Half Year Review Exhibition.

Beginnings of 'Shelter' work.

After looking back at last year's work I felt the presentation of my ideas could be improved, so now I plan on paying close attention on how I choose to display them. I had taken several landscape photos as a starting point for the Shelter project and chose to show them in a book format. My interest in text and creating well-presented sketchbooks, stems from my love of books and typography. I have researched information on bookmaking, but as a very basic first step I have made a small booklet.

Where The Wild Things Are - Set Design.

As I thought about the theme of nature and shelter, the 2009 film 'Where The Wild Things Are' sprung to mind. Based on the book by Maurice Sendak, Spike Jonez adapted the children's book and made it into a visually captivating piece of cinema.

The idea which connected the film and my project are the homes which the 'wild things' live inside of. Made of twigs and branches, the stick work shelters are like nests or cocoons. K. K. Barrett describes them as "simple yet complex". In contrast to the stark surroundings of nature, the wild things built simple looking homes which are structurally complex due to their circular form. Something to think about would be nests and how they compare to man-made items like baskets.

A talk with the set designer, K. K. Barrett:

http://wherethewildthingsare.viceland.com/2009/09/vbs-art-talk-with-wtwta-set-designer-k-k-barrett/

Previously a musician, K. K. Barrett worked on commercials before getting into film sets, and has worked on 'Marie Antoinette', 'Lost In Translation' and 'Being John Malkovich'.

http://wherethewildthingsare.viceland.com/

More Shelter Images - Conkers.

When I went for a walk to take my first set of photographs for this project, I collected lots of conkers as an example of natural shelter. It took me a few days before I documented my finds, hence the mould and dryness, however I now like the difference between the protective weathered outer-shell and the shiny clean conker hiding inside.

Shelter Project

This year's first project we assigned is a Research Theme and Collaborative Project. The theme is 'shelter'.

'It can be treated as openly as you wish whilst reflecting your artistic practice.
It can be a critical statement, an evaluation, a celebration, a contradiction or manifesto...
It can be explored through any medium it may be an object, image, performance, or event, analogue, digital real or virtual.
It will help you to define your practice and professionalize your methods.
You will test your creative ability in stretching a brief, finding an inroad for your curiosity.
You will learn to develop a contextual question and objective.
You will be inspired by undertaking comparative research.
You will make unusual findings transparent to others and work in a team towards a shared goal.'

Project management:

-Project Introduction and definition
-Discussion and work in small groups
-Development of initial individual project ideas and research  question
-Individual research
-Plenary discussions

In our small group, we discussed all possible ideas about what shelter could be. We came up with; buildings and architecture, wildlife and nature, an attachment to technology, emotional and psychological support, and homeless people and charities.

My immediate idea to work with is the nature and wildlife route. Natural shelters may include: caves, snail shells, hermit crabs, tortoise/turtle shells, trees, nests, burrows, rabbit warrens, mole tunnels, beehives, birdhouses, any animal shelter, woodlands and forests, acorns and conkers, flower buds, rocks and stone, dry stone walls, grass and water.
Possibilities of this could be; the landscape, exploring minute proportions of scale, natural textures, animal characteristics, found items in the landscape, man-made shelters found in a natural environment.

As a starting point, I went out on a walk and took several photographs with shelter/landscape/nature in mind.