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Robert Davidson

Module: introduction to personal practice- multi-layering and translating my own poetry into visual images

Title: 12,000 words

This collection was based upon translating literature such as my own poetry into visual imagery. I decided to do this by screen printing onto ply wood and cut out the shapes to make it into a three dimensional multi-layered collage, I chose to do the prints on ply-wood because it gives a lot more depth to the work, which relates to the depth of the literature.

500 word evaluation

My personal unit has been based looking at language such as poetry or quotes and creating visual imagery based on it. I decided to do this within the mediums of digital imagery, collage and screen printing, due to my strongest points being in working with photography and computers and discovering some amazing looking mark making that can be achieved with screen printing.

I started my unit by looking at multiple poets such as Christopher Poindexter, R.M. Drake and Edgar Allen Poe and researching into specific poems that intrigued me. I found that poems which were based upon the feelings of loneliness and change over time were the ones which had spoken to me the most and I started working on my own poems and translating them into visual imagery to go along side them. Using the mediums of pens, watercolours and multi layering I started to develop my style within my sketchbooks.

I then wanted to develop my work further so started planning for large final pieces in 3D, using wood I created boxes with grooves inside that would be used to hold planks of wood each with patterns on and be cut into to reveal parts of the wood behind it, creating a 3D collage, I then researched into different ways of which I could show the patterns on the wood and looked into painting and laser cutting but ultimately decided upon screen printing, of which I had to relearn a lot of the techniques and spend hours and hours refining my work until I could get it right. One of the reasons I had chosen screen printing was because I had been influenced by another artist who involves poems within his work called Rob Ryan, and although he didn't work in collages I found his style and his poems amazing and something which I would like to allow to adapt my work.

One of the reasons I have presented my work within wooden three dimensional boxes is because of Heidi Anderson , whom had used the same general style although to a much smaller scale with paper inside frames and managed to capture great pieces of work in a collage style and the shadows from the gaps gave an extra element of depth that made the work look even more special which I wanted to include within my own.

I encountered numerous problems which I had to overcome whilst making my final pieces such as delays in getting equipment and building things to a wrong size and having to redo but in the end I believe that my work is of a high and professional standard befitting of any gallery space whilst still being successful in capturing what I wanted to show my audiences, and that is using powerful imagery and bold colours alongside poems to help visualise specific emotion.

Yorkshire sculpture park day out

Our fine art class had went on a trip throughout the yorkshire sculpture park, being guided by an artist and being told about the various sculptures throughout. There was a large variety of different work but the most prominent and shown off was that of Henry Moore, which was shown with in a three roomed gallery space and held a lot of his huge sculptural work as well as various sketches of his plannings as well as some of his actual equipment which had been used within his work.

Walking throughout the fields there were sculptures littered amongst trees and large areas making use and working with its spaces. One of my favourites out of all of these was Julian Opies running horse, which was presented on a large computer screen. It shown just the outline of the horse however its movements was extremely fluid and looked anything but robotic from even though its outline was drawn with bright white LED lights.





After lunch we had been given an variety of different objects and told to make sculptures based on given words, in my case it was light and dark, and with my partner we presented it with an abstract figure committing suicide by hanging to show the dark, and a rainbow in the background to show the light. It signified the audience could see the man with the rainbow, however he was stuck looking at the audience, being judged in a manner of speaking, and only seeing the negativity, but however if he changed perspectives and looked around he would also be able to see the rainbow, and the way out as it were.

Rob Ryan- poet screen printer

 Rob Ryan is an artist whom cuts out patterns and his own poetic words from coloured paper and then scans it into a computer, once done he prints it out onto acetate paper and screen prints

I find that his work is extremely different from others as he shows them within his own books and create stories on the imagery which touches upon the feelings of both love and loneliness, often through stories which at first seemed aimed at children from their simpleness, however I find that the simpleness of it emphasises the point of the words and makes it have a bigger impact upon on the audience.

I have taken influence from Ryan's work due to also screen printing and may think about incorporating the words into my designs which works extremely well in the way that he has shown.

poetry- my unit

My unit is based on creating visual art from literature, I have looked at various different poets and philosophers and looked into other artists of whom involve words into their art or base their art from it. My art will hopefully create the same kind of emotions within the audience as that of the poetry that goes alongside it.

Heidi Anderson

Heidi Anderson is a digital artist but what interests me most about her work is the way she presents it, she uses multiple layers and cuts her work up in to a collage styled art piece, and with the multiple layers it gives a better grasp of depth and gives it an extra element. I may try to recreate this with my own art based on poetry, by incorporating multiple layers of paper and working different patterns over each when I set them up one over an another and cut gaps out of each, it should leave a very interesting and hopefully aesthetically pleasing final design.

Ian Hamilton Finlay

Ian Hamilton Finlay is a Scottish artist who makes art around words, usually in stone, which I find gives an eternal feel to his art. Like it will survive the test of time and his message will live on. Other pieces of his work is based around imagery with a specific word signified for it, such as his poster like art work with aviation planes and the word Lullaby. I may be influenced by Finlay by instead of making art based on poetry but instead make it based on the actual words and display them in an unusual fashion.