Sunday 21 October 2012

Ending this Blog ... Beginning anew...

I decided to write a new blog for my BA studies ...the main reason being that I have moved to a new University..... it seemed appropriate ... please find a link to Penelope Davies Art Photography here...
http://penelopedavies.blogspot.co.uk/

Thursday 16 August 2012

Research

http://www.gardenofwales.org.uk/science/welsh-rare-plants-project/







The Winning Entry!

An email from Pat Robinson informing me that I had won the "Picture in the Park" Competition. 

Dear Penelope,
Congratulations, your photograph won first prize in the photography competition.
Pat Robinson


Here is a link to my image ...
http://www.penelope-george.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/picture-in-park-competition.html




Sunday 22 July 2012

Adriana Groisman

http://www.ffotogallery.org/adriana-groisman-voices-of-the-south-atlantic

http://youtu.be/ml1uKKVevBM

I walked into town yesterday; as I passed the Peninsula Gallery, a large board of images caught my eye. The Exhibition on show was "Voices of the South Atlantic" by Adriana Groisman. It was the final day of the exhibit.  I was glad that it had drawn me in, but saddened that it was the final day. When I left the gallery, Adriana ran out after to me to ask if I would write in her book of comments. At first I thought "who is this mad woman chasing me!" but I stopped and she told me that she was the artist and liked to have peoples' views of her work. We spoke briefly as she had little time before she was due to catch her train. The work had left me with an emotional response and tears welled in my eyes. When I respond emotionally to a piece of work, I can say very little, it is only later that I am able to think about the work and make a response to it. An emotional response is a sign of a work that has proved its worth, it had touched me and I recognised its importance.

The Falklands War remains clear in my mind; to hear the voices of those who experienced it on both sides, was at the same time heart breaking and uplifting. The voices spoke of what they had done, how it has affected them and of the friendships British and Argentinian have made together.

Adriana's images of the sea where names of those lost were printed on each block, are metaphoric reminders of the fragility of life and the power of governments. The portraits and voices of those who experienced that war spoke with dignity of their losses and their pain.

Here is a Mobile image of part of the board of names


I would have liked to have spoken to Adriana for longer and wish that I had seen the Exhibition sooner as I would have returned to view it again. There was more to see than at first viewed.

Saturday 7 July 2012

Altered Book beginnings ...

I set up my table today so that I have a space to work, and began my Altered Book. To being the process I painted some pages ... I like to start this way because the colours I use motivate and inspire me ... the blank page is so off putting ... concentrating on the colours and the painting, empties my mind of all useless and unnecessary thoughts. Ideas then begin to form ... at least it works most of the time. If no idea surfaces, I just leave it for a while and return to my art work when I am again drawn to it. 


The Altered Book is not something to rush. It will probably take me a few weeks to complete it. 





My new Book ...The Allotment ..

Here is a link to my book "The Allotment" ... documenting a year in the life of .... 
A personal project dedicated to my Dad (1921 - 2010)

http://www.blurb.co.uk/my/store

Click to preview book

Friday 6 July 2012

The Beginning of the BA (Hons) year .....



Wild Flowers in the City 


Thoughts .... study of wild flowers
woodland trees ... plants ... flowers ... 

I am drawn to a subject within nature ...my passion is to photograph nature ... 

Conservation .... Environment

A vast subject area ....







Saturday 30 June 2012

More On Silence


Who walks in the silence
Who speaks to me in the silence
Who knows the silence
What is the silence within
What comes out of the silence
What is to be seen in the silence

Other Reality


What do I sense in the silence
Where does the silence take me
When do I seek silence
When is silence not silence
What does silence feel like
What is the significance of silence
Why do I search for silence
Why do I need silence
Why does silence exist
Does silence exist
Have I always sought out silence
Is my mind ever silent
Am I alone in silence


Wednesday 27 June 2012

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Summer Show



Images from the Summer Show Exhibition
Plymouth College of Art


Foundation Degree
 Second Year Students (Friends)


Me with my Print


Photograph taken by Chris Parnell

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Final Major Project Grade

I'm trying really hard not to be disappointed about my FMP Grade, but I am feeling disheartened. I worked really hard for five months on this project, and I don't feel that my grade reflects the effort and work I put into it.

My Grade was three percent short of a First.

I am trying to remind myself that I have achieved so much in the past two years. I have put everything into my studies and I am passionate about my art work.

Its all subjective!

I have no more to say.


Sunday 10 June 2012

Summer Show Choice

It has been a difficult decision to choose one image for the  Summer Show at Plymouth College of Art.  I want it to be the right image. Every assignment that I have handed in, over the past two years of the Foundation Degree, have been the wrong choices! I was always told in my Feedback that I had better images in my journal that I should have used as my final images. I feel more pressure this time, the image is going to be exhibited with everyone else's and it has to look professional and photographically excellent. Can I achieve this ..... be positive ..... yes!


I have decided, since it is the end of our two years Foundation Degree, that I will have my image printed at theprintspace at a greater expense than if I had it printed at college. I am having it printed to
30ins x 30ins, Mounted on 3mm Foamex, and with an Acrylic Satin Seal. I hope I've chosen wisely.


All day procrastinating and thinking ... I made my final choice this evening. I felt that the whole story can be told in this image. The story  of ..... chasing the light, the spirit of home, finding something that was lost, being still, listening to the silence, the concepts of duality/opposites, and my intuitive response to memory and seemingly empty but ambiguously mysterious spaces.


This is the culmination of five months work, a book at .http://www.blurb.co.uk/books/3255189....and the image I have chosen for the Summer Show.


The Blinding Light and the Corner Cupboard








Friday 25 May 2012

Neil Craver - Underwater Nude Photography

http://vimeo.com/neilcraver/omniphantasmic


End of an Academic Year ....



One of my favourite images from my Final Major Project "Silence"

The Corner Cupboard

Its hardly possible that another year has come to another end. There's only my BA year and then I will be thrust out into the world of employment again. So I'm going to make sure that I make the most of next year, as I feel I have this year.

The deadline for the Final Major Project was yesterday and the final hurdle, my presentation, at 9am this morning. I'm glad that mine was today and its not hanging over me. Its not that I was worried about it because I've worked on my project for five months, and the presentation is a synopsis of the "journey." But some of the students wont have their presentations until next Thursday/Friday and I'm happy that mine is done.


Light Knocking at the Front Door



I don't have to be in college again until the 6th June; we have a meeting to discuss the BA year, and our Summer Show, which we will need to prepare and organise, for the end of June. I'm not sure how many students will be leaving this year, I think that a large percentage of us are carrying on to achieve the BA. There will be a dissertation to write next year, that's going to be a challenge!

But first to enjoy the end of this Degree year. Its been a good year, I feel that I have achieved far more than I expected of myself. I am more confident about my work and no longer afraid that my work isn't good enough. I am developing a style that I enjoy, and my photographic skills have really improved. I realised that I am now able to "break the rules" of photography without realising that I'm doing it, and producing some good work .... even if I do say so myself!

The important aspect for me is that I have found my passion or at least, a passion. I love being out with my camera, I enjoy the process of using film, I love being creative, and I love learning about contextualising my work and making better pictures. Being a student, returning to education, has been the most enjoyable and happiest time in my life.

I would like to take my education further and study for an MA after the BA next year. But this depends of finances and circumstances. And I think I should take one step at a time!

 I have been thinking about what I will do for the summer months.  I don't want to lost my momentum and stop working on my projects. I need a new idea now. But I think first I will take a break and just enjoy the sunshine and the freedom from deadlines.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Penelope Davies Photography

Penelope Davies: Click "Collect Me" to help me win $10,000 and a show in the most immense exhibition of art in New York City : Art Takes Times Square.
Thank You!

Friday 27 April 2012

PLEASE HELP SAVE THE BEES

http://www.avaaz.org/en/bayer_save_the_bees/?cjYwZcb

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE THE BEES ...24 HOURS LEFT TO REACH 500,00

THANK YOU


Evaluation of my Essay on Silence and Blur

My essay became a real struggle, I found it very difficult to get the actual writing of it done. I had spent weeks researching my first essay and four whole days writing it. I felt completely disheartened that I had to re-write it. The first essay had had too much content, I was discussing too many subjects and the feedback I received was that I should choose two or three topics and write about them. This is what I did. I chose to write about Silence and Blur. But as soon as I handed this second essay into the office yesterday, I thought to myself, how silly I was. Why didn't I just work on the first essay until it was right for hand in. I am so frustrated that I didn't do this. I feel that my first essay was much better than the second, and I could have improved it. 


Writing about silence and blur I found it impossible to find any contextual quotes relevant to my theme. I have read so many books, but although I searched and searched for philosopher's who had written about these two subjects, I just could not find anything that fitted into my essay. Consequently my essay has no depth to it, and I know that it is just not good enough. It does not flow, the references I have do not fit in well with the writing, and it is not as I would want it to be. And as I was struggling so much to actually get it done, even the referencing is not accurate. Time was running out on me and I left it too late. 


Everything is clear in hindsight, but I am so annoyed with myself that I did not work on the first essay. I am very disappointed with myself and feel that I have let myself down. (First essay published on 22nd March 2012)

Thursday 26 April 2012

Essay "On Silence and Blur"



On Silence and Blur

“I Love Silence” David Hockney

It is my intention in this essay to interpret the use of silence and blur in my practise, and to examine the work of other artists and photographers, whose use of silence and blur have determined the understanding of the context of their work.

Silence and Blur are two important aspects of my work. Silence and blur create a visual language in my practise that depicts my memories, experiences and philosophy in life.  They are integral to the way I see the world that are influenced by my faith in Mystic Christianity, and my interest in Zen Buddhism. “Peace I leave you and Peace I give you. I do not give peace as the world gives.  Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid” (John14:27).  There is a deep spiritual association in my work; it is my faith that demands I listen to the silence, and it is in the silence that I find peace. In the silence I understand more of who and what I am, and what I see.

To look upon the land, was to commune with a visual hieroglyphic in which everything was part of a larger symbolic whole. In this approach the land as a natural form is alive with potential meaning, so that the photographer can see the world in a grain of sand. The camera transposes it as part of a larger mythology of spiritual and mysterious presence. (Clarke. G: 63)

Hockney (2005 – 2011)

David Hockney in an interview on the BBC said “I love silence.” He has completed a series of paintings depicting the landscape of his home in East Yorkshire. The work was produced over a six year period and depicts his great love of large open spaces, painted on huge canvases. The paintings were done at intervals during the seasons, showing how the landscape and all its vibrant colours continually change. In his silence, he captures the intensity of the colours of every season. Looking at his painting I can almost hear the landscape and all its sounds. He has captured the essence of the landscape in his obvious love of his native land in the silence. To my eye, he has become one with the land. The silence becomes the emotion, and the emotion becomes a picture that allows a depiction of the essence of what it is that is seen.

 "When you approach something to photograph it, first be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence. Then don't leave until you have captured its essence." Minor White (1908 – 1976) annedarlingphotography.com

This quote by Minor White is one that I have never forgotten since I first heard it. It inspired me to find the silence I sought, and in the silence to develop the style of photography that I enjoy. The blur in my images is a depiction of how I see the world in that silence. It is the mystery of everything that I seek to capture.

“You must know yourself and your subject well before you can take a picture. You must become one with it.” (Lester. P: 700). It is the silence that allows me to become one with my camera and my surroundings. It is in the silence that I find things I do not expect to find. In silence I shut out all knowledge and knowing, all emotion, worry, fear and longing, to see my vision with clarity. The silence is my clarity.

I posed several questions to myself of what silence means to me when thinking about writing this essay.  The answers that resulted were that those that walk in the silence are the spirits of loved ones no longer here physically, but are a presence in my heart that guide me, as I live my life remembering them. The one who speaks to me in the silence is God. The God that I believe is ever present within me, and who is my conscience and my motivation. Silence is everywhere. To sit or walk in silence is to listen intently to my intuition, and to everything that is living, or abstract or present around me. Out of the silence comes creativity and knowing. It is silence that enables me to see what I may otherwise miss, or something that has been blindingly obvious, in the silence, awakens my awareness of it. “The phrase blindingly obvious implies when something is sufficiently evident it reaches a point at which we are blinded to its presence, rather than reminded of its presence” (Miller. D: 51)

What I see in the silence is the beauty of nature, the presence of loved ones and the voice of God. In the silence I hear everything that is present in the moment; I hear that which is intuitive and instinctive. Without silence there is only noise. My senses in the silence are more acute. If I allow the silence to penetrate my being, then my senses are allowed to do their work. Silence takes me to another realm of my consciousness, to the secret mysteries that are otherwise lost to me. For me the silence brings with it a profound understanding of my life and the importance of this life. This may be a poetic understanding but nevertheless important to me.

“We are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost”
“The Poetics of Space” (1958) Gaston Bachelard (1884 – 1962)

Silence feels like freedom. Silence is the freedom from the interruption of noise and allows my senses to function together. There is harmony in silence. Silence does not exist as complete silence. There is never complete silence, either within myself or outside of me. My mind will not completely stop thinking even in meditation.  And outside of me, the silence is filled with sounds. The sound of birds singing, the sound of the clock ticking, the sound of traffic, the sound of the leaves blowing in the wind, silence is always a sound. Silence is a means to hear those outer sounds without interruption or disruption. Silence is important to me because it enables my creativity to take place. I need silence to fully work in harmony with my camera.

It is the silence that always accompanies me where ever I go with my camera. I enjoy the silence, and I am content listening to the sound of silence. My images are a result of being in the silence. When I discovered, or realised that this is the important aspect of my art, I began to see how the silence is portrayed in my images. There is a mystery in the silence, and it is the mystery that appeals to me.  I like not knowing exactly what it is I see, and although I do not always know for certain what that something is, I find comfort in the silence and in the ambiguity.



Image Silence from Nothing Penny Davies (2012)

In my research for this essay, I watched and listened to John Cage (1912 – 1992) being interviewed on silence.

 When I hear what we call music, it seems to me that someone is talking and talking about his feelings or ideas about relationships. But when I hear the sound of traffic here on sixth avenue for instance, I don’t have the feeling that anyone is talking, I have the feeling that sound is acting, and I love the activity of sound, what it does it gets louder and quieter, it gets higher and lower, it gets longer and shorter, it does all those things that I’m completely satisfied with that, I don’t need sound to talk to me.

People expect listening to be more than listening, and sometimes they speak of inner listening, or the meaning of sound. When I talk about music, I’m talking about sound, that doesn’t mean anything, that is not inner but is just outer, people say you mean it’s just sounds, thinking for something to just be a sound is to be useless. Whereas I love sound, just as they are. And I have no need for them to be anything more than what they are, I don’t need them to be psychological, I don’t want a sound to pretend that it’s a bucket, or president or that it’s in love with another sound…..laughs….I just want it to be a sound.
(John Cage)
John Cage was a composer who was fascinated by emptiness, silence and sound. He wrote a piece called 4’ 33” (1952). He said that silence and sound could not exist without each other. This piece is pure genius. A piece of music that is silent for 4 minutes and 33 seconds that has 3 Movements. I "listened" to it and found it amazing that everyone in the audience seemed to be entranced.  No one was making a sound, except a couple of coughs, just as if there was actually music playing. The conductor cheekily wipes his brow after the first movement, which makes everyone laugh and eases the tension in the auditorium. The tension in the Barbican Hall when it was being “played” was very apparent. After the ending of each Movement, everyone stirred in their seats, coughed, blew their noses and shuffled a bit.  It was quite extraordinary how the behaviour of people was the same as it would be for an actual "sound" piece of music. In my opinion the score is rich, original, surreal and enticing. As there is no actual music being played, the “listener” is listening to everything else making a sound. This was the essence of John Cage’s idea, that there may not be any notes on the sheet music, but there are still sounds to be heard. John Cage and I do not have the same beliefs about silence and sound, I do believe that you can listen to an inner silence as well as the outer silence, but this does not detract in any way for my complete enjoyment of the piece.

The story of 4′ 33″ originally we had in mind what you might call an imaginary beauty, a process of basic emptiness with just a few things arising in it. . . .  I did have an idea something else would happen.  Ideas are one thing and what happens another. John Cage, “Where are we going?  And what are we doing?”  "John Cage and Experimental Art: The Anarchy of Silence" at the Museum d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona. (James Pritchett)


                                       
   http://whywereason.wordpress.com/2011/07/29  John Cage (classicalcomposers.org)  
                  
                
          Conductor 4’ 33” Lawrence Foster (YouTube)

I am prone to use blur in my images which is a direct result from my love of being surrounded by silence. I really like using depth of field. I enjoy the aesthetic of everything in the background of an image being out of focus.   There is a kind of mystery to this. You have to look deeper into an image when it is out of focus. You have to work out what it is that you see. Since I discovered the work of Uta Barth, she has been an important influence in my own work. I am fascinated by her concept of the act of seeing. She encourages the viewer to look at her images not fleetingly, but to really look. Uta Barth’s images have very little content and rarely any subject matter or the physical presence of an object. They appear to be empty spaces, but in fact have so much content to the viewer who takes time to stand and really look into the picture. The imagination takes over and the viewer can be reminded of their own experiences and memories within the images. Margaret Cameron first used blur and remarked when her work was criticised, “What is focus, and who has the right to say what focus is the legitimate focus” (1864) (Mirzoeff.N:67)

Iago by Margaret Julia Cameron
(Arts.guardian.co.uk)
“The photographer was thought to be an acute but non-interfering observer – a scribe, not a poet. But as people quickly discerned that nobody takes the same picture of the same thing, the supposition that cameras furnish an impersonal, objective image yielded to the fact that photographs are not evidence not only of what's there but of what an individual sees, not just a record but an evaluation of the world. It became clear that there was not just a simple, unitary activity called seeing but “photographic seeing” which was both a new way for people to see and a new activity for them to perform.” (Susan Sontag: 88)

When Margaret Julia Cameron used depth of filed in her photographs to give her image a blurred effect those around her criticised her work. It was said that “She should not let herself be misled by the indiscriminate praise bestowed upon her by the non-photographic press, and should do much better when she has learnt the proper us of her apparatus.” Cameron’s work was misunderstood and her photographs dismissed as unworthy of attention. During the 1860’s she was an English housewife in her forties, a formidable character who had a strong presence of mind who did not adhere to the normal conventions of photography at that time. She was an imaginative and innovative photographer who developed her own style. It is said that “she bullied her sitters unmercifully” (Badger. G: 31). She had been inspired by Wilkie Wynfield to whom she wrote in a private letter “To my feelings about his beautiful photography I owed all my attempts and indeed consequently all my success.” (arts.guardian.co.uk). Wilkie used a painterly effect in his photographs which at that time were very different to the commercial studio portraitists who used sharp focus in their work.  Her work was unconventional using soft focus as a narrative text. In the Colorassi portrait (Iago) she rejects the convention of making the point of focus the eyes, settling instead on the lips. That the moist-eyed model’s introspective gaze is also directed towards his tightly pursed lips draws the viewer inexorably to the mouth. Iago’s fate, it should be remembered, was the penury of guilt and shame, and his final words are a vow of silence: “Demand me nothing. What you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak word” (Act v, scene ii, line 305) (Howarth. S: 39)

Uta Barth Ground #95.6 (1995)
(Beautyinphotography.blogspo.com 09.03.2010 @10.37am)

Barth has experimented with depth of field, focus and framing. Of her work she says “the question for me is always how can I make you aware of your own activity of looking instead of losing your attention on the thought about what it is that you are looking at” (Lee:36)

As with Margaret J Cameron, Barth disregards the traditional rules of photography in order to develop the imagination and create a deeper insight into the aspect of “seeing.” In Barth’s “Ground Series” (1991 -1996) the use of blur is extensive. These have been compared to works by Richter and Vermeer for their delicacy and lighting, and the painterly style of her photographs. Barth says that she “is interested in the shared territory between panting and photography which arrives out of established conventions of picture making” (Lee; 58)

Barth experiments with, and explores our sense of vision, and questions how we look at the things we look at. Charlotte Cotton suggests that “the space between the viewer and the photograph become part of the interplay between space and subject, seeing and not seeing” (Cotton: 133). By playing with soft focus and blur, Barth manages to capture the most everyday items in an extraordinary way. The white or pale colours can create an emotional response form the viewer to recall memories and moods of their own personal experiences. The images are ambiguous in meaning and have a unique hypnotic quality. There is an interaction of peaceful quietness and meditation.  “Artists transform traditional ideas of space and time into a new idea of totality of moment, an idea which refers to wholeness” (Kapoor: 34). Barth’s images elicit completeness, even though her images have no narrative, they can be seen as a depiction of the whole. Barth shows in her images an imaginative glimpse of the world around us (Cotton: 134)

Blur is an inter play between space and subject; it creates a mood that can provoke an emotional response. There is room for the imagination to wander, to search the recesses of the mind for memories and lived experience. I have come to the conclusion, that in my practise, silence and blur are inseparable. One comfortably exists with the other.  In silence I seek mystery, and in the use of focus I sense that mystery.





                                                                                            


Saturday 21 April 2012

Internet


Clawing through the Brambles
Getting to the other Side
Finding a way through

 This is how the Internet sometimes feels......






Thursday 19 April 2012

Penelope Davies

Penelope Davies

Competition ...Please vote for my by clicking on my name and going to the website and clicking on "Collect Me" ....Many Thanks :)

Tuesday 17 April 2012

John Cage 4 Minutes 33 Seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY7UK-6aaNA&feature=colike

This piece for me is pure genius. A piece of music that is silent for 4 minutes and 33 seconds that has 3 Movements. Brilliant. 


I "listened" to it and found it amazing that everyone in the audience seemed to be entranced....no one making a sound, except a couple of coughs, just as if there was actually music playing. The conductor cheekily wipes his brow after the first movement, which makes everyone laugh and eases the tension in the auditorium. Even watching it on YouTube,  the tension in the Barbican Hall was very apparent. After the ending of each Movement, everyone stirred in their seats, coughed, blew their noses, shuffled a bit ..... it was quite extraordinary how the behaviour of people was the same as it would be for an actual "sound" piece of music. 


I had only recently heard of John Cage but I am glad to be able to research some of his work as I feel that it is rich, original, surreal and enticing .... 

John Cage on "Silence" and Marcel Duchamp "Sculpture Musicale"

JOHN CAGE


http://youtu.be/pcHnL7aS64Y


I typed out the transcript to the Interview as I wanted to read and understand what John Cage was expressing about Silence. I find it easier to understand when I have written something, than I do when I only hear it. 



 (The noise of traffic in the background, JC sits with his cat in his apartment that looks down on to Sixth Avenue)

"When I hear what we call music, it seems to me that someone is talking, and talking about his feelings or ideas about relationships. But when I hear the sound of traffic here on sixth avenue for instance, I don’t have the feeling that anyone is talking, I have the feeling that sound is acting, and I love the activity of sound, what it does is, it gets louder and quieter, it gets higher and lower, it gets longer and shorter, it does all those things ...... I’m completely satisfied with that, I don’t need sound to talk to me. 

We don’t see much difference between time and space; we don’t know where one begins and the other stops. Most of the arts we think of as being in time, and most of the arts we think of as being in space. Marcel Duchamp began thinking of music as being not a time art, but a space art. Sculpture Musicale  –  different sounds coming from different places and lasting, producing a sculpture which is Sonaris and which remains.

People expect listening to be more than listening, and sometimes they speak of inner listening, or the meaning of sound. When I talk about music, I’m talking about sound that doesn’t mean anything, that it is not inner, but is just outer, people say you mean it’s just sounds, thinking for something to just be a sound is to be useless. Whereas I love sounds, just as they are. And I have no need for them to be anything more than what they are, I don’t need them to be psychological, I don’t want a sound to pretend that it’s a bucket, or a president, or that it’s in love with another sound…..laughs….I just want it to be a sound. 

I’m not so stupid either, there was a German Philosopher Emanuel Kant, he said there were two things that don’t have to mean anything …that is don’t have to mean anything in order to give us very deep pleasure. (Talks to cat and laughs). 

The sound experience that I prefer to all others is the experience of silence. The silence almost all over the world now, is traffic. If you listen to Mozart or Beethoven you hear that it’s always the same. But if you listen to traffic, you see that it is always different." John Cage (1912 - 1992)


MARCEL DU CHAMP


With Thanks to http://www.abdn.ac.uk/french/duchamp.shtml for the following two images.


Portrait of Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Du Champ Installation "Mile of String"

http://youtu.be/TYGUERvcjZQ


I listened to this with my headphones on, and at times thought there were sounds coming from inside my house. There were surprising sounds that made me jump, and then laugh at myself for doing so. There is the sound of a Squeaky Toy and the sound of a Musical Box that is tuneless ... a little disturbing ...and then there comes the surprise ... a Horn ...just one sound of the Horn to jolt you out of your comfort zone! The Music Box continues and begins to jar a little on the nerves...I think "when will it end".....then finally there is a recognition of a nursery rhyme that you question .... is it or isn't it.... the the sounds end. 

Friday 13 April 2012

Penelope Davies

Penelope Davies


I have entered the New York Times Square Competition on "Artists Wanted" .... it would be great if you could vote for me.
Click on "Collect Me" 
Many Thanks 

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Monday 26 March 2012

On Companionship

Thesaurus on Companionship



COMPANIONSHIP
RELATIONSHIP THAT EXISTS BETWEEN PEOPLE OR THINGS
COMPANY
FRIENDSHIP
CAMARADERIE
COMRADESHIP
HOUSE
CLOSENESS
FAMILIARITY
ALLIANCE
AMITY
SOLIDARITY
UNITY
LOYALTY
DEVOTION
CONSTANCY
RELIABILITY
DEPENDABILITY
TRUSTWORTHINESS

Sunday 25 March 2012

On Blurryness

Thesaurus and Other on BLURRYNESS 

VAGUENESS
HAZINESS
FUZZINESS
MISTINESS
DIMNESS
AMBIGUITY SITU WHERE SOMETHING CAN BE UNDERSTOOD IN MORE THN ONE WAY AND I NOT CLEAR WHICH MEANING IS INTENDED
FAINTNESS REMOTE
INAUDIBILITY
SHADOWINESS
UNCERTAINESS
NEBULOUSNESS NOT CLEAR DISTINCT OR DEFINITE
BLEARINESS
IMPRECISION
INDEFINITENESS
UNINTELLIGIBILITY
(CLARITY CLEARNESS – Antonyms)
OBSCURITY
SMOKINESS
DOUBT
ABSTRUSENESS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND
OPACITY CONDIION OF BENG OPAQUE: OBSCURE MEANING
EQUIVOCALITY
IMPRECISION
INDISTINCT
INDEFINITE
INCOHERENT
VAGUE INTENTION
NOT EXPLICIT
NOT HAVING A PERCETIBLE FORM
IN THE SHADOWS
UNABLE TO IDENTIFY THE SOURCE
ABSTRACTNESS
WHERE WHEN WHY WHAT HOW
WHAT IS BLURINESS
OUT OF FOCUS
NOT SEEING CLEARLY
HAVING TO THINK ABOUT WHAT IS THERE OR WHAT IS NOT THERE
MARGARET CAMERON
UTA BARTH


On Silence

Abstract thinking on the topic "On Silence"



Silence in the wind
Silence when I listen to the birds sing
Silence in the creaking of the floorboards
Silence in spring
Silence in the garden
Silence in the sound of music
Silence in the rhythm of life
Silence between friends
Silence in painting
Silence of the heart
Silence in knowing there is silence
Silence of the spirit
Silence of the Song
Silence of the Soul
Silence in the air I breathe
Silence is golden
Silence in the beauty of things
Silence within
Silence with God
Silence in knowing
Silence in the mirror
Silence in remembering
Silence in thought
Silence to perceive
Silence to work 
Silence of the camera


Friday 23 March 2012

Feedback on First Draft of Essay

PCAD 500 Penny, you have been splurging which is one good way to start writing - you could try some other techniques to organise your thoughts through improved structuring - we identified some themes through the text and wondered if these could be chapters? SILENCE, BLURRINESS, COMPANIONSHIP? Need to edit here and you need an opportunity to refine a few ideas rather than touch the surface with several. We thought that John Cages lectures and writings on silence would be useful. What would Liz Wells say about silence do you think?
By Lecturer Maddy Pethic

Thursday 22 March 2012

First Draft of Essay

Examine How Structuralism Influences the Visual Interpretation of an Image
“Nothing is ever fully present in signs. It is an illusion for me to believe that I can ever be fully present to you in what I say or write, because to use signs at all entails that my meaning is always somehow dispersed, divided and never quite at one with itself, not only my meaning but I can never have a pure, unblemished meaning at all”
Quote by Jaques Derrida Wells. L (2003: 168)


Image “Duet” Penny Davies (2012)

It is my intention to examine how Structuralism influences the interpretation of the image, using photographs from my own practice, and the art of the Abstract Expressionist painters, the photographer Uta Barth and film maker Tacita Dean (or artist David Hockney). I will analyse the methods by which the viewer is encouraged to encounter the visual image, by investigating the theories of Ferdinand du Saussure and Claude Levi Strauss, and post- structuralists Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes. The visual interpretation of an image is limited by the viewer’s social and political experience, perception, expectations and assumptions.

Structuralism is the theory of language and knowledge. It is allied with the theory of semiotics. Things in the world – literary texts and images do not wear their meanings on their sleeves. They must be deciphered, or decoded, in order to be understood. Things have a “deeper structure” than common sense permits us to comprehend, and structuralism purports to provide a method that allows us to penetrate that deeper structure.”
Wells. L (2003:166)

The “Duet” is from a body of work that began as an exploration of memory, and the connections between myself, and the inherited family objects that link my past and my present. The important aspects of this work for me, is the role that the camera plays, and the silence in which I photograph the space at home, where I have now succeeded in achieving the images I want to exhibit. It is in the silence that I see with my heart. The silence holds no distraction, my mind is allowed to release itself from all thought; it is in silence that I feel at one with my camera, my surroundings and myself. This is important to me because it is my heart that intuitively perceives what my mind can only see, and my camera can only look at.

The Camera is my tool. Through it I give reason to everything around me”
Andre Kertesz Sontag. S (2000:207)

My camera plays an integral role in my life. It has become a part of me that documents and records aspects of my life. It is the tool I use to express visually what would otherwise remain lost to me.  My camera demystifies my thoughts and emotions. It has become my friend and ally. I can take a photograph intuitively, but it is not until I see the image that I understand its meaning. The importance of the camera has changed as I have progressed with my art. At first it was a learning instrument, an object I could hide behind. It became a friend that I relied on to develop my skills and abilities; now it has become my passion, part of me that I miss if it is not there. The camera and I have become as one.

 “The camera is a fluid way of encountering that other reality” Jerry N Uelsmann Sontag (2000:200).

It is important to me, that in my photography, the visual experience is shared with the viewer. Photography for me is theatrical; there is always an emotion in its depths. The Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko said that “nothing should stand between my painting and viewer.” He resisted attempts to interpret his paintings. He was mainly concerned with the viewer’s experience, the merging of work and recipient beyond verbal comprehension. “Explanation must come out of a consummated experience between picture and onlooker. The appreciation of art is a true marriage of minds.” Teshuva (2003:7). His work is a drama that unfolds slowly as it is viewed. This is what I am trying to achieve in my art. Wassily Kandinsky, from the same art period, said that his art “embodies both the senses and the mind.” (www.artexpertswebsite.com 19th Mar 12 8.17am). He says that as he painted he heard tones of colour, and chords of music. I feel that the landscape, exterior and interior, are the music of my eyes. Music has an influence on my photography in memory.  There is a timeless movement in life that I perceive when I am engrossed in my work.  In my images, shot in black and white, there is a sense of history captured in the film noir style. In black and white imagery there is a haunting quality that helps me depict the spirit of loved ones I sense in the light.

 “We are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost”
“The Poetics of Space” (1958) Gaston Bachelard (1884 – 1962)
 www.goodreads.com 11thFeb12 at 16.02

 There are metaphors in abundance in my work. I recognise in the images that only when we have experienced the dark, can we experience the light. The darkness is my prison, the light is my freedom. The darkness is a barrier, an obstacle to be overcome. Feeling the light is a sense of being set free. The light makes its presence known to me. When I walk into a room I am struck by its power. I relate these words to the light…delicate, elegant, passionate, energetic, verve and punchiness.

 My belief that the loved ones once lost to me in death have now appeared to me in the light and I have found them again. I am no longer afraid of death and when there is no fear, there is a freedom to live.

“Such a caring for death, an awakening that keeps vigil over death, a conscience that looks death in the face, is another name for freedom” Jaques Derrida “The Gift of Death”

If I consider now the structuralist principles, even though I see my work as a theatrical drama to be shared by the viewer, the viewer will not understand completely what I have captured or identified in the images. I can explain what I feel is there, but the viewer’s perception will always differ from my own. Also the viewer’s views and beliefs will not necessarily be the same as my own. It is also true that I do not fully understand what I have captured in my photographs until I see them in print. It may be blindingly obvious but the understanding takes time to unfold.

“The phrase blindingly obvious implies when something is sufficiently evident it reaches a point at which we are blinded to its presence, rather than reminded of its presence” D Miller (2000) pg 51


Nationalmediamuseum.org 19thMar12 7.49am

“it frequently happens, moreover, and this is one of the charms of photography that the operator himself discovers on examination, perhaps long afterwards, that he has depicted many things he had no notion of at the time”


William Henry Fox Talbot Latticed Window (1839)
(Howarth. Sophie 2005: 21)

It is at home that all my possessions remind me of loved ones no longer with me. It is at home that I feel their presence. It is a presence that I wanted to capture. I am holding on to something that I fear is in danger of being lost. The “Duet” is the memory of shared moments, shared happiness and shared activity of playing duets with my mother. The photograph is a symbol of her leaving, the door half open is a metaphor that one day I will follow her, to play a duet with her once again.

 “the shadow of the object fell upon the ego”
“When we lose a beloved person or object, we begin a process that, if successful, ends in our finding them again, within us. It is how we grow and develop as people.”
Turkle (2007:9/10)

Asking myself what is memory the answer that came to me was that memory is to be immersed in a sense of time or place, when an event became an emotional response and the emotional response embedded itself in my being. The memory is cast in the structure of my DNA, it is remembered through an emotion. The emotion becomes a photograph imprinted on my heart.

try to imagine what everyday life would be like in a society in which no one knew any history. Imagination boggles, because it is only through knowledge of its history that a society can have knowledge of itself. As a man without memory and self-knowledge is a man adrift, so a society without memory (or more correctly, without recollection) and self-knowledge would be a society adrift” Arthur Marwick Sim.S (1999:3)

The memories I have inform my present. When I was working on my last project linking the past to the present, I researched my own past, the members of my family I never knew, my family and friends who are no longer here with me, and the objects that have remained important to me. It is all of these aspects of my life that now inform my creative practice. The deeper I delve into the past and my memories, the more intense my images become. I understand more of what I am and what I see. Without my memories, without the objects, my personal history would be lost. This is another aspect of my imagery that speaks to me. There is a sense of the lost and the found, and there is a discomfort and a fear, that what I have found will again be lost.