Further "Finger" Prints

( Prints produced by Myself) 

    Over the weekend, I managed to expand further on my finger prints and I am really fascinated with how they have turned out. Not only this, but it is becoming harder and harder to actually tell whether they are my fingers anymore or whether they are just something I managed to randomly create on Photoshop. In addition to this, I also think that the print is becoming to look a lot like brain scans which can also refer back to my Final Major Project (FMP) as dementia leads to the brains deterioration and ultimately a slow, emotional death. Furthermore, I have also kept to my initial ideas and expanded further on colour which is what I wanted to do to see how they would reflect as a print. I also plan to have these digitally printed and produce samples using this print. Despite all this, I am still fixated on the idea of having very pale, minimal colours within the garment to highlight it, thus I must find some way to incorporate it within my designs or possible experimentation's I produce via my samples. 

    Furthermore, I feel that there are many other things that I could have done with these prints, for example printing them out and taking them to the stand. Not to mention, these could be scarf patterns for a final collection, although I still feel that some of the designs are too bright for the overall look I want for a potential collection. I would like to experiment with these prints further with collage or photocopying them to really exhaust their potential because I am struggling to see my prints with my final garment(s), which would be a real shame if I didn't bother with them at all. 

   To take these prints further, I decided to make the print into a pattern on Photoshop which creates a repeat pattern, hence it looks more like a wallpaper print or something much more detailed and complex than what it actually is. I really liked how these prints came out because you still can't fully tell what the print is made or inspired from, which is the general idea I was looking for. I wish I could have tried to experiment with these prints more on photoshop and then transfer them on to fabric, but I need to go to my local fabric shop to make sure I get the right types. For example, from my Alexander McQueen research I have really noticed the fabrications in some certain collections and the majority involve organza, which I feel is relevant to my theme. Organza is light and fairly see through, which can represent a message within my theme to suggest how unclear everything is to a person with dementia, how easy it is for them to forget that they have forgot etc etc… 

"Finger" Prints

    Over the weekend, I have managed to begin processing some prints from the previous photography research I did previously involving my hand, milk and water. I thought that as I am now approaching my experimental week, I should begin with something I have knowledge of being Photoshop. The production of these prints was actually rather entertaining and there were many other options I could have chosen to use. Nonetheless, I am really happy with how these prints turned out and I plan to produce a lot more. On top of this, I want to try experiment with these prints on the sowing machine to see what shapes and forms I can create and how they can inspire me for stand work, future prints, illustrations and much more. In addition to this, I wanted to add a bit of colour to my book considering that I have tried to keep my colour pallet very pale and minimal. The reasons I have chosen to use red and blue is fairly obvious and simplistic, this is due to the nervous system within the body and I wanted to relate the colours to the anatomy of our bodies including veins, nerve endings, bones and much more.

    Furthermore, I plan to expand on my choice of colours and see how I can relate them to my Final Major Project (FMP) theme of 'Living with Dementia'. Not only this, but I really liked the way how these prints are purely just my fingers and how they begin to disappear when you look at the print or even hardly notice that they are my fingers anymore, again relating back to dementia and how the patient begins to forget who they really are by loosing sight of themselves. Moreover, this could lead to choosing colours based on emotions, family connections, locations and much more. In addition, I plan to expand on my prints further and I want to make them more personal and this can be done by using people, photographs, articles and much more. I said previously,

           "the reason I added my own hand was to make it much more personal considering I don't actually know anyone with dementia, but it is my own fear seeing that I can loose myself without noticing, such as my hand above sinking into the murky water…"

robertagillespie.blogspot.co.uk

 (Prints produced by Myself)

Tate Modern Visit

    Whilst being at the Tate, I took a keen interest in painter, Edvard Munch. I thought that his work was very original and mysterious, plus I feel that it works well alongside my theme of "Living with Dementia". I feel that a lot of his work is rather emotional and tells stories throughout each piece, whether that being happy, sad, in love, mourning and much more. If I'm honest, I didn't really want to go to all the cliche places to get research but the Tate has such an extensive range of work from classic to modern works. As you can see below, I managed to collect some postcards of work from Edvard Munch and this led me to recreating one of his paintings at a larger scale. In terms of research, going out into central London was a great way for me to expand my knowledge for my theme, but also to get inspiration from other artists and designers to see where they may have got their inspiration or ideas from. I really liked Munch's works as they were simplistic, but had a really deep story behind it, which is why I wanted to replicate on of his works in my sketchbook so that I could take the same journey as him and also begin to understand why?

(Page from sketchbook w. textured drawing)

(Painting in Sketchbook produced by Myself)

       As you can see above, I had painted a replica of one of Edvard Munch's original pieces and I feel that I will benefit a lot from doing this experimentation. I am very pleased with how this came out as I am not too experienced when it comes to painting, other than doing it in A-Level Fine Art a small handful of times. Not only this, I don't want to just focus on one medium such as pencil or fine liner from observational drawings, but having more of an extensive range of works including painting, print and much more. In addition, I felt that this painting in particular was very sentimental towards my FMP as you can see a man is crying in a woman's arms and this could relate to the fear of having dementia or perhaps the realisation of being diagnosed with the disease and thinking of all the negative outcomes and fear for the future. If I could have done anything differently, I probably would have used more imagery from different artists but I was particularly impressed with Munch's artwork and feel that his work would be more inspirational to experiment with to see what it will become. 

     I hope to be going to other exhibitions and galleries throughout this project as it will really help me to generate ideas and inspiration for future processes. On top of this, I want to try use as many mediums as possible within my Final Major Project (FMP) as it will enable me to have a better sense of what I want as a final result, but also the best grade I can achieve if I continue to keep up to date with my briefs plan. Moreover, I am looking forward to my group tutorial so that I can see how both myself and the group members have developed so far within our FMP's, but to also get feedback and advice on how I can make my project even better. 

Mixed Medium Observational Drawing

(Drawing produced by Myself)

    Whilst sitting in class, I felt that it was relevant to produce an observational drawing of people who were sitting around me. I decided to do this via charcoal and I kept the charcoal to the paper without lifting to create some sort of journey across the page. Not only this, I got cut out imagery from a Textiles book I found in a library and also did an observational drawing of textures underneath it to create a layering effect as I did the charcoal drawing on tracing paper. I didn't actually plan to produce anything like this within my project, although I think that I should take every opportunity to complete as many observational drawings as possible. I really enjoy this process as it reflects on the lives of different people and the photocopies and drawings I produced on textures are supposed to represent a sense of entrapment from the Dementia diagnosis and how there is no turning back. I felt that it was relevant to put this next to my survey/interviews I produced to ask the general pubic, staff and those with dementia. Unfortunately, trying to get contact with those who have dementia has not been easy at all and I have also tried to get work experience in a care home, but the staff have not been reliable at all to help me with this research. 

    Overall, this quick little process could lead to many possibilities and ideas such as print, knit, further drawings, collage and much more. If I could have done anything different, I would have taken the opportunity to draw more people or perhaps different locations using different textures from the book I found. Nonetheless, as I have said before I never planned to create this process but I am glad that I have tried to expand my work further before I fully dig into experimentation for my Final Major Project (FMP). 

Francis Bacon Response

(Painted collages produced by Myself) 

      In terms of research, I have been really wanting to do an artist response to expand on my research and experimentation. In addition, I have never been too keen on painting, although doing it on top of magazine cut outs I found, I felt that this process worked rather effectively. From seeing some of Francis Bacon's work, he makes part of the face realistic, although he manages to distort part of the face to make it look unnatural and disrupt. I felt that this experiment related to my theme because it shows the person you expect from underneath, but the painting over the top shows how they are a new or perhaps changed person from the diagnosis of dementia. The eeriness of Francis Bacon's works are truly fascinating, but I want mine to look more realistic, hence why I did it on top of models faces from magazine cut outs. I used acrylic paint for this process as it was the only paint I actually had to hand, I also tried to keep the colours primary so that they would be bright, bold and stand out much more clearly. It was interesting to see how the colours blended together when I had to go back over a certain part, but it made me understand the journey Bacon went through to get to that point in his paintings. 

      I don't really see how this will effect my project in terms of future processes, although I am glad I have done it and also it could be an inspiration for a potential look I want for my models or even the look for my final photoshoot if I have one. If I could have done anything differently, I would have liked to have perhaps taken photos of people primarily, although considering that I have quite a tight schedule in terms of research, I just wanted to cover the basics and exhaust each process as much as possible. Nonetheless, I am glad that I have tried this experiment and I plan to do much more, but possibly not referring back to Francis Bacon for the time being as I am not quite sure how I will push his work forward at this current time. 

Copenhagen Part 2

(Photographs taken by Myself) 

    I have to say that it will take me a very long time to discuss and explain every single place I went to in Copenhagen as I felt that I probably ran around the whole city and back to try find every single exhibition/museum or gallery relevant to my Final Major Project (FMP), nonetheless this is why I have produced another sketchbook to show everything I saw and found whilst on my travels and I think this will add more interest, detail and perspective to my FMP whilst my viewers and assessors go through my work. Despite this, the images I have included within this post I feel is relevant enough to talk about from what I had seen. To begin with, the images above were from the Danish Jewish Museum. Getting there was very interesting as it took me right into the city centre and I got to see it all as I went past on the local buses. On top of this, the area that the museum was in was absolutely beautiful, it was in a sort of an old fort location which had beautiful architectural buildings surrounding the square, including this museum. At first, I thought this museum would be good to visit and research from the heritage and history it had within it, despite not focusing on Jewish History, it is the sentimental value it holds and encourages the people of this generation to never forget what people had discovered and worked so hard for. Thus, I felt that this related well to dementia with how certain people do so much with their life only for it to be all forgotten…

    When I got into the museum, I was completely blown away! The outside of the building was so traditional and rustic, whereas the inside was very intricate and modern in which the walls were slanted and the doorways were twisted. I wasn't quite sure as to why the interior of this museum had the layout like it did, although I thought that this also related to my FMP in which the brain changes, but also how the human changes into practically a new person from lost thought and confusion, thus relating to this interior layout.

(Photographs taken by Myself) 

    These photographs above were taken at the National Gallery of Denmark which was absolutely remarkable! Again, similarly to the Jewish Museum, it had a very old, traditional layout from the outside, yet the inside was modern with traditional touches. If anything, the work they had reminded me of a more european Tate Modern. I found the work in there to be very helpful in terms of what I want to be inspired by and what I allowed myself to be inspired by. A lot of paintings that stood out to me were the ones that were abstract and blended, creating some form of illusion or change from the realistic form. I thought that they related because of how the mind of someone with dementia becomes distort and you can't always tell what they are thinking, nor what they want to think. Moreover, even though something doesn't look so obvious or clear, it still stands out as being something bold and beautiful and that is truly something that is hard to forget. In addition, these sorts of paintings add a lot of perspectives and opinions and it is interesting to see how different people interpret the paintings, whether that being based on emotions, relations, locations and much more. 

    I had thoroughly enjoyed my travels to Copenhagen and I can definitely say that I would love to go there some time in the future. Not only this, I have matured myself as a person by not only travelling alone, but giving myself a chance to be independent and chose the works that I would only find suitable for my work and not from what a tutor or friend will push me towards. In addition, I know that I need to go to many more exhibitions and museums to get further research, but I already feel that I am at a strong point due to the fact I had gone out of my way to dedicate a weekend to my FMP research, but it made it much more primary and detailed than your standard trip to the V&A or Tate, which is why I want to try use this research as much as possible to stand out from the others and make my work more original and unique. 

Copenhagen Part 1

(Own photography/video)

'The Cisterns, a long forgotten subterranean reservoir, once contained the supply of drinking water for the Danish capital and could hold as much as 16 million litters of clean water… Today, The Cisterns is

an integral part of Frederiksberg Museums, acting as a venue for art exhibitions and other events where the singularity of its architecture and atmosphere remains a core attraction…Located under Frederiksberg Hill in the heart of Søndermarken Park, The Cisterns is the only dripstone cave in Denmark. The natural formation of stalactites and stalagmites are not uncommon for concrete structures, yet none anywhere can offer the sheer magnitude and diversity of those found here.'

http://www.cisternerne.dk/en/

    This museum was by far one of my favourites from my trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. As you can see from the images above, all are taken underground in a dark underground source of water ways and tunnels which I found extremely fascinating. On top of this, once you were within the underground tunnels, there was a pathway you had to follow as the whole entire floor was covered with water from the flowing drains coming from above relating back to the history of the Cisterns. I think this related well to my Final Major Project (FMP) as research because again, this exhibition related back to the history of its beginning and it is bring back the memories to those who have either seen it before or want to get more of a realistic perspective to how it used to be, although it will never be the same again… In addition to this, I found this place even more fascinating with the music they decided to play alongside walking within it. The music itself was not overpowering, but the eeriness definitely kept you on your toes as it made historical references throughout, I even asked one of the staff if it had any sentimental meaning and she replied saying that it was a Danish person who composed it, again going back to generations and historical roots. 

   I have created another sketchbook alongside my general sketchbook, which is predominately focused on my trip to Copenhagen, although I plan to stick all of my other research explorations within it to show how I have developed as a designer and how I will come to a final outcome for my FMP. There were many other places I went to during this trip, but as I said before, the Cisterns were my absolute favourite out of the whole trip and luckily it was the first exhibition space I went to when I arrived in Denmark. 

Photography Experiment

(Photography experiments produced by Myself)

    I thought as a research development, I should experiment with a new process and that being, photography. I have seen many magazines and photo shoots which have used similar settings/tactics, for this experiment I used my own hand, warm water and milk. The milk is to add murkiness to the water and I wanted this to represent the loss of memory and perspective; even though the hand is still physically there, it is not the same and is becoming lost. I think this shoot had a lot of sentimental value to my theme and from past research, this relates very well. I wanted to express how the people that see a person with dementia are very vulnerable from what they see, but they do not know how much that person has lost and that they may not be the same person they used to be. Although, on a brighter side this could be seen as the dementia patient coming out from the murky water and trying to reach out and retrace their steps and this could be a form of a trigger memory such as a photo, sound, taste and much more. On top of this, the reason I added my own hand was to make it much more personal considering I don't actually know anyone with dementia, but it is my own fear seeing that I can loose myself without noticing, such as my hand above sinking into the murky water. If I could have done anything differently with this, I would have liked to have completed a full body scale version of this process using water and milk, nonetheless I can think of many other ways to use this experimentation for now and perhaps go back to it later.

      It would be very interesting to see how I can push this process into another by developing it further, not to mention that this photography could also heavily inspire myself for my final photo shoot at the end of my Final Major Project (FMP). In addition to this, I would like to try and exhaust these images on photoshop and see how much I can change their overall look or perhaps the emotion within the photo.  Overall, the next stage for me would to keep going with my research and perhaps look at artists. Surprisingly, I didn't find an artist or designer who did a similar experiment to this particularly but it will be interesting to find someone similar. An artist I am keen to research is, Francis Bacon who I think relates well to this process with the blurring faces and the 'unknown'. Moreover, I need to go back to my Copenhagen research that I carried out about a week ago and see if there is anything that I can work from there.

Documentary/Film Research

(Sketchbook w. Film Screenshots & own notes)

Sarah Polley (2006). Away from Her. USA: Lionsgate.

“Away from Her”

Notes:

* Wife (Fiona) puts objects household object in wrong places

* Labels put on draws to remember locations

* Forgets how to pronounce words (Wine)

* “ I think I may be beginning to disappear”

* They lived in the house for 20 years, Fiona thought they did for only ½

* Fiona is accepting of Dementia, husband (Grant) finds it a struggle

* 30 day no-see policy at the care home (no visitors whatsoever) so Fiona can settle in

* Patients inside are lonely, quiet and isolated without their families around them

* Husband and wife lose physical touch (no cuddling, holding hands)

* 44 years of marriage together

* “Going, but not gone”

* Husband doesn’t want the wife to go to the care home

* Husband drops wife off, she asks him to make love and then leave

* Husband left distraught

FIRST VISIT

* Nurse warns husband to not take offence if wife doesn’t remember him

* Wife doesn’t remember him

* Memories seem to come and go

* Wife had an attached friend (Aubrey, an old crush of hers)

* Aubrey is the only friend who doesn’t confuse her

* Husband suspects her cheating/ faking her lost mind

* Perhaps postponed punishment for the husband cheating on her 20+ years ago

* Husband cracks and tells her everything, makes her very upset

SIDE STORY (1)

* Fiona is depressed

* Aubrey is back at home with his wife, she can no longer afford care

* “ She had a spark of life”

* Marion doesn’t like the idea of Fiona and her husband

BACK TO HOME

* Wife in love with Aubrey

* Aubrey draws pictures of her (relation to “I Remember When I Paint”)

* Aubrey cries when Grant comes to see his wife

* Fiona has no emotion/not engaging with husband reading her a book (Not looking/ hearing)

* Fiona hardly moves, her muscles could potentially deteriorate (Could be in a walker)

* Fiona is progressing to floor 2 for more assisted care

* “ For people who really lost it…”

SIDE STORY (2)

* Marion gets drunk and asks Grant to go to a dance with her

* Give them a chance to go out into the real world

* Whilst dancing, Grant cant stop thinking of Fiona

* Grant sleeps with Marion to get Aubrey back at the home to visit depressed Fiona

BACK TO HOME

* Fiona is on the 2^nd floor

* Grant drives Aubrey to the home to see Fiona

* Before Aubrey goes in to see Fiona, Grant goes in before

* Fiona remembers Grant reading her the books

* She begins to remember who Grant is

END.

(Sketchbook w. Documentary Screenshots & own notes)

Eric Ellena and Berna Huebner (2014). I Remember Better When I Paint. USA: Rhode Island Int Film Festival.

“I Remember Better When I Paint”

Notes:

* Berna Gorenstein Huebner, daughter to renowned artist, Hilda Gorenstein

* Berna encouraged the production of the documentary revolving around her mother

* Dementia known to make those with the disease not capable to engage well

* Hilda said, “I remember better when I paint”

* Hopeful story for those who are fearful of the disease

* Hilda was a Dementia patient

* Hilda had students from Chicago Institute of Arts to help her paint

* Hilda produced her own art exhibition (over 300 pieces)

* Hilda passed 1998

* Berna set up the Hilhurst Foundation (Scholarship available to students who will work with people suffering memory loss)

* MEMORABLE QUOTE: “ To touch and be touched, to love and be loved”

* Medication doesn’t help give people a life worth living

* Creative arts are a doorway for those with Dementia

* Brings peace to mind

* Helps to relax those

* Majority lose cognitive/ communicative skills once diagnosed

* Creative arts encourages communication and opinions

* Museums/Galleries (Lourve/ MoMA, Chicago Institute of Arts) special programs for those with Dementia

* Changes the general publics perspective on those who have Dementia

* Creative Arts doesn’t rely on short-term memory

* Considered as therapeutic

* “Patient” is a sigma term for those with Dementia (Degrading, pressuring)

* Art used to extend and create a life worth living

* Families have tears of joy; a hope of having their family member(s) back in their lives