Dover Through a Lens

A day spent photographing the hidden beauty within Dover town, capturing anything that stood out as having intriguing colour, pattern, texture, subject. All images are random, but each individually important to contributing to the unvailing of the towns concealed attraction. 

Emboss of Collograph Plate

A collograph plate has been constructed of found materials and objects from a 1m squared corderned off area. The plate consists of rubber, paint flakes, bark, moss, leaves, eroded metal chips and leaves, wood and paper. It is a composition of shapes and patterns.

A blind emboss has been printed, highlighting the textures and patterns of the objects as they have been removed from their original context and purpose. The reason for doing this is that the formal elements of the materials become more important than the objects themselves. It therefore allows the beauty of the objects to be emphasisd as opposed to being overlooked as discarded items. 

It is then intended that inks will be used to highlight areas of the collograph plate, emphasising finer textures and imprints, as the ink falls into the crevices this creating varying tones and shadows. 

Collograph Plate 

Developing Art Practice

Throughout the Developing Art Practice Brief, there will be an investigation into the BEAUTY behind DOVER, appreciating the historical and contextual stresses that have bore a heavy footprint on the town. Artworks will aim to uncover the beauty that is hidden below the tired and worn mask that fronts the appearance of the town. Development of this project will highlight the aesthetically beautiful that is usually overlooked and passed unnoticed. 

Influential Artists

Research has been done into artists that have tackled the concept of the beauty within an everyday environment.

Studying Cornelia Parker and her attitude towards her everyday environment, her attitude and curiosity towards the landscape, searching for patterns, shapes and marks that often go unnoticed. It is Parker's understanding of her environment and the overlooked that she brings out through her artwork that I want to achieve through the development of my own practice. 

Click Here To View Works By Cornelia Parker

Sydney Cooper Gallery Visit

Today, to inform practical development and to gain inspiration for a possible simulated collaborative or group exhibition, a visit to the Sydney Cooper gallery was taken, where there was a show of MA students from Christ Church University.

From this visit I have gained lots of inspiration about reflecting on local areas and taking aspects of environments such as patterns and textures to create artworks. 

Additionally, I have been to Dover Resource Centre to source local maps from different time periods, so that I can identify changes in structure and patterns of change throughout the town. Additionally having a current map of the town will  mean that I can then start the idea of locating a space for my public art piece. 

Developing Art Practice Brief

Presentation of assignment brief, which requires a search for either a live brief in which to respond to, for example a public art commission or a simulated brief which can then be specifically tailored to suit individual studio specialism. The aim of this assignment is to research and investigate art opportunities available, and the type of opportunities available to artists, weather it be an exhibition, a public art commission, a site specific artwork, a community workshop etc...

From this, research has been undertaken into live bries, to attain information on layout and content, so that a template can be constructed. Through this initial research it has become apparent that there is such a variety of clients with varying expectations, budgets and visions, that it will be less limiting to the development of practical work if a simulated brief is constructed, therefore eliminating the constraints of budget and clients vision form the outcome. Therefore allowing the development and the concept of the artwork to take prominence throughout this investigation.

Additionally a reading on the painting The Garden Of Earthly delights by Hieronymous Basch was completed, studying the representation of utopia and dystopia during this period, where there was a strong focus on religion that ran throughout all societies and whereby utopia was often inferred as being heaven and dystopia, hell.

Today, a project timetable was also compiled to aid with the development of practical study and the planning of project briefs and proposals. This has allowed for forward planning of large scale works and preparation time for presentations, therefore ensuring that all elements of the assignment brief are met within the allocated deadlines. 

New Semester New Brief

On returning to the new semester, a contextual studies brief was set requiring an investigation into the study of Utopia and Dystopia. It has been suggested that an essay title should be chosen with reference to individual studio specialism, therefore adding a depth and context to all practical work in addition to a deeper understanding of contextual topics. Also, this will aid for a smoother transition into the writing of final dissertations as these too will be linked to individual studio specialism. There will be a series of lectures outlining possible topics of enquiry, to assist in choosing an essay title/question.

With presentation of the contextual studies brief, a mind-map has been constructed to begin thinking about the development of practical study. Through this it had become apparent that there is still a large concern for 'beauty' and aesthetics of the everyday and mundane present in practical development, and therefore will have a strong connection to the 'Utopian Ideal' and the concept of an 'ideal beauty' and indeed consequently how this can lead to a dystopian outcome.