Unit 1: Methods of Investigating – Mark-making

Mark-making with black chalk on a manhole cover.

15th October: Following on from last week where I focused on documenting the textures of my environment through photos, I decided to now employ a different method. I wanted to best capture the three-dimensional features of these textures and I felt that chalk could do that. Through lying a piece of paper on the surfaces of various textures and terrain, and then rubbing chalk on top, I created a series of mark-making graphics.

Mark-making with black chalk on a manhole cover.
Mark-making with black chalk on a manhole cover.
Mark-making with black chalk on the relief of a stone sculpture/chair.
Mark-making with black chalk on cracked concrete road.
Mark-making with black chalk on a manhole cover.

I made marks on various surfaces including a manhole cover, concrete road, and reliefs on a stone chair. Personally, I found this experiment to not be a success. The details were not particularly clear apart from the text on manhole covers. I don’t know whether this is down to my technique or if mark-making is not the best application for this. Following on from this, I don’t know if texture of my physical site is something I can logistically focus on. Back to the drawing board it is.

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