Week 2: Starting out
A bit of primary research
I decided to scrounge for images I had taken in my gallery that could provide some primary research as I couldn’t actually go to a ballet play or interview a ballerina and how different images related to different things.
These 4 images I took at London when it was near Christmas time. The reason I chose these 4 images was because of how they are sculptures in their own forms even though they are made with light. I like how the structure was made well and formed in the shape of animals and they hung the angel between 2 buildings. The light initially attracts viewers and is a clever way to make people become in awe of it.
These images were taken in London in the theatre for Mamma Mia. I put these images as primary research because it links into theatre work which resonates with ballet as it’s typically played in theatres and how it gives of the Renaissance period with the details they put inside of the interior. You can see the details above the stage and how intricate they are. I like how theatres still give off that olden-day vibe and how they still have their own booths that rich people used to pay extra for to sit and watch ballet or any play.
Here is where I went to watch Hamilton play in Manchester and took a picture of the stage. This links in with the above images and how it relates to ballet and how ballerinas would perform on stages like those whether it has stage props or a simple stage to express emotions through dancing and movement. It just shows how ballet isn’t subjective but has now branched out and can be interpreted into anything. Watching the Hamilton play it didn’t really resonate with ballet however it had dancing and singing making sure there were barely any voice lines in between each song and how it was based in the olden era too.
I chose these images for the texture. I wanted to experiment more with texture as I could link it to fabric and its patterns. In the second image, I liked the hexagonal patterns and liked how it reminds me of beeswax/ honeycomb. For the third image, I like how the sand looks and how it has these square-like textures. I like how it looks and how it gives off a crinkled look that are typically seen in fabric when not ironed. For the first image, I focused on the footprint. I focused on the footprint because of how ballet shoes are typically pointed. I wanted to focus on the shape of the shoe and how it looks different to a typical ballet shoe. I like how it’s imprinted into the sand showing the depth of the shoe. If I were to expand on ideas linked to this, I could say that if a ballerina was stepping onto her tippy toes on the sand it could be engulfing her whole as she slowly succumbs to the sand and can’t escape how the quicksand slowly grabs her in showcasing the pressure she holds and how it’s weighing her down.
I went to the National Gallery and took pictures of the interior as it caught my attention. It reminds me of the interior of a theatre and how detailed it was just like in the Victorian era and other eras that had ballet influence that timeline.
This isn’t really primary research however I got this drawing from a friend and took a picture of it to influence my work. I like how she drew the pose dramatically and how you can tell the ballerina is in the zone and expressing her movements clearly.
I went to the Hepworth Gallery and came across this sculpting pottery kit. As I have been focusing on clay throughout my project I thought to add this just to show how I’ve come across some sculpting-related objects.
This is from the Hepworth Gallery in the souvenirs section. Although I didn’t buy these books I thought to take a picture of them as I wanted to do something with clay and I wanted proof that I at least found some references that could help me with the clay part of my project however, these are more pottery type of books and I wanted to make sculptures so I didn’t really research any information about these books.
Feedback
After coming back to college on the first week of our new project, I decided to talk to my tutor about my ideas and how I could go forth with the idea I have planned. Though I didn’t have any initial reference of how I came up with this idea, I thought about music boxes and how it is a ballerina spinning to a sweet tune. I thought about how I could make it a lifesize clay sculpture spinning around or even just have music playing by pressing a button or winding it up in a way. It was a very loose idea so I didn’t have a set idea as I was still experimenting and developing ideas. I also thought that if I made a lifesize sculpture I could make the tutu for it as the fashion feature. I also discussed how I wanted to show the abuse and torment she had gone through and that’s when a peer of mine chimed in and said why don’t I make pins coming out of her but make the ends into gems since she’s the ballerina in the music box coming to life and how typically they normally hold jewelry in their box. Gaining ideas from peers and my tutors has helped me a lot on thinking about what to do further with my concept.
Library Books
I went to the library to see what books link to my ideas like sculpting, any books on ballet, or even fashion.
When coming across books about ballet, the one that kept coming up most was Russian ballet. Serge Pavlovich Diaghilev started a dance company called the Ballets Russes. He created it a century ago which started taking over in the early 20th century. On 19th of May 1909, he finally launched his first season of Russian ballet in Paris which got the audience captivated from the dancing to the designs. After his grand entrance to society with Russian Ballet, he was demanded across Europe so he established the Ballets Russes in 1911 as a year-round touring operation.
Vaslav Nijinsky was an instant success on the Parisian stage from the Ballets Russes’ first season in 1909. He was said to be unforgettable when you saw him dancing on stage as he immersed himself in each role he took on.
Ballet uses the human body to express story and emotions and it typically tends to explore strong stories which helps the dancers express themselves freely. While the dances performed by the Ballet Russes appeared revolutionary, they still took to traditions of ballet productions. Diaghilev gathered a wide range of composers, choreographers, designers, and performers to really bring his production to life. From the start Diaghilev’s ambition was to generate new ballets rather than repeating old ones.
The First World War (1914-1918) nearly destroyed the Ballets Russes as they couldn’t travel to Europe and perform yearly like they always do. The company did not reform until May 1915 when Diaghilev rebuilt it for the first North American tour. The Ballets Russes from 1915-1919 were the most conservative and experimental production. They toured popular works to new audiences in North and South America.
After a brutal civil war, Russia came under Communist control and Diaghilev never returned. The Ballet Russes were no more. Other ballets began to surface at this time in different parts of the world however the designs and colours used in Ballets Russes productions forged a new aesthetic in the 20th century. It changed a lot of things such as theatre, fashion, and even influenced interior design. Ballet from this production continued to be performed in concerts around the world. Diaghilev’s achievements continued to inspire the worlds of art, theatre, music and dance.
Link where I gained information from as well: Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes – An Introduction · V&A (no date) Victoria and Albert Museum. Available at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/diaghilev-and-the-ballets-russes (Accessed: 23 May 2024).
I decided to take pictures of these 3 books although it had nothing to do with sculpting as it was more about pottery.
I didn’t have time to read this book however I researched further about Russian ballet. Here is the information I gathered:
Ballet has been part of Russia since the 17th century when Peter the Great ( Former Emperor of Russia) began a cultural revolution to challenge the West. Ballet was one of those things and it touched people’s hearts and everyone came to love it in Russia. Unlike in France where ballet was secluded to only the wealthy, in Russia, everyone could enjoy ballet and remained in Russia for a long time. Although ballet may have originated in France and Italy, it was refined in Russia where Russian folk dances were replaced with ballet as a part of Peter the Great’s Westernised cultural revolution. It became heavily popular in the reign of Catherine the Great and even Russian aristocrats learned how to dance ballet. As the tsars began to patronize the art form, foreign teachers were brought from France and Italy to teach in ballet schools where later dancers usually came from poor backgrounds or were orphans raised to become ballet dancers. The first ballet school was founded in 1734 while a full ballet company was established in the 1740’s being called the Imperial School of Ballet in St. Petersburg.
Link: Birtles, K. (2021a) A short history of how Russia became the epicentre of Ballet, Real Word. Available at: https://www.trafalgar.com/real-word/history-russian-ballet/ (Accessed: 23 May 2024).
The reason I took these 3 images of those pages is not because it linked in with ballet but because of the clothing. The second image shows how clothes drape and how different clothing are different in the 16th period. I liked how the clothes hung and how they had different types of creases within them. I found it fascinating and the little note the artist had written when creating this artwork also says how he used the clothing to create an effect for the viewers. For the first image, it was the emotion I was drawn to. Although you can’t see his face, the body language looks like he’s in pain or he’s arching backward. It’s confusing but also captivating.
Here are images I have taken about sculptures there’s not much to say other than looking at them and gaining information about them as it is self-explanatory with the little notes next to them. I’m still exploring sculptures as a topic so I haven’t got enough information to talk about what I’m wanting to do further with this.
This is the only sculpture that really caught my attention as it had facial features. I looked closely and saw that it wasn’t perfect to look like a real face but had some deformities like the right eye was hollow but the left eye had one deep hole which is an iris. I liked how it was realistic but had its own features embedded in them.
Chalk drawings
I’ve already really explained a lot in my sketchbook however I’ll follow up later on and talk about the artist I’m researching as he focuses on ballet which is Edgar Degas.
Here is the reference that I got from the master drawing book. There’s a little bit of information on the side about Edgar Degas’s art piece.
Week 2 Overview
I mostly just did a lot of research rather than actually doing any workshops etc. I like how much research I have gathered however I didn’t do much primary research like I hoped I would however it is difficult to find someone who does ballet and interview them. Further along my project I’ll try going to a ballet play or try to find someone who does ballet and interview them on that. Next week we have 1 week holiday however the week after I hope to do some workshops to get my ideas going and to have more full-proof mixed mediums down to see if I want to maybe try something other than sculpting. I’ve also done a proposal to talk about what I have done so far to recap my ideas.
Week 3: Idea Generating
Inking on big paper
For this lesson, our class gathered near big sheets of paper that were laid out for us. We were told by our tutor to just draw anything that links to our concept and to fill up the big pages. We were told to get creative and use different equipment to paint with. I decided to attach 3 paint brushes to a bamboo stick and paint, I then later switched and used bubble wrap to try and paint. I even tried a ruler and flicked ink onto the paper. There were a lot of techniques we could have used to create art but the main aim was to fill up the paper with drawings and ideas. In the end, I quite enjoyed doing this. Although it is messy, I gained ideas from this and how inevitably any equipment I use can be used for art. What I didn’t like was how even though we were told to fill up every inch of the paper, you can’t tell or see what every drawing was as it’s hard to tell.
After inking the paper, we were then told to print out one area of the paper we wanted to paint. I decided to choose the image with the big lightning and paint it. I tried identifying all the drawings but it was hard to identify anything especially when there’s no end and how inevitably all the colours will clash. I painted the whale, octopus, lightning, and jellyfish however the rest was hard to tell. In the end, I had ruined this piece and gave up as I thought it didn’t look nice. I didn’t like the colour scheme I had used and I didn’t like the area of the image I chose as too much was going on. I don’t think I’ll be willing to do this again as it hasn’t benefited my research in any way however next time maybe I should zoom into one area or maybe focus on the background first then do the main parts.
Idea generating with Nut
We were told to use a nut to generate ideas as the company Accu who we are working with sells components and how initially our final piece will be displayed in their new building.
Here is the reference pose I used for Versatility.
I forgot to take a picture of the big nut I used when drawing Versatility but this is the one I used for Estranged.
Mixed media Clothing
We were given options on what outfit we wanted to draw but we had to use different art mediums. I decided to go for this black corset with ribbons behind it. I used black pencil for the corset’s colour and a white gel pen for the lightning striked patterns. I tried using this white liquid at first but it didn’t work. For the bow I used watercolour. In the end, I wish I used different art mediums that I haven’t already used and next time instead of just doing one outfit I should do multiple designs testing out each one with varying mediums of art.
The outfit I chose.
The other outfits I could have drawn and used different mixed mediums with.
Week 3 Overview
I didn’t do much this week unfortunately like I wanted to however it was a good week of idea-generating which will help me explore different options for my final piece. I liked the mixed media piece I did and the nut project i feel like they helped me grasp different ideas which will benefit me for next week. Next week I hope to continue my research and do more workshops to get my ideas flowing.