Study Task 6: Interdisciplinary

Playing the Violin

This year I made the decision to learn how to play the violin. It has been a life-long dream to be able to do so but, as I have very little sight, I was always worried about not being able to read sheet music. It was a silly hang-up to have as I create my drawings with only 8% vision in one eye and this year I realised I was just making excuses for fear of more trials and tribulations. However, living in a new city with only a few friends left from the Access course who moved onto LCA, I found that since the started of the degree course I have only been focusing on my Guide Dog and her personal care (grooming, playing, walking, free runs) and my module work. Not good! I needed something else in my life to ensure that I didn't burn out my visual creativity! With my grandad passing away in the summer, a good sum of money meant I was able to research properly into YouTube videos, website reviews and music shops to find a good model that works best for me - looking beyond a standard student grade model that would squeak, produce a flat sound with no personality or individuality and eventually need to be upgraded in the future.

Such exhaustive research links very much with the researching process I found I had enjoyed during the Visual Narratives module. I was able to go beyond just going to Amazon and searching for a violin (though that was a good starting point) just as I was able to go beyond visiting the library or websites for convenience sake when making my picture book. Visting music shops in Leeds and talking with professional musicians, playing on second-hand models, reaching out to a violin tutor on YouTube who posts regular reviews and demonstrations and contacting a manufacturer all meant I had a range of options to choose from and exemplified my problem solving skills quite nicely!
 Now that I have my violin, a beautiful Fiddlerman Artist Violin made from maple and spruce and fitted with ebony accents, mother of pearl inlays and a carbon fibre bow, and researched a local violin tutor in Leeds - I am truly well on my way to realising one of my life-long dreams. It was finding that confidence and (monetary) support that catapulted this, just as with the brave decision to go back into education and get my art degree.

In my illustrative outcomes it takes iteration and roughs for a foundation to be built on which to develop a deeper understanding of a motif to perfect an outcome... much like with the violin. Practice and experimentation allows for a 'motif' of notes to be understood enough so that it can be made individual and interesting. That process of repetition allows me to think things over in my mind, have some time to myself and make sense of things happening in my life at the moment allowing for personal development. Translating sheet music to sound interplays with the ability to translate a thought in the mind's eye as a physical interpretation on the page of a sketchbook and I play by ear by following what my tutor plays to make this work for me. It is difficult, as is creating illustrations, but it's a challenge I feel I get a lot of benefit from and something I hope continues to strengthen my personal life and my practice as an illustrator - reassuring me to not give up, keep trying and experimenting and finding new ways to approach a piece, or a brief, in my work.

Contextual Research: Visual Communication

Raphaël Garnier

Raphaël Garnier was suggested to me by my tutor and is someone who was previously mentioned in a Visual Language presentation. His weird and wonderful shapes and forms express narrative, perhaps thoughts of a new or alien ecosystem. Visual language of mark-making at varying frequencies is used to convey texture, surface area, pattern and material - which is quite free form and illustrative that also has a graphic design edge to it. Garnier works in textile design which can be seen in his use of pattern, mark making and simplicity - possibly informed by composing textile patterns and the properties of thread, yarn or wool?

Garnier likes to explore worlds that don't exist yet and continues experimentation with string and rope-like forms, exhausting combinations, referencing DNA - an ongoing symbol woven through many of his works. Garnier likes the process of turning an illustration into something more three-dimensional like a ceramic piece - something I am considering doing in this project. Using black and white unifies his work, identifying links between them just like the rope. In an interview I read previously, he mentioned Stereotonomy and the art of cutting down volumes for assembly. Is this what he also refers to in his work? Cross sections of natural volumes? Interesting and something to consider... I could look into cross-sections of Zaha Hadid's buildings, perhaps.

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Victor Vasarely

Victor Vasarely was highly regarded as the Grandfather and leader of the Op-Art (Optical Illusion Art) movement. His work can be described as geometric abstract art using very limited forms and colours of varying spacing and frequencies, working primarily in acrylic on canvas. I first discovered Varasely and Op-Art on a PPP visit to Leeds University's open gallery and fell in love with the high contrast, simplification and grand scale of his work.

These are some of my favourite pieces of his. The first, especially, reminds me of blueprints and schematics of architectural propositions and this is something I could try to recreate in illustrator? The aesthetic of white lines of varying widths and heights against a black background is different to anything I have ever liked or attempted to make - and shows the departure of my previous thinking and responses to illustration, influenced by Visual Language and Visual Narratives. The first painting, especially, would work so well if it was incorporated somehow into my final piece. Could I overlay illustrator lines onto more organic drawings? collages? Do I want to try acrylic on paper or canvas or stick with digital for a more accurate representation?

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Hannah Duncan

Hannah Duncan is a BA (Hons) Jewellery Design student who is inspired by both architecture and design. She is particularly drawn to linear patterns, geometric shapes and contrasting surfaces in the natural environment. She works with brass, copper, enamels and fragmented surfaces, creating textures, patterns and atmosphere of the coast - immersing wearers and viewers in memories and the experience of an unreachable environment. She finds inspiration in beaches and coasts, telephone pylons, shadows and distorted reflections.

I am fascinated by Hannah's responses to the natural world around us, much like Zaha Hadid did with her practice, looking to organic forms and shapes as well as fragmentation and how that can effect a surface. In particular I really like these pieces of jewellery (a necklace and an earring) using acetate, and how that can be reflected onto a wall to create shadows and different perspectives - all by interacting with an object. Her work reminds me of Zaha Hadid's use of faceted triangles. Acetate is an interesting medium to use... it works especially well with the black, printed areas. I used acetate for the front cover of my Pearly Kings and Queens picture book and was happy with the results. Is acetate something to consider for my final pieces?

Study Task 5: Exhibit

Geta Brãtescu at Tate Liverpool

I recently visited the Liverpool Tate and had a lovely day out with my mum and my Guide Dog! For context, we regularly go out to exhibitions together so that my Guide Dog can assist me around the exhibition space for a good sense of mobility and my mum can provide audio feedback, if a venue isn't as accessible as it can be, for a good sense of accessibility. This allows me to have the same experience as a sighted visitor. I trust her descriptions, judgements and directions enough to forms opinions from them and take photos on my iPad (with permission!) so that I can zoom in as much as possible to gain a clearer understanding of the piece being presented.

The first thing I noticed was the location, at Albert Dock, and how the gallery was a big part of the infrastructure surrounded by shops and cafes. As it had been quite a long drive, my mum and I went for something to eat first at a fish and chips restaurant on the dock which had a friendly atmosphere and the chips and peas were delicious! As well as the fish and chips restaurant, there was a coffee shop, a gift shop selling crystals and stones and a thrift shop selling unique and affordable jewellery pieces, scarves and gloves. It was like stepping back in time to the 1950s or 60s and I really enjoyed having that added dimension to my visit!

The gallery space inside Tate Liverpool was open and generous in space and capacity - meaning no one would be walking into me or my dog. Hurrah! I enjoy spaces where there are no obstacles of people or objects allowing me enough room to feel comfortable, get my bearings and allow myself to be seen with my service dog for minimal distraction and interruption. The Geta Brãtescu exhibition really appealed to me in the sheer volume of processes and techniques used throughout her career - from collage to performance, installations to paintings to textiles. She has a very experimental approach to her practice, looking beyond perfection and representation, focusing on the process and the skills learned. This appeals to me as a creative wanting to break away from accuracy and detail (which I trained myself to do so I wouldn't be seen as a 'crap' artist!) and instead adopt a more loose and playful approach to spotlight my individual and personal lens.

The piece that particularly stood out to me was Women (2007, tempera on paper) which comprised of a multitude of small drawings executed by the artist with her eyes closed, repeating the same form of woman's body recalled from memory. As someone with a severe visual impairment, a sighted artist drawing with their eyes closed appeals to me greatly - relying on the 'mind's eye' and past experience rather than factual perception from reference. She is 'interested in the tension between chance and the memory of forms that exists when drawing with the eyes closed, suggesting that without the 'freedom of the eye' the hand can better explore the 'freedom of the muscles' instead. The process of iteration and repetition interests me greatly and synthesises a lot with what I have discovered this year on my degree course. That constant repetition allows for variables and visual interest as well as deeper understanding of movement.

I was very impressed with the accessibility at Tate Liverpool, providing a Braille booklet and large print upon request, with the staff allowing me to take a photograph for my personal blog to better understand in my own time. I would most certainly visit again to see the next featured exhibition and have another fun day out with my family.

Contextual Research: Reportage and Observational Illustrators

Cat O'Neill

I love the way Cat has used mark making and pattern in her observational work to be descriptive of forms' textures and contours. A thick brush with ink to describe the tilled fields, allowing the ink to scrape across and get drier in the background showing the sense of depth and distance, is such a clever and minimal way to achieve it. The flow of the land is easy to see because of how the brush has been moved from left to right and those contours show where land is raised and bathes in sunlight. The swirling mountains are particularly nice too, where our eye is lead towards, and there is evident description of their flowing shape. Such a minimal but powerful piece of illustration. I also love the mark making for the trees and how movement and motion have been implied in the direction of the flicked strokes. Using minimal ink pens is something I have discovered enjoying earlier in the visual language sessions and combining that with mark making is what I hope to experiment with tomorrow.

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Nina Cosford
I've selected 3 of my favourite observational drawings from Nina that each focus on a different element - shape and colour, line and texture. In the first illustration, Nina has used basic shapes and forms to describe the skyscrapers and architecture in New York in a very simple and free-form way. Variation in thicker and thinner lines convey the windows and ridges on the side of the buildings. These few simple components, used in a very primary way, still communicate Modernist skyscrapers - with the addition of a bright yellow taxi, angled backwards to represent speed and motion,  connects with the audience to automatically allude to New York. Her second observational piece provides more perspective and exploration of line quality; thicker lines outlining meeting points between objects - where the underneath of the roof meets the bricks of the house, or the edges of the brick wall of the fence end to meet the gate. A few marks and patterns are used to describe different trees and plants, different surface areas and textures. Simple, lots of white space, but very charming. It is a little over-worked I think, and some of the background trees could have been omitted in my opinion. The third drawing shows the texture, light and shadow of the mountains really nicely through the use of a fine, cross-hatched pencil. More pressure is applied to show peaks and the lighter areas show the angles and ridges. The ramblers at the front of the composition are sketched in pen to make the darker and closer to the viewer. Nina's simple use of line, shape and texture is something I want to employ during tomorrow's session.

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Ahead of the York trip tomorrow, I wanted to look at some other illustrators' reportage and observational drawings on location to give me some inspiration. I want to identify what has made their work a success; is it their ability to adopt good line quality? Pattern, texture and mark making? Shape and form? Colour?

Words of Wisdom by Paul Rand

"I haven’t changed my mind about modernism from the first day I ever did it…. It means integrity; it means honesty; it means the absence of sentimentality and the absence of nostalgia; it means simplicity; it means clarity. That’s what modernism means to me…"

"The visual message which professes to be profound or elegant often boomerangs as mere pretension; and the frame of mind that looks at humor as trivial and flighty mistakes the shadow for the substance. In short, the notion that the humorous approach to visual communication is undignified or belittling is sheer nonsense."

"Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.

Don't try to be original. Just try to be good."

"Design is everything... Everything!"

"Design is so simple, that's why it's so complicated."

"Good design adds value of some kind, gives meaning, and, not incidentally, can be sheer pleasure to behold; it respects the viewer’s sensibilities and rewards the entrepreneur."

"Innovation leads one to see the new in the old and distinguishes the ingenious from the ingenuous."

"Art is an idea that has found its perfect form."

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Reflection
I recently came across these inspiring and interesting quotes by Paul Rand on his official website while contextually researching for Visual Communication. I am a fan of Rand's work as a graphic designer using simple shapes and colour as vectors; and these quotes were a nice surprise to find in my research. I feel these sound bytes have a connecting power and are really inspiring to me; they will stay in my mind while completing the rest of the year. Simplicity, clarity, streamlining, innovation, ingenious, perfect form... all things to consider in my final modules.