Oil Lamps - Alice Martin (2020)

As part of her digital residency for Look Again Aberdeen, visual artist Alice Martin made Oil Lamps: reinterpretations based on existing archaeological materials. Alice used open source material to access archaeological forms and to serve as a starting point for her own original creations. As Alice describes her process:

“I used five existing 3D models from Global Digital Heritage via Sketchfab. The original models were edited so they could be 3D printed by Fluxaxis in two halves. The main purpose for this was so I could insert a flickering LED into each print to resemble the function of a traditional lamp but in a reinvented way. The horizontal cutting method is also typical of how the lamps would have been produced, this parallel was accidental but adds further meaning to the final artworks. I then painted the lamps in terracotta and placed them on clay holders, to resemble iron. As a result, the 3D prints are sitting on the material that would have been used to create the original lamps. By subverting materials and processes it makes the viewer question what it is they are seeing.

“I used the 3D printed lamp with torch imagery to create a silicone mold so it could be cast in beeswax and soy wax to make candles. Before this, I used resin and clay to test out the mold. This involved a lot of trial and error. A traditional oil lamp is typically made from clay sometimes other materials such as glass. A wick and olive oil tend to be a popular choice. The lamp was used as a source of light for homes but also in rituals. They produced a greater source of light than candles. I wanted to play on this by creating a full oil lamp out of wax to act like a candle allowing function to be added again but in a different way, revealing the past with the use of new and traditional technologies.

“Modern technology with old imagery/forms. Showing a progression and a shifting purpose. Candle to oil lamp to LED, incorporating all three reveals this history of change and various sources of light.”

Oil Lamps is part of the larger (Re)seeing project which included other individual works (e.g., Painted Wall Fragments, Beads and Flooring), and for which there is a recently released artist’s book with texts by archaeologist Emily Nisch Terrell, by writer and metalworker Fiona Sanderson, and by the founder of Scan the World, Jon Beck. You can access book through these links:

https://issuu.com/alicecmartin/docs/re_seeing__-_alice_martin

https://lookagainaberdeen.co.uk/alice-martin

For more information about Look Again Aberdeen, have a look at these links:

https://lookagainaberdeen.co.uk/alice-martin

https://www.reviewsphere.org/news/aberdeens-look-again-art-fest-announce-new-digital-residencies/

https://www.fluxaxis.com/projects/recreating-traditional-oil-lamps/

https://www.instagram.com/lookagainabdn/

For more about Alice Martin, check out this website:

http://cargocollective.com/alicecmartin