Deconstruction task

Deconstruction, a word that filled my thoughts with fear and panic. Fear of the unknown, fear of what was to come. My large drawing had been happily placed on the wall for a week when we were given the news that we were expected to deconstruct our works of art! The tutors wanted to test us, to see what we were capable of, and that meant changing our work into something new, something exciting! We were briefed on what we had to do and then left to our own devices. To cut, to rip, to layer.... the choice was impossible, but eventually I decided that I wanted to cut my drawing. I wanted to give it a sense of dimension and so started cutting out numerous circular shapes to reveal new angles to my work. Here is the outcome...

Large Drawing...

For the 3 day drawing task i wanted to set myself a challenge, not only with the large scale of the piece but also with the media in which i used. I have in the past been very wary of the unknown, and have always stuck to using just one drawing material. For this piece of work i decided to throw caution to the wind and use everything i could possibly find! We were instructed that our drawing had to measure at least 1m by 1m. I opted to use several sheets of different papers in order that i could create some kind of panelled drawing. My inspiration came from the buildings in and around manchester city centre. On my journey into town one day i decided to take a conscious mental image of any building that inspired me, wether it be because of the shape or the pattern, this gave me copious amounts to work from. Below are images of my final drawing, i think it captures the sense of Manchester pretty well....

My research images!

A selection of images taken in and around Piccadilly Gardens. I started first looking at the landscape of the area but then found myself looking more into the hidden marks and lines I found. I was particularly interested in how marks appeared in different weathers, and also how people themselves create marks without realizing. I wanted to try and replicate the marks within my work and have experimented a lot with mark making and shape. 

Summer project: Create a dog...

Images of me with my dog that I created over the summer. It is made using old scraps of fabrics, buttons & ribbon that i found lying around the house. I wanted my dog to look a bit old fashioned, and un-kept, with the fabrics not really matching and everything looking a bit out of place. I think the shape and scale of the dog is really nice as its just big enough to carry around, I like to create pieces of work that serve a purpose and would love this dog to be used as a tog for a child!

Influences

Systems art

As part of my research it was suggested to me to look into the works of 'systems art'. The work is very minimalistic and really captures my attention. I found it fascinating how by the 1960's art had moved from being life like to being more abstract, exactly the kind of work that I love to create! Minimalist artists argued that art no longer need to be constrained and instead experimented with colour, line, shape and pattern.

I in particular like the work of Frank Stella, his work really pushes the boundaries of artwork during the 60's and his personality and enthusiasim shines through in each peice he creates.

I especially like the colours of the peice above, they hold a very tranquil quality and express a sense of peace. something I want to explore within my future work.

I like the way the shapes just flow into each other with ease, and even though the work is abstract it somehow tells a story.

I wanted to create my own 'Systems Art' and so tried out a number of techniques which i think worked out really well. To everyone else my work just looks like line formations, but to me the work represtents the lines and journeys of the thousands of people that walk through picadilly gardens every single day.

Sketchbook review images

Sketchbook review

My current project is based on the title of  'Piccadilly Gardens'.I wanted to ensure that my sketchbook was as visually striking as possible so i tried to keep text to a minimum and only used wording that was vitally needed. I feel that my work is very abstract and can understand how people fail to grasp what it is that i am trying to portray. I have stuck to one type of drawing/mark making in particular, this being line drawing with a pen. I was really fascinated with all the lines and structure that Piccadilly had to offer and was keen to try and capture this within my journal. My work is all done either at the gardens themselves, using the surroundings as my inspiration or from images i have taken. I have tried to keep each page as neat as possible with only one image/drawing per page so the viewer isn't overloaded with information.

I want to move my project forward so that instead of focusing just at line structure at the gardens i can instead use lines that i find around me. I am intrigued to look at man made marks, ie paint on tables and water splashes from bikes. I feel that this will be a really interesting angle and will have some striking visual outcomes within my sketchbook. 

I want my work to be slightly more loose than it currently is as i feel i am trapped within the boundaries of my previous course. I am extremely cautious when it comes to showing my work to a group as i have a lot of self doubt about my work and feel that people will judge my drawing ability. I am aware that to improve my drawing i need to start working on a larger scale and to just be free with my materials. I want to try and produce as many detailed drawings as i can and am hoping that by broadening my project to man made lines and found lines i will have a lot more to go on. I will start to record any line i see around me, even if it doesn't appear to be very interesting as these lines all track my journey through the project and my thoughts. Each line could in some way move me forward to a new line and will hopefully provide plenty of scope for samples and experimental work.

I will try to make sure i have ample research to work from in the final two weeks of this project, as up to now i have been solely working from first hand knowledge and my own images. I have been told to look in a movement called systems art as this links in very wells with the path that i am taking. I am really pleased with the two workshops that i have taken (weave and dye cloth fiber) and have gained some valuable skills that i hope to future in the coming months, particularly the weave. I am excited by the samples that i have cretaed and think they really tie into my project well.