Books

I bought these two books from the book stall outside the SU last week, I wanted them not because of the story but because of the elaborate covers that I liked so much. I was thinking I would make them into photo albums thinking about the idea of a photograph album being a story of a family or persons life time, and so being inside the pages of the novel emphasise this point.

When I got them home I looked in the larger one and found two leaves that had been put in the book and pressed flat, I then looked at the last date written in the front of the book on the 'Owner's' label and found in said 1902. The thought that these leaves might have been in the book since then amazes me and I find the idea of them being a piece of history of someones life fascinating. I think it also links to my project of photo albums as these are records of people's lives just as the leaves are records of peoples actions.

Metal Induction

We did the metal induction last week-ish, ( behind on my blog still!) we got inducted into all the machines that we would likely need to use and in the afternoon we made a bowl out of aluminium. I really really enjoyed this induction and found the tap tap tap of hammers thereputic and satisfying  seeing the end result! I went back next day and learnt how to polish the bowl. It just so happens that the bottom I made for the bowl fits a tea light nicely and it looks really good with the light reflecting on the uneven surface of the bowl. It isn't perfect as some marks werent totally removed with the file, but for a first attempt I'm quite pround of it! It has even given me ideas about christmas presents!

Show and Tell!

 Above are some photographs of a album I made using photographs of my friends I had in my room, I sewed, cut and drew on photographs experimenting with the look of the album, whilst thinking about the idea of narrative, how an album has a narrative and by taking someones face out of a picture you have changed that narrative, the record of history.

I havn't done much work to be honest because I have been doing research and loads of inductions, so I only really have one thing to show, which is this practice sample album I made to hold some of my old family photographs. I made it using card and just followed the design of the Georgian albums with the space for the photograph and then the slot to get them in. I also put a gold edge on and wrote in the front who the people are. For the next one I will try and decorate the pages and use a more apropriate font for the writting i think, it didn't really go! The main two people that are in it are my Great Grandparents, Margaret Winifred Bennet and Clement Henry Watkin, all the photographs are from 1918.

Photography Induction

Here are my prints from my photography induction. It was really helpful and I enjoyed the process, I think I might take some black and white photographs of my family to make an album out of.

Wedding Bells!

Wedding Photographs from my Family box of photos.The large one was in a frame but has since been removed. I was thinking about this idea, is it because as children grow up they want their parents wedding photos? Or do people take them down because they don't know who they are any more? Or at least can't remember them?

Platt Hall Visit for Mary Greg

We Visited Platt Hall last week to have a look at the building and spaces available for the exhibition and also some of Mary's collection. I really enjoyed the OPUA draws with the glasses and hair slides which were really beautiful. 

 

I also happened to find a photo album from the begining of the last century in one of the gallery cases last year, as my other project is all about photographs albums I was really pleased to see this one had such an ornate cover, I'm not sure how its made, it seems to be carved or moulded, painted and varnished.Great Find!

Liverpool Biennial

We went on a trip to Liverpool a couple of weeks ago for the Biennial (I'm a bit behind on my blog!) the trip was really good and I especially liked to Bloomberg New Contemporaries, in particular the giant door that completely confused me! I don't have any pictures because i suppidly forgot my camera!

But here are a list of painters I liked from the Turner Painting Prize;

Nick Fox
George Sherlcok
G L Brierley
Steve Proundfoot
Jon Braley
Li Weizhau
Nathan Barlex
Sam Knowles
Keren Dee