Tea for Two – Presentation

Number of presentations and tutorials helping to clarify and refine our ideas, themes and direction of the project.

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After the first presentation with Jennifer to Pete and year group, we realised our work is trying to encapsulate way too many ideas and themes: generation struggle and comparing it to previous generation, Staffordshire designs of the previous generation age, homelessness, current struggles of young adults, the post-financial crisis world.
They are similar and link in some ways, but it just became too cluttered.
Our set designs lacked experimentations and multiple stages of progress.

I proposed to look and direct our work on the ides of accommodation/containing and the lack of them, as I could see it as one of the common threads running through our broad ideas.
Jen didn’t object or suggested different directions, so I explored the ideas through the print workshop with Ann Gibbs which was a great place to experiment with the idea visually and practically; Ann giving me helpful feedback in the process.

This helped me to prepare for another presentation to Duncan, crystallising the new focused but still experimental and innovative directions.

I looked at teapot as allegorical object of domesticity and accommodation. Containing tea in its cavities.

And fallowing inability of these qualities, how the material and shape would change.

Tea for Two – Printing

We had lovely Anne Gibbs to give us an intense introduction into printmaking, and how it can help us develop our ideas and use the imagery and techniques on clay.

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Using water-based inks for easier cleaning and benefit of environment, Anne showed us throughout the day different print techniques such as addition, subtraction, blocking, mono-printing and mark making with different range of tools.

 

The workshop was absolutely amazing with the artist giving us live feedback and talking to us about our current project and exploration.

I was able to reflect on my prints and decide straight away what approach would be best to continue and explore my theme.

I came out with a range of interesting prints and passion to explore the printmaking further.

 

 

 

Next week we started to apply the learned techniques onto leather hard slabs of clay.
The ink consisted of printing medium mixed with stains.
I used some of my plaster shapes to print with and feed the 3D into 2D imagery.

 

 

 

Later in the Term I took an opportunity to get inducted into developing images onto silk screen and print through it.
I built on my imagery explored with Anne with architectural motives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up with a number of prints I could compile into a small book, book-band by me.

Tea for Two – Introduction and Ideas generating

Exciting and dynamic new FIELD project of internal collaboration.
Creating a complete tea set in pairs, originally only in 2 weeks; stimulating fast thinking and ideas creation, and then pushing them for production.

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Grouped with Jen, I was glad I could work with someone I had no chance to meet properly before.
As she couldn’t attend the introduction presentation, I prep her through phone, so we can start generating some ideas independently and then bring them together, find compromises and set directions.

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Some of the objects from “History of the World in 100 Objects” series helped me at generating ideas, how object convey the issues and thinking of its time.

History of the World in 100 Objects. Russian revolutionary plate.

Such as Russian revolutionary plate from 1921, expressing a new world order for the benefit of the worker, who is treading on the world “capital”. The plate celebrates creation of the first Communist state; in futurist style, looking at the bright, red future of peace and work for everyone, social and economical equality, utopia has never been so close.

History of the World in 100 Objects. Early Victorian tea set.

Or Early Victorian tea set from 1840, talking about the new, industrialised and colonised world where all the aspects of a high class tea ceremony comes from across the world, sugar from South African sugar cane plantation or Indian tea from Himalayas mountain regions, even the milk, brought by new and exciting form of transport – train, to the metropole of Empire, from outside countryside.

Looking at my current time and generation, Guardian’s series on “Millennials: The perfect storm of debt, housing and joblessness facing a generation of young adults” [Guardian] the facts, figures and opinions were informative on the current issues; as well as the current threat of austerity and cuts around, especially for the youth homelessness prevention program SHYPP, who helped me too, back in Hereford.

support SHYPP from mediashypp on Vimeo.

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Meeting with Jennifer, I presented my ideas around homelessness and generation struggle which she acknowledged.
Jen expressed her interest in 1970’s Staffordshire functional pottery design and the link to her home.

Example of 1970 Staffordshire, functional pottery design.

I was delighted as I was always interested in the modern, simple but colourful aesthetic, and wanted to achieve them in my own throwing practice.
The time when they were created also reflected the previous generation of ambition, modernity and consume, so often compared to the struggling generation of today’s young adults.
This gave us great foundation to start designing and draw ideas and designs, encompassing the themes.

Field: Future Generations Conference II

More workshop and lectures attended during the Future Generations conference.

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James’ examples.

Masks are a wide medium of expression, from actors wearing them and becoming the new subject, to shamanistic rituals, collages of expression, sculptures, guardians of privacy, etc.
We had some magnificent and captivating masks made by our tutor for the day and tutor in Fine Art James Green who’s mask cross between a sculpture, painting or collage.
We’re invited to create our own masks from a paper, masking tape and charcoal – a bit random coming from the elaborate and colourful masks presented.

 

Presenting my mask.

 

 

 

Having about an hour or less I just started playing with the paper, creating a tube and trying to make the insert for head in the bottom. This actually gave possibility for the mask to turn around and have multiple faces – with the sides of the tube or hollow ends.
In the time I managed to create quickly 3 different faces for the mask with drawing and cutting out pieces as well as ripping the paper to create a face like features.

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Max Ernst

 

Another workshop looked at power of mindful meditation and the scientific health benefits of focus, relaxation and reflection; as well as possibility for our creative work, as in ‘flow’ or complete absorption in what we do.
“Flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion… The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task although flow is also described as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one’s emotions.”
The lecture explaining what meditation and the flow is and how can it be achieved followed with short observational meditation of some dried leaves and plants, even drawing them but not braking our gaze with the objects. At the end we had a longer mindfulness meditation where we observed our breath as a point of focus.
I felt relaxed and refreshed, and as very casual practitioner of meditation (5 min few times a week), I agree with the positive aspects of this quiet time of reflection and focus.

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My last lecture was on importance of nature in our, and mostly children’s lives. The lecture looked at examples of how art, design and technology can bring more nature in our lives.

There were many examples of art and design being cautious of nature and our relationship with it.
However, I enjoyed listening to the second lecturer from Cardiff School of Education, about her play forest project created at the Cyncoed campus where children can explore, play and learn interactively in a forest are, with workshops happening weekly for the local kids.

I would like to get involved, and think how can I use my newly acquired knowledge in ceramics to deliver a informative workshop and play to children; to teach them something new, as well as deepen their relationship with nature and the outdoors.

Field: Future Generations Conference I

2 day intense conference involving interesting workshops with lecturers from other subjects and fields exploring different ideas in art and design, life and future.
Talks, discussion panels and keynotes.

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To begin our interdisciplinary collaboration, we had a stimulating conference for the whole first year students.
It was hectic and full on 2 days, with talks and discussions that were not so good and relevant, not mentioning anything about the proposed Future Generation bill or ideas arising from it, and 4 workshops which were more in point and engaging.

The first lecture I chose on Utopia gave me a further insight into theme I was always interested in, a brief tale throughout history showing ideas about utopia and dystopia in art and culture.
From Sir Thomas More’s novel of island ‘Utopia’ in 1516 to Karl Marx’s in 1875 and communism’s equal distribution of work and property, and Lenin’s adaptation and application of the ideas to harsh, totalitarianism of Stalin: from ideas of utopia to reality of dystopia.

Classic books that explore the ideas further in detail: Brave New World 1932 or Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949.

Bauhaus in 1919-1923 as an art school, manifesting utopia through well designed objects and art, which can influence users, changing the world for better through art and design.
Same time in America Buckminster Fuller – an architect, mathematician, philosopher and inventor is trying to design cars, houses, pods and structures that can help as many people as possible with the fewest resources, expressed in single design of a dome.

Or another American, Walt Disney, expressing utopian, dream and child like world of happiness and dreams, which later transform into typical white, capitalist dream of happiness sustained by surplus of products. More land, resources, products, new, exciting. Going as far as the exploration of moon and space.
This utopian almost reality shifts into more dystopian reality of environmental issues, economic crash, debt an power struggles between nations.
Followed by unrests and protests against governments and uneven distribution of wealth, and shortly after oblivious movement of happiness, experimenting with drugs, free sex, freedom from capitalism.
Where does our future lies in now. It seems we still live in the same time, just more broad and interlinked society and world, with more differences and individuality, controlled with our changing perception of privacy, closer to dystopian control and surveillance  of the masses.
In the same time a movement to try to be more connected on individual and independent basis such as crowdfunding as well as the recent Turner Prize Winner of regeneration community project in Liverpool.
The future really relies on us to try and shift the world slightly towards the utopian or dystopian world, but one will never be sustained for long.