Degree Show: Final Display: Images

My Degree Show is up. I have taken some good quality pictures of my exhibition space and am really pleased with the outcome. The works, really stand out against the white background of both the paper and the wall. They are attractive, and the vibrant colours against the white definitely attracts the eye. The viewer will be attracted to the work and then exposed to the realities of today’s landscape. My practice is successful in this way.

The actual display of the work is also successful. They are all carefully measured about and precisely displayed onto the three surfaces. I have deliberately put which piece I think is the most attractive, eye catching and successful so that the viewer will be drawn to walk closer to the centre of the work. When doing so they will be surrounded by my work, highlighting that the worlds they are viewing is a reality they are part of. This is the landscape, landscape beauty is used here to highlight environmental harm but also as a symbol of what could be lost if the causes of depletion are not acknowledged and acted upon.

Artist Website

As part of my professional development and preparations for life after university, I have created an artist website containing information about both me and my work, a contact form is included so that people can get in touch with me and a small gallery of images of my most recent work. It is also linked to an artist facebook page that I have created.

http://www.gemmaschiebefineart.com

https://www.facebook.com/gemmaschiebefineart/

Degree Show Space Allocated: Thinking about how to Display my Work in the Space

I have been allocated my Degree Show Space and I now have to think about how I am going to display my 10 paintings within that space. I have 4 walls set out as in the diagram below, after thinking about possibilities, I will display 6 pieces on the back wall and two either side. So that the viewer is almost lead around them but also kind of surrounding them while they are in the space, relating to the fact that they are part of the world they are looking at.

I am going to use magnets to hang the work as shown below. I am going to reinforce the adhesive on the back of the magnetic tape I am using, just to be extra sure they aren’t going to fall off the wall, using super glue for the back of my work and glue for the wall. I have to prepare my space now and my plan is ready for hanging.

Degree Show: The use of Magnets to Hang my Work

I have been thinking about the idea of using sticky tabs to hang my pieces, I don’t think they are going to be appropriate. I was hesitant about the use of them anyway because I didn’t think they were very professional but now that I am thinking about the logistics of using them, I have had to think about a new method of putting my work on display.

What if the sticky tabs didn’t hold the work up over the assessment period and degree show? On the other hand, what if they held them too well and I couldn’t remove them from the wall without damaging work etc. I have decided to use magnets. A few magnets on the back of the work and a few on the wall will attract together and keep the work in place, this also means that I can really play around with the order I am going to hang my works in.

Business Cards

Thinking about promoting myself and preparations for the Degree Show, I ordered some business cards. I spend quite a long time designing them and choosing from my paintings which I would like to have on the cards. I chose two that were quite different from each other to highlight my range of skills. The front image displays a more realistic approach to painting, while the image above my contact details is more painterly, highlights a vibrancy and use of complementary colour.

I think business cards are important as it is a good way to network, is professional and allows someone to remember your work and have the contact details needed if they have any queries or potential commission ideas etc.

Rethinking Degree Show Proposal: 10 Paintings

Now that I am planning to create 10 paintings for the Degree Show, I need to think about how they are going to be displayed. I think across three walls in a horizontal line would be appropriate. However if there was more space, maybe I could spread them out a little more or have them in a rectangular space directing the viewer around them. I will have to wait until the spaces are allocated before I can definitively know how I am going to hang them.

I also must consider that if I make 10 I may not want to display all of them, and also time is a factor and making 10 pieces in the first place is a real challenge.

Exhibition Prep: Painting Test Pieces for Foam Board Mounting Experiments

After trying out mounting a paper test piece onto MDF, I realised that wood probably wasn’t the most appropriate material to use and decided to experiment with mounting my work onto foam board. I have been thinking about time and the reality that the final painting that I produce could still be wet when it is mounted (although I am going to work as much as possible to avoid this), and so I painted some test pieces to see how easy it was to mount something when wet. It doesn’t look like it would be a problem if newsprint is put down and I touch up once it is on the wall but hopefully It won’t come to that.

 Foam board works perfectly as a material for mounting onto, it leaves no edge, it is nice and light and gives the impression the work is floating with a shadow around it. I will be mounting my work onto foam board for the degree show and at the moment I am thinking about using sticky tabs to hang, but need to look into different possibilities.

 

Thinking about the Exhibition: Experimenting with ways of Mounting my work

As previously mentioned, I have thought about mounting my paintings onto board slightly smaller than the works so that the pieces are still evidently paper and have a floating effect with a cast shadow. Today I experimented with this idea. I used my test painting as a practice for mounting. I used rabbit skin glue to stick the painting to the board and placed it against the wall to see the result. Unfortunately, I am going to have to have a rethink on the material as this was not very successful.

The board changed the painting too much, they no longer felt like paper works to me, you could see the edges of the board through the paper. I need a softer material without hard edges and preferably white as the wood colour also made the background of the painting look darker, I will try foam board. The paper being larger than the piece it is mounted on is definitely working. I’m glad I am starting to think about this early as it means I have time to test things out and have the most successful exhibition outcome.

Revised Artist Statement: Degree Show Catalogue

My practice aims to challenge and confront our nostalgia for traditional landscape paintings which portray unrealistic, aesthetic and romantic views of the land and to highlight the causes and effects of the harm our earth experiences as a result of human neglect. It is easy to overlook and ignore the damage that is being done to our environment and to cling on to the image of an unpolluted landscape. My work explores an attraction to the beauty of nature and relies on it to expose the reality of the harm it is subjected to. Contrasting fragments of our natural landscape and imagery associated with environmental harm are brought together in a dialectical way so that they have a conversation. The imagery present together emphasises the fact that these images exist in the same environment and underlines the reality that the elements of unspoiled natural landscape may one day be lost and only a distant memory if the causes of its depletion are not acknowledged.

Throughout my current practice, my ideas are explored mainly through painting, drawing and collage. Collage is employed to create works in their own right and also to create amalgamations of imagery to be translated into painting. My work breaks the conventions of a typical landscape format and painting from collage incorporates many different perspectives but builds up a believable image where natural landscape beauty is not seperate from environmental issues. Some influences on my work include John Akomfrah, Dexter Dalwood and Keith Arnatt. Contrasting imagery of nature with snapshots of environmental toll highlights the realism of the landscape we are very much part of today.

Formative Assessment Viva: Exhibition Proposal, Artist Statement and Key Points

Brief Outline of Degree Show Exhibition Proposal

I plan to create six A2 size paintings on paper for my Degree Show Exhibition. The six pieces will be paintings of collages contrasting the natural beauty of the land with the environmental issues it is facing and the harm that it is experiencing. The pieces will be arranged in a long line at eye level on white walls. I want the paintings to evidently represent the collages and still have the paper quality to them and so I plan to mount them on board a little bit smaller than the paper, I have tested this and there was only one problem that the edge of the board was making a mark in the paper but I was pressing quite hard on the edges and so this needs more testing. I will screw a wooden baton on the back for them to be hung on the wall. They will be in relief from the wall and the paper will cast a slight shadow behind them. I think this will be a very clean, confident and professional looking exhibition.

Artist Statement

My practice aims to challenge and confront our nostalgia for traditional landscape paintings which portray unrealistic, aesthetic and romantic views of the land and highlights the causes and effects of the harm our earth experiences as a result of human neglect. It is easy to overlook and ignore the damage that is being done to our environment and to cling on to the image of the unspoiled landscape. My work explores this attraction to to natural landscape beauty and relies on it to draw in the viewer initially. This appeal is then juxtaposed with imagery exposing the reality of our polluted and urbanised modern day landscapes. The contrasting fragments are brought together in a dialectical way so that they have a conversation. The imagery present together emphasises the fact that the beautiful landscape images the viewer was drawn in by and holds nostalgia for may one day be lost and only a distant memory if the causes of its depletion are not acknowledged.

My ideas are explored mainly through painting, drawing and collage. Collage is employed to create works in their own right and also to create amalgamations of imagery to be translated into painting. Some influences on my practice include John Akomfrah, Dexter Dalwood and Keith  Arnatt. Contrasting imagery of nature with snapshots of environmental toll highlights the reality of the landscape we are very much part of today.

5 Key Points Documentation

1 – Developing my Ideas and beginning to focus on contrasting natural imagery of beauty with imagery associated with environmental harm – Last term, my work challenged a nostalgia for beautiful aesthetic landscape works by highlighting environmental issues and creating work surrounding environmental harm. However, the work was quite apocalyptic and had no sense of hope or realism within it. I wanted the depletion of the natural land and environmental harm to be brought to the forefront but the work was easy to overlook and ignore with nothing attractive to draw the viewer into the work in the first place. This term I have reevaluated my work and started working with ideas of attraction and repulsion and contrasting beautiful landscape imagery with the imagery of environmental issues in order to draw the viewer in to a beautiful image and then be exposed to the negative harming elements. This highlights the beauty of the natural landscape and issues surrounding environmental harm but it also highlights what is being lost and what is replacing it.

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/idea-development-and-reflection-contrasting-the-natural-beauty-of-the-land-with-the-environmental-harm-it-experiences/

2 – Creating Collages contrasting natural imagery with environmental harm, shaped collages working best – I started collaging imagery of beautiful natural landscape imagery such as green grass and blue skies with imagery surrounding environmental harm. Collage builds up a dialogue between imagery and allowed me to create an image that juxtaposed and contrasted these two kinds of imagery together fairly easily and confidently. These collages are definitely attractive at first glance and I feel the viewer would be drawn to know what they were about and then be exposed to imagery of environmental harm and what is being lost.

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/09/reflecting-and-creating-collages-combining-nature-with-environmental-harm-imagery/

3 – Working Larger, Large Landscape experimentation – Initially. I wrote two ideas in my degree show proposal, one of them involved working on a large scale and so I started experimenting with working large responding to my previous work but painting a beautiful natural landscape with environmental harm imagery tarnishing it. There were numerous problems with this work, my painting skill wasn’t there and it looked quite cartoon like and not believable. The perspective and use of colour also wasn’t successful and as a result the work looked very flat. This caused me to reevaluate my work.

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/09/working-on-a-large-scale-landscape-exploration-nature-juxtaposed-with-environmental-harm/

4 – Idea to paint collages, researching glazing and underpainting to improve my painting skill – The failure of the large painting highlighted to me the success of my collages and that working on a smaller scale was much more beneficial to my project. They are attractive and on a small enough scale that from a far they have beauty and on closer inspection expose you to environmental issues. This is what my paintings were missing! and it seemed logical that the next step towards making successful paintings was to paint the collages. However, I knew that if I was going to paint these collages of such detail. I would have to improve my painting skill, colour mixing and observation. So I started researching glazing and underpainting techniques and spent some time learning how to layer up paint and make my work more successful.

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/researching-painting-techniques/

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/12/experimenting-with-glazing/

5 – Printing Collages onto acetate and projecting them to draw from before painting them using what I had learnt from glazing research – In order to draw out the collaged imagery, I printed the works onto acetate and projected them to draw from. I chose to project them larger at A2 size so that I could paint them highly detailed but still small enough that they aren’t easily worked out from a far. I did a test piece trying out using glazing techniques to create an image and experimented with mediums before deciding that spectraflow was the medium I would use to thin the paint down. I confidently started painting my first piece making informed decisions as I went along. I believe it’s my most successful work yet and think a set of them will look great in the exhibition.

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/14/drawing-out-paintings-of-collages/

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/printing-collages-onto-acetate/

5 Key Points Contextualisation

1 – Robert Bateman – Robert Bateman created paintings that contrast the natural land, environment and wildlife with similar imagery incorporating environmental harm. The examples below show a forest contrasted with imagery of deforestation and wildlife with litter and oil that could harm the animals etc. This fits in with my ideas surrounding contrasting the natural land with environmental harm, although this work almost has a before and after theme to it because of the way the images are divided. I want my work to integrate imagery and I don’t want my work to emit the idea that the natural and the harmed land are separate because they exist in the same environment.

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/04/robert-bateman-contrasts/

2 – David Hockney – Landscape Collages – When I made small intricate collages previously in my work, I simply stuck down lots of imagery of environmental harm into a shape to make an interesting composition. When making new collages I wanted to build up a landscape type image with sky at the top and land below etc integrating the imagery of nature with environmental harm pictures. The individual images of Hockney’s landscape collages don’t quite match up but it works and this gives me confidence in that even if the land doesn’t match up in my collages and the perspectives and scale don’t match it will still be visually interesting. His work also encourages me to stay away from the rectangular traditional landscape shape and challenge the nostalgia for aesthetic landscape works further in a different format.

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/07/david-hockney-landscape-collage/

3 – Keith Arnatt – Photographer Keith Arnatt’s series of his work “Miss Grace’s Lane” incorporates imagery of the natural land tarnished with dumped rubbish and damage and also makes a comment of the way we live as humans, environmental harm and our effect on the planet, linking in with my work. His work draws on similar ideas to mine in that these pieces parody Samuel Palmers work, a traditional romantic landscape painter. It challenges more traditional landscape paintings and exposes a reality of human neglect and environmental issues as I am working with in my work. Arnatt uses the natural setting to make the harm more poignant

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/keith-arnatt-miss-graces-lane/

Miss Grace’s Lane 1986-7 Keith Arnatt 1930-2008 Presented by the artist’s estate 2009 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T13154

Miss Grace’s Lane 1986-7 Keith Arnatt 1930-2008 Presented by the artist’s estate 2009 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T13164

4 – Dexter Dalwood – Dexter Dalwood’s work is highly influential to my current ideas. He creates images from collage and then transforms them into paintings. I am currently exploring a similar idea within my work. Even though scenes like he depicts in his work are not correct and cannot and do not exist, they are still believable. Painting from collages of environmental harm and nature will not only create an interesting image, but it will hopefully make me observe more and paint more successfully. The work will encourage people to work out what’s going on in the image, challenging their nostalgia for traditional landscape painting by not being in the typical format and expose them to the reality of environmental toll.

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/09/dexter-dalwood-painting-from-collages/

5 – John Akomfrah – Vertigo Sea – He talks about imagery being put together and having a dialogue. Putting imagery together and seeing what they say, they in their own right have a conversation. Most influentially he talks about two opposites colliding in a dialectical way and a new meaning emerging – “the third meaning” – applying this to my work, I have brought together natural landscape imagery with imagery of environmental issues, on their own they could be very separate, the beautiful land that’s still left and the areas that are evidently affected by environmental issues, however a third meaning arises when put together, it highlights the fact that this natural landscape exists in the same world as the harm and is suffering because of human neglect, the work is then showcasing what could be lost if it is overlooked and ignored and exposes the viewer to the causes of this depletion.

LINK: https://gemmaschiebefineart3.wordpress.com/2016/02/19/john-akomfrah-vertigo-sea/