Katie Town

Illustration

[katiet0wnillustration]

Integrated Practice Project

How are the youth of working class Britain represented in the kitchen sink dramas of the 1960s?

This is the subject I am exploring in my dissertation. I chose this as I am really into 1960′s films and the grittiness and rawness to social realism cinema. I feel that it changed cinema forever, and portraying normal working people within cinema and television made people feel seen. I created this collage to remind myself of the characters that I could explore throughout this project. 

I have decided to focus on gender and class in particular, as I feel that there is a large focus of the ‘angry young man’ in kitchen sink dramas, and that women are often overlooked. I want to explore through this project how femininity and masculinity are represented in these films, and what would change if I was to shift, warp and play with these elements. 

I am yet to narrow down the exact films I am working on, however I have a list of films I am interested in:

Saturday Night Sunday Morning (1960)

Sparrows Can’t Sing (1963)

Cathy Come Home (1966)

Poor Cow (1967)

[katiet0wnillustration]

26th October 2020

What am I interested in?

To extend on my mind map for ‘What Am I Interested In?’ I decided to experiment with collage to visually find out what inspires me. I worked with analogue and photoshop to create this piece. 

Nostalgia/vintage imagery: I am really inspired by vintage imagery and nostalgia, and I like the idea of finding something that is old, and reworking it into something new. Or looking at something that is taken for granted, and seeing the beauty/interest in it. 

Food: Food is also a huge part of my work as I find it so fun to draw, and the links to society, memory and culture it has draws me in greatly. Food is so varied, and to different people it means different things, for example not everyones’ favourite food is the same. 

Seaside: I featured Margate in this collage as it is somewhere that I used to visit often as a child with my family, and I visit a few times a year without fail. I find the seaside so interesting, as I find it full of typography, smells, sounds, colours and interesting people. I like that it is a place of escapism for some, as they will come down for the day, have fish and chips, play games in the arcade and partake in other seaside traditions. Furthermore I feel some seaside towns are under appreciated, and there is a lot of charm to them. I briefly touched on this subject in Year 2, where I visited Margate and Brighton and compared them creating reportage pieces. I also find the seaside in Winter so much fun, and it is quite a unique experience, as a lot of people would not want to visit somewhere that is generally associated with summer in the Winter. Interestingly, I also think nostalgia is linked to the seaside for some, as it is somewhere that they were taken to when they were little. 

 These are all quite vast themes, and I feel that I need to narrow them down and unpick them before choosing a theme for my minor project. Due to the pandemic I also need to consider what is attainable in the current climate, and what sort of materials I can work with. Also where I can get my research from! 

[aintthatakick]

[katiet0wnillustration]

21st October 2020

What Am I Interested In?

Today was my first day back at university. The first project I am starting is the ‘minor project’ which is self initiated. To narrow down my interests and get some thoughts down on paper I decided to make a mind map of my interests. 

I split it into a few sections, thinking about artists that inspire me, materials I like working with, different formats and themes. I feel that in order to create a cohesive brief, I would have to think about what area I want to start with. 

Generally whilst setting a project for myself I find it easier to work through themes I’m interested in first, then reach a topic to work with. This way I am able to experiment with different mediums and find relevant research after! My next stage for this project will be a larger mind map of themes, as this will help me break down what I really want to focus on.