#bct1

All the materials I used and why;

Layers –A3 6mm MDF board – I decided on a A3 size because I believed A4 would be too small to be viewed from a distance and would make some features barely noticeable. I chose 6mm over 3mm because it is not flexible like the 3mm, meaning that I wouldn’t have to worry about it breaking/bending when I’m carrying/working on it. I wanted the layers to be available to stand on their own and just have the sides as a guide to line them up. I chose MDF because it was available at Gordon Harris and can be laser cut.

Sides – A4(ish) 4.5mm clear Perspex – I wanted clear Perspex so that the viewer could view into the piece. Gordon Harris only had two A3 sized clear Perspex left (which was 4.5mm) and the next order was too far away, so I laser cut them to make four pieces.

Bottom – Custom 3mm MDF board – I bought 3mm MDF boards for the bottom of the box so that it created a sturdy base for the layers to sit on. I chose 3mm because that was the gap between the top of the layers and the top of the clear Perspex, making everything line up right.

Paint – Acrylic – I chose acrylic paint as my medium because it is the least expensive and it is something that I am very familiar with. It is also the paint I have at home and oil paints take far too long to dry for this project.

Pamphlets/Plaque – 120gsm paper – Normal paper was too thin but I didn’t want it too thick that it would be hard to bend into pamphlets. I also had to consider that I was sticking two pieces together.

Pamphlet box/Platform for plaque – Black Foam board – I chose a foam board because it is light enough that I don’t have to worry about the weight of it making the tape not stick, is easy to cut with a knife and is solid enough that it won’t bend. I chose black because it matched my design.

Side Lines – Black tape – I chose black tape because it offers the colour I need and provides straight lines. Far cleaner than painting them on and it sticks to the Perspex whereas paint does not do so well on it.

Glue – Uhu Special Glue – This is a glue that my sister uses for uni projects and works very well for wooden modelling repairs.

Mounting – Mounting Tape – Mounting tape is a foam like double sided tape. It gave more surface area to stick on the plinth rather than normal double sided tape.

Presenting – Plinth – I wanted a plinth because it is higher than a table, meaning that the viewer doesn’t have to bend down so far and lets the viewer walk around each piece.

Venire Alla Luce - Come to Life

When we first were told about this project, I was extremely excited because it was entirely about our ideas and it didn’t need to fit inside a specific previous project parameter. I think it helped me, and my classmates, subconsciously think about what sort of work I would like to lean towards and which papers I want to take next year. I didn’t think that I would go into art specifically, but after looking at all of my projects I’ve noticed that art is a major influencing factor.

If I look back, I honestly can’t pinpoint exactly how I came up with this idea. I read the brief and suddenly decided that I wanted to recreate famous artworks so that the viewer would feel more connected to the painting and art in general. The 3D tunnel box idea came from previous work that I have done.

What I think made this project a success was having a strong idea from the start. Even though it was a DIY project, I stayed within the mind-set of the previous assignments by creating a project that influenced the people/audience and not just doing it for personal benefits. Running the idea past a tutor proved extremely helpful as well, as if I got the “all clear” to proceed. By having a strong “Why?” behind my project I didn’t need to drastically change my original concept. In fact, my concept is the same as the proposal I submitted in Week 1 but is more defined. This gave me a lot of time to research, make concepts and refine my idea.

One thing that I found interesting about my project was that it didn’t have a “technology” aspect to it. Being “Creative Technologies”, one would think that technology is a big factor of our degree, and it is. But I don’t think it has to be incorporated in each project. I chose to focus more on what I believe that “Colab” is; acquiring multiple disciplinary skills to become transdisciplinary people. For this project it was about joining philosophy/research and art into one and for that I didn’t need technology. I wasn’t going to add technology just because everyone else did. Not having technology also proved a great advantage since I didn’t have to use a power source and worry about all of the coding.

Gathering materials and paying for certain things became quite a problem. Being a first year I experienced all the problems of Gordon Harris running out of supplies and the laser cutter being fully booked. It definitely made me have to change my designs and make quick decisions, but I am extremely happy with the outcome that it doesn’t matter to me now.

Critically judging my own work, some of my painting could have been higher quality. Even though my feedback on it is fantastic, I know that it could have been done better. This was due to time and having a lack of motivation at some points.

I really tried to focus on the professional look of it all. Doing little things such as painting every inch black and printing out pamphlets on 120gsm paper, really made the whole project look fantastic.

I loved the use of progress reports. Getting feedback each week and getting pointed at references helped refine and add contextual research to my idea. Much better than getting feedback at the end saying that I should have done this and this.

Things I would like to do next time is to explore. Art is a safe bubble for me and I now want to try different disciplines to see what I like and don’t like.

The biggest lesson I have learnt from this project is to make sure that every little piece has a reason to be there. Constantly asking why I should put this in or take it out and making sure you have contextual research to fall back on.

[ Dillon : Navy ] Practical

This video was made as part of my practical role is to actively generate ideas on behalf of my current research and the research in my group. Thanatopsis, by William Cullen Bryant. Unfortunately the video is too short and the footage that was captured on my DSLR camera was to out of focus [don’t buy canon] to incorporate in the video, next time i would've liked to filmed a time-lapse in a natural ambience capturing green materials. I’ve enjoyed filming this small segment for my research as it crosses disciplines of qualitative knowledge shown, the objects mentioned in text could change perspectives when looking from a wider scale, makes us appreciate this knowledge and surrounding. Guess thats the whole point of this Assignment.

Image: Cross Disciplinary Learning. Different perspectives to of find a final understanding in this case a final outcome.

Background:    Relating Back to Thanatopsis.

In this poem the "still voice or natures voice," nature reminds humans that in a short while, they will no longer see the sun. Their physical form will no longer exist, either in the ground where it is laid, or in the ocean. The earth that nourishes them will reclaim them. No trace of individuality will remain; all that is distinctive to the person will be mixed ‘forever with the elements’. The person's remains will be a "brother" to rocks and the earth that the farmer plows. The references of natural  materials such as leaves, twigs, soil, stones and shells gives the audience an understanding of the ‘elements surrounding them’. I focused mainly on the first stanza of the poem. 

For my Practical role I’ve decided to generate artwork or a poster template based on the research of my fellow students in my group. The Qualitative [Katriel] and Quantitive [Anastasia] research presented on the blog will contribute to the overall design of the subject of Death. Throughout this process Symbolism and Visual features will portray what the group has researched. My passion for Graphic Design plays  a huge role in this procedure i’ve chosen. Furthermore, the design of these summarised events will have hidden symbols that will be revealed in the end relating to the subject of death. E.G The Chinese symbol located under the thin heading stands for the discomfort for a mental and physical state [little things].

Anastasia [ Quantitive ] recently set up a survey for the BCT students to full out, the results were interesting and the statistics were shown as follows.

I’ve painted all the base colours for the layers so they are ready for detail. I’m not worried about the hills since they will be covered in flowers so you actually won’t see the green at all. I’m also thinking about painting the borders black all around. 

This is what it looks like at the moment.

When I looked at the proposal feedback, it asked if I’m looking into psychology or semiotics. This surprised me because I didn’t even think about those two things. Not to mention that I have no idea what semiotics means. After talking to Laurent, I decided to look into what it is.

Semiotics (also known as semiology) is generally described as the “study of signs”. It was defined by Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce.

Saussure says that a “sign” is composed of two things;

A ‘signifier’ – The form that the sign takes

The ‘signified’ – The concept it represents

For example; if there is the word “Open” on a shop doorway, the “sign” is consisting of;

-          A signifier: “Open”

-          A signified concept: the shop is open for business.

Pairing a ‘signifier’ and ‘signified’ is called ‘signification’.

Peirce defined a sign as ““something which stands to somebody for something”. He broke semiotics into three branches;

An icon – Resembles its referent (a person or thing). Example; road signs

An index – Something associated with the referent. Example; Smoke means there is a fire

A symbol – Something that is related the referent only by conventional and cultural specific. Example; words of different languages.

There is a lot of research and talk about semiotics but I only want the basics and then delve further into it if I have to. 

Now I can see how this effects my project because semiotics is about seeing something and us, humans, interpreting them. I’m trying to make new paintings using visual objects that represent something and I want my audience to interpret it correctly, instead of separately have their own interpretations. I now am going back to the key points I found in each painting and research about common objects that people associate with it. E.g A cross = Christianity. Then re-evaluating my concepts.

Laurent also showed me some art work by Vittorio Ciccarelli who also manipulated paintings by putting different objects on top. There’s no written explanation about his series “Bookmark” but Laurent talked about how you can have two different objects that mean two separate things, but when you put them together they mean something else. As if you are making a new sign/meaning. E.g A cross = Christianity. A cross in the ground = graveyard.

This means that I have to think about my creations as a whole but also the objects within them that overlap with other objects.

This is going to make my creations more meaningful and the objects are going to have a purpose.

References

Semiotic Terminology. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/terminology.html

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. (2014). Semiotics: Study of Signs. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/science/semiotics

Daniel Chandler. (2014). Semiotics for Beginners. Retrieved from http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem01.html