Thursday 29 September 2011

Second Year Beginning

Sally Hall introduced the second year group to this year's Contextual Assignment. The theme is Artist Identity. How do we view ourselves as Artists in the world?

The Contextual aspect of my learning will be to relate it to my practice in a theoretical and conceptual framework. I have to think about my own perception of my practice, my interests and my passions, and to look at how theory applies to my practice.

Aspects to research  and consider:-

* how theory affects my practice
* issues that affect my practice
* issues that define my practice
* compare and contrast
* consolidate and reference theory and practice.
* look at other artists and photographers

In the weeks to come, we will be given lectures on different themes. From these lectures we have to decide which is most suited to our own practice.

This is an opportunity to develop my style; to consider my aspiration in photography; to think about where my passion lies, and how I will develop my knowledge, skills and practice to further my ambitions as an Artist.

Sally Hall - Time (Space)

Visual Culture
Media transforms the human experience
elements that determine and affect the media
Investigate  Spacial approaches taken by artist/photographers
Temporal (relating to time and the physical world)

Sally spoke of Time (Space) as Representing and Making.
memory
nostalgia
entropy (a quantity expressing how much of a system's thermal energy is not available for conversion into mechanical work Oxford English Dictionary)
decay
popular culture
landscape
urban forms
history
fake
hyperreal
representation of space
photograph/film recording
the process of making
time and the artifact
digital / analogue
live act, real time, travel
Rhythm, repetitions and iteration

Maddie Pethick - Evocative Objects

 Seminars

 Exploration of the relationships with the objects that surround us

1. Home - life, memory, children, security
2. Trash - recycling, junk shops, eBay, car boot sales
3. Networked Objects - Internet surf clubs
4 Objects of Memory - perception
5. Empathy/ah-ness - "things that aren't quite what they seem"
6. On glitter - how we navigate the sparkles
7. Collecting
8. Connectivity
9.The Ornamental
10. Thingyness - Erwin Wurm Schiefes Auto (2008) (wonky car)

Maddie also spoke about using Galleries, Museums, Exhibitions and Trade Fairs as resources for research.

Visiting an artists work is seen as having an experience. The experience of being able to view it in its physical form. This usually, for me, gives the work its "life."  Viewing the work sometimes enables a greater understanding of it, and it becomes more interesting and more exciting. The artists hand is visible in its creation, the thought processes, the actual making of the work makes it something that you can tune into and talk about.

At the end of this session, I am drawn towards"Evocative Objects." both my parents have passed away and I have inherited items and ornaments. I  also of course, have my memories that are the most important, but it is the photographs and the objects that link me with the past and my background with my parents and my siblings.

After my father passed away in 2010, I spent a year documenting an allotment space. When I thought about this process, I realised that I was doing it because I wanted to honour and respect his life in some way. My earliest memories are linked very strongly to my father. I would spend hours with him as a small child helping him grow fruits and vegetables in our garden. When I came to the end of the year I felt that I had achieved something worthwhile. It made me feel good photographing the allotment had made my father feel close to me.

The allotment could also fit in with time and space, as well as the artifacts and memories I have of my childhood growing up in West Wales. Everything is relavant and I think that the contextual themes will overlap, so I will not try to make a decision until I have listenend and considered all the options.

I did enjoy todays lectures and I think that this module will guide me and inspire me to find out more about myself and what makes me "tick."

The following two images are collages I created using two pictures superimposed.

Myself age around 18months helping my dad in the garden

My dad on the farm around 1950