Thinking about last term's activities; feedback with Richard Mulhern.

In Digital Media Concepts, my overall mark for this module was scored as a 'B' (middle of the scoring thresholds for this grade). I was a little disappointed with myself in not having achieved the minimum of 70% or above for an 'A' grade, however in reflection, this lower mark is probably appropriate for my work in the actual practice outcomes that I have made during the last term.

I think Richard may have found difficulty in my critical reflective summary, in locating appropriate contextual references within my work. This is let my markdown significantly.

In my critical reflective summary, I mentioned the book "the Peregrine" as a key influence and as a backbone for narrative, but again in the actual practice, there does not seem to be a reference to this. Coupled with a lack of thematic reference to speculative realism and contextual association, makes the critical reflective summary a little confusing. In Richards feedback, if there had been a linear narrative to the Peregrine, then the non-linear narrative should be explored.

In the review of the critical reflective summary, Richard felt that this output seemed to be an exercise in writing a report, "without saying anything at all". My response was that this was intentional at this stage before the major project had actually started so that I could keep a broad proposal approach to avoid tying myself down too much at this early planning stage.

My focus was about putting concepts together rather than the outcomes themselves, but Richard correctly pointed out, that the process needs to be critically underpinned. There is neither a presence or absence clearly articulated of speculative realism. The presentation in Richards view seems to be to overly task orientated, but open-ended; therefore the research has become freewheeling, and it needs to be focused on a question so that my methods can be tested more rigorously.

I explained the current feeling that I had, that the break in academic studies over the Christmas period has allowed the early ideas to start to crystallise, for me to put more meat on the bone as it were. That is to bring the three elements together of speculative realism, digital media and drawing, against the backbone of the Peregrine. My intention is to collide all of those ideas together, and I feel that I do not want to use the book "the Peregrine" just simply as a narrative, (some sort of story just to create an animation). But what I want to do now is to use the description in the to try and articulate what the Peregrine saw so that it's an observation of JA Baker. What goes on in the Peregrine's mind may be completely irrelevant in the way that JA Baker recorded the Falcon's movements. It is here that the speculative realism aspect of my planned work will start to come through.

Richard felt that my CRS was quite a hard read in that issue in the sense that I appeared to be talking around the subject matter. However, Richard also pointed out that all the work around my engagement with Photoshop seemed to be unimportant. What I must do is focus on what is important and also on how to make sure that in the next module the same problems do not re-occur.

In my response to the above, I agreed entirely with Richard's views, and so this whole process underlines the importance of having regular reviews and conversations, not only with Richard but also other academic staff and my peers.

The lecture which I attended on 24 January, regarding documentary photography triggered some salient points that I want to pursue. For example, one item that was cited was the drawing by Albrecht Durer many centuries ago, where traveller described to Albrecht the creature that we now know as rhinoceros. On the description alone, Durrer was able to firstly draw a rhinoceros, but then was able to create a woodcut print of the creature, and the outcome was so accurate it seems almost impossible that he was able to recreate this vision of the creature without ever having actually seen one.

I need to detach myself from just using the images of photography, as a documentary repetition of something that has happened, as I do not want just only to recreate a documentary record of what JA Baker observed. But instead, is that I want to do something halfway between the life of the Peregrine and the world from a Peregrine's point of view, and hence maybe just have JA Baker as a small presence in the distance. Richard picked up my need to resolve at this stage again and made reference to a recent television programme on the BBC called Planet Earth. Within this program, the camera was strapped onto an Eagles back, and during this program, there is a sequence that shows the Bird's Eye view. I quickly retorted that I'm not looking to try to repeat this as it becomes a mediated in between thing, that human would only recognise as a view from a camera strapped to an Eagles back. Our own perception, through visual colours and queues, are very different from that which an Eagle or Falcon might see. I, therefore, want to mediate through the language of drawing and in particular digital media based drawing. I feel that it is a complex task that I'm trying to achieve and understandably, Richard feels that we need to simplify this approach and start to see examples of what it is that I'm trying to do. Because I see things as complex, I tend to make things over complex and their re-presentation. It . However that the image might not have the visual strategy, however, I project onto it, so it is, therefore, interesting to look at the work of Daan Paans, and that idea of an observed notion, an image of something observed but never seen. This is exactly what I want to do, and clearly Richard understood my challenge. My idea that this should be done through drawing that is not photographic or imagistic, as it is purely from the mind. The work of Albrecht Dürer is not a million miles away from what I'm trying to achieve. I'm trying to articulate something from the point of view of what the Peregrine might see and then drying it through digital media. So it is not that complex? Richard agreed that we need to consider all of the angles between perception, time, fiction and science and narrow down focus upon those areas which this topic circles. It is not about the resolution and that beautiful relationship that he has with the tradition of beautiful animal painting such as Stubs and his horse paintings: there is a real history of this in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Hypothetical archetypes from natural science and science fiction can be found in the work of Daan Paans, and hence these images colour our perception in the present day. And therefore we assume images colour perception in the future. He calls these counter images and plays with this juxtaposition of present and future and the contradictory nature of the images that protect themselves. Richard recommended a deeper engagement on a practice level with a review of Daan Paans work.

Structure and strategies used by similar artists and photographers are what are being looked for in the presentation of my work for academic assessment. By looking at emerging practice and theoretically exploring, together with critically exploring is what is required. Richard also pointed out that it seems to him that on reflection of our discussion I would need a period of quiet contemplation myself, to reflect and put into order my thoughts more clearly. I need to initiate that myself, by making work early in the process and giving myself both chance and time to review reconsider and critically analyse my outputs. The suggestion was then that I try to complete as much as I can before Easter, and allow those three weeks of reflection for the ideas to permeate. You're working on things intuitively and exploring some good ideas, but I'm not giving myself time to process those ideas so that I can look back and say to myself, instead of doing this as I have done, I can then do that, et cetera. This then becomes a process in itself! If you are a producer of work which we all are, one doesn't work until the final deadline (unless one can of course), for example turning up for a train at 10:09 to catch at 10:10, you're not going to catch it easily! If however, you plan for contingency and aim to arrive at the station at say 9:50 AM, then there's a much better chance of having a successful journey.

Overall, Richard felt that it was interesting work but I need to be kept on track, not in a constrained way, and definitely not seeking resolution at this stage, but nevertheless through regular conversations and feedback. The kinds of debates and discussions need to keep going, and when we do the formative assessment, we might do this through a peer group reflection and maybe get some sorts of artefacts together that each of the students can then review which gives us the ability to test our ideas out with people. If there is physical work laid out, perhaps on the floor or on desks that can be scrutinised this would make a much richer environment to get good critique and feedback from. Perhaps this could be done as a form of pinup style display? This is what is usually done with undergraduate students. Maybe this could be incorporated in the Masters study? We can then split up into say four groups, and then group 1 reviews and critiques group 2 and group 2 reviews group 1 and so on to get feedback.

Ideas to commence the Creative Innovation & Entrepeneurialism module.

Having chosen the option to assist with the Huddersfield gallery "Rotor" project, we had a brief discussion with Dr Bailey regarding the requirements for developing a collaborative website for this event. The deadline for the submission of our findings for this module is week commencing 1 March which does not give us very much time to prepare. Furthermore the submission of group presentations will be week commencing 22nd of March and final submission of our electronic portfolio will be 7 April 2016. We have a date in the diary to meet with Dr Liam Devlin who is the curator for this event, and this will be conducted in the postgraduate suite on Friday, 27 January.

This meeting will be an opportunity for us to check and find out the vision that he has towards a website. The question we need to ask ourselves is what will success like?

With regards to the public facing website questions such as Willis archive and publicly available window have items such as;

• interviews?
• Critical essays?
• Events?
• What are the milestones and venues?
• Will there be a series of group discussions?
• What will the promotional activities be?

It is already established that there will be a full event launch and a preview night at the beginning of February 2017. The exhibition will then continue for the next three months, and then a closing event will need to be promoted.

For our own management and internal activities we need to ask ourselves;

• What are the timescales?
• What are the deadlines for each of the activities?
• Is there a funding budget?
• What skill sets reside in our group?
• What roles and responsibilities will each of us have?
• What are the disciplines need to be involved?
• How frequently do we need to establish creative workshops?
• How will the website develop, become a platform?
• Will your website just support the show, or other intentions such as an archive?
• What other examples can we draw from?

There are approximately eight exhibitors with work for this exhibition ranging from Alex Baldea, Sieba Kurtis, Leila Sailor, Sarah Eyre, Richard Mulhern/Richard Higginbotham, and ASMA.

Creative Innovation & Entrepreneurialism; Lecture by Dr Rowan Bailey on Wednesday, 18 January 2017

The options for the various activities for term two were put forward in this lecture.

Mostly, this next semester will focus on our individual practice; how we manage our practice, experimentation and trials and ultimately reinforce good behaviour to practice, practice, practice in an entirely immersive state.

At this stage, it would be useful to update my personal development plan and outline my new learning objectives from the feedback I gained from Dr Bailey.

I am currently asking myself what goals I need to set for myself to achieve the self-directed study, and what do I plan to achieve a tangible outcome during this term?

I'm pleased to understand that following the submission of the next PDP, there will be one-to-one meetings with Dr Bailey and other academic staff, however, to achieve that the PDP must be completed by 1 February.

As part of the submission for this module, a new website will be used to demonstrate evidence of collaboration with other students. Also, my blog must continue to reflect my own development and provide a platform for my thought processes.

The lecture continued with an overview of Dr Tina Selig's creation engine. This is something that I came across last year at my undergraduate study, which is based on a Mobius loop, and describes the six elements of creativity which include:
 Imagination; to encourage play. This can be continued through reframing a problem, in a playful way such as how a joke may switch an outcome from the anticipated. Imagination is about connecting and combining ideas. Putting things together that aren't obvious. Challenging our assumptions and opening our minds.

The next element concerning "knowledge" is our toolbox of innovation. For this, to work, it is essential to pay attention to everything that is going on around us to find new points of view.

The third element is an attitude. Creativity requires a mindset, the motivation and drive. This is about engaging with vigour, and is not just about being a puzzle builder, but making and adapting constantly, and leveraging the resources that you have available.

On the inner level of the Mobius loop the three elements essential for creativity are "environment, resources, and culture. With regards to the environment, the habitat in which we immerse ourselves whilst creating require items that are easy to manipulate. Dr Selig calls these "easy manipulatives". It is essential for rules and constraints to be flexible, which also includes our ability to find the necessary resources. Moving on to resources, clearly it is critical that this element plays a massive part in what is created. The more resources available and the more of what you need will undoubtedly help in generating desired outcomes. Perhaps this element itself is the most important. However, it should not be forgotten that adaptation of resources that are to hand is perhaps an essential quality rather than the resources themselves. And finally, the culture in which the creative individual finds themselves within is equally important. The background influences on work produce future ideas through the combination of all the above elements, underpinned by a cultural foundation.

Review of "When Species Meet" (2008) by Donna Haraway (Part 1 - Introduction)

Having started to read some of the ideas of Donna Haraway in her book "When Species Meet" (2008) University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, I was immediately taken by the idea that the majority of cells in the human body is made up of about 10% genomes and the remaining 90% of cells, consists of various other materials including bacteria, viruses, protozoa and other organisms!

Our bodies, ours as far as one could understand them belonging to us, therefore, are shared with all these other organisms. Our journey through life has become a vessel for those other bioforms. What an interesting notion this might be, especially if we consider Donna Haraway's anti-anthropocentric meditation.

Some of the reading was difficult to become immersed in, because of what I consider to be a rather typical Californian style. Her language is at times staccato, and yet at other times overly academic. The message, therefore, is occasionally blurred, but maybe this is a device that Haraway uses in an attempt to remain obscure?
She seems to have a habit of using a string of similar words separated by commas, each of which ostensibly means the same thing. Once you get used to this style, and what appears to be an incessant form of wordplay (which is something that I'm not always averse to, as I do enjoy a sense of humour at times)! Putting Haraway's writing style aside; however, the content of her works is useful. 

The simple idea that we share the world with a myriad of other creatures, and therefore need to take account and be responsible neighbours, makes good reading.

There is plenty to read in her book "When Species Meet" and my conclusion here is that my study of it, together with the study of another book recently published will serve me well for this term. This new paper, which Haraway co-wrote with one of her students (Thom Van Dooren), is in a book entitled "Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction", (2016). I already have a copy, - hot off the press!

I intend to continue to provide regular updates of my thoughts about both these books, so watch this space!

Research on the visual perception(s) of hawks

In the article entitled "The Deep Fovea, Sideways Vision and Spiral Flight Packs in Raptors", Vance A.Tucker of the Department of biology, Duke University, North Carolina, published in November 2000, he talks about Falcons Eagles and Hawks, collectively known as raptors, as having two areas of the focal point of the retina (the fovea), that he calls the shallow fovea and the deep fovea. Through his work and through the work of other biologists it has been found that the deep fovea has a much higher acuity of sight, compared to the shallow fovea.

Birds in general tend to spend much of their time looking sideways at an object depending on the proximity of it. When an object is further away, between approximately 8 m and 21 m, they adopt an observational style which is more readily identifiable to us humans, as that kind of inquisitive head tilted, sideways look. Indeed as objects move further away again, approximately 80% of their gaze is through these angled positions.

When considering that birds of prey swooped down on to their victims from significant heights, air to ground speed increases, and therefore any changes in drag coefficients and aerodynamics through altering their wings, or indeed their head position would slow the descent and give prey animals more time to react. It seems therefore that raptors have modified their behaviour in such swoops and dives, so as to make an approach in what appears to be spiral pattern. What this means is that the raptor can continue at the fastest velocity, yet at the same time through sideways focus through their leading eye, they are able to take advantage of almost straight line speed without losing their abilities of extreme accuracy in vision.

Conclusions;

Further research into the acuity of raptors vision and in particular, the Peregrine falcon would be worthwhile, as I am particularly interested in the anatomy of the eye, and its similarities to the ideas of the traditional camera chamber, and later technological advancements in digital photoreceptors such as charge-coupled devices (CCD's).

Reflections on the recent work of Helen Marten and other Contemporary Artists, Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield

I was delighted to hear that the recent winner of the first Hepworth Prize for Contemporary Art, went to a local lady (born in Macclesfield, Helen Marten, in November 2016.  Ms Marten went on then to win the even more prestigious Turner Prize in London, a couple of weeks later.

This all seems very appropriate and fitting too, with the project and theories that I am pursuing too.  Notably, the contemporary importance of Speculative Realism in art, and the new manifestations of Art objects that Helen Marten and her contemporaries, such as Phyllida Barlow, Steven Claydon and David Medalla (all runners-up in both competitions) are currently creating.

I had the opportunity to visit the Hepworth Gallery and examine the works by Marten and the other shortlisted artists.

Helen Marten, "Guild of Pharmacists", 2014.  Mixed media,
found objects. Hepworth Gallery, West Yorkshire.

I was very impressed with Marten's work as it has come from someone at quite a young age.  Marten has already exhibited in New York, Italy and other European cities, with an accomplished oeuvre at only 30 years of age.

Helen Marten, "Part Offering (brother cappuccino), 2014.

Helen Marten, "Part Offering ( doubtless other creatures would have come and gone of course), 2014.

"Part Offering (new and amazingly sexual daughters)," 2014

 The materials used also have synergy to what I also use, which are a mixture of text, painted / screen printed and drawn work, often supported with or juxtaposed with mixed digital media including videos, text and finally found objects.  Together they form new and very different artefacts that explore how we as viewers, may encounter, see, feel and touch things that are both familiar, (i.e. every-day) and at the same time unfamiliar.

 Other exhibitors at the Hepworth who were shortlisted were Phyllida Barlow and her huge installation "Scree", originally installed at Des Moines Art centre, Des Moines, Iowa, USA in 2013, and a new installation is now placed within one room at the Hepworth;

Also of consideration is the work by Steven Claydon, with work that has some similarities to that of Marten, but seems to manifest itself in a more masculine way, as can be seen in his works below;

The importance of their work in connection with my studies of quotidian subjects, comes from the ideas of re-use; Anamnesis.  This is the title of a series of books by Open-Court publishing and includes Graham Harman's works on Hiedegger and others entitled "The Speculative Turn; Continental Materialism and Realism", and also includes work by Levi Bryant, Nick Srnicek.

(** NOTE ** ALL IMAGES on this page are for personal use only as Research material.
 ** Copyright of all artwork objects acknowledged in attribution to the original artists **).

Reflections on the final lecture by Dr Bailey, regarding closure of modules of the first semester

The lecture was opened with a statement that all work should actually be completed to submission by Friday, 16 December; to allow us to have a formal holiday over the Christmas period.

This will allow for a kind of breathing space before the very concentrated efforts required before the next semester's modules.

The next phase of development within these lectures will be "Creative Innovation and Entrepreneurialism".
These new modules will provide an opportunity for collaboration across the whole group, with cross-disciplinary practice including textiles and other studies.

One of the actions required over the holiday period is to develop a website built around the WIX.com service.  That will hold a group dynamic, and will help to build our individual portfolios while working together with live project brief.

It is intended that one develops this project brief commercially through outside agencies to the University. It is, therefore, necessary to choose one of the three outlines topics of submissions as detailed by Dr Bailey.

1. The first option is to engage with either of two outside companies in developing brand and image and marketing products and outputs.
2. The second option is to work with the local Huddersfield gallery and a body or organisation known as 'Rotor'. This group has an objective to bring contemporary art closer to the public through the Huddersfield Gallery and is very much based on a community engagement.
3. The third option is to engage with the Royal School of Art, 2017 competition, which is very useful for any type of artist to enter for future recognition.

The deadline for signing up to one of these three options was Friday, 16 December 2016. This was the same day that all other time limits for each of the modules must be completed.

With regards to the forthcoming work in the New Year, the generation of an E-portfolio will be completed and submitted by 7 May 2017.

It was suggested to look at the website www.hudcama.wix.com/Hudcama

That site holds the previous examples of students on the Master's course and their work.

Conclusions & Overall Reflections:

• During the Christmas break,  I should reflect on my personal development plan and try to work out what areas of improvement I need to speculate and executes upon. As the module in the new semester is a self-directed practice module, I need to work out carefully what it is that I will be doing. 
• The key to the next modules is good project management!
• I need to make sure that my time is managed better as a much more balanced split between theory and practice during this next term.