#major study project

After a semester of pushing myself deeper into the realm of digital media arts, I realized that my future rests within the realm of performance art's relationship to video production.

This meant that I needed to account for those goals with this project in mind. What would look the best on my portfolio and for a showreel? What skills should I enhance or develop in pursuit of those goals?

I considered this as I worked on my video essay assignment for Exploring Professional Practices. I spoke with both of my interview candidates for two hours each, both dedicating the first hour of speaking to the project, and the second for my personal guidance.

I found that they both had a well of advice and knowledge for me as an artist. One of the main things they advised was that it doesn't matter what hardware or software I have in development, just that I can prove to be able to do it.

So I jumped into the baby steps part of developing my idea. It started with talking to Ian about what potential programs I could work in, since the goal at this point is to prove my capacity as someone who is adaptable at learning new programs and as an artist who is capable of working within the medium of performance art.

I also needed to answer a few questions:

What performance would be happening?

What performers would I have?

What themes would I cover?

I decided to break it down into initial sketches with a mix-and-match approach.

The video wall Using the video wall could prove to be really interesting! It is a completely immersive space, and would allow for a performance to be completely embedded into the artwork as such. The main issue is that I have zero clue how to program it and would likely have to heavily rely on others to get it done, and the space itself will likely not be easily accessible or ideal over the summer.

Flat projection This is what I worked on in semester A! I think in doing this method I have to move through the guilt of it being "too simple." Even as I think about it I think back to the advice of just making it good with what I have, and I feel confident about this option as it would allow me to be in the most control and would be the most reasonable.

Projection Mapping This option is the one that seems the most difficult to me. While it could be really cool, this would again involve a lot of factors beyond my control and could potentially lead to frustration in not being able to have weeks of rehearsal like the bigger productions that use it do.

CONCLUSION: I would be going with option 2 and using flat projections!

Now to think about the performance:

A. Band or a musician With a lot of extremely talented friends who are musicians, this would be an AWESOME collaboration! Being able to design with music in mind is essential to the type of projects I want to work on. But I think this option would prove to be the biggest challenge for me personally. Thinking through it made me realize that I would essentially have to act as the entire production manager if I were to go this route, and it would leave a lot of factors outside of my control. In an ideal situation where I could do this, I would be able to be commissioned by a band rather than setting up the concert itself. My replication of it doesn't seem like it would hold accurately to what skills I am aiming to develop and present.

B. Poetry in motion With all of the kinetic typography out there this option seems like it would be extremely fun in terms of visual potential. Pairing kinetic typography with specific animations AND an actual, physical performance would allow for an enhanced experience in relation to the poetry itself. It also only has to be one person this way, and in that I could have more control over the actual production process itself. While simple in terms of the performer's movements, I am not here to prove the performer, I am here to prove I can collaborate and enhance what they are doing and I think this would do just that.

C. Theatrical Scene This option would involve getting some of my acting friends together to do a scene, and I could design the visuals. If it were an acting scene it would have to be really stagnant, and I don't love that in all honesty. Making a still image of a set is not very dynamic in my opinion. And if it is a musical scene I run into issues pertaining to the ownership of the project. Especially after last semester's project not following specific copyright rules, I want this to be something that is ENTIRELY mine, and anything with music throws that out the window. But it could be pretty cool regardless to actually work with actors. And even in that I'd still become the director in a sense, and that's not what I am setting out to do.

CONCLUSION: I am picking option B, the poetry in motion!

Designs for the Major Study Project are shown above. As preliminary sketch work and photographs are at sketchbook stage for a few more weeks, it is mostly the finished design work I am working on as there are so many of them to complete with each one having four different colourways, and a branding guideline for the book. There will also be card and fabric printing, so plenty to work on. So for the moment, the design sheets remain in the A3 and A4 sketchbooks… Finally, a taster for the New York Pattern Book – a hardback A4 landscape reference book for designers to use with a smattering of lighthearted historical facts and figures. This is a book for the english lady or gentlemen who appreciates colour, form and design.

Evaluation

For the Major Project I wanted to show the breadth of my abilities within art and design craft. My strengths are in ‘ideas’, and in the production of craft-based work within a range of designs in a project. This New York project would be an ideal subject to explore and redefine works within one subject. The initial approach was to record as many subjects about New York as possible, starting with taking photographs around New York City, and writing notes during the seminar we were invited to at Chermayeff’s Studio in the city.

The idea came to me that as I felt we were in such as busy place that I was safer taking photographs looking down at the ground. This meant I was taking photos of gutters, pavements, litter, fire hydrants, et.. This also grew out of insecurity that my rented SLR camera may be grabbed from my neck. As I reviewed my photographs each evening, I realised that the beauty of the mundane items was growing important when I saw the beautiful patterns I had captured in the manhole covers on the streets. I saved the digital files and cut them out, and when carried on taking photos of items I saw from the ground upwards. When I got back to the UK I did some research on the background and manufacture of all of the items I liked the most Including the Yellow Taxis, the Manhole Covers, Fire Hydrants, Tree Paving, Empire State (details), Fifth Avenue, Central Park, etc. The idea came to me to produce a book based upon the patterns I saw during my stay, and a visual map of the journey and the time we spent as a group as a chronological record which would stay with me, and be a good graphic communication to use as a guide to others visiting the city.

I allowed myself four weeks to produce the seven patterns I liked the most and the ones which had the most potential to relate to patterns which would be interesting and unusual enough to appeal to young people (the visual map); and to the business entrepreneur in interiors or graphic design (the pattern book), to use as a resource aid for them to produce items for sale. I interviewed John Hall, one of the exhibition organisers as he has a business designing and producing his own patterns on licence to the interior design industry. He gave me his opinion about what he thought would work, and then advised me to concentrate on one area for patterns and see where the subject could lead. It could turn out to be an in-depth book about manhole patterns, in the USA for example. and the related structure beneath our feet, but he advised me not to try to cover too many topics within one outcome, i.e., a pattern book. I think that this proved to be the best source of advice during the whole of the project, apart from the suggestion of the company about wallpaper design – http://www.wallpaperdirect.com from my tutor David Osbaldestin. So the centre of my project was now established, and it would show all of the most inspirational patterns with different versions associated with a colour branding which covered greys, blues, classic and linear versions for each design. Therefore I would have at least 28 different colour ways based upon only 7 patterns. I then decided to make the book more enticing to an audience who might see the book in a visitor centre, so I put designs and colour ways on the left-hand side pages in an A4 landscape book, with some interesting facts below this, and on the opposite page the facts would have some established figures and historical facts about the piece of equipment, i.e., fire hydrant that a New Yorker (or an english visitor) might find very interesting, as he may not have come across these facts anywhere else… The work would be sold with greetings cards, greetings wrapping paper and bespoke items made from the fabric I designed with the patterns.

The additional parts of the project included the design and production of a specific ‘Fall 2016’ edition of the ‘New Yorker’ magazine, which I designed with a topical Donald Trump presidential candidate for the US presidency as the subject. He would be introduced to the reader as sitting in my back garden on my garden swing amongst the apples, pears and pumpkins looking at the reader while contemplating the enormity of the task of winning the election would bring. Interestingly enough, I think because I decided to use screen printing as a medium for producing this cover, the expression I managed to get in his face looks inscrutable. Therefore, it would do just as well for the cover even if he loses the election, and so all my bases would be covered. This was quite a challenge for me as I have not done a huge amount of screen-printing. The Caitlin Moran cover was done with five colours, whereas this one would be produced with seven colours in total, and could be printed onto a coloured paper stock to introduce another colour, such as the orange representing Halloween, or deep brown for a night time shot.