The Word Becomes Art

The instructions for this exercise are as follows: “Building on the themes of composition, layering, hierarchy and contrast, produce a series of designs that explores these dynamics in interesting and different visual ways.  Using only an image of a light bulb, the word ‘light bulb’ and a block of  colour  of your choice create a range of distinctly different design options.” Firstly, I looked at some of the responses other students had made to this task. They had used a variety of compositions. All of them had chosen warm colours for their block of colour, such as yellow or orange. This suggested to me the idea of the colour expressing something of the quality of light given by a lightbulb. The students had each chosen a standard frame for their designs, such as a square of A4 rectangle, which had the advantage of them being able to make their uniform shapes into an image board. However, it immediately placed a limit on what they could imagine. Sometimes setting such lim...

For this research task we are asked to choose three pieces by artists who we feel use visual dynamics successfully, and explain why they caught our eyes and what we can learn from them for our own approach to creating visual dynamics. I chose from among the pictures I have on my walls. All of the three I’ve chosen are connected with the sea, as most of the art on my walls is to do with the sea. One is a limited edition print and the others are originals, so I don’t have much detail for referencing.  The first is this print from a mixed media painting by Ric Stott, a Sheffield-based artist. I don’t know the title of this piece. I like the sense of movement in this image. At first glance the poured paint looks as though it adds emphasis to the downward movement of the diver, but having lived with this on my bedroom wall for several years, I’ve concluded that most of the vertical lines of the poured paint were probably made with the paper being up the other way, which gives a very dif...

I’m learning that the more I enjoy what I’m creating, the better my feedback seems to be. In Project 7 there was a lot of opportunity to experiment and play. It’s true that ‘experiment and play’ can sound as if it lacks rigour, but, although I didn’t necessarily process this overtly, I was also observing formal aspects of art such as composition, use of limited colour palettes, etc. In some projects I’ve felt very constrained by the brief and needing to create something specific or complete a process in a certain way, which doesn’t feel like the best way for me to work. With this Project, while some of the exercises were quite prescriptive, there somehow seemed to be more room to breathe, to enjoy my investigations without feeling that I needed to ‘get it right’ by someone else’s standards, whatever I may imagine those might be! Over the years, something that I’ve learnt about myself is that I don’t respond well to pressure. Really the best way to get work out of me is to leave me alon...