BLANKMEDIA

Hey everybody,

Earlier today, i went with Elnaz to see 'BLANKSPACE' as a potential exhibition location for our unit x.
It was an interesting space which would be quite useful. It had a couple of different rooms inside and the spaces weren't too big. We spoke to one of the people who work there and asked about the availability but they were busy taking an exhibition down so he gave us the Elnaz the email address of who we need to check the dates with. We just thought we'd see what it was like and just enquire really and keep it s a possibility

http://www.blankmediacollective.org/about/

Textiles...Sound...

Kate MccGwire

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/kate_mccgwire.htm?section_name=shape_of_things2

Intersting use of materials from this artist!
Bones, crow feathers...

'The finished work has a consistent 'otherness' to it that places it beyond our experience of the world, poised on a threshold between the parameters that define everyday reality.'


The strangeness caught my eye!  She uses one odd, often unusual material and explores the potential, delicately and thoughtfully , in different spaces, sizes and shapes. They look like they have been built into the space which they sit,  quite unheimlich...

Bone; great when you have all those chicken  bones saved up...

Feathers...Quack

Joanna Kinnersly-Taylor

Joanna Kinnersly-Taylor


http://www.62group.org.uk/news/joanna-kinnersly-taylor-4/


In her current ongoing series, ‘Perpetual Mapping’, Joanna explores the idea of ‘plotted routes’ that link place and time. Examining ideas of boundaries, junctions and intersections, where one thing may start, end, or overlap another, these pieces aim to document the internal mapping of thoughts, as well as external paths taken.

I thought this may be useful to you Helen!

Bethany Walker

Today, i was talking through my project and my ideas with David Wright from Wearing It, and he suggested i look at an artist called Bethany Walker. 

Artist Statement

Bethany revisits everyday elements from the built environment through knitted and embroidered threads and fibres which are combined with concrete and cement. These details interpret our often overlooked surroundings of which concrete and cement is a significant and fascinating part.

She uses the combination of hard and soft materials to explore the reversal of the traditional viewpoints of inside/outside and to highlight concretes new 'fashionable' status which has seen its development from utility to luxury. 

Bethany uses both bought and found materials which reveal the contrast of new and worn, bright and dull, man-made and natural, all of which feature in the built environment. Found objects are manipulatedthrough stitch, knit, and print to translate the marks of the ground.

After sampling with clay, i think concrete could be a really interesting material to move on to and to work with. I have never used it as a textile material before, but from looking through Bethany's work, the idea of trapping materials really appeals and i think would link in well with the cyclical process i'm looking at with Hotspur. 

Magnetism Ahmed Mater

Ahmed Mater

http://ahmedmater.com/artwork/magnetism/fre/tim-mackintosh-smith/

'Ahmed Mater gives a twist to a magnet and sets in motion tens of thousands of particles of iron, a multitude of tiny satellites that forms a single swirling nimbus.'

Just really love the simplicity of the materials and the shapes the filings create from movement.

Peggy Fearne

Found this work whilst researching around my subject area. I love the work and find it is really unusual and sculptural which is exactly what i would like to create in my project. She also conveys ideas around repetition, similar to the ideas of collections i would like to convey.

Experimenting with Paper Folding

Today i have been experimenting with the idea of taking the 3D shapes and nets through a process which has been working, well photographing as i go along, which i will upload shortly. I am hoping to continue with this tomorrow, using my fabriano paper to allow me to develop into large scale pieces.

I have also started to create drawings from the shapes, similar to the style that Rachael Whiteread uses.

After the tutorial yesterday i have been thinking more about the presentation and exhibition ideas. I think i would like to present a range of photographs and drawings of the shapes as a 'collection', referring back to my original idea, and the idea of preserving history through the idea of photographs and possibly slides? Think at the moment this is the best way forward after over complicating things with numbers etc?

Process Art

Process art is an artistic movement as well as a creative sentiment where the end product of art and craft, the objet d’art, is not the principal focus. The 'process' in process art refers to the process of the formation of art: the gathering, sorting, collating, associating, patterning, and moreover the initiation of actions and proceedings. Process art is concerned with the actual doing and how actions can be defined as an actual work of art; seeing the art as pure human expression. Process art often entails an inherent motivation, rationale, and intentionality. Therefore, art is viewed as a creative journey or process, rather than as a deliverable or end product.

Found the above information on Wikipedia, whilst researching and felt it described my
the ideas behind my project really well. It is not necessarily the outcome that will be important, will present the process, and emphasise how i reached the outcome,

Slow Textiles...

http://slowtextiles.blogspot.co.uk/p/theoretical-frame.html

I have been reading their philosophy, and its quite interesting, its not specific to anyones work, but there is that mention of collaboration... lots of ideas about originality is a key focus and helping to;


show that there is a wealth of different ways in which we can go about building long-lasting environmental and social quality through the design, production and use of fashion and textiles that go beyond traditional ideas or expectations


It's quite a design based group, but I thought it fit in quite well/ complimented what we are doing, we are being quite science-y, experimenting and inventing -growing, making and using new materials, a project, where we all seem to be looking to express and represent something quite inventive as a group.

It thought it was just quite a nice example of a design philosophy, and there are quite a few interesting projects on the site. The slow movement in general is something that is worth a look too!

Paper Note...

Paper Note is an interesting software that changes recorded sound into patterns which can then be laser cut to create a 3D sound wave, I thought this was an interesting 3D representation of a sound wave and another clever way of making sound appear very real and accurate.

Audio Visual

Audio Visual is a project by Peter Crawley. These neatly stitched pieces on card show the waveforms of popular songs, visually representing a piece of Audio through simple stitch. 

Tomas Saraceno

Tomas Saraceno is a instillation artist that uses large spider-web like structures to create floating art works. I was especially interested in his suspended environments works, where he created artificial large scale mini environments to create a skyscape of the future. defiantly worth a look.

Sonja Baumel

I have been looking into the types of materials and possible ideas for the exhibition as i want to start producing final samples soon. I  have been researching artists/ designers to try and find inspiration.

One artist that really interests me at the moment, that also works with science which is a key theme of ours is Sonja Baumel. working within art, fashion, science and design Sonja produces, art objects, film, material research and costume.

One specific piece that really interests me is called- Invisible Membrane.  It explores the ideas of identities, environments and second skin.

Some amazing ideas-   http://www.sonjabaeumel.at/projects/invisible-membrane

The Centre Of Silence...

http://vimeo.com/15578905

The link above is a really interesting sound installation called 'The Centre of Silence', the Instillation consists of an empty room and sound, nothing else. The voice describes things like the SPACE and MOVEMENT of air molecules in the room. I thought some of the speach content to the Instillation was very interesting in comparison with some of our themes around our own work.

Grönlund-Nisunen - Wave of Matter

This Instillation Piece was created by an art Duo called Tommi Grönlund and Petteri Nisunen based in Helsinki, it produces short waves of noise as the piece tilts from side to side on its square bace.... Beautiful instillation and very calming. 

  

The Cube Gallery …

I Visited the Cube Gallery today to have a look at the space and the current Exhibition. I was thinking after Monday and what Kate said about possible places in Manchester we could have our Exhibition held, that the cube would be ideal. Once we have our theme and exhibition ideas clearer in our head I thought we could all go in as a group and ask about some space. If anyone has any other suggestions for possible places in Manchester comment on this post and we could inquire into them as well. 

Roger Ballen- Shadow Land: Photographs 1983-2011

Manchester Art Gallery is worth a visit this month Roger Ballen has a Photography Exhibition on called Shadow Land. He is a Photographer from New York and has lived and worked in South Africa for some time. In the Exhibition he is exploring the hidden world of small south African towns, knocking on people’s doors, he discovered a world inside these houses which was to have a profound effect on his work… these interiors have lead his photography in similar ways through the exhibition and his style is extreme and menacing… but worth a look.  

Ideas For Exhibition…

After this weeks tutorial and listening to everyone’s ideas, I have been trying to think of a possible link or theme that our groups Exhibition could follow. The one thing I came up with is that all of our work seems to have some kind of scientific link. I think it is pretty Obvious that we were all inspired by the Lauren Bowker talk and our work seems to have some thoughts involving, future textiles, order, numerical references, systems, mathematic equations, cyclical Processes, Physics, sound, magnetism and space’s. I just wanted to put this link forward to see what you all think about it and how we could possibly use this for a sort of theme or starting point to help fuel our pieces for the exhibition. Please comment below and tell me your ideas. 

It's All Different Now...

Recently, i have been looking in to street and place names and how they have changed over time. I have looked at 2 really interesting books; one named 'It's All Different Now...Some Manchester memories' and the other 'Origins of Street Names in the City Centre of Manchester,' both published around 1985.

But what first got me interested in the history of street names was a blog post i found on the British Genealogy website after searching for names found on buildings in the Northern Quarter. This rather passionate, opinionated 'grumpy old man' (his words, not mine!) made some very good points about our sense of identity in a city such as Manchester. He says, "I'm sure Manchester is not the only city set on the wholesale destruction of traditional place and street names." He then lists examples of some lovely street names that have changed to universal names, i think making us lose a sense of belonging and individuality.

From this very interesting research i then went on to look at the books, which gave me a much better understanding of why the old street names were named as the were over 150 years ago!
One particular favourite of mine was 'Daub Holes', the land now occupied by Piccadilly Gardens. Daub in fact means clay which underlay this plot of land. The daub was dug up as it was a very good building material, leaving holes which the Manchester rain quickly filled.

From this research, the idea of filling a hole or an empty space with water really appeals to me. I have noticed that Hotspur has this cyclical process of water entering the building due to rain wearing away the fabric or the outside and becoming rotten and rusty; but then water is also leaving the building due to sinks and other forms of water disposal. The introduction of clay (daub) could also lead to some really interesting samples, hopefully pushing this idea further!

Emily Crompton

I thought the points and ideas that Emily crompton had and conveyed in her talk yesterday were really interesting. I love the way the stood out from alternative artist and architects, as she really valued the public opinion and took into consideration, their wants and desires.  I was inspired by the determination she had and the passion towards her ideas. Even though she knew they wouldn't necessarily be taken into consideration by the council, she pursued the, which i felt i could take something from.

I loved her st.Peters square project and how she took into consideration the wants and desires from different age groups and combined them.

Systems

After deciding to base my project around collections, i still felt i needed a theme to go alongside this. Over the past few weeks i researched into the idea of collections, drawing and mark making from the slide collections as an initial starting point. I really liked the idea of repetition and linear lines created. I looked into ideas about systems and routine and how everything follows a linear pattern. Leading on to the idea of 'grid references', and numbers from there. However, this didn't encourage many visual sources and images. Although on the maps, it was the lines, both straight and organic lines that really interested me and thought of how it would create unusual textile pieces.

The colours and linear shapes on the map above was really interesting and its striking, due to the colours and pattern. I am inspired to create a 3D outcome and after a tutorial i have now settled on the theme of mathematical coordinates, and how this determines folds and lines.

BLANK !

http://www.blankmediacollective.org/join/

Looks like a good group to follow, tweet and FB! The mini talk from Barney today was very interesting, getting involved, doing a bit of everything seems to be the thing to do... I think we should also definitely try to get the event on the saturdays at Platt Hall!

Blank Media Collective...