Weekly Reflection 19/4/18

I decided to go in early on Tuesday morning to allow myself extra time in the library to build on my research file, which was an effective use of my time. I photocopied several excerpts from books I spent the morning reading and studying the imagery, which I have filed into my physically documented research 'file' (book). This has now been annotated, and I have worked further from my research, revisiting the artists I came across through my research in books on their personal websites online, such as Nils Karsen.

I worked through lunch, which was an effective way of managing my time as I was in an extremely productive mood, allowing for a continued and steady flow of work production. I updated my bibliography after my morning in the library to ensure I am staying ontop of everything I need to outside the physical work, and have now began to document my day in the form of an online daily evaluation. I am now planning to spend the rest of my evening reflecting upon my time plan, updating it from the previous few weeks during easter when it was not looked at, and editing the next few weeks accordingly. I have also made a list on my phone on the notes page (as I do increasingly more often as a way of managing uncompleted tasks and thoughts in my head) of things I need to do both this evening, this week and next to be transferred onto my time plan.

The second half of today from around 1:30pm onwards (when I finished work in the library) was carried out in the studio, where I spent a small amount of time finishing my annotations of the photocopied research, and the rest of the time working on progressive preliminary experiments for one idea for my final piece. This idea consisted of the use of the jigsaw pieces, where I traced round an image printed a few weeks before easter in the student print shop of my friend Lizzie, as I had this print spare and wasn't planning to use it as an A3 print anymore. I then cut around the puzzle piece shapes, initially with a scalpel however when that proved ineffective as I did not have a steady enough hand - or perhaps enough experience using the too intricately - I used scissors to create the pieces. I was initially worried that the effect produced by using the scissors on the paper was too rough and look very amateur, however after a conversation with Sam (fine art pathway leader) I decided that the effect was acceptable in the context I was using the cut out pieces in. This is because Sam made me realise that in this particular experiment, I am not intending for the puzzle pieces to be used or handled up close in any way, and it is therefore obvious that I am re-appropriating the puzzle into a piece of artwork. It is more the concept of the puzzle pieces being used in whichever way i choose that is important, as the way I am cutting the shapes makes it inevitable the artwork will achieve a "home spun" aesthetic that has not been manufactured, however I am now happy and accepting of this aesthetic.

I had several discussions this week with the technician Kev about the logistics of my work, calling into question the available scale and material of my final piece. The outcome of the conversation leaves me with a condensed view of what is achievable, which will be beneficial when selecting the final idea for my final piece by Friday this week. Kev told me that it wasn't possible to laser cut the mirror tile I was hoping to cut into puzzle shapes, and that actually it is not possible to cut into those shapes using any process as the glass is scored and then snapped to shape it, which means it can't be snapped into a curve. Therefore if I want to work with mirror tiles at all, I am going to need to order them as a pre made object online. I am aware this mean I will need to make my decision of materials for my final piece very quickly, as delivery times may vary on certain materials I may need.

Combining mirror tiles, distortion and puzzle pieces with example face (own photography)