Etching workshop 2

Today I returned to the etching studio to continue my lithography project. I learnt about preparing lithography for printing and did a few prints. It was a lot of fun to use a whole different type of tool. It was nice to go from a tool that is constantly being updated (the computer) to a very old tool that would never change (the press). I really liked the way my lithography turned out. I also liked the way that the etchings of other group members turned out. We decided that for our project, traditional metal etching gave a nicer raw feel but I am still glad that I learnt how to do lithography as its important to understand other fields in art.

Lecture - Paul Minnot (Aesthetic of conspiracy)

Today Paul gave a lecture about the work he was later going to present. The lecture was about the assassination of John F Kennedy and all of the conspiracy surrounding it. I did not know very much about John F Kennedy before this lecture.
Paul explained the circumstances and showed some imagery from around the time. It was obvious that Paul had a personal interest in the subject. He showed lots of different evidence through different medium such a photograph, video and writings. It became apparent that the work he was going to present was going to use all of this information somehow. I was interested in seeing what he was going to do with the information, how he was going to present it, from what perspective he was going to present it and what message it was going to have.
When the work was finally revealed, I was a little disappointed. Paul had taken the imagery, lots of it and plastered it across some walls showing connections in a muddled way. This was based around some video in the center of the room. Paul had used all the confusing information...to show that the subject is confusing. I felt that it didn't have much of a message and considering there was a whole lecture preceding it, there wasn't very much to it.
In all, it was interesting to see somebody try to make an installation based on A LOT of information but I prefer to feel that I have taken something on board from an artwork...and in this way the work was unsuccessful.

Etching workshop 1

Today I had organised an etching workshop because it fit in with a project that I was doing. I wanted to learn a bit about what could be achieved and get a little advice on what my group needed for the project. Sally and Allister started to learn how to do traditional etching into metal. I thought it would be beneficial to both me and my group if I tried something a little different so I chose to try some lithography. I learnt all about the process of how to use porous stones and how to get the ink only where I wanted. It was really interesting. I created a piece of work using different medium to try out the different effects I could make. At the end of the lesson I had to leave it to dry. It was a useful session because apart from learning about a whole new art form, I got to watch Allister and Sally learn how to do traditional etching and learnt about that too.

Contest Entry

I decided to enter a small competition to design a website mascot. It was fun to do some research and see what other people had done and to present something of my own creativity. I am not expecting to win but am pleased with my entry which you can read about here.

Provoke Change Crit

This week we finished our Provoke Change work and presented it to the group for a crit. We used a website, blog, 3d images, 3d images and 3d videos to show our concept. It went very well.

Provoke Change Project Summary

For the Provoke Change project I worked with Sally as we had some quite similar ideas. I learnt a lot from this project. It involved coming up with an idea, creating several outputs for it, learning new skills and displaying it in an interesting way.
The project was about using reflective sculptures to enhance a surrounding. We decided to create both a 3D model (to be able to do tests to do with light and positioning) and an actual model (to give people an idea of scale). To do this we needed to learn both some 3D software skills and some sculpting skills. The sculpting skills included how to work with clay and how to create a stage to position the model in. We used both the ceramics department and the woodwork department for the first time. It was interesting to see what other students in those departments were working on and nice to get advice from peers. It was a lot of fun to learn the basics of more art forms and definitely beneficial.

Workshops - Ceramics and Woodwork

Today for our Provoke Change project, although not inducted yet, me and Sally went to the ceramics workshop to sand off our statues. We were given some help by a staff member and it was fun to do something hands-on in a different artistic medium.
We also went to woodwork and asked for help there and were enlightened to what we can still do and what the technicians are happy to do for us whether we are given an induction to these places or not.

3D Studio MAX Lesson + Pro Studies.

Today I had a very useful lesson in 3DS Max. This class was not part of this year's timetable but I felt that 3D was a skill I really wanted to pick up on. I learnt about importing sketches into max using planes and then animating them as characters using bones.
This lesson overlapped with our timetable professional studies lesson but we were able to catch the last hour and hear about some interesting work.

Personal Exhibition?

Today Me, Sally and Allister discussed a possible exhibition that we could be involved. Sally had a meeting with one of the organisers of a local arts fair in Midsomer Norton and was able to secure us a place there exhibiting our own work with the other artists. This would be great publicity for myself and would get me in touch with the local arts community. The exhibition will be on the 15th-16th March and we could display all sorts of different digital work to give the fair some more diversity and raise the community's contact with digital art which it is lacking.
I need to choose which work I want to exhibit.

Dissertation Tutorial 2

After a little fighting for my ideas I managed to negotiate a title exploring the roles of Japanese men and women in cinema and television.
I have booked a library tutorial to get support finding electronic articles.

Provoke Change Tutorial 2

I am working with Sally on an idea to change tourism in Bath by altering a landscape.
We wanted to alter the Royal Crescent by adding a plane of water, roman statues and steam jets.
It was suggested we can use this idea but chose another part of Bath and alter the idea to be more provocative.
We have chosen to come up with some more ideas for the next time we meet.

Aims for this year

As it is the final year of my studies as I don't plan to go on further, I feel it is important to make the most of it. I feel it is important to have a list of things I want to take away with me at the end of the year.

Personal Growth:
I want to have more confidence in my work.
I would like advice in which career paths I could take.
I would like to feel more prepared for the workplace.

Skills:
I want to learn a little more actionscript after building a foundation last year.
I would like to learn to model and texture in 3D from scratch.
I would like to learn a little more about related art forms.

Artistic understanding:
I want to be able to compare work to other well-known work.

Self-Presentation:
I want to know how to present my portfolio to potential employers better.
I want to use specialised language more confidently.

Understanding of the workplace:
I would like to know how design companies function on a more financial level.

CETL Masterclass with Richard Higgs from Big Squid

Very fun day of activities:
Watched a Big Squid show reel with some very inspiring ideas. It was exciting to see a local design house with such a highbrow companies and projects.

We first started by exercising positive and negative conversations. This helped me gain an insight in to how both the client and designer can feel when a consultancy is going both well and not so well.

We then did a pro-Smoking campaign with some new group members (very fun, shows that its easy to get good ideas within a group even if you don't know them so well). We came up with a parody of Harry Potter. It was really enjoyable bouncing ideas around the group and coming up with something that we all liked.

Finally we attempted to promote a silly law, in a new group. It was to abolish the "boys under 10 cant see naked mannequin" law. Unfortunately most of the next group I was put with lacked maturity (enjoyed drawing male genitalia rather than ideas on the sheet) and I found it very difficult to work with them. Unfortunately because of the joking around we ran out of time and weren't able to present a very good idea. I found this very frustrating and learnt that unless a group of designers is focused on the same objective, its very likely much will be achieved.

In all, I learnt a great deal about the different ways of communication both with clients and with group members.

Dissertation Tutorial 1

I knew I wanted to do a dissertation on Japan in some way. However, I admitted my proposed title was too vague and have been told to rephrase it as a question for next week's meeting.

Lecture - Paul Minnot (Small Town)

Today we had a lecture for Provoke Change.
It was rather indirect to the project but it did emphasise the point that the change we do could be something about our own town which is interesting. We also watched some interesting videos.

Japan Expo

I wanted to go to JapanEx in London. This was because it had various forms of Japanese media in. It covered areas such as fashion, posters, print making, anime, film, games, music, origami and toys.
I really enjoyed having a look at the different areas because they were very different from Western versions. Japanese design seems to be bright and more vibrant. It mixes tradition with new ways and creates very attractive ideas. This has prompted me into thinking about spending some time in Japan after University to study the design and media as it is starting to appear over here more frequently in the field of fashion, television, film and game.