Nuala O’Donovan: Radiolaria / Grid Series, 2015-2018
This series is based on details taken from illustrations of microscopic organisms, Radiolaria, in the book, ‘Artforms in Nature’ by Ernst Haeckel. One small element of the patterns found in the drawings – a grid structure like that used in a geodesic dome, was isolated and new structures based on that element led to the making of this series. The early pieces were intricate cuboid grids, like Radiolaria Hidden Blue. The tunnel pieces were directed by the principles of fractal geometry when the form is a replication of the elements of the pattern. The basic element is a cylindrical module, and the form is also cylindrical. In this work I used subtracted sections of the piece after the work was fired so that when the work was shown as a group there is a suggestion that they may be fragments of a larger piece which may have linked together. Usually working in clay is an additive process and I found it interesting to use a subtractive process to create the finished work.
Captions
- Radiolaria – Grid Subtracted 3, 2015, Hand built, High Fired unglazed porcelain, 42 x 28. Photographer: Sylvain Deleu
- Radiolaria – Grid Subtracted 3, 2015, Hand built, High Fired unglazed porcelain, 42 x 28. Photographer: Janice O’Connell
- Radiolaria – Grid Subtracted 2 & 3, 2015, Hand built, High Fired unglazed porcelain, 32 x 25 & 42 x 25 cm. Photographer: Janice O’Connell
- Radiolaria – Hidden Blue, 2013, Hand built, High Fired unglazed stained porcelain, 36 x 24 x 36 cm. Photographer: Janice O’Connell
- Radiolaria – Pylon, 2015, Hand built, High Fired, stained, and unglazed porcelain, 38 x 38 x 21 cm. Photographer: Janice O’Connell
- Radiolaria – Demi Sphere, 2018, Hand built, High Fired unglazed porcelain, 50 x 38 cm. Photographer: Janice O’Connell
- Radiolaria – Demi Sphere and Elizabeth Fern, 2018, Hand built, High Fired unglazed porcelain, 50 x 38 & 28 x 30 cm. Photographer: Janice O’Connell
- Radiolaria Group – Grids Subtracted and Radiolaria Hidden Blue. Exhibition, Earth Wind Fire, at the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork Ireland, 2018-2019, 2018, Hand built, High Fired, stained, and unglazed porcelain on acrylic and metal plinth, 140 x 70 cm – plinth surface. Photographer: Jed Niezgoda
- Radiolaria Group – Grids Subtracted and Radiolaria Hidden Blue. Exhibition, Earth Wind Fire, at the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork Ireland, 2018-2019, (Joseph Walsh piece in the foreground), 2018, Hand built, High Fired, stained, and unglazed porcelain on acrylic and metal plinth, 140 x 70 cm – plinth surface. Photographer: Jed Niezgoda
