We love the idea of showcasing the idea of time through the seasons in our art machines. We did this by using different colours which represented each season on each clock.
We used brown and mustard colours for autumn with a browned fern (left), and we used white sand as the surface of the winter clock as if it is snow.
The blue sand is reminiscent of the beach for the summer clock, and the bright pink and blue is the spring clock.
We decided to present the sound machine like a yo-yo toy. We made two of them, glued them back to back, and used twine to hang it from the ceiling. We allowed viewers to swing the sound machine side to side to hear the wave sounds. This way the viewers can become part of the machine.
Reflection on Art Machines:
Overall, I learned a lot from this brief. I have never done anything like this before, and it was interesting to open my mind to new possibilities with materials that I have never thought to work with. I also learned how to work with others on art-making through all the errors and successes we encountered throughout the process.
If we had more time and could extend this project we would have liked to try and test out more surfaces to work on. I also think it would have been helpful to find different types of clocks and work with them too.
I am happy with the outcome of our art machines and what our group ‘greenery machinery’ has created together. I think the clock mechanism was able to produce fascinating marks with paint and sand. I also was able to explore the concept of time and connecting many aspects of time together through this body of work.