On Cloud Nine;

Hi I'm Chris, this is my art blog, I will be posting pictures and short stories about my current work over my next year of an art foundation course at college as well as exhibitions I have and will be visting and the artists whom inspire me and my work. In the last two years I got A levels in both Fine art and photography. ^-^ Hope you enjoy my blog x

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The end of a topic leading into the next;

The end of our topic is drawing to an end with the final few last touches on presentation of our current works and mounting them in our work spaces before the open evening where our work will be on display temporarily for the public to see.

I feel proud of how much work I have been able to produce, there are pieces which aren't as expressive as others like the pencil life drawings which aren't as experimental compared to the ink or palette knife and acrylic life drawings but I am still pleased with the consistency of quality within the work I have [produced so far.

I have learnt so far new skills such as how to use InDesign as a means of creating illustration spread sheets and also how to coil ceramics to create an intended outcome effectively.

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Creating a large Icosahedron as a group project for the                                            2016 Big Draw Festival;   

The 2016 Big Draw Festival is a yearly themed art festival held down at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill where each year a new theme is set for the general public from all ages can come to a live free drop in workshop for a day or two at the weekend (too which this years was the 22nd – 23rd of October 2016). This years theme is Steam Powered, where the workshop was made to test the public's creativity by making a handmade machine that draws random patterns lines colours and tones onto paper plates which would then be crafted into large Icosahedron which are to be hung up as a collection by the end of the weekend. As a class we created our own hand made machines out of old CD’s pens lollipop sticks rubber bands inks and whatever material we could find within our art room at college to use. The final outcomes conveyed free movements and have been effective in creating gestural unplanned works which we then formed into our own class Icosahedron which would be a part of the overall sculpture at the De La Warr.

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           A few images from our previous InDesign work;                                               And Reflection of work so far!!! 

I felt as though these images were worth presenting as I felt they all had a sort of journey taking atmosphere, even though the images I have chosen during my InDesign spreadsheets were different (which were more effective in the way that they conveyed a David Carson inspired theme- an artist whom I have previously researched.) 

Overall I am finding this Foundation art course to be a real eye opener as I am exploring more mediums than I can count and more to come, I do feel like at times work is piling up and typing up work is becoming a bit stressful but I want to push through it even if it means using a sketch book to develop my next project as I will be able to access my book in class more than my tumblr blog whilst I’m working and exploring, I will endeavour to keep typing although I do feel as though I am having a minor stumble in the writing at the moment, a bit of a writers block but I just need to keep powering through!! This course is definitely something I enjoy and I wont let anything or anyone stop me so far!! (even if its my own writers block- it wont be in the way for long)

-Another point that I have considered is using a dictator phone at some point to record my own thoughts and artists researches and my evaluations at times as I do feel speaking verbally is more fluent.

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 Looking Back at Summer Homework Book on Exploration;

I have recently been going back into my old work and looking back at how my thought processes have changed or developed and how I recorded my work, as the exploratory project is drawing to an end soon and its suited to review reflect and evaluate what I have accomplished so far as well as adding improvements to work on into my next project.

So Far I feel as though the work has been a tough thing to complete on time, (time management being a key thing I really need to knuckle down) on as well as producing as much work and written analysis as possible. I have found that exploring new medias has been an exciting challenge to which I have been able to pursue and become very inspired by to create more experimental pieces from this as well as come up with innovative ideas and ways to convey them in different styles compared to using the same techniques over and over. 

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Image found at; http://my-eshop.info/epages/780e2136-5119-4548-9d7c-771f3d2db637.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/780e2136-5119-4548-9d7c-771f3d2db637/Products/09PH007

                                           Penny Hobson;

Penny Hobson is a modern day local contemporary artist and sculptor whose in her late years still creating works; she is currently presenting here work in Bexhill’s Murmarations Gallery. When I went to visit the exhibition I found that her pieces of work varied from different kinds of installation works. The outcome of Hobson’s helpful workshop has lead me to work with a giant green netting which was washed up on the beach, an idea which I came up with is to fashion a dress like mermaid tail costume out  of it using seashells to create a top bra piece and a then wire mesh and found litter bottles and other objects to interweave into the dress itself, I also wanted to design an extravagant and elegant crown made of wire mesh which has allowed me to form a large and intricate headdress made of shells and a few shards of clear glass which (when using broken glass use a pair of thick gloves to handle any broken pieces and if you are planning to smash said glass wear goggles to protect your eyes from shards keeping our hands away from hammer or smashing implement.) I used a hot glue gun (When using a hot glue gun make sure top keep the hot glue away from the electrical wires and away from other people in case of burns, if a burn occurs run hands or burnt skin underneath a cold running tap for 10 minutes or longer until the pain ceases.) to dull the edges where sharp and to fasten the piece securely and safely in place.

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                          Cornelia Parker Artist Research:

Cornelia Parker is a British born sculptor and installation(conceptual) artist. Parker s best known for large scale installations such as ‘Cold Dark Matter; An Unexpected View’ First shown in the Chisendale Gallery within East Croydon. The installation is based off of a garden shed from a childhood home of hers, which was blown to pieces (upon her choice) by the British Army under safety regulations –which I must outline that if you are to create any dangerous pieces such as this please make sure to take the appropriate safety measures, as well as making sure to handle any fragmented pieces, such as glass, with care and the appropriate gloves/ safety gear). The pieces from the garden shed as well as the remnants of old tools and toys hidden in there containing memories, were then hung up in a large installation where the explosion of the shed was captured exploding outward with a large light bulb within to exaggerate the various shapes and silhouette every wall and shattered fragment as a way of emphasising the suspended moment in time using the formal elements to create a meaningful frozen piece.

Fun fact- This piece by Cornelia Parker inspired an orchestral composition of the same name by Jon Yeon Sir.

(I find this very inspiring that Parker’s work has the ability to inspire other aspiring artists and musicians to compose pieces in different ways to convey suspended moments in time as humans are fickle beings who are yet to be able to stop or slow time in reality but in metaphorical terms we have become experts as it seems via Parker’s suspended installations. )

In contrast, in 1997, at the Turner Prize Exhibition, Cornelia Parker exhibited one of her own installations named ‘Mass (Cold Dark Matter), which was an arrangement of the charred remains of a church that had been struck by lighting in Texas, and was formed into a visual form looking like a suspended cube.

Eight years later Parker made a composition piece called ‘Anti-Mass’ (2005), using charcoal found from a Congregation Church in Alabama which had been destroyed by an Arson attack beforehand.

Parker’s thought provoking transformations of familiar, everyday objects investigates the nature of matter, testing the physical properties and play on both the private and public meanings and values behind objects.

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                In response to Warhol’s Silver Factory Studio;

-Our aim during this workshop was to create a small diorama of a small scaled studio that would reflect an atmospheric word which was randomly selected by our tutor and given to us each separately.

My random word was Hopelessness. So my task was to recreate “A time where I most felt Hopeless’.

I found that this was a rather pessimistic topic to focus on so I don’t want to go to literal with creating a memory in a box and create instead an atmospheric interpretation of what it feels like when you go through a time where you feel hopeless of lost. I find that your mind becomes a mess as you are trying to clutch at straws to find a solution of an end to the problem, but there being no way out till someone gives you a guided hand. And so I have chosen to create a box installation which shows a half skull in an semi cartoonistic way that emphasises the streaks of lines of thoughts made of yarn dipped in glue (to give strength and reduce chances of buckling).

 Also included is a glance at the emotional journals we were asked to create based on our own past experience and how we perceive different emotions such as happiness for me is the nostalgic feeling a person can get where a certain image of sound can trigger a past happy set of memories and then you realise the moment you are in is one of those moments you will be looking back on later on. (I shall upload an image later of the completed pages) xx

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                        -Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory Studio-

The original Factory was often referred to as the Silver Factory. In 1963, artist Ray Johnson took Warhol to a "haircutting party" at Billy Name's apartment, which was decorated with tin foil and silver paint, and Warhol asked him to do the same scheme for his recently leased loft. Silver, fractured mirrors, and tin foil were the basic decorating materials loved by early amphetamine users of the sixties. Name covered the whole factory in silver, even the elevator. Warhol's years at the Factory were known as the Silver Era. Aside from the prints and paintings, Warhol produced shoes, films, sculptures and commissioned work in various genres to brand and sell items with his name. Warhol used a large portion of his income to finance the Factory.

To increase production, he found and introduced a collection of various different talented people including adult film performers, drag queens, socialites, drug addicts, musicians, and free-thinkers who became known as the Warhol Superstars, as a way to help him create his works on a mass scale and also produce new innovative and controversial works. 

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-Pop Art-

Pop art was a visual art movement that emerged between the 1950′s and the 1960′s on wards, in both Britain and the United States.

Pop art was one of the biggest art movements if the twentieth century and is characterised by themes and techniques drawn from popular culture of the current time (Zeitgeist-which means spirit of the time). Such popular culture developed from television, advertising and comic books. The art movement reflected everyday life and common objects through bold bright techniques such as Andy Warhol’s ‘100 soup cans’.

Pop Art is widely interpreted as an expansion to the earlier art movement of Abstract expressionism which evoked emotions, feelings and ideas through the use of the formal elements. ( Such as; Line, Colour, Shape, Form, texture and tone) One well known Abstract expressionist is Jackson Pollock to whom I will be posting an artist research passage later on. 

For now I will continue with the line of Pop Art to which one major name in the art world stands out, both loved, loathed and fund intriguing, Andy Warhol (Andrew Warhola). Andy Warhol is such a world wide known artist whom people have come to love and loath due to his straight out bold new art which explores vanity and death (such as car crashes in the local news). Warhol believed that the more we viewed a subject the more we get used to an image “It becomes familiar and we slowly start to enjoy it” To which he stated and emphasised more so within his silkscreen images of weapons, violence and crime. 

(More on Andy Warhol- and The Silver Factory Studio-in my next post).

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Title: Marilyn Diptych

Date: 1962

Size: 2054 x 1448 x 20 mm

Medium: Acrylic Paint on Canvas Silkscreen Print.

Andy Warhol was a Pop Artist whose work became a wonder to the world in the 1960’s. His work explores the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement. After a successful carrier as a commercial illustrator she became a well renowned controversial artist. One piece of Warhol’s work is ‘Marilyn Diptych’.

Marilyn Monroe died in 1962 due to a drug overdose, and during the following four months Warhol created a series of twenty silkscreen portraits of Monroe, all based on the same publicity shot from the 1953 film Niagara.

An intended meaning behind this piece could be two different sides to Marilyn people saw, the side that was most popular and shown to the public and perfect in the eyes of the public, and then the women who she truly is behind the scenes, whom most people rarely sort out to see. Like the side of her when she walked to her car wearing no make-up or flash clothing and she was the true person instead of the cool cam confident façade she put on for her acting parts in film and for the celebrity role to the public eye.

The fading side of the silk screen prints where the portraits become messy and faded or barely noticeable is the hidden side to Monroe the public never truly got to know.

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                                 Another Life Drawing Session;

Another day on our study period- on a Friday- we were able to attend another extra curricular life drawing session ran by Julie my previous A level art tutor. For this session our aim was to produce two life drawings in any medium we wished. The first being a 15 minute practice drawing that was a warm up exercise within the posture of the models choice, the second was a 50 minute sustained drawing of the model sitting in a chair. I found that the life drawings in this session helped me to look closer at the direction of shadow and tone within the models postures and how the directions of shadows effect the overall look of realism of the posture. 

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            Continuation of clay work using free study hours;

I must admit clay is still new so when I chose to make another clay piece I wished to incorporate our topic area which we have been exploring in our illustration workshops with Jesse previously of ‘Displacement’. I wanted to create a misshapen bowl which began in an upward tilting claw shape which then tapered up unto three roughly rounded curves so when the clay harden the side would fit comfortable within ones hands, as though the bowl was made for a comforting object to hold rather than a bowel that contains things, displacing the objects true purpose itself.

I have coated the outside in a cobalt slide, so when the clay goes under a bisque firing the vase should turn a cobalt tinted colour, to which I may later add a glaze if I find that it will add to the overall outcome of the piece. 

So far I have found this project a huge learning curve and is helping me to broaden my own meanings to which art can convey. 

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Megan Di Girolamo

With Girolamo’s work ,each sculpture is uniquely coiled without armatures or supports and are then bisque fired before it is glazed and fired to stoneware or raku.

Although at first glance an observer of her work may find that her work  only concerns the sentimental relationship and bond between a mother and her child however if one looks further, other statements, meanings and messages can be seen.

 Girolamo quotes on her site that “The child is never the passive monumental baby of countless religious statues, but a wriggling, pinching, moving child hot and heavy who at any moment will demand to be released to run away and play. Mothers never gaze at the child, but each is separate with attention focused independently.”

In response with her teaching methods during the workshop I have found that meaning runs deep in her work and that it is a great importance to create an undertone that is deeper in thought than what is portrayed on the surface. Overall I have found clay work an exciting medium to learn from as well as work with, and think if my future ideas call for it, I may use clay work in later works myself.