Thinking BIGGER!
Over the easter break i have been thinking a bit more. It seems that time is running out very quickly. There are only four weeks left for me here in Utrecht. It seems that my time here at the Art School has been one of inconvience, and many frustrations. It seems that i have just been plodding along with my project..trying to make the most of what is available to me. But it feels like im just plodding along without something to work towards, something to look forward to, some kind of purpose for what im doing..
And so im starting to think BIGGER! I am really looking forward to getting back to Otago Polytech..where i have friends around me, lecturers who have some understanding of your work, and where i know the studio well and have fantastic access to materials and equipment.
My time here is really one of grounding concepts, and limited experimentation. It seems that my main aim here is to experiment with relationships of repeditive, tight, controlled,predictable, 'perfectionist' ways of making imagery with more gestural, unplanned, unpredictable, spontaneous ways...which all relate to more deeper personal concepts that i am exploring. It bothers me that i have not been able to work with half of the materials that i would like to - so thats what i am looking forward to when i get home. I want to do more photopolymer, I want to do screenprinting and i want to learn Lithography and also experiment with some collograph prints. What also bothers me is that everything here that i make is on such a small scale...just because it is experimental, also because its expensive, but also because i need to fit it in my suitcase on my way back. I had a good talk to the printmaking 'lecturer' yesterday, and we had a little chat comparing both Otago and Utrecht Art Schools. It was interesting, he made out Utrecht to be really more of a 'school' with its cut off times etc. Anyway, we looked at my work and hes always urging me to go bigger...but i feel its unpractical at this point.
And so i have decided that i want to go BIGGER when i get back to NZ. It makes me excited and gives me something to look forward to. Once i feel that i have done a sufficient amount of smaller scale experiments with different combinations of processes..i want to make BIG works! It seems appropriate..one because i need my images to have feeling of overwhelming, unlimited space to move in....but also because making BIG images is soooooo out of my comfort zone! I fear stuffing up, making mistakes and wasting money. And so thats why i want to do it, to overcome a fear and do something new...its a new territory for me..which is what half of my concept is about anyway..finding freedom in overcoming fears, and doing new things. Going through so many galleries while ive been over here, ive been really taken by just how HUGE some images are..and i always feel so insignificant standing in front of them. I always feel like i could never make something that big either. But i want to! Thats the feeling that i want to come across in my work...that feeling of huge, overwhelming, unlimited territory (ie the sky) and our insignificance when compared to it, especially in size. So i want the space to be huge, and the figures to be really really small in it. It reminds me of some work i looked at the beginning of the year, some photographs by Richard Misrach, where these tiny bodies are swimming in the midst of these huge ocean. As seen below.. and these photographs are apparently HUGE. Or the photo below is one i took in switzerland of some parachuters - look how tiny they are compared to the space they are moving in.
I will have to start thinking about ways that i can go about it, depending on what materials i want to use...which i will hopefully have narrowed down by the end of my stay here. But i imagine i will need to continue to experiment back in NZ too. Im not sure how big i will want to go. But i imagine i will want to make full use of how big the printing press goes, i will also want to make use of the largest screenprinting frame...i imagine that i could also work on canvas or hardboard so i gather im pretty unlimited for how big i can go with that. Also if i have a studio..which im hoping i will have a studio wall...im pretty keen to work directly onto the wall. Maybe look into Mural work?
Just some initial ideas, which will hopefully be more resolved by the time i get back to Otago. But its exciting to finally have something that i want to work towards. And it reassures me that everything im doing over here isnt invalid...which i feel quite often.
And so im starting to think BIGGER! I am really looking forward to getting back to Otago Polytech..where i have friends around me, lecturers who have some understanding of your work, and where i know the studio well and have fantastic access to materials and equipment.
My time here is really one of grounding concepts, and limited experimentation. It seems that my main aim here is to experiment with relationships of repeditive, tight, controlled,predictable, 'perfectionist' ways of making imagery with more gestural, unplanned, unpredictable, spontaneous ways...which all relate to more deeper personal concepts that i am exploring. It bothers me that i have not been able to work with half of the materials that i would like to - so thats what i am looking forward to when i get home. I want to do more photopolymer, I want to do screenprinting and i want to learn Lithography and also experiment with some collograph prints. What also bothers me is that everything here that i make is on such a small scale...just because it is experimental, also because its expensive, but also because i need to fit it in my suitcase on my way back. I had a good talk to the printmaking 'lecturer' yesterday, and we had a little chat comparing both Otago and Utrecht Art Schools. It was interesting, he made out Utrecht to be really more of a 'school' with its cut off times etc. Anyway, we looked at my work and hes always urging me to go bigger...but i feel its unpractical at this point.
And so i have decided that i want to go BIGGER when i get back to NZ. It makes me excited and gives me something to look forward to. Once i feel that i have done a sufficient amount of smaller scale experiments with different combinations of processes..i want to make BIG works! It seems appropriate..one because i need my images to have feeling of overwhelming, unlimited space to move in....but also because making BIG images is soooooo out of my comfort zone! I fear stuffing up, making mistakes and wasting money. And so thats why i want to do it, to overcome a fear and do something new...its a new territory for me..which is what half of my concept is about anyway..finding freedom in overcoming fears, and doing new things. Going through so many galleries while ive been over here, ive been really taken by just how HUGE some images are..and i always feel so insignificant standing in front of them. I always feel like i could never make something that big either. But i want to! Thats the feeling that i want to come across in my work...that feeling of huge, overwhelming, unlimited territory (ie the sky) and our insignificance when compared to it, especially in size. So i want the space to be huge, and the figures to be really really small in it. It reminds me of some work i looked at the beginning of the year, some photographs by Richard Misrach, where these tiny bodies are swimming in the midst of these huge ocean. As seen below.. and these photographs are apparently HUGE. Or the photo below is one i took in switzerland of some parachuters - look how tiny they are compared to the space they are moving in.
I will have to start thinking about ways that i can go about it, depending on what materials i want to use...which i will hopefully have narrowed down by the end of my stay here. But i imagine i will need to continue to experiment back in NZ too. Im not sure how big i will want to go. But i imagine i will want to make full use of how big the printing press goes, i will also want to make use of the largest screenprinting frame...i imagine that i could also work on canvas or hardboard so i gather im pretty unlimited for how big i can go with that. Also if i have a studio..which im hoping i will have a studio wall...im pretty keen to work directly onto the wall. Maybe look into Mural work?
Just some initial ideas, which will hopefully be more resolved by the time i get back to Otago. But its exciting to finally have something that i want to work towards. And it reassures me that everything im doing over here isnt invalid...which i feel quite often.
posted by simone marie at 12:03 PM
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