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.
