I.T.A.P week nine: 7.12.2010

1. From Novice to Expert
2. The Experts

The terms ‘Novice’ and ‘Expert’ can mean different things to different people, but generically a novice know nothing or very little about a subject, while an expert is well-educated and experienced in a subject. However, some people may regard themselves as experts because they have a vast textbook knowledge about something – but little or no actual experience, which I think puts them much closer to being a novice than they might like to admit. To work towards being an expert you need to put into practise what you've read, explore it and get involved with it.

The best example for this is The Diamond Sutra; the oldest book ever discovered – first printed in 868AD, it was printed by using silk and wooden blocks; from here onwards we have discovered and learnt new ways to make and print books – from Korean moveable metal type in the 1400’s, right up to just a few decades ago when the first inkjet printer was created in 1976.

In my personal opinion, I’d put myself roughly between competent and proficient on the Novice-to-Expert scale, possibly more towards competent. I feel that although I am comfortable in my work and able to make my own decisions, there are times when I do need guidance or support in order to progress with my work.

Practitioners who have been working in their field for a number of years, and have explored their subject in great detail are by no means novices, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t continue learning – no matter how long they have been working for – no one is ever unable to learn something new, and that is what is amazing about humans; we are able to push boundaries that at one point couldn’t even have been imagined, for example, when we thought that book printing and writing was at it’s peak, a whole new angle was opened up with the invention of the computer and the ease at which people can write and view books without ever having to lift a pen.

From the experts that have been shown in this lecture, I’d have to say that my favourite is Zuzana Licko as not only is her typography work very interesting and she has successfully created a number of her own typefaces, but she also appears very down to earth and very aware of the changes to her practise, she’s quoted saying “integrating design and production, the computer has reintroduced craft as the source of inspiration” which I think means that using a computer in your work is fine, but there is a point where we can depend on them too much; the main example I can think of would be Photoshop; practitioners managed to design on computers well before Photoshop came along, so why do we rely on it so heavily now? 

I.T.A.P week eight: 30.11.2010

1. How can you add text to change an image
2. How text can influence our emotions

 It’s unusual to see how much text can affect and change an image – without it I think that photographs are left open to personal interpretation and judgement, unless of course the subject is strongly portrayed within the image; such as the work of John Heartfield and Peter Kennard – quite different artists from very different lifetimes, but their works really drive home their strong political, anti-war, views in a manner that I think everyone can relate to.

“In the American West” by Richard Avedon

Avedon started his career as a fashion photographer, working for big magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar for a number of years, before choosing to also branch out to portraiture, he believed that it was possible to capture and view the soul and personality in an image.

 He photographed a number of famous faces as part of this, but his biggest and best regarded collection is numerous black and white photographs of miners, oil field workers and ‘drifters’ living and working in Western America, along with teenagers that are growing up in this area. Just from looking at the photographs it’s easy to see that these people must have interesting stories to tell, but there is a tiny gap between the viewer and that story in that Avedon never included text in his work; and although I think that it’s a shame that we don’t know more about these people, the photographs are still striking and interesting in their own right.

If we were presented with a picture of, for example, a car park or an unfamiliar housing estate we wouldn’t think anything of it – it would just be a photo of a car park or a housing estate. But if text was then revealed explaining that the site in the photo was the scene of a tragic murder our feelings about the image would instantly change as our emotions took over; this technique is exactly what one photographer put into practise, although I cannot find any other examples of his work – I can provide some of the photos of the victims of the ‘Cambodian killing fields’ that were in this lecture. 

This tragedy occurred when Cambodia was under a strict Communist rule; anyone who defied this rule in anyway were taken to S-21, a school that was turned into a prison, to be horrifically tortured and then killed. Often their families were sent to this prison as well to prevent them from avenging their loved ones deaths.

 

In the book that these photos can be found in there is text that explains who these people are and what happened in Cambodia, but without it you could quite easily compare the photos to those taken by Richard Avedon in West America.

I.T.A.P week seven: 23.11.2010

It takes more than just a creative mind to produce innovative and exciting work, the space in which you work in is just as important; as it can provide seemingly endless inspiration through the collections and ideas that are often stored there.

My workspace when I’m in Birmingham is always my room; although it’s cluttered and messy it is a very personal space filled with seemingly unimportant objects and pieces of paper. I can’t work at a desk very well, so I tend to spread my work out on my bed and do my work there instead. But when I go home to Sheffield it spreads out even further and I can easily take over my bed, or any available floor space.

I’ve figured that I work this way because when I sit at a desk and try to work, I feel cramped and like it restricts the flow of my work and ideas. Whereas sitting on my bed or on the floor means I can spread out, throw things around and just generally be free with myself and my work.

A workspace that I have found particularly inspiring is that of Sarah Coleman; as unusual as it sounds it’s wonderfully cluttered, yet everything seems to have a space – there’s so many intriguing objects and drawings scattered around; it’s actually the kind of area I’d aspire to be able to work in; everything there is within arms reach, so that no matter what manner of inspiration it is, when it strikes it’s easy to put it onto paper.

The focus behind Overcoming Mindsets is breaking routines, although some routines are very useful in how we manage our time etc. routines within idea development is something that needs to be avoided as eventually it can leave you in a very tight and restricting comfort zone.

 The main problem I have with habitual thinking is the way I develop my RVJ; I have problems with seeing a variety of possible ideas – I jump at the first one I have, which I worry may be starting to lead me down a path of similarity. I also have times when I am easily influence by outside factors that I don’t want to mix in; if I’ve been working on a personal piece I sometimes end up trying to bleed that idea into my projects, no matter how irrelevant.

I think the best way for me to begin to relax my habitual thinking is to not get so tense about finding a good idea straight away and being more open to allowing my thoughts and ideas to change and develop at their own rate and direction.

I also believe that I may be settling into a comfort zone that keeps me in a similar area each time I am given a project – by taking a brief step back to observe my comfort zone it would be possible to slowly push my boundaries and extend my skills.