Still not connected to the internet. I keep waiting, thinking it'll be sorted by next week, I can catch up then... but so far it hasn't been.
I've been busking. twice with slack rope, once singing nursery rhymes. I'm putting together a funding proposal. I've booked myself on additional courses. I found the theatre library. I've nearly learnt handstands. good bit's bad bits to everything. I'd have done a lot better busking if i'd just taken the flute but I want to do more than that.
I'm gonna take the gramaphone busking soon.
is it all about busking? it's a harder audience to crack.
what have i seen/thought recently. amazed by the light. and reflections. accidentally offended someone by criticising something i saw in the arnolfini. a digital representation of dance, looked like a screensaver. didn't do anything for me.
i loved printing. i loved embossing. i loved layering embossing. printing bike bits. doing a future portrait of me on a mini-bike on a slack rope.
think i need to make a mini-set and lots of costume models. I need to work in my studio. when? I need a good space with a rolling to-do list.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
lecture notes
i just spent about an hour typing up my lecture notes and tried to upload it to blogger which said it was too long. when i clicked 'back' to try and copy and paste it into a word document it told me i had to contact the system supervisor - this is because i'm trying to use the college computers which have many sites blocked - how can i comment and show current project if facebook's blocked? How can i talk about contraversial issues if mild-taboo words are blocked? this is insane and no way to run a degree course. I am not a child, i don't need an internet babysitter. I've spent a lot of money on this course the administration and appaling access are blocking me at every turn. I feel like many bits of this course are shoddy. Other bits assume greater knowledge than we have. Show me how to use a Mac and i can do what we're expected to do. Ask me to start a blog and i can do it, i don't need to be shown how to access a website. If this is the expected level of a degree then I don't need to do one. I hope it's less patronising in future but what we can do about the infantilising and overly complicated computer set up I don't know. So. I could spend an hour re-typing notes on Graphic Design but i'd rather do some real work.
RWA exhibition
I love open exhibitions. The variety is thrilling, I can enjoy an exhibition of one artists work or of complementing (or contrasting) artists but a good variety in an open exhibition to excites me. A dictaphone would have been handy for 'making notes' whilst looking around. Some of the pieces which stay in my memory are a large, heavily textured piece on canvas. some landscapes done with large brushstrokes, almost no detail. Vera's 'drawings' which look like paintings to me. A canvas primed and then painted with something (pva?) which gave it a glossy, white marble like surface which was then drawn into with what looked like a gel pen. Also a 'hyper real' cityscape which i liked for it's intensity of 'cityness' rather than enjoying the painting particularly. There were mesh human forms also. I find that I have more of a 'language' for describing paintings than I do for sculpture. There were a few sculptures that made me think 'hmm, that's the sort of thing that gets commissioned' though I found them rather boring to look at.
my poem
Celebration Street
Bunting-streaming,
adults-eating,
children squeeling,
sodium-lighting,
music-playing,
apples-bobbing,
fancy-dressing,
chocolate-melting,
everyone-laughing,
talking, dancing!
it's a 'kenning', the vikings wrote them, never mentioning the subject. like a riddle almost. 'back-biter' is a viking name for a sword for example.
Celebration Street is written for children and aims to convey the atmosphere of a halloween street party.
Bunting-streaming,
adults-eating,
children squeeling,
sodium-lighting,
music-playing,
apples-bobbing,
fancy-dressing,
chocolate-melting,
everyone-laughing,
talking, dancing!
it's a 'kenning', the vikings wrote them, never mentioning the subject. like a riddle almost. 'back-biter' is a viking name for a sword for example.
Celebration Street is written for children and aims to convey the atmosphere of a halloween street party.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
printmaking
Bristol School of Art – FdA 2010-2011
SP1 –– The transferred image 4 x 3hrs
Friday, 1.30 – 4.30 in Room 06
Lecturer: Abi Nicol
Dates: 11/11, 19/11, 26/11, 3/12
The aim of these sessions is to introduce you to a range of approaches and techniques in printmaking. We will be looking at a variety of approaches in the studio; monoprinting/monotype, drypoint/poormans etching and Xerox transfer. We will be looking at what happens to the image (whether a drawing or photograph) when we transfer it into another process; looking at layering, mark making, surface transference and material manipulation.
Before 11th November
What is printmaking?
Please research monoprint, monotype, drypoint, etching and Xerox transfer. Please bring at least 4 examples of each. Try and explore how it has been made. I would like you to look through recent issues of Printmaking today and bring a photocopy of 2 pieces you are drawn to.
We have a good selection of printmaking books in the library, covering everything from the old masters to cutting edge mixed media prints.
Ross, J. Ed. (1990) The complete printmaker: techniques, traditions, innovations NEW YORK: Roundtable Press
is a bible of techniques
Materials
You will need to bring all work to do with your Urban project to every class – drawings, photos, ephemera, research etc and the experimental drawings you made with Vera. We will be using this work as your starting point, the aim to extract exciting areas out of this work and manipulate it through the printmaking processes.
11th November: 1.30-4.30pm 06
· PowerPoint intro to printmaking: demonstration: monoprinting
You will need to bring textures e.g. textured papers, wall papers, sand paper, thin metal, packaging, fabric, lace, ribbon, threads etc that could be used as collage for your urban project. The Scrap Store in St Werburghs is brilliant for getting a multitude of cheap materials (its above Better Food – you pay by volume e.g. £10 for a shopping trolley full of stuff!) BSA is a member – you will need to get our membership number from reception.
19th November: 1.30-4.30pm 06
· Demonstration: Xerox transfer and poor man’s etching
You will need both prepared photographs and drawing examples. Good contrast photographs and drawings photocopied/printed out to 15 x 15 cm in black and white.
26th November: 1.30-4.30pm 06
· Recap on print processes and outcomes. Demonstration: monoprinting II Personal investigation and experimentation into printing. Keep work to the dimension 15 x 15cm.
3rd December: 1.30-4.30pm 06
· Recap on previous sessions. Personal aims for session. Complete a selection of experimental print processes and combinations of possibilities. Group critique looking at outcomes.
References
Robert Rauschenberg, Picasso, A Tomato Project, Frank Stella, Antonio Tapies, Jim Dine, Howard Hodgekin, David Salle, Georg Baselitz, Helen Frankenthaler, Angela Hayson, Henry Moore, Michelle Thompson, Hammer Press, Spike Island Print Studio.
AIMS
- To extend and develop the work you have done in your sketchbooks.
- To extend and develop your photographs.
- To experiment with print processes.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the 4th session you will have:
- Made at least 2 prints of each introduced process.
- Explored what happens to an image when transfered into another process..
- Extended and/or developed ideas from your city walk/urban project.
creative practices - eh?
Aims
To encourage an experimental approach to drawing as a flexible way of thinking across media, with an emphasis on drawing in time.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the day students will have:
- Considered drawing as a process that can encompass a range of media;
- Synthesised their researches and ideas through and into the making of temporal drawings.
Research, Planning and Content
Assessment
Assessment of this work will take place at the end of the module. It will include:
- A range of works in digital and other media
week 4 tasks
CHI Tasks Week 4:
1. Identify at least 4 exhibitions, events or screenings relevant to your Creative Practice that you will attend before Xmas. Post details of these & then post your notes about these on your blog/website when you have attended them.
2. Read: Exhibition notes & press release from Controversies: A Legal and Ethical HIstory of Photography, Musee de l'Elysee, 2008 and post your comments about it on your blog/website.
current affairs etc
Sources of information about current debates, events and exhibitions in your subject area
Some Ideas
- Journals – library and web-based. All list events likely to be of interest to the readership and exhibitions, talks, seminars etc, alongside articles.
Most journals now also have an online presence and mailing lists, which you can join to be kept up to date.
- Local venues – for example the Arnolfini, Watershed, Cube Cinema, Royal West of England Academy, Spike Island, ICIA Bath, Knowle West Media Centre, Picture This, Fashion Museum – Bath, Holbourne Museum of Art – Bath, Royal Photographic Society – Bath
You can join their mailing lists to be kept up to date with events and exhibitions.
- In addition to the websites for specific local venues, you can also
find information on websites including:
Bristol City Council Arts Development http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/leisure-and-culture/arts-and-entertainment/arts---information-and-advice/
And
And in local listings magazines including:
Venue magazine, published weekly (available in the library and in local newsagents)
Evening Post – Arts Listings Pages, published weekly (available in the library and in local newsagents)
- Nationally, there are specialist museums, galleries, organisations etc that you might want to join the mailing lists for. Also, some offer an RSS service which you can link to your blogs (the Victoria and Albert Museum does this, so does the Design Museum).
- For national events, shows and exhibitions etc – read the Saturday and Sunday papers and their supplements – all available in the library. These list details of lots of events, talks etc and often review specific exhibitions, alongside interviewing practitioners.
The Guardian/Observer, The Times/Sunday Times and The Independent/Independent on Sunday are my preferred papers – but have a look at them all & see which you like.
- Time Out Magazine is the London Listings magazine. Published fortnightly – it is a fantastic resource for what’s on in art, design and photography in the major spaces and in the smaller and artist-led spaces. The library always has the most recent copy of it & for reference – take a photocopy of the pages relevant to your subject to have a browse through so you know what sort of things are detailed.
- New Exhibitions is a good website for exhibitions and talks and events. It is Fine Art biased, but does include other subject information and is always worth a look. See: www.newexhibitions.com
- Professional bodies and associations exist in all areas of professional creative practice. Some examples include the Association of Illustrators, D&AD, BIMA etc
All will have links pages from websites to events and exhibitions etc that they deem to be interesting to their members.
graphic design tasks 2
Session 3 – Additional Task
‘London 2012’s Logo’ – What is good graphic design?
Have a look at these websites which contain information about the logo that has been designed to represent the London 2012 Olympics. It has been contentious......
Q: What do you think?
Web sources:
Official Website – ‘Our Brand’
London 2012 – Can you do better? – Triumph or Trash? (Click through the opinions pages as well as the front page etc)
BBC Story with comments
Creative Review Article
David Airey – Designer’s comments
London Metro
Do a search on the web for further articles about this logo – it has provoked a strong reaction!
graphic design tasks
is it possible to assess the quality, and/or fully understand a piece of graphic design work outside of the specific communication system it is made in relation to? e.g. social marketing to a specific group?
is it possible to do this for a piece of work which would be considered to be a work of fine art?
quality in Graphic Design is measured by the changes it produces in the audience? discuss
tasks: post notes on lectures
read Blanchard, T(2004) vivienne westwood in Fashion and graphics.
read Traub, C (2006`) The artist in the market place in The education of a photographer
is it possible to do this for a piece of work which would be considered to be a work of fine art?
quality in Graphic Design is measured by the changes it produces in the audience? discuss
tasks: post notes on lectures
read Blanchard, T(2004) vivienne westwood in Fashion and graphics.
read Traub, C (2006`) The artist in the market place in The education of a photographer
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
crochet in the cathedral & illuminate
I put my punk cassette jacket (work in progress) up in the cathedral. Got the train down there, borrowed a mannequin, arranged the cassettes like droppings underneath it... It was the only 'conceptual' 'installation' piece amongst many pictures, some masks, painted cups, candles, stained glass and other oddments. The pictures range from very fine watercolours to garish and heavily textured oils with a wide range in between. I admire the former but lean more towards the latter as I'm keen on the texture and the more 'painterly' approach. I must stretch a canvas and try a textured picture, I'm scared of working with paint though!
The jacket is still not finished, it needs lapels and a collar. I'd like to do the badges out of inlay covers and studs out of the cases, then it might be finished.
I popped in at the talk on Cezanne's use of colour, it might have been interesting but I had to take my son with me and he wouldn't let me concentrate and I had to leave. oh well. I remember a little bit about how blue and orange, opposites, don't look good together and often have a neutral colour like a dark brown or mixed black between them. I also was duly amazed at how, when shown a picture in greyscale, he had used almost the same tones throughout. The vibrancy is all in the colour, not tone. I noted also the bit about how he used the reflected colour as shading, managing to create a reddish green and other seemingly impossible colours.
The Illuminate festival went ahead, we sang... processing around with masks on. I held an apple (it is mentioned in the song) and I think it was a good look as often asymmetric figures are more interesting. Rob had his drum, Ian a pumpkin lantern, me an apple, Cat her recorder and I don't think Samantha had a prop. Luckily I was able to keep my phone and purse on me as a grey pocket wasn't out of keeping with our black costumes. I should have made the cloaks though, Cat's mother didn't do a very good job, i turned mine into an apron. There were loads of 'issues' I hadn't been clear about the times which made childcare difficult. The band didn't stick to their times and we'd be told not to clash with them which meant we were scurrying around the edge and it felt as though we were hiding from the public. Rob, who was leading kept going much too fast in my humble opininon - i thought that it would have much more sonorous import if we'd kept to a slow pace. Cat's more concerned with whether we're in tune or not and was not keen on working with the situation as it presented itself, she had been given her times and she wanted to stick to them! But without her rigidity and organisation it wouldn't have happened at all. So that's it for my performances this year. Need to find some money from somewhere this december...
I was really impressed by people at the York Road halloween street party, the houses that had volunteered to be trick or treat locations went to town with setting up scenarios. I particularly liked the 'interview with a vampire' house and the old lady who got Ianto to drink bright blue 'poison' after fishing sweets out of a large bowl of cold spagetti. The eyeball full of jelly was good too! It's good to see people being so creative and so pro-active. Some of the kids were really scared.
The jacket is still not finished, it needs lapels and a collar. I'd like to do the badges out of inlay covers and studs out of the cases, then it might be finished.
I popped in at the talk on Cezanne's use of colour, it might have been interesting but I had to take my son with me and he wouldn't let me concentrate and I had to leave. oh well. I remember a little bit about how blue and orange, opposites, don't look good together and often have a neutral colour like a dark brown or mixed black between them. I also was duly amazed at how, when shown a picture in greyscale, he had used almost the same tones throughout. The vibrancy is all in the colour, not tone. I noted also the bit about how he used the reflected colour as shading, managing to create a reddish green and other seemingly impossible colours.
The Illuminate festival went ahead, we sang... processing around with masks on. I held an apple (it is mentioned in the song) and I think it was a good look as often asymmetric figures are more interesting. Rob had his drum, Ian a pumpkin lantern, me an apple, Cat her recorder and I don't think Samantha had a prop. Luckily I was able to keep my phone and purse on me as a grey pocket wasn't out of keeping with our black costumes. I should have made the cloaks though, Cat's mother didn't do a very good job, i turned mine into an apron. There were loads of 'issues' I hadn't been clear about the times which made childcare difficult. The band didn't stick to their times and we'd be told not to clash with them which meant we were scurrying around the edge and it felt as though we were hiding from the public. Rob, who was leading kept going much too fast in my humble opininon - i thought that it would have much more sonorous import if we'd kept to a slow pace. Cat's more concerned with whether we're in tune or not and was not keen on working with the situation as it presented itself, she had been given her times and she wanted to stick to them! But without her rigidity and organisation it wouldn't have happened at all. So that's it for my performances this year. Need to find some money from somewhere this december...
I was really impressed by people at the York Road halloween street party, the houses that had volunteered to be trick or treat locations went to town with setting up scenarios. I particularly liked the 'interview with a vampire' house and the old lady who got Ianto to drink bright blue 'poison' after fishing sweets out of a large bowl of cold spagetti. The eyeball full of jelly was good too! It's good to see people being so creative and so pro-active. Some of the kids were really scared.
slack film
slack film. I've been talking to Aaron, I always like the way he puts things. He asked me what slack rope's about, what it's essence is, that kind of thing. I told him it's about 'breath' but it's also about intense focus and minute balance. It's also about thinking from the sternum. Breath we thought... how do we represent that visually? I could attach sensors to my ribcage, they could link to a projector which could show colours, expansion and contraction, different air/lungs images, other images which represent focus or balance? Or I could use the footage i've taken, and indeed, take footage with the camera strapped to my sternum. Each breath could change the footage. Or use the different intensities of breath somehow - short rapid breaths being a different colour or just that the quicker I breath the faster the images will change. It could be projected on to me (think me in white with the slack rope infront of a white sheet... Hmm. While i'm into exploring this idea it's deffinitely going more into a gallery space, not street. How can i make this 'popular entertainment' at the same time?
places to film, that bridge near the docks - at night. the railway bridge, easton. In the fountains (any fountains). Leigh Woods. I've already done castle park, montpelier park, the island, feeder road.
I need to keep this as simple as possible but I don't even know how to do that.
places to film, that bridge near the docks - at night. the railway bridge, easton. In the fountains (any fountains). Leigh Woods. I've already done castle park, montpelier park, the island, feeder road.
I need to keep this as simple as possible but I don't even know how to do that.
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