Art week at Cardinal Newman College - Preston

On Thursday 8th December I visited Cardinal Newman College to take part in their art week.

I worked with students hoping to go to university next year.  Everybody got creative and together we made a short film. 

Working on 16mm film we could either use inks or letraset.  I found myself using letraset to form shapes on my strip of film, but the film had to be sanded before hand to give it a rougher surface as the letraset wasn't sticking.  I found that the letraset piece made the film more interesting rather than just using inks or a pen.  Parts of the letraset had started to crackle off and other parts were not sticking down correctly.  To me, this made a really nice effect and I was happy with what I had managed to create.  The film was then put together and everyone's drawings and doodles were projected on screen.

Altogether, I had a really enjoyable day working with other students who have a passion for art and design.  One aspect that made the day worthwhile was seeing how happy the students were, after creating something really nice with a type of media they had never used or experimented with before. 

So have a look at the short film below.  Apologies for the movement, I was filming by hand.

Bradford Animation and Film Festival

BAF takes place each November at the National Media Museum in Bradford, UK. The UK's longest running festival features screentalks, retrospectives, workshops and a competition strand which recognises the very best in new animation from around the world.

On wednesday 9th November I visited BAF.  I saw many animations by students and professionals from the UK and within Europe.  A few of my favourites were 'Brandt Rhapsodie', a French 2D animation about the tragedy of a romantic encounter and 'A Morning Stroll', a 2D/3D animation, Grant Orchard being the director.  I really liked the mix of 2D and 3D in this and the idea behind it.  This animation was also awarded The Best Professional Film.

I had a really enjoyable day and I hope to visit again next year.

Brief 2: Visual Studies - Final Posters

So here are my final 3 posters.  After asking for peoples opinions, I made a few alterations by adding more text on 2 of the posters and turning the middle poster horizontal, as I feel it works better.

  

                                                 

Brief 2: Visual Studies

My second brief was really just a follow on from the first brief, still with the same focus.Personal.Business.Hybrid.  For these posters I had to combine image and text, however,  I didn't need to include 50 words.  Once again I had many ideas and ended up producing more than I needed.  In a way I like to produce more so that I can choose the best ones, rather than just having 3 set ideas.  Any comments would be appreciated.

 

Brief 1: Visual Studies

For my first brief I was required to design 3 typography posters including 50 words and 50 words only.  Each poster has a theme.Personal.Hybrid and Business.  I therefore had to choose words appropriate for each board.  Even though I only had to design 3 posters, I designed 4 because I had many ideas, now I have to choose.  Feel free to comment on your favourites, it would be much appreciated!

Whitworth Art Gallery - Dark Matters

Dark Matters brings together the work of ten internationally acclaimed contemporary artists who employ a range of technologies, media and machinery. In an exhibition populated by half-seen spectres, visual riddles and distorted reflections, artists engage with ideas surrounding shadow, darkness and illusion. The works are united by themes of temporality, absence, truth, mortality and wonder.

Participating artists are: Brass Art, Pavel Buchler, R. Luke DuBois, Pascal Grandmaison, Barnaby Hosking, Idris Khan, Ja-Young Ku, Elin O’Hara Slavick, Daniel Rozin, Hiraki Sawa

This display of works from the Whitworth's collection reveals ideas surrounding shadow as captured by the artist in a variety of media. Some of the works selected demonstrate how artists have employed tone and darkness to render solidity and structure within the pictorial space. A significant number of paintings, prints and drawings, also convey the symbolic power of shadow to evoke time, mystery, loss and solitude.

                                                           Daniel Rozin - 'Snow Mirror'

With Snow Mirror (2006) Rozin presents us with an image of ourselves, transformed by the digital magic of computer programming. Projected onto suspended fabric, a likeness of the viewer is formed by an accumulation of white snowflakes which cling to the bright areas of the image. The pace is slow and dreamlike. As shadows form within the flutter of snow, the viewer becomes a transparent spectre of themselves, transported by a combination of video, computer and projector.

                                                          Barnaby Hosking - 'Thoughts'
With Thoughts, butterflies serve as a symbol of our inner wonderings.  The luminous and dark surfaces of the individual butterfly wings project both the positive and the negative through elementary strategies of reflection and shadow.  Just as the nebulousness of thoughts allows them to shift between positive and negative without certain distinction, so these clusters of light and darkness project the duality of thinking.

Brass Art - Still Life No.1 (new commission)
(3D objects in acrylic polymer, light source, table in black box environment.Dimensions variable)

For Dark Matters, Brass Art have been commissioned to create a new installation for the Whitworth’s imposing Mezzanine Court. Looming figures and monstrous fusions invoke an immediate affiliation with the nineteenth century phantasmagoria. A simple, travelling light source casts a slowly spinning cavalcade of shadow around the walls and ceiling. Central to the piece, entitled Still Life No. 1, is a table bearing an arrangement of museum specimens, tiny figurines and cellophane – their varying opacities against the bare bulb producing the silhouettes and glimmers which create the play of forms. The tiny figures upon the table are three dimensional representations of the artists themselves, rendered using the latest digital techniques. Through basic tricks of the light they become players in a complex narrative of animal, human and geological interaction.


This exhibition was very different to any other I had visited.  I particularly liked the instalation by 'Brass Art', as it seemed very personal and almost like you were stepping into another world.

Huddersfield Art Gallery - Fields of Contention

The exhibition brings together a generation of artists interested in minimalism and construction, including Carl Andre's controversial 'bricks'. With a new commission by artist, Sarah Staton. Part of Art in Yorkshire - supported by Tate.

It is also the 115th annual exhibition of the Huddersfield Art Society, which has over 100 paintings of society members on display.

 

Norman Dilworth - 'Puffball'                          Henri Moore - 'Falling Warrior'
(1985)                                                       (1956-7)




Carl Andre - 'Bricks' (1966)                    Norman Dilworth - '3 Cubes' (2006)

Light and Time - Motorway Light Trails - first tests

For this short film I went up the motorway bridge over the m62 in Outlane.  After taking a series of photographs on the bridge, I then moved down to the motorway.  Here I rested my camera on the crash barrier to take accurate photographs.  This was very risky, but it allowed me to get up and close to vehicles driving at speed and I am more than happy with the result!

For the first light trails shown I set a high F Stop number ( F 20) to allow low light through and set the ISO to around 200, purely to increase shutter speed.  I also had to manually correct the white balance as the photographs were yellow from the street light. 

After I took all the photographs I wanted on the bridge, I went down to the motorway.  Here, I set a higher ISO of around 800 rather than 1600, as I didn't want there to be too much noise.  The F Stop was set to around F 10/F 15.

Light and Time - Roundabout Light Trails - first tests

For this experiment I took photographs continually at Ainley Top roundabout, I put them together and animated them.  As it was late at night, there was not much traffic which was a problem because I wanted my animations to look more busy.  However, these are my first animations from the roundabout at the experimental stage so I am happy with them!

Light and Time - Long Exposure Photographs - first tests

Here are a few more experiments for my Light and Time brief.  Taken on a Canon SLR, I highered the ISO and set the F Stop to F10.  The shutter speed was set to under expose by around negative .3.

 

Light and Time - Sunrise to Sunset - very first tests

So for my first studio brief, I have to create a piece on light and time.  Having never studied photography or video in depth I started looking at basic ideas to begin with and simply experimented!  I liked the idea of animating the day through from dawn to sunset, so I set a tripod up with a camera infront of my house.  This however, turned out to be quite a tedious process as I had to take a photograph starting at 6am every 3 minutes gradually working my way up to 5 - 10 minutes.  When it got to 11am I then started taking 1 every 30 minutes.  As it approached late afternoon/early evening, I repeated the process of taking one every 5 - 10 minutes and then 1 every 3 minutes at around 7pm, until the sun went down.  I had to take them so close to each other just so that I wouldn't miss any radical changes and so my animation ran gradually.

Overall, I am happy with the result.

Graphic Illustration

Making use of spare time over summer 2011, I followed tutorials to create these pieces.  I feel that my skills within photoshop have improved significantly through following tutorials.

  

                       

Improving drawing skills

After having not picked up a pencil for a few months last year, this was one of my first drawings I decided to do of my boot.  Completed within 5 hrs (September 2010).

ANY WHICH WAY 2011 - a live art show from coffeevolution Huddersfield.

Covered from top to bottom in paper, the basement of Coffeevolution was open to the public who were free to come down to make their mark and get creative.  As you can see from the pictures, the walls were full of doodles and drawings.  The night was a huge success and I cannot wait for the next one!