Bringing Elements Together

A little bit of joviality is here being had by the team "Elephants"

as we celebrate our hard work and progress. The sound recording

is almost complete and Daniel is doing a fine job of researching

and producing a relevant and technically competent piece

of sound to compliment the installation piece. The screen prints

are not exactly how we envisaged them to be but we are aware

of the importance of the "idea" rather than technicalities.

We are quite happy with the progress we are making and are

confident we can present our work by deadline. Some rearrangement

and finalization will take place tomorrow when the sound is

played through a good quality system that will then be

linked up and ready to go. Jane and Donella are happy with

the hard work and effort that they have put in to produce

the claustrophobic part of the installation and we feel sure

it will have the desired affect on the viewer.

Bill Viola Visit New York

'Bodies Of Light'
This is an exhibition we will be visiting in New York very soon! These are some examples of Bill Viola's work. Im very excited about seeing this particular piece, titled Pneuma. It is a video which is 'projected into thee corners of a darkened square space.' I love some of these visuals taken from the video, they have a certain horror quality to them.

For our 'Doorway project,' we have decided on a horror theme. So these visuals are great inspiration for our ideas development, and will defiantly be an effective source to research before and after we visit this exhibition. Cant wait to see this one!

Andy Martin

Tues 17th Nov

Today we have been allocated our space for our collaboration project. We have started to display the posters and work out the room. Jane has acquired a large amount of material and herself and Donella are going to work hard on producing the main part of the display with it. Dan an i are going to work on the sound and we will get together to collect our individual research.

This afternoon we had a visiting lecture from illustrator and artist Andy Martin.

Andy visited the college about 18 months ago so i am familiar with his work and his style.

Here are some examples of his

illustrative commissions

Andy was commissioned by a magazine to promote the

change over from analogue to digital and this was his

final illustration for print.

This is a calendar that Andy's work became identifiable

by. A calendar for the millennium in stark contrast to

the regular calendars at this time.

His career has gone from strength to strength and he

is doing much of his commissioning around the world

and in particular in America. He talked about the collaborations

that he has been involved in and showed the film of his

most endearing 'End of the Street', of which he collaborated with

the writer Ian Macmillon. They worked together on this

project in a truelly linear way influencing and responding

to each other through out the process.

You can view this short film on Andy's web site at andy-martin.com

Bill Viola

Born in 1951 in the United States. Lives and works in Los Angeles, USA. Bill Viola; " Nine Attempts to Achieve Immortality", 1996 Video installation with sound

Viola is a pioneer in international video art. He has been active since the early 1970’s and has created a large number of works of various expressions and technical realization; from videotapes and soundscapes to architecturally oriented installations, performances accompanied by electro music, and works created specifically for television. Viola’s interests center on the perception and consciousness of man, the way in which our experiences are engendered and how the mechanisms of our perception and interpretation of our surroundings work and what they look like. Besides the visual aspect, sound is an important element to Viola. Apart from that, many of his works uses his own self and body as a starting point, and the artist himself figures prominently in his works, e.g. the video installation ”Nine Attempts to Achieve Immortality” from 1996. The video is projected from behind onto a screen hanging from the ceiling, and shows the artist in deep concentration, holding his breath until he is about to die from asphyxiation. When he at last breathes out, the sound and reaction comes close to a shock. The work is an excellent example of the precision and apparent simplicity that characterize the works of Viola

Cross Pathway Project, Collaboration – Conclusion

The project required us to collaborate and use the skills we are learning from of individual pathways to influence and produce a piece of work that is titled the

door way.

We initially got together and brainstormed as many ideas we could think of to enable us to produce the best idea that we could all agree would be the right one. We used tutor contact time and mainly chose Ian Parkin to give is input from a fresh perspective

and we found this to be very useful.

We arranged weekly contact with our mentor Christinia Marishell

And informed her of our progress and time management and what

we intended on doing in the week ahead.

We spent most of the first two weeks researching our ideas and we resisted the temptation to jump in and go forward with an idea.

We were fully aware that our idea is just that and that the execution of it was not as important as the idea behind. For example the prints we produced were not as strong as we would have liked but it was the idea that is most important.

When we had agreed and this was a heavily debated concern as we all argued what we felt would be important for the collaboration, we then decided who was to gather what information and how we would progress that aspect of the project.

We all did exactly what we said we would do and this was important and helpful in meeting the deadline and also in our agenda meetings with our mentor as it showed our progress

time management was correct.

We found it particularly pertinent that the artists we researched for example Christian Boltanski, Bill Viola and Andy Warhol would be reflected in our project and that is the main reason we found it helpful to spend two weeks researching their work. We do believe that this is reflected in our final piece.

This has been a successful adventure and we have learned from each other through good communication and sharing the workload. We have produced a blog that chronologically shows our progress through out the project and includes information from the various lectures that were designed to inform us about collaboration and what it involves. Also we have produced a short film that we have included.

We have included as many sensory experiences that we needed and we intend to make the viewer uncomfortable and claustrophobic through sound, touch, feel and sight. This is our work and we have titled it claustrophobia behind closed doors.

christian boltanski

Christian Boltanski is a french painter, sculptor and installation artist.

His artistic work is haunted by the problems of death, memory and loss; he often seeks to memorialize the anonymous and those who have disappeared.

In his preliminary years, Boltanski's paintings were concerned primarily with themes of historical significance. However, by the 1970s, Boltanski removed himself from the painting arena and began his quest for remnants of his own past through selected artworks. These artworks led Boltanski to question the substance he had used when creating his own artworks.

However, this introspectivism supplied him with the motive for other artworks in which non-truths and the realisation of fundamental truths converged. Boltanski reconstructed his own youth in this method. In doing so, Boltanski used a vast spectrum of media.

For example, film, performance, photography and video. It is interesting to note that Boltanski maintained this vision and direction without focusing on the obvious contradiction of his self-understanding as a painter.

Moreover, the combination of varied media is a fundamental part of the spatial dimension which has been the focus of Boltanski's work since the mid-1980's.

containerplus.com

Monday 02/11/09

Visiting Lecture from containerplus.com.

Today we were visited by Louise Vormiteag

founder member of containerplus.com.

Louise graduated with her friend and fellow

student Nicola and soon formed the collaborative

creative, multi disciplinary containerplus which

together they are developing into a successful

progressive business.

Their first success was a small film from which

they earned a prize, this was their first taste of

success and one that was to fuel their desire

within the creative industries.

They cold called on potential clients and would

take each others portfolios when they got the

opportunity to do so. As they stared out as friends

they had a well balanced commitment to each other

and the business.

An example of containerplus' illustrative instalation design.

Before long they were doing work for

Selfridges and were commissioned to design the decor

for Selfridges Lab Cafe. This proved to be successful

and in 2005 Containerplus were commissioned by

Volkswagen for the launch of the Fox where they took

over a hotel in Copenhagen. Louise and Nicola

Were assigned four rooms to furnish hiring Experts in

lighting, fabrics, set design and their own expertise in

illustration. It was a no expense spared affair as Volkswagen

were out to impress the media with their new launch.

Louise explained that they try and split the work they get

between commercial and their own art lead projects and

she stressed that this was very important for them as

the arty side was very important to make sure the carry

on developing as artists. Also Louise stressed the importance

of communicating well with people and always looking to work

with those that you communicate well with.

This was a well presented fly on the wall account of life

at containerplus and the London based design scene.

doors pics

Our group the "Elephants" are researching

different areas of our project. I have brought

together some pictures i have taken of doors

and the various sounds they make, here are some

examples of my research.

This is a collection of doors showing

there various functions in the environment.

Some are abstract, some just functional

and some may not be obviously connected

to the door. However they are all doors

even if only in a conceptual form. Some are

unfortunately a shadow of their former selves!

999 Design

Dave Sedgwick visited Stockport College

to give a talk to us about his career and advise

on how to present yourself, plan ahead and look

forward to a career in the creative industries.

Dave was educated at MMU studying for his degree

in D&AD, in which his successfully achieved with honours.

"Spend time on your CV now, dont wait until you graduate"

He went into detail about how he had spent much of his

time planning for placements as soon as he graduated.

He stressed that some companies will like your work some

will not, that is life. He felt that he received a very critical

opinion from Dinosaur and took this constructively, changing

his portfolio as advised.

"Get a Website and dont rest on your laurels."

Dave's perseverance paid off and he was offered his first

payed placement at Flux in Manchester and soon after

Splinter in Liverpool. Valuable experience and insight, also

making contacts which he stressed to be vital for you to

make any progress in your career.

So, plan and prepare for the future is Dave's message

to land that first job. His first job was as a junior designer

for TCW from which he was paid 13K, unfortunately

he was made redundant in Jan 2003. After working for a

period as a freelancer he was employed by race where

he won a pitch for the company for Designer Block

and 100% Design.

Dave then moved on to Suburb working with Simon Cole

they worked on projects for Bruntwood Estates, who

were the companies main client. Dave's most recent

move and present position as senior designer at 999

Design has enabled him to work with prestigious clients,

Warburton's, BBC Radio, Puma and Onitsuka Tiger are

a few examples.

As a conclusion to the visit Dave showed a few examples

" D&AD briefs are good but dont stick to them."

of projects he is working on, including some freelance

for the philharmonic orchestra. I have included some

examples of his work.

Cross Pathway Project.

"Elephants," Dan, thinking out his ideas with his image book.

Starting 26th Oct lecture B all pathways meeting for briefing on new collaboration project. A completely new approach to our work to enhance our understanding of other disciplines and

aid our ability to communicate and work in social groups.

During the lecture we were introduced to various companies and artists working within the area of collaboration where artists and designers are working together mainly via the Internet to spontaneously respond in an interactive way to solve problems and be creative.

This is obviously a new and exciting area of development within the creative industries brought about by the Internets offer of endless opportunities and limitless combinations for creatives.

For the purpose of this exercise we have been split into groups of four (cross pathway teams).

My group consists of Myself (graphic design), Donella Machin (surface design), Daniel Pike (moving image) and Jane Harrison (illustration). Our group name is "Elephants"

We watched several short films and videos to display the kind of work that is being produced by designers through collaborative communication. Some examples were Andy Martin, Containerplus.com and a short film by Tahl Rosner called in B flat.

Our brief is: DOOR(WAY).

Having been given a door per group we have 4 weeks to

work together to produce a piece of work/display through

exploring the endless possibilities through collaboration.

Today was our first meeting and we decided that we would

discuss a few ideas that we each have to get our minds a little

clearer so we can plan ahead on how we will approach the problem.

We have settled in well as a group and realize the importance

of working together to solve the problem not allowing our egos

to get in the way. So off we

Elephants in brain storming mode.

go brainstorming the possibilities we have and encouraging

each other to come up we different ideas. We know the importance

at this stage that we do not get too focused on any particular

idea as its early days and we need to explore as much as possible.

During our meeting we decided it would be best to annotate our

study by writing and photographing our progress. Here are some

photos from todays brain storm session.

Door/way in RandD as ideas come under the spot light.

We appreciate the importance of researching our ideas so we

have agreed that the best way forward is for us to research

individually the ideas that we feel are our best before we meet

again on friday and by the end of the morning period we intend

on having come to a decision on what is the best idea to move

forward the project with.

As we have a mentor and tutor meeting in the afternoon

we are time conscious about what we can allocate to our

research and development part of the project.

We intend on being in a position to be ready to start finalizing

the research over the weekend as we will be ready to

move the project into a "live idea" mode by Monday morning.

Tutor meeting with Ian Parkin.

This was our first tutor meeting in which we could engage

with a tutor explaining our ideas and how we felt we were

developing. We showed Ian the ideas generation that we had

collaborated on and how we had progressed to deciding on

an "idea" for our project.

This example from l'Archive has a particular meaning for us.

We showed our influences and in particular

the work of the french installation artist, Christian Baltanski.

Ian reflected with us and felt that the idea we had decided on

was interesting and possible. Also he commented that we

were looking at the right kind of work that could advance our idea.

This was a positive evaluation of our progress and we felt confident

that we had chose correctly.

I like this image i found in Grafik magazine

Nov 2009. The installation is named 'IQ" relating to a

poster campaign against radioactive contamination, part

of the exhibition Tasse Oder Unter Tasse, Von Der Heydt

Museum, Wuppertal, 1994. When you look close there is a

picture of a wild life scene within the room and a door.

Friday 30th October 1st Mentor meeting.

Minutes of the meeting:

Our 1st Mentor meeting with Chris took place today in

the library at 2.30pm. We sent Janes apologies as she

is not present due to illness. Hopefully she will be back

with us on Monday.

Firstly we discussed incoming information. What each

of us had been researching, and explained the progress

we had made with our ideas generation. We are on track

with our schedule and have come to an agreement as to

which idea we are to take forward. We discussed our analysis

considering the way we had changed our direction due

to the fact that we stuck at our brain storming for the

period we allocated.

It was explained to Chris what our agenda would be for

the following week and what tasks each of us would perform.

Dan and i would be researching sound and looking at

the photography that would be included in our final piece.

Donella and Jane are to be experimenting with screen printing

and textiles.

On Tuesday we will be pursuing our idea in the foundation

area with John Patterson. In the afternoon we will have

a tutor meeting with Rick from moving image to get a

different perspective on our idea.

Chris explained to us exactly how we should present our

agenda meeting next time and there is much room for

improvement. We aim to have a much more formal and

deconstructed meeting for our next meeting on friday.

Monday Nov 2nd.

As we decided on friday we split into groups with Jane

and Donella spending time experimenting with material

and various ways of screen printing on to them. I took

pictures of each of us and here are the examples of what

we achieved.

Some experimental screen printed printed examples

and examples of experimental photography. This is all

documented in a our research file.

Tuesday Nov 3rd

The team met in the 3d department at 10.30 with John

Patterson to discuss our ideas and for his input into

the possibilities of developing our ideas. During this

discussion it became aparent that although our carousel

idea was good, time and technical issues were against us.

This was not to dissappointing as we still have plenty

to go with. We spent the morning brain storming the

ideas discussed with john and i believe that when the

room is allocated to us can be looked at we can have a

much clearer view.

We agreed to come in on our self study day to keep

pace as three of us will be in New York next week.

We have produced some photographic work that i

have included the following images of.

First stage low key/contrast photographs.

Stage 2 high contrast graytones

These images are now on A2 acetate and

ready to be screen printed.

Thursday nov 5th

Today is a self study day and we decided

to meet on campus to finalize our idea

and produce the screens from which we

will print our first group of images.

We have agreed that it would be appropriate

to use glow in the dark acrilic to create

the atmosphere that we require for our

collaboration piece. We are also working

on the various possibilities of the sound we

which to incorporate and feel that the

project is moving in the right direction.

We need to carry out various tests to

establish its effectiveness and suitability.

Some examples of image experiments.

Short Lecture: John Wood & Paul Harrison.

Ian showed a short film by the for named

performance artists to aid our creative juices.

It showed various sketches by the two men.

Board, 1993.

Moving around a white room using a piece of

white board making into various forms eg

a see-saw, door, window pane and slide

Boat, 1995.

A large side on letter D, with the artists inside

moving it until it turns to slam onto the

flat part of the letter.

Headstand, 1995.

A wardrobe cut in half with one of the artists inside

manouvered over into a headstand.

Device, 1996.

Humorous take on walking upstairs. The stairs

being on the feet.

October 97, 1997.

A bucket suspended by twisted string that when realised

lowers the bucket gradually to the ground.

An interesting and light hearted look at some

of the most normal and bizzare.