Project Evaluation

I feel my project has been very successful. I set out with the aim to explore overlooked art in all its forms, researching a range of overlooked art including outsider art, high and low art, bricolage, and intervention art. I successfully carried out my research, which developed my understanding of overlooked art contextually, historically, and socially. I found the contextual and social aspect of Ben Wilson and Charles Bronson's work inspiring, however it is the historical aspect of this research that influenced my project the most, as upon exploring cave drawings I discovered the vast history of artist intervention, which intrigued me. This led to me researching intervention further, which I developed into particularly focusing on modern interventions. This is when I began researching the Chapman Brothers, as from previously visiting the Tate Britain I was fascinated by their deceiving, humorous, intervention based work. The brothers greatly influenced my work, as I began experimenting with creating inauthentic work to fool viewers, such as my Holy Water bottle design. Through my further experiments (creating miniature figures/scenes), I started to consider how I could juxtapose old with new like the Chapman brothers had done, as I found the effect created by this very interesting. I developed my interventions into modern interventions, choosing old forms of art and subject matters (stained glass windows, bible stories) as my base to juxtapose this. I feel this created an effective result as it is thought provoking and engaging. The viewer is encouraged to interpret the work in their own way, perhaps being shocked by it, or finding it humorous or insightful. This is an effect that I aimed to create, inspired by Antony Gormley who I researched and analysed for my previous project. I feel this effect contributes to making the work all the more engaging, enigmatic, and personal to the viewers.

Throughout this project I have utilized many different processes and techniques, which have all helped me generate and explore my ideas, and develop and focus my work.
I have developed my Photoshop and Illustrator skills through creating a bottle label, stained glass design, and leaflet. Without these programs I wouldn't have been able to create such polished, professional outcomes. I have also explored wax carving, which is something I had never done before. I found this a great technique to use as the wax was very easy to work with, and created a neat and effective result. I learnt a lot about the process of carving through getting straight to it and doing it myself. This is a skill that I can take forward with me and possibly utilize in the future.
A process I spent more time exploring was manipulating architectural models and painting them. I found this enjoyable however time consuming, and so had to ensure I planned my time effectively (which I did). The process required me to focus on the positioning and small details of the figures, as these were very important aspects. The positioning had to be perfect to communicate the correct message and represent the true nature of the scene. The small details were important as they portrayed the identity of the figures and in some cases the interventions.
Another process I enjoyed exploring was drawing stained glass windows onto acetate with permanent marker pens. This process was quick and easy and produced convincing, aesthetically pleasing results. Stained glass windows have a fairly distinct style (which I discovered from my research). Drawing in this style was new to me, and so this was a new skill that I leant that may benefit me in the future.
Other processes that I found less successful were bricolage, wrapping objects (like Christo), and doodling. I felt they were unsuccessful as they produced ineffective results that I wasn't happy with. These results didn't develop or lead the project in any direction, and weren't aesthetically pleasing or interesting in any way.

If I were to do this project again, I would try to focus on particularly themes in a more clear and organized way, as I feel my project can appear slightly confusing unless explained properly. With more time I would have explored a wider range of techniques and processes, such as screen printing or carving with a wider range of materials.

I came across many obstacles throughout this project, however successfully overcame them all. An example is when I came to a seemingly dead end near the beginning of my project, once I had started experimenting. I felt that none of my experiments had enough depth in them, and wouldn't lead to an interesting project. However despite this I carried on exploring every idea I had, whilst having tutorials in between. Leading on from a short tutorial with Lorna I began exploring the historical side of overlooked art, which led to my cave drawing experiments. In a tutorial with Justin we discussed ideas based around this experiment, which is when my project really began to develop and move forward with the focus of intervention art.

For all of the above reasons I feel my project was successful and went to plan. My planning and recording was effective, as it helped me to use my time as efficiently as I could, ensuring everything was complete on time. My recording helped me keep track of all of my thoughts and ideas, which I could revisit and develop quickly and effectively. My tutorials with my lecturers aided me in continuously developing my ideas and moving forward with my project, and also helped me to overcome any obstacles I faced.

Figure Photos: Nuns just want to have fun!

Figure Photos: How to solve a priests dispute

Figure Photos: Are we there yet...?

Figure Photos: Bromance Selfie

Figure Photos: Adam and Eve

Nuns

 As another more subtle twist to my project, I am going to place one final piece of work into the exhibition that wont be shown on my map. I will place it in a very subtle place that it wont easily be noticed, which will truly test if viewers have been persuaded into opening their eyes and their minds to overlooked art. Due to the very subtle nature of how it will be presented, I have made this my most controversial and shocking piece of work, greatly inspired by the Chapman brothers. 
The use of nudity and a weapon can be interpreted in many different ways depending on the perspective of the viewer, which is an effect that both Antony Gormley and the Chapman brothers utilize in their work. Both produce work with a sense of mystery and uncertainty, which I found to be very engaging and visually interesting. This is why I have tried to recreate this effect. However much like the work of the Chapman brothers, this piece of work could also be viewed and interpreted very simply: as a group of nuns just having some fun! 
Whatever the interpretation, I feel this piece of work will provoke a reaction from viewers, which is what I am aiming to do.

Another aspect that I feel makes this piece of work so important is the fact that I will be secretly placing a real intervention into my own finished project/exhibition of work. There is a sense of irony in this, as it is usually other artists intervening with an artists work. I will be intrigued as to whether people notice this intervention, and how they will react if they do. However if they don't, this wont necessarily be a bad thing. The project will retain its mysterious and undiscovered final piece, and this will reflect how not all forms of art are recognized or discovered, some will always just be overlooked.
It may also reflect how out of touch we are with the world now, maybe due to the increase in new technology. Maybe we fail to look around enough and take in and appreciate our surroundings. Maybe this is due to having our eyes glued to screens all the time. 
With all of my other pieces of work, I am preventing this from happening, as I am motivating people to open their eyes and discover overlooked art. However this piece will be the real test to whether this has worked after the trail has ended.
Whilst at the exhibition I will have to keep my eye out for anyone discovering this last piece so that I can witness their reaction.

Developing my exhibition ideas

To aid me with my leaflet design I began collecting Church leaflets that I could draw inspiration from. I collected leaflets from the Holy Trinity Church, as well as some good examples of Church leaflets that I found online. These can all be found in my research folder.

A common property I found among these leaflets was the tri-fold format, made out of a single sheet of A4 paper, which proved an effective way of presenting information. These leaflets were small enough to carry around easily, yet big enough to hold a lot of information. I found some to be crammed with a little too much text, however others included just the right balance of text, photos, and even a map. I drew inspiration from the pros of these leaflets, and learnt from the cons.
I then began designing on Microsoft Publisher. I chose this program as it allows me to set up a page in the tri-fold leaflet format and edit every aspect of the leaflet. I could apply templates, create my own templates, create a master page, insert pictures, customize the colour scheme, font, etc. Therefore I felt this would be the most effective program to use.

To create my map for viewers to follow I chose to use Photoshop. I felt this would be the most appropriate program to use due to the wide range of drawing and editing tools. Photoshop allowed me to draw out the map using various shapes, lines, and colours, adding in the finer details at the end. I could also measure out the size of my map using the grid and ruler tools to ensure it would fit into the space I left for it in my leaflet. I could have drawn out a neater coloured version of my map using pens, pencils or paint, however I felt that digitally producing the map would result in a much more polished and  professional looking outcome, which I would also be able to go back and edit if I needed to.

I decided to mark the area that each piece of work will be presented in a different coloured circle, and so once at this area the viewer will have to look around themselves for the work. By only marking a general area on the map, this makes the hunt a lot more engaging and involves the viewer in the work more. It will also allow me to slightly tweak the location of the work if I need to (such as if a problem arises and I cant place something where I originally planned, I will still be able to place it somewhere in the marked area without needing to redo the map).

Exhibition ideas

To begin planning how and where I would present my work at the exhibition, I started by visiting the Church. I spent a longer period of time there this time, trying to get a feel for the space and seek out overlooked places I could present my work. This sparked the idea that I could take the viewers on a journey similar to mine. At the start of the project it was me having to open my eyes and search for overlooked/unnoticed art. However if I were to place pieces of my work around the church in overlooked places, perhaps giving the viewer a map to follow, they could embark on their own journey to search for my intervention based art. This would then make the whole experience a lot more interesting and engaging.

Therefore I decided to map out potential areas I could place my work by drawing up a quick plan of the Church. I also photographed each potential area/object/space to help with the selection process. 

Developing my idea for presenting my work, I am going to draw this Church plan on Photoshop, and place it into a leaflet that will guide the viewers on their journey, whilst also explaining my theme, aims, influences and work. I will then present a small batch of these leaflets in my space (and so I will need to find a container/stand for them).

Plan...

Potential areas...

Exhibition aim- 
I am going to set up an engaging hunt for work, that will motivate viewers to open their eyes and discover the overlooked art that is all around them. I aim to bring them back into touch with their surroundings, much like the artist Ben Wilson does. He transforms something rejected into something beautiful, and so drawing inspiration from this I am going to turn something overlooked into something beautiful, right before the viewers eyes. This may be the overlooked bottle that is actually 'Holy Water', relaying interesting water related quotes from the bible, or it may be some of the figures, illustrating overlooked religious people and qualities they may have (such as a sense of humour!). It could be the plain looking candle that is actually illustrated with religious symbols all relating back to the church, or the stain glass window design and some of the figures that provoke us to think about how technology is a major part of our lives now and how this is effecting us. The format of this transformation (intervention) was inspired by the Chapman brothers, as I have previously mentioned. Upon visiting some of their work I found it to be intriguing, enigmatic, visually interesting, yet also aesthetically pleasing. I found the intervention aspect the most powerful, as it provoked a reaction from viewers and made them reconsider their initial judgements. This is what I am aiming to do with my work in this exhibition. I want to draw viewers in, deceive them with particular pieces of work, and make them rethink their first opinions and judgements. I hope that through my Church based interventions, including a little humour and some modern twists, I will be able to achieve this.

Through the use of my map I aim to guide the viewers on their journey, hopefully making them excited to discover the work. I want them to experience a journey searching for overlooked art much like I did, to enable them to share my experience and perhaps understand my work a little better. I hope that once they begin the journey in the same way that I did, they will start to see things how I did, however will be able to interpret these things in their own personal way. I feel this will all contribute to making the project feel a lot more welcoming and fun, which may help bring people together much like Ben Wilson aims to do.
Obstacles that I may face could be pieces of my work not being found, or being ruined. To try and avoid this I will carefully consider the placement of my work, discussing it with Justin and my class. I will ensure everything can be seen by people of any age or height, and isn't in a position where it could be accidentally damaged.

Bible cover

Throughout making my other final pieces, I have been developing this Bible cover. This is to ensure the doodles it includes were created at different moments of creativity and boredom (and so created in the same way as regular doodles commonly are). My aim was to create a natural doodled aesthetic by doing this.

I based the doodles on anything to do with Christianity, which I researched and recorded in my research folder. I chose to use a HB and 3B pencil to ensure there was a small range of tones, and because when doodling I (and many other people) are likely to only have a pencil on them, or are likely to choose a pencil over any other material. It is the safest material to use when doodling as it can easily be rubbed out and applied in many different tones.

 

I feel the design has been successful as it appears natural and visually interesting. It includes a range of doodles, from symbols to typography to more detailed tonal drawings.

It doesn't appear to cause any offence or controversy, and so could be a more visually interesting, aesthetically pleasing, and contemporary way of presenting bibles in the future!

 

Stained glass intervention designs

After looking around the church I noticed this on one of the windows (the writing in the bottom right). I also noticed many stained glass windows. This gave me the idea to create my own mini stained glass window (or what appeared to be), with a modern intervention.

I started by researching stained glass windows and collecting suitable photos to help me with my own designs. Once I had drawn down some ideas I began converting some of them onto acetate, using permanent marker pens as they were the most suitable way to colour the acetate. I think the one on the left is most successful as the intervention is subtle yet still noticeable. I feel the colours and lines also work better on this one.

 I next created one of my designs using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I began using Illustrator, using the pen tool to draw around my scanned in design. I then imported the drawing into Photoshop, adding the outer circle using the shape tool. I could then rasterize the image, allowing me to use the paint bucket to colour it in. I chose to use accurate but saturated colours as this is what real stained glass windows commonly have. Once finished I could then flatten the image and print it onto acetate, which I will put over one of the window panels in the Church.

 

I like this design as it is a lot more clear and polished than the drawn out designs. The Costa cup isn't immediately noticeable however can be found quickly and easily, ensuring the viewers don't get bored searching for the intervention. I feel these designs could be seen to bridge the gap between this ancient religion and society today. By merging the old and new references (the bible scene and Costa) as well as the old and new techniques (stained glass and Photoshop/Illustrator) this creates a visually interesting and aesthetically pleasing juxtaposition, which encourages the viewers to interpret the work however they chose. This links to how the Chapman brothers juxtapose old with new (which can be seen in my analysis of their work) and also links to how the artist Antony Gormley (who I researched in my previous project) creates work which allows viewers to interpret it in their own way. Therefore both of these artists have influenced this piece of work in different ways.

Wax candle figure carving

In one of my previous experiments I carved Christian related symbols and an extract from the bible into a candle, which would then be left somewhere in the church, appearing to be a regular candle from a distance. Although this was very subtle and successful, I wanted to develop this idea and create something that had more of an impact. From this experiment I had found the wax was very easy to work with and so I therefore decided to carve a figure out of the wax.
To start me off I searched for a religious figurine to base my sculpture on, however this proved difficult to find. This is the figure I decided to use as a rough guide...

(figure image)

I started with a small but thick candle (the same as I had previously used) as I knew this would be easy to carve into. I used a wood carving knife to do this, starting from the top.

I found it very difficult to get the right shape at first, and so carved a rough figure out of the wax to begin with, going back to add more detail.

This is the figure just before it was finished. To add a modern intervention to it, I carved a small stack of magazines into the figures arms so she appeared to be holding them to her body. I then carved 'big issue' into the wax, however this wasn't noticeable so I painted it on with white paint and a very fine paintbrush, creating a big issue magazine distributor that first appears to be a religious figure.
I like the image on the left as it looks as if the figure has risen out of the flakes of wax, or the flakes have fallen away to reveal the figure. This links to the concept of miracles, which Christians commonly believe in as many are said to have taken place in the Bible.
I also find it interesting how this is still a candle, and so the figure could be melted away. But who would be melting, a religious figure that this first appears to be, or the big issue lady?
The link between these two identities is also very interesting. The first identity being the religious figure, and the second the distributor, but can these two identities be the same thing now days? Religious people are often keen to advertise their church and convert people to their religion, commonly adopting contemporary approaches such as setting up modern websites and giving out leaflets and fliers with contemporary designs. This then merges them into also being a distributer, trying to share and sell their religion and beliefs to people. Therefore this piece could question/comment on how religious people are becoming sales people.
 feel the outcome was successful as I achieved my aim. The figurative candle appears completely normal from a distance, and only when viewed up close can it be seen that it is actually a big issue lady (commonly recognised in society today). It can also have many other hidden connotations, making it all the more engaging.
Although time consuming, I found the wax very soft and easy to work with, and so with more time I would like to have been able to experiment with this further and create a range of outcomes, and perhaps a more complex one. If I were to do this again I would draw out some designs first so I could pick the most effective looking, and be fully aware of what I was going to carve before starting.