Past Pupils
Lorcan Murphy
Lorcan graduated from IADT Dun laoghaire in 2018 with a BA (Hons) in Visual Arts Practice
Using elements of humour with dark undercurrents, Lorcan's work deals with everyday actions experienced in a surreal manner. He likes using expansive landscapes with the lone male figure.
Employing humour as a device, he drops in visually absurdist notions that run parallel to the ideas of loneliness and isolation that permeates his work. Each action is made in real time and captured in moving images - a realistic action expressed through performative films. The work is performance to film, with the private performative action its centre. He is a huge fan of film, particularly cinema that employs long, continuous shots. His influences are wide and varied from Donald Duck and "the life of Brian", to Samuel Beckett and Joseph Beuys.
James Carvill
James has been studying model making for film in IADT. He generously presents some of his project work to give an insight into his work and his course of study.
Cassian
This project aimed to create a digital character that could be used in a video game.The elk-man Cassian went through three different programs, the basic shapes in 3D Studio Max, sculpting, finer detail and painting in Mudbox, and rigging Mixamo. My inspiration was Brother and Sister by Brothers Grimm and the Celtic deity Cernunnos.
Ancient Maya
In this project, my theme was Ancient Maya. I inspected aspects of the Mayan’s history and adapted it into a chess set and small hand prop. I learned about the process of making props as if for a film. The chess set was sculpted in Chavant clay, then moulded in silicone, cast in resin, and finally painted. The Cacao pot was made purely from Sculpey. It was a challenge to make hollow so it can hold liquid. Hot Cacao was an ancient Mayan treat and they had decorative containers to suit, this was my take. The designs are based on real Mayan artwork.
The Long Cow
This is a 1:10 scale maquette of my Long Cow. It is made from cardboard, wire and an aluminium foil base, then coated and textured with papier mache clay. The concept is a surreal, comedic take on how cows could evolve to stop humans drinking their milk. Something fun. I would have built the full 4-meter Long Cow and exhibited it at Electric Picnic 2020, but that, sadly, was cancelled, so the Long Cow will have to wait.
Lord Loss Mask
In this project, I made a wearable mask and miniature of a pre-existing fictional character. I chose Lord Loss from Darren Shan’s Demonata Saga. This is my interpretation of the character, based on the descriptions in the books.
The mask started as a sculpture in Chavant clay, then it was moulded in Crystacal plaster. Finally, latex was poured in the mould. After the latex had dried, I used an airbrush to paint the mask.
In the books he is described as the “Eight-armed sentinel of sorrow” and the mask shows that sorrowful look with an underlying menace.
The Robot
This project was about robots and the advancement of AI. I made a stop motion puppet who had a moment of clarity and became self-aware while ironing. This was designed on Autocad and then laser cut from 6mm plywood. It clips together like a puzzle, connected with ball bearings and tripod mounts. This project evolved a lot, I had no intention of making a stop motion film when I started but I am proud of the outcome.