Inspiration & Education

There were two reasons I decided to start this blog, both of which coincide with the fact that I have finally started Art Foundation at Jobswell, Coleg Sir Gar. Firstly I wanted to be able to have somewhere to store everything that inspires me in one place and be able to access almost anywhere, instantly. Secondly, I wanted to be able to document as much of this year as I could. From the very beginning to hopefully the very end because I want to know how i got to where I end up by remembering and documenting everything. ... so from now on, once it's up, it up. I'll end on a quote from one of the first artists I looked at this year, Toby Huddlestone - "Believe in doubt. It's like: I KNOW I KNOW NOTHING, or... I know that I know more when I know that I know nothing." I just hope that I know more at the end than I did at the start... I think.

[fiore-rosso]

I slipped and bonked my head today and for a second I was an optimist. I soon came to my senses. - Henri, le Chat Noir.

[sarahyoungwales]

Following some research on Cabinets of Curiosities, this is a page of designs I created to influence some ceramic pieces I want to create, my inspirations have come from colourful bugs and creatures of the sea. Photos to follow. The other image is a sketch of a skull similar to one you would find within a cabinet of curiosity. 

[sarahyoungwales]

Practise following previous questions...

Extract from my reflective journal...

There are a lot of similarities between the essays I've been reading and the documentaries I've been watching about objects and collecting. Ideas such as a brand having an almost aura to it, a gut feeling, similarly to what people mention when talking about a "loved" object...

Have brands become our modern day collections? Flaunted similarly to how wealthy people from the past would have shown off their cabinets of curiosity to prove their status.

As a result of having a love for craft and old objects, it makes sense for me to now look at cabinets of curiosity within my art practise.

[sarahyoungwales]

Questions as a result of research conducted so far...

I realise this may not make complete sense as I haven't included all the research I have conducted so far within this blog... but for reference i will include their titles.

The Culture of Collecting by Elsner and Cardinal.

The System of Collecting by Jean Baudrillard.

Unpacking my Library by Walter Benjamin.

The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier.

Following this research, plus the research I have included in the blog so far I now have these questions which I will use to influence my practise.

What have I thrown away that used to define me? If I keep stuff for nostalgic reasons, does that define me? How do I define me? Are objects a true reflection of who I am? Can't i just buy stuff and be someone else? Isn't that the idea behind advertising and marketing? Does this mean I am subconsciously being defined by ad agencies and brands? Does this mean that the only things that truly define me are the things that haven't been influenced by advertising? What if I don't own the things that truly define me, am I not complete? What about presents or inherited objects? Do they define me? What about minimalists who own very little? Are they boring? Or even people who choose to create show home style home like those seen in Next or IKEA catalogues? 

[sarahyoungwales]

After watching the Deyan Sudjic lecture with his idea of designing desire and the influence certain companies have over us it reminded me of the BBC series, Superbrands in particular this episode centred around technology.

The bit that really interests me is the hype around apple and it's products. Especially the secrecy around the store openings and how Alex Riley compares them to the hysteria found at evangelical church services.

This is even more interesting when a team of specialists measure the brain activity of a devout apple fan whilst they are shown images of apple products and find that the same areas of the brain are active in them as when highly religious people are shown religious images. This I think is incredible, not only, as Sudjic says, have designers managed to design desire but they have gone on to be able to influence people into subconsciously giving brands an almost god like status.

If designers are able to influence us so effectively without the masses affected knowing just how effectively they're being influenced, what else is possible? Or again as Sudjic says, he like many others knows that he has an addiction to certain things, such as apple products and is aware of how he is influenced, however, he still can't help himself. What does that say about the culture we currently live in?

[sarahyoungwales]

Quick interview with Lee Kit about his obsessions with objects.

References again to the mistrust of people and how Kit places his trust within objects. This is a recurring theme with the idea of collecting. 

Kit also mentions the objects keep talking to him when he is in fact just talking to himself. This refers again to the idea that objects can been seen as an extension of self.

Alongside the passion of collecting I've noticed strong feelings of melancholy throughout all the research I've looked at so far. Elsner and Cardinal talk of envy, frustration and depression. Benjamin talks of how the loss of books can have the ability to turn collectors invalid and others into criminals so as to acquire them. Baudrillard goes on to liken collecting to a guilty relationship and even in this video, Kit seems to have a hint of sadness about him. 

If I can take from all the research I've looked at so far there are conclusive themes within the idea of collecting. Firstly that your objects define you, they contain pieces of your identity. Secondly you place a trust in objects that you can guarantee, much like the notion that the only person you can truly trust is yourself. Finally, objects seems to be able to elicit every conceivably human emotion be it happiness,jealousy,sadness,anger or contentment. Collating these ideas then raises one question for me, are these objects essentially a definitive part of what makes us human? Are we anything without our collected objects? 

 "reinforcing the opinion that an individual who is not some sort of collector can only be a cretin or hopelessly sub-human."

When I first read the above quote by Baudrillard I couldn't comprehend how he was able to make such a bold statement, however the more I read and look into the psychology of collecting it seems a more acceptable statement.  

[sarahyoungwales]

Pyschology of Collecting - Orhan Pamuk

An interesting interview with Orhan Pamuk about the psychology of collecting. There also a reference in here to wunderkammers or cabinets of curiosity which Deyan Sudjic mentions in his lecture on 'the language of things' and how before the credit crunch Selfridges created "The Wonder Room" a deliberate reference to the wunderkammers of royalty and the elite back in the 17th and 18th century. So I'm curious as to what these wunderkammers are now.

[sarahyoungwales]

Really interesting lecture by Deyan Sudjic about "the language of things".

Some of the parts I found most interesting and would like to look in further detail are the differing opinions of William Morris and Raymond Lowey. I find both ideas interesting because I already have a love of William Morris style and his ideas of craftsmanship however I also appreciate the sleek, clean cut style of Lowey.

The next thing that really intrigued me is Sudjics idea that it appears we are now designing desire and as a result we have become obsessed with the idea of the shiny and new, as things start to scratch and dent they then are no longer desirable, and it's on to the latest product. 

Sudjic also goes in to the fact that things used to become more appealing with age, an old nikon camera could last years and an odd bump would reveal some of the brass under the black plastic, giving it character and a used look. Jeans would be of a higher quality and so it would be possible have them long enough for the stonewash effect to be created without having to treat the denim.

Objects from the past had attached to them a nostalgia which doesn't seemed to occur with the modern objects of today. Presently, once an object is tired and old it's discarded for the most recent upgrade.

This I think is a very interesting notion. How do you bring back the ability for an object to become more desirable (or at least not less) with age in this current throwaway culture. Is it a case of having to revert back to Morris' ideas of craftsmanship for a modern market? Is that enough to counteract the current perception of what is worth keeping and what is not? Or is the problem more to do with the fact that it is not us that decides whats desirable and whats not but the companies and their marketing departments dictating to us that we need the latest thing.

[sarahyoungwales]

For these new two items I wanted to look at the shape of spoons and the patterns on them. I did this by taking rubbings of the patterns using different types of media and then drawing round them to create different shapes and forms. 

[sarahyoungwales]

In these images I was looking at the purpose and use of a spoon. In the first image i was interested in the marks left behinds on surfaces by spoons during and after use. I left a piece of watercolour paper by the kettle for a few weeks to see what marks would be left. Following that i was interested in the idea of the motion of a spoon when it's stirring tea, in this image I was trying to show both the motion of the spoon as well as the inability to be able to see the spoon properly through the tea.

[sarahyoungwales]

Beginning of the Object Project - I started by looking at the pattern on my object, the spoon. The pattern of the spoon reminded me of the style of William Morris so wanted to mimic his style. The first image I used Bruscho paints and permanent marker,  I love Bruscho paints and the way it works with water similarly to ink. The second image I used oil pastels and then used the spoon to scratch away the excess to leave the pattern I wanted. This is a technique I'd not used before but I really like the texture it leaves. Following that I used Bruscho paints as a background then used chalk to create the pattern on top. Again I like this technique, although I don't feel it's as effective as the initial image as the lines aren't as defined as it'd like.

[sarahyoungwales]

Sculpture workshop with Amanda and Andy. Presented with a skeleton we initially made some continual line drawings in a 3D style which we then used a long with the skeleton to create our wire sculptures.  

[sarahyoungwales]

Still life drawing with Hannah trying to express the passage of time by drawing and then "knocking back" the charcoal. Initially when I first started this workshop I was unsure, however I actually really like the process and it's a good way of representing the passage of time. 

[sarahyoungwales]

Back to using ink and stick again with Bob and Maggie. Experimenting with different tone and line. i felt this was more successful than the previous session using ink and stick again as before i like the tone that can be created using ink. I think it's also an advantage that ink isn't as so forgiving as charcoal, meaning that lines have to be contemplated more before choosing how and where to place them.

[sarahyoungwales]

Another life drawing session with Bob, unfortunately no Maggie this time, so Jac, Jacob and Mark were models for the day. We used various dilutions of ink and a found stick as our drawing tool. Although I like the tone and colour created by the different inks and found using the stick a lot easier to use than first expected, I still personally feel my charcoal drawings were more successful. 

[sarahyoungwales]

First life drawing session of art foundation with Bob and Maggie using charcoal.

[sarahyoungwales]

After being quite amused by my scientific report on the whereabouts of teaspoons, I decided to google "spoon stealers" and got polar opposite results. The first one I clicked on the supposed culprits were heroin addicts and how a coffee shop had to resort to putting holes in their spoons to prevent them being stolen. The second was for a website for mums where I found very long forum discussion on where "little ones" tend to like to hide their mums spoons. My initial reaction to both sites were that these people have too much time on their hands, which in turn made me realise that I've probably taken things a step further. Think it's time to go in a different direction.