Project Proposal ; Foundation

My previous work for the ‘building a creative identity’ module revolved around the city, the found and/or hidden textures of the city environment. This module was my most successful project so far; as I found new ways of working which helped to loosen my process, and freed-up my style, allowing my ideas to expand and flow more. I also made more effort to have regular check-ins and dialogue with my tutor about how to move my work forward and artists to research in relation to what I had produced so far. I found that throughout the building a creative identity module I developed a more painterly language in my approach, as well as a more aesthetic style; yet in order to progress I think I need to focus more on the development of ideas and concepts behind my artwork, rather than just creating pieces to be visually pleasing.

For the foundation project I intend to focus on the rivers; the Avon and the Dart; as a tool to explore and relate to my desire for a sense of home and belonging within the city. I will use the theme of the river as a metaphor for my ideals of home in order to negotiate deeper into my own growth and changes in my life, growing up in rural Devon, the river dart played a large role in my life; spending a lot of time on the river’s edge with friends and family, I've always considered it very grounding. By moving to Bristol this grounding presence of the river Dart is now gone, replaced by the Avon, so I'm using this project as a way to reconnect and experience nature, nostalgia and movement. So far the artists I’m planning on researching are Terry Setch, Kurt Jackson and Andy Goldsworthy; because of their evident focus on nature and the relation of their work to my own concept.

I’m planning on taking several photoshoots, making sketches, paintings, prints and collages all revolving around this concept; as a resolving piece for the project I’m leaning towards making a large-scale painting, as the majority of my work so far has been on a smaller scale, A3 and less, so it could help my work progress to challenge myself with working bigger. Although I’m also leaning towards making something 3D and more tangible.

At the beginning of my project my plan was to look at the river Avon as it flows through Bristol as well as the folk law revolving around the river. As my project developed I began to look more introspectively looking at how I relate to rivers as a sense of home due to my upbringing by the river Dart. A challenge I faced was the issue of not having a camera available to use; I feel that this became a weakness in my work due to the fact I was using photography and making collages, but the photographs from my phone were not good quality enough to do a larger scale artwork.

I think my favourite part of the project was making my sculpture; I enjoyed experimenting more and trying something new by making it, it was also satisfying to use natural fibres and create a structure with my work.

To improve on my work I would have liked to make more experimental and developmental work outside of my sketchbook, and in future artistic endeavours I plan to do this.