EXHIBITION - Out of Order

I recently supported the level 5 students by visiting their exhibition 'Out of Order' at Colours May Vary. With illustrations responding to the title 'Out of Order', there was a real breadth of responses and interpretations. It was great to see how briefs can be realised through exhibitions such as this, demonstrating the endless possibilities offered by the illustration discipline. While the exhibitions displayed a plethora of unique and sophisticated responses, two works resonated with me most through their concerns with character and shape.

This illustration from Billie Francis captures such a playful and comical tone of voice, through simple visual devices. Shape here seems pivotal to the tone of voice of the image, giving the characters a real sense of humour through elongated figures and tiny heads. It is interested that Francis has used texture to characterise these consistent visual devices. The monochrome figures work successfully through their contrasts of texture and value, mark making used to achieve tone and pattern. What appears to be chinagraph creates a very delicate and sensitive tone of voice, enhancing the delicate expression of the characters. Due to the consistency of the character shapes, the 'out of order' element is not immediately noticeable. This is perhaps a strength of the images as it invites the viewer to speculate and read further into the visual narrative of the illustration.

I also selected this image by Madeleine Richardson for its charming use of shape and narrative. Particularly focusing on the animals, Richardson employs very simplified shapes to gesture the animal form, achieving a very playful and stylised aesthetic, appropriate to the images wider focus on shape. The cut out approach, executed through digital media, achieves a lovely sense of the hand of the maker whilst incorporating strong block colours associated with a more digital solution. Marks and over-lays introduce screen-print qualities appropriate to the analogue tone of the cut-out based work.

Within a commercial outlet, it is interesting to consider how design shops and broader retail spaces can operate as exhibition spaces. As a shop that celebrates design, the exhibition was complimented perfectly by the products and surrounding media, demonstrating that their is an overlap between commercial illustrators and exhibiting illustrators.

EXHIBIT - Community Art Exhibition

As part of my developing practice, I am keen to exhibit my work and take part in creative events. I was asked to participate in a community art exhibition exploring personality and the variety of people living within one community. The event was organised by a local Arts groups who I had previously participated in exhibitions with over the summer. 

I was really keen to participate in the show as the aim of it was to spread the idea of diversity, whilst encouraging members of the community to get involved with art. Having been asked to participate as the organisers had seen my recent illustration work online, they were keen for me to represent the 'practising artists' of the community, alongside work from local school children, to local church goers. While the event was fairly small scale, at Guiseley Parish Church, it was interesting to be part of an event that covered all different levels and approaches to art, and I was particularly excited to be involved in an event promoting art in the community. I am concerned with communities in my practice and I feel taking part in events such as this, supports my interest in the value of art for all types of people. 

The organisers really celebrated my 3D illustration from the visual language module so I carried it forward for a new purpose. While I did not have to create a new piece for this event, I am interested to develop my professional practice through further exhibition opportunities, perhaps working to new briefs outside of my conventional subject matter.

SB1 - Study task 7 - Self

How far have I travelled since the start of the year?
-unfortunately my letter to myself got lost so I've carried out this reflective task based on what I can remember about my attitudes and aspirations at the beginning of the course.

PRACTITIONER

Weaknesses

• Restricted development - I think I too regularly fall into the trap of thinking I have more time than I really do and I feel that my development work may suffer. My work always demonstrates development but I think this could be a little insufficient at times to do my research justice.
• Need to be more adventurous - I rely to heavily on simple images instead of throwing myself into scene and world building. Considering how more elements work together and creating more complex compositions might actually drive my image making skills.
• Rely on imagery - While I try to remain informed about the world, I'm often quite unsure about how to draw what it is that I want to draw and find myself needed reference photographs. It could be a strength of my work to play on what my imagination sees rather than real world ideas. 
• Comparing myself - It's a struggle going from being 1 of 4 art students at school to 1 of 60 and so I doubt my practice too much by comparing my work to others. I should celebrate the success I know I have rather than wondering how I compare to others. Success may be measured differently to how I see it in the studio. 
• Not indulgent with briefs - I don't fully take advantage of the time I have on each brief and as such, don't fully indulge my practice in the opportunity to develop as much as I could. 

Strengths

• Contextual research - I am always thorough and exhaustive with my research, meaning that my responses are well informed and I am then able to form more personalised responses and conclusions through deeper knowledge of the subject matter.
• Reflective practice - I am extremely thorough and formal with my reflections, using critical language to really de-code my practice and progress. The criticality of my writing drives my progress while the depth of my evaluations demonstrate my understanding. 
• Exploratory - My practice is not grounded within a single media, I am constantly exploring a range of processes, even with single briefs, and many of my outcomes rely on a considered mix of several media. 
• Solid tone of voice - I feel that my choices of media and visual devices are sensitive and considerate to the narrative I want to communicate, meaning that my tone of voice is relevant and immediate.
• Layering skills - I have developed my own personal process of laying media, echoing screen-print processes. I have developed a considered approach to image making by really understanding the interplay of components within my images. 

STUDENT

Weaknesses

• Procrastination & fear - I am too doubtful of my own abilities and become fearful of tasks, encouraging myself to procrastinate with most practical work. While I know I want to make illustrations and create narratives, I procrastinate because I am scared to just start.
• Work/ fun balance - I have a very good work ethic in that I complete all tasks and try my best to complete extra tasks where I can. This follows outside of uni where I have 2 part-time jobs and I always feel that if I am on holiday from uni, or it is the weekend, I ought to be working. I'm always thinking about my duty to work...
• Underestimate prep - While I make to-do lists and plan my projects thoroughly, I regularly underestimate the time needed before submission to polish things off and complete the administration elements.
• Lost work ethic - I fear that I have lost the work ethic I had at school and on foundation. I used to always stay behind to do my work and constantly did more than was necessary, which leads on to...
• Studio culture - I have let myself feel intimidated by the 'hot-desking' studio culture and presence of more confident students in the studio which makes me want to work at home instead of thriving on the creative environment.

Strengths

• Attendance - I attend all sessions and try to take advantage of extra opportunities to clarify things so that I always know what is required of me and so that I can maximise my learning.
• Complete all tasks - I do not have a 'sufficient' attitude to work, I have a 'as much as you can and more' approach. I don't want to be complacent with my work and just pass, I want to try and always do more so that I am on the safe side.
• Extra work - I try to carry out extra tasks, particularly evaluative and research tasks as I feel these are where the most learning happens and I get my best ideas from writing critically and reading around things.
• Remain informed - My contextual knowledge is sustained and driven through regular gallery, bookshop and library visits. I am always visiting exhibitions and evaluating images I have seen.
• Push myself - While I often am pushed by my procrastination, I try to drive myself to work efficiently, particularly near deadlines as I know these are skills I will need to respond to clients. 

SB1 - Study Task 6 - Interdisciplinary

SOCIAL HERITAGE & BRITISH CULTURES
It's hard to identify a specific issue that relates directly to my practice as I feel I am informed visually, thematically and technically by varying sources. Something which I think I am concerned with which has come through slightly in recent projects is the topic of working class towns and British cultures. I am very interested in documentary photography exhibitions and have been fed this through visits to exhibitions at both the National Media Museum and Impressions Gallery. Something which I think photo-documentary work offers is a critique or awareness of social history, unveiling the struggles of past eras. Breaking down exhibitions I have scene and places I have been, I think restricted ways of living are key to these issues, yet also traditional British cultures.

 

 





I have always been quite interested in uniforms and how these relate to heritage. This started to come through in my Foundation final major project and was explored further in my Morris dancing picture-book. Something I find drawn to about working-class cultures is the sense of community and belonging brought about by social heritage. Most discernible in my Morris Dancing book was the connection between types of dancing and particular industries. Issues such as mining and mill work have been drawn on by Martin Parr who's work I have been interested by in several exhibitions.

At the moment, I don't feel that my work is fully connected to these interests. I have explored British cultures through the study of Morris dancing and am interested to further this in the next Studio Practice brief in which I am focusing on the writings of Alan Bennett. My practice often focuses on mischievous and playful characters with children's illustrations being an inspiration. It would be a good point of development to explore how I can channel these approaches to image making within my raw and socially critical subjects. Developing my practice, I would like to tailor my responses towards my personal concerns and interests in light of restricted ways of living and social heritage.