WORD AND IMAGE

SUMMER WORK

For our summer work and introduction to the module we were to pick a pice of prose and make a 'soundscape' influenced by it and then finally use that to create some abstract artworks.

I chose the poem The Goose and The Common which is an English orally transmitted poem from the 18th century by an unknown author. I first read it in Suzanne Collin's Sunrise on the Reaping and thought that the repetition, rhyme and theme would inspire me. It's themes being that of social injustice caused by the rich taking land/privatisation of land. I only focused on a few lines of the poem to not overcomplicate it:

"The law locks up the man or woman

Who steals the goose from off the common

But leaves the greater villain loose

Who steals the common from the goose.

The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine

Who take things that are yours and mine."

I do think my soundscape matches the atmosphere the poem creates however my audio leads to being more 'foley' than I would like, it is also pretty jarring to listen to but I think that matches the message of the poem. 

^Here is the work I made based on the audio. 

I decided to make two as my audio has a dramatic change midway so thought it would communicate better this way. I tried to take Gary's advice of not being figurative but it was difficult to suddenly transform as an illustrator in that way so there are some obvious shapes that represent the sounds, like the bird shape to represent geese squawking and droplets for the rain sounds. Next time I will try to be less obvious. However overall, as a first attempt I do really like how it turned out and I think the multimedia black and white complements the sound.

ABSTRACT NARRATIVE

THE WEREWOLF- INITIAL RESEARCH

^My chosen text

^Group findings

^After reading the text I made note of all the imagery which was what initially drew me to focusing on it, this way I could easily create a mood board of the 'visual cultures' that I associate with it. 

^ My Visual Moodboard inspired by the text

I get a very medieval, witchy, gothic vibe which I think is very recognisable and easy to convey- so it makes me wonder how far can my illustration be pushed towards abstraction where it is still obviously based around The Werewolf?  I needed to do more research into the context and themes of the text or else my work will not be informed enough to make good decisions around processes to use and what semiotics might be useful.

^Context, Themes and some Initial Ideas

^ Notes from group tutorials

Talking with Phil, Gary and other people who had my text was helpful as made me realise that I would like to focus on the witch trials and how they were rooted in misogyny. My interpretation from the text is that at the end the girl takes over the grandmothers role as a witch by moving into her house, so I would also like to focus on female generations and traditions that could be passed down. This made me think of practical art and craft skills like quilting and sewing which were passed down generations aurally- similarly to how stories such as little red riding hood were. 

^One of my quilts- Originally started by my Grandma finished by my mum and the out edge drawn by me when I was little.

FURTHER RESEARCH

During my research I discovered that there is a big link between witchcraft and quilting as certain patterns can represent Neo-Pagan and Wiccan beliefs as well being made as spells for specific purposes. For example-

• The Lone Star quilt pattern is a symbol of the sun and the eight points represent the eight solar sabbats (pagan festivals)
• The Log Cabin, 9, and 4 square patterns represent the harmony of light and dark (The girl and the wolf?)
• The Dresden Plate will protect anyone who sleeps under it
• The Pine Tree quilt will bless you with new beginnings 

^Quilt patterns that could link to witchcraft 

I also found an interesting link between quilting and telling narratives. "Traditional quilts follow deeply coded patterns that communicate much more than comfort and artistry. A quilt’s surface can often be “read” through linguistic and graphic cues." "They enabled women to speak the truth about their lives by joining many disparate fragments, which when read together make a specific and often subversive utterance." https://lithub.com/what-quilting-and-embroidery-can-teach-us-about-narrative-form/

Most quilts begin in the centre and are pieced together outwards as the story unfolds which could be an interesting way to tell my story.

^Cool abstract quilts that caught my eye!

WORKSHOPS

NARRATOLOGY 

^Lecture notes

^Annotated text- different POVs/narratives I could do

^Story Rhythm Graph

This workshop was helpful in helping me figure out the pacing of my story and realising that I could narrate my abstract work from many perspectives (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and from different characters. It introduced the idea of possibly doing a dual narrative from the girl and the wolf/grandmother's POV which I think could be very effective.

COMPOSITION FOR STORYTELLING

^ My 10 panels based on Ernest Hemingway's short story based on the execution of 6 greek cabinet ministers. I enjoyed this workshop as I got me thinking about shifting perspectives I could possibly use from straight on to overhead angles, which makes it more dynamic and interesting. However this isn't a very good example of abstract thinking as I literally just replaced the characters with shapes. 

^Based on this workshop I did some thumbnails for my own text. I tried to incorporate some elements from my research.

SPRAY PAINTING

^ This is meant to be the wolf trying to attack the girl. I really don't like it as it is way too obvious and figurative but I enjoyed the method and the effect of overlaying colours.

SEMIOTICS CUT UP TECHNIQUE

^ For this workshop we cut up pieces of text and changed it's meaning by replacing parts or words. I liked the idea of having one part of text having multiple meanings and changing, so I used paper mechanics to make pull tabs. I did one version with normal text sizes but then I realised it was a bit boring so I shrunk and distorted the text for the second version. I liked playing around with the idea of transformation as I think It relates very closely to my text.

IMAGE AND TEXT WORKSHOP

^ I think this was the most successful piece from the workshop, I like how the word lolloping 'lollops' itself and how the text layout has an almost children's book vibe relating to how my story is based on little red riding hood.

^ experimented with distorting it through the photocopier

^ A different part of my text- It reads They have cold weather. They have cold hearts. It's meant to emulate a completely snowy day. This made my question whether the introduction of unreadable text might be interesting for my project.

DRAWING SYSTEMS WORKSHOP

^ Creating a manifesto that I had to abide by was helpful in discovering a new way of working and I really like my outcomes from this workshop. Although I didn't stick to all my manifesto points due to time constraints (mainly the dual narrative parts), I used most of them to create a more informed abstract piece. I did all of it with my left hand as It was meant to be from the wolf's perspective (his right paw gets cut off) and included parts from my research on quilting: 

• The flower shape is a grandmother's sunburst quilt to represent the grandma's house but also a dreamcatcher as she is asleep in this scene 
• I used repeating imagery of the lone star quilt meant to represent witchcraft and the 8 holidays they celebrate. 

I also used illegible text which a peer said looked like runes which could be a new point of research. If I was to continue this I would have done parts with my right hand for the girl's POV and to introduce the dual narrative.

ARTIST RESEARCH  

Mostly visual inspo!

^ Vivian Suter- Disco. Textile inspo I like how it's reminiscent of a landscape and is a very immersive experience, I could hang up my work? Possibly in different environments and photograph it?

^ Louise Bourgeois- Ode A L'Oubli -Interesting fabric book with quilt like very graphic abstract squares

^ Peter Blake- Some of the sources of Pop Art- Quite figurative but cool arrangement and even though all all the images are so different it works together, it reminds me of a quilt.

EXPERIMENTS AND RESEARCH

^ Elder Futhark Runes are the earliest runic alphabet used by germanic people in the 2nd to 8th century- I think It could be cool to incorporate some of this into my work especially as some of the simplified meanings are super relevant. I also think that runes are often associated with a magical element which links.

^ Experiments with runes

After my pecha kucha I took some time to reflect on my work and Phil's advice. Phil suggested making narrative abstract landscapes and leaning in to my usual system of making and drawing. 

^So I produced these, both meant to be the whole story on one page... but I didn't like them much, small parts of the page are okay but as a whole it's difficult to read. However it did help me identify which symbols were important for me to use.

To further explore this idea of using representative symbols I split my text into 77 sections and tried to draw something for each segment, I think what I did do is interesting  and helpful to come up with ideas for possible quilt squares but I found the process much too restrictive and it's difficult to create something when very little is happening, so I moved on. 

All of these little symbols combined with how my story is about a journey got me thinking about maps and the symbols used in them. 

^ OS Map symbols

^ My own map and key 

^ More completed 'map'

I thought that this would work as the first part of the text for when the mother is describing her journey to her. With a new confidence in my drawing I created some other parts of the story. 

^ Her knowing the forest and not fearing it armed with her sword (the arrow- rune for strength) and her gifts (the X- rune for gift).

^ Meeting the wolf it's howling and in the centre of the forest (lines inspired by map contour lines)

As experiments I like these drawings but they are quite figurative still and I felt like I was drifting from quilting and domestic arts which I wanted to be the main process of my narrative. 

^ For each drawing I made a quilt square design. I actually enjoyed this process and think it could be helpful in making my final outcome, what I have created so far is from the girls perspective so I think I should come up with imagery from the wolves perspective and convert it into a quilt. I have realised that I would like to sew a double sided 6 patch quilt with the two sides being the different POVs. I do however think it would be better if I made it more graphic by sewing the details in instead of drawing them.