Final Display!

Today I finished my final display and got all my prints mounted onto the wall. It took almost the whole to paint the wall, put in 240 nails, then paint the nails (I didn't like how much the stood out against the wall) then finally put the prints up with magnets. Originally I wanted as many prints up as possible but as I was putting them up as I found that 3 rows looked better than 4 it looked cleaner.
The was so many different dramas with putting the work up at first I wasn't allowed to use the ladders, then I wasn't allowed to use certain nails but it in the end I think it was all for the best because it meant that I refined the prints and picked the best ones to go on the wall. Also, the rows are just above eye level, at eye level, and just below eye level this means that people aren't having to look right up to see them, which I like they can take their time to look at them.

Last Week!

Scary to think this is our last full week at college! I've got most things done, just need to finish my sketchbook, tidy up my research folder then obviously put up my final piece but that'll be done next week. For the most part the past weeks haven't been as bad as I thought they would be, I've been on top of most things and I'm happy that I had my final prints finished in advanced because it's meant that this week I could get on with final touches, statements that needed to be typed up, rather than being stressed trying to finish everything. I feel that my time management skills have really stepped up through this brief, so I'm that'll be a skill I'll be able to take with me into other courses.

Layers

Something that I've been experimenting with is having different layers of paper, ink, paint and acetate on top of each other and whilst I think the outcome is quite good I think that the pieces can end up looking quite muddled, I want to have something that is more succinct.
At the minute I feel that I've been looking at all these different things that has meant that my work has gotten muddy, so I want to whittle down what I've got to work out what is going to be best for getting my point across.

Gender Ideas

From looking at Butler's I've discovered her idea that gender is just a performance that it is built up by through the repetition of specific behaviours: like lipstick for women and suits for men. I was looking into those ideas for myself, like how dying my hair is seen as very feminine but going to the cadets/military involvement is seen as being masculine. So I looked at those aspects of myself and created a small series of paintings. Looking at the different 'versions' of myself. I used blue and pink for my colour scheme because they are the recognised colours for male and female.

Primary Research

Over the past few weeks, I've collected a lot of research from essays on gender roles, artists who look identity, creating a survey and asking people opinions, and creating some visual pieces. Now I'm working on getting a balance between primary and secondary research so that I can make sure that my concept is fully explored.

Refining concepts

From carrying out some extensive research I've decided that I want to look into cyberspace as my non-place as it's a place that most of us spend our time (obviously true if you're reading this) but we can never really get there. There is no beginning and no end to the internet.
I'm also interested in surveillance and how we are watched a society. However, I'm worried that I'm trying to fit too much all into the one project. Something that I know I need to work on is self-editing.

As for the physical side to the project, I think that it is going well. I've created a series of paintings and collages which has helped me to decide how I want my final piece to look.

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:

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!

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 :)

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.

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.

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

Final Piece!