First assessment... December 2013

Well that went better than I expected!.... I got some really positive feedback from my course leader, with good praise for my level of research and articulation.  We chatted for about 30 mins, which wasn't what was intended, as only 15 mins had been allocated to each student... (Sorry to Kathryn for delaying hers!!)...  I came out feeling quite chuffed with my self, however, I must not get complacent.  My practical art application is still rather light in my own opinion.  I am simply not producing enough artwork as conceptual or unfinished work.  I seem to be staying in the safe zones and we both recognised my need to research perhaps a little less, and play a little more!  All in all though, quite happy with the review & result.

Reflections on this first semester

I have started to settle into a new routine of University study, assisted by the good practical tuition from my various tutors. The transition from 30 years working in industry into an academic environment have been smooth and easier than I had first anticipated.

Already, I feel my attitudes towards Contemporary Art in general, have changed significantly from my appreciation of it before starting this degree. I am able to more fluidly recognise the subtleties of contemporary art pieces, through my new & ongoing development of understanding semiotics, which, together with the assisted introduction to experimental drawing and exposure to artistic vocabulary such as simulacra and liminality; I can now begin to deconstruct various selected art pieces, to at least a rudimentary level of understanding, to equip me to provide a commentary of my basic interpretation.

My personal skills as a potential future artist are also beginning to form a foothold, (if not a foundation), through a more concentrated application of freeform drawing & painting. I have found the experimental drawing studies of particular benefit as these sessions not only exercise, but also stretch my draughtsmanship. The introduction to, and use of Adobe CS6 Indesign, Illustrator & Photoshop have also been essential and the tuition supported by the University’s access to Linda.com has proved very benificial.

My theoretical research has been following a path deeper into cultural philosophy than preconceived before attending the course, this area is of particular interest and stimulus to me too. I am learning to make contextual links to current and 19th / 20th century art in a more robust way. The exploration of representation by study of Immanuel Kant, Hegel and Bergson, together with research of Saussure & Pierce (for semiology / semiotics) and various other more recent philosophers has been very engaging.

Objectives for 2nd Semester.
I want to stretch my practical capabilities further by the use of alternative mediums and material, such as block print and clay, that are currently unfamiliar to me. I want to continue to immerse myself into more structured research of the links between contemporary culture, critical thinking and creative art;

My strategy will be to maintain and keep an open mind, but in particular for this next semester, I need to “play” more, engage with chance, and take more risks on my work, aimed at reducing my inhibiting adult schema barriers of expression and self-consciousness.


Reference Books read and used during this semester;
Ways of Seeing; by John Berger, Published 1972, by Penguin Books.*
Mithologies, by Roland Barthes, Published 1972, Rev. 2009, by Random House Group.*
Visible Signs, (An Introduction to Semiotics), by David Crow, Published 2003, by AVA Books.%
The Drawing Book, (A survey of the primary means of expression), By by Charles Darwent, Kate MacFarlane, Katharine Stout and Tania Kovats, Published 2007, by Black Dog Publishing.%
Spatialities the Geographies of Art and Architecture, by Judith Rugg, 2012 (Liminal Spaces), published by Intellect.%
Illustration, a Theoretical & Contextual Perspective, by Alan Male 2007, AVA Publishing*
100 Artists’ Manefestos, From the Futurists to the Stuckists, Selected by Alex Danchev, 2011, Penguin Classics*
Introducing Kant, a Graphic Guide, by Christopher Kul-Want & Andrej Klimowski 1996, Icon Books, London.*

Moving out of Liminal space, - Searching for the "queues and triggers"

 In continuance of the blog of Monday 9th, I took a little more time out to read an academic article following a University of Huddersfield library search, albeit for further rather maudlin consideration, namely "Stephen Palmer (2012) ‘Dead but not departed yet’: the exploration of liminal space in Jim Crace's Being Dead (1999), Mortality: Promoting the interdisciplinary study of death and dying, 17:1, 51-63, DOI: 10.1080/13576275.2012.651833.
This particular article backed up the research I had already found on Arnold Gannep and Victor Turner, with a critical view by Stephen Palmer of the novel "Being Dead", published in 1999 and written by the English writer Jim Crace.  The novel exploits the potential of literary narrative for exploring the liminal space between dying and death.
Whilst this theme seems to be of interest, I need to contemplate further to try and represent how the theme could be represented either visually or sensually.  My imagination is currently stuck in the visual image of the cemetery, particularly after my friends funeral and internment.  I chose to take some randomized views of a cemetery (not related to my friends!) for further stimulus.

Maybe I could work with these images to create something new?

I thought that the somber influences of death and graveyards must give way to a brighter future.  This liminal change, this threshold adaptation could be represented.  I am working on a diptych of two scenes of mortality and what comes from it, i.e. the trigger or queue for a new dawn or new season of hope.

Reflection on the week of Liminal Thoughts

It has been a rather "strained" and strange, week for me unfortunately.

I had to attend the funeral of a close old friend of mine on Wednesday.   I was asked by his son, somewhat unexpectedly that morning, to be a poll bearer for him, both for his funeral service at a local church, and again, at his internment.  This of course, I considered as an honour for me, and I readily agreed.  My friend David had been a driving and inpirational force for me through my twenties and early thirties.  Much of my values and beliefs of fairness and right and wrong were influenced at that time, and he truly was a guiding light.  Lowering his coffin into a deep hole on the side of a hill cemetary seemed to me to be undignified in a way, and I have dwelled on the image pressed on my mind.  Such finality.

Later this week, we also heard of the death of Nelson Mandella.  Strangely, news of this second death has really affected me emotionally too. I was already in a liminal space you could say, after literally laying my friend David to rest.  Nelson Mandella too was extremely inspirational.  His simple but unwavering determination for proper and recognised equality, regardless of colour, creed, religion or anything else, has been truly amazing.  This strength of character in the belief of right and wrong.
 In my own past, I have found great strength in the poem that I understand, was Mr Mandella's only source of courage during the many years of imprisonment on Robin Island, this being the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley (1849–1903).

But the vulnerability of loosing respected others has taken it's toll on my own motivation, and I have found it hard to escape what I can now genuinely call a liminal state!

I am in a no-man's land.  I am in a zone of in-between-ness, but in my own case, there is nobody conducting the order of service, or right of passage, that I have mentioned before, is the additional essential ingredient for Liminality, according to Van Gannep.

.... Or is that Master of Ceremonies me?

I think it must be.

..... But I seem to be unable to move forward and have been rather lost for the last few sad days. I feel I am waiting for some sort of queue or prompt, just as an MC would, in order for me to move on....

Liminal Spaces, continued...

A weekly breifing from Christian helped me to re-evaluate my approach to the the Liminal Project.  I have been feeling that I was thinking a little too much about the synaptic gap, and the papier mache model that I have been working upon.
So, it would be worth my while to pusue some other threads this week, and not get too bogged down on just one piece of work.  I can always come back to it, once the various ideas have started to crystalise, so I made the decision to explore a little wider.  To perhaps move away from the literal meaning of Liminal, as taken from the origins of the word in an anthropological context, and explore conceptual contexts instead.

A suggested course of exploration would be (to paraphrase Christian),

"First, loose yourself, by taking any direction (metaphorically) and then put yourself into a place that you recognise,  in order to find yourself again".

I continued to look at the suggested Tate Gallery shots, for David Shrigley, Rachel Whiteread, David Blake, Paul Noble and Ed Ruscha.  All these artists work (or worked), in the liminal.  This included subjects such as Play, The Physical, Spiritual, Thoughts, and even car parks!

Coincidentally, I have also noticed that David Shrigley has just published a rather interesting book....;

I then got further inspiration from a one to one meeting with Christian, later in the day.  He recognised that my Synapse model was providing further metaphor for gaps and transfers, but I also have reflected since our conversation and I felt that he recognised my underlying desire to generally communicate; to provide knowledge transfers, as the backbone to my work.  If this was in fact what Christian was thinking, then I had (maybe unknowingly at the time) succeeded in the subliminal message I was trying to convey.

I was guided to look at a few more contemporary artists that might fit well with the genre I have been working within.  Namely, Martin Smith, "Laikaland";  Jim Bond,  and Bruce Lacey.

There is also a further opportunity that Jo Blaker suggested to me, to look at the work of Dominic Wilcox, and RCA Designer, who will be exhibiting at the "Creative Calderdale" exhibition in January.  Jo also gave me another "Bulb ON" moment (i.e. somewhat epiphinal), by recommending that I could explore more through...

                                     PLAY....
                                                            ....CHANCE....
                                                                                        ..... And take more RISKS!!!

Yep, that seems to sum me up quite well as to what I need to do.

Jo suggested a number of books that could be of use, and I enclude them here for my own future reference...  Chance, by Margaret Iverson;  "You'll Never Know"  (Drawing and Random Interference) by Krokatsis, (Hudd Uni Library reference 702.8 KRO;  and finally "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards (1982) Ref 741.2EDW.