#studiopracticeartist&audience

[babssmithart]

January 2019

My painting will be exhibited with 5 other artists in the Allerton Restaurant.  ‘Substratum’  is a collection of elements through time of Salford Quays. It is layered painting using transparent acrylic and marker. The first layer is a screen print of an Ordnance Survey map first printed in 1924 showing Salford and the surrounding area. The second is a minimalised image of the iconic shapes  that now make up some of the architecture at Salford Quays and the shape of the lights inside the roof of the old warehouse that was part of Manchester Docks (closed in 1982). The middle layer -  yellow is a physical response (not unlike automatic writing) of Joy Division’s Love will tear us apart, again. A group formed in 1976 in Salford. The grey circle is representative of technology and the transition of  planets. The black geometric shapes arranged are representations of scores of classical music chosen  because of their repetition of the same shapes of tools used in the textile industry during the Industrial revolution. The final layers, sharp shapes, are directing the eye around the image, this and much of the process is influenced by Julie Mehretu and her work depicting Political Landscapes.  Looking forward to seeing it exhibited and the work of other artists from Salford University.

[babssmithart]

I began investigation the statement ‘Truth and Truth to Material’  as I feel strongly about the materials I use being organic/recycled and to have meaning in the process of making. 

From The Whitechapel Documents of contemporary art. Susan Hiller is a London Based Artist, her work was prominent in 1970's in an interview on you tube she talks about many great female artists of this time only now being celebrated,  "The problem for every artists is to define who they are and what their work is going to be" Now we are seeing in UK and America that the majority of artists are women, this shows that repression is reducing. We are now making a history. Conversations around female body gender are being made public. She points out the difference between female and feminine.

Her work at the 5th Berlin Biennale was -The Last Silent Movie, 2007. 

 She talks about her feelings - that the people in art with money go to Venice but not Documenta - https://www.documenta14.de/en/news/25596/closing  this claims to be the most frequented contemporary art exhibition of all times.

Henry Moore was everywhere during Hiller's childhood and when  looking at reproductions she could not understand what truth to materials could mean.

She did however understand that he wanted to free himself from any proscriptive interpretation. Hiller went on to study anthropology, she feels this also links her to Moore in that he was an enthusiastic explorer of the exotic worlds. Like Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Jacob Epstein and the Paris Modernists before him.

In 1941 Moore wrote that one of the first principals of art so clearly seen in primitive work is ‘truth to material’, the artist shows an instinctive understanding of his materials, it's right use and possibilities  - he talks of power and sensitiveness in Mexican sculpture.

 At the Festival of Britain Moore was asked to comment on colonial sculpture and he went on to describe the mastery and possibilities of stone carvings being fully realized in the round and having no relation to the original form.

 Hiller states it is no wonder truth to materials was confusing as it contained contradictory quotes. After reading Roger Fry she chooses to ignore this attitude as the 'racism of the period' and spoke during lectures (as she began making art) of the parallels of the art moves of early modernism and specific ethnographic styles. She was critical of unacknowledged and literal borrowings of  the arts of Asia, Oceania and the Americas by European Artists in this period. She likens this to other forms of exploitation such as mineral and agricultural resources. 

Hiller began as a painter after her career change and went on in the 80's to work with light and sound, she has used automatic writing, death, subconscious and unconscious and dream mapping.

[babssmithart]

I used music to create a sort of automatic writing over drawings of Salford Quays and The Duomo in Florence as part of studio practice. It is interesting how the marks can change the composition. I will continue to explore this perhaps with poetry. 

[babssmithart]

December 2018

A Postcard From Rochdale. Touchstones Gallery - Artists are asked to respond to a piece of art in the Rochdale Borough Council’s Art Collection. I chose a piece by John Piper - Rieveaulx Abbey. I lived in North Yorkshire and am fond the area.Piper painted many churches and architecture that were damaged during the war, often as the fires were being put out, so the colours and destruction he painted create a heady mix for many beautiful prints.I worked in water colour  pencil and marker.

[babssmithart]

October 3rd 2018

Push and Pull is on in the New Adelphi Building until October 19th it features a range of different print and collage, I like the work by Cecil Elstein using the brown paper was effective and the composition drew me in. I really like the two screen prints by Maurice Carlin - Temporary Custodians of Islington Mill - Permaprint CMYK Archival ink on Olin archival paper. These images are frottaged from the floor tiles of the mill and beautifully preserve the marks while creating many different prints.

[babssmithart]

27th October 2018

Hannah Leighton-Boyce Warrington Museum & Art Gallery

 Dreaming of dead fish is an exhibition made in response to to un-accessioned items in the museums collection with other objects such as soot,glass and slide film. Leighton-Boyce explores themes of visibility and reflection in her research and studio practice. She translates these themes through the relationship between the works like a series of extended moments of pause. 

The use of two projectors with glass vanity trays (Intent on something yet undone) suspends the viewers gaze, it truly creates that moment as I felt these beautiful objects from the past recreated and positioned in time. The blackened soot trays are delicate yet bold, I wanted to get nearer to confirm the pattern I thought I could see, the same object repeated. The artist used thin layers of soot from a candle, this and the positioning of the objects denies them their original function, implying a transitory state further emphasized by the temporality of soot. Leighton-Boyce is interested in the relationship between the object and her own body. 

The other side of the room displayed an intruiging slide of a pond. All these things I do not mention draws our gaze beyond the waters surface and shifts our focus from the image to the material. This small slide was so delicate and beautiful. I think it was my favorite piece for that reason and perhaps because I felt I could decide what it meant to me. 

The bottom left image gives the exhibition its title. The shape reminded me of the film fish you place on your hand that curls. Re-purposing objects is becoming more interesting to me as I work on the broken screen in SP. These screens no longer serve their purpose (taxidermy of fish) and as they lie on the floor their shape represents the underbellies exposed and the wrong way up. I also liked that they lay on the floor this somehow altered my thoughts and response.

This thought provoking exhibition has given me lots to think about in Studio Practice and Professional Context.  

[babssmithart]

21st October 2018

Finished my 20 x 20 screen print. I had difficulty lining all four colours up but it was a fascinating challenge. I noticed even after 2 colours the image was clear. The subject is contrasting a religious iconic stained glass window with ritual masks reminding us that faces delivering messages through time are often faceless to who ever meets their gaze and yet these messages are powerful.

[babssmithart]

14th October 2018

I visited Ebor Studios this weekend on their open day. This is an fabulous space and I was lucky enough to have Angela Tait  show me around the studios including her own space were I finally got to see the Urban Moths. Angela introduced me to some of the fourteen amazing artists based at the studio, each with their own unique practice, about which they were happy to explain. 

I took so many photos, above are just a few. I was particularly interested in a collaborative work made by smelting gun metal from a recent arms amnesty. This was concerned particularly with Manchester and the surrender of guns which are subsequently smelted into material used to create art, (see central image on window) .This project was ongoing and Paul Heywood explained how he was working with the metal to break it down into a solution which would in time provide the basis for paint. Paul also explained the complex and very beautiful process of his own painting practice which was documented (see 3rd photo) I saw the stunning outfits by bespoke dress designer Violet Flamingo and could see that art takes many forms, (see bottom right photo - coat) I visited the workshop of Ivon Haywood an artist working in reclaimed wood (see the ammunition box and the second photo) I spent longer than I expected there thanks to their hospitality but the overwhelming feeling was that of collaboration and cross disciplinary art being a normal part of the studio practice. This was a real eye opener and I can’t do the visit justice in one post.

Here is the website for further information  https://www.eborstudio.co.uk

[babssmithart]

10th October Digital Skills

Tethering to join a camera to a laptop - this gives ease of use and the ability to take photos without touching the camera. (remote shooting)

Set up and switch on, get focus and clear all custom functions (end of menu)Tethering software is EOS use cannon camera

Also hire a cable and adapter with laptop - Remote shooting

From this point control exposure aperture shoot etc  Way more detail on the laptop

Setting up lamp

Stand open by pushing down and extend by opening valves

Modifier changes the light  hard ones dark shadows soft - soft and then change settings as in how much length of time.

Use hard surface and slide the switch and twist - 3 pin attachment.

Outer is flash bulb inner is continuous.

Soft box let gravity  drop and twist to click loosen the screws to shift around and replace velcro

Start with light in air. Handle tight? Pin wound all the way out then wind the pin tightly.

Cable over a leg around the neck and then it won't pull the lamp over , get near the socket and gather under lamp so that the cable runs flat to floor.

Today constant (max)  setting to relative to change the brightness, light but beware of the metal getting hot.

Camera, Exposure how long.

Aperture how much (FStop)

If the Canon camera has a long time to look everything seems clear. Use the filming to set up image

Top dial left number exposure time

Length of time and size of aperture with dials

Under or over exposure is.  125 and f stop 4.5

ISO relates to sensitivity (upping the sensitivity to the sensor but this increases the grain)

Attach the camera to the stand

Shoe attaches to the camera and then the stand.

Putting camera to laptop

Look for EOS utilities

Take down f stop 4  smaller number bigger the app

Try the three setting from the lap top.

This was a chance to refresh our knowledge and understand the process for making and photographing work.

[babssmithart]

Looking at the prints of Naum Gabo, I hope to create sculpture by using colour as I design the final object. The ply wood is easy to cut through with the lino tools and the texture is interesting. I tried to change it with different grades of sandpaper but they were not as clear as I hoped.

[babssmithart]

This is the first draft of my 20 x 20 print I am working in screen print and a laser cut wood cut etching to compare the difference. Then I will try some different colours.  The yellow streak on the original is yet to go on in a brush stroke. I have used a cracked tablet over the image and would like to try to test this out with a smaller image. The image is based on Renaissance study and the lingering effects on the world around us today.  

[babssmithart]

I am making progress with my studio work. The many images of Salford Quays being explored through drawing, maps and collage are starting to have direction. The printed map has a perspex cover which I can draw and paint onto to test if each mark is relevant before I commit. Working this way is very different for me but nothing is wasted as I am gaining a bank of marks and images that can be used elsewhere. The fun part is a kind of (blind) automatic writing which is made whilst listening to music made by bands from Salford. The work feels abstract but is coming together in a precise way that carries the message to the viewer.

[babssmithart]

Julie Mehretu’s exhibition at White Cube in September evidences her developing method and seems to take a darker turn in its content. The artist divides her time between New York and Berlin. She responds to the physical and human element in political landscapes such as  the Al-Mogamma government building in Tahrir Square, Cairo. I have been studying her work as the layers that she creates tell stories of the human experience in these places and yet reference so much more we can make out handprints, footprints and even Arabic writing. The last image (above) is one of her earlier works and the first are from the latest exhibition. The exhibition guide includes her notes with crossing out and text from books it gives a real insight into her own response in the moment to clashes with police, fire and the political angst that drives rallies and clashes around the world.

[babssmithart]

8th November 2018

Paper Gallery has two exhibitions on until the 15th December. Tim Ellis has a  solo exhibition - Cypher. He draws on found photographic cards, postcards, and cigarette cards. His work including folded paper pieces investigating the ideas of cycles, faith, and society.  These relics of different cultures have reoccurring themes that are made visible, dealing with representations of buildings or altered landscapes.They leave the viewer to determine their origin. The work on the cards was particularly interesting having a collage effect. The work was delicate and I liked the paper sculptures. I enjoyed seeing this work as I think there are many subjects to explore in old found images. It is interesting to read that Ellis responds to the material intuitively adding and abstracting to develop a series of responses that suggests another culture or society.

The second and third exhibition Slipping & Suspended was the work of Rosanne Robertson. Slipping (above) is a figurative work that pins the representational body against a psychological space. This contrasts with Suspended which pins abstract and unfolding imagined forms via wire nerves and strings. These drawings draw the viewer into a place of vulnerability, they depict the exposing and withstanding of trauma and violence related to female sexuality. The small gallery space they occupy leave the viewer intimately faced with the artists intentions as she handles female sexuality and Queerness outside the realms that have oppressed it. It is a complex subject and the work leaves a lasting impression.

[babssmithart]

7th Nov 2018

Digital skills no2 entailed going over the basics in Photoshop and using what we had learnt the week before about saving files to Editable,Print,Raw and Web.  Photoshop has new features such as built in tutorials which have images and prompts to help you to learn. We played with cloning and generally changing the image to gain an understanding of the workspace. I am using it more on my own pc so this class was a good opportunity to taylor my workspace to my requirements for my own work.

[babssmithart]

October 2018

Salford Museum and Gallery hosted work from the Royal Academy. The first painting above is ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ 1871, Watercolour, Edward Burne- Jones. This painting is enchanting, small but so beautiful. Burne-Jones rejected industrial Victorian Britain and gained inspiration from Medieval art, religion, myths and legends. The artist had little or no training in his work yet rose to be one of the most influential artists of the late 19th Century. As a friend of William Morris he pioneered the art and craft movement and aimed to bring beautiful designs to everyone. The Tate recently had an exhibition dedicated to his work which included 150 objects of painting, stained glass, embroidery, jewellery and much more. The colours are subtle yet it has a magical quality, the simple composition and intimation of another world around the figure is dreamlike. It’s not the kind of painting that I would normally be attracted to, I think the broad gold frame drew me in!

The second painting is ‘The Chess Players’ 1925, Roland Vivien Pitchforth. This painting seemed to have something going on beneath the surface. The face of the woman and the almost unwanted touch. The title too is strange as there is another painting by this artist that is a group of men playing chess. Much of Pitchforth’s work was landscapes and seascapes, which he painted in watercolours during the Second World War. He died in Chelsea in 1982.