Ok, so I've been thinking about this for quite a few years so I am probably ahead of this Challenge. The way to portray it may sound a little cryptic but it isn't really.
I call myself a textile artist, not only because that is what I earned as a title when I studied for my honours degree but also because that is very much how I feel. I studied art before I chose my specialist area. I did a two year pre foundation and a years foundation course. It is from this art background that I look mostly for my inspiration. Yes I dabble in all sorts of crafts but I do believe that this dabbling informs my more serious work, not to denegrate the craft aspect in any way but I often see it as a way to experiment, this is only my point of view.
The visual means of this challenge has inspired me to think and look at a great artist that I am sure many people know, his name is Seurat. I am going to analyse ( an important word here, which I will come back to.) one of his best known paintings: Please look at the following link: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/S/seurat/jatte.jpg.html
Seurat used scientific principles to paint this picture, does this make him a scientist or an artist? I use this question to help in understanding what it is I actually do. Now, back to that word analyse. I think that on the whole this is what generally helps me to see myself as an artist. Like Seurat I tend to analyse what it is I do. I also use research in much of my work, for instance I have read a considerable amount about symbolism and also about Celtic Art amongst others subjects. It is this research and interest in my subject that I believe tells me I am an artist.
Well, on to the image, I am almost finished but I will not post it until it is properly presented. The image I have chosen is of course the one that can be found at the link above: Sunday Afternoon at the Grande Jatte.
I am taking a small section of this and I have turned it to Grayscale. My intention was to analyse Seurat's picture not in colour as he has but to analyse it in tone, form, shape. I was quite surprised how many of the shapes of the figures seem to be repeated throughout this work. I have been fascinated by the outline of the figures and by the costumes of the time. These seem more obvious when the colour has gone.
Well, I will post my finished work soon. I have only just discovered this new way of working with needlefelt, that is to work in monochrome, I found this when working the last challenge and felt it was quite an appropriate transition for this next challenge. Same materials different subject. Well, I hope all will become clear when you see the finished work. Till then, feel free to ask questions if you are unsure what I actually mean in this post. Good luck to everyone else in your challenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment