NIDA Studio Practice
Studio allows us to create projects in reference to an assessment brief as a method of expanding our skill set and knowledge in the realm of prop-making.
Specialty Costume Project
For this project I worked in a group of 6 people. This group included 3 NIDA Costume students and 3 NIDA Props and Effects students including myself.
We were prescribed to choose a past piece of pop culture as a reference. Our group decided on Studio Ghibli’s ‘Princess Mononoke‘. Set in the late Muromachi period of Japan, ‘Princess Mononoke‘ follows a young Emishi prince named Ashitaka, and his involvement in a struggle between the gods of the forest and the humans who consume its resources.
The film features old traditional Japanese cultural dress mixing historical references with the whimsical and mystical world of Ghibli.
Initial Brainstorming
After much consideration into the character and her design as a team we came to a final rendering. As a group we then split up to each work on our elements individually. I worked to create the spikes, the hat, the necklace, the whistle and the trinket belt.
The Final Costume
Kanako
Our Character Kanako lives to protect the spirits as they become threatened by her village which learn of its power to grant immortality.
She remains connected with the Yūrei (also known as the spirit of her father) as a loyal cormorant fisher.
Our warrior lives near a fishing village on a saltwater river. This mystical river holds a secret. Residing in its depths is a fish of legend, one bite of its flesh will grant you immortality.
Final Design Sketches
The Making of
For this project we were also required to create a process video detailing the entire making process of the warrior specialty costume. Check the video out for the behind the scenes of the making process and each step taken to create this project.
Wacky Banquet: Spragnorf’s Earth Diner
For this Project, Our class of 6 including myself was tasked with putting on a “Wacky Banquet” to welcome the new first years to NIDA. Collectively we came up with Spragnorf’s Diner, a American style 50s diner, set in a distant science fiction world in which earth is long gone. Where an adventurous alien Spragnorf has stumbled upon a time capsule featuring old memories from earths diners and uses them to piece together his own diner with resources available to him.
Once the diner was constructed we were tasked with creating a photographic storyline featuring our characters and wacky food created for the diner. This project included storyboarding, scenic design, construction, prop design, sourcing, lighting, photography, costuming and collaboration.
Furniture Project
For this project
Students were to investigate the construction processes used in the making of an existing furniture piece through the completion of a digital 3d models, technical drawings of the piece.
Following this investigation, students are to realise a full-sized reproduction of the piece of furniture. For this project i found inspiration in Leo Abbate’s abacus chair.
The inspiration
Leo Abbate’s ‘This is not a chair’ created for a student research project.
Directly inspired by the reflections of René Magritte , “ Ceci n’est pas une pipe ” ( “this is not a pipe” ) where it was a question of the representation of a pipe in a realistic way where the painted object lost its function and justified the initial idea.
Applied to a chair, Leo Abbate chose to combine a chair and a colorful children’s abacus, the user will be able to play and interact with the balls as they wish. The layout, the game, the memory, the comfort, so many notions addressed propel this creation as a “ sensitive ” object and not as just a simple chair.
Production
Big Z Necklace
This project was made for a halloween costume to be worn. To make the necklace a shell was resin printed on the Photon Mono X resin printer with UV cure resin. Once completed a demil was used to carve into the piece. Then it was art finished to match the original piece.
Sculptural Myth
Students are to produce a full-scale version of the sculpture, based on the model previously developed and utilising a minimum of two materials to achieve its external form.
Inspiration
Process
Aisha Qandisha is a female mythological figure in Moroccan folklore. One of a number of folkloric characters who are similar to jinn, but have distinct personalities, she is typically depicted as a beautiful young woman who has the legs of horns of a hoofed animal such as a goat or camel. Beautiful Aisha Qandisha lingers near deserted Moroccan springs after dark. Men sometimes mistake her for a lady of easy virtue, but beware: that can be a fatal error.
The Finished Sculpture
The Making of
For this project we were also required to create a process video detailing the entire making process of the sculptures. Check the video out for the behind the scenes of the making process and each step taken to create my sculpture.
Self Portraits
Inspired by Deb Weirs, a collaboration with Nathan Hawkes
For this project we created self portraits inspired by an artist of our choice. As a class we chose Deb Weirs as our creative inspiration. Deb weirs is a mixed media artist living in rural Alberta, Canada. Within her work she intuitively evokes the emotions of the human face without any focus on proportions. ” I like to distort and abstract the face. I am also intrigued by the relationship between humans and animals” Deb Weirs. Collectively these ideas and principles inspired us for our own self portraits.
Deb Weirs artworks. These were the main inspiration pieces for myself and my classmates.
The finished portrait
Nathan Hwakes helped us to develop a finished portrait which used the same artistic principles which Deb Weirs uses in her existing artistic practice.
title: An Ode to Sylvester
Date: June 2023
Medium: Mixed media on canvas
Dimensions: H. 150 × W. 130
Location : Actors Green Room, NIDA Kensington
Fantasy Weapons
Inspiration
Within this project I got to expand my knowledge and skills in the realm of moulding and casting. with the testing involved prior to the production of the tridents I began to develop my skills. More complex calculations were also needed both for determining ratios and the amount of each medium needed for moulding and casting.
The fantasy weapons assessment required us to world build a society and develop a fantasy weapon which lives within this world. For this assessment I developed a mermaid society and the tridents which belong to these people.
Design Sketches
Production
Cultural Artifacts
For the cultural artifacts project we experimented with both traditional and contemporary methods in the realisation of artifacts based on a culture decided earlier in the year. My chosen culture I studied were the Berbers, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen. They are an ethnic group indigenous to the Maghreb region of North Africa. As the First Nations people of North Africa they are the descendants of the pre-historic North African cultures. In the traditional world they functioned completely or largely without money, jewellery played a large role as a means of savings and for trade. Jewellery also has large cultural significance for the Berbers as well, with certain shapes and materials seen as a way to protect yourself from the evil eye, bring prosperity, and ensure fertility.
Inspiration and planning
Hamsa Necklace
this form represents the five fingers of the hand and is traditionally believed both by Muslims as well as Jewish people to protect against the Evil Eye for an everyday wearer . The Hamsa Hand is a universal sign of protection, power and strength that dates back to ancient Mesopotamia.
Traditional Earrings
The Berber earrings were another eccentric piece of ornimantation for the Berber woman. Typically the basic forms and shapes of the earring are triangles and almond shapes, as well as pieces which mimicked the shape of the Hamsa. For example 5 coins would dangle from the main triangular piece of the earrings. I took this inspiration to create my own Berber earrings for this project.
Metal Work – Knife
Emily Lilley 