William Hershal

so, there is this wonderful story about William Hershal whilst he was designing his impossible telescope. Whilst casting the metal -in his basement-, he made a miscalculation with the temperature of the furnace and it exploded, throwing molten metal across the stone room and apparently missing Hershal by 2 feet. It lest massive cracks around the basement. There is also this chart, which was not drawn by Hershal but by John Flamsteed in 1729.

And this is Hershals telescope.

He also thought people lived on the moon in little circular cities-Circuses. ha!

So I think I'd like to do something with molten metal scaring wood. and maybe embroider cloth with some atlas pages. And i think I'd like to have the music he wrote playing, because he was also a well respected cellist and pianist and played for the Bath pump room orchestra. That was a very big deal in 1760. And something about the people in the moon because that's just spectacular.

Discovery in the age of wonder

So, I read this book, Discovery in the age of wonder by Richard Holmes. It is the most incredible book. full of ridiculous, brilliant people.
Mainly Joseph banks-[total fittie] and William Hershal-[my ideal man]
Their industry and determination, their passion for discovery is the reason we know so much today and I would really like to work with them as inspiration.
Joseph banks was part of cooks expedition to track the progress of Venus on Tahiti and William Hershal was the man who discovered Uranus.
I think what I'd like to do is focus on Hershal, as he is by far the most insane.

50 shades of pants

So, one of my first thoughts for the summer brief was to take the mick of the 50 shades of grey craze. which is awful, just awful. My idea was to have one of the smaller isles in the library full of suspended knicker and bras and stocking, the trashiest stuff I could possibly find. Like Anne Summers in a library. However I felt this my be a bit shallow and one dimensional. Still, really fun though. To cheer myself up ive got a picture of some pants

Personal Reflection

During the last year on this course I have made a number of advances in my professional and personal practices. These changes have completely transformed how I tackle briefs and assignments. It has also altered the way in which I view my work. I no longer view my work as a burden to be endured but as something to be enjoyed and explored exhaustively.

If we take it in chronological order, the first change in my work method was in the first brief we received, ‘everyday objects’.

It was at first a shock to me that there were so many different media open to me, I found it quite overwhelming at first as I had only ever had the opportunity to use basic painting and sculpting techniques in my work before hand. Although I still struggle sometimes with how behind I still am in some aspects of my practical work compared too many others on the course. I also found the work load and self reliance that was expected of me initially difficult to cope with and as a result I struggled to meet the demands of the course. However, after my first assessment meeting with Cheryl in December, I feel surprising more at ease with this method of working and feel like my professional and personal work ethic has flourished. I found the meeting very enlightening with regards to what was expected of me as a professional artist.

I brought what I learnt from the first brief to the second brief we had; 'Skin/Trace'. At first I started this brief with a very short lived idea that I soon found restrictive, and had to move my ideas on rapidly to make up for lost time. I soon realised that this was a very foolish mistake as I was unable to complete the required amount of work for this brief.

From this brief I learnt that time management and efficient, pragmatic work ethic is essential for a successful project.

Watching several of my fellow students complete their work for the book fair I witnessed the sheer amount of skill and dedication that is needed to create a truly beautiful piece of work, this was incredibly daunting to me at first as I thought that it would be impossible for me to create something of that quality, but after having worked almost exclusively in the metal work room this term I am much more confident in the level of work I can produce and am looking forward to exhibiting my work in any upcoming shows next year. Expanding on this point, I am also excited in participating more fully in the college and course next year as I feel I have somewhat missed out on many motivating activities this year.

In level 5 I hope to expand my skill in metal and glass work as there is something about both practices that resonates with me and I would like to explore them further in order to create work that is both visually and conceptually appealing.

Illustrated Review

The interdisciplinary Art and design 3rd year review was illuminating in several ways, not all of them positive. Firstly, although it is clear that some students have applied themselves to their work with dedication and focus it is apparent that a number of them have taken no real interest in their work and the exhibition process. I would like to base this opinion souly on my experience of the peer review I attended a some weeks ago, in which the majority of the students seemed completely removed and apathetic in regards to their work, but I cannot. Throughout the exhibition this has been evidenced by the general lack of organisation, consideration towards layout and lighting and a sense of competition that is evident when looking at the exhibition as a whole. I feel as though each student has only give thought to how their work is viewed without taking into account the aesthetic of the exhibition it’s self. I understand that the students need to show their work at its best but it is still essential, especially when exhibiting as a group, that the exhibition flows well and harmonises. As it stands I don’t think the 3^rd years have achieved this, each work jostles for your attention and tries to out shine the others instead of complementing and enhancing them as would have been ideal. I fear the result of this is that none of the works are displayed to their full potential. I appreciate that with the limited space of our studio that perfect results would be hard to achieve and I empathise with the limitation the students faced but I believe more attention could have been paid to the lighting of the show rather than just to the individual artworks.  This could have easily been achieved by simply blocking out the ceiling windows but due to lack of organisation and forethought was not done.

Marianne’s work, particularly, did not appear to be given the consideration it needed to truly be stand out. I feel I cannot blame Marianne herself for this as I know how much effort she put into designing the layout of her work, all the different options she considered and how far it has progressed from the beginning.  As you can see above the lighting completely removes from the work making it feel amateurish and slapdash.  Nevertheless I am of the opinion that Marianne has produced an intricate and high quality piece of work. Her dedication to detail and perfection are obvious; the layout is engaging and appealingly interactive, the materials and processes she has used are appropriate to the sentiment behind her work and the concept, though subtle, is made obvious at first glance, it is quite clearly ‘home’.  This level of skill and understanding is something I would like to be present in my own work.

I chose Marianne’s work initially because her passion for her subject matter was evident as soon as spoke about it. However, the main reason I chose to review Marianne was how much I felt her work related to me personally. The idea of home and family spoke to me on a personal level while the challenge of creating an impression of a place that you no longer occupy related to some of my ideas about by own work.  Also, her use of physical objects is something that appeals to me as I feel I am never satisfied unless I have produced something tangible.

I like to think I have learnt a great deal from the 3^rd year’s exhibition. The successes and failings of the works on display has encouraged me to be more deceive and pro-active in my own work. it has also taught me organisation and time management skills are key to achieving a confident and productive working environment.

Finally FinishFinaly finished Lotions and Potions!

So, after many days of toil, I have finally finished making and bottling my concoctions and i'm very happy with the result. The ribbons are a little too bright for what I would have like but I think they work quite well. I would still like to photograph them in a natural environment, preferably Harewood House, when the lights better. However as they are I am very satisfied with the result.

Ribbons Galore.

So, here are the ribbons that I'm going to use to attach the labels to the bottles, they are meant to reflect the four humors, blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm. The ribbons will correspond wth which humor that particular herb is meant to aid.