Initial Thoughts and Starting Points

I like to make my own sketch books so that I can select a variety of papers – tissue, glassine, sugar paper, cartridge, ingres etc. and other surfaces, like fabric, or whatever I have that is interesting at hand. Varied signatures make it stimulating and challenging to record ideas and experiments on different surfaces and colours – it forces different media choices throughout the chronology of my ideas developing and It seems apt to mention this here because the whole project is based upon chance and unexpected routes having to be taken. However, at this stage, there is no chronology… just a whirl of ideas about selecting the topic ‘mind’ and having to work on it with ‘plant life or nature’ within the methodology of ‘image manipulation/ collage, animation or film’. I think sketchbook making helps as a ‘making activity’ to be doing while I get my thoughts in some sort of order.

While assembling the book, I have been reflecting upon how happy I am to have rolled ‘mind’. I imagine that it will be a productive topic for me because I can approach it from a variety of perspectives that relate to things I have studied in the past.

PSYCHOLOGY: My teacher training involved a lot of psychology and in role, professional development around learning styles and special educational needs, was deeply rooted in psychology too – so, I may find inspiration relating to interpretations of ‘mind’ in this field….. perhaps image manipulation around changing states of mind?

PHILOSOPHY: Years ago, I read philosophy. Epistemology fascinated me and of course, arguments about the mind-body distinction. More recently, while teaching Philosophy of Mind for A’Level Philosophy/R.E. I read-up a lot about qualia and there could be some interesting mileage around the sort of ‘does red cause redness’ type of ‘qualia question’ …. particularly in terms of image manipulation based around colour and form…….

PLANT LIFE / NATURE: This interests me as a gardener and a lover of nature and landscape – subjects I always enjoy photographing and painting …. I could find some initial source material here…… nature and mindfulness – fractal animations? It came to mind too, that I have some primary research examples relating to this in my teaching resources from a few years ago … AQA question preparation PowerPoint if I recall …. Anya Gallacio, Archimboldo, Sam Taylor Johnson, …. things like that. I’ll look them out while the glue is drying in the spine of my sketchbook.

Pathway Project Week contd.

Collaborative paired work. Chose a book/poem, select a passage to respond to collaboratively. Make a collaborative response. Finally, develop your piece to share with the group.

We select ‘The Wasteland’ and propose to collaboratively make Mme Sosostris’ pack of cards.

Later, to present our work, we make a backdrop in the fashion photography corner and ‘dress’ Mme Sosostris, seated at her tarot table.

Pathway Project Week. 30th Oct.-2nd Nov. 2018

All change! The studio is transformed, we have pathway zones now for Fine Art, Viz Com., Fashion, 3D etc. and have each chosen our personal studio spaces – a desk with a board. Our Fine Art induction has been exciting; a quick fire range of collaborative activities based on the elements of chance and random outcomes.

One: a) Random selections define a subject, methodology and medium to produce individual responses.

Alternatively, another person gets ….

‘Trees’, ‘Tiny’, ‘Thread’.

b) Unite the individual responses in a collaborative piece and find a way to connect everything.

Collaborative Combinations

Linking it all up.

Two: Some contextual studies input about ‘chance’ in Art. Interesting material to read about Bruce Mau’s , ‘An Incomplete Manifesto For Growth’, and Brian Eno’s ‘Oblique Strategies’.

Three: Chance Based Narrative. Lucky dip for your narrative character, lucky dip again… discovery where you are or what state you are in. Another dip, get a post card. Finally, dip again to discover who your postcard is to be addressed to. What message will you write to them? Now hook all your ‘clues’ together and make art around the narrative you construct. What fun!

Making narrative artefacts
Finding ‘LOST’ treasure.