exploring rock formations
documentation
pre-show planning
From the end of May I reviewed my plan for my show and began focusing on the making. I hoped to showcase my research into the location of Kimmeridge Bay through prints, plaster castings from rock imprints, a film and pigment cloths and include:
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Collagraph prints exploring fractures in rocks - these do not represent a 'cliff' but explore the crevices and fissures created in rocks fracturing at Kimmeridge Bay. Megapolygons are visible on the wave platform shoreline and I plan to explore by making collagraphs from environmount board which can be bent and create random crack-like marks that hold ink. At the same time cracks in the rock face formations become dark hidden spaces which I find captivating - they are a coming apart of rocks that have been held together for millions of years starting to be exposed yet still holding secrets of time.
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Photopolymer prints of the chinese ink dabbing/rock rubbings - I had completed one test one and intend to finish two more to have a set of three. These will explore an intimacy and close working with rocks found at Kimmeridge Bay and translate them through a digital image into photopolymer print.
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Castings in plaster that I made in unit 2 will be in the show - these also explore the megapolygon crevices in the wave platform but also provide an additional direct connection between myself - my hand print on one side and the imprint of rock on the other which is important to have included in the show. I tried mixing the rock pigment in the plaster as the casts were being made, but the difference was not material and in the time I had there was less time to explore alternative amounts/pigments. Still not clear how to display/hang them.
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Pigment cloths/papers - I have made a combination of large, small cloths; some painted, some soaked and stained, some printed with screenprints. I am not sure yet how they will be displayed - like the idea of large hangings that people can walk through but conscious of space. Am also considering sewing some together. I am also exploring making chine colle pigment papers that might be collaged onto prints or fabric.
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Film projection featuring the location site including myself in some form - I have a lot of footage from fieldwork at the location site including material used for the unit 1 December show. More recently in unit 2 I had footage of myself walking around the local area inhabiting the pigment cloths which I hoped to incorporate into film somehow.
developing collagraphs and pigment chine colle paper
I began with the idea of making x6 large plates that could speak to the scale of the coast and rocks while exploring the patterns in the fracturing and fragmentation of geological processes witnessed there. These built on prints I had made in response to Kimmeridge Bay several years ago and shown in a crit in April and decided to push them into bigger plates. I began with a design that came from a film still of rock crevices which I drew out roughly to give the plates some structure. My plan was to take these 'crevice' sections as the main drawing and then include the folding and 'cracking' of the cardboard plate to reflect the megapolygon rock pattern. I enjoyed making these and the physicality of working large was very satisfying and felt fitting for the subject matter.
I experimented with different ways of making chine colle pigment papers and as I came to the end of printing the six large plates I started to see how these might be incorporated. I explored different ways of painting the pigment onto sample papers using mediums such as PVA, acrylic medium and nori paste to ensure they fixed. There was often a grainy-ness to the surface which I didn't mind, but often a paint brush line could be seen which I was less sure about - so in some I made this very obvious.
I explored collaging these onto the large prints. The small squares seems bitty and a bit tokenistic and didn't add very much. I liked the larger areas that filled up whole shapes in the design and made a few of these to explore whether I might use them in the exhibition. I began looking at ways of curating these in preparation for my exhibition crit.
Collagraph making process; making and adding chine colle pigment papers
notes on making
Ink (55985 black) needs plate oil and extender on cardboard and easy to overwipe/ remove too much ink, added some white so not completely black which I found a bit 'flattening'
Had a problem with chine colle papers sticking to board rather than paper. Think this is because glue - nori paste - is used already on the chine colle pigment paper and maybe was reactivating when damp. I found it easier to collage pigment papers on afterwards rather than during initial print of collagraph.
photopolymer prints
I began making more rock rubbings using the same chinese ink rubbing method. This technique dating from around 600 BC involves dabbing ink on dampened paper and was originally used to preserve and disseminate important cultural inscriptions in stone, but also developed into a way of replicating textural qualities of sculptures/cultural objects. This seems an appropriate technique to record the shape and textures of rocks found at my location site where I am considering geological change and processes over millions of years. I made three photopolymer prints that I was happy with and printed them without a border hoping to display them unframed using nails and magnets.
Photopolymer making process
developing rock imprint castings
wanted to continue to try out different ways of using the castings of rock imprints so as a starting point I used the same moulds to make casts with rock pigment to see what impact it had. The outcome was not significant and I realised I didn't have time to try and experiment with different amounts of pigment in the plaster mix. I decided to keep the ones I had and started trying out different ways of curating them in advance of the exhibition crit. I had an idea of displaying them with steel as old mining equipment can often be seen at Kimmeridge Bay protuding from the cliffs. I borrowed a piece of steel from Hywel to do this but didn't think it worked very well. I also explored arranging the casts with pigment fabric and imagined they could be held in a sculptural structure. The idea of making large numbers of the pieces and 'filling a wall' or similar did not appeal as keeping a small number seemed to fit better with the idea of a signifier of the intimate connection of touch between me and the land.
I began to consider creating a plaster structure to 'hold' the hand imprints which might be a vehicle to display them or to show the film on. Taking the shape of some of the megapolygons seen on the foreshore at Kimmeridge I made a mould and situated some hand/rock imprints into plaster. I wasn't very happy with the result - it didn't look very organic and the hand imprints were not interesting surrounded by plaster.
I decided to try using stoneware clay as an alternative material to casting plaster - it was easily available and relatively quick to try out. It had become impractical to re-visit Kimmeridge in Dorset closer to the show, but also I had also begun to see explore the idea of pilgrimage in my work and finding ways to represent both what I bring back from my fieldtrips and what I make here at home. I chose a flint wall near my studio, that sits opposite a bench which I often use and has a great texture/surface for making imprints. I made some small tile shapes out of stoneware clay and made a set of imprints to explore how it worked, and then went back to make a much larger single piece which I thought would be a much better vehicle for projecting the film onto than the plaster piece I had already made. All photos below.
Casting plaster and making clay hand/rock imprints
film: connecting field location, me and home
In developing my ideas around film I wanted to continue with the theme of myself connecting with rocks in the landscape at Kimmeridge which I had already begun to explore but also find a way of incorporating myself wearing the pigment cloths here. This develops the idea of how I relate field work and connection to place in a distant location while making work here/at my studio and where I situate myself within that process. At end of May I asked Sheila to take some footage of me walking around the streets near the college - particularly in places I would walk to and from the Peckham Road campus.
I found this a very empowering performative act. In unit 2 I had taken photos of myself lying down wrapped in the cloths which was kind of comforting but walking around felt like I was being myself, doing day to day things, but also visibly bringing some of the experience of being among the rocks at Kimmeridge with me. It felt like the embodied experience that I have been writing about was coming in being - or that it continued the act of 'becoming in place' that I am writing about in unit 3 critical reflection.
We took a lot of footage and I began edit together sections of film considering what the 'narrative' might be or trying to work out what I wanted to say with it. My first edit that was shown in the exhibition crit is below.
First edit of film, 4.02mins
Initially I was exploring the idea of the 'rock eyes view' and had long elapses of time in fixed positions to reflect what might be a rocks durational experience. I used footage from several different viewpoints that a 'rock' might have - underwater - of the tide coming in and out - watching human activity etc. I liked the idea of creating a sense of' who is watching who?' in the film as we as humans consider the landscape, but what if it considers us too? I was keen to use the footage of me through the water which had accidentally been created when the camera turned in the tide underwater and then add in some content from me walking in Peckham with the pigment cloths.
I think some of the clips in this first film were too long and I wanted to have a closer up view/experience of some of the rocks and crevices that featured in my collagraph prints so went back to some content I used in my December unit 1 film.
After the exhibition crit I continued editing and developing this thinking and also included footage of me walking at the field location and context of the pigment cloths by having them moving in the wind as they dried in my garden. This felt like I was situating the research and experience of place both on site and at home/studio.
While I had the idea of projecting the film on the clay I also tried other ways of curating the film by projecting onto both pigment cloth and the digital photo print, shown below. I decided this picture format made it difficult to see the film content and I had already used the motif of the rock patterns in the collagraphs, but was still interesting to try out. It was suggested at a crit/tutorial that I project onto the plaster castings or a very small area of clay; I felt this would lose the detail and be difficult to see. I tried out a range of film size projections in the studio to explore this. I was also considering a split/multi-screen option of showing the film as a way of giving the viewer a simultaneous experience of the different locations. I started trying this out at home but felt I didn't have time to explore enough to resolve it for the show so this might be something I come back to in future.
For film I have instead focused on using a larger slab of clay that has been pressed into rock to show film on. Originally hoped to use the ‘rock’ side of this but found it distorted image too much. The look of the film projected onto clay is interesting and relates materially to place.
Film projected onto large scale digital print, size 130x60cm
curating the show
I had my core elements of work to bring to the curation including at least 10 large collagraphs, 3 photopolymer plates, pigment cloths, small hand/rock castings, a film and clay support to project onto. My initial idea was to create a screened or private intimate area to show the film by using the pigment cloths. To have the collagraphs arranged in small groups or one group on a wall and the photopolymers on an opposite wall to begin a 'conversation' between the different elements.
There was an expectation to be flexible, and I was open to this. however, the process was very challenging and also quite frustrating - as my location was moved three times and I was not included in these discussions so I felt like I had less agency in the decisions being taken than I wanted. This is not to say that I disagree with the final decisions - I think the final hang was very successful - but it did not feel as collaborative as I had hoped. There are definitely things I have learned for future hanging/curation of work. Including: consideration of how a large space is used, approached and viewed from different angles sightlines; how neighbouring work sits together and why; and having an idea about what mood/atmosphere is desired.
The final place where my work was to go meant that I couldn't follow my initial idea (outlined above) - a key concern was how to use the pigment cloths in the space. I tried out many alternative hangings and my flexibility and the help I got from others in trying things out, was fundamental to achieving the final curated hang which I was very pleased with.
Curation of work
ma show installation shots
Installation shots are shown here and the gallery holds images and details with sizes of individual pieces.
Show installation shots
The curation crit walk around with Leo and Paul Coldwell was a very useful exercise to reflect on our own work and to hear others views. Key comments:
Elegance of grey fabric pigment cloth to hold the film
Curation solutions found through testing - particularly for my small ceramics on collagraphs and my approach to hanging the cloths
Use of repetition helps bring works together
Discussion re plinths - although not beautiful they work and not a distraction
Paul referenced Kat Prendergast city map drawings re my polymer prints - maybe a book or portfolio in future
The idea (from a visitor) that the photopolymer looks like charcoal drawing not a bad thing
Collagraphs - whole display and some away from wall works well and ceramics echo across to Jirapak’s light on water
Idea of getting more texture in the collagraph blacks ie small scratch marks to develop and add depth to pieces.
Could go less quickly to dark/black consider hint of blue purples etc that make the blacks stand out more - this could give it a more sophisticated look? Something to try out later
Small polymers draw you in then see large collagraphs as get nearer - interesting to encounter it first from two directions
Curation of space - discussion:
Balance in space - between all artists in gallery space
Sight lines down to film on both sides of the divide - mine and Jirapak's
Use of red/strong colour to draw in on both sides of the divide
Texture natural shapes patterns in nature work together well
The light within pieces eg Jirapak’s circles of light my plaster casts effect
Comments from visitors
What do you get from it? Rocky - natural
Like small prints and film. Could project more people onto rock rather than rocks onto rocks
Don’t enjoy the collagraphs don’t work for me. Could just be charcoal drawings - why print?
Students interested in process how I got texture in the collagraphs made me interested in the carborundum again and interest in playing with that.
Film projection on clay the material of it. Seeing the surface when film stops. What if you can see more of it - the finger marks etc?
Cloth makes me think of trace prints on paper layering and exploring that with pigment.
People responding very positively to idea of honouring the rock
Considered simple and effective film installation
The clay - seeing clay the film projecting onto the exact shape of 'clay' rock and surprise at hearing technicality if it.
Strong positive reaction to film installation. The clay the shape of film and content - close ups of camera blurring and rock formations people enjoy my appearance and the theatrics of the walk in Peckham idea.
Collagraphs reminiscent of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham black white charcoal drawings - glaciers
Thinking about colour in prints and how difficult colour can be
Could take the blues & purples from film into the print try
What happens with the photo polymers at the edges - how you get a sense of looking around the corners edges/ think of Cezanne cubist / almost 3d interesting – something I could develop more?
Ambitious; excellent nails. Away from wall good - structural
Could be even bigger?
What is the design in the collagraphs, is there one?
What do the darks - the crevices hold for you - what’s in the space? Good question. Do I know the answer - my tendency to draw these jagged edges of things. Definitely emotional and metaphor for me exploring feelings
Softness and organic nature of rock rubbings - looking for what’s in them, what they could be eg fish, dog, cat, human organs, organic play with that somehow? How to use with actual rubbings I have made potentially?
Could work more on the film? People interested in the pilgrimage – from coast to home story - could be developed
My thoughts after show
Film could be more of me - more balance between rocks place and me here place
Colour - Work into blacks try other colours work into textures, more carborundum
Using pigment ink etc.
Think re using pigment ink on photopolymer
Position and composition of the collagraphs - consider more for future - what about the edges?
Explore papers and scale and chine colle?
reflections/work over summer break
Talking about my work and emotional connection to place/rocks
The discussions I had about my work, talking about it to visitors and answering their questions really helped to develop my thinking about the work. It helped me to realise which things were more important to me and which weren't and what ideas I might talk about in future. It was also interesting hearing other people talk about their work and how much of themselves they are able to reveal which I feel I could do more of.
For example, I enjoy talking about how I made things (which people ask a lot), but really I do want to be able to talk more about what lies behind the work. There were some good questions about what meaning the work holds for me - some of which I felt I didn't answer that well. I think the connection is very emotional to the landscape, to the rocks. I think there is a connection between the gashes, crevices and fissures in the rock face and my own pain and grief. Making work about them, of them is cathartic, makes me feel connected to something solid and real when life is full of so many uncertainties and difficulties.
I enjoy all the different methods and processes in my practice, using pigment, making large expressive prints, making intimate rock rubbings and each of them helps me to connect to a place - ground myself in that place and in myself. So there is a strong connection with finding a place to belong and identity which I will continue to write about in my critical reflection. These places all also have an intellectual and social interest - their geology, what happens in the human/nature interaction, change and climate crisis, their social history. Sometimes I wonder if these are 'too many' ideas, but they all hold true at different times in my work.
At the same time as considering these ideas I felt that the work felt like 'work in progress'. Some of the prints - especially the collagraphs - had been done very late and individual plates could be developed more thoughtfully and need more experimentation with textures, mark making and composition - as well as with colour, types of paper etc. I also considered that I often run onto new ideas too quickly and don't spend enough time pushing one series of works so developing the collagraphs after the course would be particularly useful to try out.
I decided to do more reading over the summer on place, belonging and sound which would feed into the critical reflection essay.
oil painting in the studio
I felt like I needed to explore more the images/end point I got to with the figure lying on the rocks at Kimmeridge Bay which I had considered screen printing and using in my film. I took these images as a starting point for making some oil paintings - I had considered doing them as monoprints but wanted the immediacy of moving oil paint around a surface with a rag. I found these satisfying to make and fitted with my ideas around being 'held' by the landscape and connecting myself with rocks. They were also influenced by seeing work by Debuffet and Clough at the Tate Modern (see section in additional research). I may come back to using these later.
Working in my studio with oil paint
fieldnotes on the beach in Devon (a first go...)
6 august 2025
cloudy, sun peers out, 21 degrees, warm wind
walk along the undercliff path; eroded sandstone cliff shelters me in dark ochre red
tide out. rockpools formed
seaweed green covers revealed foreshore rocks
girl shouts come and look....
peers into the crevice between granite (beach defence) slabs
I peer over the sea wall
red sandstone stirred into the waves
white dirty creamy foam bubbles on top
sun illuminates the pink- coral waters. then blue greens to horizon
to swim. the cool surface breeze pleasant submerged contained
held by the salty ochre-y slippery wet (seaweed caught) fingers
sun warms wet sticky face
toes reach for soft gloopy underwater sand
sun catches the eroded sandstone triangles of cliff - how long has it got?
dogs bark (don't they always)
children shriek just being, with freedom
is there more freedom in the lapping shoreline waves than anywhere?
looking up for the gaps in the clouds, gulls cry
that moment of quiet between when the schoom of the incoming surf and when the tide turns.
Sidmouth beach, Devon, 6 August 2025
field trip III, kimmeridge bay
The aim of this field trip was to gather information that I can use in the research festival specifically and I also wanted to camp nearby so that I had the opportunity to have a more significant connection to the place. Unfortunately, the weekend I had allocated there was a strong storm, rain and 40 mph gusts and I only managed one night camping before, due to a leaking and collapsing tent, I had to decamp to a local friends house. Nevertheless, the night out solo camping had been good giving me a different experience of place under canvas and without other distractions made me think and feel my way into the place in a different way. Being under a thin canvas - hearing night time sounds - the wind the sea sitting in a chair outside in the evening reading writing eating. All outside makes me feel part of nature in a more real way. Just reminder about love of camping.
Kimmeridge Bay fieldtrip, 29 August 2025
I wanted to collect experiences in the form of fieldnotes - after reading 'Fieldnotes for Future Ecologies' and debating this in the reading group in July I wanted this to be another element/focus of my work. Some of these fieldnotes are collated in the Research Festival section.
I wanted to do a walk to the place where Kimmeridge Woman was discovered in the cliff in 2000.
I wanted to start doing other writing that could be source material for my own audio work (notes in Research Festival section).
I took my old box camera from childhood and took photos using this (see below).
Kimmeridge Bay fieldtrip, 29 August 2025, photos from Kodak box camera and influences
Interesting using this camera - not only the mechanical element and the need to hold steady etc but thinking longer about the shot - how is it framed - it can't be automatically cropped, there are only 12 photos on the reel -makes you consider do I really want this shot? Also it made me look at the landscape/subject differently and more closely because I wouldn't just 'retake' the photo. So it slows down the process which I really enjoyed. Then researching somewhere to develop film and taking it/collecting it in 3-4 days made it more exciting to see the final results. Key influences for this work included Eileen Agars photos of rocks and Paul Nash photographs shown above.
I visited Wareham Museum in Dorset to see the skeleton of the 'Kimmeridge Woman' discovered in 2000 when erosion led to cliff fall at Hobarrow Bay - just next to Kimmeridge. It was fascinating to see the skeleton in real life and imagine her existence around the end of the Iron Age more than 2000 years ago. Photos were not allowed of human remains so I made a quick sketch of the reconstructed head made by a masters student in Archeology from Bournemouth University.
Sketch of Kimmeridge woman, Wareham Museum, Dorset
work development up to research festival
working with rock pigments
I started back In September with ideas to development my collagraphs with carborundum/other textures and also decided to explore making pigment ink to print with. I had made paint from pigment previously and made large canvas paintings and felt that working with this as a medium helped back in the studio to re-establish that connection with place that I am searching for. I felt that printing with pigment might be a good way to try developing prints for the research festival.
I had done some rock grinding over the summer so went into the etching studio and began mixing with plate oil and testing various colours.
The colours and differences between rock types were quite subtle, but the muted tones were an interesting 'natural' contrast with the hard dark grey-blacks I had been using. I had also collected yellow and red ochre sandstone pigments from neighbouring beaches in Dorset that I visit regularly and have made work on in the past and began to incorporate these.
It was very interesting how ‘earthy’ the consistency of the ink is. Applies differently. Pete suggested extender for loosening up. Later discovered this makes it a bit sticky Brian suggests just more oil. Stickiness seems more limiting with thin Japanese paper (which was sometimes ripping) rather than using Somerset.
I had a discussion with Craig about pigment/ink making recipes. We discussed the complexity of different methods and what might suit different printmaking methods. There is a lot to come back to here but realised I don’t have time to do lots of experimenting with this at this time. Will stick to what done already and try out in future.
making and printing with pigment ink
developing carborundum collagraphs
I also started exploring carborundum on collagraph plates and thinking through how to use them as backgrounds for narrative elements of my audio. While I tried printing some on Somerset paper to trial the plate I wanted to use thin Japanese paper for the research festival piece so experimented with Kozo and Tosa Washi papers, see below. These were all printed using the earth pigments. I also played with the idea of printing a skull in the collagraph plates as a reference to the woman found in the cliffs. It came out ok but felt this was too literal an image and that a skull was too loaded with other connotations to fit this work.
collagraphs with carborundum and rock pigments
making photo litho prints from B&W photos
I wanted to sue the black and white photos i had taken suing my old box camera as I felt they had a lot of atmosphere and a nostalgic timeless quality. I thought that printing these off a stone would re-connect to the place as Kimmeridge stone is used in lithography as I discussed in unit 1. My idea is to use these prints to collage onto my book/map publication. Initial trials are below. I think these work well in conveying the mood I am interested in and look good printed on the collagraph background. I need to do some work on the images first so they come out a bit clearer so will try this again later.
lithographs using photo transfer
red haired people of Kimmeridge
The idea of the red haired people of Kimmeridge came from a random reference in a book that I came across on geologist Ian West's website (link here). I have been unable to find out more about this - it may be related to the fact that many miners from Ireland and Scotland came down to work at Kimmeridge. There is also some history of a Celtic Durotriges tribe living in Dorset in pre-Roman times (see full research here) and could be a connector to both red haired people and the story of Kimmeridge woman. So I have had this on my mind a lot and coupled with the red sandstone found further along the coast in Devon I decided to incorporate it into my research festival map publication.
I made a small collagraph cardboard plate which is based on the idea of Kimmeridge Woman being held in the cliffs - I wanted it to feel very loose and earthy and maybe slightly hidden - like a body buried in the ground - this references the Dubuffet lithographs I discuss in additional research section). My first attempt is pictured below and I may re-do this if there is time.
I also wanted to make a soft ground etching of hair which I could print in a dark orange/red to reference the red-headed stories I had uncovered. I used an old wig to make the soft ground and it is shown below. It did not print that well because I used an old plate to test the idea on so will re-make it, but it gives an idea of what it will look like.
All these elements will be developed into a publication at the research festival - some early mock ups are in the research festival here.
Kimmeridge Woman story references and prints for research festival
audio/sound piece
My recent research has included developing a sound piece which can accompany my publication at the research festival. This developed from the idea of making a deeper connection to place using this sensory experience and continuing my process of bringing place directly into the work.
I had made some field recordings at Kimmeridge on many of my fieldtrips and aimed to combine these with maybe some music, sound recordings of my own fieldnotes and a recording of myself telling the story of Kimmeridge woman. Fuller details and a first draft of the sound piece are in the research festival section.
I did an introduction to the UAL sound booth and plan to make final recordings using this.