Leeds Arts University Repository (CREST)
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Trusting Technê: An exploration into the creative value of learning through doing
No full textThis paper takes the form of a testimonial experience reflecting on the piloting of two undergraduate projects. Students on the BA (Hons) Fashion course at Leeds Arts University, United Kingdom (UK), were required to start the design process by participating in a series of kinesthetic workshops, solely based on exploratory pattern cutting principles. Sourcing any visual inspiration or references was prohibited, thus distorting students’ preconceived notions of what constitutes a linear design system. Encouraging design ideas to emerge from creative cutting principles rather than sourced imagery aims to embed ‘technê’ (practically applied knowledge); emphasise the importance of tacit epistemologies in a pedagogical context; enhance creative impact; and instigate autonomous learning. The paper will also serve to illustrate the creative potential of eliminating visual research from the early stages of the design process
Thomas Houseago: When art and life blurred together, a biographical tribute
No full textA text written in response to the idea of the artist as a fictional being that needs an underlying myth in order for a wider understanding of the artist and their work to be achieved. This text further cemented the idea that semi-fictional narratives could be developed out of real experiences, and that in doing this more effective communication could be developed with both specialist and non art audiences. The text was written for the catalogue of first large retrospective exhibition of the work of Thomas Houseago and was written directly in response to real experiences. A mythic narrative was developed to take the original experience and to mould it into a story that now had traction as an idea of what as an artist Houseago could now be. His Yorkshire roots highlighted and developed as a grand narrative that could support the ‘weight’ of his current practice. The text was peer reviewed by the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris editors as well as by Thomas Houseago himself. This aspect of my narrative practice continues the stories begun in the book ‘Art and Fiction’ and has been revisited several times since, including the Library Interventions project, the exhibition ‘Insidious Materials’ and the stories told in conjunction with the Henry Moore Institute performance event, Tales from a Sculpture City
Utilising mood boards in media research
No full textThis workshop explores how mood boards can be utilised within media audience research. This methodology has been developed in relation to a wider research project focussing on men, masculinity and reflexivity. The mood board process is one that is used most frequently in design practices and education but is shown here to have use in a media research context. The use of mood boards in capturing audience reactions and reflections on media images (specifically men’s magazines) is argued to be a useful method insofar as it allows participants to select and curate imagery in a simple and intuitive way and provides an elicitation device for participants to communicate through. The method is understood as being part creative visual method, part elicitation and part focus group. However, unlike creative visual methods the visual materials created here are used as elicitation devices rather than the data source. This workshop explores the development of the mood board methodology before inviting participants to engage in the same method in relation to the theme “what is masculinity?” using imagery found in a selection of men’s lifestyle magazines (Men’s Health, Esquire, Attitude and GQ). During the process one participant in each group assumes the role of the researcher and is responsible for steering the discussions and maintaining focus
Office exercises
No full text‘Office Exercises’ is a photographic series translating the repetitive daily routine
of contemporary society. Research Process: The research process included the use of choreographed and improvised
movements and poses to visually communicate the repetitive actions used in the workplace. Aspects of the absurd, the everyday and the links between health and the workplace formed the framework of the series. Research Insights:
‘Office Exercises’ is a photographic series translating the repetitive daily routine of contemporary society. Office exercises are promoted to the work force through
the use of corporate signage around the workspace, communicating the importance of health and wellbeing. This communication is often in conflict with the realistic nature of work environments, that can often result in a narrative of long work hours, burnout and exhaustion. The performance of the exercises symbolises the ongoing pressure to achieve and produce whist experiencing
feelings of restriction and inertia. Dissemination: The project was disseminated via exhibition at ‘Beyond the Camera’, Diesel Engine Factory B1, Pingyao International Photography Festival, ‘Jump’, The Gallery Liverpool, Look Photo Biennial and a poster campaign
Biomórfica
No full textThe output is an exhibition comprising a series of drawings accompanied by a site-responsive installation, where Cumberland constructed new work responding to the architecture of the space. Research process: Central to Cumberland’s research practice is an investigation into complex relationships between repetition, reproduction and difference and its manifestations as expanded drawing practice. The research explores biomorphic elements referencing naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of living organisms with a focus on microbiology.
Material research was undertaken on-site as Cumberland employed new methods as part of the making, using paper, vinyl, pigment, acrylic and projection. The research processes and techniques allowed the architectural support to become an element of the drawing. Research insights: It was found that the audience response to the exchange of ideas and exploration of visual communication from different cultural perspectives was important. Connections to the significance of paper cutting (paper picado) in Mexican culture were discovered through linking contemporary Western art to historic Mexican craft and traditions. Dissemination:
The research was disseminated through an exhibition in September 2019 at Liliput Gallery, Puebla, Mexico, a contemporary art gallery representing international contemporary artists. The exhibition was selected by a jury from RADAR Mexico and was sponsored by Laserweb. The work was also disseminated via newspaper articles, digital publishing, social media publicity and a radio broadcast. An accompanying text was published by Mexican Art Historian, Arturo Alvar
Necrotic biography room
No full textThe output is a creative project, a two-channel moving image work exhibited as an installation at Pavilion, Leeds. The installation consisted of a 30-minute digital video and a 1-minute 2D animation. Research Process: ‘Necrotic Biography Room’ -- the title refers to a phantasmagorical 'room' frequently alluded to in the script -- developed from two related interests: (i) artworks that 'return to the scene' and (ii) the 'behind the scenes' documentary. An earlier version was exhibited at ‘Library Interventions: Moving Knowledge’, which provided a testing ground. During the first phase, Steans realised the process of filming was as interesting as the ostensible subject, or 'scene', and the very concept of 'behind the scenes' was itself a 'scene'. Subsequently it became a film about the making of itself. Research insights: ‘Necrotic Biography Room’, like Foster's 'traumatic realism' (1996), depends not on a stable dichotomy between the world and the artwork but on interlinked processes of receptive experience and artistic production. The concept 'returning to the scene' helps to figure a privileging of receptive and productive processes, implying agency or action on the part of the artist. ‘Necrotic Biography Room’ also evidences a kind of ‘versioning’, meaning that projects materialise as series of published iterations, each one a singular version and an adaptation of previous ones. Steans likens versioning to Edmond's 'iterative poetics' (2011), with which Edmond describes the work of Caroline Bergvall. Versioning relates to Steans' thinking on horror – it adapts and evolves in a similar way to genres that mutate over time, propagating new subgenres through repetition and difference (Neale 1980; 1985). Dissemination: ‘Necrotic Biography Room’ has been competitively shortlisted and screened at New Flesh residency website; ‘Necrotic Biography Room’, Pavilion, Leeds, 2019; ‘Library Interventions’, 2018
To Hide Ones Face from God
No full textThe output is an artefact comprising a series of five photographs. The images
depict the ancient French eating ritual of the Ortolan bird. This now illegal
tradition consists of capturing this tiny endangered songbird which is then drowned in Armagnac brandy, plucked and cooked before being eaten in an elaborate and ritualistic dinner. The bird is eaten whole, headfirst, organs, bones and head intact and with the diner's head shrouded by a napkin, to savour the aroma and it's said, to hide one's face from God. Research process: Allen’s practice draws from her relationship with nature and how at odds it is with
the societal behaviours imposed on us. Birds feature heavily in her more recent
work, being the symbol of innocence, fragility and beauty; the dichotomy between
nature’s purity and society’s urge to consume. Allen created a series of staged
photographs that reference French and Dutch genre and still life painting.
Research insights: This theatrical culinary act has transformed the bird from a symbol of innocence to an act of gluttony symbolic of mans’ fall from grace. The photographs communicate the dichotomy between shame and the urge to consume through visual metaphor. Dissemination: This output was disseminated as part of the Make Good exhibition at Leeds Arts University, September 2019 and also exhibited in “PEERS” at Vrij Paleis, Amsterdam, September 2019
Leonora Carrington: “wild card”
No full textThe “Artists in Exile” surrealist group portrait of 1942 arguably marks a moment of recognition and inclusion for Leonora Carrington as well as, paradoxically, her moment of “exoticization” and temporary exclusion from Anglo-American criticism at large. The existing literature on Carrington is already unfairly weighted towards her early career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, when indeed she would go on to produce radical and challenging paintings, sculptures, novels, tapestries, plays, set designs and costumes well into her nineties. So why another reading of Carrington’s wartime output? For one, it is useful to present a clearer timeline of her movements and locations, and secondly, it is necessary to review her intermedial contributions to the surrealist magazines of this period. This paper will propose that Carrington was, in fact, at the heart of the avant-garde during this period, a point which has provided fertile ground for future-feminist revisionary commentaries such as Marina Warner, as well as more recent historiographies and creative reinterpretations by Lucy Skaer. A reconsideration of Carrington’s output from this wartime interlude in New York City, including her short story “White Rabbits” (1941) and her Untitled etching for VVV Portfolio (1942), provides insights into her instinctual avant-garde senses of liminality and transgression as well as evidencing the profound respect and acknowledgement her peers held towards her. McAra shared an earlier version of this research at the Biblioteca Nacional de México on the occasion of Carrington’s centenary (6 April 2017) organised through the Leonora Carrington Estate
Deflecting risk, increasing citizenship: JPD Debate Club at two FE colleges, exploring the potential impact of critical thinking strategies
No full textThis is a Joint Project Development (JPD) (Fielding et al (2005) is situated at two FE Colleges in the North of England. Vocational students at FE colleges often demonstrate low levels of literacy diminished self-confidence. (Burke 2001) states a Neoliberal education agenda has caused a ‘literacy crisis’. Many vocational students are resistant to literacy strategies preferring practical engagement. This study explores how literacy proficiency, increase citizenship, community and mental health well-being might be improved via pedagogical interventions in critical thinking (CT). In particular this research takes the position that introducing participants to philosophical debate may deflect issues (Beck 2013) that polarize society. For example, the rise in fake news, far-Right extremists and the demonisation of immigration. By discussing these concerns, in Critical Thinking interventions including Lipman;s (2003) Community of Enquiry and a Debate Club, the study identifies how students develop skills in CT and citizenship by listening to each others’ stories, sharing ideas. The small-scale study explores the extent to which CT interventions which begin in oracy can impact on the development of literacy. The research population consists of 34 volunteers meeting over five weeks. Emerging findings suggest that CT interventions can help students, lecturers, technicians and support staff find voice as they find connection. Tentative findings show that CT interventions increased engagement and enjoyment of literacy. Emerging findings also indicate that the Debate Club creates a safe space, a non-judgemental arena for points of view; it develops a social conscience, concept of self-restraint, the development of a moral compass, and an internalised citizenship. Early findings also point to how participation in these interventions encourages a culture in which students are decent, kind, caring, considerate, creative, towards each other, aware of individual contributions and of contributions to the community as a whole
How to make a body
No full textWhat can a body do? This question is posited to the book-object. This essay argues that such an object, long considered passive and constrained by its bindings – the finished product – has the potential to move outside of these boundaries. The ideas situated in this essay pull from the writing of feminist scholars and new materialist thought; and is specifically anchored by political theorist Jane Bennett’s concepts outlined in the book Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (2010). Bennett points out that thinking of molecules as ‘lively’ or ‘vibrant’ releases the protocols of the ‘body’ and the ‘organism’ from its presiding biological definitions, allowing us to explode its material edge. Utilising this idea as a lens to reimagine and reinterpret the book-object, this text explores how book-objects challenge prevailing definitions of subject and object by working performatively. Looking at the artwork and journals of Helen Chadwick alongside selected self-initiated work, this essay proposes that ‘object-things’, such as books, have a certain material agency. As such – expanding upon the initial question – this text asks: what can a book-body do