Primary and Secondary research into 'PAPER'
Working in a group allowed our individual cultures to stimulate the associations we each had with our materials. Paper being so universal and easily accessible means that we interact with it everyday sometimes even without realising. common objects like train tickets and toilet tissue are examples of this. Additionally workin in a group allowed us to gather 3times the amount of information 3 times as fast. I found collecting information using Primary research methods meant that we could think practically and instinctively. The data we gathered was therefore logical and took less time than if we were to gather information using secondary research methods.
Limitations of collating research using primary methods is that what we gathered didnt have a factual basis. Collecting information primarily is subjective as another person may not have chosen to make the same associations. Secondary data however would largely have been objectively written or collated (depending on the source).
Crit and Pitch 15th Sept
My pitch was relatively successful, i feel as though everyone was able to grasp my concept and understand why i had chosen to visualise it in the way that i did. Speaking in front of people i am unfamiliar with is not something i am fond of doing, hence why i stuttered a lot and may have showed a lack of confidence. I was confident about my idea as i had clear explanations for why i had made the choices about my visualisation. This helped me to feel a bit more comfortable when it came to delivering my pitch.
Lucy's work was about the long lasting effects of plastic and how long plastic will be around after the end of humanity. Her idea was executed phenomenally. She digitally created a room in which her video would be shown in which helped me to gain an insight into the scaling of the room size and the video itself, this was aided by the use of people in her visualisation. Her work inspired me to not only think about my plastic use but to think about the way that i present my work and the time that i invest into it. Her visual was in the format of two images and two paragraphs of writing on the right hand side. Presentation if my ideas on A2 sheets of paper is something i am unfamiliar with as a photographer. Today i have gained insight into the different ways of presenting work. eg. Not just using collage hand drawing or 2d/3d design. Next i intend to use photography to represent my ideas as this is my forte.
From my crit feedback i gained insight ito how others view my work. While i thought my idea was executed very clearly, it was interesting to see that the meaning being my idea of the coin in the transparent box held up by a metal pole was less apparent to others. One critique was the practicality in how the box would stand up. This i will take into consideration next time i design a piece.
Critiquing the work of others was somewhat challenging because i wasn't fond of some of the pieces was given to relay feedback on; and executing the feedback in a polite/constructive way was difficult. however by using the suggested critiquing questions this process became easier. I have critiqued in the past however it was less direct. I felt somewhat awkward at times because the person whose work i was looking at could see that i was sat in front of their work.
Lost Characters Sept 20th
Screen Printing is something I have never done before. It was insightful to see the process in which it is done and the careful preperation which is needed prior in order to have a clean cut outcome.
From this project i have learned that screen printing is most sucessful when it is insigtfully simple. Meaning the concept it self is engaging but executed in a simole way. I jave also learned thT you can have a brilliant design but you must take care in how you cut your stencil as the time you put into it will be reflected in the final print. My first layer of the dancing lady which was done in pink was alot neater thatn my black layer. This is because i got lazy and didnt realise how much of an effect a stencil with jagged lines would have on the final print.
I supoose its better late than never to realise that There are no short cuts in design, your final piece is a replica of your preparation.
Next time i will cut my stencil out with more care to prevent the shapes from becoming jagged.
Type 22nd Sept
I thoroughly enjoyed this project as it allowed to explore the diversity of paper and use my photography skills to present my final font. Primarily i didn't think that i would have much interest in this project. This was because i though paper limited the types of fonts that one could create. During A-level photography we did a 'Type in the environent' project which initially struggled with. By the end of it I had photographed forms that i would never have dreamed of focussing on architecture. I Have come to realise that i struggle with beginning projects but once i have an idea that i am fond of, I am very able to run with it. Hopefully though this will be overcome seeing as every taught day we are given a completely new project brief to create ideas from.
I believe my outcome has been very successful as I transformed the standard use, form, texture and shape of paper. With the use of photoshop i was able to further transform the look of my letters by adjusting the contrast and brightness in order to create the smokey, burnt look. Below is another variation of my font title 'Tense'.
I chose those to entitle the font 'tense' as the scrunched nature of the paper is reflective of the definition of the word (stretched tight or rigid). Furthermore the word tense is often used to refer to muscles in the body that are tight due to excessive exercise. Similarly the paper resembles the word tense as the paper appears tight due to excessive crumpling.
If i had more time I would make the letters bigger and find a high fence with barb wire to photograph the against.
Use It 27th Sept
Today's project has been the least enjoyable to date. We began by doing Primary research into chairs but particularly the way people engaged with them. This involved making as many quick sketches as we could of people sat on chairs. My sketches were horrendous as I find sketching real like forms extremely difficult especially under timed conditions.I had no preconceptions about what PDC would be like because the last time I did it was may years a go and i made a simple clock. However from what we did today I can fairly say that it doesn't appeal to me. This is probably because i didn't enjoy the life drawing and i hated the design process of the chair and how it had to link to one my primary sketches we had made prior. I suppose because my specialism is photography and my composition is either in front of me or I physically position things so they are a part of my photography i have little experience of drawing especially under timed conditions.
Fashion Textiles 4th Oct
For this project we were told to bring in objects that are representative of our identities. I chose my glasses, Volvic water, twirl chocolate bar, and my hand cream. My glasses are representative of who I am because i have been wearing glasses ever since i was 6 years old. Everyone knows me for being their 'blind friend' and this will never change. Volvic water is my favourite brand of water because of its mountainy taste, people say they can't taste the difference between brands of water but i most definately can. Furthermore the the branding is green which is my favourite colour. I also brought in my favourite hand cream which my mum bought me on our last family holiday to Spain. All my life my parents have emphasised the importance of not having dry skin. I guess keeping my hands moisturised has become almost second nature and i do it now without even realising. Once again the branding on the hand-cream is green. The last item i brought in to represent me is a twirl chocolate bar. I find that twirls just generally make me happy because they melt in your mouth but still have that crunch.
Following a little show and tell session about our items we created an installation with them and recorded what we saw using a variety of drawing techniques. I found the first few drawing techniques interesting but after a while they began to get repetitive and i became bored. I suppose however it was insightful to try out all these different drawing techniques because i hadn't tried some of them before.
One of the drawing techniques we were encouraged to try out was one where we drew the same object over an over again slightly overlapped, while rotaating the page each time.
Below are some examples:
The use of repetition forms textile designs because a textile design in essence can be referred to as a 'pattern' and a pattern is repeated decorative design.
In the afternoon we used acetate as a canvas illustrate some of the objects in our installation. We then took these acetates to the projector and projected them all on a screen, on models with white clothing and on sketchbooks. The textures, colours, depth of field snd line were interesting components.
On the whole i would say that i didn't overly enjoy the day because of the repetitive of the activities, but it was insightful.
Fashion Communication Oct 7th
Fashion/Textile communication 'is the activity that supports or encourages the promotion and purchases of fashion products through photography, film, digital media, performance, music, advertising and journalism'
A Fashion Illustrator designs clothing and accessories; these can either be hand drawn of created using computer programs. Fundamentally their illustrations must be representative, marketable and aesthetically pleasing because Fashion stylists and Fashion Buyers use the illustrations of Fashion Illustrators to make client based decisions.
While I thought I would have a keen interest in the Fashion Communication taster day, It was hugely similar to what we had done on the previous days. We again engaged in real life drawings but this time after styling our models in garments which we had all brought in. The focus was to put our new drawing techniques into practice. Below are some examples besides my interpretations of them.
After lunch we proceed to making a final piece using what we had produced on the Fashion and Textiles days. This included the large shapes we cut out using fashion paper and and the smaller structure we had made.
The piece below is about the distortion of face features, and the combination of real face and the face. The use of acetates in in this case therefore replicate the juxtaposition of real and fake.
REFLECTIONS FOR INTERACT & WHITE SPACE PROJECTS ARE ON THEIR INDIVIDUAL PAGES.(THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE)
Ideas Factory 13th Sept
Prior research was crucial in helping me to come up with ideas. Our task was to create 30 ideas in 30 minutes relating to the 3 themes: Daniel Eatock, Paper and (the process) Connect. I was thrown majorly by our task because i have always stuggled with creating initial ideas in the past and the fact that our goal was basically to create an idea a minute made the task even more daunting. By the end of the 30 minutes i had created 10 substancial ideas. I see this as an achievement for myself even though i didnt achieve the full 30 because ordinarily i would have struggled to find 5. What i learned for seeing the ideas that others had made is that they needed not to be in a finalised state at all. Finalisation was for the next stage. I proceeded with the idea i felt had most potential and ran with it exploring the different formats in which it could be presented in. I settled with a sculptural piece to be exhibited on a tall table in an exhibition room. Limitations of my research is that i hadnt found enough information about Daniel Eatock to be able incorporate ideas from his work into mine. This is because there werent many pages about him in the internet. Next time i will use the library to my advantage and gather information through books in addition to the internet. Another consideration for why I found less information on him than the other 2 words was because I wasnt a fan of his artwork. I found it overly simple, repetitive and thus boring. I cant in the future however let this interfere with my focus and the quality of my research.
Visuallising ideas effectively is not something I have a lot of experience in. As i said above intend to dwell over until im stuck. I guess this new process took me right out of my comfort zone and forced my brain to think uncomfortably quickly. This concept of visualising ideas effectively i suppose with improve with reptition over time.
Poetic Cardboard 19th Sept
I found today's task rather enjoyable as we used photography to express our visual response to our two words 'Psychological' & 'Projection'. I was thrilled when I found that we had been given the word psychological as i studies psychology at level and thus have a strong interest in it.
Key words from our mind map about the word 'psychological' were : obsession, stigma, thought processes, mental issues, awareness, disorders (anorexia bulimia, schizophrenia, anxiety) etc.
Words that were associated with projection included: public interaction, promoting ideas, series of videos/photos, reactions, large display etc.
From these lists of words we chose to focus on OCD and 'photo/video series. As a result we further refine our mind map by focusing further on the OCD Disorder.
We came to the communal decision to communicate our idea in a simultaneous series of 9 photos because the business of the different activities being undertaken in each video mirrored to complexity of the life of a sufferer of OCD. OCD is very full on and is often so controlling that you feel as though you have no other choice but to continuously remain clean for example. This continuity is represented throught the fact that each action in each of the 9 videos is repeated for 20 seconds. Ideally we would have liked The video to be continuous hiwever due to the time frame we were given and the technicalities of creating such a video we were unable to.
A lot of though process went into the decision of how many videos we would have playing at once. Initiially we had the idea of about 16 but we decided to simplify this number so that our final piece would be completed despite the time constraints. Once deciding on having 9 videos we had to thinka bout the prcaticalities of how we would make the video. We searched throught the app store to find spps that would help us to achieve our video. After sifting through the apps that would only provide us with videos with 6 frames maximum we stumbled across the free App called 'Video Frame'.
We chose to use three themes within our 9 frame video, the first clenliness followed by door locking and then plug switching. Below is a screenshot of our first video.
We were happy with the majority of the video but we found the bottom three videos rather boring as they were too similar and subtle. We subsequently decided to change it up a bit and have videos of a more prominent object. The use of the light bulb brings great contrast to the piece as a whole and still reflect the concept of obsessiveness in OCD.
I feel that our video was very successful as it captured the concept of psychological projection Very clearly. Those with the psychological disorder OCD are prone to excessive repetition of particular activities. This was projected effortlessly throught the use of movement repetion in each of the videos.
THE FULL VIDEO CAN BE FOUND ON THE MOVING IMAGE PAGE
Wear It 26th Sept
Todays project was based on the design of unconventional body wear relative to the words suspend, support and surround. Once again i found creating 30 ideas in a short period of time challenging but our tutor Helmert rightfully explained that in the real world if you can't produce the necessary number of ideas in the designated time frame or can't produce a final product your name will forever be stained with the word 'unreliable'. This knocked things into perspective hugely. Brainstorming the key words: suspend, support and surround was rather enjoyable as they are words that we see incorporated into our every day lives without even realising.
I had a few different ideas that focused on different body parts, however most of my ideas were a type of footwear. My favourite initial ideas are the first five images attached.
Due to practicality and time constraints i decided to chose the pair of shoes with 'N' written on one foot and 'O' written on the other. This concept links to the key word 'support' because in life I'm sure everyone can relate to finding it hard to say 'NO' to things we don't actually want to do. Subsequently we end up doing them and experiencing very regretful thoughts before, during and after the favour.
I once read a quote by Kirsty Armstrong that said 'Learn to say no more often so your yes has more oomph'.
Halfway through the making process i felt like for the tie that i had i wouldn't be able to make two shoes that reflected my design. I did in fact surprise myself and even finished early! Below are some photos.
Fashion Textiles 1 3rd Oct
Fashion Textiles was the pathway in which i had originally thought i wanted to follow photography through. However after today I am no longer sure. We began by doing primary research in the neighbouring area by sketching architectural shapes. When we reviewed our primary research as a group the lecturers emphasised to us the importance of shape as opposed to texture in our sketches. We went out for a second time to make new and improved sketches using a range of different mediums and drawing techniques. Some can be seen below:
I did struggle with this because I am definitely texture person and i find life drawing particularly difficult, especially when there is an emphasis in the use of clean lines. We went on to selecting our favourite shapes and highlighting and repeating them in our sketchbook on top of our previous sketches. I didn't really understand the point of this at the time but i guess it was to help us see which shapes were complimentary. We proceeded to drawing our favourite 10 shapes on a double spread page once again I suppose this was so that we could see all the shape together in close proximity to further narrow down which shapes worked well together. We proceeded to make a small 3d shape by joining our best two shapes together:
I was proud of this hsape because i was able to construct the 3d shape without the need for masking tape. Instead i used slits, which mad my 3d shape have a cleaner appearance. My favourite part of the day was probably what we did next because it was the most practical and physical part of the day. Cutting out our shapes and installing them on our partners was fun because I got to visually adapt the way I styled her. Below are a few images:
I feel like my final piece was quite successful as i was able to construct a visual appealing shape around the body. The shapes are dynamic and interesting. There is great contrast between the two frilly parts on each shoulder and the wide shoulder strap which continues down and off to the left. I can actually imagine a dress being constructed around the shape that i created. The Back of the shape if great too as I coincidentally created a neat tale for the dress.
If i was to do this again I would cut the two frilly bits on either side out neatly because as you can see each frill differs in size.
Fine Art 1 Oct 10th
Collection ~ a group of things or people or a group of accumulated items of a particular kind
We all have our own collections wheher realise it or not. Even the items we store in our room can be considered as a collection, likewise old receipts that our kept for months on end tucked away in our purses or wallets.
It w as out task to engage in a few 15 min activities in order to get our minds thinking. Our first task was to find a way of representing all of our hands on a plain sheet of paper. We chose to each dip our fingertips in a different coloured ink and print them multiple times on a page in order to reveal our unique finger prints.
I feel that this was effective because our diversity and individuality was communicated through similarly shaped prints on the page. The use of different coloured ink in my opinion was genius because this differentiated our ethnicities and races and backgrounds from each other.
Interact Research Week
'To act in such a way as to have an effect on each other'
or
'to communicate or be involved directly'
My initial thoughts when given the word interact to work with were very positive because i knew the word could be translated in many ways and the more interactive things are the more they are perceived as enjoyable. I instantly associated this word with my classes in secondary school and sixth form. I enjoyed subjects like Dance, Photography, Psychology and Religious studies. Why? because I had a personal connection with each of these subjects. Contemporary Dance enabled me to move my body freely and interact with and find interesting ways of moving parts of my body. I often partnered with other members of my class in both small and large groups. This interaction with the movement of my body and other people enabled me to unlock my confidence which has developed me as a person.
As a result of studying psychology i interact with the question 'Why?' on a daily basis. Why? because Psychology is the study of how the mind works. I found that there was heaps and heaps of information that i had to retain in order to be able to succeed in my examinations and the most effective way of remembering it all was to ask WHY the information I was trying to remember was true. While I enjoyed these classes, there were other classes such as Geography for example that I found it more difficult to interact with. I guess interactions are provoked by interest.