Town Hall, Recreate for Drawing - Week 4

We should have had Life Drawing at the Town Hall this week, but second time of a 'no-show' from our model, I was hugely relieved!

After starting with a free coffee, courtesy of Re-create, and group Pinterest 'show and tell' session, we moved out around the building for drawing, following our individual ideas. I started upstairs by the Council Chambers, copying a piece of floor patterning, which I didn't like and then moved on to producing a rubbing of a crack in the floor and part of the mosaic at the top of the steps.



The cracks aren't just cracks, they're part of the Town Hall's story, it's journey since being built. I imagine all the feet and different styles of shoes that have walked over that particular spot, the different attitudes, feelings, what those people saw, thought and talked about and I wonder if other people notice them too.



This plaque is on the stairs commemorating those lost during the Second World War and includes the name of S.C. Todd, my husband's Great Uncle. I made a rubbing of this for our family and for Grandad Charlie, whom we sadly lost in 2011.



I then made another rubbing of a patch of plaster showing cracks, just the same as the area I had noticed on one of our first visits and realised it was similar in pattern to cracks in the surface of an oil painting in the Mayor's chambers.

If I had stopped to think about whether to do these, I doubt I would have done them, but hopefully this is of the past, a productive morning.

Hysterical Precedent, Pop Art - Week 4

I was working on 'chance/random happenings' last night and came across the website for an event at Black Mountain College, North Carolina, USA, which looked amazing. In the Pop Art presentation this week Audit Chaos mentioned John Cage's links with that very College. So strange how things are linking in.

Audit then showed John's 'Ten Rules for Students and Teachers':


I've taken this information on and hope this helps free me from too much thinking and not enough creating.

The excitement of collaboration, a definite 'oow' factor! - Week 4

Lens Based Media was really rewarding this week (week 4), especially as it involved collaborating with my fellow student, Audit Chaos. Started off projecting text and a picture straight onto a wall, but this wasn't at all interesting. So, I picked the projector up and moved the images around the room, into corners and over other objects within the room, we got some really exciting results from this:



This video is my favourite!

Printmaking - Week 4

Having printed using cardboard last week, with the intention of continuing to work further on them, I then wasn't sure whether this was the right thing to do. Whilst thinking about it Sarah showed us examples of how effective it can be to ink up material/clothing to print, with really good results.



Sarah felt my prints didn't need any further work and I agreed with her, but she is planning to pin them up so we can step back and reassess them, something you don't really tend to do with printmaking so much.

We talked about how I always prefer the first layout on something when i'm letting chance decide 'where the chips fall' and if I try and recreate the moment, it is lost and gone forever. I'm going to try and research this within art/artists.



My layout for paper on card, I had initially thought I'd create a collograph with, but instead will take in thicker paper and just press it onto paper to give an embossed effect next week. But as it hadn't worked with the strips of ordinary paper, I instead created a rubbing.



Not the most effective, but as I am learning, that doesn't matter, 'just do it'!

Town Hall for Drawing & Electricus Exhibition - Week 3

Colchester based audio visual artist, Jamie Gledhill, had an exhibition in Gallery Three, ELECTRICUS.



"Entering the space sparks a slowly changing, developing soundtrack that responds to your presence. On the large screen visitors will see their outline surrounded by 'electrical' energy. The greater the action, the more intense effect".

It's basically a webcam with image programming, but the effect is quite dramatic ....



Mirrored by the same level of reaction from some, who instantly start moving or dancing to create the required effects.



It was incredibly clever, but for me it's attraction was more from a behavioural point of view, seeing how people interacted, rather than an artistic view point. Especially, as I didn't feel very comfortable in front of it and sadly to a certain extent, couldn't see the point of it, that's the beauty of art!

Video of student interaction.