Processes & Documentation

[daisyrae-cofa1001-blog]

Pecha Kucha: Tegan Adams (2010)

A pecha kucha presentation encouraging people to think about why they eat and what they eat. This was to help launch Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan back in 2010.

(This is relevant to my group’s given topic: consume)

Brainstorming

I realise that this environmental concern can be tackled in an economic light. We’ve unlimited wants, but limited resources. And economics is all about answering how best to allocate our resources. 

[jadehm-cofa1002]

Presentation & Planning

We decided to go with the Exquisite Corpse idea (uncreativity and alien methods), and thought it would be fun to involve the class in our presentation - allowing them to be part of the creation. At first we decided to allow each group in the class to draw whatever comes to their mind, but changed this process by assigning emotions to each group to guide their thinking. 

We came across Robert Plutchik’s theory - Wheel of emotions and chose the most extreme of each category.(http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emotions)

[emily-lowas]

Alien methods: "Stream of consciousness" writing. Set a timer for 5-10 minutes and write down everything that comes to mind. Although at first this will channel the conscious mind, it will bring up unconscious thoughts.

[jadehm-cofa1002]

Brainstorming and Research

We began our assessment by brainstorming ideas (Divergent thinking) on ‘nothing-ness’ and ‘everything-ness’. This lead us to the notion of the sub conscious mind and lucid dreaming. We then did another brainstorm and researched into Freudian theories on psychoanalysis and surrealist techniques and works on the sub conscious (convergent thinking). 

Links: 

Surrealism - 

http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/surrealism/tapping-the-subconscious-automatism-and-dreams

Freud - 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis

Lucid Dreaming & Sub Conscious - 

http://www.wikihow.com/Lucid-Dream

http://www.wikihow.com/Control-Your-Subconscious-Mind

[emily-lowas]

Exquisite Corpses: Drawing and Disfiguration

March 14–July 9, 2012

The Paul J. Sachs Drawings Galleries, third floor

In a collaborative, chance-based drawing game known as the exquisite corpse, Surrealist artists subjected the human body to distortions and juxtapositions that resulted in fantastic composite figures. This exhibition considers how this and related practices—in which the body is dismembered or reassembled, swollen or multiplied, propped with prosthetics or fused with nature and the machine—have recurred in art throughout the 20th century and to the present day. Artists from André Masson and Joan Miró to Louise Bourgeois and Robert Gober to Mark Manders and Nicola Tyson have distorted and disoriented our most familiar of referents, playing out personal, cultural, or social anxieties and desires on unwitting anatomies. If art history reveals an unending impulse to render the human figure as a symbol of potential perfection and a system of primary organization, these works show that artists have just as persistently been driven to disfigure the body.

[emily-lowas]

Class activity: problem solving - throwing away furniture which aren't designed for different spaces.

[emily-lowas]

Assessment 2 - FINAL WORK.

My final work is an illustration of humanly body parts (heart and lungs) and elements of nature (vines, branches and birds). The piece portrays not only nature itself, but also alludes to human nature, and our symbiotic relationship with nature. I’ve also taken on the concept of mortality & immortality/life & death, and life cycles shown from incorporating both monochromatic and vibrant parts, though working together to produce the final piece.

[emily-lowas]

Assessment 2 - Documentation 10

Progress of project 2, with the addition of lungs filled with canaries, a symbol of renewed life and the transition between life and death, on branches.

[emily-lowas]

Assessment 2 - Documentation 9

Progress of project 2. A human heart with vines and branches.

[emily-lowas]

Assessment 2 - Documentation 8

Experimenting the ways to render a heart.

[emily-lowas]

Assessment 2 - Documentation 7

An interview with Fumi Mini Makamura.

"I grew up most of my life surrounded by nature. Both California and Shizuoka have great mountains, forests and the ocean! I was so spoiled to be surrounded by something so beautiful! Oh, I miss it! Nature feels like a nest for me–it calms and inspires me. I stress out and get overwhelmed so easily, so I always want to escape to somewhere. When I think about escape, the first thing comes to my mind has always being some sort of nature.

Living in New York it has been a bit difficult to [escape] because the nature is very limited. It’s crowded with people and you really have to take some time off in order to escape the city. But whenever I am back in California or Shizuoka, I usually go for a long hike in the forest or mountains.

My work reflects my strong memories and the urge to be a part of nature. But also it shows that eventually we all pass away, buried under the ground, and become a part of nature spiritually and physically."

This interview, especially the last paragraph, has really led me to basing my work on an improved concept; nature,  human nature/life and mortality/immortality.

<http://blog.misskl.com/index.php/2011/06/interview-fumi-mini-nakamura/#.UkGba-CLOR8>

[emily-lowas]

Assessment 2 - Documentation 6

The clustered illustrative work of Fumi Mini Nakamura 

Originally from Japan, illustrator and graphic design artist Fumi Mini Nakamura now works out of the NYC area. Her works in graphite and colored pencil feature a unique cast of characters: human figures rendered in striking photo-negative-like detail; flocks of feathered and toothed creatures; the occasional skull. The mixture of natural and imaginary elements always seems just right, rather than chaotic and disorganized.

I notice that her works aren't literal; they've clearly been created for interpretation. However, it is not obvious. Her works are highly conceptual and an inspiration for my next work.

<http://www.miniminiaturemouse.com/>

[emily-lowas]

Assessment 2 - Documentation 5

A quote from Christer Karlstad

"Nature, animals and people are inspiring in themselves. But the first spark of an idea usually comes when I’m about to fall asleep, and my brain is about to shut down.

Most of the time my visual ideas are about some sort of edge, portal or border that’s about to be, or is being crossed. A terrible or fantastic transition that is about to happen. I’ve come to the conclusion that most of my ideas are born out of fear. Fear of all kinds of loss, and fear of change. At the same time a there’s a longing, a longing for an end, and a new beginning. That’s it, fear and longing for change simultaneously"

The meaning behind his quote has got me thinking and has inspired me of the message that I want to incorporate into my work.

<http://calliegarp.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/christer-karlstad-fear-and-longing/>

[emily-lowas]

Assessment 2 - Documentation 4

The hauntingly beautiful portrait series entitled “The Seer” from Norwegian artist Christer Karlstad 

This series refer to a sound or the absence of sound and each scene, with the exception of the centerpiece, where the sound originates from nature itself, displays man in wordless interaction with another creature. The circle design suggests an all-seeing ‘Seer’ observing these scenes from afar.

<http://christerkarlstad.com/>

[emily-lowas]

Assessment 2 - Documentation 3

STRNG employs all forms of nature in these exquisite collages 

His works perfectly show the connections between human and nature in a completely contextualized way, which is what I’m trying to achieve in my work as well.

<https://www.exhibition-ism.tumblr.com/>

[emily-lowas]

Conceptual Map for Assessment 1

Documentation 2 

This is pretty much my starting point for assessment 2. This map had me thinking of starting with a concept of nature, invisibility and sight.

[emily-lowas]

Thinking Process & Ideas

Documentation 1

The conceptual map I made for the first assessment was a map of the movement of winds. I stated briefly about how humans are so accustomed to these day to day natural elements that it makes for an easy slip of our consciousness. In other words; we come face-to-face with these natural phenomenons that we easily fail to appreciate their complexity. The ‘new feeling’ is lost and leads us to overlook them. 

Since dealing with the invisibility and transparency of wind I decided to work around that concept, using the idea of sight to work with for my next project. However, after a few personal thinking sessions, I figured that creating an optical illusion using elements of nature fell too shallow. I then started thinking of how I could make a work that holds deeper conceptual meaning rather than just a nice piece of art. I started thinking about nature itself and its connections to human nature and its implications, hopefully coming up with a strong message to portray in my next work.