Family Tree

This work was done for a self directed project in which the aim was to visually represent my family tree. I experimented with different ways of representing my heritage and settled on a circular shaped diagram showing the bloodlines within three generations of my family. It extends outwards from my grandparents in the middle, out to my parents, aunties and uncles and then out to me, my siblings and cousins. The linear pattern within each section represents each members inherited traits and their bloodlines.

I like how the work turned out, the diagram was laser cut into a disc of tree trunk I acquired and the effect is really nice. I would like to try this again in the future with some different designs.

To present this piece of work I also made two posters (below), one of the diagram itself and the other an image made up from each individual pattern in the family tree. There was also a small hand drawn booklet accompanying the work which served as a key for the diagram, I don't have any pictures of it yet but will upload them when I do.

Thanks to Nick Bailey, the tree surgeon.

Bookbinding

I attended a bookbinding workshop the other day and made an A5 hardback sketchbook. It was really informative and I enjoyed the making process. I think it's a really useful skill to learn and will undoubtedly come in handy in my working practice. Here are the results anyway, which I'm pretty pleased with.

The Smell of Chlorine

This is a book I made for another project in the experimental unit. This time the brief expected you to visually explore the notions of memory and culminate a finished piece of work in two or three dimensions. The work I did for the project eventually became a series of illustrations drawn from memory of the swimming pool where I work when home in Bradford. The work is meant to aesthetically encapture the occasional boring and mundane nature of the job in its clean, black and white, linear form.

Thanks to Big Money Davis.

Telepathy Book

Here is a book I made for an experimental unit. The brief was to create an experimental book that would visually explore either a form of communication or a moment in time. I chose to represent telepathy, the method of communicating via thoughts. The idea behind the book is that it represents the connection of two minds. It does this similarly to a flip book, by beginning with a brain on the left side of the page and then having it gradually fade onto the right side of the page over the course of 50 pages. The book has a hard cover with tracing paper pages and is bound with brass bolts. The idea was for the book to have the look and feel of an anatomical/medical journal whilst still being experimental. Here are some other sketches of brains and the cranial region I made during the project to try and illustrate the idea of telepathy.

Stag Stuff

Here is some work I did over the summer break last year, I was given a broad brief from my tutors that said to create a piece of work inspired by festivals and fetes. During the summer holidays I went to Bestival on the Isle of Wight thanks to free tickets given to me by Red Stag as a prize for winning a game of bingo. I based the work for the project around this experience and also musical equipment I came across during the summer. I thought the concept behind the final outcome was kind of loose and didn't tie together particularly well, however I did enjoy creating the illustrations and it kept me busy until the new term started.

Blackpool Postcards

I recently rediscovered the work I did for my final major project whilst doing art foundation at Bradford College. During the project I researched into the seaside town of Blackpool and made observations of it's promenade, pier and many amusements. The outcome was a series of postcards; here are a few of them...

I got friends in Blackpool to post some of the postcards back to me so that they would be franked and look more authentic when I received them again. All of the postcards, when put together, created a large image of Blackpool Pier similar to a joiner photograph.

Autographic Work

This was some work I did for an autographic project last year. The aim was to find a location and take down as much visual information as possible. After exploring a bit of Manchester, I chose Deansgate Station and began drawing. I wasn't particularly pleased with the outcome although I did like how cropping many images into small thumbnails still managed to create an informative image. Here are a couple of pages from the sketchbook work I did...

About time

I've finally decided to start a blog, more posts and artwork to follow shortly.