A Four Lettered Word - Part Two

What I love about the use of light in this kind of outcome is how it changes the work completely. In the day time it is very much four pieces of paper stuck into some windows with some electrical tape, but once the sun goes down and the letters are illuminated they change completely. 

The thing that struck me was that I was actually harder to take the photos in the darker night sky, the camera wanted to correct the lighting and wanted to turn the flash on. I explored two kinds of light; white and blue and have not yet decided which I prefer. The blue photographs easier, but what does the colour add to the reading of the work?!

Going Forward

The intention is to create a collection of Four Lettered Words. It will be interesting to push four lettered words to the limit and to see what can be created with them. 

Currently my letters are made from paper and are only really good for one use, so going forward I might explore making this in something more durable, such as wooden board. This would also mean that they could exist in other contexts and be moved and re-organised into new words.

The print idea has taken a side line for the moment as I work on building up a collection of words first.

The Ten Minute Session: Blind Line Drawing

Description

Look at the object, not looking at the paper

Draw with the eyes, allow the pencil to trace what you see

 

Instructions

1.     Pick an object that you have to hand; a cup, your phone

2.     Set yourself up with some paper and a pen or pencil

3.     Look at your object carefully, decide where you are going to start your drawing from

4.     Put your pen on the paper – do not look at the paper – and follow the shape of your chosen object with your eye and more your pencil to follow your eye movements

 

Task One

Complete a 30 second blind line drawing

 

 

Task Two

Complete a 2-minute blind line drawing

A Four Lettered Word - Part One

A Four Lettered Word was inspired by a piece of work that I created for the @lockdownandlight exhibition which took place virtually during the COVID-19 lockdown.

For this virtual open call I created light text which showed the message of 'here' (one of my favourite words to work with, due to its links with time and space and 'nowness'). This was a temporary light installation, captured, uploaded to the internet and then removed.

When considering what to create going forward this Four Lettered project came about.

The two things to overcome are; what word to use - keeping in mind that I have four windows and am therefore limited four letter words (get the title now...). I did not want to use smaller text to include more letterings as readability is key, also by having one letter per window I can easily plan for the spacing between the letters being equal.

The next thing to consider is how to make something that in its nature is temporary into something tangible. They become photos, that is how they exist, but can I elevate them beyond that? The solution here could be prints. This is not something that I have explored before.

The aspect that I have on my side this time around is that it is getting darker much earlier, meaning it should be easier to take photos of the work. Lockdown and Light took place in the summer and outside never seemed to get that dark - darker the outside, brighter the letters.

Word Choice 

I have been working with four lettered words for a while now, as I had been exploring their use within my lino work (again, ruled by the length of the lino). 

Word choice for this outcome could not be random, it needed to be full of meaning and it needed to draw upon our shared public language to make sense to others.

I landed on the word home, it felt fitting as that is where we are spending most of our time. It is simplistic and its reading is open to infinite amounts of interpretation. 

The Ten Minute Session: Draw This

 

Description

Follow these instructions to create your own work of art.

 

Task one

Instructions

1.     On a piece of paper draw a large circle

2.     Inside the circle draw, towards the bottom of the circle draw a semi-circle

3.     In the top left quarter of the circle draw a smaller circle

4.     In the top right quarter of the circle draw an identical circle to the one you just draw

5.     Outside od the circle draw a straight line going from the edge of the circle to the edge of you page, every 1cm

 

Task Two

Write your own set of instructions for others to follow, post them below. 

Developing a Peer Support Programme: Part Three: Online Creative Practitioner Support Programme

 I've not talked about the Creative Practitioner Support Programme on here in while so catch up with part one and part two first if you like!

Like with everything in 2020 the Creative Practitioner Support programme had to move online due to COVID. For the programme this transition was not too painful and in the end quite rewarding.

The main reason we were able to make this transition quickly was that we already had an online home, our Facebook Page, which allowed us to easily make contact with our attendee. We did not miss a session and went straight online the week of lockdown, letting our attendees know we would be there for their creative outlet needs!

There where changes to our online delivery

• We went from hosting 2 sessions a month, to a session every week
• We explored Zoom before Facebook introduced Rooms
• We were able to extend our offer to those outside of Colchester/the surrounding area

The main difficulties came from the tech (as always!), getting people onto Zoom, Zoom cutting out after 40 minutes and then once we moved to Facebook Rooms the issues of attendees not having Facebook accounts!

As we get use to the 'new normal' (sorry), the Creative Practitioner Support Programme sessions have gone back to twice a month, giving attendees time between session for their practice to grow.

One of the benefits that has comes from online offer has been the ability to grow our community, but also for our community to take more ownership of the Facebook Page. The page, unlike our in-person offer, is active 24/7 and attendees can - and do - post outside of our scheduled sessions. This is great as it allows for creatives to access advice and support whenever they need it and it also allows conversations to carry on over a longer period of time.

It will be exciting to see what happens with the Online Creative Practitioner Support Programme going forward!

If you would like to join us, give the Facebook Page a 'like'.