on show. It really helps the Audiences to focus on the products but still admire the structure that has been built by Aino Kavantera & Federica Capitani.

The idea behind it was to create a mysterious wintery forest like their inspiration from Finland. with the help of the Lighting Design by Alpo Nummelin, really helps create that atmostphere and I think they've pulled it off rally well. I wish I could have gone to see this.

the idea of creating this dark mysterious forest made me think should I look into creating lighting to make my cave look dark and subtle like a cave would usually. Adding to the emphasis of the art exhibition is located in an actual natural created cave.

Caves hiding away Underneath the City.

Through researching for Cave Design Inspiration I came across a blog that had looked into the caves hidden underneath the city of Nottingham. I had never knew Nottingham had caves until now.
This blog shows the wonders of lasers to get an acurate drawing of the caves underneath all the buildings and houses.
Without understanding the pictures to start with, at first I thought houses were built on large stems of rock (see as above) until I realised that the rest of the cliff was not being shown to let you see clearly where the caves lay.
I thought to myself could I take the shapes of these caves and use them in my designs, as they are quirky and abstract if you look at their outlines.

Blog which I found this information at: http://bldgblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/caves-of-nottingham_11.html

The Timber Wave

Award-winning architects AL_A and engineering firm Arup transformed the V&A Museum's Grand Entrance on Cromwell Road with the installation of a giant timber wave cascading down the steps. Built from oil-treated American red oak, Timber Wave was a three-dimensional latticework spiral, 12 metres in diameter, that employs construction techniques and materials normally used in furniture making to create a majestic three - storey - high structure.

I really like this installation as it definitley grabs your attention and you follow it from one end to the next. this installation would attract me into the design festival for sure. 

I came across this as I was researching for shapes and sturctures for my Final major project in.. in the caves. This type of structure would be great at the entrance of the caves to intise people in. It comes from the natural form of a wave, a trace that had been somewhere and the Shape itself creates an abstract look about it. To me I think to myself how on earth is it standing up straight?! thats what design should do.

 A very good design in my books.

http://www.londondesignfestival.com/content/2011-ala-timber-wave