Roundabouts-Week three

This week we were told we was doing media and photography.

Media

In media we was shown different types of work that can be produced in media such as scratch film, which is were you get a permanent marker and draw images on to a black roll of film and then place on a project to watch the finished out come of your own work.

Mitchell and Kenyon

This is an image that was recorded by Mitchell and Kenyon. the films they produced were silent short films. The films seemed very simple but they were very fascinating because they showed people how life was and show us nowadays how life was back then.

Len Lye

This image is of a piece of scratch film, which is a pice of black film with a soundtrack placed on it of the makers choice, then you draw on the film with permanent marker or paint. 

The film is called 'Rainbow Dance' whcih is on 35mm film and was made in 1935

Photography

We was asked to do light drawings this week. Light drawings are when you have a darkroom and then set your camera shutter speed on Bulb and then choose the aperture. you then get a torch and then draw objects with a light on a slow shutter speed therefore you get an image of a drawing with light.

These are some of my images that i have taken:

As we progressed through the lesson you can clearly see that the images got alot better than at the start.

These images are when we got asked to find different shades of white/grey:

Roundabouts-Week two

Today was the second part of the 3d lessons and the visual communications lessons from last week.

Visual Communications

In todays lesson we continued with lastweeks lesson by shining light through the paper and cutting more pieces of paper out of the original image.

The photograph i have shown was light with a modelling light shining through the paper on to a white background so we could catch the shadow.

3D Screen Printing 

Screen printing is just like printing photographs. To take part in screen printing you need to have a screen with your image printed on to it. Then you get some ink of any colour and then place it at the top of the image. You then get a squeegee and press down and drag the image. The ink will then go through the clear bits of the image and create a print of image on the paper in any colour you choose in the ink.

I really enjoyed this lesson because i learnt a new way to print image on to fabric or on to paper.

Roundabouts-Week One

On the 10th of september we was put into groups which was for me the 3d sculpture and visual communications.

3D sculpture

In the first lesson i was doing 3d Sculpture. this subject involved us using metal wire, which we had to weld together using a spot welder. the item i made was based on a place in scotland called Tobermory on the isle of mull. i chose to use this because there was no definate lines on the image i chose from the museum.

the first thing i did was make a frame for around the image which was made out of basic metal wiring. then i used a thinner wire to make the outline of the houses and the boat in the sea.

I dont think the item was very good because I could have tried harder than i did so it didnt turn out like i expected it to.

Visual communications.

In the first session we was shown some work relating to the image and then I chose the image from the museum which was of Thelemere in the lake district.

We then applied filters to the images via adobe photoshop yo create different effects.

The lesson was easier than i thought it would be because we then printed the image out that we had chosen and then cut out with a craft knife the definate lines that we wanted to do. We then had to hold the image infront of a light and then take a picture of the picture and the shadow of the item.

Museum Project Brief

Foundation Diploma in Art & Design: Part One

Project Title: Drawing Programme (Museum Interpretation)

Units

UAL Level 3 Certificate in Drawing - Unit: 16

Foundation Diploma Units: 1, 2, 3 & 4

Refer to your Course Handbook for further information on units available on Moodle and Facebook

Deadline : Initial assessment – October 7^th, Final Assesssment - December Assessment week

Tutor : All

Location Various studios and also off campus, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

Rationale

Central to the experience of any artist or designer is the process of drawing. We draw for all sorts of reasons, we draw to represent the world as we ‘see it’, or to express the way we ‘feel’ about it; we draw to communicate a complex idea, or to explain how something works; we draw to leave a trace of where we’ve been, or who we ‘are’. Sometimes we draw for no other reason than to take our minds of whatever else we’re doing. In the first few weeks of this course you will be exploring all manner of approaches to drawing, some of which may seem familiar, some entirely new, and some that seem to be totally strange and unpredictable. But each approach will build on the next, forming what many artists describe as a drawing vocabulary’. As you get to the end of these first few weeks you should have built up a range of strategies for drawing, which you will then begin to apply to your future projects.

To begin with you will be given the theme of Interpretation. Initially you will identify a piece of work by another well known artist or designer from the local museum collection. You are to interpret the work in a discipline of your choice. This may take the form of reproduction in a new medium or an updated version or even a conceptual response to the original proposition. You will be expected to produce a wide body of research to help you do this, you could explore the way other artists and practitioners have worked in a similar manner.

Throughout Part 1 you will be asked to experiment with a variety of different drawing process, and given the opportunity to work with different media to record and interpret the world around you. Your perceptions of what function drawing serves and your understanding of what makes a good or bad drawing will be challenged.

We believe that drawing is extremely important within contemporary art, design and media practice and is an art- form in its own right. It is clearly a fundamental skill in traditional areas such as illustration and representational painting but drawing, in one form or another, also plays an important part in disciplines where its contribution is less obvious. 

Drawing is useful as a means of:

• Recording visual information

• Developing an understanding of composition

• Exploring and developing ideas

• Developing an understanding of form and space

• Expressing the invisible – emotion, for example

• Presenting your ideas to others

• Enhancing observational skills

• Simplifying the visual world

• Problem solving and planning.

Aims

UAL Foundation Diploma in Art & Design

Unit 1: To enable the candidate to develop a research method which demonstrates contextual awareness, ability to interpret and evaluate information and can be applied effectively.

Unit 2: To enable the candidate to develop ideas within the context of art and design using a broad range of approaches, appropriately and effectively.

Unit 3: To enable the candidate to develop the application of materials and methods to explore and solve creative solutions, safely and effectively.

Unit 4: To enable the candidate to develop planning, recording, analytical, reflective and evaluate skills which support their own learning.

UAL Level 3 Certificate in Drawing

Unit 16: To develop a critical understanding of drawing as a tool for interpretation and evaluation of research sources, information and ideas.

Objectives

By the end of the programme you should be able to:

Demonstrate how the use of measurement, proportion, composition and perspective can be used to improve your drawings.

Demonstrate how an understanding of different materials, marks, and approaches to drawing can be usefully employed to create more effective images.

Demonstrate how you can use drawing as a tool to research, record, express, visualize or interpret the world around you.

Show records of analysis and evaluation that record objectively what you have learnt in each session, and how you have taken that into work you do in your independent study time.

Provide examples of research that support what you have learnt in the sessions, and what you have done in your independent study time.

Assignment

You are asked to:

Outline a personal response to a work from the local collection.
Record and research the original in a suitable format
Produce a piece of writing ( 500 words) and describe your chosen work.
Consider and select what primary research might be useful to your project and what material/subjects/examples might be found.
Consider and select appropriate drawing/recording methods to collect your primary research and prepare/collect drawing materials/tools in advance.
Conduct effective and appropriate preliminary research.
Build on your initial primary research, developing your ideas through to an exciting conclusion.
Extend initial contextual research with relevance to your chosen work

Constant reflection and evaluation of ideas, process, techniques and experiments through to final solution.

Assessment Evidence

Evidence from this project will be required for your Part 1 assessment and you may be asked to finish work that you have not completed. (See your handbook for more details) A group critique of your work will normally take place at the end of the project. This is an invaluable opportunity to engage with self and peer evaluation of your work and receive feedback. As a guide for assessment you might be expected to produce a body of work which consists of:

• 20 Drawings OR

• 30 Photographs (edited to 2 really good ones) OR

• 1 Three minute film OR

• An installation with 5 working drawings OR

• A textiles piece OR

• A series of 10 drawings for two design ideas OR

A series of recordings mixed and placed on blog in response to a drawing or identified

Piece OR

Collage work OR

A series of prints OR

A typographic response

A substantial body of contextual research

These are simply suggestions or examples to give you an idea of the amount of work we expect at assessment. You may chose to do something that’s not listed here, if so use these as a guide. Besides the visual work you produce for this brief you will also need to document your progress and evaluate your outcomes. This will contribute to the work generated throughout Stage One.

Work presented at the Stage One assessments will typically consist of:

• A sketchbook that coherently documents both visually and textually the development of the project. You should annotate your working methods and show your decision-making.

• Analysis and evaluation: You should document your learning experience throughout the project in your Learning Journal / Blog Make notes daily and analyse your progress at the end of each week ensuring that you evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. You should use your journal / blog as a tool to help you plan effectively. Notes from tutorials and critiques should also be kept here.

• Relevant research should be documented in your sketchbook. Examples of artists and designers work should be annotated using the appropriate academic citation system and a bibliography provided where appropriate.

Blackburn Museum Project

The image that I have chosen is a painting by H Clarence Whaite. Whaite was born in Manchester in 1828 and was known for his work with watercolours. In later life he became a leading figure in the formation of both the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art and the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. The scene was painted (signed) in 1873 and is now held in Blackburn Museum on the main staircase lit by tungsten lighting from the ceiling. This scene looks like it depicts a winter scene showing the mountains in the distance snow-capped. The painting appears to have been painted with oil paints, although from the current view point on the staircase it is difficult to be sure about this.

The painting is a landscape of Thirlmere which is a lake, or mere, south of Keswick in the Lake District, a very beautiful and romantic area in North West England. Even though the title of the painting is Thirlmere the image itself is more reflective of the valley than the lake. It is not a lake anymore it is a reservoirs. The scene does not represent the rule of thirds which is most commonly used in landscape paintings and photography. Although the eye is drawn to the lake in the centre of the painting there is a significant distraction in the mountain, or fell, toward the top of the picture. The lake catches my eye most in this image even though it is almost featureless, because it is directly in the middle of the painting.

I don’t think that this image has been copied from a photograph, but he did most of his paintings in Wales - of subjects in Wales, so this might have been the case. Whaite was about 45 years of age and seems to be very experienced when he painted this scene because, in my view, it is not like it has been painted by an amateur. The colours used are very cool which I think suits this image. References refer to Whaite’s interest in colour theory which is a guidance to colour mixing and which he often used in his paintings. Although in this case he has not used, or seems not to have used, as he sometimes did, spots of pure colour.

.