HA 261 – Leo Costello’s Turner’s “The Slave Ship” (1840): Towards a Dialectical History Painting

  

TD 313 – Wet Felting

TD 313 – Artists In Class + Own Research

During class today we had a demo on Wet Felting as well as looking at some artists who work in felt.

Chad Alice Hagen

Horst Couture

Lisa Klakulak

Stephanie Metz

 

Judit Pòcs

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To begin research for my mini-rug project I have begun to look into some other artists who work in felt.

Janice Arnold

Marjolein Dallinga

Yekaterina Mokeyeva

Fiona Duthie

Jennifer Freudenberger

Andrea Graham

 

TD 313 – Research On Wet Felting Technique

FMS 321 – History of International Sound Film to 1950: Great Britain

Themes:

• Nationalism
• Empire
• Colonialism

Pre-Sound British Film Industry:

• William Freese Greene (1855 – 1921)
  • Tributed with having developed and patent for moving pictures in 1889, two  years before Edison and six before the Lumiere Brothers
• George Albert Smith (1864 – 1959)
  • Pioneered the idea of joining two shots together. Film editing (narrative film) in 1901, two years before Edwin S. Porter in the US was credit with the same
  • The great train robbery and the life of a fireman

Main Responses to Hollywood:

• The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 (Quota Act)
  • Specialised in producing niche films that Hollywood wouldn’t or couldn’t produce.
• English speakers > in numbers, unlike other European countries. America, England, Australia, etc. The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 (Quota Act)

The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 (Quota Act):

• British Government-initiated law sought to:
  • Establish vertical integration
    • Owning the studios, newspapers for reviews, transportation, etc. The only way their industry could hope to compete with Hollywood
  • Protect the British marker through film quotas
    • British theatres must show a certain amount of British films for 10 years. 7.5% of all films screened has to be British. 75% of salaries going to British subjects.
    • No mention of minimum quality for films led to “quota quickies”

Effects of  Quote Act:

• Benefits
  • Inspired production of big-budget blockbuster spectacle films dependent on forge in box office to be profitable.
  • 25 % of all films shown on British screens were British
  • Audiences came in greater numbers than anticipated
• Drawbacks
  • Lavish films struggled ot recoup production cost domestically
  • Poor quality “quickies” ultimately hurt the British film industry

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Alfred Hitchcock Through the 1930s

• Begins film work for British studios in 1920
• Gaumont-British Picture Corporation; Gainsborough Pictures
  • Michael Balcon
• Artist; set designer
• Moved through the ranks to writer, assistant directer, director in approximately 5 years.

Training and Experience:

• Gaumont-British Picture Corporation + Gainsborough Pictures participated in co-productions with Germany’s national studio UFA
• Hitchcock worked on some of these: “The Blackguard” (Graham Cuts, 1925)
• UFA: one of the most influential studios
  • F.W. Murnau,  Fritz Lang, German Expressionism
• Comparatively weaker British industry used co-productions to improve production techniques
• Observed filming of “The Last Laugh” (Murnau, 1924)

Influence on Later Work:

• Murnau
  • Mobile camera, camera embodying psychological perspective of character, set design
• Lang
  • Thiller/ suspense narratives of psychological complexity, moral ambiguity
• Soviet-style montage
  • Saw these while in London, late 20s. “Sabotage” (1936) by Hitchcock
• German Expressionism
  • “The Lodger” (1926)

Key British Films:

• “Blackmail” (1929)
  • One of the first British sound films.
• “The Man Who Knew To Much” (1934)
  • Average people stumble upon crime, espionage, etc. Continue to pursue this out of curiosity, ignorance, and/ or necessity to prove innocence
  • Assissination attempt at Royal Albert Hall
• “The 39 Steps” (1935)
  • Most successful film yet
  • Garnered much international attention
  • Male-female couple joined (in handcuffs) by circumstances – antagonists, then allies, then lovers
  • Wrong man plot
  • “Hitchcock Blonde”
• “The Lady Vanishes” (1938)
  • Espionage thriller, sometimes interpreted as a commentary on contemporary political situation in the lead up to WWII

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Alexander Korda (Transnational “British” Filmmaker)

• Hungarian Jewish Immigrant who back in the Hungarian film industry
• Worked in Vienna, Berlin, Hollywood, London, small skint in Paris
  • Goes to London because in the 30s, London was desperate. Took his brothers with him who were very well regarded in the industry.

• Extremely talented director and producer
• Surrounded himself with the top talent and high production values
• Keen promoter of UK films abroad
  • Savvy because he knew how to sell films abroad. Made lavish appearing films on a low budget.

• Became a passionate British Nationalist
• Was ultimately knighted for his promotion of the British Empire.
• Doesn’t really have solid roots in any single nation. Goes with the job. Related to identity. Antisemitism.
• Married to one of the most successful Hungarian actress, very successful during silent films but because of her strong accent she lost her work when sound came into film

Representing “Britishness”

• Major themes in Korda’s films
  • Empire building
  • British upper class

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Final Project:

Feminism in film?

Dystopian society?

SCUL 349 – Investment Casting

Investment Casting:

• Pouring a slurry of plaster and sand around a wax pattern, attached wax gating structure
• Pattern held in place until plaster mix has chemically set
• Mold is placed in burnout furnace, slowly heated, internal temperature 1000 degrees
• High heat melts out most wax, burns away any carbon residue
• An hour per inch in diameter
• Mold is removed, packed in a sand pit
• Metal/ Glass poured into mild
• Requires most fuel, takes the longest to prepare, and is by far the most polluting
• Process works with bronze, aluminium, and glass

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My Process:

1. Flatten out a piece of clay to serve as a base and place object on the base.

2. Build up the clay around the sides to created the clay structure and shape the relief. Remember to keep the section you want in your relief exposed.

3. Build a secure wooden structure around the clay structure.

4. Pour in the mixture of water, plaster, and sand. Leave to set.  (1/2 water, 1/4 plaster, then mix, 1/4 sand, mix)

5. Remove the wooden structure and carve out the clay structure and object.

 

6. Carve into the set plaster mix if more detail is required or if you want to remove detail.

7. Remember to throw away anything that has touched raw meat correctly, and clean your area appropriately.

HA 261 – Neo-Classicisms and the Academic Tradition in France

The Enlightenment

Ancient Greece and Rome (AKA Classical Antiquity)

History Painting

King Louis XVI

Ècole des Beaux-Arts

Salon

Curiatii

Versailles

Bastille

Karolus Magnus

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Formal Analysis is a concrete structure so it becomes an easy starting point for art historians. Opposite to interpretation, which comes after.

Composition: Foreground, Middleground Background – How is the picture arranged on the canvas? Looking up at subject or down? Is space emphasised or compressed? Is one subject more privileged?

Light/ Shadow: How are they represented? Contrast? What kind of light? Direct? What direction? Gradation?

Technique: What is the medium? How is it applied? Are brush strokes visible? Is it consistent? Quality of line?

Color: Color scheme? Warm, cool, mix? Intensities? Saturations? Is it vivid? Repeated colours? Contrasting colours? Light next to dark. Unifying or abrupt?

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Beginning 18th – WE wealth power focus on aristocratic.

End of 18th – Industrial manufacturing created a middle class.

New Philosophy – The Enlightenment, The Age of Reason

The Enlightenment

• Critically questioning institutions, customs, rationality in science
• The French Revolution and American Revolution

Neo-Classicisms – Subject by tales, Greece and Rome, idealisation of nature, improving upon nature, making it pristine, clear use of line, morally edifying, elevate subject matter and viewer through understanding, technically difficult to create because of the lack of brush strokes

Jacques-Louis David, “Oath of the Horatii”, 1785

• Doric order
• Attended Ècole des Beaux-Art, annual salon (hierarchy of where paintings are hung)
• Commission by King Louis XVI, understood power of paintings to convey ideas
• Hard edges, lined, symmetrical, warm, interpretive: cold – air sucked out
• Very naturalistic, classical garb, roots it into the historical moment
• Three brothers represented Rome, going off to fight the Curiatii, 3 best fighters fight each other, one sister from each family is married to a brother from the other families.
• Choses the moment of the oath taking, when the sons pledge to defend country at risk of their lives. One of the brothers survives. The one brother kills the sister. Son sent to jail, and father defends him. Sacrificing family to defend country.
• Arms purposefully staggered
• Use of gender difference to make a point. Men are ready to take action, women are draped like their outfits and resigned on what is about to happen.
• Women opening the boy’s eye to make him see what he will have to take on. Moral lesson.

Elisabeth Vigée-LeBrun, “Portrait of Maria Antoinette”, 1778

• Aristocracy, clergy, monarchy. People wanted power.
• Her spending was notorious during her reign, France near bankrupcy
• Versailles court set up, people scared of being invaded. Stormed Bastille. Symbolic gesture of freeing the prisoners against the monarchy.
• King Louis XVI is put on trial and labelled a tyrant. Family tried to flee. Executed in 1793 by guillotine.
• She was problematic because she was foreign and her spending, elaborate hairstyles and garments. Young frivolous woman. Her style has come back around.
• The artist: Unique that a woman is painting at this level. Meant to be modest and virtuous. 1 of 4 women that was allowed entrance to the academy. But couldn’t study with male students. Considered improper for women to see the male nude figure to learn from so was trained in private.
• Risk to associate herself with Maria Antionette. Artist flees France and lived in Eastern Europe.
• Regal pose, outfit linked to the fashion of the time, symbolism of her husband, ear of the king
• Softer lines of neo-classicism, softer hue

SCUL 349 – Preparing Materials For Casting

In preparation for my metal and glass casting I researched the most contemporary articles associated with FGM `and the one that struct me the most interesting was of a Health Project in Mali, focusing on training and educating the women who perform the surgeries. 

 

SCUL 349 – Continuing My Research Into FGM

Female Genitalia Mutilation remains to be a contemporary issue in the modern world. While a clinic has opened in London to assist babies to young ladies aged up to 18 by providing both medical and psychological treatment, it is still not enough as those effected by FGM are also women above the age limit.

Another step in this direction is a Northwestern Access to Health Project which will be piloted in Douentza (Mali), focusing primarily on “the cutters”. What I have found most interesting about this Health Project is that for the women labelled as “cutters”, FGM is merely a form of income. From the article linked above I quote:

In interviews conducted last year by a women’s advocate in Douentza, Laya Ongoiba, the cutters said they would cease performing the excisions if they had an alternative source of income. One woman reported that she would like a freezer to sell cold drinks in the market; another woman said she would buy several goats to raise for meat and milk.

Having already read plenty about how women and girls suffer both physically and psychologically from the procedures of FGM, I find it fascinating to now see it from the other side of the knife. From this quotation I will create a set of initial designs for my aluminium and glass reliefs.

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Fiona Dent’s sculptures on FGM

Art for Actions’s sculptures on FGM 

Skipperthewonderhorse’s pieces on FGM

 

 

TD 313 – Introduction and Felting

Course Objectives:

• Develop techniques to create 2D and 3D artwork using textile materials/ processes
• Initial demonstration and sampling – larger, more comprehensive projects
• Developing skills, craftsmanship, and a sense of individuality
• Presentations, research, written proposals to increase knowledge of finer art and practice critical thinking skills

Grading:

•  Basis of technical, aesthetic, and conceptual merit
• Original designs and images
• Consistent effort and perseverance

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Process of Felting a 3D object with a 2D resist

Factors influencing shrinkage: 

• Type and quality of wool used
• Thickness of fiber laid out
• Orientation of the fibbers to one another

Remember to create a 10″ sample using the same wool, thickness, and method first.

1. Decide on the factors influencing shrinkage. For this project merino wool, medium thickness, about 4 layers on each side will be used. This means the project can be expected to shrink to 2/3 of the original size.
2. Draw out a template on paper, transfer it to foam sheeting, cut it out
3. Cover work area in plastic surrounded by towels.
4. Lay out plastic large enough to fold over to cover both sides of the project. Put template on top.
5. Separate the roving into halves and then fourths. Reserve half of the roving for each side.
6. Lay out the first layer on Side A of the template (the inside layer). Allow the wool to overlap the edge of the template by 3/4 of an inch.
7. Lay out the second layer on Side A perpendicular to the first layer and allow the wool to overlap. 
8. Put window screen over the top and wet the project down with warm soapy water. Pat down to remove air bubbles and saturate with water. 
9. Remove the screen, fold plastic over the project and flip the plastic and wool.
10. Fold the overlap over the edges of the template.