Art on the move

 Much of the artwork that I produce is either site specific installation and does not exist after the fact or is created for temporary installation, to be exhibited in a number of places and spaces. I create these two types of work as I want to see how text resonates in certain contexts and want to see how each changes the text placed within them.

'hi' is a playful yellow modroc set of letters. They borrow their colouring from road signs and markings to ensure that they are visible out in the real world. Below is the first series of images of 'hi'.

The Road Sign Collection Colouring Book Update 0.2

I have now culled a further six images from The Road Sign Collection completely, see below, due to their lack of quality in line and in text readability.

I have moved a further five images into series two of The Road Sign Collection as they did not fit into the pattern scheme of the book. 

When putting the second edit of the colouring book together I wanted to add an element of organisation and pattern, which had materialised as on each left hand page containing a purely visual road sign and each right hand page containing a road sign that included text, or text and image. The intention is that this will add flow and keep the attention of the colour-er longer. 

The Road Sign Collection Colouring Book Series One

As a result of these changes The Road Sign Collection Colouring Book Series One, now hold 60 original line drawn images. Another change to come will be in the printing, for this second edit I am moving to a hardback, square book. The proof will be in the printing!

I am keen to finish this project now as it feels like it has been a long time coming! However, I want it to be just right and if further changes are needed I will make them.

The Ten Minute Session: Continuous Line Drawing

Description

Unbroken line (do NOT lift the pencil off the page)

Lines may double up

 

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 – and do not remove it – and follow the shape of your chosen object. You can cross over lines and retrace areas if you need to get your pen to a different spot

Task One

Complete a 30 second continuous line drawing

Task Two

Complete a 2-minute continuous line drawing

The Ten Minute Session: Automatic Writing

Description

Automatic writing is a Surrealist technique which allows you to free your mind and create free flowing texts. The technique is said to help you access your unconscious mind.

The results of automatic writing are often nonsensical and sometimes illegible.

The instructions below have been adapted from those written by Andre Breton, a Surrealist Artist.

Instructions

 

1)    Set yourself up with paper and a pen

 

2)    Put yourself in a passive state

 

3)    Forget your genius and talents – and everyone else’s

 

4)    Write quickly without a pre-set subject

 

5)    Do not read over what you have written

 

 

 

The Ten Minute Session: Drawing Circles

Description

This activity is designed to help you become one with your pencil. Complete the tasks below in order.

 

Instructions

•        Do not use a compass

•        Try to use your whole arm and not just your wrist

•        Hold the pencil lightly but move quickly and freely

 

Task One

1. Draw 20 circles

 

Task Two

 

1. Draw 5 semi-circles

 

Task Three

 

1. Draw 1 large circle
2. Fill the large circle with lots of little circles

 

I learnt a new skill: Exploring Lino

Like many people I took the lock down to learn a new skill, the skills I choice to learn was lino cutting/printing.

Before now I do not think that I had every done lino before, even within my art education I only have vague memories of creating etchings (not for me), but no recollection of lino.

I am not sure what drew me to this new skill set, however I think it probably had something to do with my near-obsession with creating collections and repeats and thought that this would be a good way to do that. It also removes any fears I have about my love of repeats and repeats not being originals. As with the print, while they come from the same stamp, each outcome is original and can vary in so many ways aesthetically. 

The process also feeds into the DIY nature of my practice, as I can make something from my hands to use within my practice. Even the inking up and printing allow me to be fully involved. 

I pick some tips up from attendees to an Online Creative Practitioner Support Programme session before I go started. Other creatives suggested that I warmed up the lino before I got started and suggested that I try to keep all my fingers in tact too. 

I decided to use images and text from The Road Sign Collection within my lino prints as a way of developing that body of work and looking at it in a new way. Until now it had been a digital project. 

The trickiest part of the process has been remembering to flip the images, other than that I found using the cutting tool quite easy to pick up and use without any training. My one tip would be to ensure that you use a marker on the lino once you are sure you have the image correct before you start cutting, as this will not rub off while you are working.

As I continued to play with the lino I decided to also create stamps of my font, ACcomplete4, initially this was a way to use up small off cuts of the lino. However, like with the road signs this will allow me to explore the font away from the computer. 

The aesthetic of these is a little more ransom-note-like than I had hoped, given that the initial intention behind the font was to create a type face which felt friendly and approachable. 

The Ten Minute Session: Double Writing

Description

Double Writing is an activity which gets you to write with both of your hands at the same time. This can be a difficult skill to develop.

Outcomes for each hand oven vary and results may be illegible.

Instructions

1.     Set yourself up with two pieces of paper and two pens or pencils

 

Task One

With a pen in each hand try to write your name with both hands, at the same time.

 

Task Two

Now try and write the current date.

Borders: A visual journey

“BORDERS”: A Firstsite Exhibition of work by Ipswich & Colchester Art Societies.

The Ten Minute Session: Emotional Mark Making

Description

Explore different emotions with just a line. This is a great activity to help you explore how to make the most out of your mark making.

 

 

Instructions

1.     Think about how lines suggest ideas, emotions, and movement.

 

Task One

Draw the following lines;

A quiet line

An angry line

A dancing line

A gentle line

A cold line

A calm line

A screeching line

 

Task Two

1. Can you think of any other kinds of lines might you draw?
2. Draw these too

 

 

Repeats: Artist Research

Since developing my lino prints I have become increasingly interested in repeats. This is something has has always been in the background of my practice, as I have often talked about collections, multiples and originals. The use of a print plays into this notion perfectly.

As is increasingly so with my artist-teacher practice, the development has been informed by my art teaching. As I began to put together an 'Intro to Pop Art' course I was reminded of the classic repeats of Warhol and of other that I had come across over the years.

My practice feels as if it is playing into notions of Pop Art, accidentally, as until I started writing a course on it I cannot say that I had given it much thought within or outside of my practice. However, if Pop Art relies upon the use of popular or everyday objects*, then my use of road signs fits that characteristic. The movement also gives a nod to mass produced items, thinks cans of soup...but again this is a parallel I can make with the road signs (and something that I have talked about in previous blog posts).

*On reflection I am surprised that I had not looked into Pop Art before in relation to my own art practice, given that it has always drawn on the everyday.

Abbie Cairns, 2020

One of the things that draws me into the repeats is the intention of them. The process and the decision making behind deciding to make many, rather than one. What does there being more than one add to the piece? And what does it take away? Is it part of the story telling? Or done to fill a page?

This is something that initially drew me to Andy Warhol's Marilyn Diptych, as the repeats are used clearly to depict the narrative of Marilyn herself. While the repeats may not all be identical the subject matter is clearly one of the same.

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962

Looking at the effect that this has on text is interesting as the text used is drawn from shared public language  (Wittgenstein in Kripke, 1984) and the instructions given fall into social contracts that we know to follow (Rousseau, 1998). However, by repeating those words they are then read differently - it is unexpected and gives them a different context. Repeated words can become order like, or mantra like, depending on the tone used and how they are interpreted by the reader. Word choice too will play a part. With the repeat of 'end' for example, the quantitation to that word are already quite negative and so seeing them over and over can make it feel quite daunting. In the print itself there is little context or reference to what it is ending, however the arrows suggest that it could be a certain direction. However, this direction could be real, or imagined, or conceptual. 


The text originally comes from The Road Sign Collection and while already part of a 'popular' culture item, taking the text and repeating it gives it a propaganda edge - like when the circus comes to town and you find whole walls plastered with the same poster promoting the same event, over and over.

Abbie Cairns, 2020

These outcomes reminded me of an artist that I had come across previously, Scott Myles. This print highlights a lit of the characteristics that I have been exploring and enjoying. The use of the repeat, but with each still as an original. 

The use of recognisable text from 'real life' and a colour scheme which nods to the gestures and conventions of signs (Judovitz, 1998), but created as an art object, rather than a fictional sign - and should never be exhibited above a door (Tate, 2020b). I find this playful and enjoy how it elevates the text into the art world, this is what I am doing with The Road Sign Collection. My signs will never make it onto a path or motorway. but they should not anyway, they should be viewed in an art setting away from their original context to allow new readings of them to be undertaken by the audience. 

Scott Myles, Double Exit, 2004

The use of multiple can mean that the reproductions produced lack something that the original has (Benjamin, 2015), however these prints (and hopefully my own too) seem to eschew this as each print is slightly different and original. 

References

Benjamin, W. (2015) Illuminations. London: Penguin. 

Judovitz, D. (1998) Unpacking Duchamp: Art in Transit. University of California Press. 

Kripke, S. (1984) Wittgenstein Rules and Private Language. John Wiley & Sons; New Ed edition.

Rousseau, J. J. (1998) The Social Contract. Wordsworth Editions.

Tate. (2020a) Andy Warhol: Marilyn Diptych, 1962. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-marilyn-diptych-t03093. [accessed 14/04/20].

Tate. (2020b) Scott Myles: Double Exit, 2004. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/myles-double-exit-t11902. [accessed 28/04/20].

The Ten Minute Session: The Development

The Ten Minute Sessions can now be found on ACL Essex social media sites.

Having the sessions shared on this blog was a great opportunity to reach a wider audience. However, it did mean some tweaking in regards to content. In keeping with my role at ACL, as an Art Tutor all the activities are now creative and the activities are also accompanied by a written blog post explaining the benefits and skills gained by completing each session.

Below are some of the session (past and future) which will feature on the blog.

• Intro to line drawing: Continuous Line
• Paper folding, make a secret teller
• Doodle these images
• Draw this
• Intro to line drawing: blind line drawing
• Paper folding, make a concertina
• Automatic writing
• Draw straight lines
• Instructional art
• Memory drawing
• Non dominant hand drawing
• Drawing circles
• Double writing
• Emotional mark making
• Object Tracing
• Nature mandala art
• Intro to line drawing: Contour drawing
• Make a cube

The Ten Minute Session: The Initial Idea

I wanted to create The Ten Minute Session to get us all doing something creative, to bring a little joy and to spark some conversation in the mist of the Coronavirus lock down. Given that there is no time frame on this situation I have just tried to come up with as many different activities as possible, in the first instance I have around four weeks worth. Going forward I will continue to try and come up with new activities, however I am also open to revising some if an adequate amount of time had passed.


The Ten Minute Sessions consist of fun quick 10 minute activities - some arty ones, some mindful ones and are hosted across social media, with those joining in encouraged to shared their results. 

Search: #TheTenMinuteSession

I had tried to do these as ‘live activities’ around 6pm every day, from Monday 23rd March 2020. However, if participants could not in live, they are encouraged to add their contribution whenever they could!

I also wanted to develop this idea as the more I develop my art practice the more I see how important it is to me, for it be socially engaging. Activities like those feature in The Ten Minute Session allow me to explore this.

There are parallels with instructional art here, it is very much art-come-teaching, with tasks being set and participants completing them. This perhaps is not too unexpected, given that a lot of the activities I have included have been adapted from classroom delivery (albeit in most cases shortened considerably!).

The similarities do not stop there, as when planning these sessions I also used a basic session plan to keep the information consistent; topic title, instructions, resources needed* and developed accompanying handouts too.

*Given these activities are being designed to be completed in peoples homes I wanted to ensure that the  minimum amount of items where needed for each task; most only need pen and paper. Hopefully meaning that the activities are as accessible (and complete-able) as possible. 

The Ten Minute Session Topics

Week One

Intro to line drawing: Continuous Line

Yesterday
Scavenger hunt
Paper folding, make a secret teller
One challenge I have overcome today and how 
Doodle these images
Weekly Goal Setting

Week Two

Draw this
Intro to line drawing: blind line drawing
Word association
Paper folding, make a concertina
What is your daily routine
Automatic writing
Did you achieve your goal set 29th

Week Three

One thing you want to make time for this week
Draw straight lines
What have you done for yourself today, what can you do for yourself tomorrow
Portraits guess who
Share your self-care ideas
Drawing circles
Build the tallest tower 

Week Four

Non dominant hand drawing
One thing that is going well now, one thing to look forward to
Instructional art
Design a character
Share your self-care ideas
Double writing
Share a manta quote that keeps you going

However,  my initial plans changed around week one, as another blog asked me to provide them with ten minute activities. This opportunity would mean that more people would be able to access them.

More on that later!