ameliejalabert

[ameliejalabert]

ETCHING WORKSHOP

In the morning, as a class we talked about our work we had done from the previous day and got peer feedback from others. My more detailed peer feedback is in my notebook. However, what i got from it the most, was that to achieve my aim on making my artwork more impactful, I must make it larger in size and reflect on the audiences view on my work, how i should display it and make it more obvious in the future if my aim is impact.

I was also inspired and moved by the work of my peers in my class, such as creating a blanket representing children that died in the war, focusing on one child in particular to bring awareness to how even a single death is heartbreaking. I was also inspired by the art not directed at war but other non political issues and how they were presented in creative ways. I would like to take away the advice i received from this feedback session but also the different ways to address the same issue and create impact

In the afternoon we started an Etching work shop. I drew inspiration from a photograph of a scared young girl I had found in the newspaper the day before as it was impactful and relevant to the subject i had explored so far. Kitty introduced us to the etching machines and showed us how to prepare our metal plates by cleaning, greasing, washing, putting wax on it, and smoking it. She also showed us a book on Artists who use etching and their crosshatching techniques. I thought the crosshatching would be a good way to show light and texture as well as clearly presenting the dark mood of the piece. Taking from my feedback yesterday and my inspiration from others work, keeping my art piece simple but focusing on the mood and the meaning presented to the audience is my priority.

[ameliejalabert]

PRODUCTION

What does Production mean to you?

Today during our lesson, we talked about the meaning of production and what it means to us, for me it brings to mind the quantity of a product you can make in a short amount of time. We also looked at some artists who uses this within their work. Andy Warhol, for example- who using screen print to effectively print the same image many times, this is production to me.

Afterwards, as a class we brought in newspapers to look through at the most recent stories. I came across many stories of the war in Ukraine at the moment. We were then set to answer questions about what we saw: what stories do you connect with and why? I connected most to these stories of Ukraine because of my close friend living in Kyiv and the injustice he has endured. I was inspired to create art using this particular story of a young boy wanted to go back to his mum after being forced into war.

In my mind map I came up with some ideas for my outcome, mainly revolving around power and how with power, you can affect many peoples lives by your positive or negative thoughts becoming a reality. On making this idea come to life as a finished piece, I drew inspiration from an artist recommended in the slide. Shane Wheatcroft. This allowed me to fully display my ideas on thoughts becoming others reality. I used acrylic for my medium so that i could layer contrasting colours of black and bright red on top of each other. I used photographs I had found in the newspapers to inform the background of my piece.

With this idea, I was hoping to create a clear and impactful scene using two paintings next to each other. One with Putins bright background and war in his head contrasting the other of a crying child surrounded by war.

[ameliejalabert]

Summative Assessment Unit 2

( 01/03/2022) UNIT 4 - FMP

Actions/ developments in response:

-Ask for advice for bibliography from teachers if unsure

-Do research often to inform my work and creative process

-Continue with my Blog but also have a Reflective section (in blog and notebook) to often refer to in my work

-04/04/22- Refine my idea, specialist practice, medium and have a clear path of what direction i want to go

-02/05/22- Don't set myself an unrealistic target for my final outcome. Refine my idea further.

[ameliejalabert]

(new project name here)

FMP

Name: Amelie Jalabert

Specialist Practice: Illustration

[ameliejalabert]

After planning my story in my sketchbook i started to create these characters. My aim was to make them look animated and alive as well as realistic mushrooms that give the impression of nature, texture and movement. Im really happy with the way that they turned out and if i had more time i would love to continue this series and create more trees.

My aim is to include my characters into my book, have the book half photography and half painting as my zine was, but I would like to make the book more colorful for the younger audiences and the photographs more purposeful for the story. I would like to nail my sculptures to a tree and take photographs.

[ameliejalabert]

Sophie Woodrow

At the moment i am in the process of creating interesting characters that would be suitable and eye catching for children. I believe that Sophie Woodrow is an extremely interesting artist with eyecatching designs. Although the thing that most peaks my interest is the range of different textures on each of her pieces. They are all unique and delicate in their own ways. I love the textures she uses and i believe it makes a big difference in her characters.

I would like to use this as inspiration for my own pieces and use a different texture for each design. As i lacked inspiration most on what scores and tools to use when creating my tree character, i believe Woodrow will drive this progression and my confidence in this area. First i would like to test which textures i am able to do, are easiest, fastest and what might look best on my future designs.

Overall i really enjoyed experimenting with all of these designs, they are all beautiful and i would like to intemperate most of them into my design, although i did face some challenges. The second one had to be very thin and therefore delicate, i think i will face challenges if i am to put it into a larger sculpture. The third one took a long time to complete and therefore, if i am to include it, it would have to be scarce or on a small area. The fourth one was too difficult for me to complete as it was difficult to curve the circular plate in the right way. although the other two where silmple and aesthetic. Im glad that i experimented beforehand and i believe this will help me progress in my ceramics.

[ameliejalabert]

[ameliejalabert]

fantasia

My mum introduced me to 'fantasia' an old movie she used to watch and the characters in it were very similar to the ideas that i have had so far, I believe these interesting delicate characters can inspire me in my project.

[ameliejalabert]

developing sculpture ideas

I am inspired to create characters from nature for my story idea, this is the first character i was inspired to make in development of my first founding character. I wanted this tree to show personality and spirit. As well as exadurated features for the younger audience I also wanted delicate detail.

[ameliejalabert]

[ameliejalabert]

idea of zine with characters

Seeing the nativities and small characters really inspired me to go and look more closely at the characters I had made in my founding workshop. I would really like to use the ideas I have had so far in my zine. Creating a story that would be seen my many people and influence them to recycle or educate them on the harm the they cause on the planet. I found that I would like to target younger audiences instead however, as i feel that they can often be moulded into their opinions and its often more difficult to convince older generations of the climate crisis. What i have taken from my zine is that i enjoy creating stories in different ways, stories to educate people and that i really like the medium of photography and how it can be edited, cut up and painted ontop of.

I now have the idea to interperate some of my ceramic characters into my short stories for my younger audience. I believe this could educate in a different way, make children see nature as more alive than grownups treat it. This would target them subconsciously rather than using the shock factor.

[ameliejalabert]

trip to italy

In the christmas holidays, i had the opportunity to go to Italy. It was enlightening to see the beautiful untouched nature that had little to no plastic polution. Although on a country path there where dozens of small nativities made from many different found objects. There were many scenes and small characters which made up lots of different stories. It really showed how many creative things you could use to create a story, and how you can bring to life and animate random objects, similar to what i did in my clay workshop.

I think perhaps i could take this new information and use it as inspiration to make my informative stories more animated and unique as well as a way to target my audience. Perhaps i could use my characters to develop my zine to find a new way to tell a story.

[ameliejalabert]

photographs of collage zine

I would really like to make my zine more child like- i have realized that i should also target the audiences of children as they are more open minded and less effected by the constraints of society

[ameliejalabert]

mediums

Before begining to experiment with mediums I wanted to research into which mediums are good and bad for the environment so that my practice can be morally correct.

I usually work with oil paints and have a lot around my house so I wanted to research into how harmful they can be for the environment, I found that 'the true danger in oil paint from an environmental standpoint comes from how hard it is to clean up. The paint thinners used in oil paint are highly toxic, and often give off dangerous, flammable fumes. These harsh chemicals when disposed of incorrectly leak into watersheds and can pollute waterways and groundwater' (milesmartin1218, 2019) which I found very interesting and wanted to find an alternative for this harmful chemical.

I experimented with different oils I could find around my house to see if it worked with my painting and finally settled on olive oil which worked very well. However, after some more research I found that olive oil 'can also lead to water run-off, which increases soil erosion, water pollution (especially where chemicals are carried by water from farms to rivers and other water bodies), and contamination of groundwater, drinking water, and soil.' `(H L Noss, 2021). Therefore I won't be using oil paints for this subject.

Next I thought that making my zine out of paper may not be the best environmental move if I want to create impact. So then I researched into making my own paper out of recycled egg boxes so that I could use it as the base of my zine.

However, after this process, I tried to fold it into the shape I would want my zine but it wasn't as flexible as normal paper and much more fragile. Therefore I dont think that this paper is appropriate to use as my zine, perhaps it would be better to put together scrap paper to not let it go to waste.

Within a workshop I got to use printing and planned to create one of my scenes from my book to experiment if this process was for me and develop/improve my oil painting design. I also got to use lettering in this workshop and was inspired to add some short sentences to my zine to make it more impactful and informative.

Overall this workshop i found was a bit difficult. I think because I used thicker paper and the colours came out darker my final print did not end up exactly how I intended. I intended it to be vibrant and clear. One part of this outcome that I did like was the patchy colors and the surrealism within it. If I was to do it again I would use thinner paper and brighter colours, I would also spend more time with the planning. Although I do not think I will continue with this medium either as I know the ink is made from oil which is very bad for the environment.

Overall I haven't been able to take away any mediums from this experimental practice. I have found within my research that there are many artistic mediums that are bad for the environment. I need to be knowledgable and conscious about the things I use, and will try to use as little harmful products as possible within my work.

[ameliejalabert]

Zine

I thought the best way to use the information I had found so far was to create an art piece that would inspire my audience and be impactful. I have found that society often takes action when others around them do, and are inspired to take action when they are informed about the problem and how they can help solve it. Therefore I wanted to make something easily accessible and interesting to the middle aged-generations. After my planning, brainstorming and consulting ideas such as posters, muriels, characters etc I came across the idea to make a zine. I believe this would be a good idea as I get to explore my interest in story telling through more than a single photograph and it would give me the opportunity to explore different mediums.

My plan is for it to be small enough to be accessible to a large amount of people; on products, for example. The story in the zine could be aesthetically interesting to reach my audiences but also educational. I believe it would add something more to the older audiences to be able to experience a story about where the product they buy goes in the end depending on what they do with it.

As this is my aim, I would like to make the zine bright, aesthetic and the story clear, I aim to make it small enough to fit on recyclable products (such as plastic bottles) but big enough to be seen and understood.

To begin the process of developing my zine, i have planned two options for the story, one to tell the story of what happens to recycled plastic bottles and one story to show what happens to non-recycled plastic. The 'non-recycled' one is more aesthetic and impactful but fear-based, and the 'recycled plastic' is more positive but less aesthetic or impactful.

I have taken a set of photographs that i believe could go in both of my zines and will use it as a possible medium- taking from the collaging introduction from my last project. As well as this, however, i want to use this as an opportunity to explore a verity of mediums for this subject.

[ameliejalabert]

Raleigh Briggs

I wanted to use artists inspiration for my idea, telling an educational story. Raleigh Briggs has created many zines to give information about how you can live enviromentally friendly. 'Raleigh Briggs teaches us how to craft a sustainable domestic life' (Microcosm Publishing, 2018) This really inspires me to look further into my passion for storytelling and doing it in this way, perhaps also making educational zines to target older-teen audiences and teach thereabout the climate crisis. Briggs has inspired the idea that a zine, or any story is a great way to draw in the interest of the viewer as well as a great way to use art and illustration to educate. I would really like to explore this idea, perhaps using the research i have done so far to educate me on how best to target my audience.

[ameliejalabert]

research and reflection

Through my reflection I thought that I am more inspired when in the direction of the 'Climate Crisis' other than 'social issues' as I feel that I am more able to try and make an active difference around a subject that is less abstract and easier for people to grasp. I am also passionate about this subject and after the research i have done to understand the audience I am targeting (middle aged), I believe that I am more quipped to create educated and impactful art.

During the summer, I got work experience within a community of people from all around the world. For my project I thought I could use this as a great opportunity to get to know different cultures and how they act around the subject of the climate crisis. Also to reach a larger amount of people for a more general view, I created a poll on instagram with these questions.

The questions included:

How do you feel about the climate crisis?

Do you believe that you can make a change?

Do you believe you can create damage as an individual?

Do you do anything to help the environment? what inspired you to?

Do you have any personal experiences with the climate crisis?

The outcome of the poll:

Do you do anything to help the environment?

33% recycle

14% buy second hand

14% changed their diet

6% avoid using cars

4% compost

what inspired you to?

26% education on the subject

21% wanting to contribute

21% wanting to protect future generations

5% prefer environmental products

86.6% said no when asked if they have any personal experience with the climate crisis

35% said that they don't do anything to help the climate crisis which measures to the statistics 'In March 2020, this found that around three-quarters (76%) of adults in the UK were concerned to some degree about climate change'

(conclusion from international interviews in notebook)

Overall i have found that the average person/ my target audience often helps the environment in ways that best fit their lifestyle, are accepted and praised by society or when people around them are doing it. I have also found that they begin to help because of education that they have found, their moral conscience and for their own self preservation and their future generations.

I have found this information encouraging as it validates my theory that people often follow each other in what they do. However it has also given me a new understanding of how people think and function around these large decisions and difficult subjects as well as everyones primary interest- which is themselves (most often) and being accepted by others.