Exhibition evaluation.

The exhibition space that our work is being presented in is a white room. The qualities of the room are; it has natural light, high ceilings and it is airy and spacious. There is only a limited amount of space both on the boards and the floor. The boards have a height of 213.5cm and a width of 122cm. Only 2 boards can be placed flat in a row. There had to be enough floor space for everyone to access. There are also plinths that were used to display 3D work. The pieces of work that were created could not be too large due to the limited amount of space.

The audience that is viewing the work is parents, students, general public ranging from young to old, also other schools and new students. Not only did I have to consider the image of my piece being suitable for the audience, I also had to think about the way it was presented and would all audience types be able to view the piece in the same way.

 These images show ways of presenting different types of work. As you can see the image to the right shows how you can present 2D and 3D work. The 2D work is places on a board and then the 3D work is placed on a plinth. The side boards are placed around the piece of 3D work so they are facing it, this causes the 3D piece to become the main focus. I believe that this is a good way of presenting it as the way the boards are facing inwards it causes the viewer to get closer to the work and see the details.

This presentation of this piece is similar to the one above however the 3D element of it is not placed on a plinth, it is hung from a piece of wood which is suspended from the tops of the boards. Again similar to the one above this means that you can walk around and view the whole piece. It also causes the piece to stand out more.

 

 

This image shows how to present a piece of clothing. This is a suitable way because it shows how it would look like on a model. It also has images to show this as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

This image shows how my work was presented in the end of year show. The pins are place at the top and the bottom of each piece of wood. I believe that this was a suitable way to present my work because it meant it didn’t damage the wood in any way and the pins are so small that you can hardly see them.

Presentation evaluation.

We had to look at different presentation methods to present our own work. We looked at two types of portfolio which included an e-portfolio and a mounted portfolio. To create an e-portfolio you select pieces of your best work, a minimum of 10 and you then photograph these. It is best to do this using the appropriate lighting as this will make the work look more professional. You can then edit these photos using Photoshop to enhance the colours. When you have got the desired look you then upload these to an e-portfolio such as Flickr. You would use an e-portfolio for a university interview if required, further course of study, could be used for evidence for your CV and can be used when applying for jobs. The possible audience that would be viewing this type of portfolio would be a possible employer and the general public because it would be on the internet. Some of the advantages of using a e-portfolio are; it does not cost anything to create, apart from editing photos it can be quicker to create, you don’t have to carry it around. The disadvantages of using an e-portfolio are you cannot see the pieces of work in person and so you cannot see intricate detail and texture.  

Another type of portfolio is a mounted one. To produce a mounted portfolio I first selected a minimum of 8 pieces of my best work. I then placed these pieces of work onto black card and cut them out leaving a black border of roughly 1cm and then placed these onto a bigger piece of mountcard. You have to make sure there is an equal sized border both sides and the bottom border has to be bigger than the top. The order in which you put your work should show a journey and the process in which is what developed. Students would use mounted portfolios for showing their best work for an interviewer, course leader or employer. A professional artist would use a mounted portfolio for showing their finished and best quality work, representing what style of work they produce. People that would view this type of portfolio would be an interviewer and an employer. The advantages of having a mounted portfolio is that the viewer can see the intricate details of the work, the interviewee can discuss their work. The disadvantages of this portfolio are that it is not cost effective as you have to buy a lot of card and the carry case. It takes time to create this as you have to be accurate with the cutting of card and measurements. It can be heavy to carry around as they are very large.

Overall the two types of portfolios have similarities and differences and both serve different purposes. E-portfolios are more practical when it comes to showing your work to a larger group of people in a range places who just want to get a rough idea of what work you produce, whereas mounted ones are more personal to you as you can hand make them. I believe that mounted portfolios are a better way to show your work as you will be there with the work to discuss it and explain your style.  

Andy Goldsworthy.

Andy Goldsworthy is a British land artist who works in the natural environment to create his works. Some of the materials he uses within his pieces are; coloured flowers, icicles, leaves, mud, pinecones, snow, stones, twigs and thorns. Although the materials are all natural within rural areas, the way he arranges them makes them almost look unnatural in the surroundings they are placed in, catching the viewers eye causing them to look again. His work is similar to Banksy's in a way he uses the outdoors to display his work, however instead of placing his piece of work on a manmade surface he uses the natural environment to create the work.

Banksy.

Banksy is an unknown street artist. He is well known for creating pieces of work in areas such as on the side of buildings, in the streets, on bridges and places visible to the public using a distinctive stencilling technique. He is known to use a lot of dark humour within his images which are occasionally accompanied with slogans, some of it can be seen as controversial and shocking to the viewer. Some of the subjects that appear in his work are rats, apes, policemen, soldiers, children and the elderly. Even though the way he presents his work is seen to be a crime I believe that it is a very efficient way to present work because you don't have to pay to view the piece.

Cornelia Parker.

Cornelia parker is an English sculptor and installation artist. She is well known for her large scale installations. An example of one is ‘Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View’. This piece was a garden shed which she got blown up by the British Army and then suspended the fragments which represented the explosion as if it had stopped in time. A light was placed in the center of the piece which then created shadows on the wall. They way she presents her work hanging in the center of a room means that it interacts with the audience. You can walk around the piece of work and view the whole thing unlike with a painting or photograph where you would only view it from the front. It would also cause the viewer to get closer to the piece to see what objects are hanging.

Max Ernst.

Max Ernst was a painter, sculptor and printmaker who was one of the leading Surrealists and was also a pioneer of Dada. He was a soldier in World War 1 and was traumatized by this time. These themes of his vision of the modern world being irrational became the basis of his artwork. The subject of his work also included his personal traumas. This style to paint from the sub conscious was the basis of his Surrealists works and this then influenced the Abstract Expressionists. He was inspired by the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico. He was also interested in the art of the mentally ill.   After constantly experimenting Ernst invented the technique known as frottage. His work links to the theme of exquisite corpse because he looks at juxtaposed imagery.

COSHH and Health and Safety at Work Act.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/
http://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/hswa.htm

Analysing the brief.

This assignment has asked me to think of my own theme and create a well executed piece of work to show the best of my abilities. The purpose of the brief is to assist me in knowing what to do to achieve the highest standard of work at the best grades. The purpose of my piece of work is to show the style of work I like working with showing my strengths. My piece of work will be displayed in rooms 532-537 in North West 2 building at South Downs College. In the space that is being used to exhibit the pieces it is a white room. There are many qualities in the rooms which are good for exhibiting work such as; natural light, high ceilings and it is airy and spacious. It is only a temporary gallery space. I could possibly use 2 sides of a space, however the piece cant be too large scale because of the limited amount of space. The audience that will be viewing the work are parents and students, general public ranging from young to old, also other schools and new students as well. When presenting my work I need to think about the needs of the audience. The work and exhibition space needs to be clean, well presented and professional. It should be able to show a journey of the artist. There needs to be communication explaining the piece, this is what an artists statement is for. As the work is being exhibited in an educational setting the piece cannot be offensive, obscene and it can't contain graphic text or imagery.

Pallant House visit.

These images show pieces of work from a visit to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. This visit was for us to gain information on how Civil Wars influenced artists at the time and the impact it had on civilians and surrounding land they lived on. I think that the exhibition was good because it displayed a good range of different styles and some of them had a very powerful meaning behind them.

Raoul Hausmann.

Raoul Hausmann born July 12th, 1886 was an Austrian writer and artist. He was one of the key of the Dada movement. He created many piece of different styles of work such as drawings, sculptures and photographs however he is know to be the creator of photomontages. A photomontage is where you bring together more than one photograph to create an illusion of an unreal subject. As well as photographs he also uses areas of collage and combines them all together. His pieces of work link to the theme of exquisite corpse because he creates unusual compositions and juxtaposed imagery. He was around when World War One was occurring which influenced his pieces and so of the images he uses are linked to it, such as weapons and German characters. I like the his work because I like the styles he uses and the combinations of materials that he incorporates. The images he brings together makes you look twice at the piece and to think about the meaning of it.
                                                                                          



This is his piece 'The Art Critic'. Within this piece he uses all the Dada techniques; collage, photomontage and typography. The background are German characters from a poster poem. The middle ground is cut out photos and the foreground is a figure of a man that is made up of photos and other collage elements. The text in the background makes the image stand out however because you cannot see all of it, it makes you consider what it says. When you first look at the image you may think that the item in his hand is a weapon, however when you look closer at it you can see that the item is just a utensil.  

Final piece health and safety.

Within my development and creating my final outcome there were some health and safety factors that I had to consider.

When working with the wire I had to be aware of the sharp ends and the ends that flung of when cutting the wire, so I had to work in a large area where there wasn't people.

When working with clay you have to consider 'COSHH' which is control of substances hazardous to health. The main hazard when working with clay is crystalline silica which is dust. Breathing in to much of this can cause silicosis which is a disease of the lungs. The hazards of this can be minimized by;

• Wearing a mask.
• Keeping exposure as low as possible by working away from others, using slurry bins, covering tables when working and washing surfaces, tools and equipment.
• Having a well ventilated room.

When I was merging the photography and illustrations together I had to use the programme Photoshop. Within the programme I used a range of tools including the 'magic wand tool' and the 'magnetic lasso' tool.

Photography.

To create a joiner photograph you firstly get a model you wish to use. You then pick a location whether it be in a studio or on location. You take a separate photograph of each section of the body, making sure they are all roughly the same composition and taking more than one of the same section so you can then later choose which photographs work better. When you have a good range of photos you then use the programme Photoshop to manipulate and join the photos together.

Kevin Meredith is a British photographer that uses this method in his work.

This is an example of Kevin Merdith's work.

Rene Magritte.

Rene Magritte was born in 1898 in Lessines. Some of his earliest paintings from roughly 1915 were very impressionistic style. His paintings from 1918-1924 were more influenced by Futurism and occasionally Cubism. He created his first surreal oil painting, 'The Lost Jockey' in 1927. When he was a child his mother committed suicide by drowning herself in a river, and when her body was found her dress was supposedly covering her face. This image has been suggested as the source of many of his paintings between 1927 and 1928 of people with cloth disguising their face, such as in the piece 'Les Amants'. During World War 2 he was living in Brussels. For a short time he used a painterly style known as his 'Renoir Period', and this was a reaction to his emotions of abandonment that came with living in Germany when it was occupied by Belgium. During 1947-1948 he went through a period painting very provocative images. He became involved in the production of fake painting during the postwar period and this is how he supported himself at this time. At the end of 1948 he went back to his style of his prewar surrealistic art. In his work he uses ordinary objects but places them in an unusual composition such as in his piece 'The Listening Room' he places an apple in a room but enlarges it so it is the size of the room itself. Also in his piece 'Golconda' he places males in suits floating around houses. His constant use mash up of reality and illusion is known to have come from his mothers death reflecting his shifting from what he wishes which is his mother to be alive, to what he knows which is his mother is dead.

This is his piece 'Golconda'.

This is his piece 'The Listening Room'

This is his piece 'The False Mirror'

Ben Heine.

Ben Heine born in 1983 is a Belgian artist. He has produced many pieces of artwork and some of his best known pieces are 'Pencil Vs Camera', 'Digital Circlism and 'Flesh and Acrylic'. He is interested in a variety of art movements such as Surrealism, Pop Art, Geometric Abstraction, Expressionism and Social Realism. He has exhibited his work in many countries such as; South Korea, UK, Brazil, Romania, The Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, US and Turkey.

'Pencil Vs Camera was invented by Ben himself. It is his trademark and one of the most creative art concepts which has influenced many other artists. The style combines drawing and photography in a unique and unusual way. You can always see his hand in his pieces because it represents the connection between the viewer, artist and the piece itself. His pieces he tells a story using imagination, illusion, poetry and Surrealism.

'Flesh and Acrylic' was a project started in 2011. In this he creates abstract paintings on wooden panels using acrylic paint. He then uses a living model to blend into the background by painting them as well, he does this because he wants the model to become invisible. The unusual fact about this project is that a living person is incorporated into the piece itself and becomes part of the composition, this makes it more intriguing to look at because it almost becomes and illusion.

'Digital Circlism' was a project started in 2010. With this project he created portraits of celebrities digitally using only circles. The style of the pieces take elements from the art styles of Pop Art and Pointillism. He recreates iconic faces from history and pop culture with circles in a range of colours and sizes which gives them a 3D look.

This is an example of one of the pieces from his 'Pencil Vs Camera' series.

This is an example of one of the pieces from his 'Flesh and Acrylic' series.

This is an example of one of the pieces from his 'Digital Circlism' series.

The pieces of his work that most interest me are his photography and illustration pieces because he makes his own interpretations and stories from the photographs he uses. This adds interest to the piece and may lead to the viewer having to look twice as the subject of the illustration of the piece is unexpected. Ben Heine has influenced my own multi-disciplinary outcome because I have used the same technique using my own photograph and illustration. I have used a different style of photograph because I have used a portrait of an animal whereas Heine usually used landscapes in his pieces, however I have still used the idea of imagery you would not normally see together which is linked to the theme of exquisite corpse.

 

Oil painting.

When creating a detailed oil painting it is important to plan it out properly for reasons such as; it makes it easier, you have to give time as oil takes a while to dry, it will save unnecessary work, it will help cut down on mistakes and the correct layering will add depth. Creating a ground is the first step to the painting, this helps cut out a lot of work as it gives you an all over mid tone to work from, it will also help bring all the colours together. With oil paintings you have to work from dark to light and pure whites are saved until last so they stand out. I had to create an oil painting from observation.

This shows my piece with the ground of green painted on, also the branch and the darkest areas of shade on the squirrel.

This is my piece when I had added the rest of the tone and detail. As you can see the colours blend together quite well to create shading and it also gives the piece texture. I am happy with the overall outcome of my piece however I believe I could have blended in the lighter areas more.

3D work.

We were asked to create a 3D model of part of our chosen animal. To create this I used earthenware clay. I started off with a ball and moulded it to the accurate shape of the birds head. To create the beak I had to use a separate piece of clay and attach it on. I then used modelling tools to create the texture.

My piece relates to the work of Nicola Hicks. Nicola Hicks is an English sculptor born in 1960, London. The subject of her pieces are primarily animals and she usually sculpts them in straw or plaster. As well as sculptures she creates large scale drawings using charcoal on big pieces of brown paper. My work is similar to her work as I created the drawings of the animal first and then developed these drawings into larger scale clay sculptures.

These are examples of Nicola Hicks's work. As you can see on the left is an example of her large scale drawings and the image beneath shows an example of one of her sculptures.



























Wire and String foot:

To create this I had to work from observation and create an accurate representation of the birds foot. To create it I first made the basic shape out of wire. I then built this up using string to add texture and make it look thicker. I used wax on the ends to represent the smooth texture of the claws.

Hot textiles.

There are many different techniques you can use to create hot textiles such as;

• Heat moulding.
• Melting.
• Shibori.
• Painted bondaweb.
• Dyeing.
• Stich.

The materials that can be used to create hot textile samples are; tyvek, lutradur, plastics, fusible film, bondaweb, fabric, foil, organza, paint, disperse dyes, threads and kunin felt.


These are my examples of using hot textiles and using a range of techniques and materials.

 

The health and safety to consider when using hot textiles are;

• Work in a well ventilated room.
• Hold heat gun 25mm away from materials.
• When distressing materials using a heat gun make sure you work on a till of piece of glass.
• Keep hands away from materials when using the heat gun.                                                   
• Use a metal tool to hold the material when working with the heat gun.                                   
• Take care when using hot irons.                                                                                                
• When distressing material use an iron, make sure the material is placed between two sheets of parchment paper.
• Let materials cool before handling.                                                                                          

Wrapping and Coiling.

Coiling is an established basketry process in which the material forms the foundation is stitched together with a flexible element called a binder. Coiling strengthens the fabric so it can be twisted and manipulated to produce 3D forms.

Wrapping fabric with thread:

• Cut a length of fabric.
• Choose a thread that is not too fine.
• Lay about 30mm of the wrapping thread along the end of the fabric and begin wrapping it firmly over the fabric.
• To finish off tie the end of the wrapping thread to secure.

There are different methods when wrapping such as:

• Thread beads on to the wrapping thread before starting to wrap.
• Place beads at the intervals as you wrap the fabric.
• Wrap fabric with fine coloured wire.
• Wrap with a contrast thread.
• Wrap several times to blend colour.
• As you wrap include bands of contrasting or textured fabrics.

Coiling as a method of construction is simple. Wrapped lengths are bound together in a continuous coil, starting at the base.

Monoprinting.

Monoprinting is a form of printing that you can only create once. There are three different types of monoprints; positive/additive, reductive/subtractive and painterly. With a positive monoprint ink is rolled onto a plastic sheet, paper is then placed on top of the ink. A drawing tool is then used to apply pressure which transfers the ink onto the opposite side of the paper. With a reductive monoprint the plate is covered entirely with ink and then worked into removing the ink partially or wholly using different tools such as; brushes, toothpicks, cotton buds, foam, fingers and many other tools. When the desired image is finished the plate is then run through a printing press with a dampened piece of paper. To create a painterly print ink is directly applied to the plate using paintbrushes, fingers and rags. A sheet of paper is then placed on the top of the ink and it is either put through a press or a roller is used to transfer the image.

This is an example of a reductive monoprint from the artist Val McCann.

This is an example of a painterly print from the artist Cori Solomon.

This is an example of a positive monoprint from the artist Philippa Randles.