Branding!

I've been working on my branding and how I want myself and my work to be seen, so I've created a number of online/social media outlets for that are just for artwork and professional workings. I've chosen to use purple as my colour for everything as it matches my hair, which is the main thing that people remember about me. Something that I was thinking that if I ever change my hair colours I'll re-design everything to match it just seems like something fun that people will remember.

Links:
Instagram: @zoe_green_art
Website: http://zoegreenart.weebly.com/

Watchable

One idea that I've been working on today is the idea that we're constantly watched in non-place. With camera, CCTV, geo-tracking on our phones, credit card records. So I'm thinking that I want to create something with that idea. 

These pieces were based off of the Big Brother logo, and I wanted to keep them quite abstract and geometric to match the typically non-place style.

From it I've came up with these little creatures which I think look quite eerie and go with the idea of being watched. 

Reading up

From reading Augé's work on non-places it's interesting to see that most of his ideas are based on physical places, places that people end up on don't have the intention of going to e.g. using a corridor to get somewhere is a non-place you don't want to be in the corridor be you use to get to somewhere else. Non-places are transit ideas. This works with the idea that I have of the Internet because you can't actually go to the Internet but is can take you places: website, geo-tagging, Google Earth that kinda of idea is what I want to look into more.

Non- Places

Today we got our second brief which is about non- places:

"“...the word ‘non-place’ designates two complementary but distinct realities: spaces formed in relation to certain ends (transport, transit, commerce, leisure), and the relations that individuals have with these spaces.” (Augé 1995:94)

In 1995, French Anthropologist, Marc Augé, introduced the term ‘non-place’ in the seminal book ‘Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity’. Augé coined the term "non-place" to describe spaces which are more abstract in character than ‘places’. ‘Non-places’ are spaces which people travel through.

“Since non-places are there to be passed through, they are measured in units of time.” (ibid. 104).

“The distinction between places and non-places derives from the opposition between place and space.” (Augé 1995:79)

You are asked to investigate the concept of ‘non-place’ from both a personal and a social perspective. What does ‘non-place’ mean to you? What real sites can you identify that have the qualities and characteristics of a ‘non-place’? How do people interact with ‘non-place’? What atmosphere, mood, and/or sensation does it convey or communicate? How can the Artist or Designer enhance, alter, impact particular ‘non-places’ and what might it contribute to their users’ experience?"

This is what the brief stated what a non-place is: however I feel that there can be more conceptual answers as to what a non-place, I don't think it needs to be a physical place but I'll have to do more research to confirm this.

Pencil Drawings

These are the pencil drawings that I did for my final piece. I drew 5 different ways of holding a pencil, behind your ear, between your teeth. Then cut them up to create my final piece which was to look like a pack of pencils.

The different colours were linked to different emotions: green = calm, red = angry, blue = worried. For this idea I went with traditional western ideas of colours. 

Then I cut all the drawings up in thin sections and displayed them in a way that they looked like a packet of pencils. 

Hit the ground running

So straight off the bat we've got a quick brief "pencils" to look at the essence of a pencil and what it means to us. To be honest I'm not thrilled with it because I feel like it's hard to fit the themes that I want to look at around the theme of pencils but it could be interesting.
For PDP we're looking at our futures and where we won't want to go after we finished this course, which is something that I've been struggling with since I left school. Hopefully however I'll find something that interests me and not spend the rest of my life living in my Mum's loft.
In contextual studies we are starting to think about or essay topic right away as well I think I know where I want to take my written work, but I'm not sure I want to continue with what I looked at last year or branch off slightly so it'll link with my studio work.
So at the end of the first week I've been left with a lot of questions, that hopefully I'll get answers for quickly!

Pencils, Pencils, Pencils!

To start back the year we have a quick 2 week brief about pencils, what is the essence of a pencil what do they represent or mean to us. Whilst I'm looking forward to starting something new I'm worried about the time constraints of this brief and I don't know what I'm going to create at this point. Although I'm hoping that this project will push me into bettering my time management skills.

Progress video!

A short time-lapse video showing my progress through out this project.

Protest Layout

Since it's looking like we'll be able to put up our protest stuff even if it's just for a little while I've been coming up with some exhibition display ideas:

Exhibition Ideas

After looking into the exhibition spaces in the studios, I have been thinking more in depth about my presentation of my final piece. A though we won't be able to display our work in the college I will be having everything set up in  different location (my home as I feel it fits the theme) and having some photographs of set up to go with my portfolio. I plan on having the 3 A4 portraits within black frames (I feel that black would make them stand out more). The portraits will hang above the chair. I want everything to be straight and parallel to each other as to tie in with the geometric nature of the art work and it'll look best that way. Here is a digital drawing that I did of my plan:

PDP Hand in

Today is our final hand in for PDP, I'm pretty happy with my folder I think everything is in order.

Finalising ideas!

Some quick sketches help make the final decisions on my protest piece. 

Working on my chair!

This turned out to be a fair bit more difficult than I expect but it's getting there.

I feel like the colours have turned out really bright which I'm happy about but the biggest problem that some of the pieces of would weren't holding with just glue, so then I changed to nails but then that wasn't working so I switched to screws so hopefully it'll work out this time!

Experimentations!

These are pics from my experiments of painting of different fabrics, acrylics worked the best because they easier went on top of the fabric and came out nice and bright.The only thing is that they can bleed through the back

Final Presentation

That's the final presentation done and dusted! I think it went quick well I managed to slow it down at the beginning so that it sounded less rushed. I feel the key to giving a pecha kucha is to pin point out the vital information and make sure you say that, so anything else is just an add on or gives extra information or context.

Benefits :D

Benefits of doing an art course your pals will draw pictures of you!

Collages

I've been working on different collages but using Photoshop rather than cutting up the images and I really like they way that they look.

These are the sketchbook pages depicting this colleges. 

Using apps

I found this app called Visulator where you can create lots of different geometric patterns. I really liked the way they look and it's easy to use and I could use them for backgrounds. They work quite well with the work that I've been making and tie in well with my drawings but I'm not sure if I like the contrast between the digital media and the hand drawn elements.

I like that I can change the colours and patterns. These ones were created using the Triangular option which I like best.

There is another option called Gradulate but I don't like this one as much as it's quite hard to control and I don't think that it has as good an effect. 

Sketchbook pages

Here are some pages to show my progress :)

Who, What, Where Concept

For this project I'm keeping it personal (which seems to be a formula that kinda works for me) so I've been looking at the influencing men of my life: my Grandad, Dad and brother. At first I was looking at creating 3 chairs that represent them, as within our house they have all had/have chairs that were theirs, a static place that they always seemed to be. Where- as I'm more restless and don't have one spot in the house. However from working on it and researching I've decided that I'm making my own chair. Taking my place, although not just in the house, the chair for me can fold away, portable, implying that I cam be restless, move or even leave.
However I'm going to have 3 portraits of them hanging above the chair (when it is set up as an installation) that will have red string tying them to the chairs, to symbolise family ties, that family shouldn't hold you back.

Protest Concept

Protest I've been looking at the debate for the "Designer Baby": where is it OK to experiment on fetus' and if it is morally right to create a baby whose genes have been thought out, planned and chosen by someone else. From looking at all the research I can't really decide on what I believe, there are arguments for both sides so I'm not going to create a piece that argues for or against just something that makes people think about the topic and hopefully starts a discussion.
I want to create something that in a sense is like "build a baby" with different limbs, eye colour, skin colour options (this sounds more morbid that I want it to), and have it displayed in a way that the audience can literally build their own 'perfect' baby.

Protest Progress

I've made a fair bit of progress with my Protest work that only thing is that I can't decide how I want to make the final piece, whether to leave it solely paper based or laminate the separate pieces so that they are more stable. The brief did say that the piece had to be paper based so I'm not sure if I'll get away with laminating them.

To Vlog or not to Vlog

Originally I was going to vlog most of my progress through out this project as I enjoyed the video classes that we had last term. However it's something that keeps slipping my mind and I tend to only film after an event rather than during so I think I'm just going to make an accumulative video towards the end to sum up what I've done and how I did it. I might have a separate one for my final piece and concept so that it doesn't end up too long. 
I do like documenting my work in this way I think it's an effective way of getting my point across but I do feel kinda awkward when I'm filming, especially when it's in front of different people. So, I think I'm going to continue with it as it will help to build up my confidence and maybe I'll actually be able to create videos as a part of my work or even a final piece once I have more confidence and I've built up my skills.

Prezi

For PDP we've been looking into different ways of presenting our work and alternative ideas for the statement for assessment. Prezi was one of them: it's an interactive presentation that moves and jumps, you can easily add images, videos and text. I like the way that it works and think it would be a good replacement for the written statement for assessment as it's more visual and would hold someone attention. Something that I think it would be good for would be as an explanation at an exhibition rather than a blurb. It's interesting and dynamic but it could disteract from the actual piece it's self so it would need to be balanced with the piece as not to over power it.
In any case here is the link to mine (back on the multiples brief):
Prezi - Multiples

Posters instead of Statements

Recently we've been working on creating new ways of presenting our statements for assessment rather than just text based. I like the idea of having a more visual method of explaining myself but I'm unsure that I'll be able to get my point across as easily.
The first thing that we worked on was a poster, which I feel could be a good way of grasping someones attention and having a QRcode (mines links to my blog) on it means that people have a way of accessing more information about the project.  

Portraits

I've been looking into some different ways of making portraits, different styles, colours and medias. I can't decide if I want to include a self portrait or leave it to just my Brother, Dad and Grandad.

Feeling professional!

Today I found out that a project idea worked on in the summer last year (the Huntington's children's book) has been nominated for the Creative Showcase! This is giving the project a chance to be widely recognised, and they even named me specifically!
This is what they had to say about it:

"Brand: Scottish Huntington’s Association 

Title(s): HD Routes

Agency: Pocapoc
Agency website: http://www.pocapoc.co.uk
Creative Director: Sacha Mason
Graphic Illustrator: Zoe Green
Published: February 2015
Short Rationale: Scottish Huntington's Association (SHA) has created its new youth resource, designed by Pocapoc.

Unveiled last month, the project comprises an innovative resource to support young people affected by the degenerative brain disorder, Huntington's disease (HD) and increase awareness of the condition. The resource, which includes an offline resource and online flipbook, was developed by Scottish Huntington's Association Youth Project (SHAYP) and designed and produced by Pocapoc.

Entitled 'HD Routes', the resource aims to improve the lives of young people who live in families affected by HD. The new learning pack has been developed over the last 12 months by the team in close collaboration with the young people they support and has been funded by the Young Start Fund.

HD Routes uses games and fun activities to help young people learn more about HD and the challenges that living in an HD family will bring as they grow up.  Although designed specifically for young people, it will also be a great resource for professionals and other adults looking for accurate information written in simple, easy to absorb language.

The new resource was launched by Acting Children and Young People's Minister, Fiona McLeod MSP and has been commended by the Children's Commissioner as an exemplar piece. Young people were involved at every stage in the design process and the resulting resource is a UK first as no other organisation has developed such specialised information about the condition specifically for young people."

Here's the link if you want to vote for it ;) (p.s. it's quite near the bottom of the page!)

Creative Showcase

Presentation Panic

Today we had to give our second draft of our presentation and I dunno why but I wasn't to anxious about it until bout 10 minutes before, which is better than the last time where I was panicky the whole day. Thankfully we were allowed to use our 4hr lecture to work on the presentation, which helped as I re-wrote what I was going to say (although that meant that I didn't get that much project work done).
The actual presentation went fairly ok and I don't think I was talking too fast, however I didn't use flashcards this time I read most of what I'm that I sounded quite mono-toned.

LONDON!

6 of us went to London for 3 days and it was such a good few days. I'd never been to London before so I was quite nervous about going down but it turned out that it wasn't to scary, although I could live without the tube.
We decided that it would be easier to stay the night in Edinburgh rather than travel and it was nice but I didn't really getting woken up by our noisy neighbours 4.30am but that's the joy of hostels. Then we headed off on the train. Which was 4 hours, I didn't think it would be that bad but it was quite boring and cold. Once we arrived though it was ok.

Protest Project

Today we given a new brief for one of our classes, I think we were all surprised as we didn't think we would be getting another brief but it seems like a really fascinating project and something that we can really get our teeth into.
We started off by splitting into groups and discussing things that we thought would be interesting topics, war, politics, waste, its was a good jumping off point. We created several mind maps which started a lot of discussion and everyone seemed to go off in different directions but now I feel like I have too many ideas, so I think I'm going to make a mini mind map to help narrow down what it is I want to look at.
There topics that are jumping out at me the most are medical ethics or war, but they're both really big topics so I need to find an aspect of one of them.

Who, What, Where

I've decided that I'm definitely sticking with keeping my project personal, I feel that out of the work that I've produced the things I've kept personal are the best. Although I'm not sure what it is exactly that I want to look at, as previous I've tried to take on too many different things and I don't want that to be the case with this project. I think I'm going to look into my family life and how they've influenced me

New Brief!

Today we got the new brief, I'm not too sure how I feel about it, it seems pretty vague. Although I think it'll be really easy to put a personal slant on it, which is good because now I feel like I want to keep a lot of my work personal. 

You are asked to produce a creative response to the theme:

‘Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?’

After the last I want to make sure that I don't try to tackle too many things, as I feel that my original message got lost, so I want to make sure that I pinpoint what I'm doing much earlier on in this brief. So far I have a few different ideas but I think that I'm going to explore the idea of the influences in my life, specifically the male ones either that or looking into the ideas or gender roles. 

Final Piece!

Statement For Assessment

Critical evaluation of creative work produced during this module. 

For this project I really struggled at the beginning on how I was going to tackle the theme. I felt very overwhelmed and that I had too many different ideas in my head of what I wanted to do. However it has helped me to develop my way of thinking allowed me to look at different techniques and try out other medias rather than just sticking with what I normally do. This gave me the opportunity to learn and grow as an artist.

So once I had decided what I was going to look into, tourism and people’s views of the city, I felt more comfortable and more willing to try new things. From my research I discovered that I want to look at what I thought of the city and how I felt about, practically focusing on an aspect of my childhood. As Edinburgh wasn’t a place I visited as a child I wanted to keep that childlike curiosity within my work. This is when I began looking into postcards as a way of expressing my ideas, postcards were something I seem to receive more of when I was a child, so I began looking to traditional postcards and mail art which lead me to the decision that I was going to take pictures of myself in the city but with a toy of an object to represent the childish nature of what I was doing. I started looking into traveling gnomes, but in the end settled for a small Paddington bear that I owned.

Something I decided to do as a way of keeping a record of what I did and creating something different that I’d never tried was I documenting to process and made a video. This was fairly stressful as my video editing skills were new and not the best but it was enjoyable experimenting with and I like the idea that I would’ve been able to show different people what I was doing rather than just telling them. I like having other people interact with my work, which is way I later decided that once the postcards had been sent out I would ask people to “add” to them by painting over the image, drawing, writing anything they felt was needed. That way the postcards had more of a reason for being sent out and I was going to get a response from them, something your rarely get with a postcard.

There was a few bumps in the road with this project, my nerves, lack of experience but overall I’m happy with what I’ve produced because it’s not my usual and it’s helped me decided what kind of an artist I want to be.

This is the finished video of my Multiplies brief!