London Trip

During a trip to london i visited 3 galleries and 4 exhibitions. Firstly i visited the Tate Modern gallery to see the Gerhard Richter exhibition, a look at his work from the past and two of his contrasting techniques. Some pieces were working from photographs and were very detailed and precise however the other pieces were large and abstract and colourful and these were the pieces that i preferred. In the Hayward Gallery i saw the video installation exhibition by Pipilotti Rist which i found really interesting and it openeed my eyes to the way that the technique can be used. I also saw a George Condo exhibition which i liked because of the humour behind the strange and obscure paintings who he claimed to be of members of his family. Finally i visited the Saatchi Gallery where there was a German exhibition and i saw many artists that i liked. Here are just a couple i liked because of the technique, i felt it was similar to the way that i work, but there was such a variety there that i would recommend anyone to have look at the work that was there if you are in need of inspiration.

Here is the link to the exhibition website - http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/germany_art/

Life Drawing - Clay

Using clay to depict the image of the life model was a really fun and experimental technique for me. I've never really used clay properly before as a medium to create something so the whole experience was new and an opportunity to learn. I preferred creating the whole body position rather than the just the head as i found it really tricky to make the all the facial features match and look realistic, the eyes were especially tricky to get right. If i'd had more time i would have liked to have worked more on the head to get the hair and the facial features right in order to know how to make these kind of corrections for next time.

Illustration & Graphics Taster

This taster was also one that i really enjoyed. I experimented with different techniques such as using grounds and different media and ways of making images which was interesting and i learned a lot from, before moving on to focusing on one word. My word was 'Hide' and after producing a mind map i focused on a few key areas of interest. Firstly, i experimented with the marks and shapes associated with my word and thought of blurs and blocking out and distortion, so i used lines and squares and layering. I then looked at the way the word itself could behave on the page to depict the meaning, i tried different spacing, placement of the word, size and lower and upper case. I then experimented with imagery, both drawn and found, taking everything i had done into account and deciding on the best layout. These were the final products:

I feel i learned a lot from this taster and along with Fine Art it was my favourite, i think the techniques i learned will be useful for me in the future.

3D & Applied Arts Taster

 During this taster, we split into groups to design a moving vehicle that could hold the weight of one person. To start off we looked at several shapes that we could integrate into the main body of our our design, to make it both interesting to look at but also to keep it functional. We decided on an arch shape as we believed this would be the strongest and so able to support the weight, we planned on using two bicycle wheels and two smaller wheels to create stability. We started by layering up card to create the main body of our design but found that when we tried to attach the two back bike wheels they were too wobbly and needed more support, therefore we added blocks inbetween the wheel and the body to keep them in place. However the wheels were still not secure enough, so we decided to change the shape of the main design and make our own wheel out of layers of card rather than use the two bicylce wheels. We then attached the two smaller wheels at the back and used long pieces of layered card between the front wheel and the back axel to keep them in place. Unfortunately we ran out of time to finish our design as we had had changed it so late on, but if we had had more time we would of attached more pieces of layered card either side of the large wheel attaching it to the main body to keep it in place.

I didn't really like this taster as i found the designing difficult to create and choose a shape that would work, and i found the making side of it a bit boring and repetitive. However i learnt something in that the properties of the material you are using have a huge impact on the way you have to design and create a product.

Leeds Armoury

On a trip to Leeds Armouries i took lots of photos of all the things i found interesting. Looking back at these photos i saw that i was most interested in the patterns and textures of the armour from different cultures, not necessarily the function of the armour or what it represented. i looked at the aesthetic value of the armour and the that it looks was and is still so important when worn on noth humans and animals such as horses. Although the aesthetic value would normally be considered the least important factor when it comes to making armour, it seemed to me that the makers of the armour were focusing on this the most.  The colours and patterns were there to make soldiers look better, maybe richer, stronger or higher up than other soldiers perhaps to scare  or intimidate them.

My favourite piece at the armouries was the elephant armour displayed the Asia section. The intricate detail on something that was used to save lives was fascinating, and i began to think about the pictures and symbols used on many of the pieces of armour. Maybe they have religious value or are believed to bring good luck. These ideas led me to start a short project based on the idea of protection in the form of good luck charms and talismans.

Fashion & Textiles

 During the Fashion and Textiles taster project we were required to create collage-like pieces using different tetures and media. At first we did this on a smaller scale using only neutral backgrounds with black and white. To gain inspiration for our pieces we looked at the images we had from the Hepworth Gallery Visit and YSP visit. I feel that some of my smaller pieces worked better than others, just because i think that as i experimetned more with different media and shapes i began to make better pieces.

 Then we moved on to more large scale work. We had to choose two colours and take inspiration from the work we had just done. I chose blue and red because although the two colours can be seen as quite similar they also contrast really well and neither stands out more than the other. Using the materials such as the cardboard and the plastic bags was something i really enjoyed. I liked using the shapes that i could create from them but also the shapes that were already there like slots, handles and cut-outs. I also liked experimenting with layering and the placement of the colour against the white.

 We then moved on to working in pairs to create a much larger scale piece. Taking bits from the work that we had both done we had to bring all our ideas together and put all the techniques we had learnt into making a joint piece. We decided to take the detail and spacing of my work and the one extra colour and much more busier layout of my partners work and bring them together. This meant adding the yellow which at first seemed to take over the whole piece and distract your attention form the rest of it, but after careful consideration and re-assessment of the piece as a whole we pulled it together into something i believe worked really well.

Lastly we made our work into something that could be worn. We didnt necessarily want ours to look like an item of clothing, we just wanted to make it to fit the model and what we created turned out to be quite an abstract, geometric piece. I personally think that the finished product looked quite tribal in a way and disguised the shape of the body, i also think it looked like the kind of dress that may be seen in a pantomime or something similar. It was interesting to see how the colours looked when worn, the way that we had placed it happened to make the front of the garment blue and the back red with the yellow showing down one side. In a way it seemed to look like three different garments just by looking at it from different angles.

Although i enjoyed the start of the project, i wasnt so keen on the last part of making our piece into something to be worn.

Fine Art

 

 I really enjoyed the Fine Art taster which revolved around found objects. Firstly we used old shirts and created different shapes with them. We did this by tying them together in various and unusual ways and wearing them or attaching them to an object, in this case a window which we were told to 'protect' in some way. This was a group piece and from it you could conclude that we are trying to stop protect ourselves by stopping people looking in or protecting the window by not allowing anyone to get near it. We then had to think about the shirt itself, its life, where it had come from, who it belonged to and how we had come to have it oursleves. We then had to create a 2D piece from this portraying what we had thought about the shirt. As mine was from a charity shop my thoughts about the shirt was that it had been forgotten, left behind and that it was unwanted and slowly losing its connection with an owner, it was becoming lost. I therefore tried to depict this in my piece using prints from the shirt, emulsion and ink to cover up and disguise the fact that the shirt is there, losing itself.

After we used the shirts we had to bring another found object in. I bought in a pair of shoes that i no longer wore. Again we had to think about the life of the shoes. The words that came to my mind when thinking about the shoes were mainly journey, cheap, dirty, used. i thought about all these words together and came up with more of a performance piece where it shows the footprints of the journeys i have taken in them and me leaving the shoes behind as they becomeeven more broken and unwearable. I also created a more sculptural piece bringing in the laces that the shoes never had and using the words that i had written down to start off with.

Again this project is the one i have found most enjoyable as i like to think about the meaning of things and the message they might portray. I also like the way an idea can develop and change into something you had never planned to do in the first place.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

When visiting the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the sculptures that i found the most interesting were those in Jaume Plensa's exhibition. Outside there were a series of figures ; some wrapped round trees, some gathered in a circle, a couple of giant head forms on top of a building which could only be seen properly at certain angles and the biggest one which i have shown to the right. All except the heads had the letter detail on them in some way or another. The others had the letters carved into them but i liked the way that in this piece the letters made up the body. The letters are in no particular order, they are just interconnected to form the shape. I thought it was quite clever how the artist had managed to create the work as the letters were hardly touching in some places yet still seemed to be able to support the structure.

Named 'The House of Knowledge', this piece makes me think about intelligence oh us as humans and how although we may think we know a lot about the world and how we will move things forward, the ideas are sometimes jumbled up and don't make sense. I get this feeling because of the letters, maybe they represent thought, and because of the way that the figures are sitting. They look quite peaceful and relaxed as if thinking about something.

This was another piece in the exhibition. This time it was just the letters themselves threaded onto to some form of string to suspend them and organised in such a way that it reminded me of a long curtain. As you stroked the strands of letters they made a noise like a wind chime, which like the figures was quite peaceful and relaxing. As i looked closer at the arrangement of the letters i realised that they were sentences, some finished and some not, that didn't really seem to make any sense.

This piece reminded me of floating thoughts or ideas that we have that make some kind of sense but arent quite there yet. The noise element makes me think about vocalising ideas to be altered and discussed.

This photo is taken from part of the silhouette collection. It looks like a sort of plan the artist may have done before creating the actual models. For these pieces it was less about their form, i really liked the quotes that the artist had used as they were inspiring and motivational and in most cases true. But i did like the way that the quotes depicted, as if the little figures were thinmking them, not necessarily speaking them.

Lastly, this piece was not part of the Jaume Plensa exhibition but it was one of my favourites. There were several of these little pots stored within a greenhouse, all using the same technique of using the letters in the word to create sentences. With it was difficult to understand whether there was a connection between the two but with this one it made me think of the whole crop circle idea of aliens leaving marks in fields of wheat. I think the whole collection seemed quite futuristic and it was like the pots were showing you ideas but in riddles.

The Hepworth Gallery

 At the Hepworth Gallery i did some sketches and took some photos of the gallery inside and these can be seen in my sketchbook. However for my blog i wanted to focus on what i saw from outside the gallery.

The structure of the gallery itself looks industrial and geometric. It is quite a simple looking building that somehow looks futuristic. I feel like the gallery presents itself like to contrast the variety of work inside it.

There was also a sculpture outside the gallery called 'The Black Cloud' created by Heather and Ivan Morison. I thought that the unusual shadows that the model created suggested clouds themselves as they moved along with the sun's movement. Also, the wood is a natural material which ties in with the natural form that the piece is named after. Finally i noticed a big screenprint hanging amongst what looked like old factory buildings outside the gallery that was advertising an upcoming exhibition. I found it interesting that something displaying a modern creation had been placed next to old, traditional buildongs. Again there seemed to be a purposeful contrast to attract attention and make the viewer question why.

3D Visual Studies

I found experimenting with different types of wire and other kinds of materials very interesting as i was able to see the affect that they had on each other. For example the thinner wire wrapped around the thicker wire or the shoe polish worked over masking tape.  To draw a picture using 3D materials was difficult as more perspective of the objects shape was needed and the understanding that the line must be created using different lengths and types of wire to create the correct shape.

Manchester

I recently travelled up to Manchester with my family and took some photos of parts of the hotel we stayed in. The hotel was a refurbished railway warehouse with lots of impressive architecture such as wrought iron beams and Romanesque window arches. The original brickwork has been left in places to contrast witht he iron which i thought was a great way to express the building's history. There were also some unique light fittings in the hotel, all of different styles and ages, that i managed to take some interesting photos of. overall the experience showed me a range of designs and structures of 3D objects, which will come in useful for a large part of my course, particularly 3D visual studies.

2D Visual Studies

2D visual studies in which I used a variety of materials and techniques to create different effects. I used sticks and ink to draw with and enjoyed drawing with a looser, more free technique. I felt that the thicker stick worked best for me (as shown in the second to last photo).