Welcome to Summer Term 2025

 As one term ends, another begins and there is so little time to reflect!  So I will dive right in and discuss what I have been looking at over the 'break'.  I was searching Carl Laszlo, one of my favourite art collectors and artists.  Laszlo discovered and promoted amazing, unusual and daring artists and was the founder of Panderma a publication celebrating neo dada and outsider art.  I found a book from a Panderma edition called 'Mondgeistfahrt' (Moon Ghost Trip) by Friedrich Schröder Sonnenstern.  I now have it sitting right by me on my desk, a strange beautiful thing by a truly eccentric man!.

Untitled (1961) From Mondgeistfahrt, Friedrich Schröder Sonnenstern

Sonnenstern (which means Sun+Star) 'lived a peripatetic life [this means he travelled around a lot] marked in large part by ineptitude, indecency and insanity. He was a dairy farmer, a circus performer, a cigar seller, a horse thief, a blackmailer, a cult leader, a penal camp prisoner and a habitual asylum internee. Yet it was only after World War II, when Schröder-Sonnenstern was in his 50s and living amidst the hardships and deprivations of a splintered Germany, that he finally sank to his lowest level and became an artist.' (Pendle, 2025) I thought this was a great way to describe the man, a man who was often considered to be mad, but not all thought so; 'Kort [Pamela Kort [Writer of Art Books and Essays]  'Kort asserts that he was not truly mentally ill in his later years, but simply exaggerated his mental problems in order to get his work noticed by other artists.' (Karlins, 2024). Whether he was mad or not is is amazing he evaded the Nazis as he was very much an eccentric outsider.  Sonnenstern himself, 'always denied he was mad. Instead he explained that he had learned his style from an insane painter he had met while in an asylum.' (Pendle, 2025)

Sonnerstern's (1892-1982) works are so very interesting, so unusual and great examples of Outsider Art. The image above of a strange bull/cow with a distorted humanesque face, with tears of what could be blood and a look of anger/pain could be a reflection on the destruction of war, the aftermath of the strange and devasted world Sonnenstern lived in in Berlin.  He sold firewood after the war that he scavenged to survive.  The strange, massively-breasted woman, dragging it by its tail across a desert landscape, whose face and neck seem to have snakes living in it, goes beyond any explanation.  In the book this image is accompanied by a series of small photographs of Sonnerstern with his partner first arguing and then kissing.  The text states, 'I have been isolated since childhood; nobody wants to play with me' (Schroder-Sonnenstern, 1974:30).  The surrealists loved the work of Sonnerstern and feted him, as they themselves were own to considered be somewhat psychotic and they like him did not fit into the 'normal' world.  

“The Jealousy Tragedy”, ca. 1956

Colored pencil on cardboard By Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern

Sonnerstern's works contained motifs and repeated symbols, and as time went on, many related to the moon and had moon in the title. Karlins states, 'His drawings are loaded with unsettling sexual, religious and scatological imagery, yet their plush colors and beautiful palette are impressively seductive.' (Karlins, 2024) Many of his works are made with coloured pencils and there is a naive quality underlying quite complex symbology. The image above with the snake essentially eatings its tail with the woman's breasts being bitten does remind the viewer of the Tarot Card, The World, where everything ends and begins again. The woman here, again is strangely distorted with breasts for a chin and strange ducklike feet. In the book for this image, the text states; 'I simply can't put enough round shapes into my pictures - no sharp corners, for they would represent life itself.  All round forms are tokens of Perception.', (Schroder-Sonnenstern, 1974:20).  

I am thoroughly enjoying pouring over the works of Schöder-Sonnenstern, it fills me with joy to know that artists like him existed and must still exist out there. Long live this kind of eccentric beauty.

References

Karlins, N.F. (2024). Outsider Artist Friedrich Schr�der-Sonnenstern at Michael Werner Gallery - artnet Magazine. [online] Artnet.com. Available at: http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/karlins/schroeder-sonnenstern-michael-werner4-14-11.asp [Accessed 29 Mar. 2025].

Michaelwerner.com. (2020). FRIEDRICH SCHRÖDER-SONNENSTERN - From Barefoot Prophet to Avant-Garde Artist - Exhibitions - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens. [online] Available at: https://www.michaelwerner.com/exhibitions/friedrich-schroder-sonnenstern [Accessed 29 Mar. 2025].

Pendle, G. (2025). Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern. [online] Frieze.com. Available at: https://www.frieze.com/article/friedrich-schr%C3%B6der-sonnenstern [Accessed 29 Mar. 2025].

Schroder-Sonnenstern, F. (1974). Mongeistfahrt. First ed. Munchen, Germany: Verlag F.Bruckmann KG.

Swislow, B. (2012). Book Review: Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern - Interesting Ideas. [online] Interestingideas.com. Available at: https://www.interestingideas.com/book-review-friedrich-schroder-sonnenstern/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2025].

Creative Media Production: Reflection

 This term we began with the Object Lesson which was about exploring an idea and maybe trying something outside our usual comfort zone.  My object was a postcard by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin (2012) called Alias which was like a negative with a red filter.  I was quite excited about this project as I had the idea of drawing with photographs and ended up making a reverse drawing photographically of myself and my son when he was small.  I call this 'Mother and Child' (circa 2006) as that is when the original photograph was taken.  This was a short project (just a week) but it was good to do something really different using different processes and materials. 

The final outcome above I quite liked, the idea of just the reverse image, the trace of us.  This trace of a memory that now remains.  In terms of the process, this was all about the process from the simple tracing to the development of this piece and that was most enjoyable.  The outcome is perhaps not something I would frame or add to my website but with more development perhaps it could be.

The second project was a photographic portrait project. We had practised in class natural light and studio portraits and studied text about portrait photography, the text we studied was from 'Photography' by John Ingledew (Second Edition 2013).  We looked at the portraits/self-portraits chapter.  I very much enjoyed exploring the Helmut Newton image; "Self portrait with Model in the Hotel Bijou", Paris, 1971.  My own project was inspired by the images of Sunil Gupta's 'From Here to Eternity' (1995), I really was taken by these images as it was illness from HIV and clubs he used to visit (which look in the images abandoned or closed down). 

My idea was to create a similar concept, so I photographed doors that meant something to me, and these were to be paired with self-portaits.  Normally, I might share stories about these but there are multiple meanings to me, and like Gupta I want to keep these stories private.  The diptychs are for the viewer to connect, make meaning. 

These images if I had more time, I would have taken the actions again as I thought they could be improved.  The doors were exactly as I had wanted. The concept works for me and I was personally very happy with the concept outcomes.

The final project was the chapbook, and I had more trouble with this than any other book I had created.  I started with an idea which I quite liked about an old man with a secret from the cold war and the I liked the writing of the first chapter but after this I felt that I was not getting the chapters right, the second chapter I actually dropped entirely and changed the third chapter to the second chapter then wrote another third chapter.  After all this, I was still unhappy with the outcome. I felt the story did not flow as it should and that I should have started with the woman in Canada as this, I felt was far stronger than from the viewpoint of the old man.  

Most of the stories I have written previously, I was desperate to write more and more.  This story I felt needed scrapping and starting again, and the only thing I would save is the woman, Mika, as I had ideas about her, her life and creating another story, a better story. I comforted myself that it cannot always be a success and obviously, we learn much more from failure! So I would say this story failed, and next time I will spend more time structurally considering whether the story will hold up and making sure that there are real resolutions to the many questions that I poorly answered here in this narrative.  

I don't want to end on a negative, as I have learnt more from this than anything I felt was good.  In my reflection on Digital Arts project I was very positive about these.  For Creative Media this term I lacked something and it did not come together, next term I will be working much harder on a tighter theme and spending much more time testing and planning.

Digital Arts: Reflection

 This is my final post for Digital Arts Spring Term.  In this post, I will reflect on the work I have done and on my website design.  I began this term by creating sequential images, I created a class practice of 'What's in my bag?' and then for the final images I created 'Bonkers Bauhaus' For this project I made a sock monkey, which actually took several hours over one evening as this is handsewn.  He was supposed to reflect Dada/Bauhaus art and design and I do like him as he is the maddest monkey I have made and really does reflect the Dada images from the 1920s/30s.  If I had a mass of time I think I would like to make something like this on a massive scale as he would make a great work of art. 

My next project was to create an advertisement, I decided to create an advertisement for a bank, I have never done this before so I found this highly enjoyable.  I checked out funny bank adverts and really the sort of advert that would sell to Generation X.  What I liked about this advert was the logo which I thought was quite on trend, a bit like Monzo Bank.  I also liked the name as Plutus is the God of Wealth and I really loved researching this, I found out so much more about bank adverts and who they are targeting and I found out about banking in Switzerland.  I liked the tagline as it was specifically for Gen x/Baby Boomers - we have already done the hard work and we should be able to relax!  I like it also that is the safest bank in the world, since I made this advert the world has become even more uncertain with the rise of Trump and his directives, the economy will certainly be affected and we should be working on saving ourselves from the possible risks of the future.  Overall this is one of the best adverts I have made and most enjoyable! 

My major project this term was 'A Response to the Trump Inauguration' when I began I was thinking of Marina Abramovic screaming, 'AAA-AAA' (1978) as all I wanted to do was scream in despair  When I started this project Trump had just been inaugurated since then it has got so much worse and my film used a combination of stock footage and my own film and used captions to highlight the issues, I also used music that reminded on the Bonzo Dog Doo Da band so it had the required absurdity of the situation.  I enjoyed making this and it was a reminder that we should all speak up and stand up for the things in the world we believe to be wrong.  I can't change the situation but voices will rise and I am hoping that Europe will stand up to Putin, to Trump and we will be strong in the face of aggression.  Technically I quite enjoyed the domestic screaming in the filming with more time it could have been slicker and more polished however I don't think I really wanted that, I wanted it to be more like a piece of performance art of the 1960s/70s on stage like Ono's 'Cut Piece' (1964)

On the website, I made a new website and this time it had a grey colour palette and used Palantino Linotype font. On the homepage, I used an image I created for a project with all my photography instruction manuals I have collected the Dixons World of Photography books as I think they are beautiful things and so this image seemed appropriate. On the front portfolio page, I have added a still from the Trump film and I have created back buttons for easy navigation.  On the page for the project, I have written an introduction that I believe in and explains my reasoning for this film. My About Me page has an image from another project which was on Colin Wilson and this was a moment of transformation, actually, the images taken here, a builder let me into what is now artists' studios near the Curve but was an old textile manufacturing factory and it was a site mentioned in Wilson's book, I was photographing outside and I was privileged to be allowed to take photos inside. The contact page I think is consistent and works well and all my social media links from testing seem to be in order.  I am pleased with the result of the site I still need to work further on the SEO and I would also like to add some older work to add to the work I have added this term.  As always the website is a labour of love as it should be and I will continue to work to improve this.

Next term I will be completing further writing and photography projects and I am looking forward to seeing what I will come up with!

Digital Arts: UX Testing & Feedback

 I have now tested my website by using UX testing, this is testing the user experience of my website.  Over the term I have created a user interface (front-end) design.  Therefore I created google form which I embedded into my website.  I then made site live and shared my website address wiyth my class so that they could test my site and give feedback so that I could improve and fix any ussues before assessment.

Here is my UX testing statistics and feedback

On my UX testing I only got four responses however any feedback is useful.  In this one person only thought the design was 'fair' so my site did not really appeal to that person.  My site will not appeal to everyone as not everyone is interested in photography/performance/film so I think as the majority stated that it was 'good' or 'excellent' I am happy with my homepage and I do think I will keep this as it is for the moment. 

On the navigation the majority stated 'excellent' so I am pleased with this as navigation is teh kjey to ese of use on my site and I really wanted nice and easy navigation throughout as it should be a pleasure to look through my site. 

On social link I got 100% 'excellent' so this great as all social links are clearly working and add to the site. 

My about page was not as well received as again I got 'fair', I clearly do not appeal to that person and perhaps the work I do is of no interest to them. The rest of the responses were 'good and 'excellent' so I think in this case I will be keeping this as it is for the moment.

On the contact page it was all 'good' or 'excellent' so this is clearly working well and serves it purpose with a good design.  

The portfolio page design had again mixed responses as I still had just one person writing 'fair' so again my site clearly does not appeal to them however all other responses are 'good' or 'excellent' so I believe that it is working well and it is good for the moment.

I was not expecting everyone to love my Trump film, I created it as I had to respond to the political situation it was an imperitive however I know that not everyone will agree and will not like my response and in fact if someone really hates my film that means that it has done its job - it would be so much worse if I had just had apathy!

With the mobile question I really needed to people to check whether my mobile site worked as the mobile version often plays up or has issues.  So I am fairly pleased - I think the 'fair' one is again the person who dislikes my site so otherwise I am pleased everything is working. 

I had some good comments here that are mostly positive - I will have a look at the social icons and make a decision whether to reduce the size - I tried it out here 

I think that perhaps smaller is better so that was useful feedback and thank you to everyone who completed this for me!

Finalising Photography and Presentation

 My final post on finalising my work for Creative Media, in this post I will just put together the images I have shot inspired by Sunil Gupta's 'From Here to Eternity' (2020) where he had juxtaposed images of places with his treatment for illness with HIV and his life in his home.

Pentamine/Attitude (2020) By Sunil Gupta

I wanted to do this to to show my post-stoke world and the places I have been and where I am now.  I chose the doors as they are portals of time and all are significant.

I began with the easiest one for me to do 'safety/trauma'

I tried in both black background and grey background

When I practiced this I was veering toward the grey and gupta leave a gap between to the two but I think I do want mine to be totally connected. I will try the grey version and post some of these here. 

I am not going to actually discuss the reasons for each of these diptychs but photographically I think they all do work and I am happy with the results of the diptychs created.

I then added to my website.  I opened Wix I had already set up the front page and gallery page, so I began by just adding a title and paragraph introduction as previously and then I uploaded my images to the gallery I had chosen.  I also added a back to portfolio button above the gallery, I saved, previewed and then republished.

On the Gallery I also ensured that each images was titled so when these were opened the titles also appeared on the website page.  I am happy with the final look of the presentation here it is what I wanted it to be - I think with more time I would have made this a larger project and shot further images tahtI felt were important.

 

I have now rechecked and proofread this and ensured that all text was Palantino Linotype, I will now check the mobile view 

I checked the page and I reduced the size of the back button text and the main introduction on the mobile

 

On the main portfolio page I increased the text size on the button and saved and republished everything.  I then checked the live site on my mobile 

Photography Project Process: Actions

 The first half of this project was static with the doors where I waited patiently for the sun. This second half are the actions that go with this, to achieve the original concept.

Here I set my DSLR camera on a tripod and unfortunately, I had left my remote at work so it had to be just using 2 and 10 second self timer which was more time-consuming and a little more restrictive. The camera was set on 200 ISO as in most of my flat the light was good due to the sun and I have a wide open aperture F4 to begin. All images were in black and white and portrait.

I chose my Sunday morning actions as these are rituals and I stick to these religiously as one should on a Sunday!

I created the contact sheets in Photoshop and I just needed then to think about how I would place my images together.

Here are a few images from the shoot that I think will work

I liked this one with just my hands, the images in the kitchen were the worst lighting as it was mixed light and there is limited space.  

I liked this one in the bedroom I think the light and the exposure are good and it may work well in the final work

I like this out of focus shot all the action fall to the background as it moved out of focus I may play with this shot and see how I might pair this. 

I now have all the shots, I still would have probably shot all these again but limited time means I do need to complete this now so my next post will be finalising and adding these to the website.

Chapbook: Completion & Adding to Website

 After much rewriting and proofreading I have completed the final chapbook, 'The Pelican Case'.  I changed the order of chapters and rewrote the original chapter two completely.  I am still not convinced that I have told this story well and I do think it needs work, so for the moment it is compleet for this part but I will revisit later.

I have now uploaded as per the mock-up to FlipHTML5 and created a flipbook I then embedded this into my website just by clicking on the 'Add' tool and choosing 'Embed' I then aligned and used transform controls to put this in the correct place on the new page I had created on Wix. 

I then added a title, an introduction and a back to portfolio button so this was easy to navigate. The book should full page however I was having a few issues with this so I will try to embed again to make sure this this works.

I then added the front image for the portfolio page and link with the button 

This project is now complete and uploaded so I shall keep testing and just move my domain over to this site so I can publish...

As the flipbook was not opening on the desktop view when you clicked on the fullscreen I added a small note to ensure people knew to click on the arrow to get a fullscreen book

I also tested the mobile view, the fullscreen seems to work on this any way, everything else seemed to be correct I just needed to adjust the book container size and then adjust the footer on this page I saved this and published again

I checked everything on my mobile to ensure that everything worked and I made minor adjustments to the text as some of this was larger on my mobile than on mobile view and did not correctly fit the page.

Overall I think this now looks good on both mobile and desktop view and it should be just minor tweaks before the deadline for this term.