15/05/2012

I have reviewed all of the work I have done for this project and conceptually tied everything together to explain my work. 

The theme of my work explores the concept of the influence. We are all influenced by a matrix of personal and societal pressures some which we can control and others which are beyond our control. Influence is the effect of something or someone on an individual it is the power to sway by means of argument, by example, or force of personality.

This work explores the theme of influence and is in turn influenced by the remarks of Oscar Wilde who states in The Picture of Dorian Gray that “Influence is simply transference of personality, a mode of giving away what is most precious to one’s self.  To influence a person is to give him one’s own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. He becomes an echo of someone else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him.”

Through my work I have been considering influence and its effects on the individual from the perspective of both the influencer and the influenced and also focusing on the action of influencing and the resulting reaction. I am interested in the dual aspect and contradiction of influence to which Wilde refers because if we are influenced by and in turn the influencer of others, we experience both loss and gain and that which is both natural and unnatural to us.

 Harold Bloom explains the reaction of the individual to influence as causing anxiety in his book The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry and my work attempts to explore these reactions with the pieces either influencing each other or generated as a reaction to the concept.

The main aim of my work is encourage the viewer to analyse their own position within society and their relationship with others. It invites the audience to consider concept of influence and reflect on whose echo we are or if we are an actor in the part written for us or if we are playing someone else’s role. 

01/05/2012

Images of work from the last week. I have been developing my 3d pieces further. Firstly by smashing the glass panel.

I have then been printing from these pieces developing the 2d prints into 3 d pieces. The 3d forms can be moved and manipulated and the viewer can take on an interactive role of the influencer.

I have also been adding glass to vessels I have been thinking that these will become half of book one half representing the influencer and the other the influenced or action and reaction. 

The layers represent our environmental influences which build up on us and shape who we are and what we become over time.

I have also been enlarging the earlier geometric shapes that I was working with and the first one reminds me a face. I therefore tried this process using and old drawing to see if a more complex shape would have a good result.

28/4/2012

There are only about 4 weeks to deadline now so with all promotional materials done I feel it is time to make final decisions on outcomes for this brief.
I have a large piece of glass to smash and the concept of this ties in with John Locke's view that we are all born as a blank sheet without marks on us and that it is only our environment and influences that make us who we are, how we are nurtured. My glass sheet is a metaphorical blank sheet and the smashing of it makes me take on the role of the influencer. I make the marks on the glass but I do not have total control of how the glass will react. This is were the nature of the glass takes on a greater role.
I will use this sheet of glass as a plate for printing and the concept of this stems from Oscar Wilde's comments in Dorian Gray as the reaction to influence. The plate being the influencer and the print an image taken from the influencer and so being the influenced. Mirroring the influencer and so playing a part not written for them and so loosing something of the natural self. To influence someone is to give away part of yourself to be influenced by another is to lose part of yourself to become an imprint of another.
I am also still working with the 3D forms from my last post want the to become moveable objects with the  viewer and manipulate and influence. I should have any loose ends tied up by this week.

17/04/2012

This week I have been working on my promotional materials: business cards portfolio and website. For studio practice I have been making plates for printing and exploring the concept of layers using string and 3d layered paper forms.

I am exploring the concept of influence and I have been thinking about all of the things or people that influence from day to day these influences build up in layers layers to make us who we are. There is movement in these pieces so the I can influence the shape and form they take so there is a certain amount of control involved and it can be thought of in two ways. The influencer can control the movement and so become the dominant force. The layers can also represent the layers of influence built up by the influencer but the influenced is in control of how these layers are shaped and moulded.

I have been developing the concept of layers of influence and ripples of influence with glass and I may take this further.

Plates made from string.

This week I will be using these for embosing and I have made several different plates relating to ripples layers and Bloom's six revisionary ratios.

03/04/12 Weeks 11&12

I have completed my essay so I am now able to focus entirely on studio practice. I have several things I am working on at the moment. Embossing was successful and I am making more plates with different designs inspires by Harold blooms six revisionary ratios in reaction to influence. I have also been continuing to print from glass plates creating several ghosts prints from one plate.
I will be using this further in my final work and at the moment I intend to use six of these plates made from laminated glass with the initial blows made by people who have influenced me. I will then continue the breaking process taking inspiration from Blooms work.
I am also still working with layers in both paper and fused glass and I will also be exploring this further.

20/03/2012 work week 9 & 10

I have been experimenting with materials for the last couple of weeks. and I am mostly concentrating on layers and continuing circles to explore the concept of influence. I have made these vessels from one continuous piece of string the layers are built up similar to the way our environment and personal influences build up over time to shape and make us who we are.

With these pieces I have also been thinking about moving ripples from 2D to 3D. I have also been incorporating light with these forms.

Next I have been working with layers of paper this piece can be moved changing the view

when looking down into the centre. If influence builds up in layers this piece is a means to look back through these layers. I have also been experimenting with light and this piece.

Finally I have been thinking about Harold Bloom's varying definitions of influence and the anxiety it causes and the resulting defencive reactions. They are to react in the complete and exact opposite of something, to break a continuous process, to move towards the sublime in reaction to the sublime, to remain in a state of solitude, to resurrect what has gone before and swerving in reaction against repetition or to correct.

I am continuing to explore these statements and have been making plates for either embossing or printing. 

week 8 08/03/2012

Working on essay this week. looking at 4 things valuable to contemporary craft practice. Tradition Influence the handmade and authorship of the bespoke desirable item. Not so much done for practice. Just working with drawings and layers and distortion.