Materials, Process and the art of accident part 2

Continuing with the processes project ,  I chose a subject that is of great interest and personal to me – The First World War and The Second World War. As well as being a student, I am also a battlefield tour photographer with EyeWitness Tours. This allows me the oppurtunity to travel to sites all over the western front including Ypres in Belgium and Loos and the Somme in France. This project would visually  document my journey in visiting the cemetaries in which my relatives who did not survive the wars, reside.

As this was a project about different artistic processes and technques, I aimed to use a wide varietty such as lino cut and mono printing, ink illustrations,  water colour paintings, cyanotyopes and negative printing.

 

My final outcome was a concertina book i made that showed this journey.

The Vertical Project – Collections

An open project brief that links with one of my other project briefs ( Materials, processes and the art of accident), the collections project was a very open project and could be as broad or narrowly defined as I wished.

I intially thought of personal objects and posessions that I have collected since I was young. These ranged from toy soldiers to historical objects that I have aquired from other countries. I decided to select my collection of Karate belts as I felt I could potentially produce imagery using  the vibrant colour and forms of the belts.

Unfortunately, my sketchbook of idea generation and developement was misplaced by tutors when I submitted the work and therefore could only present the final outcome.

 

 

 

 

Semiotics Project

For this brief, I had the task to explore the graphic device of semiotics and symbols in conveying a message, meaning and awareness of   a particular subject matter.

Semiotics are used everywhere. In every country throughout the world,  symbols are  ctreated (often using simple shape and linear elements) to inform and direct. This makes the art of semiotics extremely important if one finds themself in a country of  different culture and society where differences in  language can be problematic.

The theme i chose was influenced by the ‘Pioneer Plaque of the the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft missions in 1972 and 1973. These plaques contained imagerey and information of Earth, its solar system and human species incase contact was made with Intelleigent life forms from another star or universe. The design was heavily influenced by the astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan and illustrated by his wife who is  an artist.

 

I chose to create a series of plaques using symbols that detailed the postion of Earth in comparison to other nearby planets, technological advancements, and  the very basic structure of human DNA.

 

Most of the designs were created using hand rendered techniques such as sketching, cut outs and photogams. I then scanned these in digitally and used Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to produce final compostions.

I  found it intially challenging regarding the target audience and had to remind myself on occasion that the audience is another life form and thus it is very plausible that they would not understand the significance of colour and shape in conveying information and therefore, I tried to follow colour theory that humans are more accustomed to.