Progress Reviews

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfJU9GZB5Wo&feature=youtu.be

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGAmozOCVAA&feature=youtu.be

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clvgLUSsuMs&feature=youtu.be

Videos

Times are A'changing...Hello 4th Year!

Well its the start of a new college year and for me that means a whole new project with a whole new different theme... #gulp

So to make myself slightly calmer and feeling productive, I thought blogging would be the perfect place to start.

I'm only a week back and already bitches be crazy...4th year is no joke!  From being thrown head first into thesis prep, being assigned tutors and finding that crits are only a matter of days away, its fair to say the pressure is well and truly on already.  I miss the days when the third week seemed like a reasonable amount of time to start working and being productive :(

As I've said I've decided to make life just that little bit harder for myself and I'm starting a brand new project with a completely different theme and topic to explore.  It was a hard decision for me to make because for the past two years Religion has been my thing and I had put so much work, time and research into it.  Not to mention the fact I went to the effort of partially reading the bible to find some blasphemous subject matter...

This will either be the best or worst decision I could have made but only time will tell...

Etchings

I had changed drawings of shop fronts I had previously done into very simple etchings which contained just a line drawing of an individual shop front.  While I did like these, I feel that etching doesn't suit my project and that digital is where I get the best results.

However I did mix some etchings with older souvenir etchings to see if these could improve.

Prints Out and About

More Digital Prints

Digital Work

Rumpus!

So with all the exhibition prep, my blog has been slightly forgotten about!  I don't think any of us realised just how much work and preparation there goes into making a successful exhibition.  Long hours were spent cleaning, painting, hanging, panicking and putting the final touches to the show which all took an immense amount of effort from all of us.  But it all worked out in the end when we pulled off one of the coolest exhibitions we'd been to (if we do say so ourselves!)

For my pieces in the exhibition, I wanted to mix my prints in with an installation piece.  Our wonderful curator Fiona Quill, thought a kneeler and alter would look really cool and include some of the objects that I had been photographing all year.  So I went about building an alter and kneeler only for my prayers to be answered (ahem!) when an old school teacher of mine, Sister Perpetua, offered me a lend of her very own kneeler to use!

People found it hilarious that a nun gave me a kneeler and were saying things along the lines of "if only she knew what your project was about!"  But I don't see my project as being "blasphemous" or making fun of the church anymore.  I think it has moved on from that a lot this year, especially in my newest series of prints.

In my project, I'm no longer ridiculing religious subject matter, but more highlighting passages in the Bible that are preached but not lived by the Catholic Church.  On researching, I found there are so many passages about wealth, how wealth is not important and only for fools.  Yet the church has become notorious over the last two decades for its obsession with wealth, which is what I wanted to highlight.

When I began these prints, I had it in my head to do them as silkscreens.  However, after improving my Photoshop skills and mastering the big scary printer in the Print room, they looked incredibly cool as digital prints.  I originally had photography work in the exhibition but on seeing how well these particular prints were working I decided pretty much last minute to use them in the exhibition and they are what I'm continuing to use as the semester goes on.

I really like the use of colour these prints, with the script like writing.  I got the idea for the writing from a letter I found within a bible belonging to my grand-uncle, Father John.  The script in the letter and prints are very similar.

I wanted the objects to look as cheap and tacky as possible so I did different effects on Photoshop, changing the colours, bitmap effects etc.

I really like where I am with these as I feel they work well and also look well.  But that's just my opinion.  And in here, that doesn't seem to matter.

Rough work Video

This is a video I attempted lately, I hope to eventually do it a bit better the next try but this was the first rough copy for Progress Reviews!

Photography makes me happy

I couldnt wait to get back into photography for this semester.  I really enjoy it, but I do prefer working things out for myself. I've always been an independent worker, even back in early school days.  I feel that working out camera settings, lighting etc. by myself is more beneficial as I learn more in doing so. Trial and error is defo my way of doing things.

So for the latest instalment in my "Knick Knacks, Souvenirs and Apparitions" series, I wanted to use more obvious imagery to show how people's respect in religion and the Church has dwindled and also how other things and objects are taking over as main area of worship.

I also wanted to focus on rosary beads too.  I think in the last few years it has lost its meaning.  It has become more of a fashion accessory than a religious item, being used in sexualised photo shoots and worn by a certain age group of young teenagers.  And if they're the cheap plastic ones, even better!