Category: Studio Practice

My Crit went well generally and I was happy with the feedback however I wanted slightly more input in terms of practical feedback around the objects and the installation display. I plan to set up another Crit with a few others to get feedback a second time, focusing on constructive criticisms.

Feedback was positive regarding the layout and the feeling of the space, they were also interested in the video/sound piece and said it added an interesting element where you don’t know which object made which sound. The audience also stated that they liked the feel of the work, saying the domestic design/elements contrasted the more industrial/commercial elements like packaging and shopping trolley etc.

Developments that were pointed out were mainly based around the interactive element, the audience stated this was not overtly clear and that they felt hesitant about interacting with objects that seemed precarious. This is a true and fair criticism and something that didn’t occur to me until I made this installation, in the future I plan to have elements that make the interactive nature apparent.

Either instructions to guide the audience or overt clues and suggestions to prompt the audience, this was my intention with the video that displayed me in the installation playing the objects and instruments. I also plan to develop my making techniques to create more robust and sturdy objects that can clearly be played and interacted with.

I plan to research various sensory playgrounds and spaces for inspiration, abbey pumping museum was recommended to me, I also plan to go to some galleries/museums to research visitor experience in an effort to make it clear that interaction is an intended part of the work. Brian Catling’s performances were also recommended to me, particularly one where he was locked in a studio.

I mentioned making some wind/air based instruments and this idea was well received however it was pointed out that some audiences may not feel comfortable putting their mouths/lips/faces on public musical instruments, especially considering the recent pandemic etc. I will try to think of ways around this perhaps where direct contact is not needed but wind can be generated in another way

Statement:

My practice generally involves themes of environment, space, memory and experience; which inspire ideas I then experiment with and realise in any media including text-based, sculpture, painting, photography, video, installation and sound.

Currently my work focuses on sound shown via an installation featuring discarded waste, objects and interactive elements for the audience to investigate, there is also a performative element displayed as a video with a short music piece created only from the installation’s objects/sounds. I explore everyday and disused objects through sound experimenting with the type of noises each can make, as well as how these sounds can be enhanced or changed through making and combination.

I also ask what is sound? what is noise? what is music? and what is the difference? My work acts as an experiment by using unconventional materials to make ‘music’ however, the work is intended to explore these questions without giving an answer. The interactive nature of the work allows the audience to explore the objects themselves as well as their own relationship to the objects.

Through my own exploration I discovered that these sounds I was making and playing with were a mixture of connected and disconnected from their source. This became apparent when making my performance video; while playing I could clearly see the connection between the object and the sound. However, when editing the unspecified sounds some were clear and some were abstract, this lack of definition allows us to imagine what the source of the sound would be and then investigate it.

The broader intention of my work is also to encourage questioning, curiosity and re-examination; we are often told (even in the art setting) what a thing means or how it is meant to work. By removing these recognisable objects from their usual space and altering their function, while retaining their familiar properties, the audience is prompted to re-categorise the way they understand them through interaction. In the re-examination of objects through sound the audience has participated in the transformation of what is ‘waste’ or ‘disposable’ into something else, perhaps even of value.

My intention is also to record 5-10-minute performances with the audience in the installation on different days, and then compile each of these recordings into a short track that will be put online as an ‘album’. An accessible resource for the audience to remember their experience within the space, and for everyone to continue questioning the source of sounds in the space. By having this legacy resource available the wider meaning of the work can continue to be explored in different ways after the installation is no more.

Feedback I had on my statement was that generally it was a little long and repetitive, which I agree with having read it aloud. I will now refine the themes to be more general and communicate enough of the idea so it can be understood, instead of trying to justify every individual choice/facet in a single statement.

During the second term of my final year I continued with my exploration of painting, this was with no specific input other than my personal experiences. This piece in particular shows the playful approach I tried to adopt as well as the unexpected and unintended outcomes that arise from trying to suspend control and move on impulse/instinct.

The paintings below were autonomous in their creation, one made with automatic drawing, the other with masking and bold colour, another explored objects abstracted from their surroundings and the last one was simply experimenting with leftovers from the other paintings on a textured background from waste blue-roll.

I feel the outcomes of all could be developed further especially if some stylistic or process based norms can be found, at this point they are all so different it is difficult to decipher them individually let alone together. This was echoed by my Supervisory tutors stating that they seemed lost or confused and they approached and raised questions around a wide variety, potentially too wide.

This feedback was incredibly helpful since at times I can become too spread out, exploring multiple ideas or areas simultaneously. While I enjoy this it is counter productive to resolving ideas and can sometimes leave me in a disconnected state of constant questioning. This state makes it harder to develop and realise ideas fully into practical works, while it may be advantageous form lateral thinking.

This is a record of my work from the first term of my final year and is titled, Distorted Space.

This installation was based on themes of colour, light, phenomenology and spatial experience. It started as abstract paintings based on different experiences of environments, some cold and confused others vibrant, clear and joyful. This then developed into coloured sculptures that lean to disrupt the space and objects that hang oddly or imply fluidity; the paintings that protrude from the wall tilt the perception of the space also.

First Half: In the first few weeks of term 1 I focused on making and continuing my explorations from last year, working more automatically and spontaneously. I decided to return to painting because it had been some time and I wanted to revisit an older skill, bringing in new ideas and approaches for me to push myself and experiment with.

I struggled initially with a specific focus as I was painting mainly for pleasure not purpose, focusing more on the action of painting and the satisfaction of colour combinations or mark-making. I was given several large used canvases, one with a hole in, I liked this fact even though it was inconvenient for painting it did inspire me to think about distorted surfaces and later distorted space.

I had been basing certain elements of the painting on experiences I had outside or in the woods, like sunrises and sunsets, the high contrast of winter days and murky tones of twilight. This was mixed with automatic shapes and gestures that capture familiar elements of painting, my desire was to capture not just the colours of the experiences but the feelings they brought on, through colour and placement.

I also wanted to abstract the experiences but leave clues, with this in mind I whitewashed my vibrant painting to obscure and confuse the layers beneath with the layer on top. These top layers were made of subtle muted colours to compliment those underneath and were mixed with waste products from the experiences. Blue tissue paper from the studio where I watched the sunset, tinfoil and sandwich wrappers from a cold lunch on a park bench, canvas offcuts, litter, sweet wrappers and various discarded materials.

The end result was a work that hinted at some sense of place or reality, shown by the recognisable waste and familiarity of painting as a process. In the same way it is so muted and confused in a gentle way that it feels separate from reality in ways, since it is hard to make any sense of what it is really about. This confusion not only speaks to the vivid nature of the initial experience but to the murky waters of memory and to my general sense of confusion and bewilderment that has surrounded my degree practice so far.

Second Half: The later half of the term I was more focused on extending this notion of an experience distorted onto a surface, into a distorted experience of space or multiple spaces. I developed this by replicating my painting process making two more large 6ft canvas’ one communicating a clear process but with pure abstraction and one that floated in-between, metaphorically and literally (In the final display this painting hung horizontally in the middle of the others).

As I had developed this notion over the term I had been experimenting on the side with found objects, combining them in simple ways to change them from their original state, I also used photography to abstract elements of shape/colour/texture, so their use or function as a recognisable object was unclear. These experiments became more relevant when I moved into communicating a distorted experience of space.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QVT9i9aFAyuR9j7NUk0MTpv6F0rrKJ5S/view?usp=sharing

I combined the different approaches and realised that the objects, like the paintings, needed to be more abstract but also very familiar. For this I chose cardboard delivery boxes, of various sizes and shapes, since they are a commonplace item in modern culture especially since the pandemic. I then cut all of them at the same angle to lean in different directions, this was inspired by my research of Anne Hardy, and I intended to give the illusion of the ‘stable solid ground’ being ‘unstable plastic fluid’.

When arranging the final display I tried carefully to consider the way our experience of life is through stereophonic vison and 3-dimensional experience of space; contrary to the 2-dimensionality of painting generally speaking. I tried to use the canvases as objects and walls to divide the space and use the objects as coloured marks in a 3D painting, this was in addition to arranging viewfinders around the installation to invite the audience to interact and create their own compositions and unique experiences of the space.

All in all I felt the installation was successful, although I clashed with several course-mates over spacing concerns. This was because my work centred around space and I needed decent amount of space, unfortunately in a very overcrowded and busy section of the studios. In hindsight I think the curation of the end of term review could be improved, as well as the way in which I argued that I needed the space.

For degree show I will need a fairly large space since my work concerns and investigates space as a core element and as a part of the audiences experience. Expanding this experience using visual, spatial and potentially sound based elements is what I am aiming to achieve with my work now.

Below is a link to a short video of me filming the installation on my phone.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EpIDVQmKuJEPs4D4W_iifcNzIzVIx-YW/view?usp=sharing

I have managed to find out about the access to workshops using the below link, I have however been unable to book into Ceramics which I wanted to do to learn mold-making skills and to work with plaster. I also wanted to access the glass workshop to make small pieces from recycled glass if possible that can be played to make sound and also interact with the light.

https://avloans.dmu.ac.uk

I plan to access all of these workshops by the end of the year using my time effectively to try and access and learn as much as I can, then channel this through my practice to create a degree show experience that people can be a part of but also one that has the ability to communicate and encourage communication.