WHAT INSECT

http://www.animateprojects.org/interviews/edwina_ashton

Edwina Ashton has created films surrounding characters dressed as insects and other animals such as sheep. her film 'sheep' included two adjacent video screens with Ashton dressed in a believable sheep costume, one reading sheep jokes and the other tugs persistently at the costume. the characters have a blank, if no expression. she uses insects in her pieces after her studies in philosophy before studying at goldsmiths. she likes to use these as they are easy to play with, adapt and change into individual characters. she does most of the filming herself and the performances. http://www.timeout.com/london/art/edwina-ashton-interview all the animals she creates are influenced by animals and then formed through imagination, fantasy type characters that i really enjoy and can thread seems within my own work. http://blog.jerwoodvisualarts.org/?p=430

Edwina Ashton’s surreal and eccentric examples of imaginary insects and bugs are presented to be engaging with human activities, and on occasion wearing human clothing.  Ashton has motivated my work in many ways; I really enjoy the concentration of involving humans and animals in some sort of dysfunctional struggle or awkward social encounter. She is experimenting with the differentiation between the animal and the human due to language, communication, emotion and intentions. The expressions on the faces of the characters she creates also indicate strong resemblance to human emotions, however disguised and fantastical they may be, the association is there.

Ashton’s exclaims she is driven by embarrassment, which is a forceful human emotion. She’s looks at the character as an individual. Animals are constantly lumped together in to species, and I like this separation and create a persona for something we don't usually give these sorts of characteristics to.

FURRIES

CLOAK

progression of the cloak 

MY PRIDE

I have experimented with the fur creatures as suits, and now giving them voices without the people, i have chosen Pride and prejudices speech with elizabeth and darcy. the well spoken dialogue i think contrasts the poorly made unwashed sheep skin. the shape, lumpy, unattractive, also contrasts the speech and i think makes them funny.

STAGE COACHING

with a projection of the shots from home, the google maps with the pinky vortex i like. but still this doesn't work as it makes them look like stage characters, and not sculptures. also the projections make them hidden and covers the detail, so i think green screen would work better and with people inside them 

BORING

experimentation of them standing alone. i don't think they work alone that well. not enough substance 

YOU LOVE MY LUMPS

experimenting with the fur creatures as fur suits. with people inside them, making them look dull, lifeless and messy. lumpy, out of shape, large, unorganised, depressing. quite funny

LUXURIOUS///

for exactly the opposite reason, looking at unnecessary, unessential fur such as the bird feathers used in the Hawaiian cloak. but also the fur i have gained from a supplier friend in london, bags full of free fur that is from a manufacture that makes coats out of expensive, new real fur, all dyed different unnatural colours. i want to use this fur though to make a cloak similar, to question human authority and how we use animals skins to excel power. the cloak will look luscious and expensive. the fur has selfish intentions also, as i got the fur for free. but more then that, back to my themes of waste, the fur that i can get my hand on is provided in large rubbish bags full of off cuts of this fur. the fur u use will otheriwise be destroyed or just thrown out. this really bugs me and, although this fur is wrongly used and for unnecessary reasons, i at least want to make use of the unused stuff. 

PITSFIELD

The tribal cloaks, suits and coats work by south american, Hawaiian, Siberian, Pakistani and Tibetan tribes was amazing to see in the flesh as the detail and use of materials, the precession and detail is absolutely beautiful. the use of seal intestine to create clothes, deer hide and rare birds was inspirational as the techniques that went into the making is astonishing, although the use of animals and the amount that were used to create the clothes is depressing and to an extent, for some, unnecessary. the Hawaiian tribal cloak, the first image, for example, was only worn by people in high rank or royalty. these were known as Ahu 'ula's. These cloaks are made from a woven netting decorated with bird feathers and are examples of fine featherwork.Hundreds of thousands of feathers were required for each cloak. A small bundle of feathers was gathered and tied into the netting. Bundles were tied in close proximity to form a uniform covering of the surface of the cloak. however the need for the cloaks I'm not sure of, as they are purley shown for importance and for no other reason. However, i was glad to read that both species of bird used for the cloaks can still be found in Hawaii, but in much reduced numbers. Although birds were exploited for their feathers, the effect on the population is thought to be minimal. The birds are said to have not been killed but, rather, caught by specialist bird catchers, a few feathers harvested, and the birds then released. this act is, however, still disturbing to say the least. the feathers i have once worked with and creates animal masks out of have all been from local feathers found or plucked from male and female pheasants, and wood pigeon . these birds have been shot in small numbers and for food, and these feathers i used because of the waste that will otherwise be. i am a strong believer that if i can eat an animal i must be able to kill it myself, and game meat, such as rabbit, pigeon, or pheasant, that i eat from home, we know exactly where it comes from and who has killed it, so i am happy using theses materials in my work. 

HE'S NOT FINISHED BUT IM SURE HE'S A HE

VORTEX CAN RETURN AND MAKE THINGS PINK AGAIN...

HANGING HIGH

FINISHED FILMS