What interests or drives you? ~
In regards to updating my NLP with what interests and drives me, there will be a continuation of intrigue toward collaborative and participatory arts. This particular format of working pushes me into creating and continuing to experiment with a number of people, making for an assemblage of skills and technicality to be seen. In the previous semester I had aimed to improve and explore different methods of application, choosing to work in an automatism based manner as to eradicate control. This aids me in my work as persistent exploration of mediums and processes allows for a multitude of new visual platforms to be exhibited. Precedent to my last negotiated learning plan, I had stated that:
"Art for the most part speaks for itself, and art that does just that, be it elaborate or simple I find it to be the most interesting. I am drawn to works which exhibit an array of misconstrued ideas, somehow working together. A symbiotic relationship between medium and subject, harmonising as one to display an ornate surreal piece.
Surrealism is a genre that I find to be both intriguing and fascinating in that from observing the piece, the viewer can tap into the unconscious mind, and delve into a series of juxtaposed images. I am driven by the tilted perspective that inhabits the minds of surrealist practitioners, myself included. I find art which makes you question reality to be the most genuine, and therefore the most important."
The feedback I had received from the first half of the overall assessment had been positive, given my adamancy to maintain a good studio practise working from home; though the feedback had been good, I am constantly aiming toward the best. I want my work to speak volumes and allow the visually impaired to be seen. Of course I do have to tick boxes, but I want my work to actually change something within the industry. I will continue to email, advertise and verbalise my feelings toward the democracy upheld within the industry, and regardless of when this module ends, I will continue to raise awareness and speak up. Activism NEVER stops.
What materials do you think might serve your investigations? What media / areas of possible exhibition sites / participatory project opportunities do you intend to explore and research?
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In the past I had preferred to work using mediums which I had a great deal of control over ie. graphite, biro, coloured pencil. Though I found these mediums to be best for a technical approach, I found the overall feel of each composition to be quite stagnant and plain. I then started to use a multitude of mediums, alongside mixing mediums and processes allowing for varied approaches. I want to develop my mixed media and relief printing processes further from semester one, resulting in a body of work with consistency and technical gain. In the previous semester, these materials served well for my investigations, I learnt that extending my use of mediums and processes began to show a diverse assemblage of skills displayed multiple platforms to experience; however I wanted to elevate my work further by changing my practical approach to the application to a more automatism and gestural narration.
I have an array of surfaces that I plan to keep updated with various sketches and works using surreal, warped imagery as a focal point. I want to not only explore multiple mediums, but multiple surfaces and textures too. The mediums I am interested in are mixed media (including retractable mediums ie. ink & oil pastel), relief printing ( linoleum & wood block) , fine liner, oil paint, acrylic pouring, pyrography, pencil, ink, expanding foam, bleach etc. These surfaces could be exhibited with my finished works, as a coherent juxtaposition, or exhibited in their own space, showing my working methods rather than a product that has been finessed. As well as working on various surfaces, I hope to continue to up the scale of my works, as working on a larger scale is a personal target I have set.
Mediums I hope to work with as I have yet to, include;
PVA
Terracotta Clay
Puffy paint
Acrylic plastic
Wood (MDF)
Metal (Aluminium)
Thermochormic pigments
Chlorophyll pigments
Of course there may be more mediums to explore as I continue my research into the different diagnosis‘ and the sight restrictions brought from that, but for now those are the materials I hope and intend to use. For the most part I will be composing pieces which exude copious amounts of texture in order for the piece to be somewhat seen. Processes I hope to follow include;
Embossing
Sculpting
Sgraffito
Woodblock printmaking
Drypoint Etching
Collagraph printingmaking
All printmaking processes illustrated above will have a “flat” regular print, as well as keeping the printing plate/stamp to provide a textured stencil for the viewer.
My medium and process choices may vary given different diagnosis. I will need to establish colours that may be seen depending on the viewer, and if thermochromic or chlorophyll pigments can be seen. I may also continue to branch further into film/sound orientated works depending on the audience. I also hope to look into the braille alphabet to create typography based photomontages.
"I want to be as inclusive as I can for the blind, and even if it’s for just a short time, for them to feel as though they can see and be seen themselves. To gather further insight into the minds of the blind, I will be interviewing some members of the blind society, in which I will ask how restricted they are with their sight, their story and attitude, as well as how they feel in today’s society."
Due to the restrictions upheld it will not be possible to have live exhibitions, however I will be using various online sources (Instagram in particular) as a means to apply for virtual/online exhibitions and open calls. I will most probably stick to galleries within the North East so that if the restrictions are lessened I am able to see my work physically exhibited.
Potential areas of exhibition include the galleries listed below:
- MIMA
- Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts
- Delphian Open Call
- Shaun Project Space
- Frederick St Gallery
- Camera Obscura
Other areas of exhibition I would consider is the blind society location, discussing if I can arrange an exhibition in their building for the blind, in regards to participatory work, I could arrange some online work shops with the blind society in that we create sculptures, or impasto paintings using fingers, hands and even feet! Allowing everyone to get in touch with the feel of the paint rather than the colour.
How will you measure your success?
~ I will be following the ‘Four Dimensions model’ which includes the following;
D1 - The products technical success. How well have I constructed the piece, has everything been rendered correctly. Has the technical process and methodology been performed correctly?
D2 - Project management and development. Has the end product and project as a whole met the set objectives. Have I stuck to my schedule and budget? Have I stayed organised or had to make adjustments, if so how many?
D3 - Project delivery, have I delivered the project how I had hoped to? Has there been a location change or set back to the exhibition? How well has research been conducted during the project and how has it impacted the final delivery?
D4 - Objective outcome, how has the project been received by the audience? Have my ideas been successful in making the blind feel a sense of normality? Has the exhibition caused the blinds voices to finally be heard in a society where disability overrules who you are?
Those are the four dimensions. I will of course follow this model in evaluating my project, but I will also measure my success in how the audience react and feel. If I can create something which can allow the audience to feel included, to feel ”human”, then I have succeeded.
I hope in the second half of this module I will achieve a higher percentage. I had achieved 70% which is a 1st, but not enough for me. I want tot achieve the highest possible percent that I can, initially I will measure my success on if I surpass the first percentage, however, I will also measure my success on the basis of how much have I opted my scale, how many collaborations have I done, etc. I hope to reach as many people as I can and conduct as many online participatory events as I can.
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