Inspiration of the Week - Rachel Maclean

Rachel Maclean is a Glasgow based artist who makes videos where she performs her work dressed as different characters lip syncing to previously recorded audio, she also designs prints which feature these characters.

The reason that I am looking into her work is that for my final brief I don't really have a solid concept down for it but I wanted to look into Scottish Identity/ Culture. I first saw Rachel Maclean's work when it was part of the Travelling Gallery and it came to college. Her 'I Heart Scotland' exhibition which was featured dealt with issues surrounding Scottish and British Identity and Culture.

http://rachelmaclean.tumblr.com/image/53016495520

It had references to the then upcoming Scottish Referendum and the Scottish Commonwealth Games, and other issues concerning Scotland such as Golf, Wind Farms, Oil, The Jacobite Rebellion, Unicorns, and Nessie.

http://www.travellinggallery.com/past-exhibitions/spring-14

http://rachelmaclean.tumblr.com/search/scotland/page/2

With my work I am thinking about tackling issues such as Scottish stereotypes, what it means to be Scottish and Scotland as a part of Britain. Macleans work is a great point of reference as a way to look into these issues as she deals with them in a serious way, but in a way that is very tongue and cheek. I think that this work is great and does highlight a great number of issues that are important to me and Scottish society.

http://rachelmaclean.tumblr.com/search/scotland/page/2

Another thing that I like about this work is that the artist takes a completely unbiased approach towards it. It was only  few months before the Scottish Referendum when I saw this work and it had influenced a number of the pieces in the gallery, however I don't know what Rachel Macclean's status was of the whole thing. With her work she managed to highlight the issues that should be important to everyone in Scotland, whereas her views on Scottish/ British politics were completely hidden.

https://vimeo.com/72097465

https://vimeo.com/72097465

https://vimeo.com/72097465

The travelling gallery also featured her video called "The Lion and the Unicorn" which discusses the concept of national identity through three characters, the lion (England), the unicorn (Scotland) and the queen.

http://www.rachelmaclean.com/thelionandtheunicorn.html

http://www.rachelmaclean.com/thelionandtheunicorn.html

http://www.rachelmaclean.com/thelionandtheunicorn.html

NB - all photographs here have been taken from these sites which her work is featured:
http://www.rachelmaclean.com/
http://rachelmaclean.tumblr.com/
https://vimeo.com/72097465
http://www.travellinggallery.com/past-exhibitions/spring-14
I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

I really do like Rachel Macleans work here and will use here work to further develop my concept.

That's all for now,
byyyeeeee
Róisín -x

Colours colours everywhere

So I am going along with the idea of colour and emotion. I did some work in my sketchbook just playing around with this idea and not really thinking of where it could go. However over the past couple of days I have been thinking about a couple of routes for my final piece to go down.

Idea 1:

So looking at the idea of ephemeral I thought about somehow using the paint cards that you get from hardware stores when buying paints.

So I went to B&Q and took a selection of them and also the catalogue of the paints.

 Idea 2:

I wont go into too much detail here, but basically I had a bit of an emotional breakdown one night this week and started crying. After I was quite finished with that I was going to go downstairs to make dinner. So I went to the mirror to make sure that I looked somewhat presentable, and my mascara had ran down all over my face. Bingo! Inspiration from crappy places. So what I'm thinking of maybe doing is different coloured make-up/ mascara/ eyeliner or something of the sort in different colours to try and associate colour and emotion etc.

And here's a couple of artists I've been looking at for some inspiration.

Rebecca Bauman

http://rebeccabaumann.com/Works/Automated-Colour-Field/

 Robert Swain

http://robertswainnyc.com/newBob/

And here is some more of the sketchbook work I've done, enjoy :)

So that's all for just now 

bbbbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Róisín -x

Inspiration of the Week - Mark Bradford

Mark Bradford is an abstract painter working in America and is also one of the founders of Art + Practice which is an organisation to encourage engagement into art practice and also to help young people who are coming out of foster care.

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/mark_bradford.htm

The reason that I have decided to look at some of his work is because I am trying to gather a lot of research for my Studio Practice 2 Brief which I am currently planning on looking into maps.

http://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/62/mark-bradford/images-clips/34/

Bradford's works are normally gridlike and features collage. The way he sets out his paintings reminds me of certain types of maps, and he has used maps in his work before.

http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/mark_bradford_through_darkest_america_by_truck_and_tank_bermondsey_2013/

I really like these paintings as although the meaning behind them isn't always clear, they are aesthetically pleasing and interesting to look at and because of his use of colour and the amount of detail he has put into it.

http://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/62/mark-bradford/images-clips/11/

NB - all photographs here have been taken from these sites which he is featured in:
http://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/62/mark-bradford/images-clips/
http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/mark_bradford.htm
http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/mark_bradford_through_darkest_america_by_truck_and_tank_bermondsey_2013/

I do not own any of the pictures on this post.

Although I am not a painter I will definitely be putting Mark Bradford in my sketchbook because of the way he displays his work is just so different to mine, and I will use his work as inspiration to approach my work in a different way.

That's all for now
byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeee
Róisín -x

Chapter 6 - The Finished Piece

I really like how my finished piece turned out. It pretty much looked the way I wanted it to and I think the slides and able to be moved quite easily. I think that it also shows my theme quite clearly and it is quite easy to compare other peoples versions of the same map.

And that's that project all done and now I just need to wait on my grade D:

byyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeee-

Róisín -x

Chapter 5 - The Setup

So this post is going to be about the finishing touches and the display of my box.

I was undecided on whether or not I was going to add the map that I asked everyone to fill out, but after talking to my lecturer about it, I decided it would be better if I did, as this would mean that there was still something to look at even if there weren't any slides in the box.

To attach the box to the wall I added in four mirror brackets to the back of it, two would have probably been enough, but I really wasn't up for risking it for the sake of two mirror brackets which were £1.50 for a pack of 20 out of screwfix. 

The lights were stuck around the map using strong glue and I had cut a hole out of the bottom part of the frame to leave room for the light's wire. When I first put my box up I immediately realised that I would need something to secure the wire to the wall for health and safety reasons and also to make it look more professional. The technician suggested I get trucking, which was cheap enough out of wickes, and so I cut these pieces to size and stuck them to the wall as they were self adhesive.

Tune in next time to see how the final piece looked!

bbyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Róisín-x

Chapter 4 - The Slides

So my slides for my box consisted of black mounting board, black cartridge paper and a map on either acetate or tracing paper.

To make the map to give to my family to fill out, I took some screenshots of off google maps and then edited them so that map was only a black line to mark the roads. After each of my family members filled them out, I traced what they had written on either acetate or tracing paper, these were the maps that were going to go on the inside of the slides. To make them more secure and to protect the writing I laminated them.

I had tried out different methods of making the slides to see what would be the most secure and least flimsy to put on display. I found that cutting a window out of mounting board to be the most secure and suitable albeit it was the most expensive method. For the backing this didn't need to be as solid so I used black cartridge paper.

The process of making the slides was simple enough, however it was time consuming and was murder on my hands as I was having to be precise with the scalpel a lot of the time. I had took all the measurements to make sure the slide would be in the centre of the box and from this I made a template that I would follow and draw out all the slides from this rather than having to measure out all of the time. From the mounting board I cut out the shape and then the window for each of them and followed this same process for the cartridge paper.

After this was all done I found that to make the slide completely centred I would need to take off 5mm from the bottom of each of them. To do this I just used the guillotine and also used this to neaten and square off the edges.

In the next post I'll talk about the set up of my box - we're getting close to the end now :)

bbbbyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Róisín -x