Sketchbook Update

In order to make my work fit together directly with the rest of  my group's, I thought it would be a good idea to create a constellation of Lonesome George, who was the last Pinta Island Tortoise who passed away on 24th June 2012. He is also included in some of the other member's of my group's work so I think this will fit quite well. Tui has been creating loads of little tortoises out of thin metal wire, and she suggested that I use her work when developing the constellation, which was a really helpful idea.

I've made some quick sketched of some of the tortoises she has made in order to simplify them into simple dot to dot images.

 

I definitely prefer the original quick drawings, because I think that the dot to dot ones are too simple, however I think it'll depend how they turn out of fabric. 

Last Tutorial

I thought that this tutorial would be the most important one to attend, being the last tutorial we will be having before our exhibition, however my group's attendance wasn't great. This tutorial would have been the best time for all of us to get together and show what we are planning to present in our exhibition next week, and even though I am happy with the way my own work is being presented, I feel like I am none the wiser about some other members of the June group. I've definitely been feeling more in control of my project this week because all of my ideas are now coming together. 

It was announced that our work will be displayed in the Kraak Gallery on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th of May, and because no day has been arranged to visit the gallery to see what the space looks like, I have emailed someone in charge of the space and organised to go with my group on the Monday before we display our work. Hopefully we can use this session to see what we need in order to present our work. 

I am really looking forward to see what all our work looks like when it is completely finished, as I have seen other members of June creating really interesting work, and develop their ideas into successful projects. I really didn't like the idea of the Unit X project because I think it had a really disorganised and rocky start, but now I'm very happy that it's almost over.

Colour Palette

 

 

I have decided to dye my own fabric, in order to achieve the right colours for my pieces. I only want to dye my fabric black and blue, so I have studied this photo that I took when conducting the initial research for my project in order to see what kinds of tones are visible. I am planning on recreating the dark grey, dark blue and slightly lighter blue to use as the colours in my final outcome because I feel that the lighter blues from the moon, and the browns from the light pollution will make my piece too confusing.

I will be using reactive dyes on cotton fabric and I understand that if I choose a sheer fabric and dye it black, then the fabric will become denser in appearance. This is something I will need to take into consideration when choosing my fabric.

instillation research

After the tutorial on Thursday we decided as a group that we should start looking at different types of instillations to see if we could come up with a practical way of combining all of our final outcomes together when exhibiting them at the end of the project. 

so far I haven't been able to come up with an idea that could combine all of our projects together, but I have come across a range of instillations that have given me some inspiration for my own project's final outcome. I know there isn't a lot of time left for this project and I feel like I should have already decided what my final outcome should be, but I haven't been pushed by anyone to finalize any ideas. 

Here are some of the ceiling instillations that I have been researching ... 

 

This piece, by Tara Donavan, is made out of plastic cups and the idea was inspired by a cloud. I find it really interesting that such an alternative shape could created out of the repetitive form of a plastic cup.   

 

This is an interactive tree made out of 1000 working light bulbs and over 5000 burnt out ones. I really like the idea of all the pull cords handing down underneath the tree.

 

 This is an instillation made out of felt by Janice Arnold. I haven't seen felt used like this before and I think I would be able to use the same idea but for my project because I think it is a really interesting concept to be able to look up and inside something on the ceiling.

 

Jessica Lofthus's Fabric is a really nice piece of work. I really like the use of drapey, see through fabric, as it is quite a contrast from Janice Arnolds's above. This has made me want to experiment more with different types of fabric.

This piece is called Palpus and is by Gracelee Lawrence. I think that the draping strands look really effective when they are just brushing the floor. This piece is very inspiring as it has given me a lot of ideas I can use in my own project.

This instillation is situated in the Scad museum of art in Savannah, Georgia, USA. I really like the use of different fabrics in this piece because the different use of textures is very interesting. It reminds me of a jungle scene on the ceiling. 

Looking at these different instillations has given me some great inspiration for my own pieces and I feel as though I have a clearer view as to what I want to create for my own instillation. 

Jessica Rankin

Rankin is a truly inspirational artist who creates amazing embroidery paintings on patchwork panels of fabric. Her work has been really interesting for my to study during my project, and I actually started using her work as inspiration at the beginning of Unit X. I really like Rankin's use of sheer fabric, because when overlapped, it creates a really interesting tonal effect. Her pieces are inspired from camping trips and tell an abstract story of what she has seen and her experiences; I find this concept interesting because it gives her work real meaning. 

 

 

Seeing Rankin's work has inspired me to broaden the range of fabric that I am using at the moment. These pieces are made from a really sheer fabric, and I've only been using dense material. I also like the idea of telling a story in a piece of work, so I have experimented this concept by creating constellations on fabric, that you would be able to see on the 24th June. 

 

I think that the constellations have turned out really well, and I want to include something like this in my final outcome, but by using a fabric that isn't as heavy. I also want to research into 3D pieces, in order to develop my own further.

Thursday Tutorial

 

This was by far the most helpful tutorial I have attended. I usually dread having to explain the thought process of my work in fear that no one understands what I'm trying to explain, but I was relieved that the tutors said that it was clear where I was coming from when describing my project. We had a long discussion about what my final outcome could be, and I have come to the decision that I want to create a ceiling piece that I can present as though you are looking up at the night sky, so I am planning to undertake some more research into these kind of instillations. I think I'm going to find this work hard to complete because the thought of where I will be presenting my work is going to be at the back of my mind when trying to finish my final outcome. 

We have also been discussing as a group how our final pieces will be presented together at the end, and I really liked the idea of collaborating directly with Tui, and creating a constellation that resembles Lonesome George who died on 24th June. She then suggested  that she could hang her hand made turtles from my ceiling piece that I think would be very interesting, however nothing's set in stone so I am just planning to see where my research takes me. I am going to give myself until the end of this bank holiday weekend to have a final decision of what my final piece will look like.

Andrew Brooks Lecture

Andrew Brooks is a very skilled photographer who has been involved in photography for 7-8. Brooks gave a very interesting and informative lecture where he explained that he explores creative photography on order to develop his skills in his own time. I was very surprised as to how many projects he undertakes at any one time, as he showed us a variety of photographs taken in a range of locations around the world, and then explained that they were all taken in the space of 2 months. I felt a bit embarrassed about the amount of work I have achieved for this project so far.

Brooks went on to explain that leaving university can be quite lonely and hard to keep focused on what you're trying to achieve, and this is the reason he has started working in a shared building with individual studio space. He said that this gave him a better working atmosphere than working to home because not only  are there other people to bounce ideas off of, but there's also the opportunity to collaborate ideas with people in other fields in order to get his work seen by a different audience. He went on to say that networking once leaving uni prevents isolation, and good collaborations are useful because it opens more options to when it comes to creating things you wouldn't e able to do on your own. 

I was really surprised about the amount of time and effort it goes into taking one good photo. Brooks explained how one picture is actually made out of 30 to 100 photos, that are put together on photoshop. This method allows him to remix the original view that he was trying to capture, so he can alter the sky and alter the views perception of size and distance in the picture. This reminded me of graphic design because some of Brooks photos were of imaginary places that don't actually exist, such as his picture of  Sea Land. I found this extremely fascinating that he could create these amazing almost collages of different images. The picture that really caught my eye was a poster he made for a northern band, where he has a small image of a knight riding a horse. He explained that the suite of armour that the character was wearing was actually a collection of photos he had taken in and around Manchester art gallery of silver wear objects, brass teapots etc. I thought this was really interesting that someone could be that creative, because I would never be able to look at cutlery and be able to imagine turning it into a shield by collaging photographs together.

Anna Douglas Lecture

I thought that there was a real lack of information given about this lecture, because I only managed to hear about it from a friend of a friend in another group who received an email, but it has come to my attention earlier in this project that a lack of communication is common within Unit x, so this came to no surprise to me. 

Anna Douglas started the lecture by trying to explain how she couldn't explain exactly what she does, so instead she would talk us through what previous projects she had been involved in. After showing us many examples of people who had collaborated together and not really mentioning the work she had been involved in she went on to explain that she is involved in setting people up who are willing to collaborate together in order to create interesting and innovative outcomes. 

It felt like this lecture was more about the theory of working in a group, which was a little disappointing because I had expected to see Douglas's collaborative work, and hear her thought process through out a project. 

One part that did catch my attention was when she was explaining about site specific art and site responsive art. It got me thinking which one mine will be at the end of this project and if I will have a choice in where my work will be displayed. It seems to be getting a bit late in the project for us to be expected to find an exhibition space.