Roger Ballen

I recently visited Manchester Art Gallery where I saw some really interesting work by Roger Ballen, a photographer who just works in black and white. Although this wasn't appropriate for my project, I thought his work was really powerful as some of it I found quite disturbing as he likes to play with the differences between reality and fantasy. I also liked that some of his photographs felt like a drawing because of the smooth textures, and his juxtapositions between key elements, playing with your eyes.

Experimenting with light

After going to the Cube Gallery and deciding that I wanted to try and work with light behind my pieces, I have now started to look at other artists that have introduced light into their work. One is Claudia Caviezel who works with pattern.  http://www.caviezel.cc/ I really liked her work with masking tape which she stuck onto windows. I then decided that I wanted a go at this myself which I found really effective. One my patterns were finished I decided to cut shapes out of the patterns to let more light in and looked really effective as what was left was just strips and shapes of masking tape with no over laying which created darker shadows.

I then thought this would be a good idea to introduce into my drawing, so I made patterns using masking tape onto paper which I then drew over. I thought this worked really effectively as it gave my drawing a 3D feel. Like my window pieces I decided to take parts of the pattern away from my drawing to see how it would alter my drawing. I liked the effect as it left lines where I had drawn on top of the masking tape.

Felt colour sampling

After dying some pre made felt to match the colours of the painting of an owl by Brian Wildsmith, I have now decided to buy some wool tops and mix colours to match using a carder. I found this was more effective as it produced a nicer shade and the uneven blend looked interesting. I have also collected some yarns, which also match  the colours used in the painting, which I will use in my felting.

Sunday Times Magazine Exhibit

I visited the Cube Gallery which had on an exhibit, on photography through the years, in the Sunday Times Magazine. I thought some of the photography looked phenomenal as they had been put onto glass with black borders and lighting behind the glass. This has now given me the idea to try and create a design that can free stand by itself instead of being designed onto the wall, so I can put lights behind it. This might look really interesting if I put different threads and things in between my felt, as you can see the different lines running through, like the branches in a nest.

Philip Treacy Design

When I visited the Liverpool Tate recently, one of the things that really stuck in my mind was seeing the wonderful hat blocks of Philip Treacy. I have always admired his peculiar creations and thought the shapes would easily be transformed into something that could become a felt wall hanging. I think my final marquette would work really well in felt as it is simple yet interesting enough that it could be done in just one colour.

Arrivals Task- Part 2

I made a mood board showing the main areas of my project so far. The painting of the owl represents my choice of colour, I based my colour scheme on this as the colour range is so big I have a lot to choose from. The photo below of my dye samples is to represent me mixing colours to match ones in the owl painting, some didn't come out exactly as I wanted but from this I learnt what to do next time to get them exactly right. The bottom left orange felt piece is work by Anne Kyyro Quinn who manipulates felt for interior purposes. Her work has now influenced me into working primarily with felt and experimenting with different ways I can manipulate it. The other two images are of models I have made that could be produced in felt. I have liked creating models for my work as it gives me a better idea of what would work well in felt.

Emily Crompton Talk

I went to a really interesting talk that Emily Crompton did who works for URBED, which stands for Urbanism, Environment and Design. They believe in designing for the public and getting involved in your area. They also have ethical aesthetics, she talked about the building that Choi Jeong- Hwa created using a thousand doors from people of his area, letting art engage with the greater population. I liked the idea that Conway&Young had, to record where all empty shops are so that other creative people can put use to them. This worked as a good way to bring art to people that don't usually see it. I also liked the idea that she used in one of her projects as an architect, to create models for the public to interact with so that they could design what they wanted. This worked really effectively.

Continuing to Experiment

After finding that when latexing over newspaper the ink attaches itself to the latex and creates a kind of print, I decided I wanted to try creating prints from my own photographs. This didn't work as the ink didn't attach itself to the latex, only some of the paper did. But I have decided that I will still use these to draw over the top of.

As I have decided to work in felt, I wanted to start creating a colour palette to work from that would determine the type of colours I will use. When doing research in Special Collections I came across a gorgeous book with paintings of birds by Brian Wildsmith. I have chosen my favourite painting of an owl to take my colour palette from as there is such a wide range of colours to experiment with. I then decided to create some of these colours in the dye lab, using felt as I know this is the material I will be working with. I had to mix quite a few of the colours myself so this was a tester and I know how I would change some of the colours so that they match better to the colour I was aiming for in future.

Latex Experiment

After my latex of the tree went so well I decided to latex a bird feeder as it has such a prominent shape that everyone knows and relates so well to my project. I thought I could somehow inter twine this into my felt work. But because of how the bird feeder was made it was hard to latex and the thinner parts were so thin that it ended up ripping. But what I did learn out of this was that while I was latexing the feeder on newspaper, the ink takes to the latex leaving a print on the bottom of this latex. This might be quite interesting to create drawings from, I could latex over my photographs, let it dry then draw over the top of it. I also thought about creating a mixture of a few photographs together.

Lotherton Hall Bird Garden

I decided to visit Lotherton Hall bird garden so I could get more interesting photos of birds. As they breed them they have a large selection of birds from around the world with much more interesting colours and shapes than the average bird that is in Britain in Spring around canals and country parks. I will then use these photos to draw from to create new designs for my work that could be translated into felt. Through my model making I have decided I would like to create my work out of felt as it can be easily manipulated and takes well to dye which I really enjoyed during one of the workshops.

London Trip

I have now started doing a commissioned project with Jai Redman artist/ designer who works with The Ultimate Holding Company and is doing work with Unit X at uni, and Robyn Woolston an artist/ film maker. The project is based around the idea of the textiles industry in Whitechapel in London. I wanted this project to run along side my Unit X project so I have decided I wanted to create a calm comforting space in the centre of Whitechapel for people to use. My visit to London was based around Whitechapel and the architecture that could inspire my designs, but I also managed to visit the Whitechapel Art Gallery which was very interesting, including the works on Number 10 Downing Street and the unusual pieces that the workers there had chosen to be displayed inside.

Collecting materials

I have now started to collect natural materials to both use in my work and also to inspire my work and also patterns and images I find interesting. I decided to try making a mould of part of a tree that I found peculiar using latex, I then wanted to make a mould of this using wax and some of the natural materials I had collected as I thought they would resemble a birds nest, such as ones using their own faeces and natural materials such as twigs. The outcome of this isn't how I expected, the wax looked like ice with twigs and things stuck inside. I want a warmer feel to my work. I have now thought of making a mould of a bird feeder using latex and then wax again and then seeing what it looks like shining light through it, appearing like a lamp shade. I think this could work really effectively.