Object Therapy

So a few development pictures of some of the 'objects' that live with me....

Here are the contacts..

Now let's have a closer look at the ones that may some future potential!

This one is a good case in point the mannequin is a drawing aid he sits in front of a bunch of 'magic' books ad some concerning De Sade - I advise you all to be concerned about De Sade!  This image has a feel I like to it - it looks like it could be found in an old book and this has set off some other ideas about text and these images in a small book...

This one sits behind me when I am working - a friend gave it to me years ago but I like to feel she is watching over me... her eyes are not hollow - she sees all! I like the Tantrum note at the side on the pinboard.  Again this looks like it could be in an old book just sitting there as an illustrative part of a story

My third favourite from this set a very angry looking Lenin from a Matryoshka doll - he is the tiniest one in the centre.  I like the shadow falling across him - he is probably annoyed I have put him to live near the vegan cookery books and a book on thyroid disease - he is most upset!

Definitely more to come....

Brief Hiatus

An apology for the brief hiatus on my blog.  I have had to take some time out due to a personal loss and it is strange I chose art therapy for this project as it should in theory help however I am certainly not ready to talk about it or explore it through art!

Therefore I am looking at other methodologies and as we started with an object this term I thought I would start with photographing the objects in my house as my first experiment - I have a slight fetishism (I mean this in the magical way - not the sexual one!) for the objects that live with me they are totems, touchstones, basically, I like them about, they keep me company and they remind me of good things, memories, people. I like their materiality, I basically just like it that they exist.

Also, I am a fan of the object that may possess some magical power, hence my earlier posts about the magic fertility figures.  These African totems come in pairs and are considered more magical in pairs - I really did blame my pregnancy on them as I bought them just before I was married and I used to clean them each week - rubbing them and carefully placing them back on the mantlepiece - I was pregnant within the first month of marriage!  Check out this if you don't believe me:

So let's begin again and start my object therapy!  Check out my first images in the next post...

Project Plan: Art Therapy

Check out my project plan for Art Therapy.  This was created on Piktochart.com the link to the poster is here: Art Therapy: Project Plan

Final Show: Moodboard Creation

The concept of a final show is always challenging as all the elements have to really work together consistently to ensure that the work displayed is showcased well.  This requires excellent planning and curation of all elements.  So to begin I have created a moodboard of the kind of colours, typography and framing that I might employ in my own (conceptual) show.

I actually was really quite pleased with this as I really like the greys and I think this work really well with the photographs and other works that I would like to use in the show.  The tagline 'She looked upon her creation and she saw that it was good' I really want to use as I think this will be a great selling point and will emphasise that this is a show by a woman and it will be GOOD!

The typography I want it to be clear and readable using san serif fonts very straight lines.  The wooden black frames should be clean and simple throughout and emphasis the images shown.

I am really looking forward to creating the logo and poster next week as I think this should really come together...

Project Sign Off: Beginning with Eve

I have decided and developed my ideas and now I am adding my project sign off here: Art Therapy Project

To begin I am adding some new work which is just using digital photography and Photoshop:

Again I am just playing with ideas about what I would like to express through this work - I like this idea of the weight of life, - the weight of creation refers to Eve as all women could descend from Eve if you believe this...

Eve Tempted, Manchester Art Gallery

(c.1877)

By John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829–1908)

Although Eve is portrayed as the one who tempts Adam to sin, Eve is 'cursed' by God with the following: I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing, with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you' Genesis 3:16

Here, in my own image, the weight of creation still bears down on womankind and still we bear that weight of the carrier, nurturer and often still considered the weaker sex.  I believe here this is where we are strongest as women do bear weight, a weight that if it was given to the man he may find himself crushed by it!

Exploring Online Tools and Developing Project Ideas

So this week we are exploring online tools to develop our project ideas and I have been investigating further infographic and workflow tools to show my own development.  I created this Art Therapy: Project Development Ideas.  I enjoyed creating this as it helped me to think about what I really wanted to explore and HOW I was actually going to do this - check it out fully by the link above.

There are many online tools this one was visme.com.  But there are many more to explore - you can look up online flowchart maker or infographics software online. 

Object Lesson: Sense of Identity 2

Continuing on my theme of art therapy

I started sketching thoughts and began with these - the idea here is just that I think I feel most pain deep inside my stomach and I always feel this is where all the emotion lives.  I like the distorted body here.

This is liked for the darkness on half the image and the light on the other half as I feel often I live half in the light and half in darkness - so when the darkness comes there is a sense of being in a black hole where there is no hope ....

Obviously, my drawings here are not in any way 'good' but they are expressive of the feeling and the idea - and I will use this idea to expand upon my project ideas - I don't have a gallery room like Tracey Emin but I have this blog so that I can keep sharing this work as I create it.  There will be more - I am looking forward to seeing how this develops.