Review - Manchester School of Art Degree Show 2014

I attended the degree show at The Manchester school of Art, I particularly wanted to go this year as I will be heading into my final year in september and its important to have a look at work thats already out there and students who have been through something that you're about to start. There were many amazing pieces of Art that amazed me not only from the textiles section but photography, fine art, graphics and many more! Keeping in with textiles there were so many beautiful pieces to choose from I've tried to narrow it down to two specific artists that work in a similar way to I do.

Claire Florey-Hitchcox

Claires work immediately caught my eye, I was beautifully intricate and every pattern and shape was hand carved into a wood block by her. This type of concentration, dedication and patience amazes me. He beautiful wallpapers were stunning but I feel the woodblocks them selves were show stopping they were beautiful. In her artist statement Claire talks about the fast moving technology of today and how she's embracing old techniques and fashions. This is also something that inspires me keeping hold of old age traditions that are to special to let go.

http://degreeshow.mmu.ac.uk/2014/ClaireFloreyHitchcox/

Hannh Laughland

Another artist that caught my eye is Hannh Laughland her beautiful embroidery work was extremely delicate and intricate and her colour palette was beautifully subtle. The main thing that attracted me to her work was her artist statement and how her connections with her family and inspiration from he grandparents drove her work. This is what also drives my work I always make my work personal similarly to the way Laughland does, so naturally this stood out to me her work also portrays her journey which is something I hope my work in the coming year will also do.

http://degreeshow.mmu.ac.uk/2014/HannahLaughland/

Trip to Denmark!

I went away for the weekend to Denmark as i have family and thats where the 2nd part of the wedding is being hosted. so on one of the days it was the celebration which was so much fun with all the bright lovely colours and all the traditional clothing and dancing. It was so inspirational and very exciting as i know it would be a big influence in my work so i took a few pictures (pictures don't do it justice) to take back with me.

Here are also a few sight seeing pictures!

Final set up

Today was the final setup! It was a big task and we managed to get everything done within two hours! Me, Howard and Atif (my friend I brought to help out) started straight away by doing my pictures first It was alot harder than we thought as the wall was extremely uneven and was really difficult to get all the pictures perfectly aligned but we managed to get it right in the end. I think the end result was really successful and I think we should all be proud of our hard work. Our exhibition I feel, fits in with the space we chose and also shows our concept. Everything is put up in place and looks beautiful!

Setting up Exhibition

Today we were up early as we only have two hours to set up 8am to 10am before opening. We went in to look at how we would set up and what it would look up me and howard decided together that I would have the top row for my photoshoot and he would use the bottem row for his eyes. We also tried putting up the bunting, there were a few difficulties as you can't nail into the brick as it bends nails but once we got the hang of nailing into the right bits it was alright. The exhibition is starting to come together successfully and looks really good!

Cutting Edge Exhibition Manchester Art Gallery

I went to see the cutting edge exhibition with one of my friends and I have to say it was one of my favourite exhibitions I have been to. The way the artists had cut into the paper in a really intricate way. One of my favourite artist was Andrew Singleton's stellar spiral in the eagle nebula, i really enjoyed this one because not just the art work inspired me the shadows that it left on the wall also really inspired me It showed another side to how the art could work beyond the object itself. I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition because fistly it was beautiful and secondly it gave me inspiration for my data project as I have decided to use shadows and light in my project. I have selected a few favourite images from my visit.

An Islamic Art Exhibition

Today I went to the islamic Art Exhibition at the muslim heritage centre. I thought this was a very inspirational exhibition firstly as a young muslim artist myself I feel their aren't enough muslim artists that stand up and show their work and have enough recognition, I think this exhibition has supported and gave artists in islamic community confidence. I also think this exhibition was a good research source for my project as some of the work showed the repeat patterns and colours I've been working on in my own work here are a few pictures that I've taken at the exhibition and I must say my favourite artist from the exhibition has to be Yusuf Ali, his use of riffles and guns to make a beautiful butterfly is very clever it makes something so ugly and violent look so beautiful it shows the importance people give to guns.

Liverpool Biennial

On tuesday the 25th of september I went on a trip with university to the Liverpool Biennial. We went to a few art exhibitions one of my favourite exhibitions was the bluecoat. There were a few different artists that stood out to me. One artist that caught my eye was Sun Xun - Ancient Film Animation, Chinese traditional Scrolls. I thought that the use of mark making on the scrolls but then also continuing the art work onto the white wall really stood out to me because the artist not only thought about how to display the art but also made use of the space around and used the blank walls link into the art. There was also projections of the sea and waves projected on to blank walls which I thought was a good idea because it brought some movement and flow into the drawings and paintings which also made it feel like you were there experiencing and feeling the scenery around you.  What I learnt from this artist was to think outside the box (literally) and use the space around your art work and how you can use it to your advantage and help you to be more expressive especially if your work is on a bigger scale.

                 Another artist that really stood out to me was Pak Sheung chuen whose work was on display at the Tate. What Pak had done was go on a trip to Malaysia and had covered his eyes so he could not see anything and used his other senses to get a feel of the place around him. At the gallery to view his work you go into the dark room and to view the work displayed around you, you have to use the flash on your camera to take a picture and see the pictures for a moment. The artist tried to recreate the experience he had for his audience he used the dark room to make you feel as if you’re also blind and he also played the Azaan (Muslim call of prayer) in the background to make you feel as if you are there in Malaysia experiencing what he had done.  I thought this was an effective way to engage the audience and make them feel as if they’d experienced what you had.