Kintsukuroi Art Experiment

While others are setting fire to their pudding this Yuletide, I will be putting together my new research proposal and to get the creative juices flowing, I have been working on an experimental canvass. 

When thinking about research, I find visual art a really good stimulus. I have no definition of how the canvass will be, but I hold in my heart and mind the key themes of the research and as the stages unfold to me, so they reveal something new to explore in an academic sense. It enables my inner intellect to speak with me and guide my reading.

This is my Kintsukuroi Experiment with Canvass. 

Kintsukuroi is a traditional form of Japanese ceramic which I have spoken about in previous posts. It literally means 'to repair with gold' understanding that something is more beautiful for having been broken.

I typed out the words 'Kintsukuroi: the understanding that something is more beautiful for having been broken' and then I cut up all the letters, gluing Kintsukuroi to the side to keep it in my line of vision throughout the experimental process of the coming days.

Phase 1: Stick with it

      

I glued all the letters to the canvass. At first they were in order but I then broke up the sentences and scattered the letters, sticking them front and back of canvass.

 Phase 2: The Cracks Appear

          

I then applied gold gold crackle paste to the canvass. I thought it would be a thicker consistency and should have painted the canvass gold first before applying the gold crackle glaze or ordered a second jar. But such is the nature of experiment.

              

Once the crackle glaze had dried, I closed my eyes and covered my hands in acrylic paint, fashioning the outline.

Phase 3: Filling the cracks with cracks to fill

       

Phase 4: Solstice

I was working on the canvass over the Solstice Weekend and on the night of Winter Sotice herself, I found myself introducing green hues and soon a wreath appeared ...

Phase 5: Digital Void

Not happy with the wreath, I took photographs and used digital editing to find inspiration for a void.

Phase 6: Back Against the Wall: 

Learning to live with the new

Having introduced the void within the Solstice wreath by using sponges, I hung her on the stone walls of the living room to see if I could live with her.

The Final Repair

And now, when the time is right, I have 13 sheets of gold leaf in my studio waiting to be applied in the final 'repair', one sheet for every lunar month. 

The gold will shatter and fall into the dark green.

What do you think this experiment is telling me from deep within about the shape of my research process?