My key thoughts/realisations/reflections are highlighted in yellow in my blog posts. There may be several in each blog.
Learning Outcome 1:
Formulate, describe and implement a challenging and self-directed programme of study, relating to your Study Statement.
(Assessment Criteria: Enquiry)
This is my Study Statement which outlines the ambitious programme I intend to follow over the course in order to ‘give the unvoiced, a voice.’
Mapping allows me to dump all my thoughts in one place for easy access. It keeps the imagination flowing and spontaneous. One of the Tuesday lectures discussed mapping and the diagrammatic imagination. Blog post 29 MA Tuesday Lectures.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/12/29/ma-tuesday-lectures/
A key area of my practice is storytelling. Stories are easily accessible and enjoyed by everyone.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/12/13/37-storytelling/
Christianity must have had great appeal due to the many stories told of every day events familiar to the listeners. Stained glass windows in churches also told stories: it allowed illiterate people to understand. Most religions use some form of storytelling.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2024/02/04/bali-visit-to-an-art-museum/
I am developing work based around issues of social justice. In order to make this concept easier to manage I have used historical themes that appeal to me and, I hope, to a wider audience. If I make the subject interesting it may lead the viewer to question and put their own perspective to my work. But I want to be able to communicate the concept to people who do not visit galleries or ‘get’ art. At the moment I’m learning about all aspects of arsenic. This was historically an important financial by-product of tin and copper mining which was vital to Cornwall’s past economic wealth.
See Blog 18 Arsenic the Poison – various stories.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/11/09/18-arsenic-the-poison/
Having looked at the historical context of arsenic I am interested to see how it is mined today to give a contemporary context. Have we just exported the mining of arsenic to the Third world? Out of sight out of mind? The theme is a means of highlighting social justice in relevant way in a contemporary world.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/10/26/5-thoughts-on-arsenic/
Learning Outcome 2:
Implement appropriate working methods for building an independent and effective self-organisation that enables the critical engagement with practice-based research.
(Assessment Criteria: Process)
I like to find an interesting subject that I can use to highlight social justice themes. This keeps my practice relevant and allows the often multi-media work to hang in an exhibition space as a cohesive whole. The initial research is critical to the outcome and also determines the process of each individual piece of work depending on the stories I find.
I accessed funding from FEAST (supported by the Arts Council) to put on my exhibition The Spike in September 2023 and also Kresen Kernow this May 2024. Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro have agreed an exhibition later this year. I’m working on building followers on my Instagram platform and plan to build a website to showcase work.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2024/02/14/kresen-kernow-redruth/
Multi-layering work is an important aspect of my practice. This is often done digitally but I have also experimented using tracing paper and also adding paint to digital prints. Blog post 12 shows images made in procreate linking photography and paint in layers.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/10/26/procreate-digital-work/
This semester I have continued layering photographs, paintings and other relevant artefacts in Procreate. See Blog post 15 showing layering of images.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/11/03/playing-around-with-stories-and-layering/
I have also tried using AI to generate an image of a woman using the words ‘arsenic, pauper, woman’. This gave me a starting point for a small portrait which I then proceeded to layer with wallpapers in Procreate. Blog post 6 Experimental work.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/10/10/6-experimental-work/
I have produced a series of postcards made out of old aluminium printing plates representing aspects of the arsenic story. I have used PVA to transfer William Morris wallpapers to the plate and overpainted them. Blog post 38. https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/12/14/38-postcards/
I am also learning to make objects using porcelain in order to highlight a story about poisoned partridges. See blog 43/47/50.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2024/01/13/49-porcelain-partridges/
During the rest of this semester I will also be using the medium of green soapstone to carve a piece of work. I’ve booked a glass-making class this week to portray aspects of the arsenic story. I have successfully carved limestone previously but have never used glass as a medium.
By researching I found an interesting group of artists from the 1950’s called the ‘kitchen sink painters’.
These artists set their work in familiar home settings. Some of my own work replicates this and I will research this area more fully. It linked well with my own image Mother’s Pride and Strawberry jam which I have printed out onto a Dibond board and am overpainting with oils.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2024/01/02/45-further-research-and-practice/
Another area that I wish to explore is making an installation. I like the idea of a dome representing the arsenic labyrinth and perhaps people reaching up to modern day products using arsenic. Blog post 45 describes this.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/12/29/potential-idea-for-installation/
The final area I am currently working on is making a short film to be projected onto the inside of the arsenic labyrinth in situ at Botallack. I plan to project a dancing child reaching up to the ceiling to represent scrapping off arsenic. Blog post 10 Artist lecture Pat Naldi inspired me to look at making a film in situ.
In this Blog post 13 following my 1:1 tutorial with Jonathan I describe the film I would like to make and project onto the walls of the arsenic labyrinths.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/10/27/first-11-tutorial-with-jonathan-kearney-27-october-2023/
Using a full range of mediums allows me to keep my work spontaneous and vital.
Learning Outcome 3:
Communicate a critical understanding of your developing practice.
(Assessment Criteria: Knowledge, Communication
One of my stumbling blocks has been working out what constitutes ‘fine art’. Doing my A level Art in the late 1960’s it seemed to mean adding paint to a canvas. The art critic Arthur Danto tried to define this following Warhol’s ‘Brillo Box’ exhibition in 1964. He stated: “What in the end makes the difference between a Brillo box and a work of art consisting of a Brillo Box is a certain theory of art. It is the theory that takes it up into the world of art, and keeps it from collapsing into the real object which it is.” My own work is full of research and this is one of the most important aspects of my practice. I like to know the facts and the reasons for the works’ existence. Allowing the viewer to engage with and bring their own experience to my work has to be the main criteria for success.
The ability to discuss work and interact with other students is invaluable. The weekly lectures and talks from artists allows me to see my practice through a fresh lense and continually adjust my work and use different mediums.
Following my exhibition The Spike in September 2023 and a similar one arranged for May 2024 I reflected upon the meaning of the work and why I was particularly drawn to the theme of Fanny Moyle, the nurse. I was quite shocked to see how much of a parallel with my mother’s and grandmother’s lives was revealed. I hadn’t thought of it in those terms when I embarked on the subject.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/10/01/4-reflections-on-the-spike-exhibition/
Communicating the research and the complexity of the issues I am studying has to be at the heart of my final output.
Blog post 38. The importance of exploration and rabbit holes.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/12/19/38-rabbit-holes/
Blog post 40 discusses the complexity of social activism and how to reach people without words.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/12/21/40-interesting-artists/
Reviewing all my blog posts has been a great way of keeping those nuggets of understanding in an easily accessible way.
I’ve enjoyed researching other artists working in the area of social justice. In particular the work of Ben Shahn and the photographer Dorothea Lange. Blog post 23 Ben Shahn and Robert Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg collages and gesturally adds paint to his work. This is something I plan to do with the Dibond print I’ve collaged using Procreate as I feel I have to add another layer ie paint.
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/11/15/23-looking-at-other-artists-and-social-justice/
I’ve also realised just how politically motivated I am (even though it makes me angry to see so much political ineptitude). This and my volunteer work at the Citizens Advice bureau keeps me well-stocked with relevant social justice topics and passion. Probably too much!
https://terryeual.wordpress.com/2023/12/04/31-more-from-citizens-advice/
I am fortunate in my ability to visit exhibitions in London – recently Philip Guston and locally at Tate St Ives (Barbara Hepworth) and Tremenheere where there is a regularly changing programme of events. This allows me to look at actual work and how artists visually excite the viewer to engage with them.
This course is allowing me to really develop my practice and make me reflect on the way I wish to proceed.
Terrye Teverson MA Fine Art Digital 