Sculpture Maquette

Middle Finger Maquette, Chaz Howkins, 2016, clay

I created this maquette using clay and may venture into creating a life size version using body casting.  The expressive hands cover where the breasts should be in an attempt to express a sense frustration from being restricted by your physical form.

Tipsy Art

Frustration at Stereotypes?, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

Awful, Chaz Howkins, 2015, paint

Frustration, Chaz Howkins, 2015,  mixed media

Binaries, Chaz Howkins, 2015, photograph

I created these pieces the morning after a night out and think the results are very unsuccessful, but interesting and humorous nonetheless.  Inspired by Heather Cassils, I painted my knuckles pink and proceeded to punch a lump of clay onto a sheet of paper to express my frustration concerning gender stereotypes.  For the next piece, I filled one hand with blue paint and one with pink paint and proceeded to smear them on paper - the colours didn't overlap as easily as I intended so the piece seems to support the idea of gender as binary, which I do not agree with.

I took a photo of my hands afterwards as I found it interesting how barely any pink was on the blue hand, whereas the pink hand had become much darker and bluer - mirroring how it is seen as acceptable within society for women to express masculine traits, however men are viewed negatively for expressing feminine traits.

Further Clay Experimentations

Doll (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2015, clay, paint and doll's body

Untitled, Chaz Howkins, 2015, clay, paint and doll's body 

Untitled, Chaz Howkins, 2015, clay, paint and doll's body

Untitled (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2015, clay, paint and doll's body

I then went on to create further clay pieces, focusing on creating new heads for the Barbie dolls.  I experimented with comical, oversized heads and felt that this idea had a great deal of potential as using clay meant I could create any shape and then paint it in any pattern.  I experimented with cartoon-like heads and then went on to create sharper, more abstract, coloured forms which strongly juxtaposed the doll's smooth body.

Clay experimentations

Drown, Chaz Howkins, 2015, clay and doll parts

Clay Body, Chaz Howkins, 2015, clay and doll parts

Untitled, Chaz Howkins, 2015, clay and doll parts

As most of my work is usually two dimensional, I decided to expand my work by experimenting with 3D by using clay.  I felt that exploring the possibilities of three dimensional work would mean that my pieces would have more of an intimidating presence.  I decided to create some rather abstract pieces which combined clay and doll parts, I feel the resulting outcomes are quite unusual and unexpected, making them somewhat humorous. 

Pot throwing

Pot on throwing wheel

After the ceramics workshop, I had a go at pot throwing.  I found this process very frustrating as the pot's walls kept collapsing, so I soon gave up and never managed to get a pot off the wheel.

Ceramics workshop

Blind Ceramic Self Portrait, Chaz Howkins, 2014, clay

Clay self portrait created relying purely on the sense of touch.