Tate Modern Review ‘Energy and Process’ WEEK 4 DAY 2

The Modern Tate, having a variety of different themed exhibition rooms, is highly visited today. ‘Energy and Process’ by curators Mark Godfrey and Helen Sainsbury is a room which focuses on sculpture and architecture through nature. This room partakes in the reconstruction of nature through Penone’s 12 meter sculpted trees and the recreation of Lynda Benglis’s ‘Quartered Meteor’.

Fig 1 : Tree of 12 metres (1980-2) Guiseppe Penone

Fig 2 : Quartered Meteor  (1969) Lynda Benglis

This exhibition contained work by different artists whose work involves the theme of nature.
The layout of each piece contrasts with the modernity of the Tate since all of these objects have something to do with nature and are placed in a completely white room. Each piece is laid out spaciously, which is good because the audience can view each piece individually. However I did find it quite confusing trying to link the name of each piece with the actual artwork as the signs weren’t placed clearly.  The exhibition was extremely interesting, and while walking around this room I never knew what to expect next.

Fig 3: The Ren-Shiki- Tai (1973) Kishio Suga

Fig  4:  Terracotta Circle (1969) Gilberto Zorlo


I found this room layout extremely eye-catching and it physically made me feel small because the artwork was on a large three-dimensional scale. Psychologically I felt that this work brought me back in time because of the use of basic materials such as rocks, trees, wood and string; it was as if the room brought me back to a prehistoric time or into a forest. This exhibition being placed in London and especially in the Modern Tate creates a real contrast for the spectator. I left with the message that nature can be reconstructed to both look like and feel like a natural object. 

Fig 5 :  Godret Stone (1958) Seung-Taek Lee

Fig 6: Untitled (1967) Robert Morris

Bibliography :

-  Tree of 12 metres (1980-2) Guiseppe Penone

- Quartered Meteor  (1969) Lynda Benglis
- The Ren-Shiki- Tai (1973) Kishio Suga

 -Terracotta Circle (1969) Gilberto Zorlo

-  Godret Stone (1958) Seung-Taek Lee

- Untitled (1967) Robert Morris 

IT WEEK 4 DAY 1

I started off week four with IT class. The day consisted in teaching us to use three different programs : Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. I had never used Illustrator or InDesign before. Our task for the day was to create an A3 poster focusing on a past memory. I chose the memory of Paris when I used to live there. In our poster we had to create a logo with Illustrator, the background using photoshop and finally a paragraph of about 150-200 words evoking our past memory using InDesign.


Photographs showing different experimental Logos created using Illustrator :

Fig 1: Logos created using Illustrator. ( 2013) Authors own.

Fig 2:  Logos created using Illustrator. (2013) Authors Own.

Once we understood the basics of Illustrator, we moved onto using Photoshop:

Fig 3:  Eiffel Tower ( http://www.eiffel-tower.us/) 

Fig 4 : Metro Sign (http://www.terragalleria.com/)
Arc de Triomphe (http://www.andersonpla.net/) (2008) Jason Anderson

I turned the files into PDF format and transcribed them to InDesign where I put the poster together.

Fig 5 : Final Poster shown on InDesign.
Background : (http://static.dezeen.com/)

I was quite surprised to find that by the end of the day I had figured out the basics of these programs and started to experiment new things. I am quite happy with how my poster turned out and I enjoyed learning how to use the software.

Fashion and Textiles WEEK 3 DAY 3

We spent the morning creating our pieces. I decided to create a design which I had sketched out the day before which was warrior-themed. I used the paper flowers I had made on the first day as an addition to my warrior outfit. The flowers symbolise peace. The armour is made out of cardboard, tin foil and wrapping paper. The Japanese paper was added for the true Ninja warrior look.

Fig 1 : Warrior Piece (2013) Authors Own 

Fig 2 : Warrior Piece (2013) Authors Own

In the afternoon we had to photograph and model the pieces we had created. I had a lot of fun doing this and I enjoyed taking the pictures.

 

I really enjoyed this first time experience in studying fashion. I learnt that hours of planning are essential to create a garment.  

Fashion and Textiles WEEK 3 DAY 2

For the second day we were instructed to bring five magazine images of partially dressed / nude persons in order to clothe them using the structural designs we'd created the day before.

I paid attention to the personality and the posture of the person in each image.
Here are my experimental designs :

Fig 1 :  Untitled (2013) Authors Own

Fig 2: Untitled (2013) Authors Own

Fig 3: Untitled (2013) Authors Own

Fig 4: Untitled (2013) Authors Own 

Fig 5 : untitled (2013) Authors Own 

We then had to design accessories for a chosen body part. I chose a head and why not that of a child ?

 

Fig 6 : Child Accessories (2013) Authors Own 

Fig 7 : Child Accessories (2013) Authors Own

Fig 8 : Child Accessories (2013) Authors Own 

By the end of the day we had to start thinking and sketching out designs for what we were going to create the next day. 

Fashion and Textiles WEEK 3 DAY 1

This week was the first time I have ever done any fashion design before and so I was extremely curious to see how my work would turn out.

We started off the week by experimenting with different paper structures. We had to make five different paper structure samples. I found that paper can be quite difficult to manipulate as it is fragile and rips easily, however, many interesting forms can be created.

These are my five structure samples : 

Fig 1 : Samples 1 & 2  (2013) Authors Own 

Fig 2: Samples 2 & 3 (2013) Authors Own 

Fig 3 : Sample 4 (2013) Authors Own

Fig 4 : Sample 5 (2013) Authors Own

We then had to choose a structure we wanted to work with and make various larger versions. I chose my last structure which were the flowers.

The paper I had to work with was quite thin to create larger forms so I added an insert made of out  paper from a Japanese novel. Although not understanding what these Japanese words say, I believe it adds both decoration and structural rigidity to the flowers.

Fig 5 : Paper Flowers (2013) Authors Own 

Fig 6 : Paper Flowers (2013) Authors Own 

Here are the flowers poised on a mannequin :

Fig 7: Flower Shoulder Piece (2013) Authors Own 

Fig 8 : Flower Shoulder Piece (2013) 

Lens Based Media Exploratory WEEK 2 PART 2

During the second part of the week we had to think of a story and construct a storyboard using only six frames. There had to be a beginning, a middle and an end to the story.

We individually had to draw strange characters we had met in our lives and as a group intermingle our characters to form a story.

These are the ideas of my group :

Fig 1 : Group Brainstorm (2013) Authors Own

We were then assigned an individual project to finalise our own storyboard.


A sketch of my first storyboard and character design :

 Fig 2 :  Draft of Storyboard (2013) Authors Own

Fig 3 : Character Design (2013) Authors Own



My initial story was about a woman who gets sucked through her mirror and the only way for her to return
home is to retrieve a key. She ends up in a parallel universe where London is being attacked by a giant octopus.

Fig 4 : First Draf of my Storyboard ' Octopus attacks '(2013) Authors Own

 I realised that in my first storyboard the main character only had one struggle to overcome; which was to retrieve her key. My initial story needed more substance in the middle part.



This is the final edit of my storyboard :

Fig 5 : The final version of my Storyboard (2013) Authors Own

I added objects from the woman's handbag into the story to increase her struggle to retrieve the key. This time the woman is sucked into her handbag to the parallel universe and discovers what truly lies in her handbag. A paintbrush, a spider, some lipstick and a phone all add to the octopus woes.

Lens Based Media Exploratory WEEK 2 PART 1

This week we were introduced to the Lens Based Media pathway. We began the week of photography by researching and exploring the meaning of an image and how it is created. The series of images studied were by John Hillard, entitled 'Cause of Death' c1970 :

Fig 1 : Cause of Death (1970) John Hillard 

We created our own photos which represented the following words :
CRUSH / FALL / JUMP / ECHO / SAD / HAPPY.

I learnt that composition is essential to giving meaning to an image:

 Fig 2 : CRUSH (2013) Authors Own

 Fig 3 : FALL (2013) Authors Own 

 Fig 4 : JUMP (2013) Authors Own

 Fig 5: ECHO (2013) Authors Own

         Fig 6 : SAD (2013) Authors Own

 Fig 7 : HAPPY ( 2013) Authors Own

Timelines

A timeline depicting my feelings at the beginning of my first week, where I felt lost compared to the end of the week :

Fig 1 : Timeline Of Week 1 (2013) Authors Own

Saatchi Gallery Visit PART 2

I can say that the Saatchi Gallery is one of my all time favourite galleries. I went to see the 'Paper' exhibition and I absolutely adored it. The exhibition was spread over fourteen rooms/spaces and you never knew what to expect to see in the next following room. 'Paper' was extremely varied, consisting of still life drawings, collages, photography, sculptures, installation, and paintings. Every single piece was unique and full of meaning. I highly recommend it to people who like to discover and see new things and ideas.

The Layout of the Saatchi Gallery is minimal, the rooms are large and each artist's art is regrouped on one side of the room.

I was very interested in Jason Brinkerhoff's nude still life drawings since I took a class which lasted a year doing the same thing. I love the way he mixes the colours together to create geometric shapes while his drawings still look like the human figure. His work is ''constrained by a single form- the female''. 

Fig 1 : Untitled (2011) Jason Brinkerhoff

Fig 2:  Untitled (2011) Jason Brinkerhoff

There were also two installations which I found eye catching, Marcelo Jacome's 'Planos-Pipas' 2013 and Richard Wilson's beautiful oil installation '20: 50' . I have never seen installations as big as these ones. I loved the idea of an optical illusion made out of oil. The illusion looked so real and was mesmerising. All the viewers would stay looking at it for a considerable time.

Fig 3 : Planos-Pipas (2013) Marcelo Jacome

Fig 4 :  20:50 ( 1991 ) Richard Wilson

Fig 5 : 20:50 (1991) Richard Wilson

The work of Yuken Teruya astounded me. Yuken recycles paper bags and transforms them into small trees. We can see that the leaves and branches are cut with exceptional care. I've recently discovered that he also makes sculptures out of toilet paper rolls. 

 

Fig 6 : Trees in Paper Bag ( ) Yuken Teruya  

Fig 7 : Trees in Paper Bag ( ) Yuken Teruya 

I highly recommend the Saatchi Gallery. It's varied artwork make it an entertaining experience, and provide inspiration to create Art in as many varied ways as possible.