MA 1 Visual Enquiry

16/10/2017 - Pecha Kucha Presentations - feedback

Pecha Kucha Presentation Seminar – online 5pm-8pm BST

Feedback from my presentation – notes:

Connection of private & public – domesticity – weaving/embroidery – reference to connection of everyday, layers looking through interesting – as an additional layer the light altering the work.

Shells – labour – domestic labour – subtly strong point – weaving an unexpected addition – why was the weaving added to the shell – becomes an uncanny object – common on windowsills so association present – time & attention – issue with lack of labeling – Gary Neil Kennedy, artist, dictates the label to be part of art work.

img_9343.jpg

In first half of session we covered issues via the presentations, such as:

  • Do sales equal success?

  • Illustration/painting are they different?

  • How long will the work sustain you?

  • Can it be too precious?

  • Flattery, validation, control, association, appropriation, truth, composition, context.

Thoughts:

Feedback was useful, do need to question why weaving is important to the shells, its can be seen as quite unrelated and perhaps why its seen as decorative.

insta-pic-debjani.jpg

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28/09/2017 - Work review with thoughts

Work upload in preparation for tutorial 02/10/2017

Sketchbooks: video of two current sketchbooks.

Katie Venner-Woodbridge | Sketchbook from Katie Venner-Woodbridge on Vimeo

Link to Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/217086445

Watching this video of my sketchbook, I feel uncomfortable about the first half as I feel I have moved on so much from this. It makes me cringe a little. My research really developed from the second sketchbook onwards and had a positive impact on my work. I do, however, feel that it’s time to revisit starting points and clarify the connection between subject and research as it’s feeling disconnected. The style can remain the same; in the essence that they are abstracted and fragmented patterns but I feel that the initial subject matter of architecture may not be the right one.


Retrieval Practice:

Retrieval Practice
Completed March 2017
cotton thread, ceramic
Various, Max: W6cm L7.5cm D2cm
Exhibited in ‘Made in Tashkeel’ group show at Tashkeel Gallery Summer 2017

The routine and repeated act of retrieving shells from a shoreline, curated collections of natural debris gathered into vessels to claim and suspend memories. An act that transcends class, nationality, religion, gender and age, it interlaces the presence of persons on a coastline and the removal of artefacts contemporaneously.

Retrieval Practice
Completed March 2017

Retrieval Practice Completed March 2017 detail

Retrieval Practice
Completed March 2017
detail

Retrieval Practice Completed March 2017 detail

Retrieval Practice
Completed March 2017
detail

Still intrigued with this piece. Really enjoyed working with ceramics and the process of mould making although since creating these I have access to equipment that will make that process quicker if I deem it necessary. The fragility of the weavings, the thread and the intricacy brought about a feeling of the fragility of the environment from which the shells were originally collected, they aspect that it is repetitively put through rigours of human use daily, grinding and removing the debris of its natural inhabitants.


Divergent Resemblance:

Divergent Resemblance
Feb 2017
cotton thread, cotton muslin, aluminium mesh
80cm x 80cm
Exhibited in ‘Mind The Gap’ group show at Tashkeel Gallery March 2017

Embroidered panels of household cotton and wire mesh, symbolically interlace sub-cultures. Sunlight exposes the layers, reflecting the daily navigations of different sectors of the UAE. My work questions the ease of communication and quotidian practices in an environment where these vary due to cultural expectations, and how this discord can be accepted in a harmonious manner.   

Divergent Resemblance:  Mind the Gap 2017

Divergent Resemblance,
Feb 2017

Divergent Resemblance: Detail back, Feb 2017

Again, still enthralled by the research behind this pieces and wish to explore it further, by bringing the visual research into closer conjunction with the theoretical research taking place. Looking at whether to gain observational research from figurative, architectural or objects forms, whether gestural work is enough. Concerned about the obvious link between the genre of everyday studies and objects and thus have been avoiding that route so far.


The Entropy Series:

2D images (titles below each),
acrylic, archival watercolour paper
18cm x 28cm each

The Entropy Series aims to capture the gradual decline of routine through the repetitive cycles of discipline and disruption. I reflected on how the daily routines of humans transmute to accommodate unforeseen changes of circumstances, and how the chaos of life today provokes disparate reactions and actions in people.


87-100-unremitting.jpg

87 Unremitting,
July 2016

84-100-obstructed-pathways.jpg

84 Obstructed Pathways,
July 2016

85-100-heavy-grasping.jpg

85 Heavy Grasping,
July 2016

Initially a lot of pride and satisfaction with these pieces, it felt like I had turned a corner, which I still think I did to a point. However, looking back at them now, they feel naïve and not well thought out. There was a lot of chance in these although executed in a routine manner, as was my personal brief.


The Development Series:

This is the Development Series; photography is used to document the structures and repetitions of the ‘planned city’ and translated into digital geometric studies. Inspired by an interest in the daily advancement of the city through its construction, the repetitive frameworks of humans creating growth and changing outcomes. I am intrigued by the monotony that leads to a conclusion, after which the same processes are picked up and moved forward to another project and recreated to provide yet another outcome.

4484 (a) 2016
digital print

4484 (c)2016
digital print

I feel there is commercial scope for these and have had some success with sales through an online art site. I enjoy the process of making them and they fulfil the need for digital and commercial design work that I was initially trained in. I have considered recreating in paint, at a very large scale to see the outcome as I feel the monochrome would be engulfing and the size of the block shapes quite overpowering which is a state I would like to see created in paint.

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25/09/2017 - Research presentation

 5 min presentations:

Art & Participation, Art & Disciplines, Art & issues, Studio:  Studios can be limiting, set boundaries, regarding resources, materials etc. make decisions first before studio or after, studio times more of an affect on practice than we consider.

Art and Integrations: Can you make art regarding issues that are not related to you? Langland’s and Bell did. They became integrated in them.

Research - KVW

Regarding mapping territories, I am passionate about research but have a tendency to get lost and consumed by the gathering of knowledge. I’m currently researching  the  process of doing effective and efficient research to make sure I don’t waste time or get lost/distracted in information. The key, for me, is to find a balance between informing practice and producing an informed practice with outcomes.

Research as practice / practice as research – during – mutual - integral

Research of practice / practice of research – relationship – part of whole – dip in and out, different, gaining of knowledge or skills

Research is a skill that takes practice, time and training.

Research as practice - Way in which research is modeled by practical investigation

Examination of materials, tendencies, techniques, expressions, actions, ideas, opinions

In the view of Langland’s and bell – do they express opinion or present data? My opinion is that they tend to show data, the contrast to Emin, who is heavily personalized, bias and opinionated.

Art and research vs. academic research –Academic research looks to remove bias and emotion, I would argue that this is where art can differ in that some artists use bias, emotion and opinion to create work that tells a story from a certain viewpoint, or to provoke dialogue about a subject etc.

In general, a deep/thorough research practice builds confidence, generates ideas and progresses work. It allows the researcher/artist to understand their motivation, materials, ideas and context, and portray that in a concise way.

Links: http://www.tate.org.uk/about/projects/practice-research-imprints-and-futures

Response in chat box:

AH19:30 Totally agree about the 'lost and consumed' and time dictates how far we go off on a tangent!

KO'L19:31 It is interesting that you link research as a skill and actually I never thought about it but it is. Depending on your subject matter you have to know where to look.

MC19:31 I agree about the research done by Langland’s and Bell, it is almost data and certainly not response

JV19:31 I know the feeling that research can be overwhelming

AH19:31 However, research is so exciting and opens so many doors...

JV19:32 there is so much to explore, so putting boundaries is the biggest challenge for me.

RT19:32 I often feel similar to you I think KVW, where I am excited to do research, but sometimes do not find the time for making after all that research. I was fortunate to see a performance on Friday, which drew upon exactly these issues. The artist had embarked on a few years research about a memorialist from Canada/the UK and gave a sort of performance on her research. https://www.darcywilson.org/the-memorialist/

EC19:32 I think its all a kind of research - the reading and the making

RF19:32 "Research as practice - Way in which research is modeled by practical investigation"...this is important in the art practice at any age. I feel hindered if I haven't researched enough.

KO'L19:32 It is interesting the place of research and practice and how much research is necessary before we start a piece of art.

KVW19:33 Yes, RT. I feel like I could spend years researching before producing NOTE TO SELF: DON'T DO THIS THOUGH

KO'L19:33 But practice I think should be regular.

MC19:33 I find the word research to be loaded and I don’t even know that I am doing it but wouldn’t admit to it because it feels to deliberate for me and not intuitive although that is the connotations I have rather than what I am actually doing

RT19:33 I also often feel that before I can make any work about a topic, I need to know its complete history to feel comfortable talking about it.

AH19:33 if we over research does our art become less unique?

JV19:33 at the same it can go together: doing research and creating at the same time

EC19:33 I think they have to happen together as much as possible

MLE19:34 I sometimes question whether the opposite of 'over-indulgent in personal art that’s responds to private things publicly can also be true in that can Art become too 'academic' where it is now lost to the viewer which is whom it was made for? Or was it?

MZ19:34 I just want to say something, over researching and be depend on others arts activity actually give a freeze mind which I think it's very important to keep it balance otherwise we never find our ways and language

RF19:34 @AH, I agree, but the lack of research can make art less authentic.

EC19:34 that raises the question of who is the audience MLE

KVW19:35 for some it definitely becomes intuitive research and for others its deliberate

MC19:35 Yes I think there is no formula to making art it depends on the artist

JV19:35 @RF: it could it also be the other way around?

KVW19:36 MLE, I completely agree, academic based art can create an elitism and exclude certain audiences

MC19:36 however it is important to be humble to new approaches and stepping into new zones and out of comfort

To Do:

Meet in groups of 3 – discuss questionnaire

Tutorial next week

Put work on journal or email by Thurs 12pm GMT

Task 1 – Pecha Kucha, don’t script, be live, will be timed.

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