Evaluating Practice

Beginning this project I chose ‘Crowded and Unpopulated’ I could have easily went down the route of people and how they crowd spaces and vacate them.  I wanted to understand the meaning of both the words, and they don’t necessarily have the meaning of people, so I wanted to combine both the words to create a series of drawings. 

I decided to take the idea of God as there are so many members of Christianity, but God is not seen in physical form so I decided to use the form of a triangle in a series of drawings, where I decided to use other forms of drawings such as the paper folding I did and making 3D forms.  I researched different artists that I felt where relating in some way what I wanted to achieve, such as Sarah Kelly who makes jewellery from paper, I felt by researching my ideas started to expand and move forward. 

I wanted to carry on this image of triangles thought my drawings as I wanted to show something that developed from a starting point which I felt I have not done effectively before, from looking at other artists I can see how important it  is to develop a certain trademark so that the artist is recognised,  I felt with this project I’m starting to understand in what direction I want to take in future projects.

Manchester Art Gallery

Some images I took while I was at Manchester Art Gallery.

Triangles in Popular Culture

Origamic Textiles

I wanted to experiment more with the concept of triangles, by researching origami I found that the triangles are the linking element to create bigger and more extravagant shapes.  I started to create these triangles and wanted to incorporate the use of neon and pattern.

I wanted to use neon colours because I like the way it stands out, neon on to me, makes me think of partying and fun, carefree people.  From events like the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan people paint their bodies with neon paint as an expression and to say they've been there and done that.  I've never really classified neon as a colour or that it should be used in any form of art, I like the way in which the origami triangles I've done have turned out I think there interesting with the use of the colour and pattern used. 

While doing some research I came across Sarah Kelly who is an artist who works with paper, she uses paper to create wonderful pieces of jewellery.  Paper is a strong, durable material which can be used in many creative ways.

                                   

'Crowded & Unpopulated'

I decided to look at 'Crowded & Unpopulated' as I am curious in how I progress this in a way of thinking outside the box.  I first wanted to understand the meaning of both these words so I can fully grasp the meaning and work towards an outcome.

In the last project I kind of became fascinated with the idea of triangles, and how patterns can form.  Triangles have a high significance in Christianity, as it holds the meaning of the Trinity which is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  As there are 2.1 billion Christians in the world, if they were put into a small space it would become very crowded very fast, but God is unseen and 'not there' in a physical sense, so for me I find the symbol of the triangle combining both 'Crowded & Unpopulated'.  This is just a starting point for me and I would like to develop some of the ideas I have written down as I progress in this project.

Before I came home for the summer I took a trip to Manchester Art Gallery to see the We Face Forward: Art From West Africa Today, I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the exhibition itself but I was really impressed in the ways that the artists used materials for their work, they recycled a lot of the materials being used, things such as bottle caps to create wonderful pieces of art.  It was when I was in the interactive area of the museum that I got an idea of how I can advance my project.

The idea of a simple shape such as a triangle and how it can transform patterns really intrigued me so I know that colour and pattern for me is something that I want to explore a lot within this brief.

I came across a freelance artist Vasare Nar when I was researching Aztec designs, and I feel like I'm working in a similar way to her, although I haven't yet started to experiment with colour.

 Vasare Nar

Bombay Bicycle Club album artwork

Colour, Colour, Colour!

I've started to look at colour, as I have always seen myself using the same colours over and over again in my work so I thought it would be a good idea for me to make my own colour charts so I can always look back at them if theres a colour I want to use or like.  I was online looking at other artists and practices when I was searching through Wallpaper* when I came across The Dailies by Thomas Demand, it wasn't so much what the book was about it was the look and the idea it gave me to make a colour flip chart.

Limited-edition Hermés Editeur scarves by Hiroshi Sugimoto          

Kurt Schwitters

Today while we had a meeting with Kate to inform us on our deadlines, we were talking about our ideas and what we were planning to propose.  I heard the word 'layers' from Josie so I decided to look at her blog posts and see that she's looking at 'transition' which in a way is quiet similar to my own ideas of a 'noticeboard' as they change over time.  I seen a post about an artist called Kurt Schwitters and decided to look into him myself as I quiet like how he uses collages to create layers which is something I have always found intriguing, such as paint chipping of walls or posters on walls and torn of, as I see layers as holding history and that something has been before but we are not sure what the story is so we make our own.

Miss Blanche, 1923

Mai 191, c.1919

F A C E S mcr

On Tuesday I went to an event at the Kraak Gallery, which other people from Unit X had created for their projects.  It was a collaboration of music and art.  I thought it related in some ways to my own project as it was all about how people get involved and make things happen.  There was artists there drawing people, disposable cameras to take photos of faces, a photocopier where people photocopied their own faces and put the pictures on the walls and people drew on them.  I thought the whole event was so interesting as it combined different elements in a relaxed atmosphere.  

For our closing party of Unit X, again it will be F A C E S mcr that will be organizing it, so it will definitely be a good opportunity to get involved if you missed out the first time.

Evaluating Practice

My initial expectations of Unit X was that it did seem exciting because it was new, but it seemed clear that there was going to be no certain outcomes as it was so wide open as to what it could be.  I was put into the 'Living It' group and there we got the 'Old School/New School' brief.  Initially I thought I had a clear idea of what I was doing after I went to the Dave Haslam talk I was very interested in the idea of Fanzines. Although after a few weeks I began to struggle with the idea of relating it back to 'Old School/New School', I carried on with my research into fanzines but I felt that it had no purpose and it wasn't going anywhere.  It wasn't until I had my tutorial with Mary Stark when I expressed my concerns with the project and told her my initial ideas that I was steered in the right direction.  After this I felt more confident in what I was doing and wanting to achieve as my final outcome.  As of yet I haven't been in the workshops for this current project, but I am planning to go into print which I will update on my blog.  I feel that print will work perfectly with what I want to achieve, as I will be able to produce a lot in a quick and effective time space.  In regards to my sketchbook I feel that my ideas have been generated in more of a written sense rather than loads of drawings, which is something that I'm not quiet used to and find it a bit difficult to accept but I feel it works well with my idea of communication.  I'm quiet happy with the way things are going in this project as I know feel I have a direction and I know what I want to achieve, if I had to make any changes to this current project it would be that at the beginning I don't have to take things so literal as I found it quiet difficult to generate my ideas relating to the project title, 'Old School/New School' I think that I've came to the conclusion to just carry on with the initial idea and that everything will fall into place as I have now discovered. With the samples that I'm looking to develop is definitely on the ideas of 'fanzines' as I just really loved the idea of people self publishing their own work, it was from the Dave Haslam talk that I found them fascinating.  With this project I feel a lot more comfortable with the fact that drawings don't have to be necessarily drawings in the typical sense, and although we had been taught that throughout the year I never really took it on board because I had a solid idea of what drawings where supposed to be.  And although I've done some drawings it's more the concept of word which I developed throughout this project, so I can say  that that is one thing that I have learned to develop a lot more.  As this was the first project that we were in groups, I found it in someways enjoyable but at other times a lot more complicated because I don't feel that my work relates that much to the others.  I did draw inspiration from the others though, if someone found an artist that related to me it was very helpful and that we could give feedback to each other and try and motivate each other which is good and it will be useful in the future as I'm sure we will all need to work in groups at some point in our lives.

Curriculum Vitae

Qualifications

GCSE's:                       10 GCSE's (B-C)

AS Levels:                    2 AS's (D-B)

Higher Education:         Foundation Diploma in Art & Design

Other:                          Bronze Medallion Award

                                   RLSS Lifesaving Award

                                   Basic First Aid Certificate

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Period	Employer	Job Title
2008	TK Maxx	Associate
2009	Buncrana Leisure Centre	Lifeguard
2010	Firstsource Solutions	Customer Services Assistant

REFERENCES

Paul Barwise North West Regional College Main Street Limavady BT49 0EX Telephone 02871 278700      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Louise Davis TK Maxx Lisnagelvin Retail Park Rossdowney Road Derry BT47 6NS Telephone 02871 318583

Toilet Talk

I've been looking at how people change their surroundings and how they leave their mark on something.  I was quiet interested in how people use toilets to graffiti.  I went to Joshua Brooks and saw how girls had left their lipstick marks on the wall, something that maybe one person had started and now it seems to carry on.  

Joshua Brooks

I've started myself to replicate what goes on in these type of environments, the idea behind it is how people change what is already there by creating drawings or messages. In tutorials with Mary Stark we talked about printing my own paper which I will start to do in the workshops, and possibly think of strategies of how people can get involved in what I want to achieve.  Some of the things that I came up with that I may experiment with are: 

• Tape paper to the floor and have people walk over it to create marks of people passing through.
• Post it notes to create messages.
• Record conversations. 

The Temple Bar