With the beginning of the ASU2 (Award Specific Unit) I felt my MA had begun, the rigours and structure of the RIPU (Research Into Practice Unit), as fundamental as it was in clarifying my direction, was a thing of the past. Not forgotten but there to inform. This unit felt like play time, like being back in Year 0. On speaking to the Year 0 Course Leader recently about the similarities with Year 0 and the beginning of the MA, he said there were many similarities, it was like 'poking someone with a stick'. I really like that analogy as it believe in both scenarios people need a kickstart, a provocation to start making, quick often without thinking too much.
Two handed drawing.
Our first Workshop, post unit launch was very much about play and exploration. A whole corridor was set up with a number of stations to explore; Two handed drawing, mono printing, projected images, large scale drawing, interacting with existing images, amongst others. It was like a bunch of kids in a sweet shop. Everyone got stuck in and tried the various stations. There was no need to consider too deeply why you were doing what you were doing, although nothing is created with an element of thought, every decision of the body is a reaction a brain instruction, you are constantly internally questioning what to do, with what and how. However, with this freedom the body can almost overtake the brain and the more you play and free up one's thinking the more you can explore without overthinking each decision, which is why a session like this is so rewarding. There is plenty of time afterwards to review what you have done and what possibilities there may be from the free play. It certainly was for me and sent me down a path of exploring a particular method but also linking that back to my ideas of communication, codes and disruption to networks.
Two handed drawing, with closed eyes.
I found the two handed drawing quite therapeutic, this might have because I was also doing some it with my eyes closed and my head against the wall to listen to the sound. It was difficult to block out the other noises in the room and ideally I would have repeated this in a quite room to just concentrate on the rhythmic sounds and how
With the beginning of the ASU2 (Award Specific Unit) I felt my MA had begun, the rigours and structure of the RIPU (Research Into Practice Unit), as fundamental as it was in clarifying my direction, was a thing of the past. Not forgotten but there to inform. This unit felt like play time, like being back in Year 0. On speaking to the Year 0 Course Leader recently about the similarities with Year 0 and the beginning of the MA, he said there were many similarities, it was like 'poking someone with a stick'. I really like that analogy as it believe in both scenarios people need a kickstart, a provocation to start making, quick often without thinking too much.
Two handed drawing.
Our first Workshop, post unit launch was very much about play and exploration. A whole corridor was set up with a number of stations to explore; Two handed drawing, mono printing, projected images, large scale drawing, interacting with existing images, amongst others. It was like a bunch of kids in a sweet shop. Everyone got stuck in and tried the various stations. There was no need to consider too deeply why you were doing what you were doing, although nothing is created with an element of thought, every decision of the body is a reaction a brain instruction, you are constantly internally questioning what to do, with what and how. However, with this freedom the body can almost overtake the brain and the more you play and free up one's thinking the more you can explore without overthinking each decision, which is why a session like this is so rewarding. There is plenty of time afterwards to review what you have done and what possibilities there may be from the free play. It certainly was for me and sent me down a path of exploring a particular method but also linking that back to my ideas of communication, codes and disruption to networks.
Two handed drawing, with closed eyes.
I found the two handed drawing quite therapeutic, this might have because I was also doing some it with my eyes closed and my head against the wall to listen to the sound. It was difficult to block out the other noises in the room and ideally I would have repeated this in a quite room to just concentrate on the rhythmic sounds and how it felt physically to be drawing at this scale, position and with these materials.
I also filmed some of the process to see how might work to play around with at a later date, combining the image created with the sound making it. I don't believe it captured what I thought it might and have left it as an experiment to go back to, should I decide to.
When I started to play with the overhead projector, with a view to drawing what I had projected, as that was what was expected and others were doing, I found it far more fun to explore the possibilities of how using various objects and see how they could create new and abstracted visuals. These images were created using some plastic cups, the subtlety of the shape, the blurring of the shape and the colouration created images that I wasn't sure I could or wanted to draw, it was an experimentation in image creation just using the objects and projector.
After a short experimentation with some pre-printed pages and looking to see how I could interact with them, adding marks, lines and seeing how I could collage found images together as well as a further quick play with the projector, this time drawing from projected images to see how it could be turned into an abstract piece, which I probably need to explore further but can do here in the studio, I found space on the mono print table.
We were using a water based ink, which for this instance was perfect but on discussion with the print department the subtleties that can be achieved with an oil based ink are far superior. The beauty of this station was the sheer size of the table, the tutors had brought in a piece of perspex as large as a table and the whole thing could be inked up. Again, there was no need to pre-empt what you might like to do, it was so much more about experimentation, play, understanding the materials and seeing the possibilities for future work. More stick poking.
My initial play created various pieces of abstract mark making, loose, free and random. However, when I had created a few I decided to see what would happen if they were placed on top of each other and my design brain wanted to look at the conflict between a rough edged, torn piece and one that I had decided to crop down and frame. The connection and the contrast between the two does work and there is something to consider there. The idea of framing is one I have always considered but also encouraged others to work beyond the frame, don't be constricted by an edge or parameter.
What this process did was make me realise I needed to experiment some more and beyond the session to see what was possible with this technique. I was starting to see the texture, the uncontrollable elements as well as the gestures that were intended, although some drawn blind as something to take forward. I would definitely look to play further back in the studio. One final print was required. I wanted to see if this method would record my face being pushed onto the paper, which it didn't as the water based version was too responsive to the touch of the paper. However, by sitting on a freshly inked up bed and covered with newsprint you could get quite a could image of your sitting. This reminded me of my experiments in Year 0 with carbon paper that I used to record our presence in bed overnight. I still think that was something that could have been taken further or seen by a wider audience. Maybe it needs to come out again and go on display. One day.
