tutorial

Monday, 4 Mar 2019 - Contextual study tutorial KF

Contextual Study tutorials - KF

When Monday, 4 Mar 2019

Reflections since the last tutorial

Too many keywords which reflects the broad and loose thinking - Materiality, Collision - movement, fragments, fractions, Repetition, Tactility, Defamiliarizing, Layering, Boundaries - constraint, containment, Consumption, Space - constraint, Visibility, Transparency, Binding, Drawing, Performances (added from Rhoda’s feedback)

Initial questions were: To what extent could collisions in drawing reflect materiality of practice? or How can the practice of drawing reflect the materiality of collision? -  these are uncomfortable and don’t feel like they are reflecting practice right now. They feel like an attempt to make something sound important or interesting to fulfil criteria which would make writing about them difficult and lacklustre.

Definitely need to provide definitions with the writing to clarify the viewpoint being examined and not allow for assumptions. Rhoda had asked for clarification of tactility, and Kimberley had discussed the notion of event and collision.

Through Testing Boundaries I am exploring the collision of making and made and producing work that brings these two together. layering them, in performance and documentation. Kimberley had provided the suggestion of Richards Serra’s Drawing as a verb. An addition from KF: this was an an example of how the action of art relates to the language that was discussed in the tutorial.

Rhoda had cited that she was clear on my thinking once she had seen the drawing in practice on the making day.

Discussion and recommendations

Keywords in discussion:

density, feeling the drawing, tactility, process, questioning accuracy, act of doing a drawing

questioning accuracy - criterion of drawing - what is a drawing, what is and isn't, ways to determine a drawing, the boundaries of making something by drawing that doesn’t represent a drawing.

Act of drawing - process - action or performance of drawing, act of making, about the maker - action of the mark - leads to….

… the significance of outcome - value of outcome - the performativity of drawing, action and it being viewed - define

focus more on the ACT than performance - understanding of the artist in the act, who is seeing it, who is it seeking out, is it the intentionality that makes it the work? or is it the product that makes it the work? an addition form KF: yes we discussed how performativity sits differently from the act of drawing and this is why we questioned how you were identifying the important focus of the drawing.

filming the layering, moving on of practice - Process on Process - staggering of process -

reflecting on process and being seen, understanding that it is all drawing, what drawing id?

2000 words - the so what? - a series of questions, how do I allow them to support my thinking? purpose of practice? clarify density.

scaffold with others thinking - ideology may be the same but practice is different, think about what you do know rather than what you don’t know.

me: Agnes Martin, Ellsworth Kelly ( I couldn’t think of any more which was frustrating as I’ve read so much!) (Susan Morris, Robert Morris, Kenneth Martin, John Latham, Joan Jonas)

Kimberley: Sol Lewitt, Richard Long, Tacita Dean - read the beginnings of the Vitamin D 1-2 books

In discussion these words came out: layer, pressure, embedding/mark, erasing - create a Venn diagram - how this impacts the practice.

Feeling a lot clearer after the discussion. excited to listen back to the tutorial as I know that will really help. I am looking forward to writing as I feel this will give me further clarity and confidence in having a ‘practice about practice’ and moving away from the overly conceptual aspects I was clinging uncomfortably on to.

Agreed actions (if any)

  • 10 keywords
  • 5 keywords
  • 3 questions for myself as possibilities to claim space
  • can drawing enable….
  • is it the physicality of drawing…..
  • this is what I am doing, this is what I’m interested in - land it in the practice
  • be specific as my practice is specific
  • email Kimberley in the next 3 weeks to check in that question is focused and working.

Thoughts the next day (after discussion with students regarding documenting work)

The act of drawing in a performative context or in a private and personal aspect. The initial; exploration began with the creation of a 'walked' drawing video. This process was repeated in a different location and a change of ground.

The viewing of the work being made at the time was unimportant and felt like a 'show' which was not the intention, the audience was initially enlisted as a support and to provide aids in filming and looking.

So to discuss the act of drawing as either performative or function based within the context of the practice, how the collision of made and making transforms the reading of the piece. How can they coexist? The beginnings are always separate, it is not possible for the made to preexist the making, the making always preexists the made. In juxtaposing them in film their space and time is collided and colluded. Visibly it appears as if the drawing is being traced, the ghostly shadow of a hand moves over the paper, the image becomes darker as the images conjoin in the making process.

I wish to explore further how the drawings will be read if the making is repetitively screened over the top, staggering the intervals of the videos. the possibility of misalignment, reflecting the impossibility of making and made being mutual and coexisting. How can this transfer of time and space conflict blur or transpose on the the viewers reading of the work.

Monday, 4 Feb 2019 - Enquiry: Testing your Boundaries Tutorials - LB

Enquiry: Testing your Boundaries Tutorials - LB

WhenMonday, 4 Feb 2019

Tutorial documentation for Les Bicknell 04.02.19

Brainstorm of ideas and possibilities:

Poems in a bottle and throw them out to sea - don’t want to contribute to ocean pollution, would have to be biodegradable

Post to random address with a return address of course! - would need postage to be prepaid, what would they do with it? Is there an expectation of participation? How would you feel to have work thrust upon you? - would almost defo have a high failure/non-return rate.

Publish a book/pamphlet - group publication - was in process but has gone quiet. Now to explore my own personal publication. Researching poetry publications and recitals - not sure I’m ready for performance but we’ll see.

Skywriting - if only I had a plane?????? - other options: Drone? Banner? Drone with a banner? Sticker on the side of a plane!

Wrote poems in the toilet - illegal to vandalise property, could be down in chalk pen or something washable, they would only be seen for a short time and then wiped away.

Stickers - distribute - like the AC adverts around Dubai - again could be classed as vandalism. A lot of street artists have ‘tag’ stickers they use - see Fats and Katie Wilson etc.

Put them in pigeon holes - at my work and other peoples? Could I recruit friends to distribute pieces of work like stickers of postcards into their places of work?

Stand in a public place and recite without warning - performance piece - would anyone take notice? Does that matter? Would need to be documented so at least one guaranteed audience member.

Print on a massive banner and hang off the school - the house - neighbours house - a limited audience - school are up for use of some space though.

Postcards for purchase? - gifts. come back to the postage one above. Could place them in the community boards (was that one of Les’s ideas?), or in galleries and exhibitions around Dubai, would need a distraction - guerilla art.

Put it in the school newsletter - limited audience, not sure its the right boundary to test.

Embroidery on to clothes and wear it - or paint on to clothes (Ivanka Trump coat repercussions) or t-shirts and give them out. - labourers - free printed t-shirts - what does that say about me and my work, using my privilege?

Different words on t-shirts and move people about - make a video or a performance in a public place.

Submit a video for open calls - check craft council and art res programmes - a-n website. - from Elaine.

Possible collaboration with friend Ben - graphic design background - the boundary of working with others will be pushed!

Labour camps - reaction
Translate poetry into Hindi and distribute it in al Quoz
What does that contrast say - with regard to privilege?

The business card like the lucky-lucky girls - Tart cards - calling cards - stuck in windows of cars.
Implement on one stretch of road and then collect the next day and count, consider all collected as loved.
What would they say? - Pose a question...  ‘we have collided. Is this art?’ ‘Bring your collisions to me, make me feel something’ ‘Are you able to break me? Let's collide and find out’ ‘You want me, my child wants uni tuition, call now’

A considered pause - I am a card stuck in your window.


What does it need to represent?

Human trafficking
Can we subvert that
Be funny
Without being illegal - defamation

The collision of ideals, lifestyles.

What emotional response do the cards envoke?

Guilt, lust, pity….

17th Jan 2019 - Tart card research and ‘pilgrimage’ to Tecom (now Barsha Heights):

Current drawing practice:

These are A4 graphite:

This is A3 graphite, being completed at work with an audience of pupils each session:

Nice little article written by a researcher:

https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/W6NvHSoAACYA0A72

These are fab and I'm envious that it has already been done like this, although I would not have come up with that idea:

https://www.wallpaper.com/art/sex-issue-type-tart-cards-0#pic_15033

These simply contain examples of 'Tart cards' from various locations:

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/london_calling_a_look_at_vintage_tart_cards_used_by_english_prostitutes

https://www.dissidentreality.com/galleries/tart-cards-prostitute-advertisement-cards/

Notes from the tutorial -

What do I want to gain from the opportunity

Don't make it fit if it doesn’t

Do things that are intriguing -

School news latter - the interest that that audience might have. Giving a visibility.

Use the class - a way in to thinking about challenging and changing

The dialogue is fascinating - enabling other people to see it or hear it - the value of art to evolve the thinking behind it. Give out a piece of work. People can come collect it, a give away of the pieces. Focus the audience into members of staff and the children etc on a daily.

What is success? Would it be the conversation with parents and guardians -

Free art - a political act - you don’t have a choice you have to take this. The conversations that people have.

Educational aspects - have the making projected - can it exist somewhere else? Project on to the windows me making the work. Project on to the windows - in the street the making - - on a street.

Recording the making - projecting it to be viewed - projecting the making on to the work being made. Very exciting - both there and not there - the thing that it is and the thing it will be.

Mark - really knows how to play - not getting arrested! There's a flow and a transgressive element to it - his interventions -

Battle drawing  - tie hands opposite and draw a portrait -

Friday, 9 Nov -Visiting Lecturer Tutorials - Catherine Baker

Visiting Lecturer Tutorials - Catherine Baker

My thoughts and discussions with Catherine Baker:

Feelings about my practice: limited in terms of…. What am I trying to tell them [the audience]?

  • articulate a regular routine
  • punctuation of encounters
  • punctuate routine
  • celebrating or mundane?

Talking about the process - what does it mean when I do that.

1 - entity - collisions - in terms of happenings

2 - different materials - drawings on tracing and sandpaper - bring them together - butt up against, a more difficult counterpart.

Fixing them together - simple and how they collide.

-----Go back and see how they collide [previous work]

Leporello approach - concertina approach - a continuum - the fold creates a new space - make the folds out of new materials - wet and dry sandpaper -  

a line is dictated by the substrate it's on - one material across all surfaces.

Allows for the intimacy of a book but could be 12 foot long or A2 so awkward to handle or attached to the ceiling.

How do you want people to behave? looking up and being intimate at eye level, allows for intimacy and distance in its framing.

I’m a materials person - embrace it!

What do materials represent - the difference through materials - the materials are anchored into the everyday - found materials - cardboard packaging, plastic bags; start with the simple materials and then look into the materials and what they might mean?

Structure line.

put work away - sit with them and unpack them.

not diarised - what did it mean when the same line travelled from one space, from entity to entity?

Lebbeus Woods

A view of various sketchbooks by Lebbeus Woods at the Drawing Center

https://hyperallergic.com/131802/the-radical-and-contagious-ideas-of-lebbeus-woods/

Julie Mehretu


https://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/julie-mehretu

Agnes Martin

Agnes Martin Friendship 1963

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/agnes-martin/who-is-agnes-martin

Sol Lewitt

Sol LeWitt, ‘[no title]’ 1971

https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/14/ideas-in-transmission-lewitt-wall-drawings-and-the-question-of-medium

collision - unpredictable

bringing together, sand things down - reinstate - erase parts to leave the junctions

To summarise:

FOCUS ON WHAT IT MEANS

how do they engage with it?

do they understand my intentions?

Leporello - small to large-scale - intimate object 20 versions  x 12 feet long

Wallpaper by B. Makhoul - a line in space within so you can’t separate - immersive

bullet wallpaper - Palestine - looks pretty but symbolises violence and conflict - in the home

watch out for diarising the actions and question what is happening.

moments of collision

KFoster & CBaker Collision paper

-in chemistry - in proximity, they react

NOT CHAOS

Notes from Catherine Baker:

These are some of the words I wrote down as you were speaking:

Collage/fusion/adaptive reactions/ circumstance beyond control/ invented narratives/ routine/collision – collision of materials/requirement of proximity/ folds and joins in a Leporello.

I think you need to embrace the fact that you’re clearly a materials-driven person and explore the way in which two (or more eventually) materials can collide and how a repetitive act across them that is identical can be shaped by the interaction with the substrate.  

I’ve attached an image/part of a Print I saw as part of IMPACT 10 in Santander on September 18.  Plus the screenshot is Victoria Ahrens whose work is really interesting. Also classically you could look at Anselm Kiefer (also attached his lead books) and the idea of a Leporello type construction. I’ve included Kiefer as the ‘happenings’ collisions could be material based i.e. A chemical reaction; if you leave a watery gel drop overnight on a sheet of mild steel by the morning there will be a rust spot that signifies and records the ‘collision’ encounter.

I hope all these things help and remember to give yourself space to unpack what you’ve made and contemplate both it and its meaning for others.

Agreed actions:

  • FOCUS ON WHAT IT MEANS
  • how do they engage with it
  • do they understand my intentions
  • Leporello - small to large-scale - intimate object 20 versions  x 12 feet long
  • watch out for diarising the actions and question what is happening.
  • moments of collision - everyday with everyday materials.


Monday, 1 Oct 2018 - Tutorial - KF

Regarding the collage:

Incongruous

Gordon Matta-Clark  - I link to /James Turrell

Sam Griffin

How important is it that they existed before? this is about thinking how much the origins are important in the collages or images - could it be anything or is it in the details of the work already created or in specifically made images to deconstruct and reorder.

How important is it that it's my work?

film it & photograph

materials and interaction

thread of thought and connection, gathering, pull - rupture, a way of thinking

space -

&where we place ourselves -

planes - punching through and mapping

what happens outside the frame image & territory that is known - mapping

the territory of practice - table or frame

a photo of table & work, then sideways - multiview, what is beyond the piece - untangled threads, pulling away

google - the relationship of something I can’t grasp

What do I want? seeing the ‘other’ in it  

Manifesto- who you are

the lense

informing the work & the dialogue

& the entanglements of matter around the clarity & the perception

the knot & embroidery what is clear and ordered about the stitch and what is knotted and complicated. we discussed the difference between the front of embroidery and the back.

the unpicking

repetition & what is found

What do we overlook -

contain, contrast & leave out

tendrils

What is lost and what is found in repetition

Agreed actions:

  • explore collage further - continue with own work collage as that has urgency and explore the possibilities of found image collage, how does that change the work?
  • consider the territory of the work - where does it start and finish? what happens outside of these parameters? How does that affect the work? Consider the frame.
  • delve into the possibility of the thread and its tendrils, what does the repetition of embroidery do for the work? How does this thread metaphorically and physically move through and within it?
  • Keep notes of reflections and discussions I’m having about my work.
  • question scale and the imagery that is on the outside of the frame?


Exploratory Project - Wk 5 - 18/03/2018- 24/03/2018

    • Week 5 Mar 18th Be aware of burn out or possible stopping points, challenge with an activity from the list provided to move work in to another dimension/area/scale/technique. Mon 19 Mar: Tutorial DK  ART WEEK DUBAI 

Tutorial with David KeffordArt practice relies on uncertainty, being reactive – avoid catastrophism. Trying not to have the ‘big life decisions’ impact on practice. Finding the balance.Brief discussion on my background: commercial background, not being compliant, resistant/resilient – being confident in own skin – not worrying about where you fit in – an interloper – the knife edge of embracing or being interested in breaking boundaries. GRAYSON PERRY materials & context – overcome, uniqueness – allowing it to marinate, a long slow burnWhat do I want from the work – removal or inclusion. Feelings and emotions as part of the work – being incorporated without being confessional – ambiguity or elusive – not purely aesthetic – more human.-how to convey emotions/feeling through form – associations – memoriesDavid Keffords personal input: disconnect between audience & work is always unsatisfactory, create direct conversation - socially engaged – collab/performance – relational aesthetics – social spaceRoutine – maintain contact at Tashkeel – routine – how am I working with it, allow others to relate to – binary – order, chaos – organics – happy accidents – manifest – to what levels of extremity does this go? Create activities or task to push ie: drawing with opposite hand, mark making, doodling, regimented – a spontaneous act – be unknown, allow that to happen. Set actions, boundaries & structures to adhere to – ie: must be A5, in pencil etc. create own systems, what will the psychological affects be.Thinking of the square/frame as a cyclic form, allowing and recording the reflections – photos of the pieces – before they become pieces – the photos may be interesting.Immersive, environment – event – theatre – sensation – spectacle – all the tropes.Christian Boltanski – drawing on the senses, touch, materiality, incorporating it in.Franz West – Adaptives – kinetic work –Awareness that the professionalism of the art work and artwork have trapped me – not allowing work to expand the confinement of the frame/ the hand/ the art world.Caroline Broadhead – moving through the scale and work in to installation.Live performance – work into space. Take work and space out, remove from the commercial aspect, edge & messy – physical & mental mess.Cultivate an attitude of disruption – draw inspiration from the artists such as Turrell and Balka, move work from being easily digestible – move it in to discontent. Stop being the ‘good girl’ – move away from compliance, correctness, break the veneer – get under the skinMove in to sculpture – discuss the foam felt geo sculpture which looks heard but isn’t – subversive – artifice – ‘supposed to be this but actually this’ – think Richard Serra’s verb listMaking doodles etc,Project planning for spaceDiversify and expand into installation work.Actions (if any)

  • Move in to sculpture – discuss the foam felt geo sculpture which looks heard but isn’t
  • think Richard Serra’s verb list
  • Making doodles etc,
  • Project planning for space
  • Diversify and expand into installation work.
  • Create a system
  • Possible for performance
  • Research artist discussed and how they can inform work
  • Keep notes of reflections and discussions I’m having about my work.

  

Exploratory Project - Wk 4 - 11/03/2018- 17/03/2018

    • Week 4 Mar 11th Continue with production, once each moment of production is 'completed' as such, reflect immediately to stay on top and also revisit and compare with previous productions - Mon 12 Mar: Tutorial AR  

 Reflections since last tutorialStill getting caught up in research rather than making and using reading/organization as procrastination. Also holding back on making down to fear and overthinking so need to move on with this.Feeling more comfortable with MA Journal, but still can share more. Perhaps start to share more ad hoc using phone etc.Discussion and recommendations EXPLORATORY PROJECT: Don’t use the plan as a stick to beat myself with! It’s to go back to but not to stick rigidly to. Document stuff – add it into the plan. Where am I now? What do I feel about where I am now? FEEDBACK FROM AW: dipping books: making them more eloquent, became object & something more than books – more metaphorical, poignant – sad & out of date, no longer available, disappearing or collapsing, how it affected them, more poetic.Revisit and consider the material finish, edit out (or in) the successful ones. In evaluation they work but materials need to be refined, think about how they come across both digitally and in person. One problem can be that too much work is submitted and not edited to show the strongest practice.Think about what you did in terms of transformation.MA Journal: make spaces for reflection, revisit plan, not use as a weapon, meet with group. Agreed actions (if any)

  • revisit plan
  • document making
  • making more for the sake of it and let it evolve
  • evaluate materiality

 

Contextual Essay - Wk 4 - 11/03/2018-17/03/2018

  • Week 4 Mar 11th Continue with reading, reflect immediately to stay on top and compare with each other and practice - make links, why is it relevant? - Mon 12 Mar: Tutorial AR  

  CONTEXTUAL ESSAY TUTORIAL FEEDBACK:draft title: ‘The Material Culture of Everyday Life, using materials to sway emotion and confine chaos’.Define terms – Sway – to have an affect.Looking at list of artists narrow down to four that are more pertinent: currently considering Kiyonori Shimada & Machiko Agano as aspiring practice regarding installation and immersion, Ealish Wilson & Liz Nilsson relating to current position of practice and made artifacts, shared concerns, 3D spaces in drawings/2D works etc.Address the question ‘why is it important to me?’ rather than being confessional as this is uncomfortable for me make it into an issue of contemporary life. What does the work do, or creating the work do? Calming impact, emotions and confining chaos through making.Structure: Draft titleIntro: why you want to look at it ‘it’s a contemporary issue’, data points (calming emotions and confining chaos)2: ‘I’m going to look at these two pairs of artists….’3: discuss how their work does what I/they say it does4: how it relates to my work OR bring my work in to the previous two sections5: impact on my work6: Conclusion – go back to title & intro – reiterate why its an important issue and summarize why they do what was asked.QUOTES: two good ones – from philosophy, news, research.