Help, Uni, and Field Trips

First off - a friend of mine, KBStudio at DeviantART, needs well-wishes and help. A lovely dog she took in recently, nicknamed Horse, has been diagnosed heartworm positive. $500 needs to be raised to pay for the healthcare needed - she and other artists are offering cheap commissions to fund Horse's treatment.

Even if you can't donate or buy a commission, they both would really appreciate thoughts and kind words. Thank you.


In other news, yesterday I went for my first university interview (for my second-choice university). I was a little surprised when they asked us to leave our portfolios in a room, for the work would be looked at while we were having the mini-tour and the presentation, but other than that things went rather smoothly. I've never really done the interviewing thing well; I can stumble over my words and do a lot of gesticulating - but I feel I got my thoughts across fairly well. Two others from my college also applied here and I got to see them yesterday too. I already knew about one guy applying, but didn't expect the other person to walk through the door as I didn't know she'd applied! We didn't get a huge chance to talk, my interview was done before either of theirs was, but I expect some time on Monday will be devoted to discussion. :3 I shall find out whether I have an invitation or not next week, over UCAS Track. I'm a little nervous.

I also ended up in Oxford last Tuesday, for a field trip. I'd asked my tutor if I could miss out on this one as my portfolio needed doing, but he recommended I still go anyway. We visited the Natural History Museum (which was pretty awesome, 'specially their collection of bugs and butterflies and a room of UV light!), the Pitt-Rivers (some things were interesting, but the floor we specifically went to see isn't going to open until May ... booooo) and the Ashmolean (my favourite of the three, this was wonderful).

I do have photos! Later, they shall be uploaded.

Leeds Armoury field-trip

On Tuesday, 3rd November, we took a trip to Leeds Armoury. You remember those three large pieces I did a couple posts down? Those works were inspired by artefacts or just elements of structures/design I examined here. I mostly took photographs here (there are a lot more; I've just uploaded the best few) and didn't do a lot of drawing at all until we sat down and I could use my materials properly. The photographs were very useful in providing reference material, though. :)



We're kind of starting backwards, photograph wise. x_X Emily and I, towards the end of the trip, decided to have a poke around outside of the museum. We found a small enclosed area (with a roof like a circus's tent) where there were workshops and even a dressmaker's. All of those shops were closed, so we couldn't really explore other than gawp through the windows, but it was definitely one of the more interesting parts of the trip. That being said, I didn't use a lot of fashion influence in the work I produced after - I just felt it didn't fit with the brief we were given. Personally I found it fascinating, though!




Those are Emily's feet in the photo. Originally she went to step away after she realised I was taking a picture of the stone bearing the quote, but I asked her to move back. It adds a nice touch to the photo; especially her shadow. ^^




The staircase curved around this collection. It made a better photograph appearance-wise than it did a reference one (I ended up using very few of the gun/artefact photographs and went more for symbols used around the building, such as the Remembrance poppy and the Armoury mascot), so I kept it. There's something very nice about the layout. :3



Face it (EDIT: HAHA I MADE A PUN!!!11)... you can't have a real field-trip without having one of these done, if the place provides such a thing. XD It looks pretty nice in my studio-diary ... speaking of which, I finished my first yesterday! It's so heavy and full of material, but I felt sad as it's been with me throughout Foundation so far. I've now started a new one, which I began to write in today. I customised the cover on this new one too (something I didn't do on the old one aside from write my name on it and doodle a chibi-me), so I'm looking forward to showing it off. *thumbs up*

Trip to Liverpool

We Foundation-course peeps took a gander around Liverpool on Tuesday, 10th November. There are a good few art museums or history-related museums (including a Beatles museum and a few shops solely dedicated to Beatles merchandise) so we were all left to our own devices, meeting back at the coach later in the afternoon.

Many of our Foundation group took interest in the Tate. We - as in, our little group of five - had a look, but personally I wasn't particularly blown away (still got a couple of postcards and a couple of pin-badges, though!) by the exhibitions. There were some lovely pieces, but nothing that made me stop and go 'Wow!' (as has often happened in the London's Tate Modern). The Maritime museum and Bluecoats museum were really great, though - in the latter's display shop we came across a few of Michael Brennand-Wood's original pieces up for sale, and as Zoe had chosen him as the subject for her seminar, it was a nice thing to see :3

The Maritime museum, for me, held the most inspiration. I shall explain more, through photos:




As a few of you may know, I am a huge fan of Gustav Klimt's work and the style he used during his 'Golden Era'. Part of that is the intricate patterns he used; and I found the patterns painted on the wall in the Maritime museum's African art-feature particularly interesting.





Again, I loved the patterns used in these textile samples. The African-art floor I found the most interesting in the Maritime museum; we took a look around the other floors where the history of many ships (including the Titanic) was described. It was all pretty neat. ^^



This I took near the end of our trip, where the coach was coming to pick us up. Although weather-wise it wasn't too pleasant, I love the reflection in the water. I know a cityscape reflected in water is a bit cliche, but I really liked this photo.




Back in the Maritime museum! Now this is pure awesome; I love when light is used in artwork and installations, if done correctly it can really draw all eyes to it. I managed to do a bit myself at A2 with constructing a teapot out of tissue-paper and illuminating it from the inside (do you remember?). This is the kind of piece where, each time you look at it, you notice something new. Amazing.




And this is our little group, just before we went into the Maritime museum! Adelle took the first photo (which was actually taken after the second), and I took the second. I'm really happy with all the photos in this trip, they turned out so well <3

Overall, the trip was interesting. I did prefer the visit to the Armoury, but this wasn't a bad one at all. The leaflets and things I collected took up four pages in my studio-diary, and I hadn't even printed any photos out. X/D

The Armoury one shall be coming up soon! Keep your eyes peeled.

Meet the Stringfellows, Day Two

Not as many photos here - most of the day, we were too busy to pause and take photos until the very end. That being said, it was brilliant fun.

Today we got into groups. The previous day, our tutors told us to bring in masking tape and one other form of fastening (not glue or anything wet). I brought in a stapler, string, Sellotape, and dressmaking pins - others had also brought in a variety of bits but a few had only brought one along with their tape. Depending on which fastening we had with us, we were put into groups that had a 'fastening in common'. As you can guess, ours (our team being Naomi, Susie, Mary and myself) was string.

Coming up with our team-name was rather easy. All the credit for it (and for making our tutor laugh) goes to Mary, who just had it pop into her head randomly. We all giggled and 100% agreed on the name, and off we went to do the task that had been asked of us.


What did they ask us to do? Again, we were studying qualities of objects - and had to represent it in some way so that it was part of the environment we were in (like an installation) and yet using one of the words given to us yesterday (texture, shape, decoration, etc.). Some people selected the windows, others selected the banisters of stairs, others even made use of some lamps that were left in a corner.

We came across a few chairs.




We found particular interest in the texture of the seats, as it was a straw-like material woven into the frame. Some of it was frayed, and dangling from the bottom, so using some card (provided to us by our tutors) we made a 3D frame and various styles of string (plaits, twists, some even made from the leftover card) to sew onto it.

We finally balanced it on three plungers we found, and there we have it:




Everyone turned out some really interesting projects.

So, in conclusion - it was an awesome visit! The museum was great, and I'm understanding the work a little better now. On Monday, we start work in sketchbooks, which should be fun.

Nine-Nine-Nine

First off, if you're going to make a big thing out of 09/09/09, I wish you a good celebration. :3







Here are a bunch of real-life studies I've done over this past month. Two are incomplete, but I liked the way they turned out regardless. I'm not a fan of the last one at all but, as my new college tutor says, you shouldn't throw anything away. I used charcoal (and a little chalk) on said disliked piece, and I don't think I've quite got the hang of it yet. The first one is probably my favourite (closely followed by the second).

All-New Art College is going rather well (and I'm getting practise in making packed-lunch ... maybe sometime this year I should try making a bento, they look interesting). We're going on a two-day field trip to Ironbridge tomorrow (we're not stopping overnight, we're just going there on both days) so hopefully I'll have photographs and drawings from that visit.


If you, the reader, are back at school this week - and especially if you're just starting at a new place - I hope this year goes well for you.