UNIT 6 Studio Practise

The Annunciation 

Duccio Variation No.5

In Studio practise we had to start thinking about transcribing, for this project we had to take inspiration from Caro's work  where he transcribed his ideas from a renaissance painting to create a series of abstract sculptures: The Duccio Variations. Caro produces his sculptures from shapes within the painting, the painting Caro used was the 'Annunciation'.




Tower of Babel

The renaissance painting I decided to use for my project was the 'Tower of Babel' by Pieter Brueghel. I liked the circular and curved shapes within the painting and decided to base my sculpture around these shapes. When transcribing my ideas I look at the arches, slopes and layers of the architecture within the painting for inspiration. I then used these shapes to create my abstract ideas.

UNIT 6 3D Workshop induction

At the beginning of our Caro project we were given an induction in the 3D workshop so we knew how to use most of the equipment correctly and safely therefore we could build our sculptures at the end of the project without assistance. We were given demonstrations on using the band saw, belt sander, pillar drill and an oscillating drum sander. Within the demonstrations were told how to use each of the machines, examples of what you might use each of the machines for and safety rules such as wearing protective glasses for example. After each demonstration were expected to use each of the machines on a piece of MDF to show that we then knew how to use them properly, I found this rather easy due to previous experience with the machines at secondary school.

UNIT 6 Analysis of Caro's "Child's Tower"

I think Caro choose to use varnished Japanese Oak because Japanese Oak wood has easier workability and produces good results with both machine and hand tools. Also, Caro would have varnished it to help reserve his work and provide a layer of protection as children were allowed to play on it. Allowing children to play on it makes sense as I believe this piece probably started as a child’s climbing frame at first but the shapes and other aspects would have continued to be developed over time. When developing his sculpture I believe Caro’s ideas were based off the playfulness of children and their wild imaginations, Caro could have been thinking from a child’s point of view when creating this work to capture that sense of playfulness and crazy imagination. Besides seeing a climbing frame when looking at this piece I could also see this sculpture being a rocket ship, children often showcase the ability to envision something as something different therefore Caro’s abstract design allows an adult to possess that ability also because of the many different interpretations you could make. Seeing a piece of artwork in an exhibition rather than on the internet also allows you to create different interpretations as you can look at the piece at different angles.  

 



I really like this sculpture as the artwork makes me feel reminiscent of my childhood when I would build dens out of cardboard boxes and whatever else I could find with my friends, unleashing my creative imagination. I believe Caro was trying to imply the importance of play with his piece by bringing a fun and interactive element into a somewhat serious environment by allowing children to play on the sculpture at exhibitions, as play allows us to dust off the childish segment of our imagination to refresh our creativity. If I were to change something about this sculpture I might possibly add some colourful elements to reflect the childish theme of this piece however that may take away from the simple and neutral materials Caro used which allows us to explore with our imaginations instead.

 

 

 

 



UNIT 1, 2 & 4 Photography workshop

The first thing I learnt in this workshop was how to actually use the cameras since I had never used a professional camera before and I was fairly clueless. We were taught about how changing the aperture, shutter speed and ISO would affect the exposure of our photos so that we were free to experiment with the settings when we began taking photos. Aperture controls the size of the hole within the lens that allows light in and also the depth of field (the section of the photograph that appears sharp), Shutter speed is the amount of time that the camera sensor is exposed to light; slow shutter speeds is useful for low key lighting whereas quicker shutter speeds can capture moving objects and the ISO is the sensitivity of your camera to light. Knowing this we then branched of into smaller groups to take pictures of each others hands using props whilst playing around with settings allowing us to get more comfortable using the cameras. We later began experimenting with the lighting in the studio to create different moods within our photographs: for example high and low key lighting. After the photography workshop I feel more confident in using a camera however I believe I will need a lot more time to practise before I begin producing high quality photographs.

UNIT 1, 2 & 4 3D Workshop

In the 3D workshop we were introduced to the concept of shape scape in which pieces slot together to create shapes. In our case we used a strong card in order to create our maquettes; in the morning we looked at other artists shape scapes in order to better understanding how the slotting mechanisms worked followed by us creating a quick shape scape to master how to make them before moving onto our main task; as this was only a quick task we were asked to make an abstract maquettes. Abstract has always been one of my weaknesses therefore I simply improvised without planning to see what my result would turn out like, for this I used a series of triangles to create a geometric appearance. Through this first exercise I found that I had a good understanding of the creating and assembly of the slot together pieces.

I then moved onto the main task which was to create a maquette that was relevant to the project therefore I made a fist shaped hand that stood upright from the wrist. I found the task fairly easy and completed it without any assistance, I wasn't that proud of my outcome because the material we used meant that it could fall apart easily due to loose slots and lack of an adhesive however my result does resemble a fist shaped hand from the majority of angles therefore I was fairly happy.

UNIT 1, 2 & 4 Ceramics Workshop

I was quite excited for the ceramics workshop as from past experiences I have thoroughly enjoyed working with clay, its quite therapeutic and you can achieve some really good outcomes. Our first task was to create a quick design page to give ourselves a clear plan to work towards and also for Deborah to understand our ideas if we needed assistance when creating our designs. My design page shows a simple design of a realistic style hand pointing, I drew it from different angles as the outcome would be three dimensional and the drawings would help me achieve the right shape and form.

 We then proceeded to knead the stoneware clay to remove any air pockets that would cause problems when in the kiln, to create my design I could have moulded the clay around my own hand or I could mould the design free hand. I decided to roll out my clay to suitable depth and then cut out the shape of a hand; from that point I folded over some of the fingers and began giving the hand a more softer shape removing the flat surfaces and sharp edges. Once I was happy with the form and shape of my hand I used various tools to make creases and lines on the surface of the clay to recreate the texture of skin. Overall, I was ecstatic with my outcome as I managed to make it exactly as I had planned it and personally I thought it was quite realistic for a first effort.

UNIT 1, 2 & 4 Textiles Workshop

When I was first told I would be partaking in a textiles workshop I wasn't very enthusiastic due to the fact I presumed it would be entirely fashion orientated - a matter in which I don't enjoy all that much - however I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the workshop! Kat (the workshop instructor) taught us many skills throughout the day which I found could be applied to all areas of art and design not just fashion.
The first technique we learnt was batik which is when you apply hot wax to fabric to create a barrier so that when colour is applied the wax covered areas remain colourless. Using a tjanting you would carefully apply hot wax onto the fabric following your chosen design allowing the wax to then cool. Once its cool your free to apply colour, we used different coloured procion dye, which would fill the negative space of your design. After the batik is completely dry you can iron off the wax leaving areas white. On my batik I decided to use some fabric pens to outline parts of the hand. Batik was my favourite activity of the day, I would love to be able to use it in my future work.

Our next task was screen printing, we used screens that had already been prepared as we were only being taught the process of screen printing. We placed the screens face down on top of some fabric and added a line of printing paint along the top of the screen. By using a squeegee to slide the paint across the screen it forces a layer of paint through the open areas of the mesh onto the fabric beneath. I found this process the easiest to get used to due to its speed and simplicity, I probably made more screen prints than anything else in the textiles workshop.

 

The third task of the day was paper making, this task was my least favourite within the session as I found my attempts weren't very successful and I didn't like the appearance of the outcomes.To make paper you would place the shreds of paper that have been soaked in hot water on the top face of a mesh canvas. Once you have a the desired thickness of paper on your mesh canvas you place the canvas face down on a towel allowing you to soak up water with a sponge from the back; once dry enough you can peel the mesh canvas away leaving your paper on the towel to dry. To make your paper more interesting their are a variety of things you can change or add to the paper however I was content with adding brightly coloured brusho inks onto the paper.

 

Towards the end of the day we did some embroidery over the top of a heat transfer as a relaxing task to finish of the session. We were taught how to use the heat transfer machine properly and safely before transferring an image onto on of our screen prints; we then used these to experiment with different stitches.

UNIT 7 Evaluation

Leah Harston/Group B

UNIT 7: Time-based Media in Art & Design Evaluation

My experience of working with contemporary time based forms of art has been invaluable to me as I have gained skills and knowledge that allows me to further explore into a branch of art and design I didn’t know existed. Therefore I can widen my options for the future and create new opportunities for myself.

Unfortunately I missed out on the zoetrope workshop however I did complete the zoetrope work station during my visit to the AniMotion exhibition at The Civic, which worked really well due to the fact that by following the steps given and tracing the cartoon everything was simple and easy however what I gained from that experience was an understanding of how the mechanism works; combined with my research I believe I would be confident in producing a zoetrope if I were to create one. In the iMovie workshop I felt was my biggest weakness out of all the workshops as I found the software quite confusing to use however with the help of the hand out I began to find it a lot easier, after watching back the iMovie I think it was good and I managed to edit all the elements into a sequence that collaborated well however I think if I edited the iMovie a little more I could try make a higher quality video. My third recording is of an action painting inspired by Jackson Pollock’s work, the idea of the video was a really clever way to record Pollock’s method however it could’ve been more successful. If I were to repeat my video again I would like to have made sure the plastic was cleaner/clearer, I would record in a room with a plain white ceiling and possibly add lighting underneath the plastic so that you can distinguish the difference between the colours of the paint better. My recordings of reportage drawing weren’t as successful as I would’ve liked due to the fact that I am not a quick drawer however I found that as we went on I adapted to the speed and towards the end of the workshop I found my drawings were more successful. Stop motion animation was my most successful recording in my opinion, I had a good understanding of the process allowing me to get on with the first part of the task confidently. I was less confident on the second part of the task due to my lack of editing skills however the result was successful, if I were to change one thing it would be to create more fluidity by using more frames and smaller moments on certain parts of the animation.

My research into time based media proved to be very useful as I gained a vast amount of knowledge and understanding from looking at the development of animation and its various methods such as the zoetrope and stop frame animation.  This research helped me when completing several of the tasks and whilst researching I found I had an interest in time based media. From looking at my artist research I realised you can be really creative and original with time based media for example a GIF is something I never realised could be art however Helen Greens work changed this perspective, David Hockney turned something that is supposed to be just fun into an art form using apps on apple devices and Bill Viola used a simple time based media, video, however he created beautifully meaningful pieces through simplicity. By looking at these artists work I was really inspired and tried be fairly ambitious despite my lack of skills in my workshops.

For my primary research I visited the AniMotion exhibition at The Civic to gather images and videos for my digital sketchbook. Overall, I enjoyed the exhibition, it had a wide variety of time based media and had many interactive exhibitions as well as workstations to create your own time based media. I learnt that time based media is continuously developing as technology advances widening the possibilities for artists and that it isn’t as limited as I first thought it would be.

Throughout my work I have planned, organised and prepared design solutions for time based media to help complete the tasks and workshops. For all the animation based recordings I have produced storyboards showing what I need to do and then proceeded to draw up designs and create sets where appropriate. When producing the iMovie I helped create a rough storyboard and write up a script in preparation for recording and for action painting I had to set up all the equipment in preparation for filming. All the preparation and planning was produced by creating and refining my ideas to create a final idea therefore I could then produce my workshop outcomes knowing exactly what I was doing.

During the production of my time based pieces I have used a variety of practical skills, methods and understanding in order to complete each of my outcomes for this project. Throughout unit 7 I have used my understanding of how time based media works, which I gained through research, to create several artworks independently. Through understanding the production of time based pieces it became easier to create them as I understood why the making process was done the way it was. During unit 7 I used several practical skills to produce my time based pieces: planning, drawing, photography, editing within various softwares and problem solving skills.

I have had to apply problem solving skills during this project to overcome the obstacles I have faced. Due to missing a week of college I had missed out on a the visit to The Civic, a few workshops and struggled to catch up however I made sure to put in all the hours I had missed during my own time to catch up to the best of my ability. I also visited The Civic myself and managed to complete the workshops I had missed besides the zoetrope however I made one at The Civic exhibition to be a substitute. Another problem I faced was uploading my videos to my blog therefore I uploaded them to YouTube and added the links to each of my blogs to make sure they could still be viewed easily.

I have used my blog for digital sketchbook therefore I have documented and recorded all the work I have completed throughout unit 7. My blog contains research, explanations of processes I have used, my preparation work, my workshop outcomes and some analytical content for different time based Medias. Therefore my blog has been successful in documenting and recording my work for unit 7. I have tried to make my blog more interesting by breaking up bigger pieces of writing and adding plenty of images and links to videos. However my blog is quite messy If I were to improve my blog it would be to go back and repost the blogs in order and make sure the font and size of the text is all he same.

Time management has been a problem particularly in this project due to missing a week of the project however I have tried by working a lot in my own time on my digital sketchbook, visiting the exhibition, researching and even creating some time based media myself. Despite my efforts I didn’t manage to complete all the work required for the deadline however I managed to complete the outstanding work quickly within a couple of days after the deadline. If I had just worked a little bit harder earlier on I probably would’ve completed the work.

 

UNIT 7 IMovie

In the second half of the workshop we created an IMovie: a video created through the iMovie editing software provided to Macs and IOS by Apple. We were to create our videos in groups of three each of us having a different roles to complete the task, we then had the choice between these three subjects for our videos:
1. A video about either Andy Warhol or Grayson Perry
2. A video about a process e.g. Print screening
3. A video advertising the college to new students

My group decided on task one to create a video about the artist Andy Warhol. We began by deciding on our roles: Holly as Director, Ellie as the star and myself as the producer. To begin our thinking process we jotted down our ideas and developed them as a group to create a rough plan of what to do throughout the whole video. Holly began by filming and adding photos and videos onto the iPad, whilst Ellie as the star was being recorded speaking for the voiceover and then once everything was filmed and added onto the software as the producer I had to edit everything for it to be complete. Due to the video being rushed and my inexperience of editing on the app the overall video could have been better however I am happy with the end result.
Here is a link to my groups iMovie about Andy Warhol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkqQyO34mSY

UNIT 7 Stop-motion animation: a timeline of

1897

Alber E. Smith created the first ever stop motion animation named 'Humpty Dumpty Circus' where toys comes to life an perform acrobatics.

1903

most special effects were produced with stop motion animation due to inspiration from the French film 'Georges M'elics'

1912

'Modelling Extraordinary' was the first stop motion animation to use clay 

1925

Willis O'Brian a famous animator used stop motion animations in his film 'Lost world' to promote stop motion

1933

Willis O'Brian then went on to create a second stop motion animation film that became his most successful and memorable movie: 'King Kong'

1977

Walt Disney begins to experiment with stop motion animation creating several Mickey Mouse series

1980

Star Wars trilogy uses stop motion animation for AT-AT walkers and AT-ST walkers

1987

Robocop used stop motion animation with life sized puppets and mixed it with live action

1998

The first stop motion series 'The PJ's' was created by Will Vonton

2005

The classic characters of Wallace and Grommit were created alongside a series and several films made by Nick Park

2009

The use of stop motion animation became rather rare however Fantastic Mr.Fox became hugely popular