Resolving the Aesthetic

 

T: Within realisation of the final collective artwork, P began by producing two digital tracings for consideration. One contained an outline around only the exterior shape created by the 12 cards, and the second included outlines around each of the individual cards. We both agreed to make use of the exterior outline only tracing, so that the individual cards begin to be viewed as one collective artwork,  and I explored options around how to add blocks of red, blue and yellow within the lines drawn by each delegate. A colour tracing was posted to P, and these blocks of colour were added digitally onto the original tracing. Alongside this, P began working with text to communicate each of the twelve significant objects.  Connecting the scale of each word to the number of miles on each card proved challenging, and although we had been communicating via email and text message, a further facetime meeting was arranged to exchange ideas around how best to resolve this project.

Within the Facetime conversation, we agreed to having reservations around the aesthetic of the piece. Referencing block prints and collaged work viewed recently in galleries, we shared alternative solutions for the text and colour.  We considered changing the saturation of each colour so that this linked with the quantity of delegates within the selected cards who had identified that their current role included art, craft and/ or design.   We also discussed adding further references to the drawn lines produced by delegates potentially through the use of printed colour which could add texture to the surface of each colour block and re-considered placement of each of the words so that the scale of these could continue to reflect numbers of miles originally identified.  In order to resolve the piece, we agreed that I would email a test print surface to P, and P would continue to resolve the placement of the text.  The sample print surface worked, and I sent P a further series of 12 prints today, each connecting within one of the selected series of cards.  P has made use of these working digitally to crop and position each printed surface over the original blocks of colour.  The text has been resolved with two alternatives produced ready to be printed and presented to the NSEAD council meeting next Saturday 28 September.

P: The production of the artwork was challenging for a number of reasons, firstly the purpose of the piece wasn’t clearly defined, therefore we had to make a decision about how we wanted to present the gathered information data. We were able to adopt our usual way of working to some extent – with decisions being made using Facetime or email – and from this a natural division of labour evolved. The initial design work was produced on screen and looked too sterile –  it was only when T started to produce printed textures to drop into the spaces that the piece started to resonate more clearly with the subject matter. However a small breakdown in communication meant that each of the 12 scans was over 100mb and had to be adjusted, then divided and cropped into relevant sections that would hopefully match up when placed next to each other – a challenging problem that involved a lot of calculations!

We used the collated data to inform both the structure and visual appearance of the work; the chosen font was used to reflect the original stencil text of the cards, however this is a mono-spaced font and not a typeface I would usually opt to use, similarly the size of the text was informed by the number of miles the 12 participants had each travelled – this resulted in the smallest text appearing at just 5pt (almost invisible) and the longest name – clay modelling tool at 133pt – initially each name was placed to reflect the position of the object on the original card, however this wasn’t a satisfactory solution, therefore we adjusted the placement to gain a better composition.

Despite the technical challenges of putting the piece together, the final poster is a true reflection of a body of work that uses a number of systems and predetermined rules to define the final output.

 

NSEAD Inventory: Observation, Organisation and Decision Making

 

In response to the inventory produced by delegates attending the 2019 NSEAD annual conference, a pre-arranged making day at the beginning of August enabled P and I to catalogue individual responses and share and exchange first ideas around how these may be presented as one collective artwork. We began this process by recording quantity, noting that 76 cards were produced in total, and of these 13 delegates identified themselves as students, 42 as teachers, 18 as both students and teachers and 3 delegates are neither students or teachers.  This number of responses is far greater than we have worked with within previous projects, and initially presented some challenges around organisation and presentation of a single piece. Alongside this, we noted that delegates had creatively interpreted several questions, which whilst evidencing engagement at conference, resulted in answers being somewhat unclear and challenging to catalogue as we had originally intended. In contrast to many responses, the series of drawn objects produced in response to question 2 were clear and explicit.  P and I began to observe similar objects repeatedly drawn and used this instruction as a starting point to catalogue the whole collection. Twelve groups were formed from this process, which created a similar quantity of responses to that of our previous projects. Once organised in this way, P and I began to draw upon decision making used within previous projects and started to consider which individual cards and data to interpret.  Within this process we aimed to select a cross section of objects to illustrate range and diversity across art, craft and design education alongside cards produced by teachers and students.

We selected one card from each group and these included representation from 4 students, 6  teachers and 2 students and teachers. In response to areas of interest, 11 cards identified a current role within Art, 9 within Craft and 8 within Design. Within cards identified as teachers, a range of years was documented through the use of vertical lines recording from 0 – 50+ years and within cards identified as students a similar pattern was observed. Having noted responses made within this cross section of cards, P and I started to form reasoned decisions around the presentation of these visually. Making use of the post code written on the back of each card, we organised the cards according to location working from north to south and recorded this photographically. In response to the arrangement of patterns this created, we decided to illustrate the number of current roles located within Art, Craft and/or Design by making use of shapes created from the series of vertical and horizontal lines drawn on each card.  In this way different sized blocks of blue, red and yellow began to be formed which connected across individual cards. We listed each of the objects drawn in response to question 2, and discussed represented each of these using text at a size selected in response to the number of miles identified on the same card in response to question 4.

Moving forward, we agreed that P would trace the pattern of the selected cards working digitally and T would identify which of the given lines to make use of to form blocks of red, blue and yellow and send this to P.  Alongside this P would begin to explore alternatives with text.  In this way a digital collective art work will be made which can be shared with NSEAD as a visual culmination of the conference INVENTORY.

Inventory: A Visual Record of Art, Craft and Design Education

In January 2019, we were approached by RP (a KEPT participant, and President of the National Society for Education in Art and Design) to present at The Hepworth, Wakefield as part of the 2019 NSEAD annual conference in June 2019. Informed by our collaborative methodology, the focus would be to share something of our visual arts practice with delegates, and draw upon this to lead a practical activity around memory, collaboration, communication and sharing lived experiences within Art, Craft and Design education. The invitation presented an opportunity to employ established systems of artmaking in order to collect visual data from a large group of participants, within a new working space, and limited time frame.

From January to May a series of face to face meetings, email  correspondence, and scheduled telephone discussions with P, RP, and MG (General Secretary NSEAD) enabled the content, time frame and numbers of participants to be confirmed. Under the working title of INVENTORY: A VISUAL RECORD OF ART, CRAFT AND DESIGN EDUCATION, the approved proposal stated that T and P will invite delegates to participate in a process of practical art making in response to a series of set questions which seek to investigate art and design education. Value will be afforded to being a teacher, being a student, and objects of significance that connect us.  Working at tables alongside their peers, delegates will make use of given drawing materials to systematically document their individual story on a library card. The resulting cards will be presented as a collective artwork which delegates will be invited to photograph, share with colleagues and develop after the conference. It is hoped that the inventory will be exhibited at a later date.

Drawing upon our established practice of making use of questionnaires to gather written information, anecdotes and stories from participants, we constructed a series of five questions which would inform instructions within the practical activity.  These are listed below, and were sent to delegates within their conference information packs prior to the event.

1A: Are you currently a student of Art, Craft or Design?                                               YES / NO

1B:   Are you currently a teacher of Art, Craft or Design?                                               YES / NO

2A: Select three objects which you use to make marks within your current role

2B:   Photograph the objects and bring these images to conference

3. Identify the discipline which is most significant within your current role   ART / CRAFT / DESIGN

4A: List the post code of where you achieved your first  Art, Craft or Design qualification

4B:   List the postcode of your present role

4C:   Identify the number of miles between these two locations

5A: List the number of years that you have been / were a student of Art, Craft or Design

5B: List the number of years that you have been / were a teacher of Art, Craft or Design

At conference, we presented three of our most recent artists’ books through visual and written starting points, material exploration and realisation.  Links were made to the collection and presentation of data informed by the use of systems, cataloguing and instruction art. Delegates were then asked to make a response to a series of five sequential instructions using only the given materials provided. Value was placed on making a response and delegates were encouraged to interpret each instruction  individually within a limited time frame, and then present their card at the end of conference. 65 delegates submitted a card to the INVENTORY project, of these 43 identified that their current role jointly includes Art, Craft and Design, 7 recorded their role solely within Art, 5 solely within Design and 1 solely within Craft.