IA1 Investigation Phase 1
#1 Experiment River’s Cycle
Response to Hemmant Quarry:
The focal point of the quarry was the body of water, the landscape and plant lifesurrounding it, which influenced me to create an experiment with a body of water as the focal point. In addition, I was inspired by the fact that some trees were newly planted and other trees were visibly much older to create an experiment that focused on life and itscycle. The Hemmant Quarry was my direct inspiration and influenced this experiment because I drew sketches using a black, fine tip pen of what I found had a interesting or unique shape, lines or texture. I used colours of green, blue and brown because those were the dominant colours of the quarry. I depicted a river of water throughout the flip book to connect all of them together because the body of water is the focal point of the quarry and what the landscape surrounds. This, in addition to the combination of newly planted and old trees, inspired me to convey the meaning of the cycle of life. The various tones and textures present in the landscape and nature influenced me to add more texture and colour through chalk and oil pastels, watercolour, acrylic paint and torn photos I had taken whilst I was at the quarry. Due to all of the plant life surrounding and emphasising the body of water with recently planted and old trees, it motivated me to use a body of water as a symbol of life.
Some of the Aspects that Inspired me:
#1 Experiment The river that connects and creates movement throughout the experiment represents the journey of life as the river ends where the cemetery-inspired black pen drawings are, symbolising the end of life’s journey. The variety of media used represents the individual, different life experiences people have and the various sketches of aspects of the quarry represent the specific difficulties and hardships people go through in life. I decided to make the flip book into a video that repeats so as to create the appearance of a cycle of events and therefore to remind the viewers of the concept of the cycle of life.
Improvements:
I could possibly make the experiment more cohesive by making one long landscape in black pen by combing parts of the quarry I found visually interesting. I could also possibly have used etching and printmaking instead of the black pen to do patterns of the sketches I did of visually interesting aspects of the quarry. However, I still feel the black pen sketches appear cohesive in the experiment. I thought I could try focusing on one specific area or aspect of the quarry to abstract using a variety of media, which is what helped inspire me to create my third experiment. The video is shaky in some parts, whichcould have been rectified if I had the correct equipment that prevents the camera from shaking and one which records from a downward angle.
Issues:
The watercolour caused the black pen to run and become more blue than black, so I had to go over some sketches in black pen again. The photos were initially difficult to glue down on the card because it folds, but adding additional glue ensured they stuck down properly. In addition, the printer unfortunately slightly dulled the colours of the photos, which made them contrast less with the rest of the experiment. However, the lowered saturation was not significantlynoticeable.
Knowledge of Artistic Techniques that I Applied to the Experiment:
•Blending with water and smudging chalkpastels • Adding a layer of oil pastels on top of the chalk pastels to addtexture •Using less amounts of water to increase intensity/saturation of the colour of the watercolour and less amounts of water to decrease saturation/intensity of colour • Abstracting pictures through collage and tearing to add variation, intrigue and texture to theexperiment
#2 Experiment Landscape of Landscapes
Response to Hemmant Quarry:
I took photos of aspects of the quarry that intrigued me and had interesting lines, shape, texture or colour. I then used these aspects to form the basis of an experiment by adding layers of texture, colour and line to the photos I had taken.
Artist Influence: Kate Shaw
Kate Shaw’s artworks explore humanity’s relationship with the natural world by artificially depicting the landscape to reflect the contradiction between our connection to nature and how we continue to distance ourselves from nature. She creates landscapes that appear toxic with ‘paint pours’, collage techniques, acrylic paint, ink, glitter and powder (M.L, 2016). This inspired me to print out pictures of the quarry and slightly abstract them with paint, oil and chalk pastels and then digitally cut them up and collage them together to make a Hemmant Quarry-inspired landscape ina contemporary context. The paint and glitter of Shaw’s artworks represent the damage humanity causes to the environment. This creates irony as the idea she focuses on is our tendency to ignore the damage we have caused to the planet and the viewer will most likely focus exclusively on the colour and ignore its meaning of environmentaldamage. When examining Kate Shaw’s artworks closely, there are suggestions of drowned trees, overgrown swamps and overhanging moss. This informed my decision to add black branch silhouettes and to make them appear like overhanging branches while at the same time for them to also slightly resemble monster hands, representative of the growing threat of global warming. I also did this with the grass by making the lines thicker and curvier so that it could also be perceived as green fire burning. The extra layer in the body of water could either be seen as more texture or tone or could be interpreted by the viewer as being water pollution.
Knowledge Influences:
The tree line bordering the sky depicts a graphical increase in the global air pollutionrelated deaths.
Kate Shaw Paintings(M.L, 2016)
Experiment: Landscape of Landscapes
#2 Experiment Improvements:
I could improve the experiment by possibly adding more patterns and textures to increase variety. I could also have added more detail to the branches to makethem appear even more like monster hands. In addition, I could have created more collages so as to create a series of collages. Furthermore, I could have tried to experiment with projecting the collage onto an actual landscape with a projector to develop further meaning.
Issues:
The collage could have neater lines and edges, however, I think the lack of neatness makes it appear as a more natural and realistic depiction ofnature.
Hemmant Quarry Picture that inspired my landscape:
Graph GraphI Iused usedfor fortree treeline line(H. (H. Ritchie and M. Roser, 2017) Ritchie and M. Roser, 2017)
Abstractions I used to make the Collage:
#3 Experiment Response to Hemmant Quarry:
I saw that some trees had been replanted due to a fire, which reminded me of global warming and therefore, inspired me to create an experiment relating to global warming. There was a broken railway track submerged in the water, which inspired me to make an abstract representation of it using found objects.
Artist Influence: Glenn Skien
Skien’s artworks motivated me to use found miscellaneous objects to create a hanging sculptural artwork inspired by the broken railway track submerged in the water in a contemporary context. The burning of trees in the quarry also inspired me to use burning as a way to create texture, tone and meaning. The burnt parts of the sculpture represent humanity’s damage to the environment. Burning the sculpture added texture and tone, like Glenn Skien has in his 3D artworks. The texture of the smooth wood, rough rope and yarn, and fluffy knitting wool further creates a variety of texture. Similarly to Glenn Skien’s artworks, the found objects of the experiment contribute to the meaning of the overall artwork. The found objects like knitting wool, string, dyed rope and chopsticks all require for the environment to be altered and harmed in some form in order to manufacture these items. The burning of these items represents the damage caused to the environment by using too much of the earth’s resources. The weak and flimsy structure of the sculpture in comparison to the strong, vibrant light of the sun represents how the earth and its environment are not going to survive much longer and highlights the extreme urgency for a solution to global warming. I specifically chose orange/yellow as the colour of the light because it clearly communicates to the viewer that it represents the sun.
Glenn Skien Artworks (Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, 2010)
#3 Experiment 11 Knowledge Influences:
Global warming is prevalent in social media and on TV as people try to protest against the lack of action taken to prevent climate change from destroying the earth. Celebrities and public figures also expose their followers to the consequences of non-environmentallyfriendly practices and encourage them to take action against climate change. Without all of the latter I most likely would not have been aware of the prevalence of the issue. This encouraged me to do further research into climate change for the purpose of this experiment. I added the number of years until climate change is irreversible underneath the sculpture in black because black is associated with death, which is what will occur if nothing is done in response to climate change (United Nations, 2019). The gradient effect of the burning, with the bottom end being the most burnt and the top being the least burnt, reminds the viewer of a sand hourglass effect and/or a countdown, a form of time keeping. It therefore also reminds viewers of the concept of running out of time, thereby reinforcing the urgency and feeling of running out of time in relation to global warming.
Improvements:
I could increase the size of the sculpture to be longer and/or wider to improve impact and to communicate through size and proportion the significance of global warming and its effect. I will have to use a better camera or burn the sculpture more severely for it to show up on photo.
Issues:
The blue rope would not tie around the chopsticks, so I had to tie a small bit of twine to one end of the blue rope and the other end of twine to the chopstick.
#4 Experiment Distracted
Response to Hemmant Quarry:
I was also inspired by some of the trees in the Hemmant Quarryneeding to be replanted due to a fire and global warming. The plant life and landscape composition, including the paths through the Hemman Quarry, inspired the curvy placements of rocks, which created movement.
Artist and Knowledge Influence:
I was inspired by Glenn Skien’s use of found objects, so to create an experiment I used found bits of fabric, ribbon, plastic squares and sketched drawings of found objects, such as rocks and branches from the Hemmant Quarry. To alter the objects’ colour and proportion in a contemporary context, I layered fabrics and plastic squares over the sketches. The repetition of the sketches, prints of the branches and rocks, and the use of actual branches and rocks creates unity but also variety due to the various media used. The sketches of the branches and rocks, representative of the environment, are large in scale and proportion because it conveys the importance of our environment in relation to humanity’s wellbeing. The environment was pure, natural and healthy, until humans started harming it through pollution. White symbolizes purity and health, therefore to communicate the original purity and health of the environment, I chose white paper. The red of the ribbon represents evil and danger because it is dangerous how much humanity is damaging the environment with global warming being a prominent, growing threat. I also chose red because it is associated with evil and large corporations are the largest contributors to pollution. However, the majority refuse to change their production methods due to them earning money efficiently. The red ribbon is woven and twisted around the plants and “choking” them to represent how capitalism and large industries, like the fashion industry, are slowly killing the environment.
Experiment: Distracted
#4 Experiment The white tulle covering, but not completely obscuring the imagery of the environment underneath, represents how humanity is willing to ignore the harm being caused to the environment for conveniences and aesthetics. For example, I specifically researched the harm the fashion industry causes the environment, and therefore chose fabric as a medium. (The fashion and textile industry is the second largest polluter in the world (EDGE, n.a).) Furthermore, the bright, red ribbon contrasts strongly with the light greys and white, which creates emphasis and ironically distracts viewers from the meaning and environment initially similarly to Kate Shaw’s artworks. I also chose to use plastic squares in the sculpture to further distort and obscure the imagery of the environment to reinforce the ironiceffect. I specifically chose squares made of plastic because plastic bags and other plastic items also significantly damage the environment. For example, statistically eight million tons of plastic waste escapes into the ocean just from coastal nations every year (Parker. L, 2019). I used pencil to create tone and texture in the sketches of the branches and rocks to increase the realism of the drawings because I used real branches and rocks from Hemmant Quarry. I covered some branches and rocks in grey paint to make prints of them, however, the prints left white gaps. These white gaps represent the environment slowly deteriorating. My choice of grey paint and grey pencil was based on grey being only slightly darker than white, which also conveys the environment to be slowly deteriorating. This is because grey only needs a small amount of white to become white completely; the colour white is commonly associated with a blank slate and vanishing. Therefore, the grey colour of the landscape imagery represents the earth’s deterioration.
Improvement:
I could have done multiple plastic squares with branches pressed in between them to add unique perspectives and repetition to create unity in the installation. However, there were no more plastic squares so I could not do this.
Found Objects I Sketched:
Inquiry Question How does altering a found object through natural processes change the interpretation of the object? I want to further explore ways to alter the appearance of found objects and structures with natural processes in order to change their meaning, tone, colour and texture. I am going to investigate and experiment with the following: • Burning to change texture, colour and tone; • Sunlight to change the colour; • And freezing to change colour, shape, texture and tone. I would like to also focus on creating a meaning related to global warming and environmental issues as I will be using natural processes to create art in a contemporary context.
Brainstorm:
Bibliography EDGE, N.A, Fashion Industry Waste Statistics, EDGE: Fashion Intelligence, Accessed: 14 Nov 2019, https://edgexpo.com/fashion-industry-waste-statistics/ H. Ritchie and M. Roser, 2017, Air Pollution, Our World in Data, Accessed: 1 Nov 2019, https://ourworldindata.org/air-pollution M.L, 2016, Kate Shaw, Widewalls, Accessed: 1 Nov 2019, https://www.widewalls.ch/artist/kate-shaw/ Parker. L, 2019, The World’s Plastic Pollution Crisis Explained, National Geographic, Accessed: 14 Nov 2019, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/plastic-pollution/ Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, 2010, Alter: Glenn Skien, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery,Townsville, Australia United Nations, 2019 Only 11 Years Left to Prevent Irreversible Damage from Climate Change, Speakers Warn during General Assembly High-Level Meeting, United Nations, Accessed: 2 Nov 3019 https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/ga12131.doc.htm