Week eight

Video...

I must admit while I was able to think of ideas for the first two mediums in our folio I was super stumped about what to make for a video.  Then I saw the Jacob Swinney work.  I've watched more since but this is one that links easily through You Tube.

The split screen wasn't something I had ever seen or thought about before but it was so effective I hope I can use it in my video.

After seeing this clip I've been filming the weather, clouds and sunshine, wind and still trees.  Hoping to split the screen with this on one side to tell a story of whats happening on the other side.

week 7

Still on placement and not in class....  making this class tricky.

However, it's another week of photography so I took some more photos.

The bubbles are meant to show how he sees the world differently...

Week six

Away from uni for two weeks on placement so not in classes.

I took some photos though.  I"m thinking of changing my proposal from the Loss of the Aura to Self Portrait; Is this me?  I'm thinking about exploring the idea of being able to show my sons Autism in the pieces trying to address the questions is the Me about Ziggy his Autisim?  And is the most important Me thing about myself that I'm his Mother?  I took Zig to the beach to try and capture the weather and wind swirling about as a reflection of the swirling thoughts he has in his head were we have clear thoughts...

Ziggy is trying to touch his tag at the back of his neck here....it's a self soothing thing

He's uncomfortable with his bestie giving him a cuddle.  If it was anyone else this would be tears. 

Week Five

Week Five....

Photography!  I love taking photos so I'm excited to start this part of the course.  I'm going to challenge myself to take the camera off automatic and try learning and using some of the settings on there.

The examples of photographers and pictures shown in the lecture has made me start to rethink what I want to do with my folio.  Work by artists such as William Egglestone are far more interesting to me than the example images of mechanical items shown in the lecture.

I took photos of a bike in the courtyard and tried to chop the bike up into close up images that would make it difficult to tell what the photo is of.

But I'm thinking of changing my proposal....

Week Four

To create something where there wasn't something before.  Is it still art if you didn't create it with canvas and paint?

A Line Made by Walking from Richardlong.org

Is the line in the grass the art work or is the photograph of the line the art?  The artist has this piece cataloged as a sculpture in his bibliography but without the photograph it would no longer exist.... an interesting concept to reconcile with Walter Benjamin's Loss of the Aura essay.  

This week felt like a much easier way to use Illustrator, no more anchor points...something can do this for me?!!  I think I need to practise more with the pen though.   I clearly don't like it because I'm not confident with it and the three week break between classes makes it a distant memory.

The way forward is through practise.  I wouldn't expect to improve at anything if I only spent 2 hours a week on it.  The goal for this week is to download the software and spend some time each day on it.  A tiny bit each day will help.

Folio Proposal

I plan to address the idea of The Loss of the Aura in my artwork.   The changes in the way artwork is made and appreciated have changed greatly since Walter Benjamin wrote this piece in 1936 and I’m very interested in exploring this. Benjamin related the advances in technology and the impact on how art was being made and valued under these new conditions back to the Marx theories on the changing modes of production with the industrial revolution.  This interests me as it seems to directly relate to how we will be producing the pieces for the folio using more modern equipment than Benjamin could have ever imagined.  The pieces I make for my folio will be ones can can be reproduced over and over.  Does that make them less valid as works of art? 

I am undertaking an Education degree rather than an Arts degree and my other major is history so the topic appealed to my love of history and to approach this in an intellectual way.  'Around 1900 technical reproduction had reached a standard that not only permitted it to reproduce all transmitted works of art and thus cause the most profound change in their impact upon the public.' (Benjamin 1936)  Does this change in the technologies to allow reproduction devalue the artworks.  Is the experience of seeing the Mona Lisa in person diluted by buying a postcard copy to take home with you?

ARTWORK

I would like to create pop art for my digital piece, perhaps something similar to Ian Bilbeys 60 as discussed below and explore the notion of the every day being elevated to art.  For the photograph I want to look at the idea of repeating an image as draining the original image of its meaning.  I've referenced Andy Warhol below in my influences with regard to this.  For the video section of the folio I am less sure of my direction.  An initial idea is to take a famous painting and print out many many copies of it and then turn in into something unrecognisable such as a paper vase like this one and make a video of the process.

Paper Quill vase from Pintrest 

INFLENCE

I have found many digital artists that I am inspired by.  Ian Bilbey has a quirky retro style that appeals to me, his work '60' speaks to the Andy Warhol Campbells soup series.  The idea that the every day mundane object can be elevated into artwork 

Taken from http://www.ianbilbey.com/long060.html

Frida Kahlo is inspirational in her use of colour in her work and I plan to make my pieces colourful  

 The Frame courtesy of www.FridaKahlo.org 

The Frame

1938

Oil on aluminium and glass
11 1/8" x 8" 

Andy Warhol has many works which challenge the Loss of the Aura.  The sixteen Jackies is printed in a way that some of the subject matter is lost with each picture

Sixteen Jackies by Andy Warhol from http://www.artsconnected.org

Andy Warhol 1963

acrylic, enamel on canvas

Size:

unframed 80.375 x 64.375 x inches

References

Benjamin, W, Surname, revised 2005, Schoken/Random House, viewed 30/3/16, https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

Bilbey, I. n.d. viewed 30/3/16, http://www.ianbilbey.com/home.html

Week 3

A breakthrough!  Both in inspiration and ability.

I visited the Andy Warhol Ai Weiwei exhibition this week at the NGV.  I've been a fan of Andy Warhol for many years and can see how some of his work could be created digitally if he was still alive and creating today.

One of my favourite pictures in the exhibition is one of Elizabeth Taylor.

Liz Taylor by Andy Warhol at NGV.  My own photo.

The works were silk screened onto fabric and up close you can see the weave of the textile but the image loses none of it's appeal when you view it on a computer screen and you can no longer see that detail.  The pictures appeal under two of the topics that most interest me for my own work, The Loss of the Aura and Is this Me?  While these aren't self portraits the idea of doing a self portrait in this style is appealing.  

I found inspiration inside the classroom too.  After struggling through the exercises the first week using photoshop it clicked for me this week and I could trace the picture....success!

Week two...

Such an overwhelming week!  Lurching from inspiration and excitement to frustration at my technical abilities.

I was excited to see some of the images in class.  I have a brooch that I really identify with as a sort of self portrait.  It's by Jubly Umph and she hand draws them all here in Melbourne before they are turned into brooches and necklaces.

Woolmia brooch by Jubly Umph

I have collection of her pieces but this one really speaks to me
as a part of who I am.  She's blonde with a giant ball of wool
in her hair. I love to create things with wool, I'm part of a Yarn Bombing group and have installed things all over Melbourne... sometimes it's sponsored and official and sometimes it's done quietly when no one is looking.   Anyway, it's one of the creative things I like to do as is making giant things to go in my hair so little Woolmia here.

Two of my most recent projects...

Sneaky yarn bomb

Leather and tulle
watermelon in my hair

So when I saw the examples in class of art created with Illustrator I was super excited.  I would make a Stanley Chow inspired version of myself with a bow on my head...  Easy right?  Maybe like his Debbie Harry?

Debbie Harry by Stanley Chow

But after struggling for two hours to trace curved lines I may need to rethink.  We will see, perhaps week three leads to a breakthrough...

Week one....

My experience in art.....
I don't consider myself experiences in traditional art forms but there is art in many of the things I enjoy doing.  I create art with textiles, I certainly see myself more of a crafter than an artist.  I enjoy using them in ways that are unexpected.  Instead of weaving into a frame I've taken wool and woven it into a squash racket I've found inspired by dream catchers.  Or I might cut up some old sheets and turn them into a brooch to wear.  My yarn bombing could be seen as a form of installation art.


What digital art means to me....
I think this medium is exciting, I think it gives opportunity to create art works outside of what could be achieved with traditional materials.  Having a digital camera in your pocket everyday as part of your phone means there is constant opportunity to create art, anything can become digital art.  Physical art you have created can be manipulated by the digital process into a new project.


What I hope to get from this course....
I'm an education student rather than a budding artist.   I come to the course excited about possibilities and outcomes.  I hope to gain technical skills to create things that are interesting to me and to others.  I value aesthetically pleasing things myself and feel excited about making my own while learning new techniques.


Early thoughts on my choice of topic....
If I am unhampered by having a low base of technical skills I would like to consider the topics "Is This Me?"  As a mature age student turning my life upside down to study while being a mother was a decision  I came to after I realised the life I was living wasn't what I wanted for myself.  So the last few years have been focused on that question.  As a parent it's easy to question if you are still yourself. Am I more than what I am to the children who depend on me?
If it turns out that isn't possible I will look to abstract projects!
My own 'art' lends itself to the topic of Lost and Found so I'm excited to go away and think of