My Work
On my Masters Degree, my starting project title began as 'How The Knights of St. John Have Shaped the History and development of Malta'. The work is to depict ancient artifacts and scenes that have arisen from The Knights of St. John on the islands of Malta.
The idea is to highlight how the Order have left their mark on areas such as landscape, architecture, language history and religion and how the country has evolved as a result. Who are The Knights of St John? The Knights of St. John, were a catholic military Order founded in 1170 A.D and formed in Jeruselum. Their headquarters was moved several times due to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire before arriving in Malta in 1530. |
During a visit to Gozo's western coast, 'Dwejra', over looking the seafront was a watchtower offering clear panaramic view of the cliffs, the inland sea and the oceans horizon. This watchtower intrigued me as it looked aged and perhaps as old as 400 to 500 years old. The aged looking watchtower might give me some clues to whether this building was used by the Knights of St John. Due to the watchtower being open as a tourist attraction site, my investigation continued to eventually discover that this tower was one of the 15 watchtowers built under the rule of the Knights of St John. These watchtowers are distrubuted throughout the islands coastlines and they were manned nightly to keep watch and raise the alarm in the event of immenent threats. |
From witnessing the historic sites in the Maltese islands, the feature I found captivating were the composites of the buildings located inside the Citadel Fortress. A composite which was distinguishable was the church's spire as it did not have the shape and appearance of a typical Western World Church Spire.
The first attempt was to experiment and develop a sculpture of the Church's composite (at the time thinking it was constructed by Knights of St John) and make a 3D structure featuring the Bell Tower as well. Unfortunatly the shape of the composition did not turn out the way I had expected. The structure was top heavy, making the pillars bend and deform. Departing from this experiment, next time I intend to work smaller and work with Terracotta instead of Crank Clay. Tile Design Leading on from 3D sculpting I have used a medium which has been popular for several centuries and which gives me the opportunity to implement thumbnail sketches in engraved form. Many methods are performed to experiment with pattern making whilst attempting to draw out the distinct structure of the Citadel's Church Spire. A fork is used to decorate the background, giving a ripply effect. This was performed after applying 2 coats of glaze. |