Wednesday 22 October 2008

Tate Loans

Last session the group were introduced to the Tate loans and were asked to consider how they could develop their ideas to produce interpretive artworks based on the collection. To help them with this process we have been working on a number of starting points using specific historical works as inspiration as well as exploring the use of unconventional materials. The loans will be installed the week beginning Monday 10th November.

Tuesday 21 October 2008

mmm... rusty metal

Following our workshop on monday i've been thinking about possible ideas for a relief sculpture refrencing the painting of Edward Wortley Montagu. I think it would be quite interesting and exciting to use a combination of pieces of scrap and really shiny metal. The scrap metal could come from anywhere around the city (skips, the resistant materials room at your school, your garden shed etc.) and because of Sheffield's industrial heritage it might also help make the work a bit more relevent to people coming to the gallery. There was also some talk of incoorperating fabrics into the work because of the rather flowing clothes that Edward is modelling; therefore if anyone fancies raiding the textile sample section in John Lewis that would be most appreciated.

P.S. message for Susie, I would be very happy to take some photos of strangers in Sheffield with you and I have an important looking camera we could use so hopefully people would take us seriously!

Emily

Oh and also!

There was talk of a Leeds trip which sounds fun but I really hope it's on a Sunday cause I work on Saturdays :)

X

Session three

In our third session we were each given a word and split into groups according to our word. Baring in mind that we 'couldn't be wrong' we drew shapes that represented our word using colours which represented our word. This gave me the perfect chance to use some of the glittery paper :)
Once everyone had drawn their shapes, be they images of objects or just random shapes, we combined them to make a collage of images which all related to the painting the word came from.
I thought it was very interesting with out groups piece in particular that the colours on the collage were similar to those in the painting. This showed that colours can give off a mood the same way words do. With that in mind I think it's really important that we think about what colours we use when we make our final piece, whatever it is, so that it gives off the feeling that we intended.

Talking of final pieces I really liked the idea of what someone said about the stained glass window. I don't know if this would be possible in any way but I think it could be really effective, especially if it wasn't up against a wall and instead you could walk around it or maybe project light through it in some way.... Just an idea!

After this we combined our objects which we bought in from the word that most inspired us from the week before. Each table then drew and painted what we saw. We could use any colours however i used the colours that i saw. It was nice to paint as i think its a really good way to be expressive and show ideas in an effective way. I also really love using gouache paints :)
A friend of mine drew a snake. I asked her why and she said the colours of the objects in front of us inspired her to paint it the colours she did. Again I found this really interesting that two things so different could be connected by just the use of colour!

Twinkle X

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Session two

The second session saw us questioning the way we see things. For example, if the word 'telephone' is written onto a banana, automatically in our minds we picture the banana being held up to our ear.

With this in mind we viewed some art in the gallery. We took a look at The Lady of Shalott (1858) by William Maw Egley (the one where she's in the castle not the one by John William Waterhouse with the her in the boat which i personally prefer- it's in the Tate i think so maybe we'll see it when we go to London...), and a couple of other's which i have stupidly forgotten the names of (doh).
Anyway, while looking at these pictures we wrote down words which we felt when we looked at them. Different people had different words which meant you could attempt to view the painting from other people's views.

After looking at these paintings a friend and i took a little wonder around the other rooms in the gallery. We were attracted to the room where there was some Chinese art which we thought was pretty cool.

Anyway, we returned to our room and were split into groups. Each group worked with one of the paintings we looked at and collected in all the words which represented that painting off of the other students. One thing i sometimes find about group work is certain individuals take a sideline while others take control. This maybe seemed evident in our group but no matter. The end result was a rough sketch of the painting with words written on it that people thought about the painting. On one of them the words hot and cold were written. This to me showed that different people viewed things differently.
I think the end result maybe lost the connection with the banana/telephone scenario at the beginning of the session but the task still got everyone thinking and hopefully now people feel less afraid to say what they think about paintings without feeling as if they are 'wrong'...
Twink X

ponder this...

As you walk down from Broomhill shops to my school there is a quote (which I have stupidly forgotton) written on a house wall. Everytime I see it it makes me smile, and though some may describe it as graffitti to be taken off, I personally love it. This got me thinking of the different ways to express your views, feelings and opinions in an anonymous way to the general public.

Here are a few examples of other such things:

Friday 10 October 2008

Introduction to Interpretation

The first session saw the group working with found images and objects in response to the theme of 'Identity'. We wanted to interpret this widely so decided to consider our multiple identities within different contexts. From this we created a visual alphabet using found images which attempted to dissect meanings within the words that we had chosen to describe ourselves. We will keep these images to develop work from at a later stage. Please post development ideas in the comments section.

After that we looked at some examples of artists working in installation with found objects and considered the messages that the artists might be trying to convey by the use of specific materials and compositions. Some of the work discussed included Simon Starling's 'Shed, Boat, Shed' and an installation by the Japanese artist Tomoko Takahashi. The group then chose objects to create sculptural works from and documented them.

Wednesday 8 October 2008

Session one

Our first session was kinda fun, I quite like the idea of using 'found objects' though i think it will take more than a broken speaker and a set of keys to inspire me fully.
I thought Susie's sculpture thing was quite good, I think i just liked the use of the old book. Somehow the old map pages seemed to compliment the old corks quite well


We also searched through magazines for pictures which matched words to describe us. This again was kinda fun though i struggled to find a word that matched some of my words... I don't think Joyce found one to match 'Hobbit' either...

I must admit I'm quite looking forward to the next session!

X

Tuesday 7 October 2008

Portraits of identity

During our first session we looked at our identity and a few artists' interpretations of that. I was especially inspired by Gillian Wearing's photos in the 'Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say' series.

Here are a few examples of her work:










































Basically the general idea of her work is to let people express their feelings and thoughts without the threat of judgement or humiliation- to let the world know what they really think.

I would love to do this around sheffield but my photography skills are not the most amazing so if anyone would like to collaborate with me, I am very friendly don't mind asking people for photos :)

Till next time folks,

Susie x.

Just need an original idea.......