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WRITING/ART

FOR ALL / WRITING ABOUT ART  / APPROACHES

INTRODUCTION 

Some artists/students want to write a lot around their work some not so much. There is a balance to be had remembering that we are visual artists and this is the main thing we do.

 

REASONS TO WRITE ABOUT ART

Writing does allow us to develop the language of art giving us a good verbal and conceptual framework for thinking and talking about our art practice. See art and design words above - click.

Importantly writing about our art allow us to develop our ideas through reflective thinking as well as research.

WHAT TO SAY AND WHAT NOT TO SAY

Writing should add to the artwork, something you can't show in any other way - it should not just repeat what is obviously already there.

So don't label work by adding headings or labels to something when it is obvious by looking.

 

For example if it is a charcoal drawing - don't label it 'a charcoal drawing'. So instead is there anything else you could say about the charcoal drawing - a few thoughts:

 

  • Does the charcoal create a dramatic contrast.

  • Is it a less exact mark than pencil or graphite? does it create a rich and expressive mark (very different to a fine liner pen which is quite exact and one constant width). It is often useful to think of the opposite to figure out what it does do.

  • Did you use a rubber to create highlights

  • Is it a physical medium because you can use your fingers to blend and smudge 

  • Do you use it in conjunction with chalk to achieve a tonal range

ANNOTATING YOUR WORK

Is a way of recording your thoughts about an ongoing project to help you progress. Also help others see your progression.

What could you record in annotations:

  • analyse the work of an inspirational artist and reflect on how their work influenced your work

  • write about a more specialist technique or process you have used. If you have produced a mixed media artwork - describe the process. 

  • record ideas and the thinking behind them

  • analyse technique, composition

  • Write about an artist work that has influenced your project

CONTEXTUAL

ALWAYS SAY IF YOU HAVE SEEN WORK AT A GALLERY

Say for example: On a recent visit to Pallant House I saw the work of Pauline Boty who was a founder and pioneer of the British Pop Art Movement in the 1960s. Much of her work was about women and celebrated them from a feminist perspective.

As I develop the approach of the Pop artists, using flat colour and depicting famous or high achieving women. My portrait series are paintings of women scientists.

OR

As a Pop artist Pauline Boty's work depicts famous people and is playful using a mixture of paint and collage.

AN EVALUATION WILL COME AT THE END OF A PROJECT - Summarise the project and How do I think it went - what else might I have done to develop the project? I will post an evaluation example here shortly

SECTION / INDIVIDUAL SKETCHES, PRODUCTIONS, ARTWORKS / EXAMPLES OF THINGS YOU MIGHT WRITE

Possible things to say / Monkey

This sketch of a monkey (name specific if can) using hatching and cross hatching, effectively suggesting the texture of the fur.

On a recent visit to a local animal park for primary research I sketched...

I produced a series of secondary studies from photographs I took at the local animal park...

The gesture of the monkey with the hand on the glass cage seems to emphasise its sorrow as a captured animal

Pop references, film anything etc

Possible things to say: Bear in cage. This was produced for a project entitled 'Animal'

Using withy sticks to construct the cage and leaving wide spaces in the structure shows that the bear could escape but has been psychologically controlled by humans.

 

The colourful abstract background contrasts with the rigid structure of the cage and the sad state of the bear.

The bear was sculpted out of clay. The rough finish adding a sense of the texture of the bear without in a simple way without drawing all the fur.

 

The expressive and free use of paint was inspired by the work of William de Kooning an abstract expressionist artist 

The Abstract Expressionists (also known as Action Painting) produced dynamic art with no explicit reference to the visual world.

Good reference for artists and genres:

Previous student work

Great example of studies to support a project development.

References the medium

Using art and design words - references contrast in the black and white 

Effectively references the artist inspired by.

Previous student work

Another really well developed project with good commentry using art and design words and referencing process.

The experimental process effectively informing the final visual work for this Negative and Positive Space project.

ANNOTATING, EVALUATING, REFERENCING

 

TO CHECK:

  • Do you have a mind map at the start of all your projects?

  • Is there at least one artist reference (preferably more) in all of your projects?

  • Have you referenced your sources for the artist reference?

  • Have you annotated your projects?

  • Have you written an evaluation for at least one of your projects?

 

ANNOTATING YOUR WORK

  • Think about how your project has developed - try to convey some of this in your annotations - what have you done and how was the next step informed by the last?

  • How did the artist reference you used on a project inform your work? How did the way they used materials and techniques inform your work?

  • What mediums, materials and techniques did you use on this project?

  • Did you try anything new on this project?

  • How have you used visual elements such as line, tone, colour and shape? See website & handout for info on elements and principles

 

REVIEW YOUR FINAL ARTWORK/S

  • Review and reflect on your final artwork/s for a project

  • How have you used visual elements such as line, tone, colour and shape?

  • What materials did you use, and why? 

  • What meaning and messages did you want to convey?

  • What is your opinion of your final piece? What elements do you think are successful and why?

 

EVALUATION OF A PROJECT

  • I produced an initial mind map which helped establish initial ideas around… I completed several different studies and sketches using different materials such as coloured pencil, oil pastel and acrylic paint. This helped me to decide on which materials worked best as well as allowing me to develop a couple of different potential routes for the project.

  • The acrylic paint was the most effective for creating as it has strong visual impact and I could create bold brushstrokes.

  • I made a few thumbnail studies of different compositions (compositional sketches). I liked the linear compositions as they were more unusual. I decided to develop more of these organised and ‘set up’ arrangements and try them in colour.

  • I used Photoshop to make different repeat patterns. I changed the scale of the motifs and tried different colour combinations. 

  • This was an effective way of seeing which developments were most effective and which had most visual impact. I decided to develop the large scale, half-drop repeat in the cool colour scheme as I felt this was most appropriate for the project.

 

WHERE DID YOUR VISUAL ARTIST’S REFERENCES COME FROM? 

Martin O'Neill, Inches - https://www.cutitout.co.uk/new-gallery

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