Emily Phillips

Here is the recording of birdsong that I originally wanted to play along side my show, however, I couldn't get rid of the background noise completely so I decided not to use it as the loud background noise could potentially eliminate the calming effect I have tried to create. I wanted to add birdsong to my show because when I was researching the effect that nature has on wellbeing, I found that nature sounds, eg birdsong or a river has a calming effect- these sounds "physically alter the connections in our brains, reducing our bodies natural fight or flight instinct"

This week we were putting up our end of year shows and this is the outcome! I wanted to keep it very minimal as this means that it is calm and peaceful- which is the feeling that I am aiming to create with this show. I am pleased with how everything has come together! I have more information about what my project is about in previous posts.

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”,- What Does Sustainability Mean for the Art World? (invaluable.com)

"As with sustainable architecture, sustainable artists now seek to optimize the use of natural resources to reduce the environmental footprint of their work." Art and sustainability (activesustainability.com)

For a lot of my project I have looked at eco-friendly material, since my project is focused on the connectivity and impact between man and nature- and how it positively impacts our wellbeing. So I wanted to create art that was made from eco-friendly technqiues. I think we all have a responsability to look after the earth, and, especially since climate change, the great pacific garbage patch, species extinction or endangerment etc is becoming such a large problem- we should do as much as we can individually (and collectively) as artists to prevent it becoming worse.

Making my work as sustainable as I could meant that it felt closer to nature, which I really liked since that is one of the aims of my final piece. I used recycled wood for the frames, eco-friendly print techniques such as eco-printing and cyanotype and I re-used scraps of left over fabric for boro patches. Silk is arguably sustainable as it is bio-degradable, however silk worms are often harmed in the process of getting the silk so the ethical aspect of silk is up for debate.

Sustainable art not only is eco-friendly but it also pushes boundaries:

"The idea of sustainability in art has led to groundbreaking works that leverage unique media and send powerful messages about climate change, political policy, and social injustice. It is through sustainable art that artists hope to not only change how their work is made, but to inspire social and cultural change as well."- What Does Sustainability Mean for the Art World? (invaluable.com)

Although my final piece isnt 100% sustainable (the paints and inks I used came in plastic), I think that if we all do our bit to becoming a little more sustainable, it will have a huge impact.

If you want to learn more about sustainability and art, here is an article you can read:

What Does Sustainability Mean for the Art World? (invaluable.com)

Hannah lamb is a key artist who initially inspired my project title of "Mending". She is a textiles artist who plays with mixed media and stitch. I am especially inspired by her cyanotype prints, I found out the process of how to create cyanotype prints from her book "poetic cloth" and I am especially inspired by her work "Baptism". She bases a lot of her work around nature and translates this into something more abstract yet recognisable. I discovered Hannah Lamb during my last project which focused on sustainability and the environment. She looks at wabi-sabi a lot in her work, something that I have also looked at in my project.

I have also been very inspired by her "art in the woods" and this influenced me to take photos of my final piece in the woods also.

"Her creative practice focusses on recording a sense of place through careful observation and material investigation. She works with a range of textile processes, including stitch, print and fabric manipulation, creating textile artworks from an intimate scale to larger installation works." - hannahlamb.co.uk

Here is a video of my final piece in the woods. I videoed it because I wanted to show the movement, as even though they are in frames they maintain a delicate feel when blowing in the wind. I think that the video has also made the piece come alive because of the birdsong, and I think it creates a calming and relaxed feel. I have another video with better lighting but there was little wind so didn't give the same effect.

Here is one of my final pieces for my FMP project where I was looking at the restorative effects of nature and healing through nature. These 2 pieces are made from eco-printed or cyanotyped silk and I have painted or stitched over them, I have also tried to create a Wabi-Sabi effect. This piece is supposed to have a calming effect to reflect how you would feel if you are actually in nature and I have included elements that may do this (semi-realistic images of nature, soft colours & delicate fabric). I was inspired by Hannah lamb to photograph this piece in the woods, as she has done this with her previous work.

I have more in depth explanations in my sketchbook.

Over the Easter holidays I created some cyanotypes and I have just finished painting on a section of it. The painting is of a blue tit and I’m including this in my final piece because it’s a common garden bird that everybody can recognise so will hopefully make the piece relatable and remind people of when they have seen birds in their gardens.

I also cyanotyped on a large section of silk to use as one of the main focus points. This cyanotype includes a person surrounded by nature. I wanted the expression of the person to be serene to give a peaceful feel to my final piece. However, I struggled making a cyanotype this big and this was the best outcome I could get. There is some uneven-ness in the colour and I think this is due to the application of the cyanotype liquid (it was difficult to get an even coat across a large surface). The acetate with the model on it starting curling upwards during the exposure (even though I tried to weigh it down) so the facial features are not super clear- however this was unavoidable as I couldn’t get a piece of heavy glass big enough to weigh down the entire cyanotype. But overall you can still see the expression which is the main thing and I like how the person sort of looks hidden.

The first panel for my final piece is underway! I have finished painting the flowers (I was inspired by a summer meadow) and now I’m going to stitch into it to show the idea of mending through nature. I am also thinking of Lino printing a canopy of leaves at the top but I don’t want to make it too busy.

Ethics and morals within the art world have been disputed for a long period of time, however, there are still no codes or guidelines for ethics within art. This is because some people believe that there is no such thing as “unethical” art. Having no rigid guidelines allows art to challenge belief systems and be boundary- pushing. On- the- other hand it allows artists to create work that is seen to be offensive, such as “Myra” by Marcus Harvey. Harvey re-created the iconic police photograph of Myra Hindley out of the hand prints of the children who were murdered by her and her husband. The Royal Academy, where the piece was shown, was called out for the “sick exploitation of dead children” by the charity “Kidscape” and the painting was vandalised twice. This is because the work disregarded the pain and trauma that the families of the children were going through, and seemingly glorified Myra Hindley by hanging her picture in a prestigious gallery. However, Sir Norman Rosenthal argued that “Harveys Painting was the single most important work of the sensation exhibition”. This controversial piece has sparked a debate on ethics and whether art should have ethical codes to follow.

I believe that ethics should have a place within the art world. I believe that the viewer should be able to “actively engage with the art as they do with the world they live in” therefore, artworks need to follow the ethical codes that the world follows, as the artwork is not separate to the history of the world. However, I can see that ethics could be viewed as “censorship” as art is extremely subjective and down to the individual person to interpret. In addition, challenging your belief systems is a very powerful form of art. The artist, however, has to take responsibility for the consequences that the artwork may produce, since the viewer may not understand the artists intentions, therefore, it is the artists role to make their intentions known.

Not only do artists need to look at the effect that their artwork will have on the viewer, they also need to look at the idea of appropriation. A core part of art includes imitation and copying of artistic styles to learn and improve as an artist. Therefore, the concept originality and context is also at the heart of this debate.

Banksy re-worked Monet's most famous painting “Water Lilies”. On the surface this could be seen as appropriation as he used an almost identical composition, however, the context of the piece is vastly different to Monet's. Banksy used Monet's fame to make a statement: that the consumerist society is contributing to environmental destruction. Therefore, is it appropriation if the context and intention of the piece is vastly different? I believe that in Banksy's case, everyone understood that he was playing with Monet's idyllic painting, so credit had already been given to Monet. However, I believe that if artists utilise artwork from a more “underground” artist, then credit should also be given to them.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myra_(painting)

https://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/articles/should-art-by-ethical-by-elizabeth-adekunle/

https://www.myartbroker.com/artist/banksy/spotlight-on-banksys-show-me-the-monet/

This week I’ve been looking at Kintsugi, as I am looking at the idea of mending for my FMP. I showed this through painting, using the idea of kintusgi on a person instead. I was trying to show how our past makes up who we are, using the gold cracks to signify this.