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Drawing as collective narrative
Get PDFThis presentation was developed for a one day symposium that interrogated the issues surrounding collaborative drawing practices. The presentation was to eventually become the kernel around which a chapter for book; ‘Drawing as a tool for shaping community experience into collective allegory’ was developed for the publication ‘Collective and collaborative drawing in contemporary practice’. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 192-215. ISBN 9781527503472. The presentation explored how a practice that began with walking through a community and drawing, had become over time a practice that was responding to the stories told by individuals met whilst drawings were being made. The gradual development of community led issues such as designing out crime, visualising future possibilities and developing games to allow others to join in with creative play, was explained and various uses of drawing within these several contexts were described. The development of an allegorical practice was also highlighted, and questions were asked as to whether or not work of this sort was of real benefit to the community that had stimulated the initial idea
On innards
Get PDFOn Innards is a multidisciplinary project developed by artists; Amanda Couch, Mindy Lee and Andrew Hladky, that explores the changing conceptualisations of guts and digestion, their impact on the creative process and the role they play in constructing and destabilising our sense of self. Bookwork artist and designer Richard Nash joined the project to collaborate and lead on dissecting, reinterpreting, and reconnecting the record of this two-year project in the form of a limited-edition artist book, On Innards | Publication.
The project started with Nash setting the three artists a collaborative project to reflect textually, visually and materially on their three-way conversation presented at Body Horror, Athens (2013), onto a typeset concertina. Joined with Nash, this then extended into a 4-way conversation on the embodiment of the project and the form of the book. Working with artefacts, images, and stories from the On Innards | Exhibition and Event (2014), Nash examined, reinterpreted, and curated; extending existing research and making material interventions, in addition to contributing with graphic expressions and typo-concrete writing.
Along with artworks from Couch, Lee, and Hladky On Innards | Publication included contributions from Carlo Comanducci, Giskin Day, Dr. Simon Gabe, Kerry Gallagher, Nathaniel Storey, and Jamie Sutcliffe and Jenny Pengilly, from the fields of gastroenterology, virology, cultural theory, art history, yoga, performance and fine art, and the medical humanities.
With 200 pages of intersecting formats, Nash created an artists’ book as an embodiment of digestion. Its intestinal form interweaves, concertinas, fold-outs, pop-ups, gate-folds, roll-folds and reveals. Nash created an innovative custom ‘mesenteric’ binding, which, when unwound, allows the book to be opened further, unfolding to reveal hidden ideas, images and text.
On Innards | Publication had an official launch with a signing on the 12th September at the prestigious London Art Book Fair (2015) at the Whitechapel Gallery
Process and printmaking
Get PDFThe output is a curated project, Leeds Print Festival: Process and Printmaking, curated by Smith, 2014. Research process: The output is an archive of selected prints that showcases a range of processes and techniques from studios, collectives, and individuals regionally, nationally, and internationally. Process and Printmaking features traditional and contemporary printing processes such as collagraph, screenprint, letterpress, risograph, and woodcut. Research insights: There are creatives, on a global scale, that are reclaiming the press and embracing traditional methods of print. This is happening commercially, where the print work is produced on extended runs when the decision has been made to return to a print-based output opposed to working just digital for a client. Individuals are setting up workshops in their homes and garages with found or reconditioned presses or adapting presses that would have been once been originally used just for proofing such as the Adana. Design studios are also setting up printing spaces inside their agencies. They are challenging what print can do by introducing new technologies to traditional methods. Dissemination: The research was disseminated in Creative Review’s monthly publication, Monograph, in May 2014
Nostos
Get PDFThe output is an exhibition expanding on an earlier series of sculptures and drawings about place. Nostos is about the importance of key objects that we live with and is underpinned by the ongoing references in Cooke’s practice to site/place, object and history - and her experience as an Irish immigrant. The exhibition consists of 3 wall-based sculptures and a series of drawings that look at the most important objects that Cooke thinks are needed to make a living space function – a bed, table, car and books. Research Process: ‘Firmamental Product’ a wooden wall-based sculpture the size of a desk in Cooke’s studio, hangs from the wall by a 13m long crios [a traditional woven Irish belt]. Carved from walnut, it has a round protrusion butting out from one corner that pushes it out from the wall - begging a question of purpose. ‘Ignorant Brown’ in plywood, is the abstracted shadow of an Irish settle bed. The molten tin poured onto the surface is potentially an indicator of the internal state of suspension in sleep. ‘Un-English’ looks at European car design and cars that Cooke appreciates. ‘Stack 1-5’ are watercolours of texts that are a key part of Cooke’s creative practice and are visual notes of an intense internal world of exploration and discovery. Research Insights: The artworks are about embodying need rather than exploring function. The series of works deal with fracturing within issues based, in part, on Cooke’s status as an immigrant and her observations on the politics of movement within the modern world. Cooke also examines ideas around belonging, nostalgia and idealised homesteads. Dissemination: The output was exhibited at noshowspace, London, 25 September – 24 October 2014. An accompanying illustrated publication was printed by noshowspace with an interview between Cooke and Natalie Rudd
WALDO-like remote manipulator
No full textThe output is a device comprising circuitry and software developed to control 3D workspace with the intention of simplifying interaction and learning through embodied agency. Research process: In response to the complexity of existing 3D animation software, Clark developed an innovative simplified approach using microcontrollers. Clark built a circuit around a microcontroller allowing input and output, and programmed the microcontroller to read the inputs through various sensors in order to prove his concept. As Maya is unable to read data from the serial bus, a short script was required within the software to obtain this information. Once the information had been read, it needed to be translated into values that would correspond with relevant attributes of assigned objects. Further script was developed to capture and record the motion input through the adjustments in microcontroller sensors. Research insights: The project found that it is possible to develop external controllers to control attributes of objects in the 3D workspace in Maya. It demonstrated that it is possible to make complex production software more accessible to a wider audience. The use of microcontrollers as inputs for motion capture has the potential to reduce costs for small projects using this approach. Dissemination: The project was disseminated at the Educating Animators Academic conference 2018 and via a blog, http://virtualpuppeteer.blogspot.com/2014/11/
Pop-up republics
Get PDFThe output is a curated exhibition, Pop-up Republics, co-curated by Paul Booth, Beccy Kennedy, Ming Turner and Toby Heys who formed a curator collective, ‘Dark Border Developments’. Research process: Working with a mixture of local and international artists, the researchers explored the concept of ‘micronation’ whilst contesting notions of nationhood by proposing four separate and movable micronations in shipping containers with carefully constructed interiors, all of which double up as newly commissioned art installations. The exhibition was situated at the Imperial War Museum on the docks of the Salford Quays, a site that brought influence from other cultures. It was made accessible to the audience via boat tours between Manchester and Salford. Research insights: The research contributed to explorations of what is possible when organising an international exhibition, both in terms of how the work was housed and in how the particular installation site can influence the theme of borders, boundaries and internationalisation through the exhibition space. Dissemination: The research was disseminated via exhibition at the Imperial War Museum North, as part of the Manchester Asia Triennial 2014, 27 September to 23 November 2014
The role of the agreement: Art students, dyslexia, reading and writing
No full textThis article looks at experiences of writing in higher art education. It demonstrates
how the experiences of art students with dyslexia affect their perceptions of themselves
as writers. It proposes the role of the agreement in providing a negotiated
space for students with dyslexia to explore difficulties and to take on responsibilities
regarding their academic literacy. The need for an agreement becomes clearer
when we examine the significant role writing can play in expressing ideas, concepts
and theories about students’ own visual practice, This article proposes the idea of
agreements that might facilitate the process of integration between writing and creative
visual practice. These agreements take place at the institutional, diagnostic and
educational level. The article highlights the importance of these agreements in establishing
a culture of mature and democratic discourse around education; one that
acknowledges both rights and responsibilities
Where do I end and you begin
Get PDFFrom 1997 to 2016 I worked in collaboration with artist Emma Ruston exhibiting nationally and internationally. Projects with Ruston combined large-scale sculptural constructions or reconstructions of specific objects or spaces, that referred to historical and cultural events. In order to critically examine ideas of collaboration and participation, artists and cultural producers were invited to participate in projects. As part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, Edinburgh Art Festival in partnership with City Art Centre presented Where do I end and you begin a major international exhibition of art selected by five curators from Commonwealth countries. Over 20 international artists were invited to explore and interrogate the ideas, ideals and myths which underpin notions of community, common-wealth, and the commons. The exhibition featured work by Amar Kanwar, Antonia Hirsch, Arpita Singh, Brian Jungen and Duane Linklater, Derek Sullivan, Gavin Hipkins, Kay Hassan, Kushana Bush, Mary Evans, Mary Sibande, Masooma Syed, Naeem Mohaiemen, Pascal Grandmaison, Rebecca Belmore, Shannon Te Ao, Shilpa Gupta, Steve Carr, Tam Joseph, Uriel Orlow, Yvonne Todd. My project with Ruston Stop Thief! (a new commission) included- a large tent like structure Flaghall made up of hundreds of hand-stitched imaginary national flags and formed the fulcrum for two further works: Conquest, Colonialism and the Commons, a 20 minute video lecture we commissioned by Edinburgh based writer and activist Andy Wightman. Presented inside the Flaghall the video explored the ‘historic interconnections’ between Britain’s colonial past and land ownership in contemporary Scotland; The second work Stop Thief! (readings), involved ‘collective readings’ compiled from texts which link ‘corporate financers, witches, scapegoats, stories of forests, and the commons. Performed simultaneously by eight actors occupying the four floors of Edinburgh’s Art Centre, the ‘readers’ words spilled out from Flaghall across the entire exhibition, as a metaphorical reference to land grabs and stolen commons. The exhibition was accompanied by a full colour catalogue with essays by the curators
After life
Get PDFThe short graphic story ‘After Life’ narrates an intimate experience of grief and is practical research contributing to the knowledge of communicating realistic emotional accounts through illustrated fictionalised stories. The comic looks to innovate approaches within the medium by partnering a ‘confessional’ (M.L Rosenthal, 1959) poetic style of writing with stylised sequential imagery to explore generating original methods for sharing and visualising complex psychological states. It contributes to a body of contemporary comic work exploring and evolving sequential illustrative practice through unpicking and challenging its stylistic visual language. After Life is the first comic by the author to explore the appropriateness of specific aesthetics within a comic to set the mood. Through an ongoing series, the author’s intention is to explore visual styles to create contemplative ‘moodscapes’ most appropriate for roaming a psychological terrain. Rigorous process has been used to validate the significance of the piece through its selection via juried panel for international exhibition and comic award. After Life was ranked joint runner-up in the Jonathan Cape/Comica/Observer graphic short story prize in 2014. The Guardian online (where the comic is hosted) describes the work as “superbly drawn […] also witty, poignant and insightful.” The comic has been published and shared widely online. Beth Dawson has also performed this work as a ‘poetic comic reading’ at research dissemination events, most notably at “Drawing In The Girls,” as part of Leeds Beckett University’s research the cluster group ‘F= Presents: Festival of The Body” in March 2016 which took place during International Womens Day week and placed this piece within a broader context of exploring feminism and the female voice within contemporary art practice
Paula Chambers: A review of ‘With Intent: Fanciful Objects’ [review]
Get PDFPaula Chambers’ tenth solo show has been installed in the gallery on the first floor of the Batley Library and Resource Centre; a survivor from Batley’s successful economic and civic past at the beginning of the last century. The artist describes it as a ‘traditional’ hang that contains a series of wall-based works and appropriated objects shown on plinths. The walls are painted with a dreamy greenish white on which a series of mirrors reflect and shimmer. The visual effect unifies the whole exhibition and signifies an overall interest in the vintage