Paula Dunlop
CLUSTER (wearables)
2019
Sterling silver, thread
Chain and Connector (wearables)
2019
Sterling silver ball chain, sterling silver ball chain connectors
A continuous length of sterling silver ball chain is looped and clasped with sterling silver connectors to form a fringed neckpiece. The connectors—components conventionally used for joining ends—are instead used to catch the chain; drawing lengths in or pushing them apart.
TUFT
2019
Howlite, steel wire
24cm x 24cm x 8cm
Howlite, an inexpensive stone often used to mimic other minerals, is used in its natural, pale state.
Following past woven works, the manufactured howlite beads are brought together one-at-a-time into a twisting length, then joined end-to-end to form a closed loop. The dark stringing material highlights the construction.
Design direction is taken from the materials' packaging; the weave's wave-form pattern — shorter beads moving to longer beads, to short again — is determined by the way the beads are packaged for transport and sale. 1/2 wave length = 1 package of the beads.
Pin Prints
2019
Toned cyanotype photograms
18cm x 26cm
Impressions of ephemeral sculptural assemblages, cast onto paper as cyanotype photograms.
The assemblages were made from hundreds of store-bought, steel fork pins — conventionally used by knitters to join seams or to hold a garment in shape during the blocking process. Experiments with the pins revealed that the ergonomic bend at the top allows for two to be connected, held together through tension. By passing pin through pin, many different shaped forms can be assembled and re-assembled.
The photograms, a 1:1 scale image created through direct contact between the assemblages and the photo emulsion-painted paper, not only capture shadowy glimpses of the pins before their dismantlement, but also become ‘things’ in their own right — present, paper things — existing somewhere between object and image.