paul dodgson

Here is a short video showing puppets being made in the studio.

A short video showing the process of making a ceramic sculpture called “The Analyst”

For Christmas, I made some wooden animals using a wood-turning lathe. Great fun. Here’s how.

I used some well seasoned fruit wood (damson) sawn into lathe blanks.

Here is the blank mounted on the lathe ready for turning.

The operator at the lathe.

Marking out.

Taking shape.

Finished shapes on a spindle ready for the next stage.

Shaping the mouse ears on a belt sander.

Cutting mouse ears.

Cutting animal bodies from the spindle.

 

Carving dog’s face.

Shaping mouse’s tail with a spokeshave.

Shaping cat’s ear.

Attaching cat’s leg.

Carving mouse’s face.

Mice (unpainted)

Cats

Dogs

Finished animals.

 

 

Documenting the building and installation of an interactive sound generating artwork at SLOE Gallery in Manchester. UK.

The Proposal

All of us danced and drew and sang as children. Doing these things is natural to humans. When and why did we stop? Who told us we couldn’t draw, were tone deaf and had two left feet?

The Singing Machine helps people to rediscover the delight in making noise with their voices.

The Singing Machine is an interactive audio artwork where the public are intended to take part as either “Singers” or “Players”.

 

The “Singers” enter the booth and are invited to put on headphones and sing what they hear. The source of the sound in the headphones comes from a simple sound generator. The “Player” is outside the booth and plays the Singing Machine by turning two pitch and volume knobs on the sound generator.

For extra visual effect, a trace of the sound generator output and the sound of the “Singers” are displayed on a small oscilloscope screen inside the booth. I propose showing this screen on a TV monitor outside the booth via a small camera.

The sound of the “Singers” will be broadcast outside the booth via microphone and speakers (with a bit of reverb added to make it sound good)

The Venue

 

Measuring up venue

Sketch for design

 

Construction begins

 

 

 

Paint Job

Paint looks amazing in the can. Shame to stir it up!

 

 

 

Doors and windows fitted

 

Designing the electronics

 

 

Anti-logarithmic voltage control

Making the electronic bits

 

Testing electronics

 

 

Box for console

 

Sketches and CAD design for console control knobs

 

Complete control panel

 

Installing on site

 

Installation complete

 

In action!

 

 

 

Making a copper object

Annealing bits of copper prior to cold forging.

Working on the floor.

Cube of steel as an anvil.

Parts laid out ready for riveting together.

Drilling holes for rivets

Heating in DIY hearth made from bits of firebrick.

Quenching

Copper object

 

 

I feel real amongst hills and mountains. Aeonic, impenetrable, they are themselves and I am myself.

Maam Cross, Connemara. Oil on gessoed board

Maam Cross, Connemara. Oil on gessoed board

Near Leanaun, Connemara. Oil on gessoed board

Near Leanaun, Connemara. Oil on gessoed board

Moel Ysgyfarnogod, Gwynedd. Watercolour on paper

Moel Ysgyfarnogod, Gwynedd. Acrylic on paper

Cae Adda, Gwynedd. Acrylic on paper

Binns, Derbyshire. Oil on paper mounted on board

This short film was made in collaboration with Ben Watts and Matthew Bamber

 

Ben wrote:
“A dockyard worker becomes the unwitting champion of a workers revolt as a ship yard is brought to it’s knees over its foul tasting tea…

A nine minute film of found footage, live action and puppetry to visualize an absurd narrated poem. ‘You write something. I’ll make some puppets. He’ll do the scenery’ – That was all that was said by artist Paul Dodgson to writer Ben Watts and artist Matthew Bamber. The script was handed over to Paul and Matthew without any discussion as to what to do with it, and only seen by the writer on completion. The resulting work sits somewhere between German expressionism and a 1970s British public service broadcast…”

Bio – Ben Watts is a writer of short and feature films based in Manchester.
Matthew Bamber’s practice encompasses video, drawing, sound, sculpture and installation. I have exhibited my work nationally and internationally. Earlier this year he undertook a two month residency at Centrum Aktywności Twórczej, Poland

Since 2012 he has been developing a project using video recordings of windows taken from inside places of cultural interest. Other recent work includes a site responsive video work examining the the role of business spaces in shaping the lives of those that inhabit them through everyday “office politics.”

https://vimeo.com/matthewbamber
http://www.matthewbamber.com/