The Rhythm of Life

I had a really interesting chat with Cat today about the patterns and rhythms of life. We were discussing what we like about symmetry and order.
Pattern and symmetry can be found in nature. I discovered this for myself a few years ago on a college trip to some botanical gardens. We went off to draw the plants and I noticed that this cactus I was drawing was made up of perfectly symmetrical hexagons. I think I work quite symmetrically. Looking at my drawings, everything feels very balanced.
We talked about how we like to arrange our belongings in a certain order. Cat arranges the things in her room as if on display in a shop. As a child I would arrange and eat sweets in order from least to most favourite (I still do it now).
Routine is very important to humans, some more than others. We all have a certain way or we do things. This could be seen as each persons rhythm or pattern of life. The way we get dressed in the morning, the seat we choose on public transport. the order we wash the dishes. For me personally, getting up late disrupts the rhythm of my day as I don't have time to do things in the way I normally would. On the other hand spontaneity is also very important. Planning out every aspect of your life with no flexibility can restrict you and your experience of life. Maybe the flow between routine and spontaneity is the rhythm.

Pattern in the Landscape

Normann Szkop

Michael Shainblum

Yossi Eshbal

Robin Utrecht

Jacob Hashimoto

Jacob Hashimoto uses traditional Japanese kite making techniques to make these amazing suspended tapestries which really focus on pattern.

Pattern with 3 Dimensional Qualities

Although I have been working with pattern, I feel that my drawings have a 3D quality to them, and I want to explore this. Does pattern have to remain a design for print, or can it be translated into form? 

Maria Yaschuk

Louise Gullick

Drawing Research

I am interested in this abstract style of drawing. They're all simple, bold and confident which is what makes them so exciting. I think this way of working will really help me to feel more free and confident with my own drawings.

Craig Atkinson

Claire B Cotts

Lari Washburn

Post-war Pattern Design

Here are some examples of the pattern designers Fiona suggested in my tutorial. All three of these women's designs broke boundaries in 1950's post war Britain. They injected bright colours and exciting designs into peoples homes after the ration years. I am interested in this simple, abstract style and I have enjoyed drawing this way over the last few weeks

Lucienne Day

Jacqueline Groag

Marian Mahler

21st October Tutorial - Pattern, Rhythm and Colour

 The drawing I have been doing is very rhythmic, and pattern focused. This was not a conscious decision, but I really enjoyed doing it. My work is inspired by my stitch research and ideas about use of line. I have also noticed a few colour palettes starting to form. Before my tutorial on Monday I was worried about the direction of my work. It felt as though it didn't really count as visual research ( I know this sounds silly) because it's all just pattern making. I was also concerned about not having a concept. But Fiona reassured me that if this is a style of working that comes naturally to me, them I should run with it. And my concept has been staring me in the face the whole time in the way I have been working. Rhythm!

I have always been quite a methodical person, and I remember as a child being fascinated with wall papers and carpets, and working out the pattern and finding the repeat. I still do this now. I want to explore this way of thinking and turn it into a process.

14th October Tutorial

This tutorial was really helpful. Now the group is getting to know each other better, we feel more comfortable sharing our ideas about each others work and its so useful hearing their perspectives on my work. I mentioned my idea I had about linking my work with Ed's heart and the response was really positive. Fiona talked about her stitch research when she was a student and how she used a photo of tyre marks in the snow. It's really inspired me with my own research and its really opened my mind to what stitch can be. Below is a photo of the concrete walls in the stair wells at uni. The markings cross over each other, is this stitch?

Ed's Heart

My boyfirend has ongoning problems with his heart that are currently being investigated. His heart rate is below average and he some times has palputations which really bother him. He gets really tired all the time and feels the cold very easily. When we're going to sleep he often says how he can really feel his heart beating and it freaks him out. When looking at my visual research and thinking about the use of line, it makes me think of a soundwave or heart monitor. It would be interesting if I could somehow document Ed's heart beat. Seeing as he is so aware of his heart it would be nice if he could communicate what he feels to me, by maybe squeezing my hand, and then I record that through mark making. I have thought about using equiptment from the AV store but it doesn't feel right. I want it to be something shared between just Ed and I without the use of technology. Thinking about questioning stitch, I wonder if this communication between us could be seen as stitch as it connects his heart with me.

Alex Da Corte

Alex De Corte uses objects founds in the dollar store in his sculptures. His work reminds me of a workshop we did in first year where we had to bring in multiples and could spend no more than £5. We then explored hand processes with the objects. I went to the pound shop to get the most out of my money and came out with five bags of makeup sponges. I really enjoyed playing around with the materials and taking the objects out of their expected contact. Alex De Corte does a similar thing in his work, and by using objects that are easily affordable, a wider range of people can relate to his work. He says “I am attracted to these items for their accessibility,” Mr. Da Corte I like this piece in particular as it has an embroidery feel to it. The wire grids act as a surface for the objects to be attached or stitched to.

http://beautifuldecay.com/2012/11/15/alex-da-cortes-dollar-store-art/

What is stitch?

I began my stitch research last week. I am aiming to really push myself and the possibilities of stitch. By relating my research with my intentions project I hope to produce more exciting work than if I were to do separate technical file.

I was lucky enough to find a metal sheet filled with holes and a bunch of wires in a skip in front of uni. This has inspired me to find as many ways as possible to stitch without actually using a needle.

I like the idea of stitch connecting things. This can be linked with my building and hill top outline photos. The skyline could be seen as a stitch that links it all together. This could also be said for the sense of community found on many terrace streets in some parts of Manchester.

 

My work so far....

Themes/Ideas:
Outline
-buildings
-people
-connective
-irregular (like Eds heartbeat)
Shadow
-the unknown
Silhouette
Man made v.s Natural
Digital v.s Analogue
Movement
Rhythm

There are many directions I could go in with the work I have done so far. I have picked some key images from my sketchbook to illustrate this this.

Layered outlines of buildings done on acetate whilst leaning on several different windows

Photos taken on a day out around Saddleworth- comparing shape of man made wall with fluidity of the human body

Parts of 'Roads must roll' played on piano. The movement of these photos is really exciting.

Drawing Workshop 8th October

I really enjoyed the workshop. Most of the tasks I had done on Foundation, but it was great to see how differently I responded to them since then. I feel much less restricted now. In college I was so hung up on everything looking perfect, but now I realise drawing look so much more interesting if you just go for it. My favourite techniques are continuous line and  drawing with my left hand (I'm right handed). I find drawing with a continuous line stops me from thinking too much, along with working quite quickly, so the drawing looks fluid and expressive. 

Left hand, continuous line

Continuous line to start, worked back onto with various charcoals and pastel.

Benjamin Allains Illustration

This short film shows the process of Benjamin Allains who uses coffee and chance as the starting point for his pieces. I thought this is a really interesting way to draw, the idea that you let the material mark to paper, having little input and then to see how this inspires the rest of the drawing.

Tutorial 7th October

Our first tutorial was really good. It was great getting to know Fiona and the girls in my group, as well as understanding their practice a little better. There is a good mix of working styles in the group so this should have a positive effect on us all, getting to hear different perspectives. Quite a few of us have chosen the 'Visions of Sound' brief so again it will be interesting to see the different direction we all take the project. Cat is doing some exciting work with sound, such as recording places the human ear cannot reach, like inside her dishwasher. We had a good conversation about George Berkeley's theory of "If a tree falls and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" We talked how everything has an energy and it depend on whether we can or choose to tap into that energy for us to experience it. Similar to synthesizers always emitting sound waves and it is how the user manipulates that sound wave to create the desired effect.

Warren Neidich

This is part of a graphic score made by Warren Neidich for the exhibition 

'How do you translate a text that is not a text? How do you perform a score that is not a score? (2013)'

The score is mixed media including found newspaper clippings and pieces of text that reflected the political events at the time in Cairo. Musicians where then asked to perform their interpretation of the score. A group of dancers where then invited to interpret the musicians performances through dance. 

I am interested in becoming more abstract with my visual research. Seeing the musicians performances has shown me that sometimes just doing what you feel can produce great results. 

A section of Neidich's graphic score

one of the musicians interpreting the piece.

the dancers performing to the musicians rendition

http://www.warrenneidich.com/how-do-you-translate-a-text-that-is-not-a-text-how-do-you-perform-a-score-that-is-not-a-score/

Graphic Scores- Celebrating the Art of Music, at RNCM

I am so pleased I got to see this. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before. I read music myself so was really intrigued to see how a graphic score could possibly translate. The performances really moved me and at times the musicians created such a huge wall of sound I could physically feel it in my body. I was lucky enough to meet one of the musicians afterwards; vocalist, Elaine Mitchener. She was so inspiring. I wanted to know what came first, the graphic score or the music. She said that all the scores are created by different musicians and what the group performed that night was part improvisation part rehearsed, and that no two performances are ever the same. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/10353918/Can-art-and-classical-music-meet-in-harmony.html
http://www.sounduk.net/event_page.php?eid=40
http://www.notations21.net/

Keith Haring- Painting Myself Into A Corner, 1979

I found this video whilst researching the use of rhythm in art. Haring moves his whole body whist drawing, as if dancing, and this has a great affect on his mark making. It also adds a performance element to his work. You cannot hear on this footage but I found out that he was actually working to Devo-Shrivel Up.

Skip to 3mins 50 for Shrivel Up

Responding to 'Roads Must Roll'

I did a little background research on the piece. It is by BoomBip, an American hiphop and electronic producer/musician. 'Roads must roll' is a science fiction short story written in the 1940s by Robert A. Heinlein. I listened to an audio recording of the story. It is set in the near future when "roadtowns" have replaces highways. The roads are constantly moving and when one day the road is turned off, chaos erupts.
I feel the driving rhythm of the piece reflects the continuous movement of the roads in Heinleins story.
This is contrasted by the main melodic motif in the strings, which feels very fluid and smooth.
To start I simply wanted to see what marks I could make to the music. I was mainly responding to the rhythm and melody. I prefer the piece done with my eyes closed as I had less control of the composition, therefore it looks more organic and free. Where as the piece done with my eyes open I think looks more filled out in the sense that I was purposely mark making in particular areas to fill the space. I will carry on working large scale as I felt like I could move to the music more whilst drawing.

Elements to work from:
Rhythm
Melody
Pattern
Dynamics
Emotional response
Phrases
Notation
Tempo

Mark making to melody rhythm with Indian ink on brush, A2

Mark making with eyes closed to melody and rhythm with charcoal, A4

'Frozen' Exhibition

'Frozen' was an exhibition of sound art in 2008 featuring print and sculpture. The space featured a sound system allowing visitors to hear the music to which the art exhibited represented in frozen form. A lot of the artists use computer software to generate their work, which does not really interest me. However I am interested in working 3-dimensionally, and I think it will be exciting to see how I could translate the song I have chosen in this way.

    Leander Herzog- Sound Structure

Marius Watz- Sound Memory

http://www.generatorx.no/20080714/frozen-sound-as-space/

http://www.designboom.com/art/frozen-sound-art-exhibition/

http://www.generatorx.no/20101201/abstrakt-abstrakt-leander-herzog-sound-object-data-matrix-ryoji-ikeda/

The Art Office

This is a proposed wall installation by The Art Office for the foyer of Nashville's New Music Centre. The artwork is to be made of overlapping layers of coloured acrylic inspired by patterns found by 18th Century physicist Ernst Chladni, who developed scientific methods to study visual evidence of different sound frequencies. Chladni invented special iron plates that when stroked with a violin bow, would vibrate. Sand is then sprinkled onto to plate which then settles to make various patterns.

Recording the vibrations made by the song I am working from would be a really interesting way to respond to the brief. I know my friend Cat worked in a similar way for the Unit X brief by placing paper over a speaker whilst playing sounds she had recorded full blast, and allowing different materials such as inks and spices to move about, creating marks.

I like the layering of the The Art Office piece, especially the laying of colour with a transparent material to make new colour. It reminds me of  pictures you are supposed to wear 3D glasses to view.

Proposed art installation by The Art Office

Ernst Chladni's Patterns representing sound waves.

Ernst Chladni's plate invention

Visions of Sound- Initial Research

I first researched Kandinsky, the example artist given on the brief. Some people believe he had a rare condition called Synaesthesia where by a persons senses are cross wired so that when using one sense, they experience another as well. In Kandinsky's case, when hearing sound he would see colours and shapes, and vice verse. Kandinsky painted in a way that had never been done before as his work was completely abstract. I like his use of shape and bold lines to represent sound.

Daniel Tammet also has this rare condition as well as high functioning autism and savant syndrome. He see numbers as colours and shapes and below is his painting of a mathematical equation as he sees it.

Georgia O'Keefe's paintings often depict abstract forms in nature. Music Pink and Blue No.2 however translates the forms she herd in music. Her style of painting is a huge contrast to the angular geometric shapes in Kandinsky's work, yet they both use similar soft colours to represent what they hear. I think when experimenting with my own work, contrasting between soft and bold colour will be a good way to translate the dynamics that I hear in music.

Neil Harbisson is completely colour blind and sees the world in black and white. Scientists have inserted a chip into his brain that receives information from a camera he wears on his head. The camera recognises the colour and the chip translates different colours into sound which Neil then hears. His brain has now adapted so that when hearing sound he hears the colour. Below are two of his pieces, both of which are the colours he heard when listening to the famous speeches of two different political figures. One was by Martin Luther King, and the other by Adolf Hitler.

Neil Harbisson- Famous speech designs

Georgia O'Keefe- Music Pink and Blue No.2, 1918

Kandinsky- Unbroken Line, 1923

Daniel Tammets math equation depicted by shape and colour

Intentions Brief

The first week back we chose which area of textiles we want to work in and which brief we want to do for our first project- Intentions. I have chosen to go into Embroidery/Mixed Media as I feel this will give me the most freedom to be experimental with materials. I have chosen the 'Visions of Sound' brief because I think it will push me to work in new ways and think about research differently. Having never worked from music before I am excited to see where it will take me.