Dr. Sue-Ann Stanford and Dr. Melissa Silk work collaboratively at JMC Academy to provide innovative learning to students keen to forge a path in creative industries. They are both educators and artists. Sue-Ann Stanford is Dean of Quality and Melissa Silk is the National Head of Design. Both are widely published in their academic fields
Each have art/design practices related to traditional drawing and mathematical paper folding consecutively. ‘In this piece we are experimenting with the manipulation of a drawn image of a baby inside a womb. We are interested in the expansion characteristics of a glide-reflection folding pattern in which a flat sheet can be transformed into a three-dimensional curved surface’ – extract from Design Statement.
In this representation of a generally dyadic circumstance, the pregnant find themselves unequivocally on show, with no real way of detaching from the bubble. Nelson (2015) in The Argonauts, feels no urge to extricate herself from this bubble, but rather tries to understand the antenatal world through Sloterdijk’s (2011) ‘rule of negative gynaecology’. Nelson (2015) applauds Sloterdijk’s encouragement of insightful intimate connections through which “outside observation is already the fundamental mistake” (p.321). In this piece, we do as Nelson urges: “we turn away from mastery and toward the immersive bubble of blood, amniotic fluid, voice, sonic bubble and breath” (p.45). – extract from Artist’s Statement.
References
Nelson, M., 2015, The Argonauts, The Text Publishing Company, Melbourne
Sloterdijk, P., 2011, Bubbles: Spheres I - Microspherology 1, Semiotexte, Los Angeles
Materials: Paper, pastel pigment, digital printing, and glue.
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