Eva Hild

While researching some artists who specialized in applied arts I came across Eva Hild and her ceramic work. The lines she creates within her work are similar to those that I wanted to use for my own container for 'gentleness'.

http://evahild.com/

Containing an Idea- Applied Arts

I was given the word 'gentleness' to work with and to create a form to carry or contain the feeling. I wanted to make an object which had flowing, smooth lines and no sharp edges. The colour was also important as I felt that the original colour and shine of the tin-coated steel was too harsh and bright. To give a feeling of 'gentleness' I used a blow torch to heat the metal and make blue and purple marks. The colours are quite calm and relaxing. The techniques I used to produce my forms included; bending, cutting, folding, pressing, spot-welding, dipping in acid and heating up the metal as well as using a hammer to put gentle dints in the metal. I thought it was important that the container wasn't something like a box that the word was trapped in as gentleness is something that isn't harmful so can flow around.

Being Photographed, Week Three

Photos taken and edited by Charlotte Hall.

I think I've commented before about feeling awkward when having my photograph taken. So at first, this task didn't exactly fill me with excitement, I'd probably even go as far as to say that I was dreading it.We'd been told that holding a conversation and interacting with someone else would "make you forget you were being photographed." It didn't. The huge camera pointing straight at you and the massive flash made forgetting impossible! 

I have to say though that I do quite like the end result and, although the photographs are certainly not the most flattering I've ever seen I do think that they reflect my personality, maybe.

Charlotte, Week Three

After looking at Corrine Day's sequence of nine of photographs of Kate Moss we had the chance to have a go at creating a similar piece ourselves! Using Charlotte as my model I took a series of photos of her while she was having a conversation. This meant that i could capture her many different facial expressions and hand movements without her being overly conscious that she was being photographed. I chose to use the photos that I think show the widest variety of her expressions. For me, this has been one of the best exercises so far and I absolutely love the end product! 

The Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield

I was pleasantly surprised by the exterior of the gallery as I'd heard quite a few mixed reviews. Personally, I think that it's a beautiful building and especially liked how it was set on the waterfront.
 My favorite pieces were the Hepworth ones as I liked how they changed their appearance as you walked around them and looked at them from different angles.

http://www.hepworthwakefield.org/

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

I'd visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park as a twelve year old but I didn't really enjoy it, it had rained so heavily all day and we'd been dragged around for hours. This time, it was entirely different story- the weather was beautiful, we were interested in what they were showing in the park and I was with people who were actually interested in art rather than it being the typical school trip! I wish we'd have been able to spend longer as we didn't get to see as much as we'd have liked. These are a few photos of my favorite pieces, by artists such as Henry Moore, Sophie Ryder and Juame Plensa.

 Examples of the sketches I did while on location.

2D Visual

The aim of the 2D visual project was to broaden the way we thought about and approached drawing. We used a wide range of materials such as ink, graphite, marker pen, pencil, collage and paint.

 A model of a jelly shoe made out of drawings done with a stick and ink.

A drawing and collage of the model jelly shoe. Using black and brown ink and a stick to do the first drawing, then using collage, masking take and white emulsion to take areas out and redraw them.

Using natural forms and man made objects as part of a suspended still life.

 I started off using white cartridge paper and brown ink to map out where the main objects were going to be, then put in the darker ink over to top to redraw the areas which weren't quite right the first time. The brown paper was added to form the negative space around the objects. It took quite a few attempts to get the skull in proportion so I had to keep taking out areas using collage and emulsion paint. By the end of the session I felt that I had produced a successful piece of work. I especially like how the brown paper pushes the shape of the skull forward and makes it look like it's infront of the other objects.

Photography, Week Two

Chestefield Market

Chesterfield Market

High Street, Chesterfield

Gregg's Bakery, High Street

When asked to take photographs that capture the spirit of Chesterfield I initially thought of the market and the hive of activity that surrounds it, then of the less obvious qualities of the town that are just as much part of its every day life. For me the horse and cart standing outside M&S is something that I will always associate with the town, I especially like this photo and the contrast between the left over carrot pieces and the grey cobbles.

Keddleston Hall

20th September 2011

The drizzley weather wasn't ideal for sketching outside for long periods of time so I only managed to do a few quick blind drawings or continuous line drawings while we were there. I did however take lots of photos and I was able to use them to work from afterwards, I like the rough shapes and almost naive quality of the blind drawings. One advantage of working from the photographs was that I could use a wider variety of materials and include things like masking tape. 

My Life in Four Objects- Object One

Object One- Early Childhood

One of my earliest memories is of this lamp and the stories my Dad used to tell me at bedtime. I was given the lamp as a present the day I was born by my Auntie and Uncle and for the first twelve years of my life it sat on the dressing table at the side of my bed. I used to pretend I was afraid of the dark so that my Dad would come and turn the lamp on and tell me stories about Mrs Pippin (the hedgehog in the picture) and all the adventures she had during the day. After a few years of the Mrs Pippin stories it got to the stage where I was pretending I was scared of the dark so much that I did actually start having a phobia! To this day I still don't like being in the dark, although I've grown out of the lamp so just have to leave the landing light on.

Martin Parr

Martin Parr

I think I was drawn to this particular photograph by Parr purely because of its unflattering nature. None of the people in the image are shown in a complimentary way, the idea that they are dressed in their beach wear/swimming costumes and have so much flesh on display makes the photo quite awkward. I guess I connect with this image because that's how I feel when I'm being photographed- awkward.

Joel Meyerowitz

Joel Mereyowitz- Morning Mist, Tuscany

The way the colours fade from being bright to being quite subtle and the way the detail slowly disappears into the mist is what first attracted me to this photograph by Mereyowitz. I like the fact that the eye naturally follows the path to the centre of the photograph where the tree stands mostly hidden by the mist.

William Eggleston

William Eggleston - Untitled

The lighting in this photograph is what makes the image particularly eye-catching as it warms the boy's skintone and casts interesting shadows on the wall in the background. I like how the photograph doesn't seem posed but more spur of the moment and I am also fond of how the focus is sharper around the young man and softer around the figure in the background.

Photography, Week One

 What I like most about this particular photograph is how the wood has several deep scratches and chunks mussing fro its surface yet, to me, it still doesn't look damaged. The way the light reflects on the areas where polish has been applied creates beautiful highlights 

 

What I find most attractive about this photograph are the warm tones of the bricks and the way the rich colours harmonize. However, I dislike the angle that the bricks are shown at and think that I should have thought about the composition more and lined them up straighter.

Although these logs have been cut and piled up by man I still think that there is a more natural feel to this image than the others as the subject is not man made. The colours are quite earthy and neutral and the patterns made by the wood and also by the leaves are raw.

I was originally going to discard this photograph because of its mundane nature and drab tones but the more i looked at it, the more I started to like it. I think the lines and curve of the brickwork are quite pleasing to the eye.

The peeling paint and the rusting metal of the bench create a worn effect when captured on camera. The way the light filters through the holes forms a pattern which could almost be mistaken for fabric or material.

Jolis Paons- The Paper Dress

I know I've already mentioned Jolis Paons and her paperwork, but I couldn't help but post some of the photos of her paper dress. After spending six hours pleating, gluing and sewing pages of books making my own 3D form I know how tiring and repetitive it gets- I really don't know how she had the patience to do all this out of phone books! She's created a beautiful dress out of something so ordinary as telephone directories.  Pretty much in love with her work!

3D Visual Studies

The title for the 3D visual project was The Genesis of Form. I chose to use a pine cone as my starting point and carried out a series of observational drawings, then went on to make small paper maquettes. I wanted to make something which showed the layers and textures of the pine cone and found that folding and pleating the paper was the most effective method. Before I started making the final maquette I researched other artists such as Richard Sweeny, Isaac Salazar and Jolis Paons who also use paper to create forms. I think the final outcome of the project was successful and the methods and materials I used represented certain features the pine cone.

Art Rules- Douglas Fogle

The article the October edition of Frieze which I engaged with the most was called Art Rules. As a student hoping to become part of the art world I found Fogle's blunt and quite frank views and rules on living in the art world insightful but most of all humorous. The general feel I got from the article was that I was taking advice from a person who had far more experience in the art world than most, perhaps in a kind of been there, done that way or even a do as I say, not as I do way. Although there is a light-hearted tone throughout the article, the points the writer makes are serious and, in my opinion, pretty good advise. The section I connected with most came under the rule Have Fun because I do believe that if you're doing something you love and that you genuinely enjoy then you're bound to put more effort into it! Even though some of the rules sound ridiculous, i.e Kill Your Parents it does carry important information and advise. The way Fogle makes references to other artists helps the reader feel involved as it gives them something to relate to.

Art Rules 
1. Art hurts.
2. Kill your parents.
3. You can learn more in the world than you can in school.
4. Don't wait for the 'man' to come to you.
5. Don't spend more time networking than making work.
6. Have fun.
7. Live wrong.

http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/art-rules/

Frieze

Evaluation of an art magazine: Frieze- issue 142, October 2011

I didn't really know what to expect from Freize. Even though it's the leading magazine of contemporary art and culture I hadn't heard of the it before and therefore knew virtually nothing about what it would include. I wasn't overly excited when looking at the cover of the magazine and I can't say I found the cover image particularly stimulating to look at but strangely I did like the weight of the magazine in my hand. When I first flicked through the pages all it seemed to be made up of was advertisements, whether it be adverts for exhibitions or adverts for galleries, that's all it seemed to include. (Having said that I did come across some that I absolutely loved and really did capture my imagination!) After looking through the magazine a few more times I did find several articles towards the back, some which interested me, some which didn't but I guess that's how magazines are supposed to be- raising questions and creating talking points and all that?

LDN

Photograph I took in London from the banks of the river.

Urban Fox at the Southbank Center

I think the reason why I loved this piece so much is because it really did take me quite by surprise. The last thing I expected to see when walking past the Southbank Center was a giant fox sculpted out of straw!( Perhaps if I'd have been more organised and informed on the exhibitions etc. in London then it wouldn't have had the shock factor, so for once I'm kind of grateful i'm not a very organised person.) The scale of the animal   was amazing and it really did look quite at home sat on the roof of the building. I'd read on the Pirate Technics (the group who built the fox)  website that they often burn their work once it's been displayed, personally I don't like the thought of them burning such a beautiful fox!

Kid Acne- Kill Your Darlings

http://www.kidacne.com/blog/2011/10/

I visited the Kid Acne exhibition in July at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield. I'm not going to pretend that it was an exhibition that I'd wanted to see for a while or one that I had been particularly excited about, I went for two reasons; 1) I'd been told to visit more galleries 2) it was local. I have to admit though that I was pleasantly surprised and that I did actually enjoy it. It's not the type of art I'd ever really looked at in much detail before but I did find it interesting and especially liked the installation piece at the back of the room. I also enjoyed flicking through the journals that had been included as they helped to see the way the original ideas had progressed.

William Morris

I came across this quote from William Morris in  a book I was reading over the summer. I wrote it out in my journal as I thought it was quite a sensible rule to live by. 

Alberto Giacometti

Saw these sculptures by Giacometti in the Tate Modern at the end of August this year. I didn't know much about him as a person or as an artist at the time, but I've since looked into his work- not only the sculptures but his sketches and drawings of figures in his studios- and I think I like them even more than I did at first! Looking at the sketches has helped me to see how his ideas come to life and appreciate his 3d work more. I think what attracted me to the figures was how they are not exact copies of the human forms and how expressive and rough they sometimes look.

Woody Allen

I included a sketch of Woody Allen in my summer journal as i had watched quite a few of his films at the time and had enjoyed them a lot more than I thought I would. I used a photo of him from the film Annie Hall which he directed and acted in. The film is pretty peculiar and bored all my friends to death but I liked it and I also liked the way Dianne Keaton (Annie Hall) and Woody Allen dressed, androgynous for Keaton kind of geek chic or whatever they call it for Allen. 

Decorating

Certainly not the most culturally exciting thing I did during summer, but decorating my room did take up quite a lot of spare my time. In fact, for the first two week its took up all of my spare time! I'm obsessed with the idea of living in a cottage when I'm older so decided to try and make my room feel all cottagey. After buying a bird applique cushion the theme kind of spiraled out of control and I ended up with a room covered in birds.