Overall Comments
You have sent a very professional body of lino cuts for this assignment I can tell you have really challenged and pushed both image and context in the making of this work.
It’s great to see you take on board feedback evident in your sketchbook and writing.
You have expanded your technical ability from the previous lino tasks and have presented some highly skilled and excellent lino work.
This is a very strong body of work with some highly experimental and sophisticated printmaking. Please continue!
Thank you very much! I am really pleased with this positive feedback as I have put in a lot of effort and it is good to know that I seem to be moving in the right direction.
Feedback on assignment
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity
TASK 8
It is really good to see you developing your personal voice around animal breeding and the consequences for animals because of this. I applaud you exploring opinion and belief within the work and recommend you continue developing your personal voice.
Technically these prints are strong, with excellent cutting and a great understanding of how reduction and layering works within relief printmaking. The work sits well within the paper and you have considered white space borders.
I looked at your prints before reading the text and wouldn’t know this work was about the effects of selective breeding. It may help you to develop the image using drawing or collage before beginning the composition on lino. Think about how you want it to be read by a viewer and what else could be developed to cause discomfort, shock, unease or distaste for the viewer.
TASK 9
Aylish this abstract cell like collection of prints are some of the best prints I have ever seen for this assignment. You have been investigative and challenged yourself beyond the simple make a mark with a saw instruction!
In many ways these abstract images challenge the viewer to think about the subject more than the representational pug image. The images look like cells, disease and something mutating!
Your use of layering, colour and composition is strong. Etched lino can produce really subtle results and lead to very sophisticated work.
This is a very exciting way of working for you. It reminds me of Fabian Matthias Osbourne’s work that you looked at.
You may be interested to read about the Wellcome Trusts exhibitions
I thoroughly enjoyed the experiments with etched lino. I also think that these are more successful than my figurative prints. I suspect that ultimately I may start to move more towards abstraction because it allows me much more freedom to experiment. I have developed the two themes in parallel but I am finding the animal theme more difficult. This is not because I necessarily have difficulty with drawing animals but because I struggle with the fine line between being purely illustrative and obvious and producing something more ambiguous.
The Wellcome collection is one of my favourite places! When I used to commute regularly to the UK I often passed through London and have whiled away many a happy afternoon in their exhibitions and also spent far too much money in their bookshop! I am currently reading "Mind as Matter' which is a book which accompanied an exhibition of the same title and I will make notes in my learning log about this.
TASK 10
The Rooster print works very well Aylish the green and red colour combination make this unnerving for the viewer. Your use of composition, marks and line within the print culminate in an angry looking beast. There is definitely something uncomfortable about this print, which I believe is your intention. Reflect a little on the scale of your work while the image works well would it be more powerful 4 times the size?
It made me think of other farm animals that are force fed antibiotics and bred for milk etc. that may well provide good source material for image development. Cows, Pigs, Sheep.
I would love to create larger Lino prints - unfortunately, at the moment I am short on funds so I am using the materials that I already have to hand - this was the largest plate that I had a pair of at this stage. Once I'm back working (my work as an ESOL teacher dries up over the summer) I'll be able to invest in some larger plates. I've got my eye on my next door neighbour's massive roller that is used to flatten the ground when attached to his tractor. I hope I can persuade him to let me have a go with it next summer!
I have recently read 'Chicken, by Annie Potts who is is an Associate Professor at, and Co-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. This book is a fascinating look at the chicken and its place in human culture. It starts with the evolution of chickens from Jungle fowl and their domestication. It follows them right up to modern day representations through folklore and practices that are centuries old. There is a whole series of these books which I intend to read for inspiration- but first I'll make notes on this one.
The canine child image is very odd! Maybe the dog features needed to be more prominent to make your point clearer. I was left wondering what I was looking at. I felt the child looked disfigured in some way – which I know was not your intention.
Again, I suggest spending some time drawing or manipulating imagery before committing to print.
Your work is experimental and pushing new boundaries for you as your personal voice and themes are developing. There is nothing wrong with obsession!
This odd image came out of the fact that I wanted the result to be somewhat ambiguous. I explained in my log that I am not immune to the cuteness of these dogs despite the fact that I have ethical problems with their breeding. I wanted the image to be unsettling. However, I agree that I could have developed this further if I had spent more time working in the sketchbook.
Sketchbooks
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity
Your sketchbook is becoming a valuable and useful working document. It’s also great to see you reflecting upon the artists I’m suggesting and referring to their themes.
It might be worth mind mapping and posing yourself the question ‘where am I now?’
You have continued your interest in breeding, animals and anthropomorphism,
this is developing into a good personal voice and vehicle for making work.
I recommend you continue to draw from life and ‘real’ things as much as possible. These images can then be re worked and manipulated to form new visual stories. I would push your choice of imagery even further in the sketchbook. By this I mean expanding on imagery for your concepts and working out as many different ways of representing ideas visually as you can think of.
Learning Logs or Blogs/Critical essays
Context
Your log is developing really well you understand it’s purpose.
Your log continues to be very well organised easy for the reader to follow.
Continue to write even more around your chosen themes, OCA call this personal voice.
The first thing to reflect upon when choosing subject matter is WHY? Ask yourself what am I making working about and trying to say? How will this be read by a viewer?
You remain diligent in all your research tasks and evidencing who is underpinning your process. I recommend keeping your personal voice overt in your text and interweaving this throughout your sketchbook too.
I do need to look more closely at how my images will be read before committing to print as evidenced by the fact that some of my prints have not conveyed the meaning I intended.
Suggested reading/viewing
Context
Many artists use animals as a visual vehicle to talk about wider themes- I would expand your research here and look at how contemporary artists appropriate animals to represent ideas beyond an illustrative image, I attach a few examples.
I've also read this article and the themes which it covers are included in the notes I have made on animals in art and visual culture - I will submit these with my next assignment.
I also looked at this when I was researching back-drawing for part 1
As above, I've already read and made notes as well as a visual response in my small sketchbook - will submit the notes with the next assignment.
This link is defunct. I tried searching online for Anderson_Animal and also on the UPF website bit I can't identify the document cited.
Sarah R Key
James Fisher’s work may interest you, he explores imagery and concepts that in many ways questions the viewers perception of reality, he leaves the viewer intrigued.
Pointers for the next assignment
The next assignment is collatype printing, I would refer to the images in the course materials as a guide only and focus on developing your own subject matter. Your prints are better and more powerful than the ones in the course manual, so continue with your personal voice/themes.
- When developing collatype plates be aware that sometimes less is more when placing shapes and collage materials on a surface, it’s easy to get carried away sticking. The results can lead to an inky mess without planning and control. Begin with ideas and keep exploring your themes that will lead to more sophisticated work.
- Keep drawing and working in your sketchbooks to develop your ideas and workings out.
- Continue to reflect on the wider context of your work, keep asking yourself why and what is it about?
- Read how art and exhibitions are reviewed to help you develop your academic writing.
- Reflect on your use of colour and how this impacts on the meaning of an image.
I am very happy with the feedback and the suggestions about how to move forwards. The feedback is more positive than I had expected and so I feel more confident that I know how proceed and what I can do to develop my work further.
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