VIS220: Project two process + reflections
Fiddly. Fiddly. Fiddly. Ew. I hated this. Endless hours in front of a computer. Square eyes. Not moving. Late nights. Couldn't sleep. Sucked into the pixel. Like a two year old with an iPhone: completely obsessed. An unhealthy outlet for my perfectionism. Couldn't get Pixelmator to do what I wanted it to do because it wouldn't update. Four hours identifying and matching fonts. Steep learning curves with layers and erasers and paint buckets and fillers and colourising and .tiff files and frames and backgrounds and foregrounds and dodgy attempts at curving text. Ew. Ew. Ew. Everything I wanted to get away from in doing this art degree. Graphic design is not my happy place. Wish I'd done it all by hand :(
Anyway, moving on. It's over now.
Looking at words closely and finding ways they could fit together and intelligently juxtapose between the original and my work was deep and probably the most enjoyable aspect of the making of the posters. The research aspect of this project was consuming... sinking into Greta Thunberg's speech and it's impact, scouring the Extinction Rebellion website... reading Roger Hallom's book of instructions to protesters... looking at news articles and images... and the bigger search to find exactly what I wanted to say was deeply interesting.
The emotional meta process behind it is the sad knowing of how much this topic polarises and divides people. My partner and I almost had a fight about politics and protesting and values and I kept stumbling on this profound confusion inside me... my desire to not be offensive... to not have too strong an opinion about anything because I don't want risk alienating people... my own visceral responses to photographs of protestors, feelings of awe and excitement and gratitude.... but inaction because I don't want to get arrested... the regular onslaught of the massive development (50 000 homes in Caloundra) I pass when I go down to the coast... the conflict between my desire to be comfortable and maintain the status quo in my own life... and so much more! The central question has always been, how do I act well, in the face of what's happening with the knowledge I have available? And how do I do all this with love in my heart and not turn into the angst, fight and rage I see in many environmental activists? What does nonviolence truly mean? Is it even possible to act in that way without perpetrating some form of violence or contributing to disconnection and separation between people??
I don't know. I still don't know. I'll probably never know.
A couple of process pictures below. It's not particularly exciting documenting 50 hours on a computer so I skipped that. I printed out the posters full size I used as source points and it was good to have that tangible grounding to keep looking at. Ah... three dimensions are so much more fulfilling. If I wanted to explore this more at some point as a cohesive and more complete body of work, I'd do three other posters focusing on messages like being arrested as a protestor, Charles Eisenstein and his teachings on the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible and grief and loss.
Artist in Residence programs on the Sunshine Coast
I found one artist in residence program on the Sunshine Coast at the Sunshine Coast Regional Art Gallery. It's one award sponsored by Montville Country Cabins an artist could win if they enter the Sunshine Coast Art Prize national competition. Large cash prizes are also awarded to the winners and it costs $40 to enter. The artist in residence is a two week residency with accomodation and travel expenses included and the use of a studio. The artist in residence delivers a one day workshop at the Sunshine Coast Regional Art Gallery and an artist talk there. Another potential outlet for this project in the world is to apply for a four week exhibition space at the Maroochydore Library (submit proposal in December through the website). There's also an additional 12 month "artist in residence" studio lease opportunity in Maroochydore with artist applications given preference if working on creative outcomes aligned with the Maroochydore City Centre.
Anyway, moving on. It's over now.
Looking at words closely and finding ways they could fit together and intelligently juxtapose between the original and my work was deep and probably the most enjoyable aspect of the making of the posters. The research aspect of this project was consuming... sinking into Greta Thunberg's speech and it's impact, scouring the Extinction Rebellion website... reading Roger Hallom's book of instructions to protesters... looking at news articles and images... and the bigger search to find exactly what I wanted to say was deeply interesting.
The emotional meta process behind it is the sad knowing of how much this topic polarises and divides people. My partner and I almost had a fight about politics and protesting and values and I kept stumbling on this profound confusion inside me... my desire to not be offensive... to not have too strong an opinion about anything because I don't want risk alienating people... my own visceral responses to photographs of protestors, feelings of awe and excitement and gratitude.... but inaction because I don't want to get arrested... the regular onslaught of the massive development (50 000 homes in Caloundra) I pass when I go down to the coast... the conflict between my desire to be comfortable and maintain the status quo in my own life... and so much more! The central question has always been, how do I act well, in the face of what's happening with the knowledge I have available? And how do I do all this with love in my heart and not turn into the angst, fight and rage I see in many environmental activists? What does nonviolence truly mean? Is it even possible to act in that way without perpetrating some form of violence or contributing to disconnection and separation between people??
I don't know. I still don't know. I'll probably never know.
A couple of process pictures below. It's not particularly exciting documenting 50 hours on a computer so I skipped that. I printed out the posters full size I used as source points and it was good to have that tangible grounding to keep looking at. Ah... three dimensions are so much more fulfilling. If I wanted to explore this more at some point as a cohesive and more complete body of work, I'd do three other posters focusing on messages like being arrested as a protestor, Charles Eisenstein and his teachings on the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible and grief and loss.
Artist in Residence programs on the Sunshine Coast
I found one artist in residence program on the Sunshine Coast at the Sunshine Coast Regional Art Gallery. It's one award sponsored by Montville Country Cabins an artist could win if they enter the Sunshine Coast Art Prize national competition. Large cash prizes are also awarded to the winners and it costs $40 to enter. The artist in residence is a two week residency with accomodation and travel expenses included and the use of a studio. The artist in residence delivers a one day workshop at the Sunshine Coast Regional Art Gallery and an artist talk there. Another potential outlet for this project in the world is to apply for a four week exhibition space at the Maroochydore Library (submit proposal in December through the website). There's also an additional 12 month "artist in residence" studio lease opportunity in Maroochydore with artist applications given preference if working on creative outcomes aligned with the Maroochydore City Centre.