Rhea Gaughan/ Exploration/ Studio Practice/ Semester 2

Timetable:

I put this together the first week of semester 2. Its something I can refer back to and stick by like a set of goals. I have it pinned up on my pin board to remind me of what is going on and to keep pushing me.

Studio Practice: Exploration

Monday/Studio Day/Independent Practice showing

Tuesday/CS/Independent Practice

Wednesday/Workshops/Independent Practice

Thursday/Studio Day/Independent Practice showing

Friday/Blogging Day/Independent Practice

Saturday/‘Production’ Day/Gallery visits

Sunday/Ziltch!

Studio Practice: Exploration

Bookbinding Workshop:

Such a worthwhile workshop! I learnt three different stitches. It was initially quite tricky but I got the hang of it and used this workshop to cross over into my book assignment in the studio stitching my book for the bookfair.

Studio Practice: Exploration

Bob Wilson Typography Workshop: Taking my ‘Fold’ typeface from the previous semester, pushing it further and digitalising it.

In semester one I produced a typeface from paper; folding it, simplifying it: the majority made from triangles and squares. This was a physical typeface that was still to be made digital. Using the photograph above I traced, drew and defined the letters one by one in Adobe Illustrator; I have named the typeface ‘Fold’. I would like to work on this further and produce all glyphs for the typeface then place it into FontLab.

Studio Practice: Exploration

Martin O’Neil Collage Workshop:

The workshop was very organised; timelines, critiques and reviews the whole day through. An exercise using only 3 different sized squares to become aware of how composition and space interpret meaning was really useful and helpful as an idea generation exercise, see images left page. Another good aspect of the workshop was realising anything and everything can be a starting point to a collage, such as phrases or sentences from a book.

Portrait ‘Replacement’:

This was my next step from ‘replacement’ with text in ‘A Book About A Book’. Here I have replaced the photographic face with shapes; simplifying and breaking down the facial features and structures. I was pleasantly surprised when taking the photo away, giving a Picasso-esque portrait.

I felt compelled to find more about portraiture so I watched The Genius of British Art series online which informed me significantly and guided me to

The National Portrait Gallery to experience and discover the real objects.

I intend to make these portraits into something other than just experiments, maybe posters or postcards both with photograph and without photograph.

Studio Practice: Exploration

Studio Practice: Exploration

Studio Practice: Exploration

The Day After Today Manifesto:

My previous work with the foil manifesto in the studio allowed me to open up a whole new area of communication. Also, choosing to write about Ken Garlands’ First Things First Manifesto for my contextual studies essay filled me with more curiosity.

This manifesto is fundamentally about questioning the role of a designer, challenging the audience to think what a designers job is and how we are all effected by their outcome. The manifesto also touches on how we could all benefit as creatives to work more organically; through choosing principle over profit, having integrity, making the ideas the importance over the aesthetic, that the process is the most profitable and to not categorise art and design disciplines but to fuse them together. I feel the manifesto is an outcome so far of what I have learnt from semester two; a chance for myself to chew over the information I have digested and distribute my comment.

I have also made a Tumblr site for this manifesto, the aim being to produce an area where I can post out to others of the same interest, things such as articles and examples of things that touch on the subjects involved with the manifesto as well as the growth from the manifesto.

Studio Practice: Exploration

What I have gained from semester 2:Exploration

The most outstanding thing I have learnt from this semesters independent practice is that producing work that is fed out from studio practice is easier to handle than having different things that I want to achieve coming from all directions; sometimes it is too much to take in, sometimes its best to hold onto the ideas and explore them when other things of more importance, studio practice in this case, allows me to do so. I have learnt not to force things but to see what happens by trying out different methods, practically and/or thinking-wise.

That said, I am not immune in seeing that my independent practice is a little sparse this time around. I do admit I have had trouble balancing my time between the two, studio and independent practice. I have linked and tried to continue themes from my studio practice into my independent practice, such as the The Day After Today Manifesto which I have also made a Tumblr account for, this will allow me to dedicate and channel my work and time in this direction in the future. ‘Replacement’ carried from the Book About A Book assignment to a portrait lead project took an interesting twist. I enjoyed learning how to read different portraiture and having unexpected results. I would like to produce more print based work next year; my aim over the summer is to work towards Handmade & Bound as well as a poster to be hung in the university cabinet area.