portfolio visit 2

Actually I sent my portfolio as a PDF but was really excited about receiving feedback from Amy Ball. Amy is a standby art director [ a position I wish to achieve eventually] and she kindly let me shadow her on a drama I helped out on. Amy comes from an interior design background and has worked in many areas of production design from buying, prop making to set dressing. Her opinion and feedback has been the most relevant to my work so far.
The emailed response from her was overwhelming and has given a much needed confidence boost to end of my degree education.

Thank you so much for sending me your work to have a look at, after hearing about it - I really didn't not want to see it and I absolutely love it! You've done a great job, with such variety.  My favourite pieces being Brave New World cover design of the lighthouse and head, the colours and layout/style are really unique and striking.  A Day Out, personal where you've used mixed medium, has a lot of depth and messages in it which I like - the tones, tree structure and subtleness of the people are great.  The old school photos you've adapter are great too, I don't think you can ever go wrong when creating something that has real history in there, such emotion - its powerful in itself, yet you've made them look more interesting, and actually alive - it feels a real living moment as oppose to a past one with the colours/textures etc you've adopted (if that makes sense).  Your props makes are super, you are a natural - if I had a little one I'd be requesting to purchase the toadstool from you :) Your portfolio demonstrates such a range of techniques, medias, skills and talent!

So are you happy with everything?  You should be.  When do you get your results..  Wish I could have come to see your exhibition but still glad I've had a sneak peak :)

You are a super woman for achieving all this, as well as being a full time mum and jumping on Tv jobs - I really don't know how you do it!  

Making Memories-Camera Obscura

My work for the last part of my project is all based on memories. This interest has developed from talking to people within my family and gathering their stories and memories. I soon realised that the act of sitting and listening was also creating a new memory too. I wanted to produce work that translates these memories through the transferral of  imagery using several techniques.  I have thought about how we keep memories, how we wrap them within us, bottle them, store them, encapsulate them and transfer them to others. With this in mind I have tried to achieve a physical response to each. By using given imagery and objects I have so far mummified these objects in plaster that will be then used to  project the images of memories onto them.  I have wrapped  given objects in gauze and muslin as both of these materials are light, delicate and can be manipulated a bit like our brains. I have used dress cutting paper [ tissue] and transferred onto it images using printed photos and text. These have been cut and sewn into a structure of a paper dress that will be illuminated from within.  My biggest achievement so far has been experimenting with camera obscura. I first saw the process in a book a couple of years ago and spoke of trying it out earlier in my major project proposal. Only now has the practice become  n an important part of my design process. I art directed the process and selected the props, layout and scenery to be used in the shot. I decided I wanted it to be about my own memories and the building of new ones. The shot also includes me, my neighbouring houses and my four children As they are all relevant to my life now. The first few experiments were a lengthy process, I had to keep moving furniture as they were causing unwanted shadows. With the help of a photographer and many experiments with exposure times I got the shot I wanted.  I am so pleased with the results and I would love to try more, especially when travelling to other countries. The process was easy to do once the preparation is done and you should always story board your concept first. Picture also looks good upside down.

Portfolio visit1 - Meeting Alan Dalby

My first portfolio visit of this term was with Illustrator Alan Dalby. I was introduced to Alan’s work through the college as he graduated from the same course a couple of years ago. I was worried about meeting Alan as his work has a very digital approach and I didn’t think my work would be of interest to him. Alan has been making a success of his illustration work and designs jewellery too. When looking over my work I don’t think he was sure what to make of it bit he was still very kind about it. My portfolio had been quickly arranged into sections of when and why the images were made but Alan suggested arranging them to fit along themes of Practice instead. This advice was welcomed and I have started to rearrange according to practice rather than projects. He also noticed there was a shadow boxes around a couple of the images and not others and I agree that I prefer them without. As for my work he thought it was diverse and liked the Folio society brief designs the most.  He took an interest in my work experience prop making pictures and advised a bigger layout or a double spread for them. He also encouraged the use of accompanying text about the filming projects as this would give an added interest to the viewer. Alan gave me some advice on agencies and not giving up on illustration if that is an area I wished to push. We spoke about websites and the fact he has never really used his portfolio and that his website is where his work has received the most interest. It was fantastic to meet Alan and have his feedback on the layout and content of my portfolio. He has said its no problem to get in touch with him in the future for further advice or a revised visit for my portfolio.

Banners [ Work Experience]

I am so thrilled that I was given the opportunity to be part of the art department and production design team for this production. Although for now I cannot give away to many details about the drama here are some pictures of the work I helped to produce. The banners were huge and took over my front room when sewing them but they were worth the hard work when I saw them in action being filmed in context to the script. Some banners are hopefully going to be re-homed in a museum and a church so they wont be going to waste and I feel honoured that they are wanted. What should have been 3 days of work experience turned into nine amazing weeks of long hours, observation and an understanding of how important it is to work in a team to achieve amazing results. I have had to be quick, efficient, patient and determined to tackle whatever was thrown at me but I have definitely found what it is I want to do and hope that over the coming months I will be able to continue working in this area. I love this piece of advice that was given to me when I started, ' don't come to me with the problem, come to me with the solution'. This has stuck with me and helped me to rethink and revaluate any difficulty that got in the way and after working so independently for so long working with a fantastic team of talented people has encouraged me to enjoy creativity and push some more boundaries.

Hannelore Baron

Hannelore Baron [1926-1987] was a German born artist.  I first became aware of her work accidently when looking at Joseph Cornell boxes in a modern art book. After fleeing Nazi occupied Germany in 1939 she settled in New York and began voicing her own statements through her art. Her collection of boxes and collages embodies her personal and some very traumatic experiences. She used her work to express her feelings of depression and anxiety yet her simple thread and paper structures encompass a very delicate handmade quality. By simplifying lines, textures, shapes and forms, Hannelore has arranged small off cuts of fabric, found objects and paper to relate her stories and express her narrative. I find her work moving.  One box that displays striped fabric through a glass lid, that is similar to those incarcerated in the prison camps during World War two is very powerful without reading any accompanying information. Her work has often been compared to Joseph Cornell’s, Kurt Schwitter’s and Robert Rauschenberg’s but I personally have found it refreshing and uncomplicated to that of the other artists.

The writing is on the door!

While visiting Waterford in Ireland recently I discovered more written memories for me to collate for my project. Although discovered on the back of toilet door, I decided they were worth photographing and using in my memory collection collages.

Joseph Cornell boxes

Joseph Cornell was a modernist artist who without any formal art training collected his interests and memories and housed them in his box constructions. Cornell used these boxes to illuminate his dreams, poems and thoughts about his life and world. He played with texture, form, light and found objects. He enjoyed turning the everyday objects into found treasures and ambiguous themes. Movie stars and theatres, holidays and places, history and architecture all form part of Joseph’s collections. The boxes are reminiscent of the cabinets of curiosities that were prolific in Victorian era. The attraction to his boxes for myself is that looking at them over and over again changes with time. As we age so do the boxes and the memories attached to them. As a way of using this method to explain my own memory collection for my project, I have  had to careful not to make them to contrived of they can look they have been made by primary school children. The following images are of some Cornell’s work.