Stellify 4 / deconstructed / WIP
Hello! Hope this finds you well and enjoying the autumn.
It's still pleasantly warm here, and the garden seems not to be fading back as quickly as it normally might. I have an amazing bright blue Salvia flowering outside the window at a time of year when I would more normally be cutting it back and thinking about putting it in the green house to avoid the risk of frost.
Perhaps it's going to be a mild autumn, which would be very welcome in many ways, always good to get out of the studio for a local walk on a crisp autumn weekend.
Study and detail for Stellify 4 / deconstructed / v01
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I've been working on a new set of drawings for the past six weeks or so, and to date I have maybe six works to show, derived from my original Stellify model, based around the fourteenth stellation of an icosahedron, with a dodecahedron at its core.
It was originally built from sixty components to form a complex modular origami model. But for this study, I've exploded the form and reimagined it as some kind of quasi architectural landscape.
Study and detail for Stellify 4 / deconstructed / v02
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I'm not entirely sure what to make of it! The idea for the study drives the production and resolution of the images, and so, as ever, I'm getting some fairly experimental results from a concept that doesn't have a particularly firm goal in mind, other than a desire to try building something with a modular approach, and trusting the process, which is always a leap of faith.
To make the drawings I created around 240 modular components, each one a study of three or four components, and then grafted them back together to form a series of long horizontal images containing maybe forty to sixty components each, spread out, or deconstructed, across a broad vista.
Study and detail for Stellify 4 / deconstructed / v03
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I've since worked up the best six of these, which I hope represent a reasonable outcome from the process and time involved.
It's all a little different from what I might more normally do here. No doubt the pendulum will swing back for the next study, which will be a second iteration of my XGen series, that is maybe half completed at the moment.
Study and detail for Stellify 4 / deconstructed / v04
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So of course it's been my intention to make a Print Club edition from one of the drawings.
I'm planning on making a long 'landscape' edition that will be folded into panels, and as such you'll be able to stand it up on a shelf or sideboard, or if you prefer you can open it out and pin it flat to the wall.
Either way I'm expecting to start proofing it next week. The final prints are likely to be circa 120cm wide, shorter when folded up though!
I also have a second related study that I'm going to edition and send out to club members at the same time, but I'll keep that as a surprise for now.
Study and detail for Stellify 4 / deconstructed / v05
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So, as I've been working on the images, and refining the colour palettes, the dilemma has been - which one to choose?
The solution, I think, is simply to let you choose for yourself.
So in place of the more normal approach of editioning a piece for the Club that I think works well, I'm going to ask you to choose which piece you'd like to add to your collection, and then make that one for you.
As a result, there will be up to five different variations of this edition.
If you can get back to me, perhaps by email, with a decision on which piece you'd prefer, I'll then proof and print the edition, potentially just for you. It'll be interesting to see if there's any consensus on which one works best.
If you'd prefer to let me choose, that's equally fine. I'll see which one catches my eye at the proofing stage, and make a decision for you.
Finally, if you'd like to own more than one of these variations, I'll be happy to print extra editions for Club members, for a modest fee, and send them out to you at the same time.
As ever though, when once the edition is closed in a few weeks time, these folded maquettes won't be available elsewhere, or in the future. As ever it's now or never.
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Thanks for your interest, as ever...
With best regards,
Chuck Elliott
If you’d like to receive four exclusive new editions in the post each year, alongside personal news and views from the studio, and invitations to shows and fairs, please do consider becoming a member of my Experimental Print Club. You can join or leave the club at any time, with absolutely no obligation to stay any longer than you want to.
Four new works are sent out, somewhat sporadically, throughout the year, often in line with the changing seasons. Each piece is unique, exclusive, and only available on the day it’s editioned, the size of the edition being determined by the number of members on the day.
I hope the club presents a more personal and intriguing way to connect with the studio, by creating a platform for collecting engaging new works for your home. The club is hosted online here, and I send out fairly regular blog posts and emails about the work too. I’d like to think that it’s an interesting proposition!
Membership is priced at £30 per month inc. UK delivery, or £35 for an international address.