It’s Actually Blogpost #118! –
Having completed 30 weeks and indeed the whole of our first year, I thought that now would be the perfect time to reflect ahead of my last tutorial of this academic year with Jonathan. It’s an opportunity to look back and really start to analyse the direction of travel of my work.
As usual I will answer the following questions to help with the reflective process:
- What have you done so far?
- What have you discovered so far?
- What will you change because of what you have discovered?
- What will you do next?
WHAT HAVE I DONE SO FAR?
Since my last reflective blog, as always, I have been very busy trying out new ideas and experimenting with them. However, much of the work leading up to this reflective session has involved a lot of preparation for my initial research paper proposal. I found these preparations extremely valuable because it really did make me question exactly what it is that I am trying to achieve? Below is a short summary of everything that I’ve covered since my last reflective session along with links to the relevant blogs.
- Zoom Session 19 – The Low Residency – As we weren’t having any formal zoom sessions due to the Low Residency I decided to blog about the Low residency under the headings of zoom sessions 19 and 20. There’s not really much I can say about the Low Residency other than it was amazing! And, I can’t wait till the next one! There were significant ‘take-aways’ for me, including, our private visit to the V&A to see some early computer art. I was also in ‘tech heaven’ with the low tech photography workshop. It was great to meet everyone in person too. Detailed information about my time on the Low Residency can be found by visiting Zoom Session 19 and Zoom Session 20.
- Salisbury and Old Sarum – Each year I try to get away for short break with my friend for a cultural visit. A couple of years ago we visited Stonehenge, but this year we decided to visit Salisbury Cathedral and the Magna Carta. This blog covers our trip.
- Time of the Signs – In my last reflective blog I mentioned this blogpost. However, ‘Time of the Signs’ has now been updated with some further experimentation. This blog was directly inspired by the work that we did in Zoom Session 18. It was a physical derive that led to some highly experimental work. It has also formed the basis of the ongoing work found in Barcelona Graffiti, covered later in this section.
- Zoom Session 21 – This was our first zoom session back after the Low Residency. This was also our first session discussing the research paper. An interesting session where the Pomodoro Technique was talked about.
- The Old Saxon Church – I needed to take a trip to Country Durham, so I used this opportunity to visit an old Saxon church. The contrast between this church and Salisbury Cathedral could not have been starker! I am beginning to become quite intrigued by strong contrasts between internal spaces and I highlight this again when I compare The MACBA museum and Banksy museum from my recent Barcelona trip (discussed later in this section).
- The Outernet London – This was a visit I made during my Low Residency – I decided from the moment I saw it that I would love to show some of my work there. A pipe dream I know, but I guess there’s no harm in dreaming. 😴
- George Clark, Craig Burnett and Jyll Bradley – These are three artists that I have so far covered this term. I plan to catch up with all of the artist lectures over the Summer. As a photographer and someone who is interested in light I found the work of Jyll Bradley particularly inspiring.
- Zoom Session 22 – In this session we had a making session with Suki Sagoo-Reddy. This was a really interesting session which gave me lots of ideas going forward.
- Research Paper Journey 1, Research Paper Journey 2, Research Paper Journey 3, Research Paper Journey 4 and Research Timeline – These blogs document my journey into research ahead of producing my initial Research Paper Proposal.
- Zoom Session 23 – This was another really helpful session discussing hints and tips for the research paper. We looked at ways to speed up our academic reading.
- Little Wins#2, Little Wins#3 – I’ve begun to document something that I call ‘Little Wins’. These are just special ‘feel good’ moments where I might get a mention or something goes right for me. This was my first Little Win#1.
- Zoom Session 24 – Another great session to help with research paper writing. This week we discussed photograph and research analysis with Christabel Harley.
- A Large but Temporary Distraction – Time for me to put everything on hold while I produce the annual end of year film. I do think that my little robot may just come in handy with regards to primary research for my final research paper. So this was a useful endeavour all round.
- Blue Reef Aquarium – A short film I made for fun while visiting an aquarium in Newquay. I felt it was time to rekindle my love of film so I shot a video short of the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay.
- The Coronation Bank Holiday Weekend – Sticking with my theme of shooting for fun I made another quick video of our local sandman making one of his creations for the Coronation.
- Library and Research Tips with Julia Flood – More great advice to help with research paper writing.
- A trip to Barcelona – I felt really lucky to go to Barcelona and I decided to make the most of my time there. Although this blog post details what I did and when I did it, there is a whole series of blogposts following with much more detail.
- Barcelona Trip to the MOCO – details of my trip to the MOCO
- Zoom Session 26 – Today was the fist time I met my supervisor for the forthcoming research paper project and I am looking forward to working with her on this. Her name is Janet Waring Rago.
- Barcelona Trip to the MACBA – details of my trip to the MACBA – I was so ‘blown away’ by the light in this building that I spent some time shooting it. I was pleased with the images so I self published a little art book about it.
- Barcelona Trip to the Banksy Museum – details of my trip to the Banksy Museum. The interior of this museum was in stark contrast to the MACBA that I had just visited earlier. However, it was an amazing experience and the darker space worked incredibly well with Banksy’s artworks.
- Barcelona Trip to the MNAC – details of my trip to the MNAC – An amazing experience! But don’t annoy the guards!
- Zoom Session 27 – An interesting making session.
- Zoom Session 28 – Another great making session with Suki Sagoo-Reddy.
- Torbay Airshow – Another ‘just for fun’ photoshoot to keep my shooting skills up to speed. The Daily Mirror reported that a UFO had been spotted at the Airshow and a friend asked if I had captured something on film? I know that I had but at the time it had gone over my head. I edited out a bright light from one of my images thinking that it was the Sun. On reflection I realised that it couldn’t possibly have been as the sun was behind me! When I have a minute I will revisit my images and see if I can find it. Although the Airshow isn’t directly related to my project, I don’t like to miss photographic opportunities especially as I have been known to reuse old footage in new artworks and you never know… aeroplanes might come in handy at some point? 😊 or maybe even UFOs?
- Zoom Session 29 – The 21 Day Challenge – All I can say is I’m looking forward to trying this over the Summer Holidays.
- Barcelona Graffiti – This is my current project. I have a myriad of experiments that I would like to try out with the Barcelona Graffiti. I also think it lends itself very well to my overall project. This blogpost with certainly expand and I will cover it in my next reflective session.
- Zoom Session 30 – in the pipeline! Unfortunately I couldn’t make the final session due to work commitments. However I plan to watch the recording over the weekend and add the notes here.
WHAT HAVE I DISCOVERED SO FAR?
I have discovered that I never seem to stop and that creatively there is just so much that I would like to try. Work commitments have definitely had an impact, particularly the end of year film (A Large but Temporary Distraction). However, the little robot I animated in the film can be reused in my research paper and project work which is great!. It essentially kills two birds with one stone so to speak. One of my greatest discoveries was actively becoming conscious of all of the information we are bombarded with on a daily basis. This is covered in my blogpost Time of the Signs. Interestingly, when I tried to weave the idea of information overload into a research question it really wasn’t a good fit for me at all. I do believe that visually the idea of information overload has much potential, but not as something that would sustain a body of research. The area is very well covered and carving out a niche in this area might prove difficult.
I discovered some great software called Vectornator which I hope to explore further over the coming weeks. Disappointingly I haven’t had time to pursue my Touch Designer or Processing tutorials and I hope to remedy this very soon.
I also discovered that I still have a love of photography even though I’m trying to expand my practice into 3d. The biggest take-away for me from this reflective session is that I need more time! There’s just so much that I want to do. Perhaps I need to look into more effective time management.
WHAT WILL I CHANGE BECAUSE OF WHAT I HAVE DISCOVERED?
As a direct result of what I discovered above, I will in indeed already have changed the focus of my research paper from information overload to robotic art vs text to image art. To help with Touch Designer I have now taken out a Patreon subscription so if I’m spending money I’ll definitely want to take advantage of the lessons. I will try to improve my time management. As I had some gallery interest in my images – Little Wins#3 – I will have some cards printed up and possibly approach other galleries as I feel a little more confident now.
WHAT WILL I DO NEXT?
My immediate plan is to work on my Barcelona Graffiti project. I am am hoping to publish another small art book from this. Once completed I have a third set of experiment that I would like to try and if possible I would like to involve the MACBA. It is a highly experimental project that I am lining up for myself but I believe it could prove interesting. I’m also hoping that with the help of ChatGPT I’ll be able to tempt the MACBA into some form of collaboration. It’s ambitious (I know), but at this point in time my feeling is ‘nothing ventured nothing gained’.
As I’m working on this project I hope to undertake some primary research for my research paper while continuing to experiment with 3d. Time permitting I’d even like to try some printing and painting.
EXTRA QUESTIONS
1). What was the best thing I did? Why was this the best thing I did? How do I know that this was the best thing I did? – The best thing I did was to take a trip to Barcelona. The reason this was the best thing I did was because I managed to produce a small art book from my visit to theMACBA. It also let to the production of my Barcelona Graffiti project. I know this was the best thing that I did because it’s all I want to do at the moment. I’m really excited to experiment with this project.
2). What worked least well for me? Why did this not work well for me? What have I learned about the topic concerned from this not having worked well for me? What have I learned about myself from this not having worked well for me? What do I plan to do differently in future as a result of my answers to the above questions? – Lack of time did not work well for me. The reason it did not work well for me was because I had work commitments that I could not and indeed did not want to escape, but life became very busy! From this, I have learned to be resourceful and recognise opportunities where I can repurpose work and weave it into my project work.
3). With hindsight, how would I go about this activity differently if doing it again from scratch? To what extent will this activity influence the way I tackle anything similar in future? – If I was starting this activity again or even from scratch I would have spent a lot less time documenting images from galleries on my Barcelona trip. I can enjoy these galleries at home now but it took up a large amount of my time producing them particularly the three galleries that I documented at the MNAC.
4). What did I find the greatest challenge in doing this work? Why was this a challenge to me? To what extent do I feel I have met this challenge? What can I do to improve my performance when next meeting this particular sort of challenge? – My greatest challenge throughout the last few weeks has been time. It was challenging because there was just som much that I wanted to do, yet so little time to do it. However, I do feel that in the end I did achieve everything that I set out to achieve at this point in time. Next time I meet this challenge I will try to manage my time more effectively.
5). What was the most boring or tedious part of doing this particular task for me? Can I see the point of doing these things? If not, how could the activity be changed to be more stimulating and interesting for me? – This is carried over from last time and has not changed. The most tedious part of doing any tasks is optimising images before upload. This is such a necessary task but it really is tedious and boring. Sadly I can’t see any way round this at the moment – suggestions on a post card please 😊
DID I MEET MY CHALLENGES FROM LAST TIME?
Here’s what I said I would do – the green tick ✅ indicates what I actually achieved.
- Continue my creative coding journey with Processing. – Stalled
- Try to record a 12 hour working clock animation. – Stalled
- Add the working 12 hour clock to a variety of animations and footage and upload to YouTube for use as a clock. – Stalled
- Work with both ChatGPT and Touch Designer to make more generative digital art works. – Partially done
- Find a variety of mundane objects that can be used to produce interesting and unexpected landscapes. – Stalled
- Finish both my mental and physical derive projects. ✅
- Document my time on the low residency course. ✅
- Buy and read ‘Steal Like and Artist’ and finish reading my current book about Ai. – Stalled
CONCLUSION
Evidenced by the amount of work that ‘Stalled’ my time constraints appear to have been quite bad. However, I still want to achieve these listed items, therefore I will carry them over into the task list for next time.
My coming task list for the next few weeks is as follows:
- Continue my creative coding journey with Processing.
- Try to record a 12 hour working clock animation.
- Add the working 12 hour clock to a variety of animations and footage and upload to YouTube for use as a clock.
- Work with both ChatGPT and Touch Designer to make more generative digital art works.
- Find a variety of mundane objects that can be used to produce interesting and unexpected landscapes.
- Buy and read ‘Steal Like and Artist’ and finish reading my current book about Ai.
- Finish the Barcelona Graffiti project.
- Keep researching for my research paper.
- Contact galleries.
- Resume Touch Designer and Processing tutorials.
- Contact the MACBA with a view to collaboration.
- Finish of my 30th Zentangle design.