Ann Goddard, 'Under Concrete'...

This installation was impressive by its presentation and how many pieces were there. The contrast in materials intrigue me, Ann Goddard uses thick concrete that captures the fragility of the fine felted cotton paper used. The neutral coloured paper in contrast to the dark, dullness of the concrete screams a distinction that wants to be known. Ann Goddard uses her chosen materials to represent and “make reference to the fragility and vulnerability of ecosystems”. In most of her work Ann Goddard uses assemblies of materials that show the human impact on landscapes.

 

Jean Draper, 'Falling-Fallen'...

The structure of these pieces is what fascinated me to them, the way the ‘branches’ lie uncontrollably and loose on top of each other- the name seems appropriate. The ‘twigs’ look burnt with some areas of the ‘twigs’ reddish, the ‘branches ‘ fall unsystematically on one another creating heaps of what looks like to be burnt ‘branches’. Jean Draper used this exhibition to represent the thousands of trees that lay to waste by a devastating forest fire.

 

Paddy Killer, '26@62+26 snippets'...

Paddy Killer has been a member of the 62 group for over 26 years so for this exhibition she created 26 life-size snippets of previous pieces that she has exhibited over this period of time. Paddy Killer illustrates her work using her drawing and painting skills and bonding these individual squares on silk. I like the contrast between the delicacies of the silk fabric against the sharp detail from the snippets. I was amazed when looking at these detailed snippets, she controls her drawings to the finest detail, a lot of time and patience must have gone into this. This piece does not have a function. This piece is different to what I normally like, this piece is flat, does not have a function, contains only detailed drawings, however, I do like the idea of this piece telling the artists journey through time.

Shuna Rendel, 'Pleated Rhythm 2'...

I have previously seen Shuna Rendel’s work before exhibited in the Oldham Gallery and I was inspired by it from then on, so to my surprise more of her work was exhibited in the Holden Gallery with similar aspects to it. ‘Pleated Rhythm 2’ presents repetition of the pleats that are constantly twisting and folding, the chosen colour palette is harmonious and natural looking this fits in with the material used. Shuna Rendel explores flexibility and movement in every possible way; she makes simple line and form and transforms it into excitement just by exploiting materials flexibility. Its structure changes movement through manipulating the material and simple actions of twisting, pulling, turning etc.

'Peace'...

“Nature can be inspiring and can help people to deal with personal difficulties. Cranes are large birds that feature in the legends of many cultures. In China and Japan they symbolise long life and good luck. There is a story that if you fold a thousand paper cranes your wish will come true. Sadako Sasalki was a young girl when an atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, in 1945. She became ill because of the radiation from the bomb. Sadako wanted to be healthy again so she tried to fold a thousand paper cranes. There is a story that Sadako’s friends and classmates helped her fold the paper cranes. Sadako said of the cranes “I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world”. Today, paper cranes are the international symbol of peace”.

 

Mark-making...

The photograph above was taken at Quay House where MMU 3rd years presented their work. This piece caught my eye through it's use of colour and by the fact it was created through print- one of my favourite areas of study. Using colour in my work has always proved difficult as I always think it makes me work look tacky, cheap and unrealistic but this piece includes none of these aspects. This piece is an experiment that led to a final piece that involved colour and pattern, the patterns created look randomly made and the colour used is subtle. This type of experiment reminds me of watercolour paints blending and merging with areas of water creating subtle yet exquisite detail, almost creating patterns similiar to ones that can be made using marble inks, like my version below created from using just black marble inks.

Imagining-It Exhibition...

I took alot of images from this exhibition, some of these pieces were done by friends of mine. Surprisingly I really enjoyed this exhibition, most pieces really interested me, mainly through the techniques and materials that the artists used.
The image above was a close-up of my friends work, Helen Birchall. As I already know her work and what her interests are, her final piece really did her justice, it displayed her interest in systematic grids, pattern and making connections between shapes. On a larger scale Helen's work contained photographs of 3-d shapes that were all connected and joined together using black thread and pins. Helen's exhibition was focused on representing our changing city, using nets in the photographs was incredibly thought out as they could be taken apart and changed to show how our city does change.

Rachael Yeung's work caught my eye because of her colour choice and scale. Rachael used post-it notes to represent sound waves that she had collected from around Manchester. I think her colour of post-it notes was bold but makes the statement of making something usually unseen, clearly visible. The presentation of this piece was limited and simple and the scale was very large making it eye-catching. I like the pattern and structure that Rachael's piece inadvertenly expresses.

The above image is taken from Beth Barrie's exhibition piece. I enjoyed looking at this piece though it's colour and different patterns that were presented through each cylinder. Beth's patterns and colour choices were inspired and based on quantum dots that are visible in television screens. Understanding where the colours and patterns come from if evident in her research but the shapes could have been more adventerous and differ from each other. The presentation of her pieces intrigued me and grabbed my attention, as they were hanging high from the ceiling.

My first reaction to seeing the piece above was that it was stunning! I absolutely love everything about this piece, it's presentation, the materials used and it's colour. This piece was created by Floss Hamm, she used over 2,000 cotton buds creating this and each bud was worth it.

These pieces were created by someone named Pip Pittman, what I found interesting about her work is how she combines stitching with what looks like to be photography. She makes her photography work look like drawings and this fascinates me, adding the stitching was a good way of giving her work more depth aswell as a little colour. She used stitching to make overlooked areas of her photographs to reveal it's significance and to highlight the beautiful markings that we are surrounded by in Manchester,