Berlin.

Another great experience this term was Berlin. We went for 4 nights and stayed in a hotel designed by artists where each room had some sort of strange theme. There was the gallery room and many other strange rooms as well as ours the upside down room. All of the furniture was on the ceiling and the beds were in the floor, I won't lie it was an extremely strange experience sleeping with a chair directly above me nailed to the ceiling.

We saw quite a few exhibitions whilst we were there including the Berlin Guggenheim exhibition and the Hamburger Bahnhof exhibition, which included the work of Richard Long and Andy Warhol. I found the whole trip very enjoyable, i didn't particularly enjoy the Guggenheim exhibition as it was just a very large installation by one artist.

I really enjoyed going to see the memorial, I didn't expect something of the scale that it was. I thought it would be quite small. However, the concrete blocks were completely overwhelming and there were so many of them that you just got lost in the middle. I thought it was a really interesting part if the city and although I understand the almost coffin sized, yet tall blocks, I don't quite understand the relation to the holocaust.

Exhibition.

All in all I felt the exhibition went really well. Lots of people came to the opening which was quite exciting as I had never been in that situation before as an artist. If I could do this term gain I would have exhibited somewhere else as well as at Liverpool Academy of Arts as I didn't realize how limited the space given would be. Also, as there was so many taking part we were unable to put the work up ourselves and therefore didn't get the chance to see the work up and alter it before the exhibition date. Although I probably would have liked to do this I felt that the work did look ok in the limited space I had.

This term has been a really good experience for me, it has given me an idea of how it feels to be working alone in the art world. I feel like now i have experienced it I will be more willing to do it alongside my course and perhaps do it as much as I can.

Up and done

Framing.

I now had the issue of how I would get these framed. The pieces are mostly awkward sizes that meant I couldn't buy ready made frames and had to order them individually for each piece. I decided to order them from Rennies and specified that I wasn't going to be using glass. I also specified that i wanted as much of the border of the piece on display as I feel that the edges of the ink and where it has sometimes bled or smudged adds to the work. Without the glass, the texture of the ink and the paper becomes obviously more important and I feel that with the glass this would be something that would perhaps be overlooked.

Layout.

Deciding how to lay this out is something that I know is compromised by the amount of space I actually have. I want to display at least 8 pieces some small and a couple large and ideally would space them out a lot however, I think I have about 2 meters to fit this all in as well as the description of my work.

So.... I've decided to display them sort of "huddled" together and experimented with ways of doing this on the studio floor until I settled on a particular layout.

just before exhibition.

so, i've developed this further. I found something I can really play with and enjoy. The theory of the work comes to me as I'm working through the use of textures and contrasts and simply a lot of experimentation. I decided as the work is about the unexpected textures and layers of ink that can be created I should try making bigger works.

So, with very little time before the exhibition I decided to make some slightly bigger pieces using a plain piece of lino. These worked well also so i picked two to display alongside some of the smaller pieces.

Now....

To buy frames.

First Prints.

Here are a select few of my first prints. At first, I was completely basing the prints on the images of light i had taken and trying to recreate similar effects through print. However, when I began I didnt know much about the media and I didnt know the extent to which I would enjoy it. I've been working with photography and video for so long now it feels so much more creative and liberating to be working with what feels like a much more creative practise. Also, it is unpredictable and I often gain effects and contrasts that are unexpected, however also successful.

I have now become much more confident with the media, i feel that the pieces now can also relate to other themes such as memory and recreation. Nothing ever comes out exactly as I plan it too, it is often not inked enough, or too much, or smudged. Therefore I can link this to how an artist plans to create a piece butr how the process in between can change this.

Gallery attempt 3.

So, we have finally found a space to show in. There was a large group at uni still looking for members to join to exhibit at Liverpool Aademy of Art. So we joined this group. The title for the exhibition is Relationships and we have just chosen the layout and design for the invitations (above) which we are going to hand out asap. I feel this title fits in very well with my work as it is about the relationship to an image we plan to create and what we do create throuh the process of print.

I went to see the space last week and was very impressed with it. It is absolutely huge and although bare at the moment perfect for a full and bustling exhibition.

Gallery attempt 2.

Next, we decided to look at the Liverpool Centre for Art Development on Brownlow Hill mainly because they were offering it for no money after the shock of the Curve gallery price. We were greeted by a couple of very friendly and cheery ladies who enthusiastically showed us around. However, it was not at all what we were looking for as it had no real empty wall space, there was a lot of plugs and fittings all over the walls and it was a bit of a strange layout so we decided against that one also.

Gallery attempt 1.

Our mission this term has been to find a setting for and set up our own exhibition. Sounded easy but no it hasn't been. At first 4 of us decided to group up, as we could bring all our work together under one title. Then we started looking for a gallery which would allow us to exhibit when we needed to and for a reasonable price.
At first we looked at curve allery, it looked great on the interenet and seemed to be perfect size etc. But then we asked about the price ......... £400.
http://www.curvegallery.co.uk/index.php?subj=1
It is a really nice space and we were being offered a proper opening night with food and drink but we are students so that was a no no.

Prints.

So, I have been working on prints recently, simply using lino and using the images below as a starting point. The process really interests me as it creates completely unpredictale pieces which can be manipulated and experimented with phsically during the process. I have cut into lino creating quite abstract pieces in preparation. At first, I was creating prints trying to make them look like the image completely, however as my experimentation has gone on I am less and less interested in the original image and more and more interested in basic brush strokes and movements and the actual proess. I want to show this chane of attitude in my piece as it is raw and open and creative in itself. It sort of took over my original idea. I have sort of become addicted to the ink and the strong contrasting images it creates. It just seems bolder yet simpler than any painting or drawing or photoraph to me personally. I think (at the moment) I would like to create a piece which sort of explains the proccess to an audience and shows how versatile it is. However, at the same time I would like to think about the relationship between the original image and what we plan to create, and how the process actually leads this and can completely manipulate it.

Movement in Photography.

As i was originally working from photographs, I would like to continue with this process. And from looking at the previous artists I would really like to return to thinking about movement which I have previously thought about in my work. The easiest way for me to think of successfully, however absractly showing movement through my photography is to use lights. Therefore I am going to continue my work basing it upon these images...

Brice Marden

Brice Marden's often monochrome pieces evoke ideas of movement and this leads me to think about how the work has been made. Movement in works and painting such as this really interest me. I would like to be able to evoke this sensation through my work. It seems free and flowing, impulsive and natural, all of which for me create works that draw in the viewer and create a somewhat mesmerizing reaction similar to the works of Jackson Pollock for example.

Franz Kline

I really like the strong contrasts in franz Kline's work and the harsh, bold lines and movements.

Anselm Kiefer

Kiefers work creates layers and textures so well, therefore his work is often an influence to me. I like how raw and rough his pieces are. The images in the pieces become less obvious due to the layers and scratching. This idea really interests me.

Dj Simpson

Dj simpsons work is made using 3D substances like glass and wood where he uses a router to draw into it, creating a layered image which draws in viewers. The lines feel random and impulsive, however I feel when put together with other similar pieces they seem to become very effective.

His pieces add a new dinamic to drawing and i want to think about this within my own work. Adding another dimension to an image.

End of Last Term.

When it came to assessments at the end of the last semester I had worked myself up to a new way of working, in 3D, and through this realized I had lost the direction that my work had originally had. Even though I was enjoying a new way of creating work the original qualities I wanted for my work had pretty muh disintegrated. The idea I originally had, personally imprinting on my one-off disposable camera imagery, became confused and lost in my head. I no longer felt my work had any purpose. So for this term I have began by taking a step back and looking at the work I did make, questionning whether it actually does say something that I wanted it to.
For these pieces I was printing an image taken with a disposable camera onto wood and then carving into it use different types of chisels. I was carving with and away from the image and I think this is where I became confused, I stopped thinking about where and what I was carving. I wanted the pieces to break down a material image to the eye- for peoples interpretations of an image to change. After, I began to think about why my work needed these 3D layers and researching artists that use similar techniques in their work.