Visit to Yorkshire sculpture park (In depth notes, observational drawings)

Yorkshire sculpture park notes from the day in more depth & observational drawings.

During our trip to YSP I had the chance to see some brilliant and unique sculptures including that of the artists I had previously researched before the trip and compare the image from the internet to the real thing which was a really good experience and gathering some brilliant primary research at the same time that will benefit my project. Here are the images I took whilst we were there, my notes and gathered information as well as some observational drawings.

John Edgar

The first sculptures we came across were inside the first gallery and were by Jon Edgar, a British sculptor who works mainly with improvisation. This series of sculptures were made as lively portrait sketches out of terracotta and most are to scale.
Notes from the day: I particularly liked this piece, the texture of the face and especially the beard area is wonderful to look at and the texture is so smooth in certain places and then rough in another which I really like. The lighting creates tone on the different areas which I really love and is good seeming as there are no other colours involved other than terracotta, it makes it look more lifelike. I love the detail he's put into it and my favorite part is the facial hair- I think it looks great.







This is a close up image of one of the smoother sculptures in the series, from the images it looks as though it would be rough to touch but actually when you do touch it it's rather smooth which was unexpected. I like how even though the shape of the face changes into wrinkles or cheekbones he has still kept up with the same overall texture highlighting the main features of the face which I think is really skillful. Also, I think the glasses made of wire is a good addition because of the use of terracotta on the rest of the sculptures, I think bringing in a new element of material is always interesting even though it's only a small amount and it looks really effective, more effective than if they were made of terracotta.








This is also another one of my favourites mainly because of the nose and lip area and how detailed and smoothed out it is, I really like the over all shape and how it looks as though she's about to say something like he's captured her in the moment. The hair is really curly and textural and really stands out on this piece and I love how lifelike he has gotten them to look. Many of his pieces are male so it was really good to see the female sculptures and how he's got them to look feminine as well which sometimes is a hard thing to do when the person you're sculpting has got very short hair.








Over all I really enjoyed looking through the Jon Edgar series room, there were many heads in there and were a lot to look at, observe and take in. The lighting in the room was perfect for the sculptures as it added tone, definition and highlighted how 3D and life like they were and all the textures of the terracotta which was brilliant to look at. The only thing that I didn't like was the smell of the room, the terracotta smelt awful and filled the room with a harsh scent that over powered the room which I think took some of the focus off the sculptures.


Henri Moore

Henry Moore was an English sculpture who was most famously known for his semi abstract bronze sculptures that can be found all over the UK as public pieces of art. The sculptures located at YSP were created between 1955 and 1985 and were of course made of bronze.
This is the first statue we came across and the only one I really particularly liked, it is called "Draped seated woman" and is located close by to the main gallery. I saw it from quite a while away but didn't realize how large it was until we got closer and realized just how big it was, I love the size because it adds a grand essence to it and really highlights the detail put into the clothing and shape of the body and is a lot easier to take in. The surroundings really complimented the sculpture because of the wide open spaces and shrubbery behind it, really lets you focus on it and makes it look like an abstract painting with all the beautiful scenery that surrounds it which I loved to look at as well and was cleverly placed to attract all the attention to the sculpture. It is made of bronze so therefore when I touched it it was freezing cold, damp, rough in some places but over all smooth. I really enjoyed looking at his work but particularly this piece because of it's abstract nature.

Hans Josephson
Josephson was a Swiss sculptor who both lived and worked in Zurich, mainly focusing on the human form a huge collection of his work is in YSP in both galleries and outside in natural surroundings that compliment their organic shapes, colours and textures.

 This is one of my favorite pieces out of the series of naked women that he did, mainly because it was the only one that actually resembled a woman. I'm not a huge fan of this style of abstract sculpting but I quite like this piece because of the position of the figure and the way it's led down very relaxed and carries the atmosphere of the beautiful surroundings which really compliment the sculpture and it's organic shape. It almost looks as though it's been naturally formed which is a really good skill to be able to possess and I can imagine very difficult to achieve. The sculpture had so many textures and shapes to it, when I touched it it was cold, rough and felt like stone which again refers to the natural theme running in his work. The size of the sculpture was larger than a typical human and more distorted obviously but still manages to achieve an almost luxurious style which I really like and none of the others had this particular quality due to the abstractness of them.

On the other hand, this sculpture seemed to have no sculptural quality at all and looks simply like a lump of clay. I really dislike this piece and wonder why anyone would visually like it at all due to the fact that it looks like no effort has gone into it. I appreciate that effort probably has gone into it but I just don't get the point in the sculpture and the reasons behind it, what it means or stands for and I think a sculpture should have some sort of leeway when it comes to interpretation and there isn't any here and was very annoyed when I saw this series of statues because they were very disappointing to look at. His figures were made of plaster and some were later cast in bronze to achieve this rough shapely texture.

 I absolutely love this picture it shows Barbara Hepworth's sculptures in all their artistic glory scattered out in this lovely natural environment of low hanging trees and wide open spaces giving you space to really appreciate them individually and having enough focus on one of them whilst being surrounded by the rest.

I've taken  a picture with a class friend to show the size of one of the sculptures, clearly you can see how grand they are, often inspired by organic shapes and they are even more impressive in person due to their size, width and different textures. This is my favorite sculpture because of all the different shapes and especially the one with the hole in the middle because of the reflective coating has been scratched into in a circular pattern creating a reflective texture and almost looks like the barrel of a gun, each individual block on this sculpture and all it's different sides have different textural properties and is really good to touch and run your hands across and is overwhelming anyway due to the size of these sculptures. They really go with the surroundings as well which I really like, the colors look so natural surrounded by all the natural imagery around them such as trees, grass, rocks etc.

 Here is another example of her sculptures as you can see it's more rigid than the others with straight lines and very structured. The colour is a lot darker and stands out a lot more because of the difference in shape and colour. I don't like this one as much.

Here is a close up on one of the sides of her sculptures to show the amount of texture typically found on them, as you can see the material used is different and more reflective than the surrounding material and particularly like this piece of material because it feels great, it looks smooth but feels rough and I like the tone you can see as the light hits it.






Anna Collette Hunt
The person I've chosen to further investigate and research is Anna Collette Hunt mainly because I find her "Infestation" exhibition at YSP absolutely fascinating and the vast amount of detail is simply beautiful from far away and close up & I cannot believe the amount of work that has gone into each individual piece and they are all different and unique in various ways.  Here are some pictures I took when observing her exhibition at YSP:

Here is a picture only showing a small portion of the different pieces on one wall, it would be impossible to see them all all at once because they are littered all around the room on every wall and all down the stairs in beautiful patterns creating a moving motion of flying insects that aren't moving at all and it's overwhelming when you realize how many pieces there are. I really like this angle as well it's from the side of the wall to show all the different textures and sizes she's created.

 Here is a close up of a couple of the pieces, as you can see there are many different sizes, colours, textures and reflective surfaces and paints. I particularly like this blue, beetle-like insect with the gold wings, the colours are very complimentary and even though they aren't very accurately detailed they all have individual styles which I absolutely love. I'm a huge fan of her work, it's very feminine, because of the colours used and almost looks shabby chic...
For more information on "The Infestation" go to this link and it will tell you the story behind the swarm as it is so often referred to as:  http://www.annacollettehunt.com/#!installations/vstc10=about

You can also look at her sketchbook work, galleries and images of the infestation in a place called "Wollaton Hall" where there is a permanent exhibition that extends all around the house up the grand staircases and the wallpapers, and is said to be hauntingly beautiful. There is a lot of information about her and her artwork and motivations on this website.

Here are some more images of interesting sculptures I saw whilst I was there:

 Niki de Saint Phalle's colourful sculpture: 'Buddha 2000'

Materials used: Clearly as you can see there are so many materials used, stone, bronze, different coloured marble, and other various materials but I can't seem to find out what. I can imagine how nice all of these would feel to touch but unfortunately we weren't allowed past the barrier to touch it.
Size: I couldn't find out how tall it was but as you can see by the image of the children behind it how big it is.

 Lynn Chadwick: 'Little girl'
Statue made of bronze, around 6 foot tall and as you can see there are some interesting shapes used. An abstract piece again, but I like it, it's simple but looks so effective and very smooth.

 Elisabeth Frink: 'Riace III'
1986-89
As you can see I've taken a picture of one of this series of statues next to a class mate to show the size of them... they are even more over whelming in person, the texture of them is amazing especially close up and in the face because the light hits the texture in the material and creates shadows which looks great.

A close up picture of the Elisabeth Frink series statues to show the amazing difference in texture, the shape of the face and how haunting it looks close up in person... This is my view of the statue from my height.