crossroads II

After completing both G.C.S.E and A level Fine Art I was truly eager to experiment in other areas of Art and Design and establish what area I would be most suited for. Starting the course with an open mind meant that I was able to take full advantage and make the most of the course and each rotation.

Visual communication was my first rotation and felt this was one of the most successful and enjoyable of the rotations. I was slightly apprehensive because I had never done anything like this before and was really shocked at the pace of work. I soon became used to this way of working and began to thoroughly enjoy it as it allowed me to be more instinctive and experimental with my work.  Project 3 (audience) I enjoyed the most as I had the chance to make a short animation - something I had never tried before. I felt that this was quite successful and enjoyed the process of making it.  On reflection, Visual communications has helped to change my way of working as I feel I have become more intuitive and expressive.

Both 3-d spatial and fashion textiles were less successful rotations for me. In 3-D spatial I felt that my ideas were being restricted and that the area was too controlled for me. I really did not enjoy the process and way of working in both of these areas, which made me feel slightly lost and out of my depth. Although I liked the drawing aspects in both and felt that I could use these skills in other areas.

Fine art was by far the best rotation for me.  I felt there were less limitations in what I could do and that I could be more adventurous and experimental with my work. I feel I am most suited to this area and way of working. I also felt that my work was more successful from this area and was pleased with my final outcome. I have no concrete plans for my creative future but I feel that fine art would push me in the right direction and be the best path for me to take.

           

So all in all, over these past weeks I have learnt about what style and way of working is best for me, as well as new ways of working. The final outcome is that the decision is between Fine art and Visual communications. I really enjoyed both. However I love the amount of freedom that is involved in fine art and feel I would be able to thrive more in this area, than an area with a more restrictive brief. Over the rotation period my understanding between the differences of Art and Design has become clearer and this is also a reason why fine art is my chosen area to specialise in. 

V&A

Fine Art Project 1: Scale and illusion

To start with we were asked to bring a domestic everyday object in with us and add it to an already existing structure. From this we did a number of drawings just using pencil (no colour) at first, experimenting with scale. We then moved on to larger scaled drawings out of the sketchbook experimenting with colour. We then had to go and take photographs and drawings of a sequence in a busy place on the theme of culture etc. From here i began to look at movement and created an animation. 

Ai Weiwei at The Tate modern Turbine Hall

I found this installation amazing, the way that every seed appeared to be identical however each seed was unique and different, all 100 million of them. I was disappointed however to not be able to walk across the seeds - health and safety- as i feel this would have added to the overall experience.

The Royal college of surgeons, the Hunterian museum

The museum accommodates hundreds of jars containing body parts of animals and humans as well as parts of plants. The museum really interested me and i found certain aspects quite disturbing and creepy such as the pickled foetuses, and the way that the body parts ect had been displayed.

Fashion and Textiles Project 1: Compress Expand

Our first project for Fashion and Textiles was to find and photograph many objects that can be compressed and expanded. We then had to construct a small 7cmx5cm book of sketches of our objects using various types of paper.  We then had to create a structure from these objects.

From this we did many types of quick timed drawings (mainly continuous line drawings) I really enjoyed this as it allowed me to get a better understanding of the structures and i felt line drawings worked well in describing the structure. We then used our photographs and manipulated them by cutting into them and try to create a more 3-dimentional image, we then replicated the shape of the 3-D photographs using various weights and scales of materials. I then moved on to larger scale (A1) and began to experiment with different simple designs, I represented these designs against the body.

Serpentine Pavilion

Designed by the French artist Jean Nouvel is an open space to the public outside of the Serpentine gallery. My first reaction was that the structure looked mysterious and out of place within the greenness of hyde park. However the contrast between the bright green and red is extremely complementary, and although it was a rainy day, once inside the pavilion everywhere seemed bright and sunny.

Skin Exhibition at the Welcome collection

This exhibition looked at skin as a "living document" with tattoos, various diseases, scars, wrinkles etc.
I found some of the images/ videos shocking however I really enjoyed this exhibition and liked the artistic responses to the technological developments in skin science over the last few centuries.

3-D Spatial Design Project 2: Maps, Site and Space

After finding and photographing various modular forms in an environment around me, we were asked to find shapes and forms from our photographs and drawings in order to create 3 models with a modular theme;  #1 a structure to walk through #2 a structure to support the human body #3 a structure to contain a small object. We used a range of disposable objects that we had brought in to create these structures. I began by creating an object out of cardboard, toothpicks and electrical tape, however the object was too complex and i had trouble trying to make a stable structure with this object.

I then decided to simplify my object, this allowed me to create more structures and experiment with different types of structures as it was more stable.

#1 a structure to walk through
#2 a structure to support the human body
#3 a structure to contain a small object

100% design

100% design is an event where the best of contemporary interior designs can be exhibited, the show includes architectural and interior materials and helps to expose and encourage new emerging talent. There was a huge amount to see and i found this overpowering however i was still interested by the unique and new designs. I also found that some of the designs where very relevant to my current 3-D spacial work on the theme modular and have found much inspiration from the event.

3-D Spatial Design Project 1: Site and Space

For this project we all had to bring in some string and an object that represented where we are from. In groups of 6 we had to use the string and the objects to create a map of where we traveled from to get to chelsea. We had to consider distance as a main factor. We decided to tape chairs arranged at random together to represent chelsea, due to the creative and unknown environment that chelsea is to us. We then used different types of string to represent different modes of transport and attached them to the bundle of chairs. The further away a person traveled, the further the object that the person had brought in was placed and thus the further the string traveled across the space.

We then had to somehow link our map with another groups map. We decided to link all the places that people are from to one chelsea so that there is one main link between the two maps.

Exposed Exhibtion

This Exhibition was held at the Tate modern
- i recommend

Eadweard Muybridge exhibition

The exhibition was held at the Tate britain.
Muybridge was a photographer who helped to transform art and shape technology. He helped to create a technology that transformed the 19th century european and american culture. Muybridge is best known for his stop-motion images of horses galloping.

Although the galloping horse is what Muybridge is most famous for what I was most interested in were the photographs taken at slightly different angle that when seen under a unique lens can be seen as one 3-dimentional image.

viscom Project 3: Audience...

For this project we had to create an original and cleaver way of sending an unspoken message. We had to consider what the message is and who the sender and receiver are in order to create a successful message. I started by using the skills used in Project 1 by visualising and writing as many ideas that I could come up with into my sketchbook. I settled on the idea that my guinea-pig is trying to tell my rabbit to stop stealing its food. I then explored ways in which I (the guinea-pig) could compose a message that would successfully tell the rabbit  to stop stealing the food. I then thought that the best way of doing this would be to use food; a carrot. I then made a short animation of two carrot's slowly being munched into by the guinea-pig to reveal the words "mine" and "yours".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN-qMw72wbw

viscom Project 2: Images, Images, Images...

We had to use thirteen found images to create a visual sequence that is expressive, imaginative and eloquent to create a narrative. After researching Run Wrake and seeing his film "rabbit" and also Jeff Scher  I had a clearer understanding of how images can be reproduced and put together to tell and story and create a narrative. As a starting point I decided to use images that had the same tone and colour as they fitted together better, and then used the idea of composition to have the main points of the story in colour and have some images on card to make them project out more and make the message more clear to the viewer.

viscom Project 1: Ideas, Ideas, Ideas...

For this project we were all given a sketchbook and a random word; mine was "cloud". From this we had to explore every possible association and meaning of the word by drawing in the sketch book. I found this difficult to start with because I wasn't used to the fast pace, however I soon found myself thinking of new ideas and drawing them with more ease. We then combined our words and ideas with a partners; which was"three". This part was more tricky as I had many ideas about how "three" and "cloud" could be combined however I struggled to find a way to visualise and draw these ideas. We worked through a number of different ideas until we reached the final idea which was the three stages of life and how clouds can represent somewhere where life continues after death.