Assemblage sculpture in the cottage grounds

 

We have been away from the cottage for 9 months or more. It is always a joy to reintroduce ourselves to the plants but also the assemblages Fiona and I have made and scattered about the grounds of the cottage.

This time I particularly like the combination of the daffodils and the assemblages such as in the case of the background to the cube in the opening photo.

Following are images of most of the pieces in no particular order or priority.

I like how the art ages and just seems to settle even more into the garden landscape. We don't have plans to make any more pieces in this trip.

Roof Post

 

I have called the assemblage you see in full sunshine in the opening photo Roof Post simply because most of the timber in it came from under the old slates when the roof was being replaced. There was all strange bits of timber maybe used for repairs in the past. A closer examination of the assemblage reveals a white cabinet door with rusted hinge marks and blue painted timber that appeared to have come from a boat. 

Fiona and I wanted to make this assemblage as a bit of a nod to the age and history of the cottage. It is attached to the back corner fence post of our yard overlooking the cottage. Photos below were taken by Fiona.

This assemblage seems to reach for the sky.

"Cabinet of Curiosities"

  

It is hard to know what to call a post assemblage that has many small horizontal surfaces for displaying curiosities picked up here and there. Fiona came up with the thought that we often display our bits and pieces in cabinets so why couldn't a outdoor assemblage be a sort of display cabinet; and so this post got it's name - Cabinet of Curiosities Post.

We have installed a few found bits and pieces as you can see from the opening photo; but we are sure to add and subtract and move more around over time. The origin of this post was in cube cutoffs that remained from other assemblages and The Fishers Post; and a column created from 16 lengths of timber from our roof slate boxes - as you can see in the photos below.

After testing the post on a flagstone out the front I hauled it around the back to tweak it.

Following are some detail photos.

There are now 5 assemblage posts out the front of the cottage - we think that might be enough out front.

Bird village

 

As you can see from the photo below I intended to use the fence post cut off points in one of three possible options. But after a young neighbour admired our bird feeding tower I thought I would make a small bird feeding village created around 5 fencepost points as you can see inn the opening photo.

A few process photos follow. As you can see it was built indoors - a pretty sub-optimal day weatherise!!!

A couple more of the finished village.

The bird village is about 37cm across and 50cm high. It would look good perched on a solid post.

Modification, design and base stages

 

As we get closer to the time of departure from the cottage our minds have turned to consolidation, maintainence and preparation for when we return. 

The consolidation was to put a new base on Fiona's assemblage, Charred 1, so that it was less likely to topple over in the winds we have been having. As you can see from the above images we charred some cut lengths of salvaged fence post and nailed them to the bottom of Fiona's post. This seems to have worked as it has given both weight and width to the base.

I had made a couple of sketches (see below) of assemblages that could be made from timbers removed when the cottage roof was being replaced and some from the crates used to transport the slates.

There is not time to finish them this trip; still I wanted to assemble the loose timbers in the base forms for the two pieces so that they were not just hanging around loose at the back of the cottage. The square post that will have a spiral of cubes was assembled in the workshop-shed on a wet day. As it turns out I have gone with a 4X4 post - made from 16 boards from the side of the crates.

The V assemblage is well on its way - also a bit of wind and rain around on that day; and the studio was in the great outdoors!!!!!! Note, on the left, the cupboard door with rusty hinge marks that had been part of the timber under the slate on the original roof.

Both pieces are now stored against the back wall of the cottage awaiting our return.

Collaboration on a charred and rust cube assemblage

 

One of the goals Fiona and I set for ourselves for this trip to the cottage was to make one or two sculptural assemblages. Using a cube (230mm) off cut from The Fishers Post we have worked together to produce the gorgeous cube above. The Fishers Post was made from 9 long salvaged used fence posts glued and nailed together.

If one is going to make a charred sculpture one of the steps involved is charring the wood. This is a very exciting process as it can appear very dramatic. Fiona and I set the timber cube on a large rusty panel behind the shed on a relatively still day; and used clarified turps to soak the timber for the burn. We always have a bucket of water on hand to quench the flames when the charring has reached an acceptable point. Below are a couple of the images from the burn; and a couple from the quenching.

Our rust stash was added to by five 70mm square washers our friend Karen gave us - along with other rusty bits. After sorting through our rust bank and testing a few pieces we knew we had more than enough for the project - see below.

One of my tasks was to cut the pieces to size and drill them ready for assembling - see pieces below.

The assembling was done in the studio, aka garden shed, as the day was inclement. A few assembling photos follow. Even the nails, nuts, washers and bolts are salvaged and recycled. There is rusty metal and objects on five faces of the cube.

Fiona getting hands on - note the sooty hands in the second photo below!!!

Complete and ready to head outside.

Finally the cube was ready to go out the front and be set inn place on a flagstone.

This was a great art piece to work on with Fiona today - and we are delighted with the outcome. A mix of photos by Fiona and I.