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Kite for Glossop

For our years trip to Glossop, to celebrate the philospher Ludwig Wittgenstein.

We each had to design a kite. I decided to pick a  tetrahedral kite , as it fitted my current project where i was creating computer based drawings, using the outline of a triangle to create interesting patterns.

I wanted my kite to look quite modern and spaceship like, so decided to use plastic tubing and clear plastic material to cover it.

Matchstick Structures

Glass Frames

For a sculpture idea I decided to experiment with  sheets of plastic



For this piece I got a sheet off pastic and smashed it into piece. I used one of the bigger chunks of plastic for the base. Then i drew an outline of a heart on the middle section of the plastic piece, I used a glue gun to stick small pieces of plastic on the glass, around to ouline of the heart.

I later filled a icing bag with red paint, cutting a small hole in the tip, then drew lines onto the object with the paint

After making the heart piece, I decided to try and make a castle like shape.

After it had dried, I filled a icing bag with blue, silver and white paint, drawing lines, at a fast pace

Later when filming I started exploring the shadows that the objects created, taking pictures from various angles, I later edited the pictures, inverting the colour and exploring different effects

Shadow Castles Pictures

After producing some sculpture with broken sheets of glass, I started exploring the shadows that the piece created. I have produced a serious of different versions of a picture of a shadow with various effects.

I then started exploring using the kaleidoscope feature on my photo editing software.

Practise Evaluation Report

Own Work

At the start of the year, I picked two projects to work on. The first, based on the Ludwig Wittgenstein ‘Flight’ talk, based on his interest in trying to fly, both metaphorical and physical. I decided to base my project on the idea of flight through the mind. I began looking at various types of pictures of thoughts, dream, hopes, fears and discovery, and started creating various shapes that could represent the idea of the mind (which then evolved into light ideas.) I first created some ideas out of paper and wood trying to see how they would work and what effects could be created through them, then started sketching ideas for light pieces that I could make and use to represent feelings, I wanted my shapes to seem quite futuristic looking and unique, as I wanted them to signify the idea of a single persons thought or identity. After a group tutorial, someone advised me to make my lights more personal, in order to make my idea of represent feelings, clearer. I decided to brainstorm words that I could use and decided to try and create lights that represented fear/entrapment and discovery/freedom.  For this I started thinking about things that are associated with these ideas. I used the shapes and structures of thorns, barbed wire, and bones from a skeleton, to create meshes that go around the lights and trap them, to represent the idea of entrapment/fear. Using the idea of open looking lights to represent freedom and (with the use of the light itself) discover.

I started sketching a series of ideas for both themes, coming up with several designs, manipulating the shapes of thorns and bones, to generate interesting pieces that would fit over lights. With the lights representing discovery, I wanted the light to be the main focus in the piece, so decided to design lights that would show more of the light source. I initially struggled with materials that could be used to create thorn shapes, as I wanted something that would hold it shape and be sturdy, but at the same time could be easily manipulated into various intricate shapes. I discovered I could create interesting thorn shapes out of glue gun glue, that when dried was hard enough to hold its shape. I also experimented with matchstick pieces of wood, which created interesting effects when used with glue gun glue. Another successfully material was plasticine, mixed with PVA glue to help maintain the shape. 

 

For my personal project I aimed to try and produce a music video, as it is something I have been interested in for a long time. I begin researching into different recording techniques, including angles, transitions and lighting. I then created my own storyboard for a song I had chosen, basing this on research I had done on how to create a storyboard.  At this point I started struggling with the next stage of my filming. During a tutorial, my tutor told me not to rush into filming straight away and told me to experiment with recording various things that could represent flight. I realised as my storyboard idea was based on the idea of people’s discovery, I decided to combine flight through the mind project with my film idea.

For this i started experimenting with various light forms in the bath, from Sparklers to underwater lights, I started off filming a sparkler on its own, in order to know what it would look like on film, from this I was able to take various stills, which I later edited.

I then tried to think of different locations to film my sparklers in, and came up with, putting it on a raised board in the bath and filming it surrounded by foam and water, which created a crowd like feel to it. I then came up with various other ways of filming it in the bath, using tinfoil as the back drop to create a mirrored effect, also surrounding it by candles. After this I edited my videos exploring various effects, from wind glow, to colour change. Whilst exploring various ways of filming light sources, I decided, to put the music video idea to a side and start looking at ways of presenting lights in different forms, whilst maintaining the idea of expressing thoughts through the mind.  I decided to film various types of lights, from standby lights, phone lights to street lights, in order to try and create a montage. I would use the edit the different size and strengths of the lights to show how the lights are growing, going from dull to bright, to symbolise the progression of someone feelings from going from lost to found.

At the same time, I discovered an artist ‘Arne Quinze’ who produces large scale, futuristic structures and shapes. Some of his pieces use large planks of wood, which are put together to create nest like patterns. The shapes are quite modern and fluid, mixed with sharp angular corners. I decided to try and create my own shapes using matchsticks to create a model that would be used to represent movement (of thoughts).

During a visit to Manchester Art Gallery, I discovered a book by Arne Quinze, which contained a collection of his work, which featured, futuristic spaceship-like structures, that use lights, sharp contrasts of curves and angles and bright colours and other intricate designs of room installation. Since finding this book, my project took a U-turn, as i began to focus on creating various structures based on his work. I began sketching a variety of sculpture ideas, exploring the use of curves, lines and colour.

People in my class, at the time decided to try and create an exhibition in a gallery of our own work. For this we had to create a brief, based on the word 'Red.' For my idea i planned to produce a piece of artwork based on the idea of emotion, as red is associated with passion, energy and desire. I wanted to create an installation piece that encompasses the idea of these feelings, so started sketching pieces that create this feel. I started drawing ideas of intertwined shapes similar to Arne Quinze style, to represent people in love and the passion they have for each other, and various other ideas, for example a hand that is punching out of sharp jagged glass edge, to signify the idea of fighting for something you believe in. Later due to the gallery where we were holding our exhibition being closed down we had to cancel the exhibition.

Although this was disappointing I decided to carry on producing my ideas, and began digitally redrawing them on the computer, on Corel Paintshop. With this I was able to make the drawings cleaner and more detailed, through the use of shadings, drawing tools and colour choice. From this my project took another turn, as I started exploring different ways to draw things on the computer. I discovered a way of redrawing already existing pictures of people and objects, and have been able to turn them into ideas for sculptures and poster. I also, through the use of exploring different tools on my editing software, started creating my own digital drawing of my own logos, patterns and digital drawings of sky landscapes. With the software I started developing different ways of presenting my work, with the use of backgrounds and editing tools.

For the end of the year I have decided to produce a series of edited sketches, of sculpture ideas, which I will present in an exhibition, I also aim to try and produce one of the pieces I have drawn out of latex.

Reflecting on my ideas I think my work has been successful, as although I have not come out with a final outcome, I have managed to adapt my ideas creating various new pathways that I can later develop into separate projects. With the use of researching and group work I have discovered new artists and new ways of working, which has greatly influenced my working methods and outcomes. I am starting to create new exciting ideas for installation pieces, exploring filming and editing techniques for film and with the use of photo editing and drawing software, I have managed to create a new style of work of digitally drawn pictures, which I believe will become a prominent feature in my future work.

Group Work
For the Party Task, we got put into groups, and got given a theme for our party, we got given a spy theme, we started by brainstorming things we would need. We decided on a dress code of black clothes that look spy like (James Bond, Mission in Possible). Whilst doing this project we had to overcome some problems, as we wanted to base our room as a spy headquarters, for this we wanted it to look slick, we initially wanted to have a desk chairs sofas and black walls, but due to a lack of resources we had to improvise. We decided to cover the walls in black sheets, found a long bench to use and decorated a table creating a desk full of electronic equipment. We decided to gather pictures and bit of information, to look as if we had been researching in on a case. We used black cloth to cover the walls, and created black and white silhouettes of spy’s that we would put on our walls and around the room. As our project was spy themed, we decided to use a Dictaphone to secretly record other groups talking, that we would then play at the party, instead of music.

We then thought about what props we would need, so we gathered old cameras, sunglasses, recording devices, newspapers with eyeholes for spying and handmade CCTV cameras. For food and drinks, we decide to just have drinks, opting for Martini (shaken not stirred.)


The spy project was successful, as we had a clear idea of what we wanted our room to look like, we managed to plan everything we needed and overcame problems by coming up with alternative solutions. Our time worked we and managed to distribute the work equally to meet the deadline.


For another group project, we each got put into groups of five and got given a movie title, were we had to make a two minute sweded film. My group got Avatar. We decided to watch the film then pick out key factors.

By looking through the scenes, we realised how many special effects were used to create the film. To overcome this problem we decide stick to the memorable scenes from the films, we also tried to keep with the dress codes of the characters, and tried to find places that look similar to the sets of the film, for this we decided to film most of the scenes in a park near some trees and the other parts in an office room and a corridor. For the avatar costume we decided to wear blue tops and trousers, beads around the neck, and made orange sleeves and clothes to try around the waist. For the other parts they used normal clothes and surgical cloaks. We used toy animals and made cut out avatars on stick to recreate the jumping off trees scene. We used parts of the dialog from the trailer, in our movies, as it gave a general outline of the plot.

Reflecting on the project I think it was quite successful, due to the amount of time we had to recreate the film. My group worked well, due to the amount of planning we put in, and managed to allocate the jobs equally to get the most out of the time we had.

Although not a group project with university work, me and some other people from my year have created an art collective, which has allowed me to experience work outside of university, where we have created a brand for our group, have started planning exhibitions and defined our mission statement to show how we would like to be perceived by the public audience.

Contextual Research Report

Various things have influenced me throughout my project, from artists work, pictures in magazines, to advertising and films, each having an effect on the direction of my project.

 For the start of my flight project, where I was exploring the ideas of presenting thoughts in visual form, I started looking at the artist Cornelia Parker, whose work often uses the ideas of hanging objects/shapes, creating a shape or a movement. This inspired me with my lights idea due to the use of movement in her work and lights. Her pieces, especially Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, 1991 looks like a freeze frame of an explosion, this idea interests me as it creates a feeling of an event of some importance being captured.

Sachiko Abe is an artist I first discovered from an art gallery trip to Liverpool; her piece ‘Cut Paper’ uses long thin strips of cut up paper, placed in a long tower shape from the ceiling to the fall, (at about 30 foot tall.) This piece has influenced me work as the layers of paper and shape of the piece, give the piece a feel of movement, The fluidity of the piece, again gives the feel of time being paused, creating a magical feel as we are able to go and observe the soft cloud like shapes. I would like to produce a similar piece of work that has lights in it, which I could use in a video or as an installation.

Trips to gallery exhibition have also influenced my work. In the ‘Recorders exhibition’ in Manchester Art Gallery, Rafael Lozano – Hemmer’s ‘Pulse Room’, records exhibition visitors’ heartbeats and transmits the beats into 100 light bulbs suspended from the ceiling. A metal handle, records and transmits visitor’s pulse to a light bulb after ten seconds. If another visitor touches the handle, his pulse is transmitted to the first light bulb and the rhythm of its predecessor is transmitted to the next light bulb in the series – thus the digital traces left by 100 visitors are permanently present in the installation. This idea inspired me with my light project, as the lights use human heartbeats to generate a sky full of lights, almost as if the lights are running through human emotions (from nervous to excited).

Andy Goldsworthy’s use of natural objects to create bridges, paths and widows, create a magical enchanting feel, the pieces appeal to my light idea project (where I am creating light pieces to signify the idea of discovery or fear) due to the fact that they are unique and intriguing to look at. He uses branches off trees to create a framework to represent a door, this idea inspired me to create a light frames out of thorns and skeleton bones, that wrap around the light source, in order to trap it.

Similar work by furniture designer Patrick Jouin’s use concept of slates of plastic, to build up layered chairs, almost similar to jagged pieces to form a strong organic structure. This idea has inspired me to produce my own sculpture pieces, using the idea broken glass to form a various structure pieces. 

On a trip to the Liverpool Biennial trip, I saw a piece of artwork, in the ‘Fact’ gallery, by and artist called Tehching Hsieh who I had recently been researching. The piece of artwork featured thousands of tiny pictures that were displayed in rows that covered the whole of the room. The pictures from a far all seemed the same, but looking close revealed the subject of the work. For his piece of artwork, Hsieh punched a time clock every hour on the hour. Each time he punched the clock, he took a single picture of himself, which together yield a 6 minute film (also present in the room). In the first picture he shaved his head and as the pictures go on, his hair starts growing. The pictures together reflect the passage of time, almost showing how through time he has changed and progressed as a person.

The use of editing and styles used in music videos has inspired me, not only with my personal  film project but also for my, flight project, which started to become more focused on the idea of representing thoughts through the use of lights and sculpture pieces. The style in the music video “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga (directed by Francis Lawrence and nominated for a Grammy for best short film), has been a huge inspiration for my artwork, not only because I would like to produce videos similar to them, but also for visual use of lights, and staging. Based in a surreal white bathhouse, the video features heavily edited scenes from various cubistic rooms that encompass a futuristic feel. The use of the colour white is a strong feature of the piece, with some scenes being described as reminiscent of the work of Stanley Kubrick. The use of bright white lighting throughout the video mixed with white backdrops and cubistic futuristic furniture creates a strong graphical feel. This has inspired me throughout my project, as I am interested in creating futuristic, work that has a very clean well edited feel to it. Throughout my work, whether in my sparkler film pieces, to my computer based sketch designs of modern looking structures; I have focused on designing and editing my pieces to look well edited with a modern feel, which has stemmed from the ideas present in this film.

Other influences of my project have been clothes and props created by “The Haus of Gaga”, which is the company that produce the image of Lady Gaga’ image. Some of the clothes are used in the “Bad Romance” music video, which also feature clothes from Alexander McQueen. The props and set again are quite futuristic and quirky, using a variety of contrasting shapes from cubistic to fluid curves.

The quirky scene transitions in the programme ‘Ugly Betty’ also appeal to me. They use outlines of objects and buildings from the previous scene to move into the next scene that is using the shame shape. For example one scene may feature a door on both sides of the shot, creating a border at the sides of the scene, which during a scene change, will maintain in the shot, then in the next scene, the doors are still there, but will open to reveal the scene.

Pictures of lights moving, in poster and advertising have influenced my project, for example, the design on the cover of the ‘North TransPennine’ leaflet shows the movement of light, this inspired me to use lights as a way of representing thoughts. Also the idea made me think about showing light sources as something that guides people towards the light (soul) which could signify their discovery.

Some other things that have influenced my flight through the mind project (where I am exploring the ideas of presenting thoughts in visual form) are, video’s on ‘YouTube’ showing a glass building that has lights inside each window, the lights go on and off, whilst moving around the building in various patterns, changing from a variety of colours. This interested me as I wanted to find a way to show lights moving to show lights (discovery) leading a person to a place to discover something. Another video I found was a clip from the film ‘American Beauty’, which shows a plastic bag that floats around in the air. The scene is almost hypnotic, as the bag flies freely in the air in spiral shapes, without touching the floor for several minutes. The clip is used to symbolise something, or someone moving around as a free spirit. This idea was one of the starting blocks for my flight through the mind project; I wanted my pieces that represent the idea of discovery, to seem free and fluid.

A prominent inspiration in my current sculpture/ light pieces is the artist called ‘Arne Quinze’, who produces large scale sculptures. His pieces often look futuristic, each featuring the use of strong colours and contrasting sharp cubistic edges mixed with soft fluid curves. Other pieces of his work feature archways decorate with curtains of crystal, and the use of lights. These pieces have greatly inspire the later part of my projects progress, as they are in the same style of the work that I was starting to produce, with the use of looking at making sculpture/objects that contain the idea of movement and fluidity mixed with the use of lights and strong colours. The discovery of his work lead me into changing the direction of my projects from light installations to futuristic sculpture ideas.

Various other artist who produces futuristic looking pieces, based on lights, have inspired, the concept of my pieces, both looking at shapes and patterns. Artists Stuart Fingerhut and Justyna Piotowicz Light pieces have allowed me to experiment with the use of shape and patterns, in my sculpture pieces, allowing me to progress through the use of experimenting, with the boundaries of structures and exploring new ways of presenting ideas.

Various architects including, Shoebaloo, who create layouts for shoe stores have been a big inspirations for my current sculpture and light ideas. Again their pieces features clear graphic styled, structures of rooms and sculpture pieces that encompass a modern feel. With the use of white as a dominant colour and the heavy use of white lighting, and sharp lines mixed with contrasting curves.

The futuristic style of H. R. Giger’s work has inspired the style of my own work, Giger’s use of detailed lines and effective shading, is something that I have tried to incorporate into my sculpture drawings, to create a modern metallic feel to my pieces.

The constant refreshment of new research has allowed me, to not only be inspired but has also helped shape the direction of my work, with new influences constantly being presented, it has allowed me to keep my project being refreshed, and has allowed me to start developing work of my own style that incorporate features from these pieces of work.

Final Year Review

Final Year Review

Throughout my first year on interactive arts, I feel my art practise has developed, due to a variety of different experiences.

One to one reviews have been very useful in helping with the development of my work. Receiving regular assessments of my, has allowed me to find out whether my work is going in the right direction, and whether it is in a high enough quality. The reviews have also help decide possible ideas for future projects.

Through group tutorials and cross course crits, I have been able to gain experience in presenting my work, through first-hand experience and through observing other people presenting. A main advantage from group reviews is gaining suggestions from other class mates for future projects. This has allowed me to keep my project fresh, by constantly having new ideas to adapt it from. The reviews have also given me an insight into what parts of my project people feel is and suggestions of things that can be improved.

Table top reviews have also allowed me to see what other people on my course have been producing, allowing each of us to bounce ideas off each other.

Another thing I have benefited greatly from is my artist’s blog. The use of blogging has been a great source of developing research, allowing me to monitor the development of my work. The use of storing information has helped me with the development of my work, through the ease of being able to revisit possible sources of inspiration for future projects. The research has also allowed me to identify possible themes within my work a research. Also being able to record my work on my blog, has allowed me to easily observe my development through my work, which I think has greatly helped my project.

Talks from artist and art groups, have been great insights into what can be expected from future employers. Looking at how to present work and what is need to make a good portfolio.  It has also shown me what types of work are available and what route you can go through to start your career

Group projects have helped me develop skills with prioritising work, and allocating jobs, group work my group managed to overcome problems by carefully planning and thinking through other options.

Another group project I have been part of is joining an art collective. Some fellow artist from university and I have decided to create an art collective in order to produce some exhibitions outside of the university. The experience of creating a collective has allowed me to understand what is expected in creating an exhibition. We have gone through various stages with developing the group from choosing a name, creating a statement for the audience in order to portray the right image for our group. We have also started planning our first exhibition. Previously before this we had secured a gallery space and decided on a theme, of a piece of work associated with the colour red. We had to submit a proposal in order for us to get selected, and luckily I was chosen. From this I learned, what is needed in a proposal, and having to work to a deadline

I have recently started going to some networking events, which have given a good insight into ways to get work and create projects with other artists.

Artist For Sculpture/ Light Sketches

Matthew Barney

 

Cremaster Cycle Trailer

Art Safari Matthew Barney - Cremaster

Fire Poi and Glow Poi

Fire Poi and Glow Poi is created by juggling with balls on ropes with glue sticks

The pictures are taken using high exposure. the ropes are swung around in various patterns.