Exploratory Project - Wk 5 - 18/03/2018- 24/03/2018

1. • Week 5 Mar 18th Be aware of burn out or possible stopping points, challenge with an activity from the list provided to move work in to another dimension/area/scale/technique. Mon 19 Mar: Tutorial DK  ART WEEK DUBAI 

Tutorial with David KeffordArt practice relies on uncertainty, being reactive – avoid catastrophism. Trying not to have the ‘big life decisions’ impact on practice. Finding the balance.Brief discussion on my background: commercial background, not being compliant, resistant/resilient – being confident in own skin – not worrying about where you fit in – an interloper – the knife edge of embracing or being interested in breaking boundaries. GRAYSON PERRY materials & context – overcome, uniqueness – allowing it to marinate, a long slow burnWhat do I want from the work – removal or inclusion. Feelings and emotions as part of the work – being incorporated without being confessional – ambiguity or elusive – not purely aesthetic – more human.-how to convey emotions/feeling through form – associations – memoriesDavid Keffords personal input: disconnect between audience & work is always unsatisfactory, create direct conversation - socially engaged – collab/performance – relational aesthetics – social spaceRoutine – maintain contact at Tashkeel – routine – how am I working with it, allow others to relate to – binary – order, chaos – organics – happy accidents – manifest – to what levels of extremity does this go? Create activities or task to push ie: drawing with opposite hand, mark making, doodling, regimented – a spontaneous act – be unknown, allow that to happen. Set actions, boundaries & structures to adhere to – ie: must be A5, in pencil etc. create own systems, what will the psychological affects be.Thinking of the square/frame as a cyclic form, allowing and recording the reflections – photos of the pieces – before they become pieces – the photos may be interesting.Immersive, environment – event – theatre – sensation – spectacle – all the tropes.Christian Boltanski – drawing on the senses, touch, materiality, incorporating it in.Franz West – Adaptives – kinetic work –Awareness that the professionalism of the art work and artwork have trapped me – not allowing work to expand the confinement of the frame/ the hand/ the art world.Caroline Broadhead – moving through the scale and work in to installation.Live performance – work into space. Take work and space out, remove from the commercial aspect, edge & messy – physical & mental mess.Cultivate an attitude of disruption – draw inspiration from the artists such as Turrell and Balka, move work from being easily digestible – move it in to discontent. Stop being the ‘good girl’ – move away from compliance, correctness, break the veneer – get under the skinMove in to sculpture – discuss the foam felt geo sculpture which looks heard but isn’t – subversive – artifice – ‘supposed to be this but actually this’ – think Richard Serra’s verb listMaking doodles etc,Project planning for spaceDiversify and expand into installation work.Actions (if any)

• Move in to sculpture – discuss the foam felt geo sculpture which looks heard but isn’t
• think Richard Serra’s verb list
• Making doodles etc,
• Project planning for space
• Diversify and expand into installation work.
• Create a system
• Possible for performance
• Research artist discussed and how they can inform work
• Keep notes of reflections and discussions I’m having about my work.

Exploratory Project - Wk 4 - 11/03/2018- 17/03/2018

1. • Week 4 Mar 11th Continue with production, once each moment of production is 'completed' as such, reflect immediately to stay on top and also revisit and compare with previous productions - Mon 12 Mar: Tutorial AR  

 Reflections since last tutorialStill getting caught up in research rather than making and using reading/organization as procrastination. Also holding back on making down to fear and overthinking so need to move on with this.Feeling more comfortable with MA Journal, but still can share more. Perhaps start to share more ad hoc using phone etc.Discussion and recommendations EXPLORATORY PROJECT: Don’t use the plan as a stick to beat myself with! It’s to go back to but not to stick rigidly to. Document stuff – add it into the plan. Where am I now? What do I feel about where I am now? FEEDBACK FROM AW: dipping books: making them more eloquent, became object & something more than books – more metaphorical, poignant – sad & out of date, no longer available, disappearing or collapsing, how it affected them, more poetic.Revisit and consider the material finish, edit out (or in) the successful ones. In evaluation they work but materials need to be refined, think about how they come across both digitally and in person. One problem can be that too much work is submitted and not edited to show the strongest practice.Think about what you did in terms of transformation.MA Journal: make spaces for reflection, revisit plan, not use as a weapon, meet with group. Agreed actions (if any)

• revisit plan
• document making
• making more for the sake of it and let it evolve
• evaluate materiality

Contextual Essay - Wk 4 - 11/03/2018-17/03/2018

• Week 4 Mar 11th Continue with reading, reflect immediately to stay on top and compare with each other and practice - make links, why is it relevant? - Mon 12 Mar: Tutorial AR  

  CONTEXTUAL ESSAY TUTORIAL FEEDBACK:draft title: ‘The Material Culture of Everyday Life, using materials to sway emotion and confine chaos’.Define terms – Sway – to have an affect.Looking at list of artists narrow down to four that are more pertinent: currently considering Kiyonori Shimada & Machiko Agano as aspiring practice regarding installation and immersion, Ealish Wilson & Liz Nilsson relating to current position of practice and made artifacts, shared concerns, 3D spaces in drawings/2D works etc.Address the question ‘why is it important to me?’ rather than being confessional as this is uncomfortable for me make it into an issue of contemporary life. What does the work do, or creating the work do? Calming impact, emotions and confining chaos through making.Structure: Draft titleIntro: why you want to look at it ‘it’s a contemporary issue’, data points (calming emotions and confining chaos)2: ‘I’m going to look at these two pairs of artists….’3: discuss how their work does what I/they say it does4: how it relates to my work OR bring my work in to the previous two sections5: impact on my work6: Conclusion – go back to title & intro – reiterate why its an important issue and summarize why they do what was asked.QUOTES: two good ones – from philosophy, news, research. 

Exploratory Project - Wk 3 - 04/03/2018- 10/03/2018

• Week 3 Mar 4th  Reflect on current production, note relationship to readings, additional areas to explore or possible changes in direction etc.  

Exploratory project is in fits and bursts. I had a productive week a week ago and made 9 little books, but since then its slowed down due to 'life' issues. I have ideas about materials and possible explorations but don't feel like I can pursue them as they require equipment to be bought which I can't fund at the moment.

I'm not sure how I can challenge myself with the making. I was thinking about some sculptural work in foam and felting, to look like they were hard structures but are actually soft. Or translating some of my fractures in to quilting designs. I feel like they need to be pieced together, this idea of breaking down and piecing back together; creating a pattern, breaking it and making a new pattern.

I just don't know if my work is interesting enough. I had a rough peer critique where one of the self-appointed tutors said my work was cold, looked juvenile and wasn't interesting. Unfortunately it's always the negative comments that stick and wear you down.

Contextual Essay - Wk 3 - 04/03/2018-10/03/2018

• Week 3 Mar 4th  Reflect on current production, note relationship to readings, narrow down to key artists/works/methods.

 Regarding the contextual study, I think I have a working title, 'The Material Culture of Everyday Life, using materials to sway emotion and confine chaos'. I've happily discovered Maxine Bristow ( www.maxinebristow.com), and from that the Transition and Influence archive by UCA (www.transitionandinfluenceprojects.com) which I'm currently working through. I've realised today that a big barrier I have here is self-confidence, a lot of the artists that are coming up are ones I researched during my BA and as I had quite a negative experience I'm finding it difficult to revisit them without evoking self-doubt. That's certainly a challenge I didn't anticipate!I'm reading and actually do feel like I'm making some progress but it's a little muddled and I'm jumping around with it as I rocket off in to my thoughts as I get excited, having to work at reigning it in to keep the process coherent. I'm doing my best to give myself a break and the frustration levels are going down, but it's all a process.Thoughts: What am I doing thats new? How am I bringing value? Am I getting my exploratory project and the contextual study mixed up. How can I write about my practice at the same time as being pushed to challenge it? It feels like contradictory to almost set a practice in a tangible form through a contextual pieces while being expected to push the boundaries of where the practice lies.On material culture: Our homes become more comfort driven and softer as our businesses and education centres become open, clinical and hard: glazing, concrete, enamel vs woods, wools and rattan.Material culture of everyday life, using materials to sway emotion - comfort, fear etc. Immersion, immersive new media and textiles, could they work together to give a comforting or challenging experience?Artists:Sue Lawty:

19sl Stone Drawing: Series 0414, Sue Lawtynatural stone on gesso, 6 panels, 10.5” x 8.25” each, 2010, $7,400 (SOLD)20sl Woven Lead: Series 1210, Sue Lawtylead warp and weft, hand woven and beaten, plexi, 10.5” x 8.25” each, 2010, $7,400

Statement:‘I seek an understated restraint, balance, tension, rhythm: an essential stillness.

The work is rooted in an emotional, spiritual and physical engagement with the land, drawing on direct experiences of remote, raw, edgy landscape and specifically rock. It has been described as ‘meditative… a deeply contemplative experience’.

Constructed pieces and drawings in two and three dimensions are abstract and minimal. They explore repetition and interval; investigating territories of expression in raphia, hemp, linen, lead, stone or shadow.

Sue Lawty

‘…Lawty is developing links between contemporary use of unconventional materials and traditional practice… Cultural and personal narrative is concerned with the substance of things, the nature of cloth; it’s structure and feel. She is exploring ideas of individuality and universality, a single thread within a piece of cloth, or a single stone on a beach made of millions of stones. The mapping of place and space, the structure of the landscape, the sense of time…’ 

Professor Lesley Millarhttp://www.browngrotta.com/Pages/lawty.phpChika Ohgi:

vague sense of distance (2009)vinyl, my family clothes

http://chikaohgi.com/works/sense_distance.html

I am looking at the interface between the space and the objects.I consider the space as important as my objects.This is why I am interested in the edges of objects.Each object has a very subtle boundary between the space and itself. So the objects integrate themselves into the space.

I keep making, not knowing the consequence of my actions.The answer for my questing will only be revealed when it is installed in a space.My installations are gradually revealed to the spectators by the passage of time.

Chika OHGI

https://lha.uow.edu.au/taem/artistsinresidence/UOW220670.htmlMachiko Agano:

Japanese master weaving artist and artisan Machiko Agano is known for her elaborately woven structures usually created to be installed in a specific space. Many of Agano’s works use translucent or neutral coloured materials to portray delicate natural emotions, and allow the characteristics of the surrounding space to penetrate and reflect the work.

https://trendland.com/machiko-agano-textural-installations/Kiyonori Shimada:

DIVISION - 2009 - W

http://www.miniartextil.it/artist.php?post_id=254&lang_id=1

Believing that cloth itself, by its very nature affects our emotions directly, he creates monumental installations of stitched layers cloth. White, or red, or earth coloured, the installations surround the viewer, move gently and echo primordial forms.

http://www.directdesign.co.uk/testDD/transition_gallery/kiyonorishimada.html#Division

Ealish Wilson:

50/50 : DIGITALLY PRINTED TYVEK AND VELLUM CIRCLES  42" x 42"

My work investigates pattern and its transformation through surface manipulation. Influenced by travel, architecture, the aesthetic traditions from Japan and the Arts and Crafts movement, my textile constructions showcase materiality using a variety of substrates and structural form created through a process of continual manipulation.

The printed surface is where the manipulation starts. Photography plays an essential yet subtle role in my work. I capture imagery from daily life, various cultures and architecture to create my digitally manipulated textiles.

Using techniques normally associated with fashion, such a pleating and smocking, I work meticulously by hand to create structure, which starts to morph the custom-made textile into new iterations. Once, again, I turn to the photographic process to rework the patterns and print the transformed textiles onto cloth before finally pleating and smocking into my textile constructions. This dialogue between architecture, patterns, photography and material is the fundamental thread throughout my work, honoring the time to create beautiful objects that endure.

http://ealishwilson.com/g6fw3pdujgja4bq3zqad5wohhdkoiwLiz Nilsson:

“To Capture Silence” - an exhibition by Joe Hogan and Liz Nilsson, at the Source Art Centre, Thurles, 4th December 2014 - 31st January 2015.

These new abstract printed tableaux in grey tones, make reference to both the construction of life and the construction of cloth, threads and lines that meet, connect and move on - like the human process.The work is strongly linear, evoking a natural pattern and conducive of thought through repetition.

Using her experience as an artist, designer, facilitator and curator, she fabricates site-specific collaborative projects which investigate the connection between place, space and belonging.

Liz also have a strong interest in visual rhythm, pattern and repetition. She incorporates print, tactile mark making, photography and drawing in her projects, concluding in installations, printed compositions and socially engaged projects.

http://liznilsson.com/silence

Rhiannon Williams:

https://criticalcloth.wordpress.com/page/2/

Patchwork as Critical Practice: 'I describe my own work, somewhat provocatively, as "intellectual sewing" conducted in the manner of a critique. My methodology supports the agenda for integration of theory into practice, arriving at an interdisciplinary approach that promotes mutuality of theory with practice as a working model.'

https://criticalcloth.wordpress.com/

Repetition and time are key elements in the work of Rhiannon Williams. Patchwork cloths created from newspapers and the detritus of modern life are used to reveal and critique aspects of the way we live.

http://www.transitionandinfluenceprojects.com/gallery/rhiannonwilliams.htmlAlana Tyson:

Installation view Ruthin Craft Centre, Lining and thread, inflatable, sound. 2.5m x 4m x 3m, 2015

http://www.alanatyson.com/interior/4589307860

Alana Tyson’s work attempts to make sense of the world she inhabits. Identifying herself as an outsider, not just because she is an immigrant to the UK, Tyson keenly feels the friction of everyday life and the contradictions and hypocrisy of society. Dismayed by such platitudes as "that is how it has always been," her uncertain questioning takes the form of performance, sculpture and installation utilising found, altered and constructed elements.

http://www.transitionandinfluenceprojects.com/gallery/alanatyson.htmlMaxine Bristow:

COMPONENT CONFIGURATION 010914 - CH2 2LB, STUDIO SPACE, UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER 01.09.14 - 26.10.14. Shown within the main studio space at the University of Chester, this presentation of work was the outcome of a period of speculative studio enquiry during the summer vacation period in 2014.

I am an artist and academic who draws on the material and semantic conventions of textile; using these as a point of departure for an artistic practice that variously takes the form of wall based objects, sculpture and installation. My practice, research and teaching experience, however, extends beyond the specificity of textile and is concerned more broadly with a material sensibility within contemporary fine art practice. Of central concern is material agency and the affective dimension of the aesthetic experience. I am particularly interested in the way that a material aesthetic opens up our sensuously bound encounter with the world and how the affective intensity of this encounter opens up a productively indeterminate space where boundaries become blurred and meaning is unable to settle.

http://www.maxinebristow.com/about-1/ 

Exploratory Project - Wk 2 - 25/02/2018- 03/03/2018

• Week 2 Feb 25th Begin research reading and gathering, use Textile reader (Hemmings, 2012) and Everyday Reader (Highmore, 2002); texts related to touch, histories, colonialism, colour, routine, textile usage. Explore artists already working around my exploration (also links to contextual study).  Continue production experiments, break process down and source materials. 

So I have done some of the reading, and considered how to move my work forward. The asynchronous seminar felt like an unnecessary evil this week and was just a huge weight on top of all the other work. On top of 'daily life' as it were, it's been difficult to find a balance. Both of my other reading groups have come to an end, although Art Month, or March Madness as its affectionately known here, begins this week with exhibition openings and a plethora of talks, discussions and various other art events are taking place.

Actual physical work has taken a back seat this week as I tried to claw back some organisation ...oh and try to find a job! Arrgh!

Contextual Essay - Wk 2 - 25/02/2018-03/03/2018

• Week 2 Feb 25th Begin research reading and gathering, use Textile reader (Hemmings, 2012) and Everyday Reader (Highmore, 2002); texts related to touch, histories, colonialism, colour, routine, textile usage. Explore artists already working around my exploration. Mon 26 Feb: Writing Workshop

This week I realised I am trying to cover too many topic in my workThankfully I realised that now before I had embarked on a huge amount of research for the essay. After summarising myself fro the writing workshop and for a couple of application I am keeping my work simple - routine, repetition, disruption in an urban environment; how chaos interacts with the repetition of everyday life. Well, when I say simple I mean that it's not as diverse as it initially was by including socio cultural factors, race relations, post0colonialism etc... if an audience wants to see that in the work thats okay, but I'm going to leave it out of my own critique, for now anyway!So, I've since read through a couple of the essays in The Textile Reader, (Hemmings, 2012) regarding touch, everyday life in public spaces and fabric and usage. I will comment on them in a separate post once I have gathered my thoughts.To be honest this week has been overwhelming, the writing workshop went quickly and I felt somewhat put on the spot, this made me instantly loose confidence in my self as I didn't feel as grounded in my process as my course mates appear to be. The essay feels like its running at twice the speed of life and I can't keep up. I can't quite get my head around having a vague structure ready for next week. I am wondering if its me or the pacing of the course, the fact that all three assessed projects are started at the same time and running parallel feels crazy. 

26/02/2018 - Writing Workshop - Contextual Unit Essay

Rosa Ainley Writing workshop - see slide showIntroduction of ourselves,katie, british, dubai and looking at repetition, routine and disruption through textiles and bookmaking with other options.What worries do we have about writingme: Too much research, getting overwhelmed and filtering.P: keeping to the subject.T: Staying on topic, in 2000 words!M: At this point my concern is having something valuable and of importance to say about my workJ: My biggest challenge is limitations in writing:what to select?K: Getting a title that is not to broad or to narrow to work in.E: discussing our work, if you have gone down many different routes/ processes / concerns - should we hone in on a particular aspect of our work?R: creating a tight thesisR: What do we write about?K: Starting researchJ: starting relevant research, and where to find itWho what where when - title is one of the things you use to guide your reader but it is also what guides yourselfspend a lot of time thinking about a title that is neither to broad or too narrow. What are the finer points I want to communicate to the reader.See slide 5slide 6: quotes - things to consider - less about your opinion about whether its good but more about why or how you think its good. Not just your own but also the work of othersslide 7: activity - object based writing:sources: grey literature and empherera - images need to be relevantSlide 8: basic essay structure - See slideIntro, the 3-5 sections and relating each to your argument and then conclusion, the response to the question and how the ideas/images/example bring you to that response.if you are going to break out and do something very different you need to be clear to reader why you are doing that.Activity: create a diagram to 'map out' essaydrawing diagram - to map out my essay - then write out a skeleton for your essay -This relies on having a focus but I don't feel like I have a focus.I don't like being put on the spot with stuff like this. I feel so uncomfortable and unprepared and that makes me freeze up even more as I start to panic. So them instead of being the intelligent and coherent person I know I am I just shut off and give up as I can't find the words.try not yo jump in to research until you're sure what you are looking for.proof reading - scale up and print or read txt aloud which helps with tone etccan contact Rosa afterwards phew! See google keep notes for emailpost things from the workshop in to the journal, tutorials in march and be prepared for those. also book in for visiting lecturer tutorialspop tutorials next week