by Lavine Obeng-Boateng
Independent Practice
Here is where it all started. I chose three proposals to look at. Youth and Christianity, Jackson Pollock and the Burma Shave ad. I chose these three topics, beacuse they really interest me, and I thought I could really use them in some way, or at least use one of them in some way. As I am a Christian, Christianity is a big part of my life. I go to church every week, and try to help the community whenever I can, which is why I chose this topic, Youth and Christianity in particular. I made a three minute video, with what a strong Christian friend of mine thought about youth and christianity these days. Young people are not taking it seriously, and they wait for bad things to happen to them before they decide to come to the Lord; which should not be the case. In in this day and age things are changing yet people’s morals are not improving, the only thing that is probably improving is tech-
nology. There is an ongoing teenage rebellion, which is really destroying the fabric of society, which also will affect the future, as the teenagers of this generation, are going to be our future leaders and so forth. Christianity opens your eyes to alot of things, and seperates you from what you are doing wrong. It gives you more confidence in knowing that there is always someone watching and protecting you. Especially when we are in a place where
there has been plenty of gun nd knife crimes. So I do believe that young people do need a role model, and not the typical rapper role model. We need a role model that is higher. Moving onto my next topic, Jackson Pollock. I have also admired Polllock’s work since I was in high school, but had never actually done anything about it. So for the ‘do something you have never done before’ brief, I decided to do some Pollock style paintings.
They turned out pretty well, and I had alot of fun doing it. At first I found it quite difficult, as I couldn’t really decide on whether to put the paint on from a certain distance or height. I got it in the end. I was really pleased with the outcome, and would definitely continue to do more in the near future. Thirdly, the burma shave ad. I came across this, whilst researching for my dissertation, which is on Outdoor Advertising and Public Space. I was thinking I could use it as a promotional scheme in shopping centres. It all started in 1925, when a man wanted to sell brushless shaving creme, but the strategies were not working. So he decided to use scrap pieces of wood along highways with little poems, promoting his brushless shaving creme. Which turned out to be very popular. By looking at the Burma shave ad and wanting to take that further, I looked up a couple of artists that Luke suggested. They all tie into the burma shave ad, which also ties into outdoor advertising and public space, which is what I am looking at for my dissertation. I thought I would look into these people a bit further more and see how I could incorporate or modify into my work. “It’s all about mixing up references together”, says Luke. Which is exactly what I wanted to do. Modifying other people’s quotes and putting them together. My next step was to think of a subject/ an idea, demonstrate it will my skills and communi-
cate the idea. What message will I be putting across? Doing a poster based entirely on typography, is something I have never really done before. This would mean that the message would have to be very strong. After looking at all these artists, I was intrigued by Jenny Holzer’s work. I liked the idea of the public art, but how was I going to go about that. I really liked the idea of projecting a message on a building. But the big question is how and where was I going to do it? The shopping mall idea was still in my head also. Maybe instead of going around and around in circles in my head thinking of questions I should actually start something. But where do I start? I needed help! I also needed topics… 1. Safe sex & Contraception among teenagers/young people 2. Smoking
3. Youth & Christianity I also thought I could just do quotes by artists. I got down to it! With posters on the right, the idea was for the audience to come closer and take a look. They will be wondering, “What is that white thing in the middle?” Once they see it they will understand. This poster has two different views, or you may say it contradicts itself. ‘Smoking kills’. ‘Go on mate, have a fag!’ It’s kind of like the actual cigarette packet. It says on it ‘smoking kills’, yet people still buy it anyway. I really don’t understand that. It’s like they are paying to be killed, but slowly. If not killed, at least some sort of damage. To make matters worse, there is an image of what would happen to you if you do smoke, yet people continue to buy it. This is what I was looking to do. Using the language of advertising. Don’t do it, do it! Something people will be confused about. A satirical mean-
ing! I decided to go with the negative space idea, because I remembered doing it in my second year, and it was a process that I really found quite strange at first but then ended up loving it. It’s somehting you have to look at to work out. I also did another two contradicting posters.
After a meeting with Mike, we decided to go with Christianity as a main topic, as it was stronger and was not really a topic that people designed around, unlike smoking. Also it was a topic that was really close to my heart. The smoking topic was too overated. I also did a poster, that contradicted itself in a different way. I used a quote from an atheist,
called Richard Dawkins and a gospel singer called Kirk Franklin. As it indicates at the bottom of the poster, Kirk Franklin was written in white, and Richard Dawkins in blue. I decided to incorporate colour, to make it more exciting to read. Mike and I decided to go with the atheist vs Christianity poster. I could use different quotes and different colours. I decid-
ed, that I would not need any imagery, as the words were strong enough on its own, and also the imagery would distract the reader from the actually message.
Here is a little logo that I did, based on a poster I saw about bad and good typography. I was not too sure it worked, but then again its all about being able to criticise your work. Underneath in white it reads ‘Jesus Christ’ and on top in red it reads ‘Atheism’.
Fairclough, Danel C Dennett and more of Richard Dawkins. I also looked into the Big Bang Theory.
After speaking with Mike, I decided to do quite a few posters. I looked at bible passages, atheists such as Mark
At the bottom is a little experiment with typography and concrete poetry. I took the lyrics from a song called ‘Get Up’ by
I definitely think some posters are stronger than others. I experimented with type, positioning, layout, colour, font size.
Mary Mary. It reads ‘he said, she said, they said, what do you say. It’s your dream, your choice, your life, so don’t you miss it’. I took this upon myself as part of mu Christianity and Atheism theme. It came out okay, I would not say it was good. The idea came across nicely. It would be quite difficult to follow, as to where to start, continue and end from.
I followed the example of Jennifer Holzer, with the projections on the buildings. I used a projector, and projected a couple of the posters I had done, with the Christianity and atheist quotes, onto a wall. I definitely think the quality could have been much better. I am going to repeat this procedure. It can be better. I didn’t really get to finish what I was doing, as a class was about to start. I wasn’t able to capture the whole poster. I couldn’t get the projection to be more defined. It kept coming up blurry. Other than all of that, I think the medium could be quite effective. It’s in your face, so you would have no choice but to read it, even it was just a couple of lines. However, I guarantee that if a person was to read the first couple of lines, they would want to read on. If I recall, on Monday when I had my meeting with Luke
and a couple other students, tall Chris (sorry don’t know his surname) said, that he was not really into religion, however he finds this quite interesting (to read). So in a way, the audience is varied. I also think I prefer the coloured projection. It’s easier to read. I also think in order to get the whole poster onto the wall I would probably have to print it out onto A5 or something. I also need to thin of colours that would work better with the projections. Dark colours are not very visible. For next time, I would look into slide projection, to see how that would come out.
EVALUATION
So far I have really enjoyed the last few months of this project. I have learnt so much in such a short space of time. I have learnt how to make a mini movie, and also my forst time using Final Cut Pro, I have had the chance to be inspired by Jackson Pollock. I have also had the chance to get in more in touch with my Christianity. I never thought I would have the opportunity to do something like this. I never thought I would have such ideas. I have also learnt that if you push yourself hard enough, you will get to were you want to be. I know its something that I hear all the time, but I never actually really experienced it until now. I have had such amazing support from tutors. My downfalls I would have to say that I did not think of the idea sooner. I could have had a lot more outcomes. I also was not very critical about my work. I could have analysed it more, from a different perspective. I could have thought more of what the audience thought.
by Lavine Obeng-Boateng
Research
CREATIVE THINGSRETROFIT DESIGN ANALYSIS
The item I am going to analyse is the toy doll with the drum. My guess is that the doll is to entertain young kids. The doll continuously beating the drum will excite kids and would probably get them to copy the actions of the doll. The exchange value of this doll would be that it repeatedly beats the plastic drum that is attached to it. The arms of the doll are little thin sticks, which work as drumsticks. The main aim of this doll would probably be to entertain kids. There does not seem to be another kind of function. The use value I would say, is the fact that the doll is quite adorable, its draws your attention. For the price it is, it would not be a waste of money. It has no ears, which is quite unusual for a doll. There is no recognition of where it is from or who designed it, which is also unusual. It expresses that it is able to beat a drum and is happy with the permanent smile on its face. The excitement the dolls expresses, will also make the kids happy. I think although there is no evidence of where it came from, or who made it, the designer wanted to the target audience to feel how the doll looks. I found the duck teddy bear at ‘dollmasters.com- a treasury of nostalgia’. This teddy is known as ‘Duck-Duck Boom By Jody Battaglia. This is a Dollmaster’s Exclusive, and costs
£225. It is described as... “A Dollmaster’s Exclusive. Follow the beat with Duck Duck Boom, the newest folk art doll from renowned artist Jody Battaglia, who draws her inspiration from English children’s story books of the early 1900s. The yellow mohair duck wears a red and blue wool felt drum major ensemble, has orange felt beak, a cute little duck tail, and carries a paper mache drum marked “Fun Town”. Duck Duck Boom is an exclusive limited edition of 20 signed, dated and numbered by the artist.” So compared to the drum beating doll, this bear has a place, a meaning and a designer, including a price. However, I do believe that this bear has more of a background and has been worked on for quite sometime. I think the feeling the designer tried to express was accomplished. It is a fun thing to look at, and would be something you would like to buy for child. However the fact that there is no recognition of who designed it, where it came from, when it was made, which I find was not very successful.
THREE MINUTE HERO
For the 3 minute film brief, I decided to make a film of one of my good Christian friends, talking about the youth today and Christianity. As a strong Christian, he has been through alot and experienced many things that people could not begin to imagine. I asked him what he though about the youth today and how he feels it can be better. Through making this film, I firstly learnt how to use a camera, and how the mindsets of youths can be renewed.
CIRCLE ANALYSIS This was not really a 1 week brief, but it was something that really helped me alot and made me realise I don’t really have as many interests as I thought, which is pretty sad. It allowed me to seperate my weakneses from my strengths and my ambitions to my interests. I think I could use this technique in other aspects of my work.
DO SOMETHING YOU’VE NEVER DONE BEFORE For this brief, I decided to be inspired by the likes of Jackson Pollock. I have always admired his work since High School, but have never had the opportunity to incorporate his work into my own. It was a really fun experince, and I was able to capture my emotions in the paintings. I have always wanted to have a go at some sort of absrtarct art. These were my favourite two pieces. One I did across 3 pieces of card, so it would come off as a collage. And the other I did on a large piece of card.
FANZINES I was not really keen on the fanzines, although I do sometimes enjoy working with my hands, this was not the best thing I had done. I foun dit quite boring. I don’t know it was the fact that it was something we had to do in the studio all day and had to have an outcome. So I just rushed and did anything, which is not how I like to work. Bu t anyway I did one with things that I like to do. For instance reading campaign, doing wordsearches, reading my bible etc. The last two I did, was just marble paper. I really enjoy making marble paper. I use to do it in high school, and I never forgot about it. It is definitely something I can incorporate into my work. I did do a few for a book cover in the fisrt year I think it was, and it came out really well.
Proposed Title: Christianity & Atheism
Intended Audience:
by Lavine Obeng-Boateng
FMP Proposal
Religious and non-religious people, young people and adults, sociologists and researchers, collectors, and anyone who is really interested.
Area of Research Or Content: I will continue to look at different atheists and go in deeper, into their midsets, and find out what makes them think the way they do. Why do they have to have a negative opinion, why can they not just leave it alone. Also why do some atheists have to be so brutal? I will also look at what Christianity has to say about atheists. I may move on to getting opinions of actual Christians in my local community/Church, instead of the Bible, to give it a more personal perspective. This has to get people thinking. Why Christianity? Why Atheism? Why Religion? Why faith? Why the contrasts?
Proposed Media/ Outcome: I propose to try and have my posters on a large scale format. Projecting them onto buildings would be a bonus. I could have them on billboards, possibly near churches or on A0 posters near churches. It would be quite unusual and exciting, to have it on a large scale
board, in the middle of nowhere; or a very busy place, where people would stop and look, for exampke an shopping mall, whether outoor or indoor. I could monitor them from an angle and take photographs, or video how many people that stopped to read it. I could also get the opinions of those who did stop to read it, and see what they though about it,