Photoshop

Using my images I took from the tunnel, I selected two to use as a base to photoshop my layered mark making samples on top of each other to show possible ideas of my final design concept. My development of ideas are to have the layered pieces together along the whole length of the wall. One rectangle measures 114×46 inches. So, the materiality will have to be on a large scale and very durable to withstand the length. 

The original images: 

Using my photoshop skills I took out the awful colours of the rectangular wall, and aded my own samples in to give a rough idea of what I want to convey within my piece. I want to brighten up the tunnel for those who use it everyday, like workers, visitors, and the general public. 

Image one:

Image two:

Image three:

Image four:

Image five:

Image six:

Lamination & Trapping threads

As a starting point, I decided to trap some wool and other pieces of thread. I placed them inside the laminate sheet and then put them through, sometimes the thread would be adjusted slightly so it wasn’t in it’s original place, but somehow I think that adds character as if I was using my main material, which is resin, the wool would do the exact same thing. Despite this I was overwhelmed with the outcome as it is a sample of what I’d like to create with resin.

The images above are two samples I made first, I got the thread and just layered it how I wanted it and put it through the laminate machine. The image on the left hand side was a combination of green, pink, and blue threads. I thought these colours went nicely together so I just cut the threads and randomly placed them inside the sheet. The image on the right hand side was a much more neat approach, I lined each piece of thread and used the blue horizontally and the orange and pink vertically. This was simply to show various compositions and colour ways.

Above is the last sample I tried with the laminate machine as I wanted to use much more threads and wool. The image on the left hand side is a perfect sample of what I want to convey when my art is in the public realm under the tunnel, on the walls, leading from Cardiff Museum to the city centre. The clearness of the material with trapped threads portraying a simplistic aesthetic that is pleasing for the workers of Cardiff and people who are just passing by on a day to day basis. The meaning behind it will simply be to just brighten up peoples day when they’re passing by through the dark and gloomy tunnel, as it currently portrays that look. The image below is just a composition experiment in my sketchbook with the laminate sheet cut up and placed together disorderly.

Even though I have my mind set on this design concept, I understand that it might not always work, and you may have to adjust things as it takes time to produce within the public realm. This became clear to me when we had a talk from Sean Edwards, who is a fine art lecturer, as he has worked on a project for USW for 7 years and has changed his idea multiple times as it wasn’t suited.

Sites, Spaces & Public Places

EXPLORE, ADZ5888

Today there was an introductory session to the upcoming ‘explore’ project. We had an overview of what there is to expect out of each week. I chose ‘Sites, Spaces & Public Spaces’ as part of my options for first term. Which is basically producing commissioned work for the public areas. Whether it is for the council or private clients. We are having a consultant, Emma Price, come in and talk to us about commissioning for the private clients. It is said that they are far more creative than the council.

I am eager to start, however I would’ve liked to have had a longer time scale on this project as we actually have to engage with the public realm, and personally for me that is quite daunting. We were given a presentation on the types of talks we will be going to have and an insight to possible workshops.

This project runs from the 14th November til the 14th December, so I am worried about not finding a place quick enough as sometimes my ideas don’t always flow straight away. I will have to carry out first hand research visiting a few places I possibly can to then interrogate and interact with the public space of my choice. So far, I’ve come up with these ideas

•  Restaurants
• Old Arcades
• Bars/nightclub
• Pavements
• Park
• Museum
• Hospital
• Derelict buildings/area
• Shopping Centre
• Roundabouts
• Walkways in the centre: Hayes
• Parklets

With these possible sites, I will have to go and take imagery of those I am keen to produce a public art work for. I’ve recently become interested in the Bar sector, as I’ve researched a lot of sophisticated textile designers who produce a similar outcome. However, as this field of work is new to me as working in the public art sector hadn’t occurred to me before, I might do something that I wouldn’t usually do. Even with colour schemes, for this project I think I will use a total different colour scheme than what I’m using in subject.

On Thursday we are off site and exploring a place in Llandaff called Insole Court. I hadn’t heard of this before, so it will be interesting to see what the area is like and if there are any key elements that stand out for me. Then off to the Taff trail and museum. This will kick start the research process and I will take my camera to get some images.