Unit 2 Blogs – Karyn Easton

Nov 19

Epic Making Session

Yaacov Agam Inspired Work – Over many months now I have been wrestling with a myriad of ideas. In my Study Statement I was keen to develop a new form of hybrid human, digital and AI art. I also wanted to include an element of mystery and discovery whereby elements of the work were hidden. During my search for inspiration I came across two artists that particularly resonated with me, namely: Alexander Calder and Yaacov Agam. I particularly liked the idea of movement and mobile art seen in Calder’s work. Indeed I was so taken with his work that I went to visit the Tate Modern to see some of his pieces there. However, Yaacov Agam’s work really did inspire me. In his Artist’s statement he says: “My aim is to show the visible in a perpetual state of becoming”. I think this is a beautiful way in which he describes his work. However, I personally would liken it to, showing the visible in a perpetual state of change. Given the nature of the subject matter that I’m exploring, his work for me very much aligns with this notion of change as well as ‘becoming’. Below is a short […]

Love Letters From AI

Hidden Art – When I first began my MA, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do. Ultimately I knew it would be something to do with the hidden or the unseen. Initially I began looking at invisible phenomena such as sound waves and the passage of time. However, nothing captured my interest quite as much as augmented reality. It was this whole concept of a hidden unseen world (only accessible to those ‘in the know’), that intrigued me. While conducting research for my Research Paper I discovered that there is a distinct negative bias towards AI generated art. I looked at a number of strategies to help mitigate this bias. Finally, after a number of image polls, used to inform my project, I created a fictitious robot called Athena. Her name was inspired by the old Athena posters from the past. My research was suggesting that humanoid robots with a sad ‘backstory’ could help to reduce bias and win over an audience when presenting AI art. At this point I began to develop a narrative for my robot. During a visit to Barcelona, I was completely amazed by the sheer weight of graffiti adorning the city walls. I […]

Oct 27

MACBA Metamorphosis

Barcelona’s Hidden Artists – While visiting Barcelona, I became fascinated with the vast swathes of graffiti covered walls. It felt as if collectively everyone had given up on cleaning the walls. Indeed, it felt as if the walls themselves had become works of art. In stark contrast I also noted the pristine internal walls of the MACBA (One of Barcelona’s contemporary art museums). I was so ‘taken with’ the beautiful light inside of the MACBA that I decided to photograph it. I also photographed many graffiti laden walls across Barcelona. There really was a such a stark contrast between the pristine and the messy that I began to wonder what the MACBA would look like if it was plastered in graffiti? The internal walls of the MACBA were so beautifully clean that I felt an irresistible urge to ‘plaster’ them. The vibrant colours and designs found externally on the Streets of Barcelona seemed a logical choice. Unfortunately, my dream of taking spray paints to the MACBA walls was pretty much out of the question. However, I did have access to Photoshop, Ai and augmented reality. As a direct result of my thinking I managed to self publish 3 small art […]

Oct 11

by Karyn in 3d, Abstract Art, Ai, Experimentation, Food for Thought, Ideas, My Work, Photography, Risk Taking, Unit 2 Blogs 0 comments tags: 3d, Abstract Art, ai, Experimentation, Food for Thought, Ideas, my work, Photography, Risk Taking, Unit 2 Blogs

Grotto Print Ideas #2

Adding Value – I quite like the idea of ‘Killing Time’ and the oil on water re-imagined clocks. However, I do feel that there needs to be some level of interactivity with my Grotto print. I decided that since posting the video short included in the Grotto Print Ideas blog, more of the clocks needed to be shown. This is pure experimentation and the full video can be seen below. A couple of years ago I began to explore Paul’s book. I felt that the nature of the folds created within would lend themselves very well to warping the clock faces and dials even further. Killing Time – Calming Edit As well as the calming edit, I also produced a shorter more rousing video short, showing the clocks animated as they warp and destruct. This is more in keeping with the idea of ‘Killing Time’. I’m debating whether or not to include these either one or both of these digital edits as part of the print sale? At this point in time it is just a thought. I’ve a long long way to go before I make a firm decision. I’ve also had another idea regarding […]

Sep 24

A Mental Derive Part #2

Picking Up Where I Left off – Ever since my first mental derive, it was always my intention to recommence this particular project. now that the second draft of my research paper is nearing completion, I feel I am better able to return more fully to creative activities. Since part one of my mental derive, I didn’t totally abandon this project and I experimented with suspending some of the circles on a sheet of acetate between some thick heavy duty white elastic. Below is a gallery showing the results. This is a project I’d like to return to at some point, but I don’t currently have the correct materials. The acetate was far too thin and buckled under the strain of the elastic. Therefore thicker acrylic is possibly a better choice. The patterned discs/circles also had a habit of ‘pinging off’, so a better method of securing them is required. However, I do think that there is room to develop this project further. Moments in Time and Space Each black and white patterned circle/disc above, is a collage of many little moments in time. For this reason I wanted to trial another form of suspension. I am particularly […]

Aug 25

by Karyn in My Work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs 0 comments tags: my work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs

The Fairy Garden Project

Making Something Magical – Earlier this year, I was asked if I would photograph a ‘fairy themed’ garden. As well as my part-time lecturing role I often take on commissions. I don’t advertise as people tend to contact me via word of mouth. Below are a few images that I shot for the project. The client said that she was delighted and that the images exceeded expectation. For me it’s always lovely when I receive positive feedback and makes it all worthwhile. I often question whether I should stick to photography for my project work? It’s what I know and what I think I do best, but in a way that feels sad, because then I don’t feel like I am pushing myself to do better. I also feel that I am learning so much by trying to expand my horizons. Fairy Garden Video Short Project Image Gallery

Jun 29

Barcelona Graffiti #2

Hidden Away – During my recent trip to Barcelona, I was was mesmerised by the colour and variety of the street art both in and around the city. I briefly touched on this in part one of this post called ‘Barcelona Graffiti’. I still don’t know exactly why I was so drawn to the graffiti (street art), except to say that the colours were amazing! It seemed to relentlessly permeate throughout the whole fabric of the city, weaving a disjointed tapestry of colours. Indeed it could even be described in some places as a riot of colour on an otherwise typical traditional cityscape and its walls. All of this was in stark contrast to the walls of one of Barcelona’s most famous contemporary art museums, namely the MACBA. Here there was no graffiti. Everything inside was pristine with beautiful gleaming white walls. A Short Recap Below is short video recap from Barcelona Graffit part one. It helps to illustrate the scale of graffiti and street art that can be found in and around the city. In stark contrast to the brightly coloured graffiti in the video above, the following image gallery illustrates the crisp, clean, neutral […]

Jun 13

by Karyn in Artists, Culture, Experimentation, Food for Thought, My Work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: Artists, Culture, Experimentation, Food for Thought, my work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos

Barcelona Graffiti

Barcelona – Graffiti Capital of Europe? Is Barcelona the graffiti capital of Europe? Within only a short walking distance, the 1.15 minute clip below exposes the shear volume of street art around the city. In many cases residents have turned what is obviously a problem into something much more creative. They appear to have given up on trying to clear the graffiti. Instead, there is a sense that it is not just part of local society, it is in fact now embraced by it. Below is a video short highlighting the sheer scale of the street art. Calling it graffiti feels almost unkind because many of the colour schemes and designs seem carefully crafted as opposed to simply scrawled. Interestingly, the famous street artist Banksy has his museum in Barcelona. I wonder how much the colourful street art/graffiti clad surroundings influenced his decision? Barcelona – Graffiti Capital of Europe? One thing that particularly struck me while photographing all of the graffiti were the times that people seemed to have matching graffiti with clothes or other items. Below are some examples where people’s outfits or items matched the graffiti surrounding them. Maybe the graffiti was affecting their fashion choices […]

Jun 06

by Karyn in Culture, Little Wins, Mentions, My Work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: Culture, Little Wins, Mentions, my work, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Videos

Torbay Airshow 2023

Cockpit Shots – The beginning of June in Torbay has now become synonymous with the fantastic Torbay Airshow! As usual this year did not disappoint! Roughly 3 years ago I treated myself to a Sigma 150mm-600mm telephoto lens. I had partly purchased it so that I could shoot wildlife, but I was also excited to try it out at the Airshow. Last year I was really lucky, I managed to get a number of really photographically sharp ‘cockpit’ shots. One of them even made the Fotospeed top 4 for the week, which I was really pleased about. The fist image (Jet Pitts Sabio image) listed directly below is the one that made the Fotospeed top 4 for the week. Images from 2023 Below is a gallery of some of my favourite images from this year. I’ve also added a ‘jazzy’ video which proved useful for social media. Short Snappy Video for Social Media Below is a short video that I compiled for social media.

May 30

by Karyn in 3d, Abstract Art, Experimentation, Food for Thought, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Abstract Art, Experimentation, Food for Thought, Photography, Unit 2 Blogs, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 28

Making Session with Sukie Sagoo-Reddy – Today we had another making session with Sukie Sagoo Reddy. This was a really welcome break from writing and I always enjoy Sukie’s workshops as they give a lot of food for thought. It was interesting that the workshop was very similar to the one we did a few weeks ago (Zoom Session 22), because this gave me the opportunity to see if I had improved at all? A link to the slides from this workshop and the original workshop are here. These always prove useful to refer back to. As with the first session we uploaded an image that covered the 5 senses. I couldn’t find one of my own in time so I used one from the internet. However for the second task I managed to find two images which had a connection. Little Bee and Floral Pattern I chose the images below because the little bee is one of my favourite images that I have shot and the floral pattern seemed to work with it. My thinking was flowers and bees. Moving on from there we looked once again at the theme of chasing shadows. I think that my […]