Adventures in Birmingham!

Last Tuesday we decided to venture into Birmingham. Me, Rachel & Vanessa went to The Barber Institute of Fine Art, The Waterhall Gallery & The IKON.

It turned out to be a really valuable day for us all! From talking to Rach and Vanessa, I especially began to understand the concept of Surrealism and could engage with Rene Magrite's work in the Barber with much more clarity and a clearer contextual understanding.

The Bridget Riley exhibition was also amazing! I really like the way that she has chosen to include her sketches, calulations, and colour palettes alongside her final outcomes. Looking and interacting with these really allowed me to gain an idea of the processes that Riley has undergone within her practice and how these systems have informed and developed her work.

Having never vistied the Barber before, I had preconcieved that it would be full of work that I wouldn't like and wouldn't be able to engage with i.e. 'pretty paintings'. However I was proven wrong as I was able to look beyond the aesthetics and attempted to engage with the artwork's stories and intentions. Maybe this is something I need to do more often and go back to BMAG with a fresh perspective.

The piece of the day for me was a video in the Clare Rojas exhibition at The IKON. I really like the way that the animation has been created and portrayed a sense of irony within the celebrity world and associated lifestlye, and the juxtaposition of this against themes, scences and images from everyday life.

'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL5cQmi9iHU

Hello...again!

So, it's been quite a while since my last post, and I am going to try even harder than before to try and use my blog more purposefully to document my findings, and explorations.

My initial aim for the year was to begin to investigate and explore textures and surfaces after being really inspired by the work of artists such as Gerhard Richter, Rob & Nick Carter (but not the Backstreet Boys!) & Neal Rock. But now as I am trying to progress with my practice, I am feeling really demotivated and uninspired by what I am doing, and for me the whole process of art should not be like this.

So I don't really know where to go next with my work.

Welcome back

It's been a while since I made my last post. Things have been hectic over the past few months. Nonetheless, I have re-discovered blogging and I aim to update my blog on a more regular basis from now on. :)

Walsall Art Gallery July 2009

On the 22nd July 2009, the arty fartys went to Walsall to see what exciting things they had on exhibition. But as it turned out, they were in the middle of an exhibition changeover.

However, an exhibition that was still on was 'Crash' by Johnathan Shaw. This exhibition explored creating a sense of claustrophobia and chaos within today's club culture. Johnathan Shaw created this larger than life installation by using digital photography with a high resolution to distort the images at the club 'Crash' in London, and create the movement between the subjects in his work as a result of the lighting and high resolution. It is quite a surreal experience whilst viewing the work as I was immersed in an environment that can made me feel distorted and in a way uncomfortable. Similar to when you go to a club which is really busy and there is not much room to move around. However, due to the size of the installation, I think that this is what the artist was looking to achieve from his work i.e. the size of the work and the position that this puts the viewer in when engaging with the work and its content.

My art..this year

Last year I completely focussed my work on the theme of movement, and the notion of mark making. It proved to be a real success and I was really pleased with my final outcomes. After much deliberation, I have decided that I am going to move away (ironically) from the theme of movement, and start working towards a new goal which will hopefully further develop my skills, knowledge, and understanding.

From being inspired by a range of visual sources around me, I have decided that this year, I would like to investigate and explore textures and surfaces. I am truly fascinated by the properties and the characteristics of textures and surfaces, which have played a major part in their creation/production. I would like to investigate and experiment with their properties, and explore the possibilities of manipulating specific materials in order to achieve a greater understanding of the specific materials that I will decide to work with. Furthermore, once a greater understanding of how a variety of materials and processes work together, I will hopefully be able to experiment with what results can be achieved. At this moment in time, I would like to think that I haven’t got a specific theme to my work, but I will allow the course of the year, and the materials that I work with to determine the journey that I go on this year.

Summer School

During July I worked on an AimHigher Creative Arts Summer School alongside a group of GSCE pupils from across the West Midlands. The summer school aimed to allow students who may not have considered higher education in the first instance to reconsider, and see what university life is really like, and how accessable it can be.

I had the opportunity to work alongside a great group of students, fellow summer school squad leaders, and members of staff from Newman University College.

During the course of the week, the students worked collaboratively to work towards a piece of art based on the idea of rag trees. We asked the students the question, 'What's important?' and from this, they responded by creating a variety of tags for people to write on. During the final day of summer school, we all performed the piece by exhibiting it in the main Newman campus grounds for passers by to explore and interact with. We constantly reflected on the proceeses involved with the work: designing, photographing, constructing, installing, and documenting. The work was completely led by the students!

Overall a brilliant and inspiring week!

Pictures courtesy of Hannah and Sarah :]

Banksy...Bristol...Brilliant!

On the 22nd June 2009, the three arty fartys (Jaz, Rachel, and Amy) went to Bristol to go and see the Banksy exhibition.

To be standing in front of Banky's work in an actual art gallery was a surreal experience. Before seeing Banky's work in the flesh, I didn't really know too much about him. I knew he was a graffiti artist, and well known for his art across the world, and that was about it.

I really like the way that Banksy pushes boundaries with some controversial pieces in an ironic and mocking way. As the viewer of his work, I found myself actually thinking about being in the situations Banksy had installed in front of us and what I would do.

To sum up, I found Banksy's work to be very thought provoking and engaging in the context of past, current, and future global dimensional issues, especially when we consider art as a form of expression in relation to these.Banksy has literally taken over the whole gallery and museum building. We found ourselves playing the 'Where's Banksy game' as we eagerly looked for his work across the permenant collections of the gallery. My fellow arty fartys are amazing! As a result of visiting this exhibition, we had many deep and meaningful conversations about the underpinning beliefs and aesthetics behind art, and how and why it is percieved in the way that it is.

The ice cream van which was used as the gallery information point. Genius.

I really like the irony in this piece.

Is it?

Is this what we have done to Tweety by keeping him locked up?

Is this how it should have been?

Can you see? i Can.

Real or not?