Intentions Unit Evaluation

I have thoroughly enjoyed this project. I have learnt so much about myself and my way of working. I am really pleased with my outcomes and feel I have really pushed myself to try new things. Looking back on my work I think the project has been driven by my stitch research. I have questioned stitch and what it means and feel this way of thinking has pushed me to risk take and experiment. I have pushed new materials to really understand their capabilities and had fun at the same time. I have gained confidence in my drawing by breaking down barriers such as wanting it to look perfect. I now have a more free and expressive approach which is so much more enjoyable. Drawing regularly in the last few weeks of the project really has helped me in understanding my work and developing my ideas. I think using found materials is something I want to continue with. It allowed me to be more experimental and expressive in my approach as I was not precious with them because they were free. I think routine and structure is very important in my way of working. I found that the days I came in around 9am and left at 5pm were far more productive than the days I came in at lunch and then forced myself to stay late out of guilt. Pacing myself is also important. I think maybe I wore myself out after the first three weeks which could have contributed to my lack of creativity in the middle of the project. When you have a really long day it is counterproductive, as the next day you are so tired that you don't work very well. So sticking to working hours I think help me to stay motivated. I have also come up with things to do in future projects when I have an off week, so to keep my mind working when I am not feeling so creative. I still can't quite believe that my context has ended up as architecture but feel excited to explore this further as I really enjoyed creating my visualisations. I have really developed my practice and am looking forward to applying the things I have learnt in the next project.

Architectural Visualisations

I used drawing to apply my samples to an architectural context. My photoshop skills are not great but I am pleased with the outcome of these visualisations. I would never have expected to be doing this kind of thing. It's nothing like I've ever done before. I photographed the water at Salford Quays and buildings around the University campus. The 1st and 3rd drawings I designed especially for the context. I have learnt new skills on photoshop during the process and now feel way more confident to use it more.

Bridge and Tunnel Research

I can see some of my samples in a bridge/tunnel context which I never would have expected. And....these are another form of connection, stitching two locations together.

Arndale Footbridge, Manchester

Tunnel-Bridge Linking Mabel Tylecote with Geoffrey Manton Buildings 

MMU Link Gallery

La Barra Bridge, Uruguay

A Rhythmic Process

This last week I have mainly been drawing my samples. With the idea of architecture as a possible context I have been thinking about how I can apply them. I really enjoyed drawing the wire mesh used in some of my samples. Because drawing it accurately pretty much impossible, it really freed me up to be experimental. The process of drawing lines back and forth back and forth is rhythmic in itself bringing it back to my concept.

Philip Beesley

Philip Beesley: Hylozoic Ground from VernissageTV on Vimeo.

"Philip Beesley is a Canada-based architect who has spent years blurring the lines between nature and technology. In 2008, he began work on the Hyozolic series — a collection of immersive installations that react to, and evolve with, the movements of people who pass through them. The idea, according to Beesley, is to create a "metabolic architecture," whereby manmade structures are seen not as inanimate, fixed objects, but as living, breathing entities, capable of regeneration and growth."

http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/16/4624738/radiant-soil-philip-beesley-architecture-installation-edf-fondation-paris

Morphology in Architecture

Tutorial 18th November

It had been two weeks since we last saw Fiona so it felt like I had loads to show. She commented on the structural, architectural qualities of my samples which isn't something I had thought of before. We also talked about context and until now I had just seen them as sculptural forms that show my journey. But after 2 mins of discussion we came up with fashion, product design and architectural outcomes. This is something to think about over the last week before deadline.

Fiona mentioned Morphology which is the study of organic forms. There have been architecture installation exhibitions where designers showcase ideas and concepts using nature as inspiration. Some artists create "living" structures that react to the environment using future technologies.

HygroScope - Meteorosensitive Morphology - independently active architectural form inside custom made GLASBAU HAHN case at Centre Pompidou
http://www.glasbau-hahn.com/en/display-cases/display-case-news/display-case-news-detail/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=36&cHash=689067e18fa59d38c8055ea992d4d936

Which is the Stitch?

The sample below started out by stitching into a surface. I have then constructed them into forms. But without the surfaces the stitched materials would not be able to hold their shape, so is the surface the stitch as it connects the piece together??

Finding Form

Once I found some materials that actually excited me I had another go at 'Finding Form' which was a workshop Fiona ran a few weeks ago. At the time I couldn't get into it but I think it was because I had uninspiring materials. Now I had the orange plastic fencing I was after I really wanted to push it as a material and see what it could do. I used mainly cable ties to fasten it together and sometimes wire. I like how the cable ties add the the rhythm of the samples though. The process of twisting, bending and fastening was quite rhythmic and repetitive too. I tried to consider the forms with and without a surface to develop a better understanding of the structural qualities the fencing has to offer.

Connecting Through Music

I have been to a few gigs recently and they really got me thinking about connecting through sound. This works on several levels. 

There is the physical connection of two or more people experiencing sound or music simultaneously, whether that be live at a gig or on record. The sound energy is sensed by the body and perceived in the mind, which then causes us to release energy, maybe dancing, singing or just general enjoyment, creating an atmosphere in the room which in turn is also experienced by everyone. So the energy in the room is connecting everyone in it.

Then there is the nostalgic connection between two or more people who have heard a record and each have specific memories and emotions attached to it. If they were to meet they would have that song in common, therefore a connection between them would exist. 

Heart Drawings

Here are a selection of drawings I did whilst listening to Ed's heart beat, trying to capture the rhythm. I really enjoyed the process and found it very relaxing. I was hoping that Ed would be able to feel his heart beating (he sometimes can, but only either when he's stressed, or the rhythm fluctuates, neither of which I want for him) and he could then communicate that to me somehow. But it wasn't noticeable enough so I rested my head on Ed's chest instead so I could hear myself. I experimented with different marks and tried not to put to much thought into it, just letting the rhythm feed through. I think this will have a positive effect on the way I work from now on as it really loosened me up.

Could the connection between Ed's heart and my drawings be seen as a stitch??

Cornelia Parker- Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View

 I like the way this piece hangs in the space along side her use of order and pattern in a somewhat chaotic environment. Yet overall the piece feels calm and tranquil. The objects look like they have been frozen in time and space after the start of an explosion. I also like the use of light in the centre of the piece, creating shadows on the surrounding walls adding extra depth, almost like an echo. 

Cold Dark Matter, Cornelia Parker 1991

http://www.timeout.com/london/art/cornelia-parker-deconstructed

Tutorial 11th November with Jane McKeating

Today we had our tutorial with Jane McKeating, director of studies, as Fiona was poorly. I was dubious at first as I wasn't too keen on having to explain my whole project, and was really looking forward to talk to Fiona. But it turned out to be a great tutorial! It was so good to hear a different perspective, and it was really useful explaining my project from the start as it helped me to see the links in my work and to see how far I've come. Jane questioned whether my samples had to relate to a surface, or could I try without. Or can the surface add to the form?

A Morning of Sampling

I spent the morning working with my new materials so that I would have some samples to take to my tutorial in the afternoon. I mainly just responded to the materials but also tried to let my drawings feed into some of the samples too. I will probably spend all of this week working on sampling. I want to push the scale of my work whilst continuing to explore rhythm, pattern and connecting.

Polystyrene stitched through rubber flooring 

Rolled up wire mesh linked with blue cotton yarn

Orange plastic fencing rolled up and attached to rubber flooring using cable ties

Another trip to another skip

Cat and I had a really great find last Friday. Just what I needing to get going with sampling after a good week of drawing. We talked in last weeks tutorial about what other "industrial" materials, other than the nuts and bolts etc., to source. I had a look on Ebay and had a few things in my basket such as orange plastic fencing and wire mesh and scaffolding canvas. It came to quite a lot of money so I hadn't yet confirmed the purchases. Good thing I didn't as I found it all in the skip, and more! One of the builders working on the site came over for a chat and Cat asked if he had any of the orange plastic fencing I was after. I never expected him to, but he went away for a minute or so and came back with a whole roll! I couldn't believe my luck. From the words of Cat 'If you don't ask, you don't get'. So true. I need ask more. It's so weird how these things happen.

 I can't believe so much had been thrown away! Some things were still in the packaging. Although it was great for me and Cat, it's not great knowing that such large quantities of perfectly good materials are being thrown away. Not just at this site, but building sites all over the world. I also find it strange that MMU has been awarded 'Greenest University in the UK'. But surely we would only want to contract work to construction companies with similar ethics.

Back to Drawing

I spent last week just drawing to free myself up again and it really made me feel so much better! Here is a small section of my work.

I focused on:

continuous line

layering of oil pastels and water colours 

printing with the bits and pieces I found around the skip to make pattern 

working rhythmically
connecting

Things Organized Neatly

This image is form the blog 'Things Organized Neatly' . It's made up of photos people have submitted of their things organized neatly. I could look at these all day. The process of arranging objects is something I am interested in but I'm not to sure right now how I can explore it any further. It's something to bare in mind though.

Every part of a VW Golf

4th November Tutorial

This weeks tutorial made me feel so much better. I told Fiona about struggling over the last couple of weeks and we talked about spending some time drawing and not worrying about materials and sampling. Looking back, I really should have been drawing this whole time to get feeling creative again, but I was too hung up on getting on with materials. We talked about working on a larger scale with my nuts and bolts to free me up again. I think working on such a small scale with the clay really restricted me. We talked about what other 'Industrial' materials I could use such as orange plastic fencing and scaffolding canvas. I'm think I need to go on a skip hunt.

Fiona mentioned Jim Dine for inspiration. His drawings are really expressive and look as if they could jump out of the page.

Jim Dine

The Dreaded Brick Wall!

So the last couple of weeks have been rather slow for me. My thought process has completely slowed down and the amount of work I have produced is not nearly as much as I would have liked. When I am in the zone with a project, ideas flow a I am constantly thinking about my work, so actually doing work is easy. But the last two weeks I have found difficult and have not felt very creative. I think because I strive to do well and work hard, when I have times like this I am very aware that I am falling behind, which causes me to panic. And when I start to panic, I find it even harder to be creative obviously, because I am worrying about not doing enough work. I need to work on some tactics so that when I do have a slow week, I work from say a list of tasks that keeps my mind active, because lets face it, it happens to everyone sometimes. And remember next time not to worry about the amount of work because it only makes things worse.

Samples

Experimenting with trapping, threading, imprinting, wrapping, distorting, attaching.

I made holes in some of the clay pieces when still wet so that I could connect them with the nuts and bolts when dry. Connecting and joining has been something I have thought a lot about with regards to the stitch research. I also tried joining together some of my found pieces using mono-filament after wrapping them with cling film and wire.

A Great Find

With the word 'Industrial' in mind I went to Wilko to look at the tool selection. I imagined using things like washers, nuts and bolts but the amount you got in a pack was not worth the price. And as I needed a large amount of things to play around with, I was not prepared to pay so much for materials to experiment with. I got a couple of packets but left a little disheartened. Luckily the next day on the way into uni, I had a quick nosey around the skip outside, and scattered all over the floor were nuts, bolts, screws, wires and more! It's funny how these things work out. And because most of the pieces had been out there for a long time, they were all rusty and weathered, which I much prefer compared to the brand new ones.

Inspired by Tom McLean's work I arranged my finds. I really enjoyed doing this and found it therapeutic. 

Todd McLellan

During the last tutorial we talked about ordering and it reminded me of Todd McLellan's work 'Things Come Apart'. There's something about putting things in order that I find visually beautiful. I mentioned in my 'Rhythm of Life' post how I eat my food in a certain order and like to arrange things a certain way. McLellan's work feels really balanced, and although not symmetrical, it has elements of pattern and rhythm. I like how every piece of the object is accounted for, no matter how small. It show cases the parts of an object you would never normally see, all of which together make these stunning arrangements.

28th October Tutorial

I felt a little nervous about this tutorial as I wasn't please with the amount of work I had produced. And to make things worse, Fiona started talking about the amount of work we should be doing each week. Although I had enjoyed researching pattern over the last week, it threw me a little and it took a few days to get into it. I began working with clay by the end of the week as I wanted to start experimenting with materials, but compared to the pace I had been working in previous weeks, I felt disappointed with what I had produced. But Fiona reassured me that not all weeks will be the same, and I had clearly done a lot of thinking with regard to pattern and routine, which is all part of the process. The group seamed to like my arrangements with the clay pieces and the idea of wrapping. I mentioned my uncertainty about what materials to work with and Fiona reminded me of the wires I had been using in my stitch research. So we talked about using 'Industrial' materials to experiment with. I really like this idea as I am interested in using more unconventional materials.

From 2D to 3D

I wanted to begin translating my drawings to 3D form, so started experimenting with the clay focusing on the shape in my drawings. I have been working on this pattern inspired by a photograph of light shining through the metal sheet I found earlier on in the project. I wrapped some of my clay samples with elastic bands to add an extra layer of pattern when the pieces are arranged.

                         

Choosing Materials

After my tutorial on 21st I was very aware that the girls in my group had started to experiment with materials and I was still figuring out my concept. Thinking back now it really doesn't matter, as everyone moves at their own pace and you cant force the transition. But I think maybe I panicked slightly and rushed the step forward. Materials are something I am not very confident with anyway. In my Embroidery unit last year I was still adjusting to uni life and didn't really get as stuck in to the hand processes as I could have, so the concept of 'responding to materials' is still very new to me. I saw some clay whilst browsing in the union shop so thought why not.