Poster Design- Week Four

This week I chose my concept and created three dimensional pieces that celebrated the rubber band. I then photographed the star shapes and manipulated them in Photoshop to begin the finished poster. The concept of the finished poster is based on stars and constellations as they are celebratory in nature. The background colour reflects the colour of the night sky. The colour of the text reflects the colour of the rubber bands. I placed smaller versions of the stars in the background so it would look like a night sky.     

Poster Design- Week Three

This week I began to develop two concepts and began thumbnails for my poster design. One of my concepts was creating a figure out of rubber bands and stretching the limbs in an exaggerated manner to portray the rubber bands elastic quality. The other concept was to make star out of rubber bands by manipulating the rubber bands. As a star is a special and celebratory symbol it would fit in well in celebrating an everyday object.  

Poster Design- Week Two

This week I began to experiment with the elastic band as a material. I made three dimensional structures and designs with the rubber bands. I discovered I could manipulate the elastic band into different shapes and designs. Seeing as I can manipulate the elastic bands into multiple shapes I may use this to create an image for my poster.  I also continued to develop visual concepts.

Poster Design- Week One

This week we began a new brief entitled “Celebration of Everyday Objects”. In this brief we were given an everyday object to celebrate my object being the elastic band. We were asked to look at the salient properties of the object and create a poster that celebrated those properties. I began this brief by researching the origins of the elastic band. It was invented in 1845 by Stephen Perry and it was originally used to hold documents or paper together. I then thought of the many different other uses of a rubber band as well as the physical properties of the band to begin developing the concept for my poster.

Typeography Week Three

 

This week I designed and made my final piece for the three dimensional alphabet. The concept is a stack of A4 paper in the shape of an “A” that is slowly being shredded. The shredding communicates the state of the nation at the present time. I also experimented more with materials as seen from the above images.  

Typeography Week Two

This week I continued my exploration of materials based around the word audit. I also began to explore creating fully three dimensional letter-forms. I think the visual image of shredded paper effectively portrays a lot of the problems we associate with the state of the nation today. As seen from the image below a solid, three dimensional “A” that is in the process of being shredded signifies the economic and social situation we are in presently. I will continue to develop this concept and create a finished piece from it.   

Typeography Week One

This week I started a new typography brief entitled “State of the Nation”. The premise of the brief is we are all give a letter of the alphabet and based on the letter we must come up with a word that reflects the state of the nation. The letter form must both portray the word as well as the words connection to the state of the nation. As seen from the images below the letter form I picked was “A”. I started my research with a mind map and I also went through a dictionary and picked out all the words starting with “A” that had associations with the state of the nation. The word I decided on was “Audit”. I then began looking at the structure of the letter-form “A” as well as typeface references. I then began to explore concepts and visual imagery associated with the word audit. I also gathered material associated with the word audit and began experimenting with those materials to make letter-forms.      

Ceramics Elective- Week 2

 

This week we learned a series of different firing techniques, raku, naked raku and electric firing. Before you fire a piece we had to dip it into glaze or paint the glaze on with a brush. The ceramics were then placed in the kiln and fired to the appropriate temperature so that the glaze fused with the ceramics. The ceramics are then taken out of the kiln still hot and placed in saw dust to cool, also any area left unglazed will be marked by the smoke. When the ceramics have cooled enough they are then placed in a bucket of water to cool further. The ceramics are now able to be handled and we were then able to clean the ceramics and add any finishing touches.     



Below is a selection of my finished pieces. You can see a sequential development in the form I have been using and you can also see my use of hybrid forms and textures.

Ceramics Elective-Week One

I started my ceramic pieces by choosing two objects to translate. I picked a piece of coral and a bundle of wool, two contrasting objects in both form and texture. I then began to translate the essential properties of the two objects through ink drawings. I also made 3d models made out of wire and paper to describe the properties of the objects.

 

I then used these explorations and applied them to my ceramic pieces. I used the winding, tangled nature of the wool as well as the texture of the coral to create hybrid forms. I made two solid structures that reflect different elements from my objects.   



Print Elective- Week Two

 

This week I looked at moving away from reproducing the road markings and to start to explore the idea of the urban environment in a more subtle way. I wanted to break up the square shape of the prints so I cut up my prints and rearranged them to create a new image. This new image still suggests the idea of the urban environment and still has urban elements within it but it is a more subtle approach to describing the urban environment. I also made prints where I added in extra markings and designs to move away from reproducing my photo reference and to start creating an original image. I also explored dry-point briefly where I looked creating the road markings through line.  

Print Elective- Week One

This week I began investigating my print brief-“Urban (us)” by exploring fundamental elements we associate with the urban environment. Road markings are a common feature of everyday life and are easily associated with our urban existence. I used photographic references to start my prints.

 



 



Bellow you can see a selection of mono-prints based off of my photographs. The first two I used  over lapping layers of ink to create a gritty, urban effect. The lower two I tried to create texture by using thick layers of ink to make the prints.     

 



Week Fourteen

This week I finished the sculpture I was working on. I was looking at how colour can be used as part of an illusion. I combined the sculptures I have been making up till now to create this piece. The colour helps to create the illusion of a unified form rather than individual sculptures. The viewer’s eye now follows the blocks of colour rather than the individual pieces.However as seen from the photos above the sculpture can also be divided up and work as individual pieces. I think it is a very interesting idea to have a sculpture that can be rearranged and added to or minimised rather than having an unchanging form. The viewer’s eye now follows the blocks of colour rather than the individual pieces. I also made some prints this week. They are simply based on what the boxes would look like flattened out. I used a combination of the primary colours and complimentary colours to create these prints. 

Glenys Barton

I have been researching the early work of Glenys Barton in relation to my project “To Sense My Space”. Barton's work is very geometric and has a strong emphasis on line and colour. She uses the basic geometric shapes and designs to create these very precise and mathematical sculptures. 

As can be seen from the photo above the designs are not arbitrary decoration but rather well thought out and carefully planned. We can see that when arranged in certain ways the designs join up to create new patterns. 

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The composition of this sculpture is very interesting. While the individual pieces are very precise and mathematical the artist has chosen to arrange the sculpture in a less structured fashion. This contrast between precision and disorder is very interesting.

Week Thirteen

I continued my investigation of colour. I finished glazing my ceramic pieces and I continued to develop my other sculptures in relation to colour also. I painted my ceramic pieces in a more precise and designed manner than my other ceramic pieces. In these ceramic pieces I am creating the illusion of space through colour. No longer are the boxes within the structure defined by material but rather they are now defined by colour. In my other sculptures I was again using colour to create the illusion of a box. I used various combinations of the primary colours and their complimentary colours to create the illusion. I also used colour to highlight negative space. In the sculptures that I had cut areas out I filled those negative space with blocks of colour.  

Video of Sculpture

This is a quick video I made to record one of my sculptures. In the video I move the camera to three different positions around the sculptures to document the piece. The video shows the connection between the viewer’s space and the sculptures space. Depending on the position the viewer is in determines how the shapes in the sculptures are seen.     

Week Twelve

 

This week I continued my exploration into colour. I glazed some of my ceramic pieces. I took a more painterly approach with these pieces blending the colours together rather than being precise. I used a colour palette of blues, purples and greens to give the sculptures a subtle visual appeal. This is in contrast with how I dealt with colour with my other sculptures. In the white boxes I used blocks of colour to define the space. The geometric shapes along with the primary and complimentary colours combine to make a more instantly striking visual impact. Above are also examples from my sketchbook where I was looking at designs and colours for the sculptures. Next week I will finish glazing my ceramics and I will also finish painting my other sculptures.  

Week Eleven

Last week I created more sculptures out of wood and painted them white. I cut out the basic geometric shapes and presented them so you can observe how the shape warps as you walk around it. This demonstrates how the space we occupy alters how we perceive an object. I also began investigating colour as seen from the extracts from my sketchbook. I have been looking at complimentary colours and the primary colours and how they interact with one another. I have also been looking at how colour interacts with the different geometric shapes. I also experimented with materials such as paper and cardboard and tried to manipulate them in unusual ways in order to create my sculptures. Next week I will develop my investigation into colour further and I will begin painting my wooden sculptures and glazing my ceramic pieces.   

Week Ten

 

This week I began looking at creating a visual narrative within my sculptures in order to have a more coherent and more developed concept. Above are extracts from my sketchpad showing some of the designs I was working on. I then built a series of sculptures based off my designs. The design is based on the silhouette of a box, the hexagon shape is slowly being removed from each sculpture. The design is focused around the central box as that has the full silhouette removed from the sculpture. I am looking at the space around an object, the contrast of positive and negative space, how we perceive space and the illusion of space.  Above is also a ceramics piece that I made that will be fired and coloured.

 



Week Nine

Last week I again took photographs of my cardboard sculptures, this time however I used a DSLR so the photographs are of a higher quality. I also began making sculptures out of wood. I have painted them white so that they are presented in a very clean and precise style. I also have to develop a visual narrative in the sculptures to give the work more depth. I have to design what will reside in the boxes and make sure that there is a level of continuity and narrative in the design. I have been looking at the basic forms and the theory behind form as context for my designs. I have also been looking at colour theory in relation to my sculptures. I will use my ceramic pieces to explore colour in the sculptures.   

Week Eight

 

 

Last week I began to layout my sculptures and record them by photographing it. The cardboard I am using is not visually strong enough so I am going to start creating the sculptures from stronger, more defined materials such as wood. Also the most effective sculptures were the series I attached to the wall so I will now begin to concentrate on developing my sculptures with this in mind. The reason they were effective was because I could more easily control how the viewer looked at the sculptures. I limited the area that the viewer could view the piece from and it is also a subconscious habit to look at a piece of art on a wall by facing directly towards it and not from either side. Next week I will take higher quality photographs of cardboard sculptures with and SLR and I will begin making more finer, precise sculptures in ceramics and wood.