Funaki guest posts on materiality 2: Steel

Last winter during the early pandemic days of 2020, the physical gallery space closed, Funaki's artists were invited to create guest posts in Instagram, about anything we liked. Here's my second entry on materials I use and love (please also see the previous blog post about enamel). 

Let’s talk about STEEL. I love steel. It’s a metal that’s been with me from the start, for practical and aesthetic reasons. 

First, I love the applications of steel in our urban environment: The intricate metal structures and tall cranes at construction sites; huge diggers like strange animals; ships and sea containers, the battered back doors of trucks. I love the ordinariness of this material and the divinely beautiful way it surrenders to its environments, accepting scratches, stains, rust … the marks of time, never losing its integrity. 

I can weld steel, making jewellery pieces and vessels structurally safe while subjected to high heat in the kiln for enamelling or colouring. Soldered seams will reflow and collapse in temperatures over 800 Celcius whereas welded connections (metal joined to itself with electricity) remain intact. Anyone who works with steel also knows it can be temperamental as it rusts (maddeningly!) easily and is harder to cut and clean than precious metals. Sometimes its sharp edges make you bleed. But all is forgiven for its amazing scale of expression: I love the deep blues of heated mild steel, the chemical, snowflake-like zinc patterns on galvanized surfaces and the elegant grays they turn into when heated (although this process is toxic.). 

I love the shine. precision and strength of stainless steel, as well as the warm rusted tones and quiet stories told by old, abandoned pieces. I love the way stained steel sometimes looks like silk, sometimes like a landscape–but always still like steel. 

Images: Inari Kiuru 2008-2020, Mild and galvanized steel 

 

'Hold' vessel exhibition at Gallery Funaki

April 18 - May 27, 2017

Curated by Natasha Sutila, Gallery Funaki presents a survey of contemporary vessels by Australian and international makers David Clarke, Sally Marsland, Robin Bold, Christina Schou Christensen, Marian Hosking, Barbara Schrobenhauser, Lindy McSwan, David Bielander, Vito Bila, Inari Kiuru and Peter Bauhuis. 

As a prevailing form in craft tradition and daily life, the vessel affirms itself as unparalleled in the consideration of function, materiality and domestic ritual. A finely tuned relationship with material and process forms a common thread amongst this diverse group of artists (www.galleryfunaki.com.au).

So happy and proud to be a participating artist. My vessel contemplates the rapid mutation observed in butterflies, sensitive indicator species, in the Fukushima area in the wake of the nuclear accident in 2011. It is presented with water in it, interacting with thin blades of steel. The form and function of the vessel are also a respectful nod to the old Japanese tradition of mizusashi, fresh water jars.

Inari Kiuru

'Heavy water (Fukushima butterflies)'

2017

concrete, iron oxide, mild steel, pigments, iron filings, wax 

120 x 120 x 140mm

Enamel animals for Heat Exchange in Arizona

What's been happening?

Now that Heat Exchange-exhibition at the Shemer Arts Center & Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, is over (and has moved across the Atlantic to Erfurt, Germany), I can publish my whole post for the HE-blog here, too (see below).
However, please click on the link below as the collective body of work created for the exhibition by international artists is nothing short of amazing – fascinating in its range of techniques and concepts, and for those interested in contemporary enamelling, a must see! 


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Enamel animals

Originally posted to the Heat Exchange-blog on April 27, 2012


Edited 20 February 2017 to remove corrupted image links.

As a metalsmith, I’m currently interested in different types of steel which can be welded into structures that safely withstand the heat of the kiln, and the application of liquid enamels which allow me to paint metal surface like canvas. The solid structure of steel and the fluid patterns of liquid enamels create a challenging, fascinating combination for ongoing investigation.

My starting point was a steel model from last November, based on studying forms at airports. I wanted to see how I could use similar angular shapes in slightly larger object-based work. Initially, my plan was to continue developing pieces on the airport theme, but as I begun sketching, the idea of movement and a more playful concept about “flight” emerged. I decided to make two winged containers, “enamel animals”, balanced with weights in hidden compartments. I thought they could softly move, if touched, upon their curved bases.

Above are some initial sketches and cardboard models of different wings, and the following images show the evolution of the two objects after welding, going through a couple of different variations of wings and noses. Here you can also see some of my first enamelling samples with liquid enamels on steel and copper, created in 2010 during the life-changing workshop by Elizabeth Turrell in Perth. These early experiments still strongly inspire my use of layers, line and colour in enamelling.

The wings slot into the objects so that they could be inserted separately, without oxidising in the high temperatures of the kiln.

The main materials used for the work were mild and galvanised steel, welded and cold-joined, then enamelled with clear liquid #969 and P3 pigment for surface texturing,
And finally, the finished pieces:


“Enamel Animals, two figures having a conversation, are carefully balanced containers with secret compartments for weights (or any other small, heavy things you might need to hide). If touched, the animals will gently rock, perhaps nodding in agreement, with quiet knowing… “


Cheers and warm regards to everyone – can’t wait to see all the final works!
Inari

airport, flughafen, aeropuerto, lentokentta ...

Last year, I saw many airports inside and out, under many different lights and weather conditions, and tried to document these experiences with my small phone camera. I find the muted, controlled colours of vast flat surfaces dotted with bright detail very beautiful. I love the angles and forms of machines and structures framing the large fields of space and sky. Really love.

I made this quick piece on the last morning of the fantastic Swiss jeweller David Bielander's workshop, following some intense study of those collected phone photos. I welded galvanised steel and mild steel together, then treated the piece in a kiln, and added some areas of enamel paint.

For a long time, I couldn't quite see (or rather, feel) what this object was about, even though there was a direct connection to my images and experiences. The intuitive and rapid fabrication probably contributed to the initial "numbness", too, plus at the time I was recovering from a worst cold ever -- caught in a plane back to Australia just days before! : )

However as I'm studying it again now, through camera, in preparation for further work on the theme, I feel that perhaps there is some type of life in it after all. It makes me interested to try and see how better communicate dense, strong structures and open spaces in one piece.

Just wanted to post it for myself to archive, and to ponder it a bit more on-screen. Next, I'll be making a small series, continuing from this object, under the idea of air/ports for the upcoming exhibition Heat Exchange in Arizona. The show will focus on contemporary enamelling, and bring together artists from several continents. Exciting!! You can check out and learn more about the participants and their processes and thoughts here. I'll be continuing the exploration of airports and objects over there, too.

I'm also hoping to develop some larger scale object work around similar materials and forms as shown here. We'll see ... Next, unpacking the samples from Doris Betz's intensive master class last month. The working year has really begun. Yay!

Let us be lovers / New Jersey industrial landscapes

Let us be lovers (New Jersey Industrial landscapes), 2010

Mild steel, enamel, brass, wood, magnets, cold enamel

Photo (top): Jeremy Dillon / Photo (others): Lily Feng; Courtesy of Craft Victoria

This body of work reflects the landscapes I saw and photographed from a train, during a trip from NYC to New Jersey in the winter of 2009. It's the first series of objects I've fabricated from mild steel by welding, and experimented further with the use of liquid enamels, after being introduced to them by Elizabeth Turrell in Perth, in April 2010. Let us be lovers (the title is a reference to the lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel's America) was a steep learning curve for me, inspired further pieces and explorations, and was selected as a finalist for Craft Victoria's annual Fresh!-award for graduating students.