Starting this project initially I was stumped, I was unsure what route to take in terms of themes and ideas as I could choose anything. Whilst reflecting on previous projects and my potential career goals I realised some themes that occur in my work frequently are ideas such as mental and physical health, anxiety, fear and stress, the mind, the body, emotions, and the human experience, and from this I decided to take a similar approach but wanted to refine my ideas more specifically. I had a small “shower” epiphany thinking about anxieties and how the body reacts to stress for example the fight or flight response, which I then researched briefly found out is called “the acute stress response” and there are more included in it, freeze and fawn. I was taken by this idea because it’s something I haven’t looked at before and because it is narrower in terms of a theme whilst still linking to broader concepts such as fear and trauma, biology, and psychology. This idea is my starting point but I’m a big believer of how projects can change and fluctuate and I’m aware that this idea might not change, or it might evolve or become something really different eventually but currently this concept is what is fascinating to me and is what I’m going to base my initial themes and research on.
I chose these ideas because they are very relatable it’s all about something you typically experience as a person, whether you are mentally or physically healthy or whatever phobias you have or whether you have an inner monologue or how your body and mind interact. Nearly everyone experiences these things because it’s a part of being human, its relatable. I think I'm more focused on some of the negative ideas because I personally don’t think I’m a totally happy and healthy person, I want to talk about anxiety and phobias because that’s more real to me right now. I think creating joyful art of healing and happiness is also fascinating and relevant, but I think people who are hurting and have a lot of negative experience's also need a place of comfort and art to look at and understand and relate too. A quote that comes to mind would be. “Art Should Comfort The Disturbed And Disturb The Comfortable” Cesar. A . Cruz
In terms of what kind of media, I had in mind to use, I have a lot of things I’m interested in right now, I still love painting especially gouache and acrylic but I also have been passionate about lino printing recently along with my new desire to pick up clay and charcoal again. I think like my usual process I’m going to experiment with all these mediums hopefully and maybe more and see where the themes take me, I usually find within my projects the concepts guide the mediums and despite what I’m passionate about using I will pick whatever suits the work and portrays the ideas best to the audience. So, effectively I’m planning to sign up for workshops such as lino and do a bunch of tests pieces in charcoal and paint etc and document the process and figure it out from there.
To begin this project, I’m going to primarily jumpstart it by researching a lot, going to the library more and investigating books on art and sciences and artists and more as well as using the internet too, along with signing up to tutorials. I’m also thinking I should plan some sort of questionnaire or survey so I can gather some first-hand source research material about peoples real and lived personal experiences which correlate with my work. Then I will follow this with experimentation with mediums, size, composition, concepts and more whilst documenting and journalling my experience’s and work in my sketchbook and blog. I think what’s going to make my work different from last year is going to be researching and gathering information more and experimenting more but honestly more than anything I think my placement is going to positively affect my work a lot in terms of wisdom and guiding and I very much am looking forward to it. Every week I’m hoping to add to my sketchbook and blog and I’m hoping this level of recording and reflecting will help me develop my work more and stay on top of being productive in my project.
In terms of a timeline, I know I want to be working on my project every week at least and going to workshops and tutorials weekly but to be broader, I will spend the most of this semester researching and experimenting and next semester most likely defining and refining my ideas and mediums and final piece construct and then executing it all at the end of the year of course.
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