Ellie Newman

Over the past Few months i’ve learnt alot within this project as in how i work and what i need to do in future projects to better myself. From the start of this project i was focused on exploring collabrative projects within Art and Science. They are Two topics ive always been intrested in and I wanted to see how could benifit from combing the two together. I have really enjoyed this project as we’ve been able to take it in any direction we wanted and been able to get alot of feed back from peers within the project. By knowing we had a show at the end of the project it pushed me to make my piece so it had a professional  finish and didnt look ‘cheap’ or just thrown together. The chewing gum is my favour part of the project and in a way i wish i had just stuck with the theme of chewing gum and left the lightbulb idea. Chewing Gum is a throw away material that nobody really cares about yet its a brilliant modeling tool and creates great texture. I wanted to use chewing gum as it allows you to add ink into it to get colour and patterns within it. I also liked the idea of the chewing gum being connected to the body as we have to chew , chewing gum in order to get its texture which means our brain is sending messages around our body to chew it. As much as i love Art and Science i think in the future i need to not be so focused on just that as im limiting myself as to what materials im using and what processes im doing. When reflecting on this project i havent been as open to things as i have been in past proejcts which isnt a road i want to go down.I really like the light element of my work as i think it gives it a different feel. It allows the audience to be interative with my work and enables people to get invovled instead of just looking over it.  Overall i was please with my display within the Gallery as i belive it looks professional and draws people in becasue of the texture and strage material used. Within future projects im going to push my self more into trying new methods and ideas before being set on a theme or certain area as i feel this is where im lacking within this project. When reflecting back on the project i feel i was to quick with my idea. I feel i had set in stone my idea too early before i had explored the potential of the project. 

The whole idea behind my work to was explore the idea behind lightbulbs being assosited with the brain. I was eager to explore the different textures  within brains and how other artists view the brain or body within art. Everyone assumes all brains are the same when in actual fact there all  different just the same as our fingerprint or skin type. I wanted to use the chewing gum as its a throw away material thats seen as a non art material. I believe the chewing gum as gone through a process with my brain as its sending signals in order to procduce the chewed chewing gum. 

2 being on a switch so ones on , ones off  , 1 being on a dimmer and 1 flickering. 

Chewing Gum Lightbulb close ups with Light : 

Chewing Gum Ligthbulb close ups without Light : 

This is a simple drawing of what i plan to show at the exhibiton. I plan to have my peice on the wall , attaching it by using wall brackets. As my piece is interactive it needs to be a reasonable hight so that people are able to reach it.It also needs to be placed on the wall because of needing to use a plug socket.  

This is the coiled lightbulb , lit up. I dont like the coiled ligthbulb for a number of reasons as i dont like the number of gaps within the chewing gum making it really look like lava. I think this would look better if it was fully covered or having a thinner layer of chewing gum. 

After deciding to stick with chewing gum I wanted to see how i could play with the material in order to get different effects and textures. These are 2 examples of some exsperiments. One is a coiled texture to see if it would look like a realistic brain and the other is a thinly strechted out texture. I think overall they work as different textures but i feel like the coiled one is too thick and takes away the imaginative side of the lightbulbs as having it look exaclty like a brain takes the auidences opinion away from it. 

http://www.simonedecker.com/WorksChewinginVenice10.html 

http://www.julia-randall.com/series-blown.html

After reflecting on the formative assessment and speaking to my dad a lot as he's an electrician i came up with a new plan. I want to make a circuit board but not just a normal circuit board. I plan on having 5 different lights bulbs but only 4 of them being lit. They shall all be lit up differently , Dull , Dimming , Bright and Flickering ( in order to show different states / types of brains , and referring back to the frankenstein element.) and then each bulb will be covered in the chewing gum mixture but different types. Thick , really thin , normal and coiled will be the different effects of chewing gum placed on the lightbulbs. All of the lightbulbs will need to be LED in order for the chewing gum not to melt and for the lights to work properly. I will also be having a switch board allowing me to make the circuit interactive as people will be able to do it themselves. I have also decided to add the original filament pieces in the middle bulb as i feel without having it the audience may not get the link between brain circuits. This is a decisions that maybe change when actually making the piece. 

At this point in the project i had got ‘Artist Block’ , i was very unsure where to take my project and how to progress. When i explain to Jane , Steve P and My peers it was clear to see that the message i wanted in my work wasn't coming cross very clear. Steve P also said he doesn't understand why id connected the two parts of the lightbulb together as he felt i was restricting myself to the original shape of a lightbulb. After a long talk and exploration of ideas we came to the conclusion that its the texture and material used that really grabs my attention in art work.This is what i want to use within my work and to be the main feature . Im going to focus on covering the lightbulbs in different surfaces patterns of chewing gum to see the different effects possible .Rather than just focusing on the filament. After speaking jane we also said that there needs to be an element of light involved for it to feel complete. I plan on making the chewing gum covered lightbulbs actually light up depending on if this is possible or not because of the materials. 

i really like this as an overall piece as its full of texture and pattens. The base is again made from chewing gum and ink but  has worked better as its on a bigger scale and has been allowed to create its own patterns and fixtures while drying. I plan to present this at my formative assessment on Tuesday in order to get feedback and get some knowledge as to how to move forward with it. 

The thing that really attracted me to the lightbulb to start with is the Filament inside as it looks ‘frankenstein’ like. I decided to go back to the Filament but create a kind of abstract sculpture. I wanted a way of incorporating the filament, the chewing gum model and light. I looked into using a strip light which are 12v which is a low voltage meaning there safe to use but still bright. I liked the idea of creating something shows light circuits and brain circuits within one piece. I plan on working on it over the weekend to add more of the bubblegum texture and more of the light strips to make it more of a ‘circuit’ 

Because of these problems i have looked at how to use alternative lightbulbs to place inside the brain and being able to light it. I have used a 12v lightbulb which is a lot duller but I'm able to battery power it. I have then placed it inside the foam / chewing gum creation. I believe this works to a degree as i really like the different textures used however I'm don't like how it takes the idea away from the original filament. It also would be able to lit for very long as the batteries are not very strong meaning it wouldn't last as a constant piece. 

Within this experiment i was trying to find a way of incorporating the lightbulb filament within the expanding foam creation. I don't like this placement as it feels to distance from the filament and the brain creation. I also don't like how it make it a bit to literal of the brain part. I also feel that for my piece to be successful and to communicate ‘circuits’ probably i need to have a light element within the piece.