Artistic response to a window display

I was asked by my boss at the Brindley Arts Centre to create the window display for the upcoming exhibition. We usually have vinyl letters on the window for the exhibition, however, for this exhibition I was asked to be creative with the window lettering. The title of the exhibition is ‘The Drawing Show’.

Over the summer I made a lot of wool pom poms for making scarves, and more recently have been using wool in my university work. This inspired me for my idea for the Brindley window.

I began the day by cutting out the letters from cardboard and going outside to see if it was visible enough from outside. When I had cut out the entire title ‘The Drawing Show’ I began to wrap the letters in different coloured wool. When covered I placed on double sided tape & secured to the window, I finished off my idea by creating a web of wool behind the lettering whereby I also attached the wool to the letters on the window. 

Accidentally on purpose? (part 2)

I've just been trying to control my marks with my print making skills, here's some of my creations so far;



This print shows the textures I have used. The relief from the leaves and bark has left quite an impression, some of the bark has stuck itself to the print. Also, some of the dye from the green leaf (bottom left) has come out too.

With this print I was trying to print the tred onto paper with the leaves in the way of some of the lino creating a  silhouette underneath. However, the print didn't turn out too great (to be honest) but the marks left on the lino was very intriguing (I also printed this too, but it wasn't as interesting).

During my lunch break I decided to go on a hunt for natural objects, such as;

• leaves

• twigs

• bark

Then when I returned I decided to work the textures into my print making ideas (as above). When I noticed this piece of bark I thought instead of printing on leaves as I did earlier, what if I was to print directly onto the bark too, and here's the result ... I also threw a leaf on there too, just to see what it would look like...

Accidentally on purpose?

A few days ago I created 2 lino prints based on my motorbike boot tred. I’ve just been down to the print rooms in university to experiment printing them on different surfaces. (Image 1) has a double effect because I didn’t place it on the printing bed far enough, but it makes it stand out from the page slightly, sort of an almost 3D effect. (Image 2) shows the print on the leaf; (Image 3) shows the marks left by the leaf on the lino. (Image 4) shows 2 of the leaves I have printed on, I now intend on creating a few more of these and connecting them together (once they have dried of course!!).

Although, I spoke with my print making tutor Neil, and he thought they could be interesting if they were placed randomly through the studios. He said ‘they are very interesting as they are, I think if they were flat it would ruin the natural effect they have.’

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

 

My final piece (Image 5) was an accident; it was the piece of paper used to stop any paint going on the print making blankets. When I was printing on one of the leaves, some of the paint went past the leaf and printed on the paper. However, I was going to print with my lino but put leaves in the way to get the silhouette of the leaf. I’m going to attempt some more controlled prints this afternoon.

Image 5

A bit of a coinsidence ... ?

Today I was volunteering at the Brindley Arts Centre, Runcorn, taking down the current exhibition ‘Playful Order: Artist Jeni McConnell’. 

I was cleaning a section of the gallery floor which was covered in coal. This was originally covered with black material to stop the coal going on the floor, but it didn’t work. However, it left fascinating marks on the floor with the coal dust … which I had to hoover up as part of the cleaning job.

While I was cleaning up I started making marks of my own using my footprints to walk through the coal dust and also using the hoover to make marks and patterns.

While I was doing it, it reminded me of a video repetition piece I saw in the Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool a few months ago. The exhibition was titled ‘Arabicity: Such a Near East’, there was an artist called Raeda Saadeh. She produced a video titled ‘Vacuum’, the video shown her hoovering up the desert.

Footprint Making

After being intrigued by the marks my hiking boots made in the mud, I was interested to see what marks would be created with my motorbike boots in the mud. Therefore bringing in the man made / nature element into my work. I think my findings were interesting, especially the one where there were some leaves in the mud where I made the print.

After experimenting using the natural materials available to me outside I thought I would like to experiment using black paint instead to represent engine oil. So I went back to the quarry/fields and experimented with the paint on the natural surface, including:

• Gravel Paths
• Grass
• Tree Trunks
• Trees
• Railings
• Wooden Fences
• Leaves
• Sand
• Sandstone

  
My next ideas include;

1. Creating a lino print of the tred of the motorbike boot (as the lines appear quite tribal) and incorporating them into current imagery and nature photographs.

2. Bring the outdoors into the studio

Out & About

One afternoon Andy & I were out walking at our local quarry, Pex Hill, and I noticed the marks in the mud we were making with the tred from our boots. I was intrigued by the concept of walking along a natural trail with the man made element of the footprint trail on top of that. (A trail on top of a trail, perhaps?) I took various images of these, followed by looking for other man made marks on the ground i.e. tractor marks.

Whilst I was photographing the tracks I got really excited because I love TEXTURES!!! They’re everywhere and all so different! I am very interested in producing some site specific work as it would be working on top of the natural base. Although, I am looking to take my work into print making as I think the marks would be very interesting and a great way to reproduce imagery, in a similar way that man made is industrially reproduced.

Also while I was out, I photographed some other prints/tracks … Animal, Bike & other people’s foot prints, I doubt I’ll use the animal prints, but it’s an idea to bear in mind.

I would like to bring the outdoors into the studio, by reproducing the textures from outside. My ideas are reflected from Richard Long, Andy Goldsworthy & Tony Cragg who’s ideas are based on nature & natural forms.

Intro to 3rd year work

Last year my work focused on some of my interests such as; life drawing, football and motorbikes. I looked at how I could collaborate them by playing with the theme ‘identity’. In some of my site specific pieces the ideas were;

• A footballer wearing a motorbike helmet whist playing football.
• A life model wearing a motorbike helmet whilst posing for a life class.

My other ideas included collaborating my interest of football with motorbikes by watching footage and recording different key points such as;

In Football;

• Where the ball goes out of play and by which team
• Where the ball goes in the net when scored
• The route the ball takes whilst in play

In Motor sport;

•  Where riders are overtaken and by who
•  Where riders fall off their motorbikes

I collected this information on acetate and then projected my findings onto football shirts as a innovative way of presenting my work.

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This year I have decided to continue along a similar path with my interests being the key point in my work. I intend to investigate and combine man made factors and organic factors that play a vital role in our everyday lives. I am very intrigued by how nature is formed and would love to experiment with industrial objects in those surrounds.

I intend to take industrial items such as motorbike helmets, boots, tyres, mechanical parts etc … and place them in a nature surrounding, something of which is so unnatural to the mechanical element. I intend to gain attention from any passers by in the spaces where I work and build up a sense of curiosity and awareness.

This year most of my work will be print making based, photography and site specific work.