Stephen Procter: reflections of a glass artist

Stephen Procter: Reflections of a Glass Artist, records the thoughts and philosophies of the artist and glassmaker who for a number of years headed the Glass Department of the Australian National University School of Art. It traces his career in glass working from his first interest developed through a pointillist technique while living on Dartmoor; through his British Council-funded grant that enabled him to learn glass blowing and cutting techniques in Austria; to the mature landscape paintings and glass sculptures created during his years living in Australia.

Beyond the analogon; the "transfer of the referent" : the relationship between the external world experienced through culturally generated perceptual models constructed in the human mind, and the transfer of these images, via visual language, onto referen

Within 20th. Century art, the concept of the ‘normative’ image, as an attribute of things, has been challenged. As a consequence, paintings must now picture the ‘real’ world in other ways, incorporating knowledge and meaning beyond the analogon. Such descriptive representations were revealed as paradigmatic, rather than incontrovertible fact. Dependent on pre-conceived notions of stereotypicality, these descriptive images relied on surface illumination. My thesis explores images of things in the world as culturally inspired and information based. I examine paintings and sculptures of other cultures, such as black African, and other historical periods such as the Medieval, which reveal metonymously the basis for variations in representations of the ‘real’ world. The new enhanced representations which Modern artists created in their work were denigrated as deviant from the absolute ‘normative’ or regarded as distortions for purely mannerist and stylistic reasons. Postmodern research has reassessed them as multiple or extended imagings in whose facture new knowledge and human responses can be incorporated. These new forms of representation can be regarded as theoretical constructs rather than stylised depictions of appearance. In this way referents are transferred through the mind onto objects and vistas in the real world to align with our developed view of the physical world and better our understanding of humanity’s symbiotic relationship with nature.

Not the holocaust memorial

Evoking Genocide compiles more than sixty short essays written by leading scholars and activists in the field of genocide studies. These authors pay eloquent tribute to the works of art and media that influenced their engagement with genocide and crimes against humanity. The subjects include books and stories, films, songs, drawings, documents, monuments, sculptures, personal testimonies, and even a Lego set. In an accessible and often deeply personal way, contributors explore their own relationships with the works in question. Edited by Adam Jones, recently selected as one of fifty key thinkers in Holocaust and genocide studies, Evoking Genocide makes an important contribution to the study of the art and culture of mass atrocity.

Protecting public art

A documentation and discussion of the volunteer based Protect Public Art! pilot project that aims to create an inventory of culturally significant outdoor sculptures and monuments in Victoria, gauge community awareness of public art and outdoor cultural heritage and identify opportunities for future projects. It clearly shows that working with volunteers requires specialised knowledge and planning.

Creating a dialogue across time in Athens : the new Acropolis museum and the Parthenon

A visit to the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, in late June 2010 set in train a number of questions and inspired a research project to begin to unravel something of the complex relationship between ancient and modern architecture on the Athenian Acropolis. Research was guided by the question: how does the contemporary museum, designed by Swiss born architect Bernard Tschumi in collaboration with local Greek architect Michalis Photiadis relate to the ancient Acropolis and the fifth century BC Parthenon, whose sculptures it was to house? A critical literature review was augmented by design analysis and field experience. This paper documents the resulting critical thematic investigations of the Parthenon, the Acropolis and the New Museum through siting, materiality and light, alignment, visual connections, through exploitation of the unique Attic light, orchestrated movement and considered juxtapositions. Research has revealed that Tschumi’s deliberate strategy of creating a dialogue between his building and the ancient monuments holds the key to his design intent, to creatively exploring contemporary architecture at the edge of such a physically and culturally dominant ancient plateau.

The parametric making of geometry: the platonic solids

Geometry is a source of inspiration in the design and making of the manmade world. Computing techniques provide tools to explore complex forms: the research question is how computational tool can be systemised to assist with the translation of geometric concepts into physical objects. The purpose is to describe computational/manufacturing methods for creating digital models and physical objects from regular geometric configurations. The methods are based on parametric design, assisting from ideation to the generation of digital models with material specifications – using the five regular convex polyhedra as a case study. The results are comprised of digital models used for prototyping with 3D printing technologies and hybrid fabrication processes: the products are built geometric shapes ranging from body ornaments to sculptures. These procedures can be extended to generate designs based on irregular geometric shapes. Parametric-based methods are recommended in the digital modeling and fabrication of any geometric form.