Practice | Reflection

Most weeks during the practice unit were about trial and error within sampling. Sometimes I would become frustrated to why my ideas in theory weren’t becoming reality. However, after several attempts on focusing on one drawing and trying to recreate it on dissolvable fabric, I eventually found a solution. As I was working with dissolvable fabric, it was like working on air. A base needed to be placed beforehand so that the machine could have a good grip to sew on. the images below exhibit the samples i am discussing.

I spent time processing my drawings through further photocopying, colour pallets and textural drawings. Artist’s work was also taken into consideration and for inspiration such as; Cornelia Parker. Parker is an English public sculptor and large scale installation artist. The piece of art that I mainly took on board from Parker was where she turned her attention to the city streets of Jerusalem hat are usually overlooked. From the cracks in pavements to wasted pieces of wood, she turned them into beautiful pieces of work.

http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/shows/view/cornelia_parker/

Initially I set myself to gather research about how I could combine both colour and monochrome colours together. However, after a tutorial amongst tutors and peers, I was advised to separate both themes as it would be effective and I wouldn’t be struggling in combining both colour palettes. By having a motivational group of peers, I received the confidence to develop my work in the way I wanted whereas in the past, I had always received negative comments about my work.

From this I have learnt that you will always need another individual’s opinion on your own work and that there will always be negative and positive comments about your work. There were many presentations to prepare for as this gave us the opportunity to discuss how our work is progressing and where our path is being lead to. This was extremely helpful for me as I was able to justify my reasons for my work and the reasons for development.

An area that was criticised was where I included unsuitable artist references. For example, in picture 1 is my work and I explain to my audience where I see my work being placed and on picture 2 I included an image of Richard Serra's work where he works incredibly large scale and he is an architectural artist. From this, I took away my feedback and gather artists that link with my work so far and also gather ideas about how I can take their ideas and input it into my practice.

Picture One

Picture 2

Practice | Direction

During my summer in 2016, most of my time was spent exploring local parks and forests in Oldham where I grew up. After gathering images of the scenery that I captured, I recognised the fluidity within my images as it exhibited the natural and organic shapes and forms that mother nature creates. As well as discovering these beautiful places, galleries were another interest I gained as I could imagine my work being placed there in the future. I received information in how I could submit my work and when the best time would be to do so, for potential employers to come across my work.

The images above are taken from local parks and forests in Oldham where I initially gathered research for the practice unit.  The similarities between the two images can be clearly seen as they both have the organic flow and shape to them.

These images were taken later on into the practice unit as I felt I needed further research and inspiration. From these images, I was able to create more textured samples and drawings.

After settling into the third and final year at MMU, one to one tutorials were held and this gave me the chance to speak to my tutor Kate about all the plans and aspirations I had planned for my work. We discussed that I had far too many images and projects to be focusing on and that I should pick my favourite 3 or 4 images and work from there. Suggestion were made such as: Larger drawings, dying fabrics, Drawing directly onto fabric. As usual, after the tutorial I felt a huge sense of excitement about knowing what to do next and how to develop my practice. So immediately I began drawing, I then used some techniques from drawing days in the first year at MMU as it was a good way to start off my thought of ideas and sampling.