Friday 9 November 2012

Students work and the importance of the materials they use


This is an illustration by one of my students she is 11 years old. I have noticed that, since the children have been using charcoal, pastels,( basically all Artist professional materials) their work has improved so much(the children are 4 years up to 12 and they have never worked with these materials before). The children love working with these supplies, using their fingers to blend pastels and charcoal, they have opened an amount of new techniques available to them when they are creating art, and the new materials combined with instruction are responsible for this new creativity and skill level. The children are especially happy with being able and confident to realize their ideas on paper, they are happy with the work they are creating. This goes back to something that I am extremely interested in: the process of creating art, the materials used and rendering ideas from the mind on to paper, canvas etc......................................has anyone had a similar experience in that the tools the children use can have a massive and positive influence on the children, especially unlocking the images in their minds and putting them down on paper, the work on paper is as good as their images in the mind. I know it probably is an obvious thing to most of you better materials equals better work, but this is more than that, the materials have control of the outcome of the children's work, so much so that they are craving the use of these material all of them have asked their parents to get the new supplies, especially charcoal and pastels for Christmas! The children go to a rural primary school with about 200 or less kids in the school, they never get an opportunity to work with these materials in school nor do they get a small introduction to art history or the masters. I believe that the primary school curriculum should include art as a subject rather than a pastime. Do you agree? What about the larger schools closer to the capital and in larger cities around Ireland, do these schools have a better art program for primary school children? 

Thursday 8 November 2012

Creating again

How I create and developing my Artwork


Work in progress 2012
Entry Nov 16th 2012

I have been feeling so inspired by the participants of the MA course I am taking at LIT: MA in Art and Design Education. All of you have amazing talents and ideas on art! The above work which is a work in progress.  I have to say: I am really enjoying working on this painting. I feel that I am part of a larger piece of art work, which is all of us creating work individually, but at the same time our work is inspired etc by each other, by the group, we are a collective artist----gelling.  On a certain level I feel this work belongs to all of us, give me your comments, what direction would you take from this point, as the above is a sketch. I would really like to continue painting with your input and influence!!

Entry Dec 14th 2012

The finished work Dec 14th 2012

As I have mentioned earlier I was influenced by the MA group and course to start creating work on a regular basis. When I first started the above painting I was really excited about it and the direction I thought it would go. That feeling changed half way through the work! This painting is a "perfect"example of art that I create because of a need that I have, which is to please other people and avoid criticism. I make assumptions on what is an acceptable type of art for the masses. At times these"influences" have a powerful impact on my work. It is an ongoing dilemma that I have which is: the decision to create work that I want to, work that I don't apply my own set of censorship guidelines to, (an example of this type of artwork is the installation I am currently developing) VERSUS do I create work that I think is acceptable based on my upbringing, based on not shocking 
people, not making people uncomfortable work that produces "lovely pictures"


Entry Feb 14th 2013

An interesting thing happened to me as I was focusing on the artist Louise Bourgeois for the MA in Art and Design Education course at LIT (project titled "Mull")
While I was reviewing her work I remembered why I became an artist, I felt a new confidence and began to believe I could work on an installation piece that I have been mulling over for a number of years. The reasons I did not actively pursue working on this installation are many, one in particular is this need to please and I realised that this need was influencing what I was creating. I am now feeling free to now cultivate my own creative thoughts and resulting artwork. The MA art and design in education that I am currently participating in has also had a massive impact on my moving forward with the creation of the installation. I have found a community of artists that I feel nurtures, motivated and protects me. I am creating this installation as if these artists are my audience, but not to please them, just to share my work.....

I do not plan to create work that will always shock people, it is the subject matter that I am interested in that can be uncomfortable. I am interested in giving the victim a voice in my work, I am interested in having the viewer experience what it is like to be the victim and the oppressor. I am shifting towards creating an experience for the viewer rather than a visual experience. I feel that a full sensory experience is the only way that I can communicate or say what I need to in my work. I want the viewer to be part of the creative process. I want the viewer to have a responsibility, to take ownership of the ideas and the statements I am expressing. I do not want a passive viewer. I want to create an experience.



When I create an Installation there are three stages:

1. The physical stage of the work. The process of creating the work, the exorcising of ideas, demons, giving a voice to the victim to the other. "To meaning and shape to frustration and suffering" - Louise Bourgeois. The materials selected and the forms that will take shape, I have been reading so many interviews of Artists who are influencing my own work at present. "shapes that will provide the viewer with premeditated experiences in order to invoke feelings similar to the victim or oppressor. "When does the physical become the emotional its a circle going around and around" Louise Bourgeois 

2. This is the emotional stage of the work. The Installation is displayed in a public space where the viewer can interact with it or become part of the installation and experience it. The experiences are premeditated  I have a specific set of experiences I want the viewer to have. I want to go further than Louise Bourgeois when she created her Cells, Ann Hamilton is another artist who’s work inspires me to "art"iculate what I am trying to achieve in terms of creating an Installation, I am intrigued by the materials used and relied on to create an environment that stimulates all the senses  auditory, visual, touch and smell. I want to expose the viewer to a world where secrets are exposed. I want the viewer to enter a world "the installation" where their own body becomes part of the Installation and their experience is relying on so many senses, their response will be emotional. The key word is "experience" I want the viewer not just "looking" I want to get a particular emotion after they have had an experience, so to speak. The installation will be in control and will be designed to purposely ignite specific emotions the experiences which will be premeditated. "The viewer would be swept into an awareness beyond that of the normal viewer, intriguing the whole body. I want to bring to the surface the questions we should be asking"  Ann Hamilton.

Katy Kline, the director of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Maine, who chose Ann Hamilton for the 1999 Venice Biennale, says of Hamilton, "She invites the viewer into a set of visible and auditory conditions where their entire bodily experience is activated. They are swept into a state of awareness beyond that of the normal viewer. She tries to intrigue the whole body.The second stage is the active stage in this process. The work will take the shape of cubed spaces. The viewer will enter these cube like spaces that will have different materials, that take different forms that the viewer will feel as they pass through these cubes. While some of the viewers are passing through the installation there will be a viewing/voyeur area which allows other viewers to watch the reactions of people as they encounter and navigate their way through the installation.

3. This is the validation of the work. Validating and applying value to the experience. The final stage of the installation is to take the 3D shape and return it to a 2D shape, this is done by opening the installation piece just like opening a box and flattening it ou. Once the installation is "opened" it will then hang on a wall to expose the internal of the work, just like a traditional piece of artwork. The viewer can now look at and review the place that they were part of, now it is an image of their experience, they can reflect and see the innards of the thing.

Below are some photos of my journal, these are rough drawings and notes on installation.