Finished TULCA Response

Here is my response to our visit to TULCA 2013. I used the front and back covers of the festival book and I used the map covers too on the inside. I used string to hold the piece together and I did ink drawings of some of the piece I mentioned in the piece.

TULCA Response

For my response to TULCA I am going to make a mini book using the cover pages of the festival book. In the book I will critique the festival including the theme, venues and pieces on display.

Critique of Works From Exhibition

"Meditation on the bog" by Colin Bracken

Coloured chalk on slate

Colin's piece caught my eye straight away. Aesthetically it is a beautiful piece. I think chalk is the perfect media. It radiates a sense of tranquility through the the movement of the blue strokes. I like the use of slate and how it ties in with cave paintings. My one problem is with how the piece was hung, mainly the problem of the slate tilting. However there was nothing Colin could have done about that so I won't hold it against him. I found Colin's artistic statement well written and presented. It gave me more of an insight into his piece. Overall I am a fan of Colin's artwork and can easily imagine it on a wall in anyone's home.

"Electric Checkboard" by Keith Smyth

Mixed media on canvas

I enjoyed Keith's piece. It didn't feel like it was trying to say something which made me like it more. Aesthetically pleasing piece which looked like a lot of fun to make. I like the use of the red and blue chalk pastels. The piece seemed to jump off the walk towards you the more you looked at it. Reading his artistic statement gave me an insight to how Keith would have had to work to create this similar possibly to how prehistoric people would have created their cave pieces. Overall I enjoyed Keith's piece. 

L2L Exhibition Nailing Down Visions

I liked how my piece was displayed in the exhibition. I think it was at the right height for people to view it properly. The light at the time of the opening of the exhibition was very nice and did not take away from my piece. 

Overall the exhibition was a success. There were a lot of great work on display. The pieces I am thinking about critiquing are:

                             
                                   

                                   


                                        

                                   


                                   

                                        

    

  

Ecstasy

This piece is inspired by the documentary The Day Pictures Were Born from the BBC series How Art made the World. What interested me most was the theme of trance. In the documentary we see a shaman going into a trance state. Before he goes into that state he zones out as his eyes go back into his head. This got me thinking if I was in a trance state how would the world appear to me. Chalk pastels were used to make bold colours and abstract images to show this. I used chalk pastels because I wanted bold colours but with a blurred effect like you would see in a trance. 

Final Concept For Nailing Down Visions Project

I have decided to ditch my concept of the puppet on a string. Was to obivious and I couldn't think of a way of putting a new spin on it. I have decided to go back to one of my original ideas, a landscape piece through the eyes of a person in a trance state. I feel that using chalk pastel will be the best medium to get across my concept the best. I will use a lot of colour but since I am using chalk the effect won't be to loud with the edges being soft. I will have a lot of movement throughout the piece using different lines to carry the viewers eyes across the piece.

Working On Concept For Nailing Down Visions Project

Could not a breeze block or good cement block to work with so will have to change my concept. Was working with the eye theme but have started to move away from that now. I am interested in the motion if you are in a trance state then you are no longer in control. You could possibly be under the control of someone else, puppet on a string.I looked at the idea of when I was working in the factory I felt like I was in a trance state where I switched off went I stepped into work and did what I was told to do, distancing myself from the work so I could survive the tough work I had to do. Not sure yet it if my idea is too obvious saying your under someones control therefore you are a puppet on a string.

TULCA Exhibition Visit

Over Tuesday & Wednesday we visited the majority of the TULCA 2013 exhibition. I found it very insightful into how an arts exhibition show was organised and how the pieces were set up or hung. This gave me ideas about arranging my piece for the L2L exhibition. My favourite pieces from the exhibition were: 

• Bojan Fajfric's film Theta Rhythm because of the question it asks if you could possibly change or stop something in your life what would it be
• Kasia Kaminska's piece On Bhonn Anios/ From Bottom Up more because the history behind the piece rather than the photos themselves, originally I didn't like them but when I was invigilating in the Fairgreen I had some spare time to read the newspaper piece that came along with the piece
• Kaen Conway's drawing Mecca is a place called Topshop and Knock's H&M, it is a well finished drawing and I liked how the piece was hung in the exhibition
• Nun's Islands videos were really interesting and The Irish Tapes were really insightful
• Maria Mckinney's Memory Sticks, sculpture piece, was nice to look at with the different colours and forms created from different memory sticks

Further Exploration On Nailing Down Visions Project

Explored more ideas for project. I focused on the idea of doing a piece from a cement block or breeze block. I like the idea of creating something 3D possibly an eye that is in a trance state. Not sure how I would show it is in a trance, possibly using colour or line.

Jolene Mok

Jolene Mok's main creative platforms involve experimentation in video, film and new media arts. She earned her MFA in Experimental & Documentary Arts at Duke University, originally born and raised in Hog Kong. Mok treats both practical and theoretical components as interconnected aspects of her creative process. Mok seeks to generate unexpected and meaningful outcomes by taking a playful approach to emerging technologies, situations and contexts.

Mok's piece in TULCA 2013 is Accepted/Rejected, a single screen HD video that lasts 14 mins and is continuously looped.

http://www.tulcafestival.com/artists/852/

TULCA Visit

Today we heard the TULCA Education Officer talk about TULCA. After this we were given an artist to research. My artist is Jolene Mok. We must write a small statement about our artists and be able to talk about them in front of the group when we come across it on our visit the the galleries. Once we have visited the exhibition we are asked to respond to the visit in one of the following ways:

1. A response to one particular art work (written and visual)
2. A response to the exhibition in general (written and visual)
3. Enter the TULCA short film competition

http://www.tulcafestival.com/

Concepts for Final Piece

My concept is to create a piece based on the programme where the Shaman is dancing & going into a trance state in front of the crowd in the firelight. I will create a piece, in portrait form, of the Shaman's face with his eyes wide open, almost going back into his head with a dark background with the fire lighting the piece with the Shaman slightly covered by smoke & his eyes standing out.

My other concepts are:

• Of a eye, in landscape form, going into a trance state with the face multi-coloured, to symbolise the person being in a trance state, and the eyeball made of smoke or possibly bloodshot
• Of a person going into a trance state from drugs and is tripping out
• A landscape through a persons eyes who is in a trance state, done in a very abstract manner & full of colour

Research for Concept

Following on from my mind map I started researching vision and trance. This gave me a better insight into my chosen theme. Next I googled the words trance art & cave art trance to help generate some ideas for my concept. Trance art seems to be very abstract and colourful. Bright bold colours help to show that someone is in a trance state. Cave art fixates more on representing the movement/action rather than the small details. It is very expressive with figures flowing instead of looking very structured. It reminds me of the Aboriginal art I studied last year with the use of line and its "dreamtime" pieces.

Mind map of Main Points from Programme

 

By doing a mind map of the main points I have found out that the area I find most interesting is the trance/ vision aspect of the programme. I like this theme because it is open and allows me to make an abstract piece if I wish. I can also link in areas like, religion, human mind, spirit world & death if any of these seem relevant to a piece I would like to make.

Notes from The Day Pictures Were Born

 

 

An example of some of the notes I took from the programme. Now I am going to break down my notes and see what points of the programme interested me the most and research that theme more with the hope of making a concept.

L2L Semester One Project Nailing Down Visions

Having watched the documentary The Day Pictures Were Born from the BBC series How Art made the World I have to now conduct a body of research from any points of the piece that inspired me with the aim to create a series of concepts which hopefully will turn into a piece of work. The final piece will then be exhibited on 25th November in the collage hall along with a short artistic statement.

Off the pedestal

The article I decided to work with is about a couple of families in Limerick who want to change the date of the 1st Communion in 2014 so their children can attend a One Direction concert. This got me thinking about how the power of the Catholic church has diminished in Ireland over the last twenty years. If this had been the 1980's this wouldn't have even been considered. However now families are being balloted over the current date. I used this thought to create my piece. It is set in a teenage boys bedroom and like all boys it is a little messy. But as part of this mess there is a regular looking book. What makes it stand out is the yellow halo surrounding it. I did this to symbolise the weakening of the churches power. It has weakened to such an extent that a young boy would not give the book any extra care or notice then he would to the rest of his things thrown about the room.

Research for Newspaper Piece

I explored each article to see what were the key themes. Following this I came to the conclusion that the One Direction piece was the most interesting available to me. Its themes were the church, religion and how the power of the church has weakened in Ireland. Following on from my research I began mapping out ideas for my piece and what way it would be structured so as to emphasis what my piece is about.

Artwork from Newspaper Article

This week our task is to pick articles from the newspaper and from one of them create a piece of work. The articles I found interesting from this weeks newspapers were:

 

Passenger lands plane after pilot dies

A 77 year old great grandfather with no flying experience who managed to land a light aircraft when his pilot friend collapsed, and later died, admitted he "did not have a clue" what he was doing.

Boy band causes unholy row

A One Direction concert has led to a dispute in a primary school because it clashes with a 1st Communion day. Parents will be balloted over a demand by three families to change 2014 Communion day because their children have booked tickets for the boy bands concert on that day.

Kenny receives another slap in the face

Days after receiving a slap in the face over the referendum Enda Kenny received another when Irish Rugby Head Coach Joe Schmidt hit Kenny in the face with a misplaced kick with a rugby ball.

Not going down the pan

A company has developed a "pee-controlled computer game" which men operate while standing at a urinal. The games are in 15 venues around the UK and have a growing list of international clients.

Paula Rego Mind Map

This is my finished mind map for my artist Paula Rego. I used certain numbers because they are important years in the artists life. I used the poem by Blake Morrison because it linked in with Rego's piece "Him" and for my background I used red and blue because I think it will make the mind map stand out.

Overall I found Rego an interesting artist. Her work is never boring and is at times disturbing. Rego's work captures you and the more you look at her work more questions seem to be raised. I enjoyed looking at her prints especially her Nursery Rhymes series and how she presented her pieces. It give me ideas for my own work which I didn't expect when beginning this process and will put to use in my future work.

Research for Paula Rego

To help make my mind map on my artist Paula Rego I researched different things about the artist. I researched her background, what artworks is she known for, what pieces I liked myself of the artist and what images and words could I use for my mind map.

Research for artist mind map

Last week everyone was given an artist at random. The task is to research your artist using just books from the library with no internet research allowed. My artist is Paula Rego. To make my mind map I took out two books about Rego, Paula Rego the complete graphic works by T.G. Rosenthal & Paula Rego by Tate Gallery Publishing.

Mind map

 This is a mind map of what I want from college. I created the background by dropping splashes of tea over the page and then dropping paint into the poodles formed by the tea and then left to dry. I used words andclouds to symbolise the thoughts and dreams that I have in the future and what hopefully will happen.