Kathe Kollwitz And Her Presentation Of Conflict.

Embroidery for my ‘Then and Now project’ which is my own design inspired by Slovak folk patterns. It is embroidered onto a blouse which will go with a skirt (that I am currently working on) :)

Fabric and eggs dyed using onion skins :)

My main piece for the project ‘A distance forms around our bodies. Inspired by Hasegawa Tohaku’s misty forests and Charity Henderson’s blurred faces. It is oil on canvas and I stitched a veil on top of the painting to give a sense if mystery and distance inspired by Monet’s painting of his dead wife Camile and the veiled busts of the 19th century.

What does the Sagrada Familia’s form tell us about its function?

Antoni Gaudi, La Sagrada Familia, Basilica

The Sagrada Familia is a basilica that has been under construction since 1882, designed by Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi dedicated his life to this masterpiece and near the end of his life he even lived in the Basilica. When Gaudi died in 1926, only a quarter of the construction had been completed. Construction is estimated to be finished by 2026. 

Gaudi was always inspired by natural forms and once said ‘originality consists of returning to the origin’. He stayed true to his words and did not include straight lines in his designs as nature has no straight lines. The Sagrada Familia is one of the most well known buildings designed by Gaudi and inspired by the natural world. It’s function is to be a place of worship, however Gaudi uses the idea of nature to uphold religious values and reflect biblical moments. The inside of the Basilica has been designed to look like a canopy of leaves while the pillars, which are 22 metres high, are intended to look like huge tree trunks. So that inside it feels like a forest where the canopy allows a lot of natural light to shine through. Another fascinating feature of the Sagrada Familia are the two main facades. One façade is the Passion façade, and the other, the Nativity façade. These two represent the birth and death of Jesus Christ. On the Passion façade, the stained glass windows are green and blue, which when the sun shines through them, drench the whole Basilica in blue melancholy light, to reflect death. On the other hand, the windows on the Nativity façade are red and yellow which then allow orange light to shine through to represent birth. These aspects of the natural world are used by Gaudi in his architecture to give the impression that we are in a natural space. 

The Sagrada Familia’s appearance reflects the importance of the natural world and brings us closer to the origin which is nature itself. When approaching the Basilica from the outside, you feel overwhelmed by the monumental scale of the construction and the details of the façade. This building gives an instant impression about it’s function, as a place of worship, glorifying something higher and sublime.

~I have used my own photos.

Sources:

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/spain/articles/15-amazing-facts-you-need-to-know-about-la-sagrada-familia/

https://blog.sagradafamilia.org/en/divulgation/stained-glass-windows-how-they-were-created/

https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/gaudi/sagrada-familia.htmlhttps://time.com/sagrada-familia-barcelona/

Completed garment for my ‘Then and Now’ project. It is inspired by a traditional Slovakian ‘Kroj’. I used my blue print fabric which I made for the skirt and embroidered a blouse with a floral design inspired by Slovakian folk patterns.

Landscape art, Jeanne Claude and Christo.

Wrapped Trees, 1988

‘Wrapped trees’ by Jeanne Claude and Christo, is a unique piece of land art. The two artists worked together and were an art duo which focused on large scale artwork throughout their careers. Claude was from Morocco and Christo from Bulgaria, they were both born on the exact same day in the same year on the 13th of June 1935 and got married in 1960. Their artwork focused on wrapping up huge man made structures or huge natural structures. One of their most famous works was wrapping up the Reichstag in Berlin in 1995 which took 90 climbers and 180 installation workers to complete. This was done with polypropylene fabric and rope. Another piece that they are particularly well known for is wrapping up the West Coast of Australia in 1968. The fabric covered one million square feet, its size shows the sheer scale in the work of Claude and Christo. 

The piece of land art ‘wrapped trees’ was created in 1988 and took 9 days to complete. 178 trees in a park in Riehen in Switzerland were covered by transparent fabric, and this artwork was left up for 3 weeks. The original plan was to wrap 330 trees in the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris, however their plan was denied. The trees were wrapped with 592,015 square feet polyester fabric which is the same fabric used in Japan to protect trees from frost, snow and general winter weather. The fabric was all tied on just by using rope. The finished piece is very effective and the trees look ghost- like, mysterious and out of the ordinary. The fabric changed shape slightly and blew in the wind, at different times of the day, different colours light and different intensities of light would shine through the polyester fabric. This created a diaphanous effect which allowed all of the individual branches to be seen. The piece of land art was up in November, so the start of winter once all the leaves had fallen off of the trees. This allowed the branches and main structure of the tree to be seen clearly. The fabric also shrouded the trees in a way that gave the impression of the shape that all of the leaves would take if they were there. This use of negative space almost highlighted the absence of the leaves which gave a ghost-like quality to the work.

Christo once said “Jeanne-Claude and I borrow space and create a gentle disturbance in it for just a few days. When they appear for a few days, they carry this tremendous freedom of irresponsibility.” This quote reveals a lot about the intention behind the work of the artist duo. After all of their work, Claude and Christo made sure that the ropes and fabric that they used were never thrown away but recycled. It is possible that their work overall reflects the alteration of the natural world for our human needs; it could be a message about climate change and the environment. On the other hand, the work ‘wrapped trees’ could be about the fact that nothing lasts forever and everything is fleeting. The artists have to take their work down eventually, if they don’t then they would be intercepting with nature. In the quote, Christo talks about the ‘freedom of irresponsibly’. The artists had the freedom to put their work over the trees but then it is their responsibility to take it back down. This may reflect the importance for everything in nature to return to its natural state.

References

https://christojeanneclaude.net/mobile/projects?p=wrapped-reichstag

https://coveringchristo.wordpress.com/rationale/

http://www.artnet.com/artists/christo-and-jeanne-claude/

https://christojeanneclaude.net/mobile/projects?p=wrapped-trees

https://coveringchristo.wordpress.com/rationale/

Printmaking workshop,

We printed with oil based inks after sticking the design onto some board, by using the printing press. I photocopied my favourite coloured print and reversed its colours on the photocopier, I love the colours that came out, pinks, purples and yellows. I also really enjoyed creating the black print and printing it out onto coloured paper which I think looks really effective. Overall, it was interesting to try out these new processes.

Social comment and Anish Kappor.

Anish Kapoor , ‘A Brexit, A Broxit, We All Fall Down.’, Photoshop, 2019

This photoshop piece by Anish Kapoor is as curious as it is controversial. It depicts a huge open wound running through the middle of the UK splitting it in two. The bright scarlet of the fresh blood of the wound and the green of the countryside starkly contrast each other. The huge black space in the centre, looks like an emptiness that may expand. The piece is striking full of juxtaposition and I think that it also mirrors xenophobic attitudes. It is without a doubt controversial which echoes much of Anish Kapoor’s  work. He studied at Hornsey College of Art and later at the Chelsea School of Art and Design and was born in Mumbai in India.

The piece was specially commissioned by the guardian newspaper. Anish Kapoor has called the piece “A Brexit, A Broxit, We All Fall Down.” The Irish Times stated that it looks like a  ‘photoshop project by a sullen teenager phoning it in’, people on social media have also commented that the artwork looks like a vulva. However there is more to the work than meets the eye despite the fact it may look simple. Kapoor is known for his anti-Brexit views which are mirrored in this piece and has let the piece speak for itself by not revealing any information about its possible meaning.

The deep hole seems to have no end, alluding to the political situation with Brexit which has been going on for 4 years straight with almost no solutions. The wait for some sort of deal has felt endless which I think is possibly what Kapoor wishes to convey in the work. The wound is also running through the centre of the UK, which is maybe representing the Brexit vote with almost half of voters wanting to remain and half voting to leave, I think it means that this artwork is  showing political divisions. Kapoor is known for his use of the ‘blackest black’, one of his most famous pieces “Descent into Limbo (1992)”, a 2.5 metre hole was dug and coated with a deep black for an exhibition in Portugal and a man actually fell into it. This idea of an uncertain void is prevalent in his photoshop artwork. A profound blackness which looks terrifying and precarious. Anish Kapoor has often commented on Brexit and has said “We’ve allowed ourselves as a nation to enter a space of unknowing” referencing the great unknown which is the political situation.

In my opinion, this artwork by Kapoor challenges society in a unique way. The wound could represent the impact that Brexit has had on the lives of British citizens abroad and EU citizens in Britain, complicating their livelihoods unnecessarily. British citizens living in the EU are now feeling alienated from their home country. Travel restrictions may be put in place and it is becoming more apparent that certain freedoms may be taken away from each individual. This has deeply wounded relationships between Great Britain and the EU and these wounds can not be healed easily or will bleed forever.

References:

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/art-and-design/visual-art/anish-kapoor-s-brexit-art-it-looks-like-a-transition-year-photoshop-project-1.3848177

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/apr/03/anish-kapoor-brexit-artwork-britain-edge-abyss

https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/41032/1/man-fallen-into-anish-kapoor-artwork-hospitalised-descent-into-limbo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anish_Kapoor

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/brexit-prejudice-scientists-link-foreigners-immigrants-racism-xenophobia-leave-eu-a8078586.html

Recent lino cuts for my project re-connection. Looking at folk stories in modern day contexts. The top right lino cut was inspired by the Russian folk story, Vasilisa The Beautiful and the second lino cut (top left) was inspired by the Mexican folklore character La Catrina who is a symbol of The Day of The Dead.

Lino cut which I am currently working on. Inspired by folk patterns around the world to make one design