Blackpool

RESEARCH

Blackpool Pleasure Beach

The ideas of fairgrounds took our class to Blackpool pleasure beach, where we all got to look around the fairground. Learning about the history and the surroundings on which it erected. At fairgrounds there are many different activities going on like rides, games, shows, including fantastic water shows. However there are a variety of things going on behind the shows, like the planning and creating of the costumes. Seeing various aspects of the fairground interested me, then in how I would respond. Mainly to the hall of mirrors. Which I found intriguing when looking at my own and others reflections. I liked the scale of the roller coasters, then the shapes the water made in the air from the fountains. I liked the use of different coloured hair in the costumes. Adding a different prospective to them.
Fairgrounds like the pleasure beach have many different ways of interacting with the body and mind. People use all their senses in fairgrounds because in some cases they become part of the ride themselves. Then in other cases some people are scared of rides and water because they might of had a past experience that scared them off. I found these facts interesting about fairgrounds as people think of rides and shows as places of pleasure. Then on the other hand people are afraid of fairgrounds because of their own personal reasons. 

The idea of the hall of mirrors came from the fairground. At the fairgrounds there are these obscure mirrors that change your shape when you look at your reflection in them. They make your proportions out of line with your head being big or small as well as your hips appearing massive or tiny. The images look all strange and distorted not like a human being. 

PE Task

The way Dale Chihuly works is by creating sculptures outside. This gave me ideas about where I could picture my work in the future. He creates beautiful sculptures on such a big scale; this is what I want to do. All his sculptures are made from glass. I have done glass blowing before, and I enjoyed the colours you can create. However I wanted to create plastic pieces of artwork on a much bigger scale. I can see some of my work in museums or parks were everyone can view it. The use of materials and the way they work together is important to me. When reading about other artists work, it makes me think about the way I work and the things which are inspiring to me. I become inspired quite often and with ease. This is mainly with materials and the ways in which create sculptures and reliefs with them.

Christo is another artist that has an influence on me, to a great extent, with his use of materials and the way he shocks his audience. I want to receive the same reaction when viewers see my work. Thinking more about my work and seeing other artists show off their work in different ways has encouraged me to think about how I would present my work. I am aware that my work has more 3 D elements which gives it sculpture qualities. I want viewers to be able to interact with my work. I could do this by creating more installations outside, in the environment, where everyone one can see it. Christo believes that everyone should have intents and memorable experiences of art outside comfort of museums, and this is how I could see my work in the future. He momentarily intervenes in to the local populations of daily routines in order of him to create ‘gentle disturbances’. Other things I have in common with the artist Christo is the use of materials and the ways of manipulating them.   

Another artist I enjoy researching is Ernesto Neto who is known for his crazy sculptures and installations. Ernesto Neto sculptures themselves are known as biomorphic environments. Seeing the images of his work has inspired me, as I would like to see my work on a similar scale to him. I would also like to create something just as beautiful and interesting, so that people interact with my work. Ernesto Neto wants his viewers to interact with his work, so that they are encouraged to poke, touch, and in some case – even walking through his plush organic forms. After looking at some of the ways Ernesto Neto present his work, it made me think about how I present my own work and I how I could enable to interact with my work. Whiles researching Ernesto Neto work, I found out about his critical context including why he creates his pieces of art. I also found that he mixes the highbrow formalism and minimalism with sociability and fun of relational aesthetics, which I found interesting. I want to develop this idea in my future art work.  

New techniques

Keeping to the idea of different materials I finding the artist Suzan Drummen, made me think about the use of backgrounds. I found the tailor taker foot hard to use because the thread keep snapping, however I did use multiplies plastics and woods. I thought my most successful sample was the chiffon ribbon around the hair pin and it created a thread on it. Also, another aspect of this sample I thought was interesting was the shadow effect. The sample I want to improve was the seam sample by creating layers by cutting through the plastic. The unsuccessful samples were the ones using the hairs pin and rubber thread because the thread did stitch as well as other materials. This made it less interesting. The process of the hair pin and zipper foot was really experimental to use on different materials and fabrics as it manipulated them in different ways. I want to create these pieces on a bigger scale.

 

Machines

When I stared on the sewing machines, I still wanted to create lines within the materials however I still wanted to explore more materials within line. My most successful sample was created out of surprised, as I was experimenting with the couching foot. I started couching on top of the rubber thread on old strips of fabric. This created ruffle effect which inspired me to think about what other material I could develop this method on to.  The sample I wanted to improve was the plastic seam. It was too small and had this weird effect. I thought this was interesting. To improve this I wanted to create this sample on a bigger scale. The worst sample was the cling film sample as didn't have a good effect as the others did. This was because it kept getting caught in the machine. This was when I realised you cannot put cling film in the sewing machine. 

Outside Photographs

Artists research

With the use of ‘Pinterest’, I found some inserting artists to research e.g. such as Dale Chihiuly and Megan Geckler. Chihiuly colours and shapes were inspiring to look at because of the use of multiple lines and repetition. Similar, Megan Geckler uses these in her art installations and she uses a lot of tape and ribbon, like I do. Other artist I have found that interest me: Michel Francols and Anne Helper. I found these artists work really strange because of their use of space and materials. We all use the same types of materials but in many different ways and this is what has inspired me to develop for my next samples. Anne Helper work remind me of the foundation diploma course I studied at Sixth Form College due to the inflating plastics involved. So I decided to use some of these materials in my new samples.  When I finished making my samples and photographed them outside, in a car park, to see how they stood out in the street light. This gave them a different image because they had more movement in them. Also the materials I used were transparent and had some fascinating movements when the lights were shining through.