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Final chosen artworks for assessment hand in;

Artwork #1 Pencil sketch on card paper. 148 x 210mm

Artwork #2 Collage with own printed imagery and card paper. 160 x 220mm

Artwork #3 Collage with own printed imagery and various card and paper. 360 x 220mm

Artwork #4 Digital collage using own photography.

Artwork #5 Collage with oil pastel, card and paper. 220 x 185mm

Artwork #6 Collage with oil pastel, cardboard and paper. 385 x 543mm

Final statement about the concepts underlying the final body of works:

Throughout my body of work, I consistently explored the balance and eventual amalgamation of two components. My Mihimihi, largely focused on my heritage, and my connection to my Wellington site, Te Papa Tongarewa. Towards the beginning of the work, there was a evident sway towards focusing simply on my Mihimihi and in my interpretation, quite literally me. However, as I continued to experiment and produce more work, I started to experience a greater pull towards exploring my site artistically. I wanted to challenge myself, and so incorporating the geometric, rigid lines of Te Papa’s architecture was intimidating. I started to find a comfortable middleground, encompassing both my favouritism towards the organic form of people and figure, while exploring sharp lines, rigid shapes and grid-like designs.

Through the expression of my Mihimihi I was able to convey my heritage and the balance between my Kiwi birth and upbringing, and my direct English lineage. This effort in exploring boths aspects surfaced thoughts and opinions I had not considered for some time, about the similarities and differences in identifying with either side. When I recognised that Te Papa possessed two sides, I wholeheartedly connected with the museum. While Te Papa possessed a Maori and Pakeha side, I was able to reflect on the metaphor of this Kiwi and European partnership and entwine my similar, (while not the same), sense of dual identity. It was through this that I was able to confidently create work with attributes from both my Mihimihi and my site. I was able to recognise the two sides as a balance of harmony and not a dichotomy. This realisation grew as my work developed and now symbolically speaks for the harmonious nature of both contributors.

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Part 2: Collection of research of artist influences. Kept on my computer and built up over time. In order from top to bottom: 

Artwork 1: ‘My Mother’.  David Hockney

Artwork 2: ‘Group IX/UW No. 25, The Dove, No. 1′. 1910. Hilma af Klint.

Artwork 3: ‘Swans, nr 17, group IX/SUW, series "SUW/UW,"’ 1915. Hilma af Klint

Artwork 4: ‘Salvator Mundi’. 1490-1500. Leonardo da Vinci.

Artwork 5: ‘Portrait of a Woman (La Belle Ferroniere)’. 1493-94. Leonardo da Vinci. 

Artwork 7: ‘Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder’. 1474. Sandro Botticelli

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Part 1: Collection of research of artist influences. Kept on my computer and built up over time. In order from top to bottom: 

Artwork 1: ‘Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow’. Piet Mondrian. 1929

Artwork 2: ‘Still life (Natura morta). Giorgio Morandi. 1949

Artwork 3: ‘/BBMET_03.13.2010_K0330, ATTRACTED TO LIGHT series’. 1996-2004.

Artwork 4: ‘ATTRACTED TO LIGHT 4′. 1996-2004. 

Artwork 5: ‘L’ 1986. Starn Twins.

Artwork 6: ‘Nude, East Sussex Coast’. 1958. Bill Brandt.

Artwork 7: From the ‘Strange Genius’ series. 2002. Vincent Serbin.

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Large oil pastel piece measuring approximately 385mm in width x 543mm in length. This piece was designed as the sort of “finale”. For it, I wanted to challenge myself and produce pastel work on a larger scale. I cut out a large section of cardboard from an old house moving box to use as a back. I then took long stripes of double sided tape and ran the strips down the piece of cardboard. Arranging the pre-made paper tiles, I then transferred the tiles one by one onto the cardboard, starting from the centre and working my way out. To fill the entire piece evenly I used 42 tiles. Using a white pencil, I sketched out the desired image. The photo/reference came from the same batch of photography used for the collage work and for my initial sketch. I wanted to use the same image as the sketch to show a grand sense of development, from a simple pencil sketch, to a fully colour rendered pastel piece. Once the image was drawn on and adjusted, I started applying the pastel, working from the top left and moving across and down as to not smudge the work, (being right handed). 

To produce the entire piece, I used eleven different pastel colours, ranging from red to green. This piece was by far the most time consuming artwork. This work is also perhaps the most symbolic. The tiles are grey and blue. The grey tiles are a direct link to the grey tiles of my chosen Wellington site, Te Papa Tongawera. The blue tiles represents both my UK heritage and kiwi upbringing, with both the British and New Zealand flags possessing blue. The creation of a pattern incorporating symbolism from both my chosen site and my mihimihi presented a weaving of the two facets into a fluid expression of work, a mergence of both key elements into a visible and cohesive pattern. The figure was illustrated with a realistic skin-tone complexion. Beyond trying to convey some realism, the tan skin tone was intended as a personification of the sandy, tan coloured tiles also seen at Te Papa. At Te Papa the sandy tiles represents the Pakeha influence in New Zealand, as the grey tiles symbolise Maori. Like previous works, my metaphorical translation of these two sides was my kiwi birth and upbringing, (grey tiles), and my direct English heritage, (sandy tiles). And so possessing my Pakeha complexion, I translated the tile colour into human flesh, embodying that part of Te Papa, and that part of me, into recognisable human figure, (me). The red also holds meaning. Right around the eyes, the red presents the unique perspective I grew up with my both a kiwi and English influence. This embodiment of this perspective in red comes from the same origin as the blue, with both flags presenting red. The placement round the eyes was also meant to convey power and passion, in my history and my future. 

The positioning of the hand meant I was able to play with perspective. While this piece is dominated by me and my mihimihi, I still wanted people to connect with the work. The hand was particularly effective at conveying this. With reaching out, I was able to convey a sense of connection, as if inviting the viewer to come closer and connect with me. This pose amplified the idea that there is some feeling in the piece and not just a drawing of a half naked figure invading someones bubble. I was influenced by various artists for this piece. Taking art history last year, I possessed some knowledge on artists from the Italian Renaissance period. I enjoyed how people like Da Vinci and Botticelli produced striking portraits with distinct colour. Other artists like Diego Velazquez had a similar influence. Around the nose and mouth I really tried to convey that old oil painterly style. Being a frequent influence throughout my work, the Starn Twins’ influenced this piece also, with the gridded divisions of a whole image. I really appreciated the subtle gridding of works and so incorporated that into my own artistic expression. This idea of all these seperate tiles coming together really pushed my perspective of developing an artistic amalgamation of my site and my mihimihi. This collection of pasteled tiles forming a whole image of myself, reflects the tiles of the museum building forming the whole of Te Papa Tongarewa. 

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Set of oil pastel artworks produced as a development in medium and artistic exploration for my body of work. A set of three works showing continued progression in playing with abstraction and disorder. The first artwork comprised of 8 grey tiles stuck to a piece of paper as a backing, creating a larger surface to work on. I drew the image on with a white pencil, and then applied the oil pastel. I wanted to create a singular image to start with in order to show greater progression. Instead of having lots of small images gridded into one piece, I alternatively created one larger image over all of the tiles. I wanted it to be slightly obvious that the picture was done over multiple pieces of card so that a subtle grid could poke through the pastel. This was influenced by the Starn Twins and their gridding of whole conceivable images. I knew from my critique that the balance of a geometric grid and organic shape had been something people found interesting so I made sure to keep that coherent in my work. 

The black and white imagery was directly connected to the previous work I had executed with greyscale imagery of myself. Again this greyscale represented the grey tiles of Te Papa. As many of the grey tiles come together to create Te Papa, these tiles came together to create a whole image of myself. This balance of grey tiles with my own image defined the constant exploration into the mergence of my mihimihi with my site. I then applied the same process to another work, (the second artwork), with different imagery. I also applied a thin slither of red horizontally across most of the piece. The red brought warmth and symbolised passion and my heritage, (as done previously). I wanted to investigate the balance between the red being neither too dominant or too subtle in the work. I didn’t want to it take away from the black and white pastel work, while I also didn’t want it to feel pointless or flimsy. 

Lastly I took that image and divided it along the lines in between the tiles, again creating 8 singular rectangles. I arranged the image to greater resemble the previous collage works, aiming to distort the figure. The strongly contrasting, closely cropped set of black and white drawings in each tile was again inspired by Bill Brandt’s work. I liked the fact that while each section was recognisable as a segment of figure, it was almost impossible to comprehend what piece it was. A crease here, a bump there. I knew from my critique that my previous layering and collaging of bars and stripes had received a mixed reception. Because of this I decided to change up the way I was doing it. I also used red pastel paper in this artwork but proceeded to cut out alternative shapes. I wanted it to be less rigid, less geometric than the previous collages I’d done. While still incorporating line, I chose different widths and lengths, while also having the longer piece lift off the surface. This created an alternative perspective to the layering I’d done in the past. The same line ran off the actual artwork, finishing about 2cm off the work. 

I wanted to include more regular circular imagery as I’d only used it minimally prior and often its presence was dominated by excessive use of line. So, as visible in the piece, I included two red circles and a black one. I applied to black dot to create contrast. The red symbolised the same meaning as the previous pastel piece, while it also encompassed new meaning. The red dots specifically symbolised drops of blood. These drops of blood within the grey tiles further symbolised an alternative expression of my connection between my mihimihi and Te Papa. As my heritage runs in my blood, having it “drip” onto the tile creates a mergence, a combining of the two aspects into one. 

I continued to play with how I could present the circular imagery. I was inspired by moon charts and so reflected that in the two inward facing semi circles, with a crescent on either side. The chain of circles was originally the paper remains of the red dots mentioned earlier. Their close proximity to each other reminded me of a chain of red blood cells, (with the blood theme on the brain), and so I cut them out around the edges and applied it to the work. I also placed a singular one at the base of the thin line. While these shapes held meaning, my placement of them largely came down to an inherent sense of balance and layering. What felt right where, and if it felt out of place then I’d remove it, (as I did with other segments). These shapes also meant I could play with layering beyond a bunch of bars/stripes. All the circular shapes and the odd composition was largely influenced by the work of Hilma af Klint. Much of her work focused on circular imagery and line-work and possessed a greatly spiritual and other worldly quality. While I myself am not a spiritual person, I still found her abstract execution of work in her spiritual state of being fascinating.

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Planning for developing my body of work. Looking for a new medium. Testing out oil pastel to see if it would be applicable.

Notes taken on my critique ^

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Digital collages inspired by David Hockney photography. Influenced by previous collage of my own figure, but with an alternative means of creation. These collages were designed to trick the eye, with some elements aligning with adjacent images and others not. Each image was placed in that exact position intentionally. Elements like the chain or curves and creases of the figure were used to stitch together an artwork. The portraits were intentionally done in colour with an evident tan skin tone in relation to the sandy tan colour I’ve used previously with paper, all inspired by the sandy tiles of Te Papa. This is suggestive of my connection, (my mihimihi), to my location. An abstract interpretation of my mergence/connection to the site. The black and white collages are a direct link to my hand made collages using greyscale photos of my figure, (black and white figure photos inspired by same artists as previous, see prior posts). Like before, they represent the grey tiles of Te Papa. Like the sandy tone, these grey images also imply a physical and abstract connection between my body and the building. By using only photography in the collages, I was able to create work that was both more minimalist than previous collages, yet more hectic and random in the layering of the photos. This type of collage really let me experiment with how I wanted to layer imagery and let me layer items quite differently to previous work. 

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A small collage exploration with paper tiles and printed imagery. I wanted to play with the composition and symmetry. Colours represent specific elements of my mihimihi and location, (see previous posts). Similar in influence by the Starn Twins and Vincent Serbin. The intense contrast and black in the photography is influenced by Bill Brandt.

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Further exploration of collage incorporating my mihimihi and Wellington site. I continued to use the paper tiles, some coming from the previous failed korowai cloak piece. Again, I specifically used the sandy coloured tiles with the greyscale imagery of my figure as a reflection of the alternative tiles covering Te Papa Tongarewa. This symbolises the coming together of two different elements, (in my case cultures and identities). The greyscale figure photography and alternative posing was partially influenced by the work of Vincent Serbin. I was also inspired by Bill Brandt, this being evident in the close up shots of the body, often depicting an incomprehensible section of the figure. The use of red symbolises passion and both my English and kiwi identity. The green comes from the nature surrounding the building. 

The strips of collage connect the different parts, implying a sort of mergence and amalgamation of separates into one. These strips are something I pulled from the earlier collage exploration. I was largely inspired by the Starn Twins again, particularly with their use of black and white imagery and how it’s divided. Also tried to keep with muted tones, (sunlight and camera emphasised the vibrancy that your/my eyes didn’t pick up), as inspired by Morandi. Last piece shows a small triptych with red and blue dots. The use of blue also represents my English and Kiwi identity. Blue and red together symbolises both contrast, (quite literally in colour), in two cultures but also coherence in both places being connected to the colours in their flags. I wanted to play with the simplicity of the piece as a juxtaposition to the fairly busy collages prior. The triptych is stuck to the same yellowish paper used before. I then framed the piece as an alternative stylistic presentation. 

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Additional planning, considering the potential for a body of work.

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Earlier work inspired by previous in class and independent study, just prior to lockdown. These pieces started to explore the connection between my mihimihi and my chosen location, (Te Papa Tongarewa), through sketching and varying collage, (note, my previous post on the broken down korowai piece was made directly after these pieces). The sketches were to be a clean starting point focusing on self portraiture and my mihimihi. They were partially influenced by David Hockney’s sketches. I intentionally used the yellow paper because to me it looked like a muted tone of the sandy tiles at Te Papa. I liked the use of the muted tone, (inspired by many of Morandi’s still life pieces), as it gave full focus to the sketched subject while still providing some character beyond your average cartridge paper. To me the piece of paper was like a singular tile, (as of its rectangular shape and tone). From there I wanted to explore the presence of multiple tiles. 

And so these yellow paper sketches developed into collage pieces, exploring this idea of multiple tiles, grid, and geometry, and the balance of symmetry and asymmetry. By dividing the sketches into rectangular segments they represented the tiles wrapped around Te Papa Tongarewa. Each segment of sketch suggested a piece of myself lay in every tile. The black borders was influenced by Mondrian, particularly and perhaps unsurprisingly Composition II, in Red, Blue, and Yellow. I was wanting to challenge myself, and this style of work, with straight lines and flat colour was very out of my comfort zone. The blue and red was also influenced by Mondrian but more symbolically came from  my previous exploration of representing my English and Kiwi heritage, (further explanation in the previous post, including planning). 

I also explored collage with the same set of imagery used for my original collage exploration earlier in the Art Place course. Using the yellow paper as lines of a grid this time flipped the placement of colour with the tiles now being the darker part of the collage. I specifically used the black and white imagery as a reflection of Te Papa’s grey tiles. I wanted to flip some of the tiles so it wasn’t so simple to look at, and included overlapping strips of leftover print as a way to create layering and connection, even when they were physically cut apart. This also again played with the idea of a part of me being in each tile and the idea of a bonding and connection between my mihimhi and my site. For this piece I was inspired by the Starn Twins, particularly their collaging of black and white imagery. This use of my figure through photography was something I wished to explore further. 

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Some additional planning and execution of work prior to lockdown. I attempted to create a larger piece representative of a korowai cloak, (see brainstorming). I was originally inspired by a post card I found in Te Papa Tongarewa displaying a korowai cloak, (post card was left in my Wellington dorm). I liked the almost geometric pattern within the cloak and paired the idea with my interpretation of the tiles right round the Te Papa building. At Te Papa the grey coloured tiles represents Maori/indigenous New Zealand, while the sandy tiles and coloured glass windows represents the Pakeha history and presence. In my own interpretation of this, in tune with my mihimihi, the metaphorical quality of these alternative tiles represents both my Kiwi birth and upbringing, as well as my direct English heritage. The blue and red tiles, (seen above), come from Te Papa’s windows to the South and in my work represents either half, (Kiwi and English), of myself. Both red and blue is seen on the New Zealand and British flag. While I liked the concept of this piece, I felt it wasn’t executed to a high enough standard. Because of this I took it apart. I plan on using the tiles in other works, still with an emphasis on the specific colours present. 

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Some photos from the Art Place walk. Looking for potential sites that we felt a connection with.

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Part 2. Executed workbook pages containing relevant text and documentation of works made during the Art Place course, both in class and for independent study. 

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The nine collages I made for independent study, with written thinking/explanations. Inspired by my mihimihi and the connection to my Wellington site, (Te Papa Tongarewa).

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Part 1. Previous written planning, brainstorming and execution of exercises in my Art Place workbook.