Wimbledon Art College Course Day 2

In today's lesson we focused on pushing our ideas onto the next step, as on Friday's lesson we will be doing a performance using the artwork we have created over the four days. At the end of yesterday's lesson, I discovered a really nice method to use with ink, where I placed a blob of drawing ink onto a piece of a paper and used a thin straw to blow it into a shape which began to resemble the branches of a tree. I really liked the idea of blowing ink to create tree-like shapes, and decided to develop this idea by blowing the ink onto corrugated card and then creating mountainous scenery in a box

Mountainous scene in box

Using a hair-dryer to experiment with ink blowing

Tree experiments on corrugated card

Blown trees in box with atmospheric lighting

Experimenting with ink on acetate

I also experimented with blowing the ink onto sheets of acetate by mixing the ink with black acrylic paint so that it stuck to it. This technique worked really well and tomorrow I am going to try using an overhead projector to project this ink tree onto the scene I have made. I'm also going to try and overlap the different sheets of acetate and try different colours of it to see what effects this creates.

Wimbledon Art College Summer School: Day 1

A few of the materials I used

I am currently attending a four day Stage and Screen summer school at Wimbledon Art College.
Today was mainly the introduction to the course and getting a feel for the area in which we will be presenting our 'final piece' on Friday.

Paper straws pierced into the cup

 In today's lesson we were also asked to create drawing mechanisms using various materials such as tape, plastic cups, straws and modelling clay which would use ink or charcoal to make a mark on our A2 sheets of paper. 

Tape to seal up the holes to prevent leakage

One of my favourite mediums is ink, so I decided to create a sort of ink dispenser using a plastic cup, some straws and gaffa tape. 

Using a craft knife I pierced some holes in the bottom of the cup and then inserted the straws into them. I then sealed it up with gaffa tape.

I then poured ink into my 'mechanism' and held it a few inches above the paper whilst moving it around. I really liked the effect it created, and once the ink had start to run out it started to produce little dots which I used around the edge of the main ink pattern.









To push the piece a little bit further I experimented with masking tape by sticking onto the ink dots and then smoothing my finger over it which spread out the ink a little. I liked the way the tape made the ink underneath it appear lighter and I think it added more visual variety to the piece.

 I think that the purpose of this exercise was to explore other ways of making marks other than just using pencil, and to loosen us up and get us used to experimenting. I found it quite liberating to just be able to make a piece of art without having to conform

 to a strict brief like we usually have to do at school.

Lesson 3: Response to Cornelia Parker

In response to Cornelia Parker's Cold Dark Matter, we were asked to find 

some objects in our house and destroy them in some way.

I chose a fork and spoon and then used a pair of pliers to bend them.

As well as physically altering the objects, I also decided to experimented with

 Adobe Photoshop to digitally destroy the objects.

Antony Gormley - Blind Light

Blind Light (2007) is a piece of conceptual art in which the visitors step into a glass box filled with dry ice. It is lit with a bright fluorescent light. When you step inside the piece, you cannot see, which can provoke panic and disorientation. As it is white, it could seem unnatural and imposing, as it is not subtle. there have been mixed opinions of the piece:

"I like the idea of an artist making a work that is not about seeing but about not seeing" -Richard Dormeat, Telegraph

"My immediate response was difficulty in drawing breath, swallowed by violent sneezing, then equally violent coughing" Brian Sewell, Arts critic

I personally think that the concept of this piece is unique and exciting. It's almost as if Gormley has brought a cloud down from the sky and managed to store it on Earth. I also think that it's interesting the way people who visit the piece become apart of it.

Although on first impressions this piece doesn't appear to be as explicitly figurative as his other pieces of work, according to Gormley it is, because it uses living figures. Once you are inside the cube, the people on the exterior can watch you, and so in a way the people on the inside provide a spectacle for the on-lookers,

As the exhibition is no longer at the Hayward Gallery, we replicated the experience by tying a white cloth around our eyes. We also spund round in order to further disorientate ourselves.

When I put the blindfold on I felt quite alone and helpless, and I had to rely on my other senses to guide me around the classroom. I had to take the blindfold off after a few minutes because I felt too disorientated!

Looking forward to my school Private View on Wednesday!

Cornelia Parker

Cold Dark Matter (1991)

To create 'Cold Dark Matter', Cornelia Parker  asked the British Army to blow up her garden shed. She then collected the debris and suspended is as part of an installation piece. She hung a light in the centre of the hanging debris to create eerie shadows on the surrounding walls.

'Cold Dark Matrer' is an astronomy term. According to Parker, it is

 'the material within the Universe that we cannot see and we cannot quantify. We know it exists but we can't measure it.'

The appearance of the shed could be seen to represent the 'Big Bang'. I think it's interesting that Cornelia Parker has chosen such an ordinary object as an old garden shed to represent such a mighty thing as the world's creation. Cornelia Parker could also being trying to show that creation is a result of destruction.

'I like to take man-made objects and push them...so that they become something else' 

30 Pieces of Silver

 I think that this is a really interesting concept for artwork. I like the idea of taking a familiar object and changing its appearance to the extent that it removes its purpose and the ability to use it. Therefore the object is being used for appearance and not for practical purposes. Furthermore if a familiar object is distorted it can have a strange impact on a person as the familiarity is almost being taken away. However the distortion of the object also makes you pay more attention to it as it has changed.

In these pieces Parker flattened discarded objects using a steam roller and then suspended them in 30 groups. Again I think that these pieces link to Cold Dark Matter as Parker is taking familiar objects and distorting them so that they are still recognisable but noticeably altered. I think that the organised way in which this piece is rearranged could suggest that Parker is trying to bring organisation to the process of destruction. There is also something quite strange about the way the objects are arranged almost as if they were on a dinner table even though they can no longer be used for their original purpose.

Lesson 2: Response to Still Life

Still life set up made up of chairs, frames, tables and windows

In response to the still life our teacher's set up for us, we created a collage using drawings and photos of the still life and also from the paper set up the day before. I wanted to make my collage look slightly like a city with buildings and structures in it in response to our theme of INTERIOR/EXTERIOR.

The first stages of my collage

I used a photocopier to replicate and enlarge some of my drawings, and to create the background I used masking tape and lines of black watercolour.

I think that this exercise has focused more on the exterior element of the theme, as we are focusing on structures. However, I think it's interesting the way interior objects such as chairs and tables were used to construct a still life that looked like a building you would find outside. It's almost like combining the two elements together to create something new.

Detail of collage

Stapler used to create a stitch effect

Lesson 1: Responding to artist Han Feng

In response to Han Feng's 'Floating City', we drew from a still life set up onto various bits of paper and then altered the appearance of photocopies of the drawings by folding, hole-punching, cutting, stapling and tying them. The were supposed to mimic buildings.

As a class when then suspended them from the ceiling with strings.

Stapling paper together

We suspended the pieces from the ceiling

Detail of folded drawing

The folded paper created an interesting effect

Han Feng: 'Floating City' (2008)

Han Feng used tracing paper (laser print) to create miniature buildings which he then hung with different lengths of fish tackle thread from the ceiling at the Saatchi gallery.

By hanging the buildings inside, he is bringing the exterior into the interior.

'Floating City' installation at the Saatchi Gallery in London

I like the way he has used tracing paper as it makes the buildings delicate and fragile.

I think that this is a really interesting concept. By making the buildings smaller, it is making us bigger than them, which is a reversal of them being greater than us. As we are smaller than buildings in 'real life', we are unable to see what a large amount of our land they cover, but the fact that they are made smaller in this piece could be a way of Feng trying to show how surrounded we are by these imposing man-made towers.

Closer view of piece

I think the underside of the piece is also interesting. For example Feng's choice to leave it empty rather than include the land underneath it could suggest that the buildings are destructing the land and nature beneath it. The shadows created by the buildings could also serve to emphasise this sense of destruction, as it is their shadows that are replacing the land below.

               

A2 Coursework Theme

We recently found out that our A2 coursework theme is INTERIOR/EXTERIOR, so I will be posting some work in relation to this theme as well as other art-related posts.

Broken Piano

During my work experience at a recording studio, we were asked to chop up an old piano so it could be thrown out. As a piano player, it was quite a strange experience destroying something that was so related to me, and the fact that it was an old piano meant that it probably held many old memories and feelings of the people that had played it.

I manage to salvage a few of the keys and when I got home I made a piece of artwork out of them by hammering them to a wooden plank.

I hammered the nails in so that they resembled notes on a scale.

AS Final Exam Piece

Idea of what the film looked like projected

My final piece for our AS theme of 'Encounters and Experiences' consisted of a Mod Roc screen with casts of various everyday objects attached to it. I then projected a short film I had made which consisted of everything I did in my day, from getting up to going to bed.

The piece reflected my personal everyday encounters and experiences. In this topic I also focused on everyday objects and how they affect and aid our different everyday encounters.

Mod Roc screen

Unfortunately the lighting at the exhibition of the work didn't work very well because it was too light, and so the projection didn't fully show up on the screen and therefore I couldn't get a decent photo.