MA Week 40 - Practice 1 : summary of the module

Practice 1: Progress and Reflection

This was a very practical module which had the potential to drift as it was double the length of the previous module in terms of time. It was typified by times of little activity due to personal issues (with the health of both myself and my partner’s elderly mother, both taking a lot of time and energy) and times of intense and enjoyable activity.

It was hard to restart in April but taking a number of photographs of pylons provided some good source material and I was back on track after some drawn monoprints of these. I’d made a conscious decision to try drawn monoprinting as I thought it would loosen up my cramped practice. I was right, and also the pylons have been constants in my source material since then.

As always, pivotal moments come when you least expect them. In early May I did a piece of free writing, about writing, over a monoprint of a pylon. It seemed to settle that the writing and visual were in fact two sides of the same coin. After that I felt like I’d wrestled the writing into its place, and this was confirmed by the points made and discussed at the “Tall Tales and Crooked Yarns” research forum on 15^th June, when artists discussed the use of the visual (as opposed to written) narrative. Also in early May, in a lecture by Adam Stone, he commented to the effect that you are only one actor in the creative process. This statement has kept coming back to me, and was particularly noticeable when I was monoprinting, which I’ll talk about later in this summary.

Etching a drypoint of the pylon around the same time was another key point in this module. This plate built upon the experience of the two plates I’d produced previously within the MA, and I really liked the blackness of the marks I’d made. To no small extent, I think I am learning to draw via drypoint.

For the end of year show, I decided to fall back on that with which I am more familiar, acrylic painting, and produced four abstracts. It was a risk averse strategy as I didn’t know what I could manage in terms of printing. I asked my classmates for a crit which eventually took place via Whatsapp, on the train to the drawing symposium in Salford in May, and in the symposium itself. This plus further prototyping and going back to my trusty “Encyclopedia of Acrylic Painting” meant I was well able to produce the pieces. I used two definite, limited palettes, one based on my usual Socialist black/red and the other a combination of blue/yellow/silver based on pylons under a stormy sky. This set my palette for the rest of the term, which was concerned with printing.

The opening night of the End of Year show was fantastic. Although I was very aware that my work was a definite work in progress, it was such a buzz and so much fun. This was followed by my submission of the postcards to the 1000 secret postcards exhibition in Frome, Somerset. I followed this on Twitter and it was also uplifting, positive and resulted in a few new Twitter connections in the South West. These two events represented steps forward with my professional development.

After the show, I undertook some further planning and an analysis of the time still available to me, and realised I couldn’t do both the acrylic painting and the printing that I would have liked to. I therefore took a conscious decision to concentrate on printing. I started to monoprint using the geometric shapes of the pylons and this is where Adam’s statement about being merely one actor became very apparent. I was led by the loose, visually driven process that is monoprinting. This was exciting and opened up a realisation that creativity can come when you loosen the control, as well as when you exert as much control as possible.

I used the black/red and blue/yellow/silver palettes for the printing work. This followed on from a nascent methodology from the last module, of using a palette which derives from what you’ve seen, and I like this idea. It also tied in with another couple of pivotal moments. Reading Annemarie Murland’s paper, Migration and Sense of Place: re-contextualising felt experience through creative practice, made me realise that you can allow a place to channel itself through your creative practice by your choice (or its choice??) of the colours and marks. I also had a really interesting conversation with my colleague, Dr Liz Watkins, whose research interests include colour. Liz was doing some work on some old photographic images and looking for signs of the embodied experience in which those photographs had been taken. In a Eureka moment, I realised that this is what I’d tried to do with the pylon abstracts. I felt the beginning of a kind of visual language or visual encoding – not necessarily the only visual language in which I might articulate myself – but something which had been brewing since the start of the calendar year in terms of my colour and mark use. This was a very gratifying and exciting moment!

I undertook another urban wandering, to Holbeck, to generate some new source material. Along with monoprinting, I made a new drypoint based on some of the shapes from this wandering and I combined this and the pylon drypoint with some of the monoprinting. I also used some cardboard shapes from the buildings I’d photographed on the wandering as resists and let the whole lot come together. I learnt so much during this time simply from practising the printing. I had the confidence to think what I was going to do rather than just jumping in. The results were much better. One thing I need to learn more about is the paper. One of next year’s objectives will be to learn about paper! Can’t wait! I have become addicted to printing, particularly intaglio.

I have also managed to get an abstract accepted for a symposium called “Grim up North?” on September 16^th this year. I’m really pleased about this as the theme of the conference is right up my street, to use the vernacular, and it is something I’d wanted to do since the outset of the MA but didn’t think I’d be able to. I intend to talk about trying to develop a visual language which describes the embodied experience of being a Northerner, building on the points I made earlier in this summary.

In my MA proposal, my definitive statement of my research topic was ‘to understand in more depth how I can use creative practice to depict experience that is part and parcel of the condition of “being human”’. There were many times along the way this year that I felt I was hopping around, not able to settle on any one thing, miles away from my topic. But really I’ve just been on a few exploratory pathways and I’ve now returned to it in terms of developing a visual language which attempts to describe lived experience (embodied/felt experience).

If I look back through my creative journal for this module, the source and subject material is entirely the urban landscape, and particularly the industrial, landscape (with the exception of a Yorkshire Rose from the Holbeck wandering). I’d not even noticed this - there is actually an unexpected strength of theme. Something noticeable by its absence in this module is my own image, which has hitherto been present in my practice since the Access course days. Whether I have moved on permanently from this, only time will tell, but I think the development of my use of colour and mark is possibly taking over from the need to put myself literally in the picture.

What next?

A week off after hand in to go to York Races! Then back to it. The first task will be to research and produce the paper that I will give at the Symposium on 16^th September. This is equally exciting and terrifying. I hope that that research will form the basis for the research for my dissertation. I haven’t yet finalised a title for the latter but I expect it will encompass some or all of the themes of Northernness, mark making, developing a visual language and urban wandering.

I expect that the dissertation will take up most of the time next term, but if at all possible I want to keep going into the Print Room to try to keep developing my technique. In particular, I want to learn more about etching into a ground on metal and to think about how this could work into the Practice 2 module next year.

MA Week 33 - after the show, printing and planning

 

Reflection on the past two weeks – 27^th June 2016:

the show, printing and planning

 

I visited the end of year show a further three times with different people. I had quite a good look at a lot of the other pieces as well as the ones in the MA room. On reflection, our works are definitely works in progress. Mine didn’t have the finished quality or size you would expect from a final piece. I did feel that I definitely need to do some work on the quality. But that’s fine, it’s acknowledged that there’s still a long way to go.

I was sad to take the pieces off the wall, but then I needed a break, having been in college so much. I also felt like I needed to take things in a different direction. I wanted to get back to printing so I decided to spend the morning of Friday 17^th June doing some monoprinting using colours and stencils. I envisaged a very loose type of outcome but the first thing I did was cut some pylon-based geometric shapes from card. It made me laugh that even my free, “unplanned” work had to be controlled.

I inked an A4 etching plate in the blue and yellow colours of one of the pairs of boards from the show and I did let the work direct itself. Using and re-using the plate and the card shapes gave some almost ghostly images. I experimented a little bit with partial inking of the plate and felt that could give some interesting results but would need further work. I worked on bulky newsprint as one of my classmates had mentioned that this was a good paper for monoprinting. Wendy, the print room supervisor, also gave me some sheets of a Fabriano paper that is quite glossy. Evidently the first print is not so good but the second one is better. I wasn’t too sure, but I think I might have over-inked the plate. As I was just experimenting, I didn’t bother about this too much, but I need to take some notes about my processes and to vary the amount of ink I use. The turquoise blue I used was a bit too dark and it gave a dark green over the yellow, so the colour mixing on the paper also needs more thoughts.

 

Multiple monoprints

I ran out of time at two colours although I may go back and apply a third colour. There is also scope for working into the prints with acrylic or perhaps charcoal. As college was closed last week I haven’t worked on them further and really I need to have a look at them to see where next, either with them or with a new set.

 

The best-laid plans...

With college being closed it was time to take stock. The show represented the half-way point of the module so what now? Really there is such a lot I’d like to do; more mark-making with acrylics, explore the use of modelling paste and textures in the acrylics, think about building the paint off the board… monoprinting, both drawn and printed styles, lino cuts, more drypoints, try “proper” etching… I spent a couple of evenings planning and have decided that I need to prioritise one thing, so that will be printing. I can paint and draw outside of the MA but I need to make the most of being able to print whilst I’ve got access to the college facilities. I won’t pre-judge the outcome but it would be good to do a print that feels a little more finished.

 

 

MA Week 20 - reflection on term 2

I've learnt a lot this term. I've carried on with my investigations into heritage and identity. I set myself some objectives in mid-January - here's how I got on: 

Learn more about printmaking

I undertook a lot of action research here.  I experimented with lino cutting, solar plate printing and drypoint etching. The solar plate printing was a totally new technique for me and I got reasonable results . See my Week 15 post. I now have this as a technique in my "toolkit" for future use. The Lino printing didn't yield such good results but this may have been due to the inks I was using. By far my favourite was the drypoint etching. I produced a plate based on my "generative wandering" (see below) and the combination of subject matter and technique really gelled with me. I  like the quality and blackness of lines I can achieve. See my Week 20 post.

Learn more about Laser cutting

Again a good deal of action research. I've used the laser cutter throughout the module. I have concentrated on cutting images of my own face (in keeping with pursuing my investigations into identity) and have developed a much deeper understanding of how to prepare the image and what the laser can and can't do. This is another very versatile technique for my "toolkit". See for example my Taking Stock post. 

 

Generate as many ideas as possible

Use of the laser cutter and print facility, along with the insights gained in the generative wandering,  have generated myriad ideas. I have been able to develop some of them, but I've noted all of them in my creative journal. So they can form a repository for starting points for the next module. 

Do something a bit scary re personal development

I rose to the three-minute-presentation challenge of the University of Leeds's "Heritage Show + Tell" (see https://heritageshowtell.wordpress.com ). I talked about my approach to research by creative practice. See my Week 20 post with more details of how it went. 

Dr.  Tina Richardson, psychogeographer, has offered me the opportunity to write about my generative  wandering in a guest blog post on her website, http://particulations.blogspot.co.uk, so I will definitely be taking her up on that.

Research artists

I wrote a reflection on the exhibition catalogue for "Cloth & Memory" (see my Week 18 post) which encompassed five artists. I haven't undertaken any other formal artist research, but I have begun to follow more artists on Twitter (and some have begun to follow me, which is gratifying). Whilst this is not formal research, it's a really good way to get instant inspiration each day as other people tweet their work in progress or pictures of road markings or brutalist buildings or beautiful landscapes. Me on Twitter : @1962AB. 

Draw for 15 minutes a day at least 3 times a week

I had intended to draw with a pencil in a book but in fact I only did a little of that. I found myself drawing lines with the laser cutter and with etching tools. Overall it probably amounted to 45 minutes a week and more... Honestly!

Do the blog slog every Monday

Through setting this objective I learnt to write more concise blog posts. It didn't always happen on a Monday, but unless there was anything particular to say - like when I read Harrison's book (see my Week 16 post) - this worked much better. I found the blog worked as a kind of overall journal of what I was doing, and allowed me to document and reflect on progress, whereas the creative journal has allowed a much deeper reflection on individual visual outcomes.  

Time management

I have had my usual plans (3 versions) and had to do a lot of juggling about when I went down with flu in mid-February. These has helped me prioritise creative pieces to take forward and ideas that can be documented and "parked" for possible future use.  

 

Overall progress

I continued to work under my "heritage" and "identity" theoretical perspectives and this worked well. Throughout, I have kept a reflective perspective on the work I'm producing and - equally importantly - how I'm progressing and what I'm learning. I've documented mistakes and experiments and solutions, and also when I've chosen to pause an investigation because it is not yielding the results I'm looking for. The latter is important in making judgements about how to progress, both creatively and from the project management viewpoint.

Undoubtedly the breakthrough during this module was reading Harrison's fine book, "Hertiage : Critical Approaches", and undertaking the generative wandering to Armley, both of which happened in the same week. I had been trying to find some underpinning theory whilst remaining true to my beliefs that I was working on identity and heritage narratives arising from my own lived experience. Harrison's book vindicated my approach.  

The combination of the two gave me confidence in applying a theoretical perspective and a research method (the wandering) directly to my work and I went on to produce four acrylics-based pieces which responded directly to the colours and shapes I encountered. I also used laser cutting to help prepare the corrugated cardboard in two of the pieces as an experiment in depicting myself as an integral part of my work and as my identity in the heritage of Leeds. Within these pieces, I worked quite freely, in an unfettered and almost automatic way. This was quite a departure for me as I would usually do a good deal of testing even for a small piece. I enjoyed this freedom and need to allow that to continue.  

There is more to explore from the wandering, such as temporality, decay, boundaries and so on. I am hoping these themes will continue into the next module. At this point, I feel my theoretical perspectives and techniques are really starting to come together. My confidence in my practice - and in myself - is growing as I take these steps in my professional development. I am feeling much more comfortable with my theoretical perspectives of heritage and identity. I still enjoy the mixed media approach to practice and I imagine I will continue to pursue this in the next module. Overall I think it has been a successful term and it should stand me in good stead for the next module, which embeds a closer relationship between theory and practice.

 

 

 

MA Term 2 - Here we go!

Well, Christmas has been and gone and Term 2 is here. This term should bring more opportunity to do creative work, which is really welcome. I’ve really enjoyed taking a break from both College and work, and now I’ve got lots of ideas about what I’d like to do. Somehow I’m going to have to shake these down into some kind of plan as I’m not going to be able to do all of them!

Here are some things I might do:

• have more of a go with printing and laser cutting
• work out how printing and laser cutting relate to what I’ve done before (mixed media)
• continue with this idea of leaving your energy where you’ve lived – a kind of spirit/built environment interface somehow
• do a bit of a mini-project on the gasometer (it’s “the” gasometer because it’s visible from my house and was visible from where I lived as a kid… actually it’s “t’gasometer”, no “the”)
• do an investigation of Woodhouse Moor – it has such lovely trees and has been a green escape for me for so long… or I could do the same for Temple Newsam
• investigate these deep black marks that I make in everything creative, even when I try not to
• collaborate again with Christina
• investigate my close friends’ stories (but this could take me the rest of my life… and I’ve no idea whether they’d want to do it!)

MA Week 8 - Project Managing my MA

Project Managing my MA

Plan - version 1

I’m now on version 3 of my outline plan for the delivery of this term’s two modules. I have a background in management and project management, and a plan seemed to be the best way to get a handle on what I need to do. I went through the learning outcomes and tried to understand what actions I would need to take to achieve each one, then I worked the actions up into a plan and cross-referenced it back to the outcomes. That way I could understand if I was missing any outcomes. It also gave me a set of bite-sized objectives for each week, so I could keep tabs on my progress.

Plan - version 2 - growing day by day!

 

By and large this seems to have worked OK. There are a few lower priority tasks that haven’t got done, but these are just things like writing up a talk I’ve been to, not core tasks. I’ve also had to move some actions to other weeks, but that kind of “juggling” is a normal part of project management. I feel comfortable with that. I have handed in my two presentations the night before the deadline and I got good feedback on the first one (still to deliver the second one) so the plan has obviously hung together well.

There are some things to think about, though, which I decided to note down whilst I’m pulling together work for the final Christmas deadline.

1.       With the benefit of the hindsight of having got part-way through the modules, I’m not completely sure I interpreted the learning outcomes totally correctly, or in the fullest sense, in some cases. This means I have caused potential for some rework or further work. How I could have avoided this is not clear; understanding always develops as you undertake any project. However, from the outset, I have regularly checked back between the outcomes and my objectives and I think I have covered (or will cover) everything that’s needed.

 

2.      I had underestimated the intensity of the course. I knew it would be time-consuming, but I hadn’t realised how intense I would find the Friday sessions in college and the practical work I’ve undertaken. Now that I realise this, I try to allow myself breaks. I had expected to be able to do quite a bit of work on the course at the weekend but instead I am doing more during on weekday evenings, and trying to leave some free time on Saturday and Sunday to take a mental break from it.

3.      I have (I think) over-researched some topics at the expense of others. For example, I seemed to spend a long time researching the creative industries in other countries. Whilst this was very interesting, I think I should have stepped back to reflect on what I was trying to achieve and the level of information I actually needed for my presentation. I need to bear this in mind as I work on my essay in the next couple of weeks, and indeed throughout the course.

All in all I am happy to say that I believe I am on track for the December 11^th deadline. I will hand in the three versions of the plans, complete with scribbled notes, to evidence my use of project management techniques.

 

Plan - version 3 - must be nearly Christmas!