Friday, 28 May 2021

[LAUIL603] Studio Brief 2: Tutorial with Matt and Reflection

 Presentation:Notes from Session:

• After discussing all of my ideas, the original idea of blindness is the most compelling to someone who is sighted. I need to consider how to document this. One publication or zine is the most realistic in the time frame I have left - especially as I'm working on all of my modules - rather than a series of zines or publications. Other students have submitted one zine or publication or one piece of work with the proposed intention of continuing to work on it after graduation. It is important not to overwork and overachieve.

• I can say I will continue this exploration after my studies. Could be an exhibition with recorded audio.

• To hit all of the ILOs, I will need to ensure I look at other practitioners whose work is similar to my own. Are other practitioners creating something similar? I looked into this at the beginning of the project and identified a number of disabled and blind artists though find difficulty in connecting with their work as disability is such a particular thing. There are a number of performing artists who are disabled, for example, but their work does not represent me. I found two blind artists whose work is not very personable or representational of being a blind person.

• I could scan paintings in and crop with shapes in Photoshop to achieve the same effect as circular and shaped canvases perhaps? What story would this tell?

• Think of how to marry text and image together and publication themes. Journal/diary entries running through. Other ephemera from the year. Images. How to display text. Crumbling as crumbling text. Collage.

• What do I want to focus on? Tami and the work she carries out? Could show map of Tami going to Uni, Tami's collar, etc. My blindness journey? My mental health? Best to select one and stick with it for one overarching theme.

• Professional Practice is most effective when people talk about their progress from their year and where they will take that next. It isn't about creating business cards or printed ephemera to send out. 


Reflection and Next Steps:

It was nice to catch up with Matt after my absence from the course while Tami had been away with her surgery to remove her tumours. I had a huge breakdown during her 7 month absence, overthought my project and doubted my original intentions that I put forward in the proposal and proposal slides. I originally wanted to centre the project around my experiences of being a blind person, what happened to me and what it means to be blind, and to create a zine or publication in response to that.

With Tami gone I started to paint in response to her absence and how I felt in my isolation as a student totally alone in my accommodation with no friends or family here and wondered if to move the project more towards her, or Guide Dogs in general, or about mental health / isolation / the pandemic to marry with the work I was undertaking in 601 about Art Therapy and art as therapy. While all of these are incredibly important facets to my life, and to my person, it is important to consider what I find value in, what I want to showcase, but to also take on board what others find interesting. To a sighted person - blindness is the most compelling. 

What are my next steps? I'm currently researching and writing my dissertation which is taking up all of my time at present. Then I will focus on PP, finally giving my time to my Final Major Project. I have set deadlines in my mind so that i can hit my targets and daily to-do lists. Working on my own has given me such a great sense of independence and I'm enjoying organising my own time efficiently. I've found something I really love doing with my abstract expressionist paintings, too. There is so much authenticity and worth in every stroke and mark.


Upon documenting this tutorial and reflecting, and once my other module are submitted, I will undertake:

Artist research to have a better understanding of who came before in the abstract expressionist movement. What work did they create? Why? What materials did they use?

Publication research to identify what a zine is and what it can do. What dimensions are most appropriate to me? How many pages should I consider?

• Uploading all of my canvas paintings, rougher and testable paintings and monoprints

• Reflecting on all points

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