Bringing in the idea of journeys

After looking through my scetchbook and speaking to my tutors I have come to the conclusion that the work that I have been doing on the alphabet lacks a bit of depth. Although there is plenty of room for experimentation with it, I feel that it is a little too easy and to achieve the grades that I am aiming for I will need to give my work a bit more meaning behind it.
It is because of this that I have decided to start to investigate the concept of A-Z. I like the idea of this because there can be many different interpretations of it. One way to interpret it is a journey. Going from point A to point Z. I want to concider this idea and bring it together with the work I have already done on typography.

Further experimentation with the alphabet

After looking at the way that Peter Blake uses images to represent the letters in the alphabet, I have decided to experiment with making the letters out of materials starting with that letter.
 I have made a list of each letter and possible materials I could make them out of.

I wanted some of the letters to be 3D in my scetchbook but others to be photographed and stuck in, to create veriation. This is how I made the letter A. It is carved into an apple and then photographed and it will be stuck into my scetchbook along with all the other letters.

Peter Blake's Alphabet

I have been experiemneting with ways to present the letters in the alphabet, using influences from Peter Blake's alphabet. I really liked the way he presented the letters so I decided do my own version of his work using images that are personal to me.

Above as an image of Peter Blakes letter B and below is a photograph of my own version of the letter B. I have tried to make it quite personal and with a lot of primary photographsin it, so I have included a photgraph of my sister Beth and photographs of Bamburgh castle which I visit every year with my family.

   

Alphabet Brainstorm

On these mind maps I went through the alphabet one letter at a time and wrote down any words that came to mind that had anything to do with the letter, whether it was a word that started with that letter or just an image that came to mind when I thought about the letter. I did this to get myself thinking about different ways to represent each letter.

Feedback

Today Jo has had a flick through my sketchbook at what I have already done and we talked about my ideas and influences so far. One thing that she said about my work was that it doesn't have much direction yet and that I need to get more of a focus instead of just playing around with random letters and words. 

From this I have decided to investigate words that relate to a chosen letter and images that go with those words. I think this will help to give me a bit more direction within my work. 

Jaume Plensa

I have been very interested in the work by Jaume Plensa since I saw an exhibition of his at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park last year. I was deeply inspired by the way that Jaume Plensa saw text as a thing of visual beauty and not just a way to narrate his work. In a lot of his work, you barely even notice what the text says, it's the look of the sculpture as a whole that draws you in rather than the meaning of the text. I think this adds to the overall effect because you have to be involved with the sculptures before you can see the meaning.
One of my favourite sculptures from this exhibition was 'Twenty-nine Psalms'. Even though this sculpture is made entirely of steel letters, it is not the words that entise you in, it's the dramatic shadows that are created on the wall due to the lighting and the pieceful sound it makes as the letters clink together. I think that these aspects create the physical attraction to the sculpture and the words are almost like it's personality, the reason behind the way it looks, feels and sounds.

Proposal

Review

Doing a foundation course has helped me to develop my ideas and experiment with various methods that previously I have not been very confident in using, such as photography, paint and print making. Throughout the year I have been encouraged to work independently and allow my ideas to grow through experimentation and research. By doing the self directed project I was able to take my own ideas and use independent research to push them further. This year I feel that my knowledge of other artists work has grown greatly and I think that this knowledge will be very useful throughout my final major project.

Ideas and concepts

I have decided that in my unit 7 work, I am going to look at typography and how type can be a thing of visual beauty as well as a way to narrate your work. I want to explore the concept of ‘A-Z’. An obvious interpretation of this would be the alphabet, which I intend to look closely at and experiment with different ways to present the letters. I also want to explore the idea of the A-Z being a journey and look at maps and typography in the environment.

Contextual Research

So far in this project my work has been influenced by Peter Blake and Jaume Plensa, who’s work I think embodies the idea of text as an art form in itself. I have also looked at artists such as Barbara Kruger and Mary Kelly. All of these artists have influenced the decision to work with typography. In order to push my research further, I intend to visit gallery’s such as the Liverpool Tate gallery, where there is work by artists such as Liz Buckley and David Kindersley, whose work I am particularly interested in.

Techniques and Presentation

I am going to experiment with a range of materials and methods throughout my FMP, including photography, printmaking and collage. I want to explore different ways of producing type through digital, hand crafted and rendered techniques. I plan to look at text that I have found and experiment with layers and different surfaces. For my final piece I intend to produce piece of graphics that explores the concept of typography as an art form.

Evaluation and Progression

Throughout my FMP I will have regular one on one talks with my tutors to reflect on what I have done, what has worked and what has not and what I can do to continue. I will also use my blog to record any changes in my ideas and why they have occurred, as well as any comments from peers or tutors. At the end of my project I will assess the final outcome against my original intentions and consider the reactions of other people for my final evaluation.  

Contextual Research

Since my pitch have been doing research on the artists that were suggested by my tutors as well as other artists that I have found and liked.
I have researched all of the 5 artists that Kim and Jamie suggested I look at and have found that I really like the work by both Barbara Krugar and Mary Kelly.

'Four Works In dialogue'-Mary Kelly
I was inspired by this piece in particular and the way she uses reflection and lighting to create the illusion of a continuous loop of writing.

 
'Past/Present/Future'-Barbara Kruger
I really like all of the work by Barbara Kruger but this piece really court my eye. I think that the text speaks really loudly to the spectator and the variation in the size of the text almost gives the impression of multiple voices speaking to you. I really like the minimalist colour sceme and think this adds to the dramatic nature of the instillation.

Pitch Feedback

Today I pitch my ideas to two fo my tutors, Jamie and Kim, and they said that I should go with idea 2 (typography as an art form). This is what I was expecting because it is a bit less defined and there is more room for experimentation.
Before I did my pitch I was extremely nervous as I am not very confident when it comes to talking to an audience, however I actually found it really usefull because it gave me a chance to talk through my ideas and get other peoples opinions on them.
After I had pitched my ideas and we had spoken about which ideas were best, my tutors suggested that I create a blog to go along with my scetchbooks and journal which I have now done. They also gave me some possible artists to look at.
These are:

• Jasper Johns
• David Shrigley
• Derek Jarman
• Mary Kelly
• Barbara Kruger

Pitch Preparation

These are some notes that I made too take into the pitch with me to help back up my ideas.

Feedback

On 21st March I spoke to Jo about my pitch and she gave me some things to think about.

Idea 1

• Demographic
• Purpose
• Influences
• Examples of magazines already on the market

Idea 2

• Typography as an art form
• Timeline of type
• Modern type
• Different fonts
• How technology has effected typography

Research

On 14th march I went to the library to do some research and find some artists that would inspire me and my ideas. These are the notes that I took.

 After I had been to the libraray I researched some of the artists that I had writen down. This was on of my favourites. Its a page from Lewis Caroll's 'Alice in Wonderland'. I like how he thinks about the way the story looks and how he uses the text to actually illustrate his novels instead of just telling the story.

 I also really like this piece from The Face Magazine by Neville Brody. Its a very different and modern way to present the text.

mind map of ideas

I did this mind map to explore a few ideas that I was considering for my FMP. From doing this I came up with two ideas to put forward for my proposal. The first idea is to look at magazine layouts and the second idea is to explore the idea 'typography as an art form'.

Introduction

I have started this blog today because I think it will be areally good way to record the creative process behind my work. I intend to work on this blog aswell as in my scetchbooks and in my journal. I will start this process by uploading and posting my previous journal entries and then from now on I will try to use this blog as evidence to back up the work I do in my scetchbook.