Specialism, Latex and layers layers layers...

In preparation for Third Year (eeek!) we have started on a self directed project. 

The Brief: 12 Week Project. 

Produce a range of experimental, playful and explorative work that investigates: 

Your chosen specialist use of material techniques and processes to produce finished outcomes.
Your chosen mean of production: bespoke, batch or mass production.Your chosen context of work: Gallery, high street, high-end retail, commission, display, public, domestic etc.

Initially wanting to continue with what I had been investigating in my last project, I made the decision today to embark along a new line of questioning...I started to think about what it is that interests me in terms of design/art/culture, what it is that has driven my research thus far and looking back to all I have thought about and experimented with before. 

I felt that an exploratory process led project was key, so, with an interest in the construction and deconstruction of an object; the notion of decay as a result of natural process, and the intention of an object being placed within a space (I'm constantly drawn to installation so why hide away from it?) I am looking to produce a range of objects that explore the ideas of layering, material investigation and juxtaposition of surface/form.

Through a process of initial exploration, then to mould making, casting and reconstruction, I will explore the chosen materials in their widest sense and develop an understanding of the objects I have created.

Using mould making as a process to inform batch production, I will look to its ability to cast across different materials and create a number of outcomes to assess for installation within a chosen platform/gallery/site specific space.

I started by exploring latex. I have never used the material before and still with in an interest in wrapping/concealing/layering I thought it would be a good starting point. Here are some of my initial experiments: 

samples drying with altered surface texture, bubble wrap, netting, egg box 

stretching over forms to distort and layer

using a framework to create structure

Alongside this I have been developing a better relationship with my sketchbook. I don't feel like I've been using it to its full potential on this course and after an inspiring session on visual research last week it really got me thinking about how I could do that.

I'm a keen collector of paper/found object and have boxes of the stuff at home just sitting there. They have moved house with me time after time and I just cant face to throw them away ("you never know when you're going to need them", right?) So, I figured that in terms of this project and what I want to get out of it, I would start exploring what it is about these objects that make me want to pick them up in the first place!? 


I looked back through some old photographs and realised that I had amassed a lot on compositional decay. I chose these particular two as a starting point:

and notice that they both contain circles! Sifting through more images, more circles appeared, so I started looking through my boxes of treasured papers and these popped out:

I then set myself the task of picking up all that jumped out at me on the way to uni today and assembled a few things before my tutorial:

This was an interesting activity - very reactive. It reminded me a little of the Streetcombing Project by Margo Weijer and is something I would like to keep up. 

I feel that the project has real scope overall and these two strands of discovery could be very good for one another. I am going to further my explorations this week by creating a variety of structures to pull and stretch the latex over. I'll update on progress in about a week.

Manuel Estrada: to write or draw, that is the question

Where Ideas are Born. Juggler´s Sketchbooks. was such an inspiring exhibition. I left feeling drunk! Purely from excitement and a burning desire to draw and create! In the beautiful lofty space of the fourth floor at MUDE this was the showcase of Spanish graphic designer Manuel Estrada. I often wonder whether I should have done a graphic design course, text, font, layout and picture assembly is something that makes me go all ooooooh wobbly! There's nothing to say this desire can't be a fuel for my work on the Dec Arts course though and if surface is where I'm headed then it's all good for that anyway! So, the exhibition....

Walking into it you are first met by a wall of open sketchbooks which you are encouraged to flick through - how brilliant!

 Then there is an engaging display of sketches next to finalized logos and mood boards:

This exhibition is all about ideas...

Such an amazing space!

involving process

showcasing illustration for the books of Jose Saramango,

typography,

Collage...

which reminds me...

I am yet to put up a post about the Matisse exhibition I went to recently...

I will follow this up soon..

It was nice to see drawings for the collages too

A large part of the exhibition was given to his book covers to which Estrada says:

A book's cover is a window through which we glimpse the books content. A good cover should not only serve to help to sell a book. Once read, the cover has to be remembered as a true, memorable and accurate interpretation of its content

 I liked an awful lot of them, but this was one of my favourites, I love the simplicity:

 

Many of the covers were displayed on sheets hanging from the ceiling. The original drawing was on one side, the final cover on the other - it was a really effective display

others were in display cases with the sketchbook workings
to the side, this worked well too.

Estrada talks of distilling ideas:

We have to remove the excess on paper. Simplicity as a distillation of the complex. As a reflection of the most primary content of form.

 I love that, 'removing the excess on paper', I find it similar with this blog - allowing me a space to expell all of my discoveries, interests and ideas. One line at a time, in some kind of order, to then assimilate over time and make a new again.

Again I loved the words written around the information boards! There's just something about the way they are written that I cannot do justice if I attempt my own interpretation. Like the marks of a painting or drawing themselves, it's better if I share them, rather than missing out in my poor adaptation!

The source of the creative impulse is a mystery. Ideas can come unexpectedly, anywhere and at any time - Paul Rand

 And to finish, oddly, with the introduction to the whole show! In keeping with my post on Eduardo Salavisa and sketchbooks in general, you might notice an obsessive theme:

We can always see Manuel Estrada accompanied by a small sketchbook where he jots down words and drawings, makes pictures, cuts out and sticks a variety of materials. And because creativity is a fleeting phenomenon, it needs to be grasped in the moment.

Where Ideas are Born. Juggler´s Sketchbooks brings together Manuel Estrada's most personal, unpublished work through his visual diaries and sketchbooks which show us the graphic designer's creative process.

On the journey we find a juggler whose graphic pirouettes weave fascinating images that help to simulate our collective imagination

Cards etc

I've been sorting through photos today and found these of cards that I have made over the past few years. I am thinking about potential things to make for our uni Christmas Craft Fair, maybe these could be a goer?

birthday card using patterned paper, buttons and material scraps

writing in it with the sewing machine! I must invest in a freehand peddle!

compilation CD cover with vintage image and patterned paper, material scraps

Envelope collage with paper assemblage

I had some spare shirtcuffs so used them as a card 'wrap'

and secured the cuff by machining a message inside!

I love old dress patterns

and layering them up is just the best!

textural in every sense!

yum yum yum!

I had a few rolls of this vintage-looking wrapping paper so made a bespoke envelope to fit

Construction, Cranes and Collage

Whilst researching for my essay today, I stumbled across the Twentieth Century Society Magazine. It's an interesting read, with further details to be found at The Institue for Historic Building Conservation. As well as featuring an interview with Richard Pare about his photos of Soviet Modernism (last seen as part of the Royal Acadamey exhibition...also interviewed here, here and reviewed here), there was also an article on Joyce Pallot. She makes gorgeous screenprints of industrial-style scenes and I found a good portfolio of her work at Emma Mason Check these out!

Building Construction

Untitled (Cranes Orange)

Untitled (Cranes Pink)

Landing Stage

Lonely Dockside

Untitled (Cranes)

There are also some nice watercolours to be found at fine art dealers campbell wilson

Architectural Study

Scaffolding

Great aren't they! It's got me thinking...situation drawing of construction/deconstruction at a building site - there's one right by uni at the moment...sketchbook at the ready!

I also found these lovely geometric inspired collages by Andrew Zarou rather in keeping with today's discoveries!