Monday, November 30, 2009

30/11/2009

I had two presentations to do today, both were for 2nd year graphics students. They went reasonably well. By the time the third one was finished, I felt a lot more comfortable about public speaking, so some good has come out of the experience, even though it has taken up valuable studio time. To be fair to Peter, he did not make it too stressful. I had a quick chat with Aine this morning, about using the space down in George's quay, I suggested writing a proposal, to which she agreed, and she said that she will chat to the head of the art college about it. One of my colleagues has suggested that myself and another prospective MA student, talk to Mark about the process of applying for a masters degree. I mentioned this to him, and he was all for it; it will be good to get his input.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

28/11/2009

Saturday today. I went in for 8 o clock , to help get the drawing competition entries ready, for Donald Tetskey to make his selection for the show. There were some absolutely brilliant works on show, and one of my own pieces was selected fot the exhibition; I am very pleased. We finished up at around 4 o' clock, it was a good experience, to see what kind of procedeures were involved, and to see what kinds of things Donald selected.

27/11/2009

Took down my diachronic installation, it was interfered with too many times. It was a good experiment though. I have dismantled the mirror installation as well, they need the space for third year electives, and it was meant to be a workshop area anyway. I am going to have to move to the sculpture area, but I have my doubts as to wether I can be given a big enough space.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

26/11/2009

I am on the organizing comittee of the drawing awards competition this year; today was the deadline for submission to this years competition. So, the day was spent, taking in the submissions. There were many great works, and it is truly a privelage to be a part of this college, and to be associated with such  highly talented individuals.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

25/11/2009

Spent the morning trying to get the angle of 'drawing machine'. It is proving to be a lot harder than what I initially thought it would be, however, I will persevere with it, untill I get it right. In the afternoon, at the invitation of Peter Morgan, I presented a power point, of some of my work to second year students . It was the first time outside of my own class environment, that I had to talk about my work. It went fairly well, Peter was a great help. Being ever the opportunist, I seized the chance to get some research for my own project. I brought down a mirror which I had on an easel, and videotaped the audience of the presentation, in the reflection of the mirror. Could we call this phenomena, a ironic paradox !!!???

23/11/2009

With the drawing awards looming, I spent the day preparing one piece for entry. I have connected a artist pen to a strip of copper wire, and nailed it to the wall. I bought a fan which I have secured to the wall beneath the pen. I propose to let the fan blow the copper strip, with the pen on,to make marks, or a drawing  on paper.I had not considered that the 'swing' of the copper, would in fact be an arc type movement, so I am experimenting with card and paper, to see if I can duplicate the arc of the swing, in order for the piece to be effective.












 

Saturday, November 21, 2009

20/11/2009

Went down town to get my bulb, which was meant to be 'coming in within the next week' (3 weeks ago), alas, two shops that said this, were obviously lying. Re packaged the mirror to send it back to the retailers. I did a bit more to the thesis in the afternoon.

Friday, November 20, 2009

19/11/2009

A few different people have made comments on the mirror installation; one person has said it was intimidating, another said it made them feel uneasy; it was like someone was watching them. A couple of others have said it made them feel confused, disoriented, and so forth. So, what I have to do is contextualize the work to give it some coherence; what is my point? what is the logic behind my thinking? in terms of this work, what is my "raison d'ĂȘtre"? These are indeed valid questions. Whilst there are many ideas whizzing around in my mind, I believe the answers are just brewing in my subconscious somewhere ! The point is, I need to rationalize all these thoughts and ideas, to make some kind of sense. I had a tutorial with DrKieran Cashell today, and he has given me some valuable advice and insight. It was very helpful to get this kind advice, from the perspective of an CCS lecturer.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

18/11/2009


My mirror has arrived from America. A couple of weeks back, the company who I purchased the mirror from, said that they only had one in stock, and that there was a fault in it; did I want it at a reduced rate. I said no, but it looks like they have sent it anyway; there is a pucker the whole way down the mirror. It was not caused by damage in transit, as the box was undamaged. I will have to get a replacement for it. Took some photos of it anyway, with people posing for me. An unforeseen phenomena has revealed itself, in the photographs I took. The distortion is caused by undulating the mirror, as it is pliable, and as a result, the flash from the camera 'bounces' off the mirror at different angles. This gives an 'ethereal' effect to the photographs, which I have to say, I am very happy with, I will use this as resource for paintings.























Tuesday, November 17, 2009

17/09/2009

AM. Started writing the next chapter of the thesis. PM, we went to Limerick City Gallery of Art, with Mark,  for a look at the current exhibition that was running there. It was interesting to hear the views and issues raised by Mark; obviously, he has a long academic experience in art matters, and it is of great benefit to us, as emerging artists, to be involved in this kind of discourse with him.
I had a tutorial with Nigel at 4.30. He has shown me some useful and interesting tools to use on Adobe After effects.

Monday, November 16, 2009

16/11/2009

I have procured some more mirror for the installation. Some of the existing mirror had become dirty, so I had to clean them again. Someone had moved the installation; I had to spend considerable time getting it back into position; I have marked the position this time. There was plaster all over the floor as well, so I had to spend time cleaning that up as well. Took some more photos from different Angles of the installation.




















13/11/2009

I attended a day long seminar in the hunt museum, it was run by the Irish Museum Association. The title of the seminar was 'Get connected -Your Museum and Web 2.0  The title is self explanatory. It is what I am doing my thesis on, so it was great to get this primary research material. The organizers were very helpful; they allowed me to record the whole seminar, and will be forwarding all of the seminar content.

12/11/09

Even though I had a notice inked in red pen, asking people not to touch my diachronic installation, yet another person has taken it upon themselves to interfere with the work. It is essentially ruined now; the culprit this time apologized fair enough. "I'll get you another piece of paper" she said. Two months work down the drain. Another guy a couple of weeks ago, decided that he would use my space to hang his work up !!!  He left two big dirty footprints on my work. It never ceases to amaze me, how inconsiderate and selfish some people are; I know that I would never have interfered with anyone else's work, never mid a 4th years', in fact, I even would refrain from walking through their studios, in case I disturbed them. The only way I think it may be salvageable, is by coming up with some way of including the damage as part of the work.
Maurice used the mirror installation again for part of his work; I got some more photos of him in the process, the ones where the flash is visible, looks interesting.



















Wednesday, November 11, 2009

11/11/2009

I tried on several occasions to get onto the computer that had my video on, alas, every time I went to the multi-media room, there was someone on that particular computer. I see no other option, other than download the software to my own computer. Took some photos of the installation, with a couple of people posing in the mirrors. I had an excellent CCS tutorial with David this morning; one particular web site he mentioned could be a good reference source for the thesis.








































10/11/2009

I spent the morning in the library writing for my thesis. In the afternoon, we had a seminar with Mark, he invited a guest speaker; Dr. Kieran Cashell. The seminar was concerned with aspects of how artists use language. It was a dialectical discussion.There were many topics discussed, including truth, meaning, semiotics, philosophy, and so forth. It was intriguing to hear another Professors philosophy, and the terminology he uses. Many theorists were mentioned, including; Saussere,Pierce, Nietzsche, Barthes, Derrida, and Wittgenstein.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

09/11/2009

I had a progress review today, and I must say it went very well; I have gained a clearer understanding, of the specifics I need to consider within my work, in order to give the work a better sense of clarity, coherence, appropriateness, focus, communication, and so forth. In short, I need to delve my 'angle'. Having said that, I was under the impression (perhaps wrongly) that the first half of the term was meant to be, in some sense, experimental; fun, enjoyable, explorative. I had not realized that we were meant to be so specifically focussed at this stage. Nevertheless, constructive criticism is always well appreciated, and I can well understand the tutors concerns. If I was to be perfectly honest, I had indeed realized that the work was fragmentary, and disjointed; I was going to see where it would take me. It is clear now, that I have to take control of the work (as it were) and lead it. Still, this has ignited a strong sense of urgency in me now, to bring this coherence to the work. My daily arranging of the studio space will be no more (it was becoming banal; the health and safety restrictions within my studio space, limited me, in terms of artistic self expression). My collaboration with Mathilde can only continue, if it is appropriate to my own work. I was never happy with the term 'visual confusion' that I related to the mirror work, and Mark has verified this, by explaining that it is an inappropriate term to use. In conclusion, I am well aware of the necessary steps, that I now have to take, in order to realize the full potential of the work.
One of the graphic lads wants to use my installation to do a fashion shoot, he reckoned the place feels unnerving; as though someone is watching you. Maurice also used the space today; interactivity on two counts today.... yeaaah!!!











Sunday, November 8, 2009

06/11/2009

I'll tell you how confusing the installation is getting; I have to look around each time I go in, to actually see what I have done ! LOL.
I have spoken with my 'contact' in the glass business, and he is prepared to donate mirror for my work. I have to approach a security firm now, to see about cctv.Nigel said this could be problematic, as there was another student a couple of years ago, who had problems in this area, we'll have to see what transpires, however, I am confident that I can obtain it without any problems. Added a bit more to the installation. On reflection, I will upload the photos of my studio space; after all , it is part of my actual work.

Went to the Burren College of Art on Friday, they had an open day for post graduate students. It was an absolutely wonderful place; small, intimate, friendly. The standard appeared very high, which I suppose is obviously understandable.








Thursday, November 5, 2009

05/11/2009

Peter Morgan was passing and stopped for a chat, which actually turned into a good tutorial. He has suggested that the photographs which I had taken of my work; studio space, installation and so forth, could actually be used as resource for paintings. I have to say that it was not my intention to go down this route, (I had planned to use the carnival mirror for this) however, Peter has given me some great advice as to how I could use the photographs, and it has tweaked my curiosity. Some of the artists he has suggested include:Calum Colvin, James Tyrell, Duane Michaels and Wolfgang Tilmans. Peter has asked if I would put some of my photos on disk, and give a talk about them to 2nd year students. I have agreed to this, although I am a little apprehensive about talking about the work to strangers, nevertheless, I expect it will be a good learning curve; good practice for public speaking.
I have scanned the Lev Manovich book "The language of new media," and whilst it is a useful reference, I am not convinced of the appropriateness of the content to my thesis.

The ladder which I had been using whilst hoisting up the table and chair in my studio space, has now become a part of the work. I have   staged a photograph with the ladder in it, again, trying to come up with ways of creating visual illusionism. I realize that with the software available, it would be very easy to do, however, there is something rather satisfying, in becoming physically immersive in the work, rather than just sitting at a computer. With another reference to the way artworks are displayed, I have hung a small canvas from the ladder; it hangs unassumingly in a little world of its own, (Like Duchamp's shovel) not quite sure of its place in the universe; I suspect that  if it had its own way, it would materialize itself bigger, and hang itself proudly on a white wall, in some minimalist white cube setting.







04/11/2009


Progress reviews today, so I spent the morning organizing my artist research, and putting it in my folder. Also, I got my photographs developed. I actually forgot to put out my sketchbook, diary, and ideas book. I mentioned this to Aine, but she said that it was not an assessment, and that they have a good sense of what my practice entails. Added another piece to the mirror instillation. I have a contact in the glass business, and I will be collecting some more mirror over the week end; when this is realized,  I believe I can take the installation to another level.




                              All ready for progress review!

Monday, November 2, 2009

02/11/2009

I spent the day in the library, completing the project proposal, and putting my practice diary into print. I am not certain if the project proposal is a fitting instrument of expression for an artist. Fair enough, in terms of the course requirements, yes maybe, but in some sense, I believe it stifles the creative processes, which should flow, rather than follow some pre determined specifics.