Context Sheet

Context sheet (Josie Cawdry)

Here is the finished context board i have been working on.

It shows all my ideas, sources, materials and inspiration.

I wanted to create a really tactile board, which if shown to a client would portray my ideas as well as possible.  I have included the finished visualisation for the new build, showing my idea to create a glass panel that would be housed in the to lanterns at the top of the building.

I have shown a example of how i would like to create the finished panel, including one of my own glass prints and a small sample of my own plastic wallet prints.

I hope that this board shows you exactly what i would like to achieve if i were to win the 'commission' as it were.

Visualization (Josie Cawdry)

For my final visualization for the new build i am proposing a stained glass style window for the 2 lanterns at the top of the building. Using thin glass with the image printed on in coloured ink i hope to create the illusion of movement and scope around the new build.

Strong image (Josie cawdry)

This is my final strong image, created using paper rolls, edited on Photoshop on and then made into a pattern.
I think the way in which this relates to my project has worked really well. As you will have read in an early post i did about these rolls they were created using important images i have worked with throughout the project.

What does the image make you think of? Does it hold any significance to you. I hope that by injecting an element of colour into the new build the spaces will feel more user friendly and less like a dark, empty space that feels lifeless.

My proposal...

Below is my visualisation that has been put forward for my proposal. This visualisation was done using my very basic skills on photoshop, I am pleased with the outcome and how the perception turned out.My final proposal is a room that has a singular running line of my spotlights which are made out of wood and acetate that have foiled patterns on them that have been influenced by wear and tear images from the old building. The flooring that connections this altogether is a foiled glass foiling that will start off with the glass being fully foiled to it being worn down by the students in the new building, students essentially become the designers. Some of the foiled pattern will still be there after it has been worn down, just to keep the element of pattern and the connection with the foiled spotlights.
What I like most about my proposal has got to be the glass flooring, it is stunning and one of the most professional things I have thought up. The idea of worned floors was inspired by the Tiesta floor in Think Tank and also a photograph I took in Hotspur of a very worned down floor. Glass was the perfect solution to not ever having the floor wear down but the material on top could be worn away, this way the floor will always be intact.
What I dislike the most is the patterns I chose from the old building to use in the new. They don't really stand out as much as I had hoped but they do make a connection with the foiled flooring.
This idea would definately work as a studio for people to work, especially in the winter when it gets darker earlier as the spotlights would make that area more comfortable and more approackable and useable to students. I would definately use a space like this.

Strong Image & Proposal

This is my stong image I chose to select obviously as it's a 'noticeboard' I wanted to show this in a creative way and make it look interesting as I wanted to show that you can do whatever you like as I want people to add to it in a creative way.

My image from Photoshop which my propasal is can't be uploaded onto this as it's too big but I have my idea sheet of what I want to create.

Arrivals Task

When I first arrived in Manchester I was quiet disappointed as I was tired and just coming off the motorway, so I decided that I would explore and see what Manchester had to offer, as I’ve always had views that it was a ‘cool’ city, one of the reasons I choose to come here was the great music scene it had.  So I wandered through the centre and found myself walking towards small side streets filled with amazing, quirky shops nothing that I have experienced back home.  I found myself in the Northern Quarter and to be honest I did not fully appreciate it right away. It was nice with lovely cafes and coffee shops but with the excitement of being in a new city, I didn’t really look at what was surrounding me.  I have been back to the Northern Quarter a few times since my first visit, but it wasn’t until Dave Haslam’s talk that I decided to go back and explore it more and since then I’ve been back about 3 or 4 times, and each time I’ve across something new that I hadn’t noticed before.  But it seems to me like things are waiting to be discovered such as place names done in mosaic tiles or art on the pavements it’s not something that’s well known of to be there, not that I know of anyway, but they can still be appreciated. 

I found the Dave Haslam talk very interesting, I was intrigued to what he was going to say about Manchester, he mentioned marginal activity and how things can make a cultural significance, and how things start of small and unknown like Joy Division preforming in a small pub in Salford to become big names.  He also talked a lot about fanzines, which shows Manchester is a city with passion and that people truly believe in what they are doing, such as the fanzines, I liked the way people could self-publish their work and not have to edit it to please a mass audience.   I’ve looked more into these fanzines online, such as the Salford zine library http://salfordzinelibrary.blogspot.com/, and Linder Sterling who co-founded ‘Secret Public’ along with Jon Savage, I quiet like the aspect in which these fanzines are produced, its straight to the point and no advertising from companies.

UHC Workshop @ Hotspur House

Last Thursday I went to the workshop that the Ultimate Holding Company where running at Hotspur House, I found the session quiet useful as it informed me about the city and the places we could use over the coming weeks of Unit X.  I've got a list of places and a map we might want to visit and make use of, I wasn't there for the full session as I went to the Cube Gallery Exhibition but I think I got all the information we needed which is in the information leaflet I picked up, so I can put it in our group space and we can make copies of it for our own use.

Special Collections

On Monday I went to special collections just for some history on Manchester, I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for, but I came across a Portfolio of Original Prints of Manchester by Norman C. Jaques who was a lecturer in printmaking at Manchester Polytech in the department of fine art.  I think with our project old school/new school it’s important to look at the history of Manchester itself.  The prints show Manchester as a developing city and it’s nice to see how things stay the same and how they can move on. 

Beginning of Ideas

At the start of my project I was immediately interested in the concept of fanzines, which I came across while I was at the Dave Haslam talk.  I liked that they’re self published and interesting to look at because I feel that they can come in any form and that they represent different things.  This got me thinking on ideas that I wanted to have my own concept of a fanzine.  I found it difficult to begin with as I wasn’t sure on how to relate it back to the OLD SCHOOL/NEW SCHOOL brief.  

I began to research fanzines and because I like the music scene I find posters, flyers etc. interesting to look at and how they're posted up things posted over them, ripped of the walls creating layers.  So this gave me an idea of something interactive for students to get involved with so that it creates user manipulation.  

I started with the idea of having possibly something on a wall painted/projected on but covering it with 'fanzines' peoples own work, photos, info. etc. and have them put it up themselves creating layers and then have it ripped apart to reveal what would be underneath.  As this is just an initial idea I was to try and develop this further and possibly get my group involved in helping me test out the user manipulation. 

Toilet Talk

I've been looking at how people change their surroundings and how they leave their mark on something.  I was quiet interested in how people use toilets to graffiti.  I went to Joshua Brooks and saw how girls had left their lipstick marks on the wall, something that maybe one person had started and now it seems to carry on.  

Joshua Brooks

I've started myself to replicate what goes on in these type of environments, the idea behind it is how people change what is already there by creating drawings or messages. In tutorials with Mary Stark we talked about printing my own paper which I will start to do in the workshops, and possibly think of strategies of how people can get involved in what I want to achieve.  Some of the things that I came up with that I may experiment with are: 

• Tape paper to the floor and have people walk over it to create marks of people passing through.
• Post it notes to create messages.
• Record conversations. 

The Temple Bar

Visualizations i may use (Josie Cawdry)

Here are a range of visualizations i created as a backup from the main one i wish to use in the new build.

I have used different light effects, colours and opacity's  to give each image a unique feel.

Feel free to leave a comment and let me know which image you like the best. 

I am proud that i managed to create such finished images, as Photoshop has never been one of my strong points. I even managed to work out how to add vector people to make the visualization feel more real.

I think that i have had a real advantage as i was able to visit the new build first and and gain a valuable feel for the space, helping me to come to a decision on what to install into the building.

NEW ANIMATION-AMELIA TILT

I decided to create a new animation to give Mary more options to choose from to put on the Oxford Road screen, which one do you prefer?

UPDATED VISUALISATION AND CONTEXT SHEET-AMELIA TILT

 This is the new drawn visualisation I have worked on this morning, I think that it is alot stronger than the first and isn’t over powered by the grey paper now. What do you think ?

This is the context sheet we have been asked to produce as part of our assessment, I’ve never made one before so I’m not sure if I’ve done the right thing. I guess first years a learning curve though!

Mold from new build (Josie Cawdry)

Today Kate Egan brought one of my fellow peers a mold used in the new build to create the patterned pillars.

I thought it was really interesting as it is something that was created specifically to be used in the new build. It shows how other artists have envisioned what they would like to see in the new build. 

It is a really study sample and its really interesting  to see exactly what has been used to create a space/place within the new build!

Natural materials (Josie Cawdry)

The idea of using rolls to create a final piece was something that really interested me. Whilst in the studio one day i came across some scraps of wooden poles on the floor, after establishing that they were free to use i took them home and began to play around with ideas.

Using my glass panels i overlaid them in different ways to create different effects.

I wanted to see how my concept would work using natural materials instead of artificial ones.

The piece is very similar to bamboo, the colours are very similar to the colours i began to look at at the very beginning of this project. I like how i have some how managed to interlink all my work without really realizing! This is something very new to me!

Changing the angle of the camera is a very quick and easy way of changing the way the object is viewed. It alters the light source and cast different shadows on the surrounding surface.

I especially like the small patterns that appear on the inside of the wood. Like the rust i was looking at previously, it is the hidden marks that really excite me.

I would like to explore different ways in which this material can be used, maybe to create a photoshop pattern or even a tool to be used for mark making.

Who knows?

MY VISUALISATION-AMELIA FAYE TILT

These are the images of my work in situ, I'm not sure how well I have portrayed my ideas, and I hope that you can all see what I am proposing.

On Monday we had a talk with Kate about how to create context sheets and visualisations of our work in situ. This is something that really doesn’t appeal to me, from the beginning of unit X I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy being in the Living it category because I didn’t want to make textiles for interiors etc. That being said I obviously need to show what I would propose to do if my work was to be used in the new build. This meant trying to create a visualisation on Photoshop. At first I tried to avoid using Photoshop as I don’t feel confident enough to produce something that looks professional, I sometimes feel that if I can’t do something to a high enough quality I don’t want to share it. I understand that all work is something to build upon and improve but its just something I don’t feel confident in.

I started by creating a 2D drawing and creating a sample over the top, but it was flat and the paper I had used was grey and I think it took away from what I was trying to achieve. So I spoke to Mary and she said to use one of the images on the mmu website that the artist provided. So I photographed my drawing and moved into Photoshop to work with, the only trouble being that me sample was flat and the image I had used has a bend in the wall so I don’t think the final outcome has done what I want to achieve justice, I think that it is slightly grey in comparison to all the work I have produced during unit X as alot of my drawings and samples were very bold.

That being said, this is my visualisation for the new build.

 

I think in the morning I’m going to re draw the visual outcome because I’m not happy with my drawing so I will re post tomorrow morning before I got into uni.

 

 

 

Vincent Van Gogh (Josie Cawdry)

Vincent Van Gogh, possibly one of the most influential artist of all time. He was a leader of the impressionist movement and a great figure in the art world in the mid 1800's.

At the start of his career the majority of Van Gogh's work was dark and very dull to look at, it wasnt until he moved to Paris and became friends with the likes of Monet that he began to lighten his pallet and work with more soft, subtle tones. 

It was around this time that his work began to form a new identity. His work become solely about the marks left on the canvas from the brushstrokes. He used small, gentle lines to create the base of his paintings and then using tiny brushes worked into it to create the images now known all around the world.

Although not widely acknowledged during his lifetime his work is now hung is some of the most prestigious galleries all across the world. It is said that Van Gogh only sold one of his paintings during his lifetime and that his most famous paintings were all done in the space of 3 years.

I was inspired to look into the work of Van Gogh after i began experimenting with sources of light. I knew a a lot of his pieces were focused quite a bit with light and was keen to dig further into my knowledge about the artist.

The is something quite spooky about the work he creates, i think the colours are very deep and give the sense of loneliness and solitude. The way in which he paints is really fascinating and is something i look forward to maybe trying out myself in the future!

Reflections (Josie Cawdry)

I found that whilst in the studio taking images of my work it was really difficult to find somewhere that didn't cast a glare from either a window or a light fixture. At first i tried to get around this problem by holding paper up to the light source in order to stop it reflecting onto my work. I found that i was unsatisfied with how the images turned out, and after re-looking at some of the earlier images began to grow really fond of the way the light worked with the image itself and in some strange way give the work a new focus.

What do you think of the images below?

Final Pattern ideas (Josie Cawdry)

Here are all my final pattern samples that i have been working on, i found the idea of repetition and layers really exciting and have been working in quite close detail on creating some very bold patterns from my own imagery. So far i am really pleased with the outcome and think any one of these patterns will work well as a final piece to be displayed on my glass panels!

My first glass prints (Josie Cawdry)

All the work i have done previously has been leading up to this experiment. With an image selected and the glass panel at the ready i was ready to see if my ideas would come to life.

I wasnt exactly sure how i would manage to get a print onto glass, i used my method of printing onto plastic wallets, whilst the ink was still wet i placed it onto the plain sheet of glass. Applying a small amount of pressure i patted the surface to ensure the whole of the ink had been transferred. The image turned out really well, but unfortunately i had used the wrong sortd of colours and my image seemed to disappear. 

(Image edited before print)

With a bit of white paper backing the glass you can get to see the true beauty of the piece. Imagine this created on a huge scale, with the right print materials and fixatives and you can picture how great this would look as a windowpane in the new build. Pride of place within the lanterns.

I especially like the fact you can see when my plastic print has had contact with the glass pane. The air bubbles add a light airyness to the image that i really like. Even though this wasnt meant to happen i am pleased with the outcome and will use this stage as a tool to further progress my future prints!

MAKING A LARGE SAMPLE-AMELIA TILT

I have made a much larger sample than some of the tests in my sketchbook, I would really like to edit these photos and make another stop animation for my section of work to be shown on the Oxford Road screen. As I had photographed the work at each colour stage. I’m going to show the photos to Mary and see whether she thinks there useable.

Help anyone? - Charlotte Yates

I have spent possibly the last 12 hours stuck on photoshop trying to figure out a suitable image in situ, I even gave up at one point and began drawing my image for proposal instead! Finally I've gone back to it and come up with a design I thinks suitable for my work I just can't make my mind up which edited version I like best... I've screen printed the page with all 5 possible images on and would really be grateful of opinions :) thanks guys