Day 1 contextual Studies

F1 "untitled" By Robert Morris, to show mixed media

1967‑8, remade 2008

L02852 

Day 1
Aims: To visit the Tate Modern at the South Bank, and to study one exhibition.
Find your favorite room and select pieces of work you find strike a nerve. 


Tate Modern
Free exhibition
Floor 4
Room 3
Energy and Processes  

The displays of sculpture in the energy and process exhibition explore the artist’s fascination in “transformation and the natural forces”.
The space centres around the era of the late 1960’s, where making was highly regarded, and artists used a wide scope of materials rather than associations to the fine art sector. American Robert Morris and his work called “untitled” had the greatest impact for me.  Morris gathered sheets of industrial black felt and amended them into strips allowing the material to take a natural form.  The underlying message being that Morris was questioning the use of "fixed geometric shapes of minimalist sculpture", and the way minimalism was inflicted upon materials. Morris was a pioneer for minimalist structures; to me this suggests his work touches upon sustainability and use of recyclable materials - felt is also one of the oldest materials known to man - due to its dense, non-woven structure.

My immediate reaction to the piece was to the materials and structure. Felt is made from wool so he’s used a very organic and natural material. Additionally the sculpture to me appeared as a jellyfish or a plant structure, and this is due to its long twisting arms which mould round one another, to form a jellyfish like body.  The sculpture is a truly natural form as the felt is left to determine its own shape. Abstract is another word which one could use to sum up his work, as the art is left to one’s imagination, and this is what makes the piece striking as it means and looks different to each person. The sculpture echoes my childhood and being young and free, in the way the felt tumbles effortlessly from its fixed point to the floor below.

There are many artists who share the space in room 3 from Richard Tuttle who created the 8^th paper Octagonal (noauthor), to Lynda Benglis whose work is made by pouring polyurethane foam into a corner of the gallery.  Tuttle’s work is a huge contrast as his Octagonal is designed to camouflage itself against the white background, his intention being for it to disappear into the wall, yet once detected it becomes very clear. This to me was bizarre, but it consciously made me think and study the shape more. The Octagonal is awkward because it aligns up with other sculptures and paintings, being an ultra-thin shape, and it exists strangely in its position sometimes visible and sometimes not.  

F2 "8th octagonal" By Richard tuttle
1970

                                                            

       

Textiles day 3

Aims: To introduce ourselves to an alternative and experimental way of fashion design.

• Outcomes: To design and produce a garment made from paper
• To expand boundaries in fashion
• To model, style, and photograph or film the garment in a creative way. 

day 3

The final day was a tad scary as we knew we had to make a garment made out of paper. initially I panicked as i have never made a garment someone has to model. We also had a time limit of around 3 hours to make it and photograph it. The night before I did some planning which really helped me on the day. Planning to me is a very important stage as it allows me to feel comfortable and in control, plus it stops me panicking. 

The planning I did the previous evening, I could of made the skirt a wrap around but i decided to split the pieces into 12. i got large newspaper sheets and drew a rough circle as accurately as I could. Next cut that out and managed to  find a pot that had a large circular base I put that int the middle and cut round it. This would be the cut for the waist. 
After I then practiced making a fan out of one of the newspaper sheets I  had cut out. That planning then helped me on the day as I knew the dimensions to cut and I had the sample to draw around. 


The only problem I faced was having enough fans to attach together to make the skirt. Initially i wanted to make a long skirt, but I soon changed my mine. I changed my design for convenience as it would be made of newspaper and a student would be modelling it. 



My partner was Natasha and we luckily both choose different body parts this meant we could both use the same manikin. Our garments actually worked together so we did a collaborative garment, which made the whole process fun to see out.  During the making i had to keep checking the length of the skirt at the sides as they had to be equal for the look to work. The skirt was long at the back and short at the front. The end garment we were really chuffed with, as I think it was loads different to what we expected. 
The last factor we had to consider was the Photo shoot, we had to shoot on every floor in Ravensbourne which is 9 floors. We had to consider:

1. lighting
2. setting
3. atmosphere
4. space

These are some of the final photographs:

textiles day 2

Aims: To introduce ourselves to an alternative and experimental way of fashion design.

• Outcomes: To design and produce a garment made from paper
• To expand boundaries in fashion
• To model, style, and photograph or film the garment in a creative way. 

Day 2

Tuesday I was really looking forward too, the aim of this day was to produce 5 samples, that have been changed in some way. We were asked to photo copy or enlarge a copy of a picture from an article or magazine of a model. I choose Ashley Green as shes a celeb but not truly an awarded model as of yet. This picture shows two of my ideas, I really wanted to over exaggerate the shoulders, I went a bit over the top with the model on the left. I made fans for her shoes, a big rose made from red paper tissue. The one on the right I just made a tin foil fan and attached it to the shoulder. 

These two pictures are more of my work. The one on the left I really liked doing. I thought oh the Spanish dance and their dresses are normally really colorful. I actually choose to keep the picture black and white as I think this shows off the colour better.
The one on the left i had managed to give her a spiky shoulder. To do this i needed a stringer material, i used card to do this. 

This was loads of fun to do, still I am using the same model but changing the design. I kept these quite simple using a wrapping silver paper to crea

e the triangles. I also stick with the body of the model. The one on the right is slightly more complicated as the strips of blue were 3D down her right waist. 

This was my favorite to model, as you can see its actually a different model, it stuck out to me in a Vogue magazine because its quirky, sharp, has graffiti on the floor and I knew i could annotate as well as design on it. I again used inspiration from Spanish dresses. I used three pieces of magazines I choose because of their colours. The bold blue, green and yellow really is striking against the red and black backdrop. I also liked the model as shes lying down its different to the others i have chosen. 

The smaller pictures at the top of this page are actually other students work I really liked. I photographed them because its great to show contrast between work. The models here are wearing tissue paper that i found and thought would be interesting.  The model on the left actually has a massive dress with a lettered train which could even spell out something. 
Some of my Designs also have small annotations this adds to the overall look.  

We also had to do rough sketches of what we wanted to design. I started off doing rough sketched which take a minute or less. And underneath I had the idea of drawing out one manikin and photocopying it 10 times so I get the same outline. Now I can draw my designs onto an already existing body.

This I did for fun really, I drew out one female body shape and decided to use the same figure for all 10 pictures. I copied them in the scanner and cut them out and stuck them on white paper. The idea was for them to be identical therefore it wouldn't take the eye away from the dress designs. 

Textiles day 1

Aims: To introduce ourselves to an alternative and experimental way of fashion design.

• Outcomes: To design and produce a garment made from paper
• to expand boundaries in fashion
• to model, style, and photograph or film the garment in a creative way. 

Day 1

we had to choose a starting point, from structure, font, or texture, Andrea asked us to make the objects out of different types of paper. For example card, black paper, silver, tin foil, etc. What we had to do was make 5 samples taken from inspiration. 

My inspiration was from architecture ie Frank Gehry's LA music hall. The wright brothers discovered flight and successfully manufactured the first ever plane flight. I took this and designed to make a origami butterfly for one of my ideas. this photo above is from my sketchbook its just a title page.

Inspiration 

This page to the left explains my thinking behind the models that I made on the first day of textiles. I chose to do structure. A structure is a framework/ outline of someones ideas or intentions. The origami butterfly was thought of because of the wright brothers. I had studied the Wright Brothers in a level and knew they invented the first ever man made flying machine/ powered machine. He took inspiration from living animals like birds, because their winds provided lift. The butterfly or bird is what i made below out of paper. So the actual paper creature has a much deeper meaning. 
The shard is London's highest skyscraper to date. its also referred to as the shard of glass. The shard is formed over London bridge. Its an 87 storey skyscraper.




This picture is also taken from my sketchbook,the aim of this exercise was to use our already made pieces we did earlier. We all had to get into pairs, we shared dummies for this exercise. I was working with Yasmin for this.  We had to use other peoples makings and put them on to a manikin the best we could. Each time we were told a different time period IE Avant Garde which meant extravagant and over the top. We actually went to 7 manikins overall and styled them all. My personal favorite was the dress with the expanding back the third column down.  And secondly the dress with the stars, this was really simple and beautiful. 


Reflecting on day 1
I really enjoyed day 1 and the tasks set, textiles was a new to me so I had to throw myself into the activities. I enjoyed starting off my making something that I was inspired by. Its not every day you get to do that. The first task was fun as everyone has different ideas and when that came together it was hilarious seeing the outcome. The second activity was my favorite out of the two, as I thought we had to work with out own materials and makings but no we had to use other students work and put that onto a manikin. Having the time eras was also fun, as it allowed us to experiment. The Avant Garde era is all about being wild and free everything is over the top and exaggerated, and showing this in a dummy isn't hard.  Feedback from staff for me Andrea said at the end she was really chuffed with my work and said I was on the money as earlier I answered some questions correctly. Feedback is always necessary especially as textiles was totally new to me. From day 1 I have learnt that being over the top isn't necessarily a bad thing, to be more confident with my ideas even if they are a tad wacky.  I found task 1 a bit more challenging, this was because I was taking inspiration from many iconic buildings that are very highly recognized and using that for mine. I always have high expectations of my work so when the final outcome isn't as impressive its a bit of a downer. But overall i really enjoyed day 1 and was exited for the second day.

Sketch Book work

Arty sketches /paintings
 Blade runner is still a film i take inspiration from and this paint picture is of a still from the film. I did the face in lines rather than a full on face. The paint was a red acrylic paint on a black backdrop, i actually was not sure about the colour as paints make the paper expand. But the effect the red gave was really futuristic so i kept it.
What i could improve on this is try and get the lines of the face to be even and in proportion, as the lips are towards the left hand side.
I think why it works is that i have managed to create that futuristic look with the type of drawing and colour use. What i found challenging about drawing anything futuristic is that its hard to paint the picture, ie the setting.

This is another sketch i did in my sketchbook, i'm quite interested in cartoons therefore i found some old Dennis the Mennis magazines and used that as inspiration for this sketch. The drawing show the two protagonist in the story flying a mythological creature.
I actually left it black and white at first but then i thought by adding in the background it would help readers understand better.

Storyboarding

The aim for a Storyboard was to think up a creative, innovative, new and fresh idea that would be fun to show in front of our peers later on in the day.  For me i normally watch films that are action packed and are fantasy. I like films that take one from reality and put into a different universe or place. It makes me forget my real life. Examples of this would be Harry Potter, Avatar etc. For TV especially Game of Thrones By George RR Martin i love and think is a master piece, he manages to increase the pressure from start to go this is what keeps the audience. 

My storyboard actually changed originally my pictures were of my cat and his outings and life, but this was a bit dull to take forward.

These are pictures i took at first i really liked and enjoyed taking these as  i wanted to involve nature in them too. The grass i feel gives the picture a good frame, plus it adds some colour. 

Taking pictures of animals is a tricky process as obvious they have a mind of their own and wont stay still i had to be quick with my iPhone. 

He gradually got use to be being there and relaxed this next picture shows him fully chilled out on his back .These photographs show a process in time, 1 hes sitting upright 2 hes chilled and lying on his back.





I didn't actually go with this idea because for an audience it wouldn't be interesting. A story really needs an beginning , middle and end to capture the audience. 

My next idea was a cartoon sketch , just like many animations they involve made up characters made my computer generated systems and put on screen. What exited me about this was anything can happen, I thought of all the films and my favorite scenes from them. Chase scenes always provide excitement for the audience as the protagonist could live or die at the end.

This is my idea drawn out, I used pencil then a black fine liner then a red fine liner, my character Andy Pandy was celebrating his birthday with family and friends, he was sent an envelope with a key which looked like was part of a chain, the chain was no where to be seen. The next day the police knocked on their door the boys ran took the nearest car and smashed their way through .
Hit and run was on, the only way out of the village is over the haunted bridge which no one dares due to a mythological creature. The bridge has a missing section in the middle. The lads revved up the car unfortunately the car shuddered and they fell. Smash they land in a large birds nest, expecting a giant bird the lads find a massive god glaring at them. Looking back at my story I had good intentions but it didn't really fit, the story was not flowing.

Story boarding on A1, we were given the task to do a really random storyboard, we had around an hour to do this activity, we had to create characters for them then to put them into a sequence.
The lads i was working with took inspiration from marvel characters, such as spider man, batman, arrow, etc.

Feedback from my group:
The police wouldn't knock on someones door for no reason 
could be a secret society
i could involve a ticking clock
they liked the birds nest it adds tension
may  be someone important could be stuck in he nest
could have the story as a riddle
I could start the film with a newsflash of something happening in this village.


Idea improved 
From this idea i improved it: 

I added the newsflash at the start as this really gets the tension and excitement running . I kept the birds nest as my feedback group really thought this was a key factor. 

Analysis of peoples work:

The first group did a storyboard of a spoon that felt left out by its family and counterparts, for this story to work she needed to frame the spoon in the camera shot well. For example I had an idea just like John Hilliard did in the Cause of Death pictures frame it like that with the victim being the spoon at the bottom of the page.  The real moral message of her storyboard was touching as everyone has been left out in one way or the other no matter if you don't want to admit it. The moral message highlighted how cruel human life can be, as a kid children are often isolated. This can also be seen when teenagers find themselves that transition can make them feel alone.

Group 2 Siqi did a story of a caterpillar in transition to a butterfly to landing on a little boys face and using his blood to grow. Instantly this gave us horrific images it was brutal. Personally i would put this in a horror category as its not a particularly nice topic.  The first thing her story made me think of was how the story should be the other way round, a little kid should be chasing a butterfly. 

Anissa's story was about a ritual and how the smoke of the candle produced fire demons, this made me think of the 7 deadly sins which are In the currently recognized version, the sins are usually given as wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. In a way it was also a metaphor for human life. 

Questions and answers

The whole of the week I really enjoyed, it was something I never really looked at in much detail, I knew a story had a beginning middle and end but sometimes one forgets how much detail needs to be recognized. The given task was to produce a storyboard, I first thought of using my own pet as a storyboard, as his adventures in the garden are easily recorded. 

My feedback from others was really useful they told me to add a really punchy beginning, may be add a newsflash, communication Arts / Broadcasting) a brief item of important news, often interrupting a radio or television programme. 
I was not happy with my parts of my story, as they didn't flow like a really good story does, it was a bit scrappy. I was happy with my overall idea as i knew it would be interesting to film.
I think my time management was actually good i managed to finish the storyboard and redo it better in the time given. Planning in the future i would use massive spider diagrams to help me put my ideas down.

Lens Based Media - past photo drawing

The first day doing Lens Based media was a real insight into the world of media and photography, there are so many elements one can discover such as, crew on a film, lighting , producer, etc. The aim was to bring in a photo we had taken or got someone to take of us and to draw it in 1 hour 30 mins to the best you can in that time.

The picture i brought in was of me and my sister at Brighton Pier, in character behind a comedy board. I guess i was about 6 when it was taken.  The bright title really stuck out to me. When i started to draw it was only then i discovered it was a really hard picture to draw.

This is the one of the characters the board had on it, the face is blank as you fill it it in with your own when you stand behind it. The word "lifeguard" is symbolic of my relationship with my sister. I think most siblings would say the older brother or sister is the protector. A protector or lifeguard is someone who is looked up to, they are a role model for the younger generation.

The picture to me represents a fun day out to the sea side which is typically British and has a large history, as people use to travel via train to the coast on weekends. It represents child innocence and fun.















The aim for the second part of the day was to go out around Ravensbourne and to take pictures of these keywords.
Happy, sad, echo, fall, crush and jump.  I really like the picture above that i took its on North Greenwich Station, going to the underground its a really good location for echos to work.
The next picture is footprints of mine, little kids love jumping in puddles therefore i thought of doing the same. I tapped into my little kid instincts to create this.

This picture on the right is in the lift it represents movement or falling as lift travel at speed up and down different levels.

The picture of the bin is full of rubbish the lid is crushing the paper almost forcing it down inside the bin. And the beer suggests being happy.

The blue picture was a funny one actually the saying "feeling blue" means feeling under the weather. So i just took a picture of the blue walls in the train station to represent this.  The stations ticket machines were another example of crush, as when you get your timing wrong the ticket machines can close on you and it hurts.

The Future and beyond in a graphics poster

Graphics Poster

The idea to today was to recreate a poster showcasing our future ambitions, meaning where we want to be in 20 years time. Which funnily enough is 2033.  What immediately struck me when thinking of the future was what the earth would actually look like, and how human activity plays a role in the ever changing earth we live in. Moreover i thought of what i want to be doing, i want to be taking inspiration from vast architectural buildings and using that in my work.  The Golden Gate Bridge for me really showcases the vast success of human engineering. 

Meaning I wanted my poster to have an underlying message just like the ice age films do about climate change. 

        •The title “save the rock”  was actually a saying I had heard when I had visited San Francisco's Alcatraz jail back in 2012. I used the quotation and twisted in to create a powerful statement. The “rock” is earth  and as climate change continues to harm the earth, human involvement has to step in. 

       The earth/Magnifying glass

        

     The drawing of the earth/ magnifying glass is something I thought went with the topical message I was delivering in my poster. It was meant to signify that our involvement with the natural world is increasing and is having a damaging effect. Just look at Borneo the worlds most famous tropical rain forest  human activity is destroying it for the food and crops.The magnifying glass also has another deep meaning, it represents “us "as a combined countries are now going to be scrutinized by ourselves until the problem of global warming is over. In other words the world is under a magnifying glass (is being watched). 

       

 The golden Gate Bridge

Back in 2012 I visited San Francisco and was totally taken by the scale of the bridge. It represents a major leap forward in engineering. It was designed by Joseph Strauss, Irving Morrow and Charles Ellis.

What made it special for me was the height over San Fran bay and how long it was. 1.2 million steel red rivets are used to hold the bridge together. Total length of the Golden Gate Bridge from abutment to abutment is 8,981 feet (2,737 m). I drew it on my poster as the bridge itself is a reminder that iv visited one of the worlds most stunning and largest bridges. And that I want my future to be like the bridge itself because when the fog is low you can see the other end therefore I want my future to be in front of me but so I cant see what's coming, and that’s what's exiting.Fact San Francisco has its own micro climate that’s why its often foggy.

       The Hand 

     The hand that’s placed at the bottom of the poster is a reminder that humans are now in control and are making the biggest impact upon the natural world. I almost wanted the hand to look like it was spinning the world as this would give a clear message. The Hand was an idea i took from the days that we drew features of ourselves and others.   The plane picture below is another deep meaningful message buried in a picture, every day thousands of planes take off and give off bad fumes. The idea of having planes around the magnifying glass  was to highlight the need for environmentally friendly transport. This goes the same way with the London underground sign. 

This is me and sister standing on Alcatraz Island in the Bay. What i think is successful about this poster is that it highlights real problems such as global warming, its a realistic example. I think many of us try and ignore the problems going on so this is a glimpse or a reminder even.  I was not particularly happy that is sat on a white background i would of preferred a black background as it shows off the drawings.  I had actually planned the night before i had gathered pictures and info i needed for the day.  Yes i think enhanced planning and organisation will improve my future work as its way easier knowing what you want.