Grant Searl

On arriving at Liverpool Lime street station, a huge, brightly coloured painting on the wall immediately caught my attention; it was a nice surprise as the walls usually tend to be typically plain with relatively boring advertisements of some sort. It instantly gave the space some form of character, making most passers by stop and stare. The piece was by an artist named 'Grant Searl' who was inspired by the lyrics, words and thoughts of John Lennon. 

Using old artisan techniques perfected over the past 26 years, Grant Searl's skill and craft have been achieved by self application and persistance. Using oil on canvas, 'The Madness of King John' took a total of 214 hours to produce. Having found his own unique style, and with a passion for colour, Searls work has been influenced by nature, architecture, literature, and of course music, resulting in a genre known as Romantic Surrealism.

I havn't come across this arist before but will deffinately look into him and his work further after witnessing this piece; I personally found this piece especially intreiguing, I think the use of colour and unique style plays a majour part in this....The style of work reminds me of an artist I can't seem to recall the name of, which is irritating; although I think it was a great idea to place this on the wall of a train station anyhow, introducing art to people who are not particularly involved with the 'art world' or have the time or patience to visit art galleries.

Portfolio Preperation

On clearing my studio space yesterday of all of my development work for this on going project, today I selected a collection of the works; arranging them in the order of creation and placed them presentably in a portfolio, ready for my final assessment. Further works and photograps from the upcoming exhibition will be added, alongwith appropriate information once the exhibition has finished next thursday.

Megumin Sato

On my return back to university I noticed that there was an exhibition taking place on the Lower Ground floor of the building. Megumin Sato, presented as 'Babie Sato' is a final year History of Art & Museum studies undergraduate who has put together a photographic self-portrait art exhibition; having spoke to her whilst I was looking around the work, she stated that the work was created in her spare time.

'A Girl who Smiles at Confi-dence Crisis' is an exhibition of photographs and collage works inspired by the artists thoughts, reflecting her identity with the message of how it is important to be yourself and to be confident about who you are. The exhibition visualises the artist Babie Sato's definition of being herself, illustrating common ego, desire, imperfections, sensitiveness as a girl and individuality such as the exotic and the quirk.

I found the information written about the theme of the exhibition and work intriguing alone before I even saw any of the work itself....the title and design of the advertisement poster caught my immediate attention, which I think gave me the first impression of a powerful show. On entering the room I was excited to see what was in front of me, the vibrant range of colour usage was the first aspect to catch my eye and my love for collage and photography was quickly followed as I spotted the range of individual pieces placed around the room.

I particularly enjoyed the piece titled 'Fruits on the Street'. There wasn't anything immediately exciting about this piece, it was simply snap shots of bits of fruit found on the street but I found the layout of the collage, the colour range and the randomness of the idea behind the work fantastic. Although I can't say I particularly know what I get from this piece, I have no idea what this piece is suggesting or how it links with the other works but I can wonder and make my own interpretation....I love it anyhow, and this piece alone has left me wanting to follow this artist to see future works and maybe ask for her advice on my own works and ideas. Her e-mail address and facebook account was available for us which I intend to acknowledge further www.facebook.com/babiesato.

Another piece I found instantly interesting was 'Heart Breaker- Confidence Crisis-', which she put together with the collaboration of Justyna Czasnowics (another fellow student).

This piece is very different to the previous, capturing herself rather than an object; whilst taking some of that control away from the artist herself as someone else is taking the photograph. I love the collection of images in this piece; which instantly made me smile, it's definitely got that sense of humour behind it....maybe capturing Megumin's personality. I also think the scale of the piece worked perfectly alone along with the other surrounding works. And again the use of colour works well, limiting the choice; creating a great contrast with the clothes in the photograph and the background painting.

This exhibition and artist hasn't particularly made me think any differently about my own work or ideas but she has made me think about myself, my identity and my own personal confidence; which I suppose is a positive aspect to gain from an exhibition.

Concerns with Materials

On visiting the Student Union again, I noticed that the ceiling of the room I intend to hold my installation is made from a polystyrene type material and so using 'white tac' to hold up each individual strip as originally planned will no longer be suitable as it would not hold. And so now I am un sure of what material to use...I could use something called 'adesive dots' which is a clear sticky form of blu tac although as I would need 2000 of these, it would be too expensive but if using drawing pins to hold up the paper doesn't work well in the material or look particularly great as a whole I will most probably just pay the price as it is definitely the best option.

Exhibition Preperation

On our return to university from the Easter break, today we met up as a group to discuss the final plans for our upcoming exhibition on the 26th April. Our first priority for the day was to print out the advertisement posters (the main large posters on A2 and small hand out leaflets on A5). We placed these throughout the university and on the TV's scattered around the building for further advertisement. We also placed these throughout the Student Union and on the entrance of the main library.

On speaking to another student, we were disappointed to hear that an exhibition with the involvement of over 30 students from our course is on the same date as ours and so the viewing by students and tutors on the opening night will be much limited than it originally would have been. This will definitely effect the outcome of the exhibition and overall atmosphere of the show and us individually but it is too late to change now.

After situating the posters we went onto putting together an event on facebook to send to a large number of people; mainly from the university and different courses  and then we made individual invites to send to friends and family. I also sent an e-mail containing our exhibition information to a few of the second year tutors to forward to contacts we may not have....also reminding students who may have already seen the posters.

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday at the Student Union were we will begin to clear the rooms and spaces that we intend to use for the exhibition; hopefully Jess Green will meet us there to discuss final plans and decide upon arrangements with the food and drink for the opening night. I also intend to begin the set up of my work on this day as it will definitely take a while to hang each individual strip, however two days prior to the exhibition night should be enough time to get this sorted.

After the group meeting I went back to the university to clear my studio space; which holds all of my development work from this project, alongside materials...etc. The majority of this work will be cut and presented in order in a portfolio ready for my final Assessment, along with sketch books, all exhibition information and development, the online group discussion page and my individual blog which has recorded every step up until this point.

Williamson Art Gallery

As I went back home to Yorkshire during the two week break, I unfortunately missed a few of the student exhibitions that I was hoping to see; although I am glad to say that I am able to visit the remaining shows which have been organised for the upcoming week.

However today after a browse for galleries on the Internet, I went on a visit to the 'Williamson Art Gallery and Museum' in Wirral. Although on entering the building I was disappointed to see that the majority of the rooms containing the newer, 'more exciting' collection of works were closed off due to construction and so the selection of works I could actually see was limited. This was disappointing but I took this opportunity to look more into the older collection of works which if I’m honest, I would usually walk straight past as they don't tend to be particularly eye catching....for me anyway. 

 But I am nicely surprised to say that I found a number of the paintings intriguing to say the least. A piece that immediately caught my attention was a sculpture titled 'Liverpool Sky dancer' by an artist named Emma Rodgers. She is an internationally successful sculptor whose work explores the dynamic relationship between form and movement. This piece kept me fascinated and intrigued for some time; I simply love how it appears so unyielding and solid because of the solid, stone and metal like material used yet to me it still seemed so delicate, most probably due to the pose and subtle markings applied onto the surface of the sculpture.

Another artist I found particularly interesting was Philip Wilson Steer; an artist from the 1800's whose collection of paintings were held in an entire room of the gallery. The works were painted almost perfectly and the majority of these were of a huge scale,  

 immediately drawing you nearer to the intricate detail. There was a different quality to these paintings as the age of the pieces have taken effect; cracking slightly throughout the paint. I found this artist alone very interesting, for what reason I do not know and so I purchased the Phillip Wilson Steer catalogue from the gallery 'A very english impressionist' which contains the collection of works that is exhibited at the gallery alongside many others. I may refer back to this collection further along in my blog research.

Michelle Hunt

During a browse through artists and blogs on the internet I came across a Fine Art student named 'Michelle Hunt' who's blog and work alone immediately caught my eye. I found the majority of the statements made really interesting, making me reflect upon the work and my own studies. I particularly enjoyed the section titled 'Obsessive (love triangle) of an artist, where she explained her relationship with art which is released through philosophy and living, giving her art meaning; 'Creating a triangle of Art, Logic and Me'. She also stated 'I feel that art is to ask yourself questions you want the answer to, then through figuring out an answer for yourself you can create a concept that can always be questioned by an audience leading to more questions. And more answers'. I found this point intreiguing alone and read through the majority of her blog. The images of the work is also worth a look into...
 http://michellehunt.posterous.com/