brandonedwards-creative-blog

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The Body

After combining my prints I had the idea to also combine elements I felt worked well from some of my other art pieces.

This piece is inspired by the way out body reacts to anxiety. I thought about how we can overthink things so I drew the brain as a symbol of this. The increased heart relate is symbolised by the heart. And then breathing is symbolised with the imagery of the lungs.

I first used a wash of grey watercolour over the paper as I don't enjoy starting off which a white surface and I find it makes it hard to start my artwork. Once the grey base layer was complete and dry, I began to map out how I wanted the piece to look in pencil. This was to ensure all the proportions were accurate and to help me make each section look precise.

Once this was complete I added a second layer of watercolour. I filled in around the rope and chains and organs. I decided to add a bit of colour into this piece with some subtle hints of blue and yellow in the background. I am not a fan of working with too much colour in my pieces, but found this to work quite effective once it was dry and the colours complimented eachother. I wanted to create an empty space around the organs to show infinity.

I have been enjoying working with a range of different materials this semester compared to last semester, so I decided to incorporate a range of these into this piece. I chose to use ink, watercolour, charcoal and acrylic. I feel these all work well and cohesively together as I have created many small experiments in my experimental journal to see how these layer.

I used a layer of charcoal to outline the rope and chains. I also added some lines into the background to symbolise a string. I also tried to give the appearance of light and shadow on the chain by smudging the charcoal and to create a metallic effect.

I wanted these restrictive materials to create an entanglement among the different organs, but for the organs to still have their own space to live and be as they are. As the restriction can influence a person's life and can become worse and worse as time progresses.

I then filled the rope in with a range of different monochromatic tones. Once the paint was dry I then added some deeper tones by using black acrylic around the rope to show how the rope is twisted.

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Studio Artist | Dmitry Iv

Left: the need for freedom (2011). Right: black square (unknown date)

Dmitry Iv is a ukaranian sculptor, who works with metal as his medium.

I came upon Dmitry Iv work when doing some research online into artists who incorporate chains into their work. His pieces are very unique in terms of the materials he uses to create his sculptures. The left image shows a person who appears to be floating off the ground but is tightly chained and secured to the ground. This gives a feeling of restraint and it had a certain pressure to it, like the person is being forced to stay grounded and not able to reach their highest potential.

The second piece (black square) shows the fragility of the metal chain, and how these can be broken with force. The chains have been broken in a way that suggests a fist has pierced through the metal and created a perfect break in the chain. The impact has been shown by the way the metal has been coated with

I was fascinated with how Dmitry Iv’s work relates to my own current practice.

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Group Critique | Groups of 4

We had a group critique and we went to visit each others studio spaces. Angela and Jill were originally going to come round and view the critiques but decided that we should make it a student critique to open more conversation and to make it less pressure. They want to encourage us to speak freely about our work more often with the people around us. It was helpful to see the other work that my peers have been producing across the studio and to learn about their progress. It is easy to just walk past and not engage with other students who work in a separate space to yourself, so it was nice to gain an insight into their practice - especially since I was not familiar with some people’s work.

Eliza's Studio

Eliza's work features people who have body scars. She has been looking at how the media portrays beauty and how everyone has a standard. She has been trying to show how scars are beautiful and you can embrace your imperfections. Eliza has been working with butterflies for her placement work. She has linked this in with studio practice through the idea of metamorphosis. She has taken images of people in her life who have body scars. It was amazing to see that women were comfortable enough to bare all in front of the camera, whereas there was only one Male featured. Eliza explained that many of the men she asked to participate in her photo shoot were too embarrassed. Another thing that was picked up was that all of the people she photographed had tattoos. It was interesting that these people were happy to permanently scar themselves with tattoos but are unhappy with their other scars. This was an interesting contrast. The processes she has been working with is mainly print; Mono print, linocut and cyanotypes. Eliza's work has references to Mother Nature and how humans and nature merge together.

Caitlin's Studio

Looking at places she frequently visits and takes Intimate photographs to feel more connected to a place. The images Caitlin has captured appear quite abstract when combined together. She has been exploring memories and the idea of memories fading. This has been presented by her use of bleached cyanotypes. Caitlin has gene working with the idea of the circle as she finds this centres in on the location. It creates an intamcy with the viewer as if they are looking through her eyes. She has also been looking at textures and the way the objects are layered. She has started to work on a larger scale by increasing the size of her cyanotypes. She discussed how people can't relate to her own personal memor, so she wants the viewer to come up with their own opinion about her work and decide what it looks like and means to you. This is why she has recently been making her images more distorted and less visible as if the memory is blurred.

The group came up with several different ideas about her work. It seemed as if the circle represented a Petri dish and Caitlin was analysing nature through a microscope. We also thought that her work looked as if it was being viewered through a telescope or an eye. We gave her feedback about what we liked most about her work and the ways she could slightly develop it by exploring the processes that worked the best for her.

Richard's Studio

Richard has currently been trying to make his 2D paintings more 3D, almost turning them into sculptural pieces. He has been adding hard and soft sculptural elements to painting such as soft fabrics and incorporating natural elements into his practic as he has been looking at landscape and abstract artists. Richards work is based on different journeys he has taken and he is heavily inspired by the places he visits. He mentioned about how his holiday to Lanzarote really impacted his work. He has been working with train tickets while travelling and drawing onto these to speak about his journey. He has also created some minimal and stripped back paintings to contrast to his busy pieces. He has also focused on form and texture, found objects and textiles.

Caitlin gave Richard some helpful feedback about how he could continue his work by creating a zine, much like how Sora had in the last semester. The zine could show Richards artwork in relation to the place it was inspired by. This will help the viewer have a deeper relationship with his work and help them understand his inspirations. I personally liked the way Richard has layered his pieces and incorporated different materials into these. I liked the way he had used texture in his work with the plaster and sticks and the added elements of resin.

My Feedback

The group discussed about how my work shows mental health as being uncomfortable and something that is holding the person back (physical restriction). They liked how my prints were not crisp and had a texture to them. Many people said that I should explore printing further. Sora gave me some ideas that I could create some mark makings of rope and use this to print on my work. I was also given feedback about Involving the body into the rope and making this feel more like a weight. Eliza gave me feedback and said I could ask who has been through similar things to create some primary research and make my work about their experiences.

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Restriction | Rope

I completed this larger piece to accompany my other pieces of work.

I imagined the rope as a restriction but then thought about how I could play with its composition to make it look like something different. I wanted the rope to appear as if it were bars of a prison. This gives the feeling of being trapped or caged.

I was also inspired by the work of Bridget Riley when creating this piece and the way her work is very linear.

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Heart In Chains

After creating my large scale piece for our exposed exhibition, I began looking at mental healths relationship with the body and the effects this can have. I thought about creating a series of pieces of different internal organs of the body. The piece I have created shows the heart. When placed under stress the person can have a heightened heart beat. I chose to wrap the chain around the heart to show the tension this pressure can have on the heart

I wanted the chain to appear to be falling away to show the person overcoming their anxiety.

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Exhibition Piece

Tuesday 5th March

I began working on my piece for the exhibition after our lecture was cancelled and I knew I had the whole day to sit and concentrate on my piece. I wanted this to be my best work going into the show so I wanted to be ambitious with my work and wow people, instead of throwing in a piece of artwork I had already created. I chose to make my largest ever piece. I had a week to complete the piece and planned to go home for the weekend so I had to spend my time wisely. It was a very anxious week.

I came up with a plan of the piece I wanted to make, which involved combining the images I had taken a few weeks back. These images I had already been working on to create several smaller paintings so I wanted to extend this series on a larger scale. I used the Procreate app on my iPad to juxtapose the images together and then filled in the gaps using the pen tool. I wanted the faces to be connected but to also show the restriction anxiety can have on the body.

I first cut the piece of paper and laid it out so I could see how big the piece really was. I then used a thick brush to coat the paper in a light wash of grey watercolour. This took me a while as the watercolour pan was so small and I had to keep remixing the paint to make it the same shade. The paper absorbed the water instantly and was quite difficult to work with due to the amount of bumps that formed. I waited a few hours for the paper to completely dry and then began marking out the grid lines to match my digital image. I did this to help make the painting as accurate as possible to the image as I wanted the proportions to be correct. I stayed in the studios until 8:00 that night because the paper was so huge and I only had a 30cm ruler. If I plan on using his technique is in the future, I will get a meter stick to draw the lines as it was very tedious.

Wednesday 6th March

I spent the day mapping out the basic outline in the squares in pencil, to make the piece accurate to the image. Once the basic outline is done I will be able to adjust the other areas to my liking and tweak any other areas. I just needed that basic guideline as I am working on a larger scale to usual.

I planned on using ink for this piece as I wanted it to have a high contrast with the pale wash of the grey background. I found the bumps in the paper began to lessen as I was working on the paper. My choice to use ink was also inspired by fact I had chosen to make my image black and white. I wanted the black to be strong and show depth in the piece.

Thursday 7th March

After completing the outline I began working with the black ink on the face. I decided against using watercolour as I wanted to use as minimal liquid on the paper to reduce the bumps, the ink settled well on the paper and did not spread as quickly as the watercolour. The only problem I faced with the black ink was that it sometimes appeared patchy and required a few coats and also there was no mid tone. I needed to make an artistic decision which would affect the way the piece was viewed. I chose to create some small samples in my sketchbook to see how different mediums would work together and how they would layer. I did not plan on making this piece a mixed media piece. But after a chat with my peers I was convinced to use more than one media and to not limit my possibilities and to also help me with the mid tone areas.

I first made a choice to use charcoal as this would easily blend into the paper and I could create darker and lighter areas. I also wanted to use charcoal within he rope as I found the texture worked really well based on the samples in my sketchbook. I continued working on the ink sections of the piece for the faces and then decided to work on the charcoal areas tomorrow.

Friday 8th March

I had a few hours to work in the studio before I had to catch my three hour train home for the weekend so I wanted to make the most of my time. I started with the charcoal. I first drew the basic outline of the rope in the charcoal and then smudged the charcoal to add some medium tones to the light areas. I then repeated the outline and added some lines and texture to the bends in the rope.

I thought about the paper and how these bumps would never leave. I had a thought about exaggerating these by completely screwing up the paper into a ball and then opening it back out. I also really liked the raw edges of the piece and decided to keep these torn. My piece is about anxiety and how this can be a restriction to the body. I thought this would be a good way to show myself overcoming anxiety.

Monday 9th March

We had all actually set this date as the deadline to have our work done at our meeting on Tuesday 5th so that we wouldn't need to worry, but unfortunately this was not the case for everybody! I had been checking up on everybody's work in the studio to monitor their progress and compare it to mine to see if I was the only one who was behind. Myself and Lucy both began our pieces on the same day and were both working consistently at the same times.

I arrived back to uni late afternoon from my weekend away and went straight to the studio to continue with my piece. I managed to complete all of the rope that was shown in my image, but found this wasn't enough and there were several gaps. This was there I needed to use my creativity and imagine what should go where. I decided to leave my image behind and not be so controlled and reliant on the image. I added in some more rope where I thought necessary around the border of the piece. I also tore the edges of he piece to create more of a raw feel and to make the piece look more square.

Tuesday 10th March

I came into the studio for registration and carried on working on my piece. It was helpful to work in the studio on the Tuesday as everybody was in and I could have the opinions of my fellow course mates, it was especially helpful to have Cara work by me as she could see the piece progress each day and give me advice on what she feels would work best.

The last few days I wanted to work all day and night to get the piece complete so I decided it would be in my best interest to work on the piece at home as I get my sudden bursts of creativity late in the evening when the studios are closed. I also needed to make sure that it was completed in time, so I wanted to work constantly to make sure it was to a high standard. I also did this because I was working late in the studios every night until 8/9 and I needed to make sure I could manage my time better and get the right amount of sleep I needed.

Wednesday 11th March

I worked at home all day on the piece. I decided to add some more faces into the painting as I felt the image on this scale did not work as well. I felt that it needed to have more of an impact and also have hidden faces. I also reflected on what Zander had said about not limiting myself to one media and decided to add a layer of black acrylic into the charcoal rope. I did this to make the rope stand out more and also add further detail. I also added some different shades of grey into faces to add depth, light and shadow. Adding the acrylic also allowed me to fix certain areas I was unhappy with, as I could over paint them.

I noticed something didn't seem completely finished and the work needed something else. I was really unsure about what to do so asked for some feedback from my housemates. I noticed there was a lot of empty space at the top and at the bottom left corner of the piece. So I added another closed eye at the top centre and also added further rope in the bottom left. I feel doing this brought all of the sections together

After making some last minute adjustments, I finally completed the piece at 11:30am just in time to be taken to paradise works tomorrow morning.

I was planning to completely screw this piece up and video myself doing it, but after creating it, I made the artistic choice not to do so. I did this because I was happy with the way it looked and I felt it didn't need to have that appearance as there was already a texture to the paper which I liked.

Thursday 12th March

I arrived into uni to take the work to paradise works. I rolled up my artwork in the morning and sealed it with black bags, so that the weather wouldn't cause damage to the work. I didn't choose to use a cardboard tube to transport my work as I didn't mind the fact it could be mashed or crushed by the Van as I wanted to keep my work textured and the rawness was apart of my work.

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Mixed Media | Restriction

I created this mixed media piece using Charcoal, Acrylic Paint, Watercolour and Printing ink.

I was exploring how I could use different mediums to represent these materials and their restrictive qualities. I combined sections from my print and used this to fill in the gaps with charcoal and acrylic.

I wanted the string to not distract from the rope so I chose to use charcoal as it is black which contrasts well with the other colour I have incorporated. I was inspired by Mark Francis piece the circuit.

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Polystyrene Print Collage

I was interested to see how my prints would work when combined together and thought this could be an interesting visual. I printed three copies of each print and toure parts of them to produce a single outcome. I tried to piece the prints together so that they would all work together to almost look like one print.

I have been tearing the edges of my prints to create a raw quality and create a tension about my work. Tearing a straight edge is something which never really happens with artwork and I am fascinated with breaking these boundaries. I would also like to expeiment with scrunching of the paper and printing onto it as this will give a completely different texture to my print.

This piece turned out very successful and I had several opinions from tutors and students. Caitin spoke about my print work during the critique and was really fascinated with my outcomes, she suggested that I experiment more with this style of print as the texture of using polystyrene is completely different to that of lino. Angela also had some things to say about my print work. She said that she really found them interesting and that there was a value to my prints that couldn't be achieved by using another medium. She also suggested I experiment more with the layering of my prints and continue working in this style.

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Programme Day | Media City

I got this bus to media city with Alya at 9:30 to meet the group at 10am. We arrived and met everybody and made our way into the lecture theatre.

Brendan began by showing us some work by the students he had taught in China for the past two weeks. The work was very interesting and it was great to see how other students across the world work in their studio spaces. From what Brendan showed, it seemed that many of the students worked with sculpture and worked well together by working on a lot of collaborative pieces.

There were a few technical glitches throughout the day; such as problems with audio and also some connection problems when trying to video chat with David in China. So unfortunately the chat got cut short and we couldn’t do the Printing collab between Angela and Dan on Video chat.

Our Presentation

We got chance to speak about our experience with working collaboratively for the live project gallery group.

Harvey created a PowerPoint to summarise our experience and give our opinions about how the experience went. Sora, and Harvey also got chance to talk a bit about their work and the rest of the group gave some feedback about the show and also some advice to the level 4 students.

We also got Sian and Angela some flowers to say thank you for their contribution to the show.

[Images were taken by Joel and also Tom who were in the audience.]

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Studio Artists | Mark Francis

Pier, 2004 and Circuit, 2000

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Hand paintings

I added a third layer of paint to the rope to give give the darker colours the appearance of shadow and to make to rope appear more realistic with texture. I plan to add more detail into the rope by including some finer brushstrokes and detailing to give the appearance of texture.

I tried to make some adjustments to some of the skin sice I last photographed the artworks but I was not happy with the outcome of the skin and feel this needs further work. I plan to work more on this after I complete the rope. And will update this post with the images below.

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Touchstones Rochdale

I got an email inviting me to the opening of two exhibitions at Touchstones gallery in Rochdale. The first exhibition being the one I had taken part in (a postcard from Rochdale) and the second bring 'Harry Medley: But what if we tried?'. This invite was because I had taken part in the postcard from Rochdale exhibit.

After getting the train there we had to walk fifteen minuites to the gallery so we got to have a little look around the town. The town has several nice old buildings but is ruined by these three tower blocks. I have never been to the touchstones gallery so I was unsure about what to expect. The gallery was bigger than I imagined as I had read and heard that Rochdale was known for its industry, and was big during the industrial revolution. When we arrived, I noticed the factories and the hills; so I expected the town to be small and to not have such a nice gallery.

The private view was at 2-4pm so we arrived just in time for this.

It was nice to see the work of the David and Jill, who had work in the private collection.

David always incorporates a huge amount of detail into his artwork. With this piece being so large you can see this clearly.

I liked the simplicity of Jill's piece and how the whale has been created using blue ink or paint as this makes the piece pop. Jills work was at the very top of the wall so I had to take the image using zoom and I wasn't able to see it up close.

After visiting the gallery I was given a good insight into how to present my work at our paradise works exhibition such as; The way the work was laid out (presentation), the professionalism of the display - using board backings for labels beside work. The gallery chose to display our postcards underneath the originals which was a nice technique, that almost made each piece of art as worthy as each other. This could not be done with my postcard in particular due to the painting not yet being delivered to the gallery.

At 2:30 there was a speech and talk about the exhibits and the competition winners. It was nice to hear how they spoke about their community in Rochdale and how much the community appreciates art. The gallery was very busy and the turn out was good.

After the speech from the curator and sponsors me and Sora got chance to speak to several people who were at the event. One being a man named Steve who works for the Foyle Foundation which is a charity that helped to sponsor

Me and sora stayed until the very end of the opening so I managed to get some images of all the artwork hung without people in the way. It was shocking to see the mass of artwork held in the private collection and the fact that not all of it could be displayed due to a lack of room.

I found it nice to see my own work in the exhibition as I has not seen my work places in this setting before. It was also a great chance for me to get some of my work into the Rochdale private collection.

It was also nice to speak to people in industry and build some links so that if I happen to see either Steve or Phillip again, I might be a familiar face. Engaging in conversation with people of industry is important for artists especially students who are trying to make a name for themselves. Me and sora mentioned our exhibition at paradise works and invited them to come along.

The gallery offered a prize for the highest voted postcard. The categories were; highest vote by gallery, the school vote, and the visitors vote. These are yet to be announced.

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Paradise works

Important things we noticed at the venue

No security

"Suggested donation" for drinks

Table for leaflets that provides leaflets with information about each piece being shown.

Magnets to hold up work

We also noticed that there were markings left on the wall when the work was being aligned. This is something we spoke about avoiding.

Drinks were kept outside of the showroom, so that the gallery remained a tranquil place and not a massive social drinking event.

I sent photos of the venue in the chat to people who couldn't make the event to help them gain some idea of what the showroom looked like. I also had a better quality camera, so it made sense for me to share my images with the group.

Group discussion at the venue

The group held an in depth discussion about the venue now we knew the ins and outs of the layout. We noticed that there was no security on the door, but the door was locked and you had to ring the bell. We were unsure if this was because it was a weeknight or if it was because the door was permanently closed.

It was nice to finally view the space and speak as a group about what we all thought. We also had chance to peak around the curtain in the back of the room to view the space we could use as a darkroom for projection.

We also spoke about the work we each plan to create. This could always change as we still have just over two weeks to have a finished outcome. Once we have finished our pieces the curatorship team will have more of an idea about how the exhibition will look.

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Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery: Rachel Maclean - Too Cute!

When visiting the Birmingham museum and art gallery I had chance to see the work of Rachael Maclean. She creates video animations to look like children's cartoons.

I found it quite funny how the children in the art gallery were drawn to her work and their parents found it acceptable for them to watch as her work really isn't suitable for children as it has a dark humour.

The animation showed Maclean killing what is supposedly a butterfly, but is in fact a monstrous creature and also tearing apart a teddybear ripping its head off. The character Maclean plays is a furry blue creature who is inspired by the care bear, but this is made sinister by the fact she has razor sharp teeth.

I had previously been to see her work in the 'I Want! I Want!' exhibition in Birmingham in 2017 so I was already familiar with her work.

In the next room there was an abundance of objects and artwork which were all created to have a sinister twist. The collection reveals how these objects can be seen as cute and also sinister. The objects were collated together by the Arts Council and showcased work from several different artists. Artists included in the exhibition are John Isaacs, Gillian Wearing, Ana Maria Pacheco, Helen Chadwick, Paula Rego, Peter Blake and Hermann Sondermann.

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My Exhibition Entry

This piece is about the restrictions anxiety can have on the body. It can make you feel like you can’t breathe, your vision can be blurred and you can’t speak

I have chosen to use ink on this piece so that the features behind the rope stand out as the ink would create a bold contrast against the water coloured paper.

I wanted to use ink or charcoal to create this piece after much consideration so I did a quick sample test in my sketchbook to see which would work best and give off a very intense look. I decided to use ink but found that this would require a huge amount of detail which really isn’t my style as I like to work with expressive lines. I decided not to limit myself to one medium and thought about how charcoal would provide a better texture to the rope and would offer a different quality to the rope that ink wouldn’t.

I decided charcoal would be the best option for the rope as it gave the rope a completely different texture than if I had used ink which would create a solid colour.

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Stages of freedom

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Body tied 2

I first tied my body to show how the rope is beginning to take over

I tired the rope around my face to capture how mental health can make you feel. It can create symptoms of unease, nausea, dizziness,

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