nature notes

The Herbert art gallery nature notes exhibition

This exhibition focuses on nature and how it changes throughout the seasons using mostly taxidermy and some paintings along with a sensory table for each season in the centre of the room. I attended this exhibition to hopefully to gain insight into natural forms and textures such as furs and feathers. The major factor in choosing to go to the exhibition is my theme of technology in which this exhibition focuses solely on nature therefore fits into part of my theme. All of the taxidermy used is form animals that died of natural causes.

Spring

Spring is the time of birth and nesting therefore the exhibition therefore the case representing spring was filled with taxidermy of young animals and nests of various types of birds. Each creature had a number and corresponding label. What can be observed from the spring table is that the furs of younger animals are far finer and also in many occasions darker in colour to match the earth below making it harder for predators to distinguish them while the learn of their surroundings. The sensory table consisted of a taxidermy rabbit and tubs containing artificial scents of the animals themselves and buttons that played sounds consisting of the calls of young animals and birds. The sensory table was interesting as visitors were actually allowed to touch the rabbit’s fur.

Summer

During the summer time the young of organisms are raised and taught 

To fend for themselves, summer is also the time in which rescores are most abundant as plants are able to photosynthesise more than in any other season, however the main risk of the hot summers is the risk of dehydration in both plants and animals. The case displaying summer consisted of mostly birds as this is when migrating birds visit England to take advantage of the abundance of recourses, thus greatly increasing the bird population, insects also take advantage of this and provide food for birds and featured in a smaller separate display case. Springs sensory table had a taxidermy mouse which could be stroked gently to feel the texture of the fur, while birdsongs and insect calls could be herd when one of the buttons on the table was pressed.

Autumn

This display was my favourite of the four showing a combination of mammals and food sources such as berries that animals gorge themselves on to prepare for the cold, fruitless winter. Within the main case was an adult fox, badger, rabbit and mole showing fully grown creatures allows for a comparison to be made with the first case, also the animals observed within the autumn case were bigger than I thought they would be, for example, the fox stood way above what I thought it would be, the badger also was taller than I expected. This case was useful because it allowed for the viewer to compare how animals have changed from spring to autumn form the colour of fur to the size of their bodies, giving the viewer a good representation of growth. The sensory table featured a taxidermy fox upon touch was surprisingly soft as I expected the fur to be far more coarse, while the sounds were of a fox, badger and other shown animal calls.

Winter

Like summer the winter case also consisted of mostly birds as more iconic winter birds such as robins become more visible as many birds leave to warmer climates, also there are many types of flora and berries that provide as a food source for wildlife. The sensory table in the winter display included a crow and other various animal sounds and scents, the crows feathers were soft to touch also the bird was larger than expected also the details of the feathers were more visible as it is almost impossible to be that close to a crow in the wild.

Summary

As this exhibition consisted of mostly taxidermy it could not be used to examine art techniques, however this exhibition has been useful to observe and document natural form as the textures of feathers and furs can be seen and also the colours are also visible allowing for a close up view of wildlife. The paintings within this exhibition mostly consists of watercolour studies of plants, this is not entirely useful in terms of techniques however some of the other paintings do use some interesting techniques such as printmaking and oil paintings to depict natural forms. Overall this exhibition was useful to allow me to study natural forms and how colours and forms change throughout the seasons. The sensory aspects of the exhibition were very interesting however my main criticism for these is that I was not able to perceive the scents that were contained in boxes very well and found it hard to distinguish them from each other though other people did not seen to have this issue, therefore I have not included them in the season paragraphs, despite that I did find the sensory tables quite useful as it has allowed me to further my knowledge of the sounds of various animals and of the textures of their fur and feathers.

nature notes

The Herbert art gallery nature notes exhibition

This exhibition focuses on nature and how it changes throughout the seasons using mostly taxidermy and some paintings along with a sensory table for each season in the centre of the room. I attended this exhibition to hopefully to gain insight into natural forms and textures such as furs and feathers. The major factor in choosing to go to the exhibition is my theme of technology in which this exhibition focuses solely on nature therefore fits into part of my theme. All of the taxidermy used is form animals that died of natural causes.

Spring

Spring is the time of birth and nesting therefore the exhibition therefore the case representing spring was filled with taxidermy of young animals and nests of various types of birds. Each creature had a number and corresponding label. What can be observed from the spring table is that the furs of younger animals are far finer and also in many occasions darker in colour to match the earth below making it harder for predators to distinguish them while the learn of their surroundings. The sensory table consisted of a taxidermy rabbit and tubs containing artificial scents of the animals themselves and buttons that played sounds consisting of the calls of young animals and birds. The sensory table was interesting as visitors were actually allowed to touch the rabbit’s fur.

Summer

During the summer time the young of organisms are raised and taught 

To fend for themselves, summer is also the time in which rescores are most abundant as plants are able to photosynthesise more than in any other season, however the main risk of the hot summers is the risk of dehydration in both plants and animals. The case displaying summer consisted of mostly birds as this is when migrating birds visit England to take advantage of the abundance of recourses, thus greatly increasing the bird population, insects also take advantage of this and provide food for birds and featured in a smaller separate display case. Springs sensory table had a taxidermy mouse which could be stroked gently to feel the texture of the fur, while birdsongs and insect calls could be herd when one of the buttons on the table was pressed.

Autumn

This display was my favourite of the four showing a combination of mammals and food sources such as berries that animals gorge themselves on to prepare for the cold, fruitless winter. Within the main case was an adult fox, badger, rabbit and mole showing fully grown creatures allows for a comparison to be made with the first case, also the animals observed within the autumn case were bigger than I thought they would be, for example, the fox stood way above what I thought it would be, the badger also was taller than I expected. This case was useful because it allowed for the viewer to compare how animals have changed from spring to autumn form the colour of fur to the size of their bodies, giving the viewer a good representation of growth. The sensory table featured a taxidermy fox upon touch was surprisingly soft as I expected the fur to be far more coarse, while the sounds were of a fox, badger and other shown animal calls.

Winter

Like summer the winter case also consisted of mostly birds as more iconic winter birds such as robins become more visible as many birds leave to warmer climates, also there are many types of flora and berries that provide as a food source for wildlife. The sensory table in the winter display included a crow and other various animal sounds and scents, the crows feathers were soft to touch also the bird was larger than expected also the details of the feathers were more visible as it is almost impossible to be that close to a crow in the wild.

Summary

As this exhibition consisted of mostly taxidermy it could not be used to examine art techniques, however this exhibition has been useful to observe and document natural form as the textures of feathers and furs can be seen and also the colours are also visible allowing for a close up view of wildlife. The paintings within this exhibition mostly consists of watercolour studies of plants, this is not entirely useful in terms of techniques however some of the other paintings do use some interesting techniques such as printmaking and oil paintings to depict natural forms. Overall this exhibition was useful to allow me to study natural forms and how colours and forms change throughout the seasons. The sensory aspects of the exhibition were very interesting however my main criticism for these is that I was not able to perceive the scents that were contained in boxes very well and found it hard to distinguish them from each other though other people did not seen to have this issue, therefore I have not included them in the season paragraphs, despite that I did find the sensory tables quite useful as it has allowed me to further my knowledge of the sounds of various animals and of the textures of their fur and feathers.

brick wonders

Brick wonders

This exhibition consisted of sculptures made solely made of Lego bricks, these sculptures all range from about 30cm to about a metre with most of the sculptures featuring natural environments and geographic monuments such as pyramids, Chinese pagodas and temples all made entirely of Lego. Held in the Herbert art gallery this exhibition also consisted of two dimensional pieces that are constructed to look almost like 8-bit paintings on a very large scale. All of the pieces are made by several artists who combined all of the monumental pieces into a stop motion animation which follows a photographer as he travels through various monuments.

Notable pieces

All the monuments within this exhibition are worth mentioning as notable pieces as they are the larger and more detailed of the pieces. These include:

London bridge

This features the first bridge built to span the river Thames at its peak in which it was incredibly busy as there were no other means of crossing without the aid of a boat in addition to the residential homes that were also visible on the bridge. This sculpture shows the bridge in all its glory highlighting the bustling city very well.

Great pyramid of Giza

Showing the pyramid still under construction this large display highlights the epic scale of the build to create the giant pyramid and also the harsh and arid working conditions that the workers had to endure while the pharaoh remained safety within the shade.

African savanna

Showing a high density of wildlife in comparison to the amount of space in which they are spread this showcases the diversity of plant and wildlife within the African savanna, most of this display feature more of an arrangement of Lego foliage than a display of structure. Spanning about just under a metre this display is not one of my favourites.

in addition to the monuments there were other sculptures featuring other natural and manmade phenomenon such as the hoover dam and Niagara Falls that were not included within the monuments section as they were of much smaller scale, however the largest display featuring an airport was very impressive as it was indeed very large and also very detailed taking up at least two metres in the smallest dimension.

Favourite

 London bridge

My preferred piece is a replica of London bridge as it most appeals to my personal taste of historical British architecture. This piece depicts London bridge at its busiest showing just how crampt the space was as it was heavily built upon leaving only about twelve feet of walking space from the two story buildings on either side in addition to many small boats traversing the river Thames below. I love how concentrated this piece is how it focuses the bustling streets into a smaller space, also the use of woody colours and greys to show the structural differences and variation in single colours to show textures such as brickwork.

Least liked

The smaller pieces were less impressive as they were only around 30cm and consisted of rooms such as a surgical operating room in addition to a syringe and a pill, they were the simplest of the pieces the surgery however did achieve its goal of appearing as though it could have come out of a drama by depicting a surgery in progress from a bird’s eye angle with a surgeon and figure watching from the outside but lacks the intended intensity as it is made of Lego. The issue stated is the only real issue with the piece other than that it is just as impressive as the rest of the sculptures.

artists

artists

the chosen artists all represent different aspects of my theme of technology and nature, showing them separately and together. the most prominent theme within this document will be nature as this is a more common theme within art, and as a result it will be most likely that nature will also be more prominent within my art, however I will aim to include a greater quantity of technology. because technology and nature are often viewed as opponents and in contrast I aim to present them in a more unitive way.

Christopher Gasparian still alive

using the human from to create sculptures made of wire and sometimes including mud rock to add greater detail, the sculptures often feature either a full body or a bust in which the wire is used to create a basic frame that is then coated in more wire wrapped horizontally and jaggedly around the frame to create the full sculpture complete in a human form, around many of the sculptures is additional wire that encases some of the sculptures for example in one piece the additional wire is used to entrap the figure in a matted net that surrounds the figure randomly. the metals are dark and placed somewhat randomly giving them a far more intimating presence. Most of these sculptures seem to have some representation to an element of entrapment as materials like wire of often used to bind create enclosures, while the darkness of the metal hints toward more negative emotions, also the poses of the sculptures also reinforce this as they are not what most would consider a natural pose that does appear to be uncomfortable.

Judging from the tittle of the title and the art itself this hints toward perseverance within human nature and using the drive to survive to endure through a dire situation with the entanglement of wire representing both physical and emotional trauma in which can be overcome through perseverance.

In relation to my theme of technology and nature this is the most loosely connected as this refers to a more physiological element of nature in which focuses primarily on how a person may be/feel trapped and how we all try to survive and despite all we are still alive.

In my opinion this style of art is very close to my preferred style of sculpture using wire and mud rock to from partially realistic forms making them an interesting subject that draws the eye, also the strong representations within each piece makes them worth a lot more to me.

mads Petersen the anatomy of tech

By combining biological elements with electronic devises the artist has depicted them as similar to nature as they run like organ systems and are able to carry out a function or multiple function like the organ systems in our own bodies, also by putting them together in a way that continues the design of the electronic device he has juxtaposed then using a verity of hot and cold colours like pinks and blues alongside the dull greys and polished blacks making the two elements stand out astoundingly well showing the difference between the two. The strong juxtaposition is incredibly effective as the two elements he uses are very different but also ironically similar as they both carry out functions but in ways that are both similar and different combining technology and nature in function.
The style that this artist uses is realistic but brighter and more simplistic using digital mediums to create his art, for example the controller lacks detailed texture but the basic textures are visible also the colours are more outstanding like the teeth and connecting tissues have stronger shades of red and blue making the entire piece more vibrant. The transition between device and organ/organ system is abrupt like in a biological diagram in which layers of an organism is shown from an angle that gives the best view, also buttons and other such receptors are left in place but shown connected to nerves or tissues that connect them to the device but as part of it like an eye in a camera.

The style of his art is very bold and stands out against the white backgrounds using bright colours in a simplistic style to draw the eye of the viewer to compare the dull and bright colour palettes which is a style that works best when using digital mediums. Also because of the digital nature of his art the actual subjects are far more relevant and eye catching.

His art connects to both elements of nature and technology using organs and other innards to represent technology as organisms highlights the similarities of various gadgets and living creatures in a juxtaposing way, also by presenting them in a way similar to a biology diagram enforces this highlighting the organisation of the biological components within the devices, also by using a white background he supports the appearance as an unlabelled diagram while drawing attention to the central image.

This style of art is my favourite of the three, as much as I love sculpture, this style represents how I portrayed nature and technology almost perfectly. Also the use of digital medium is preferred by myself as I do enjoy using software such as Photoshop and such alike that. Also this the most relevant in literal terms as it.

Andy Goldsworthy

unlike the two preceding artists Andy Goldsworthy uses shapes such as spirals and other abstract shapes to give an aesthetic appeal to all of his pieces that can reflect emotions or the very essence of nature itself, the materials that he uses in his art are almost always natural with his most famous pieces being made from leaves and ice in which he places the leaves in a chromatically order with the darkest on the outside and fading into the lighter shades before using a solid black centre to break the harmonious colours, the ice star on the other hand is made by fusing various icicles to a central point having all the edges jutting out by heating the bases and refreezing them to create a delicate but sharp sculpture. Using the leaves, a lot of his sculptures have somewhat of a psychedelic appearance using natural forms and making them appear unnatural while the ice is delicate but appears like an effective weapon, from this it is apparent that each piece has a different meaning and connotation attached to it, however they do all strongly connect to their season for example the ice like winter is sharp and cold but often short-lived and fragile.

Andy Goldsworthy’s art mostly relates to the natural side of my theme and also the elements of sculpture that I intend to use. His art is a great inspiration for colour and creative use of natural material to give an appealing aesthetic, however this does not connect to any aspect of the technological side to my theme.   

Through the years Andy Goldsworthy has been mentioned and taken inspiration from on many occasions during my fortnightly art activities during the years I was home educated however I had never had the chance to use his art as inspiration for any larger projects.   


Pollyanna Pickering   

The poppy field

Published to commemorate Pollyanna's 2012 exhibition of work at the National Memorial Aboretum this painting features Pollyanna’s favourite barn owl, Angel amidst a field of poppies. This painting depicts British wildlife using a photorealistic style, to achieve this level of detail Pollyanna uses gauche paints which are similar to oil paints but also to acrylics, allowing for far richer colours than acrylics but taking less time to dry than oil.

This painting in particular was chosen not only because it is an increasable depiction of nature with beautiful levels of detail but because it represents Pollyanna as an artist with her close connection and love of birds of prey and the British countryside as well as being personal to her showing one of her owls. 

Overview

Spending the 15 years of her career tending to her licenced wildlife sanctuary in the peek district in Derbyshire which specialised in birds of prey, however locals would often also bring various woodland animals such as foxes or even badgers, and as a result the had to care for more than just raptors. Most of the animals brought in to the wildlife centre were orphans that were raised and rehabilitated on site with those that could not be released in the wild spending the rest of their natural years in the sanctuary. Over the years hundreds of birds and mammals were raised, Cared for, and rehabilitated by Pollyanna Pickering. However as her artistic career expanded she decided to downsize due to spending more and more time away. To compensate for this she set up the Pollyanna Pickering foundation to help aid wildlife even if she wasn’t there in person.

All of her paintings feature photorealistic wildlife scenes such as landscapes and mostly using mammals and birds as the centrepiece to each of them to create a stunning beautiful extract of nature, in addition to this all of the creatures that she paints have been witnessed by her in their natural environment refusing to paint anything she hasn’t seen with her own eyes adding a very personal aspect to her art making it more desirable with each piece being connected to a different trip or inspiration.

The Patchins art festival is where I met Pollyanna personally in which we discussed her art as well as more casual topics before asking Pollyanna to fill in a short questionnaire which can be found in the evidence folder. I love her art as because of

     

art summer project

Art summer project

Introduction

For my second year of art I have decided to use themes that have been a major influence in my life and have always piqued my interest, these themes are technology and nature referring to comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences using the styles of different artists along with the colours and textures of both technology and nature.

Chosen theme

After considering multiple ideas I have chosen the theme of technology and nature using elements primarily associated with juxtaposition to bring the two subjects together, also the two themes have a major impact on each other in the real world and that can be a focus within art allowing for multiple interpretations of this theme. The reason this theme was chosen overall is because both technology and nature are both major influences within my art and also my greatest point of interest as both are the result of both natural and unnatural selection as both adapt and change to the world around them but in very different ways that can be illustrated using juxtaposition. Nature and technology are both very broad and have many applications ranging from the saving of lives to the destruction of lives and all in-between.

Nature represents all things that are the products of millions of years of natural selection and elements that have existed longer than the earth itself and shows itself in a variety of forms, textures and even sounds and is perceived in many ways by different cultures in which it is resected, feared and even worshiped which I intend to show throughout the year. Nature is not only a physical theme, it is also physiological as nature can be shown for example in the behaviour of an organism that allows it to fully utilise its physical feature and not only survive, but thrive even in the most unforgiving environments.

Technology is both the same and the opposite as nature as the evolution of technology is completely controlled instead of left to the hand of chance, because of this technology changes much faster than natural organisms, also technology is created by humans therefore technology can only be related to nature to an extent as it was formed by organisms unless a religious perspective is taken then in that case then mankind is essentially the gods of our creations that have potential to have as much variety as the five kingdoms of organisms.  

Primary research

The primary research from technology and nature will be from either visiting various art exhibitions, personal experiences and the subjects of IT and biology.

Technology

The main research from the technology will be from observational studies of the systems provided for the information technology course in which I have access to, knowledge obtained from taking notes from lessons in IT. Also by utilising the technology which I have at home can be considered primary research. The main art gallery that can be visited for this topic would be the Coventry transport museum as it focuses in the advancement of technology used in automotive and devised used to enhance user experience, the centrepiece of the transport museum the thrust ssc is a primary example of technology as it was created to break the sound barrier and be the fastest land vehicle created and now is exhibited in the transport museum. 

Nature

The primary research for nature would be visiting and taking photos of natural environments such as walking trails and exhibitions meaning that most of the research regarding nature will be primary such as photos of environments and animals, also photos of people will also be primary.    

Secondary research

Secondary research is gathered from external sources such the internet, books and by word of mouth, for example during my information technology lesson I am required to research using various sources such as the internet and book information, biology especially requires information from a book. The research that I have gathered have been knowledge from lessons and internet research, such as the structure and functions of technology. In terms of biology mostly books were used to provide a visual understanding of the subject.  

Art summer project

Introduction

For my second year of art I have decided to use themes that have been a major influence in my life and have always piqued my interest, these themes are technology and nature referring to comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences using the styles of different artists along with the colours and textures of both technology and nature.

Chosen theme

After considering multiple ideas I have chosen the theme of technology and nature using elements primarily associated with juxtaposition to bring the two subjects together, also the two themes have a major impact on each other in the real world and that can be a focus within art allowing for multiple interpretations of this theme. The reason this theme was chosen overall is because both technology and nature are both major influences within my art and also my greatest point of interest as both are the result of both natural and unnatural selection as both adapt and change to the world around them but in very different ways that can be illustrated using juxtaposition. Nature and technology are both very broad and have many applications ranging from the saving of lives to the destruction of lives and all in-between.

Nature represents all things that are the products of millions of years of natural selection and elements that have existed longer than the earth itself and shows itself in a variety of forms, textures and even sounds and is perceived in many ways by different cultures in which it is resected, feared and even worshiped which I intend to show throughout the year. Nature is not only a physical theme, it is also physiological as nature can be shown for example in the behaviour of an organism that allows it to fully utilise its physical feature and not only survive, but thrive even in the most unforgiving environments.

Technology is both the same and the opposite as nature as the evolution of technology is completely controlled instead of left to the hand of chance, because of this technology changes much faster than natural organisms, also technology is created by humans therefore technology can only be related to nature to an extent as it was formed by organisms unless a religious perspective is taken then in that case then mankind is essentially the gods of our creations that have potential to have as much variety as the five kingdoms of organisms.  

Primary research

The primary research from technology and nature will be from either visiting various art exhibitions, personal experiences and the subjects of IT and biology.

Technology

The main research from the technology will be from observational studies of the systems provided for the information technology course in which I have access to, knowledge obtained from taking notes from lessons in IT. Also by utilising the technology which I have at home can be considered primary research. The main art gallery that can be visited for this topic would be the Coventry transport museum as it focuses in the advancement of technology used in automotive and devised used to enhance user experience, the centrepiece of the transport museum the thrust ssc is a primary example of technology as it was created to break the sound barrier and be the fastest land vehicle created and now is exhibited in the transport museum. 

Nature

The primary research for nature would be visiting and taking photos of natural environments such as walking trails and exhibitions meaning that most of the research regarding nature will be primary such as photos of environments and animals, also photos of people will also be primary.    

Secondary research

Secondary research is gathered from external sources such the internet, books and by word of mouth, for example during my information technology lesson I am required to research using various sources such as the internet and book information, biology especially requires information from a book. The research that I have gathered have been knowledge from lessons and internet research, such as the structure and functions of technology. In terms of biology mostly books were used to provide a visual understanding of the subject.