Jake Ditchfield - Presence

For my FMP I decided that I wanted to dive into a subject area that I have never personally tried before, human form. Human form has been tried many times before and I wanted to create artwork that is completely new and unique to others. I wanted to focus my project on myself and what I can compose from my own body, creating a very personal project. I have looked into such artists as Antony Gormley, Naum Gabo, George Segal, Yves Kline and also Archive historical pieces such as the Pompeii disaster and Ashmolean Museum 'Baby Mummy' for inspiration.

Negative Emotional forms- These pieces of clay have been created to show the negative space of a fist or clenching motion being physicalised. They have been formed by using griping motion from my hand, twisting and forming the clay to a shape that I wanted. I have left the clay to air dry as I wanted the clay to have a worn down effect. These pieces have been created to show a negative emotion mirroring the negative physical action.

Tunnel Vision-The rectangle box of masking tape is a casting in which my hand has been casted in, and then made into the box shape using layers of masking tape. This piece has been created as a development in which I was trying to create a visual version of what would normally be negative space around the human hand; this was later developed into The Host.

Hanging Shadow- The wire sculpture has been created by being moulded around my body in one continuous piece. It is then projected onto the wall, creating a three dimensional moving shadow. The sculpture is then been made to rotate so that the piece adds movement to the three dimensional drawing. The drawing that accompanies the sculpture has been drawn from the shadows created, changing a shadow into a defined shape. This piece has been created with the intention of creating a three dimensional version of myself using both shape and shadow.

The Host – This piece is a development from the Tunnel Vision in which I was exploring the use of negative space and how it can be recreated as a physical form. The sculpture has been created by wrapping my body in sections using masking tape, then joined together to make a hollow shell of myself. It is then positioned inside a box, which is encased in masking tape, leaving the bottom open. Holes were made so people are able to look into the body from each limb and also the top of the head. Then The Host was suspended over the light box, introducing light underneath and inside the body; which improves the visibility into the host inside. This piece has been created to explore the mysteries that can be created by covering up the body and only allowed certain visible entrances.

Max West - Pipes

Statement missing

Hannah Burkey - Beauty and Issues

My concept was to explore how women are affected and influenced by beauty and the ways such a 'positive' goal for most women can become something sinister. My starting points were to produce a questionnaire to discover what people's preferences of beauty were, this led me to look at Orlan who inspired me to create my own person using attractive features of multiple people, but this became a dead end as visually it didn't work.

My next step was to look into historical and cultural references giving me an insight into the extremes women undertake to be beautiful. This initial research also revealed the more obsessive side to beauty which led me to explore 'darker' aspects such as plastic surgery as I felt that the lengths women would go to were fascinating. I began to experiment using different mediums and techniques; I created photo-shoots based around my research and the forms of literature that I found relevance within. I proceeded to create small experimental sculptures inspired by Mona Hatom where I removed the usage of cosmetic products by adding a dangerous element; I put bleach in a perfume bottle, a razor blade in a lipstick and nails in the place of hairbrush bristles.

I looked at beautiful celebrities and experimented with sculpture again attempting to create both a visual and physical representation of the person, beauty and death, which led me to investigate the creation of cameos and refer to Art Nouveau research I had produced. Although I liked the concept behind the sculptural pieces they were not something that I had envisaged when writing my statement of intent so I felt that by going back to the original photographic roots of the project was hugely important in creating successful outcomes. I wanted to continue using beautiful celebrity women as the basis of my works as it introduced reality to the pieces.

I produced another photo-shoot exploring the deaths of Natasha Richardson, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Sharon Tate, by using items causing their deaths and placing them in a shrine like box, in order to link the person and the death in a subtle but obvious way; these were not well received so I felt that it was important to develop the idea as the photographs were something I liked. With the mention of Mimmo Rotella, I knew how to proceed and knew how I wanted the pieces to look. I used the photographs of the 'deaths' I created as a base layer and then layered up a repeated photograph of the celebrity and working into this began to reveal the death and darker side underneath the beauty; a technique that I thought linked in perfectly with my concept.

Charlotte Henshaw - Experience Life

Does a painting have to be a flat surface if not, transforming it into a 3D form will it then become a sculpture?

Is this exhibition a variety of paintings or sculptures? You decide. This idea came from the museum of modern art Berlin, where I was introduced with Emilio Vedova's art work. Here I was trying to understand his work, are they paintings or sculptures.

My first is the largest of the three, the black and white un-painted piece. I used my garage door, it was an un-wanted item. I chose this as it has a good character. It has the contrast of the neatly already painted side then the other that has been damaged through time. I used heavy metal machinery to cut the door up, making sharp structural edges. I began to understand the theory of a readymade. My influence was Marcel Duchamp. The garage door now has a meaning, it is art. The door has been cut into shapes, assembled in a certain way and has been placed in a exhibition. This piece has been left untouched because it already explains its self, it has its natural history. It still has the mud and marks showing its journey. You will question why has it been left. Its explanation should be left for your imagination.

The second piece is another part of the garage door. This has been painted all over. But it has been split into two, as one side I have left quite natural to its previous environment while the other side has been transformed. Its abstract and has texture that pulls you into the work and makes you want to look around the whole painting/sculpture. This stands on its on, it has had no extended work done to it, no hinges and no other materials.

My third is the fully painted piece the radiator. Another discarded item. One side I left raw with showing the radiator as it was in its prime. The other I covered up. I created an abstract painting onto the radiator following my techniques I learned from previous work looking at Gerhard Richter. It is free standing using wire this is so you can see both sides and all the angles to it. Abstractly painting in the way I have on the materials is to explore the texture and the colours the paints can make. They have marks and layers that reveal the material but also covers parts of it up. The painting parts really draw your eye into the piece. Even though they look more eye-catching they don't have as much history as the left materials.

The exhibition is for your opinion on are they sculptures or paintings?

Juliette Peet - Communication

I begin this project full of enthusiasm and ideas of what experiments to carry out and what artists to look at. This attitude continued throughout my project and has allowed me to create a successful outcome.
I executed several experiments that gave me such a wide range of outcomes, I could have gone in a number of directions to create my exhibition, the paintings I created in my initial experiments pushed me to try new techniques and materials, which expanded my artistic knowledge. Looking at artists who work with a disability gave me further insight into the experience of what my subjects felt during my experiments.

Throughout the project, my focus centred more and more on the removal of sight, and by delving deeper into the concept of experiencing art without vision I was able to try out a varied range of experiments where I develop the connection between texture and shade; this experiment gave me the most successful subject outcomes.

I researched deeply into the Braille system, creating my own, marking it out backwards and back to front. I found this more difficult than I originally anticipated; the size that I had to create the Braille was very dainty and small, although the final letter would appear quite large. With the plan in mind to write my Statement of Intent in Braille to present with my exhibition, it seemed that the size of it would be impractical to both present, and create; it would of took far too long and would involve very precise and exact measuring, on too large a scale. Thankfully, I approached the 'Action for Blind People' charity in Liverpool, and one of their representatives offered to type my statement on a Braille typewriter, for which I donated to the charity.

As the Braille became a sufficient part of my exhibition I narrowed down my choices to an interactive piece in which the audience would experience art without sight. I created two boxes, each with a hole in. In one box would be a statement in Braille, which I created by hand.

Above the boxes would be a key code, pins, pens and paper with a set of instructions explaining how to interact with the piece. Both boxes allow anyone to interact with art without sight, relying on their touch, as a blind person would have to. It also introduces them to Braille and their ability to recognise formations and tests their spatial awareness when dealing with the map. The pin would show how people have responded to the map and where it took them.

I feel I have created a sophisticated and mature project that has approached and dealt with a sensitive subject excellently. My journal supports all of my findings and shows thorough and deep investigation into artists and scientific research, along with documenting my tutorials and experiments, further supported by detailed analysis.

Rebecca Gartland - Psychological Space

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by excessive food restriction and irrational fear of gaining weight, and a distorted body self-perception. It typically involves excessive weight loss. Figures show an 80% rise in the number of girls admitted to hospital with anorexia in England over the last decade – Dr Alex Yellowlees, a consultant psychiatrist specializing in the treatment of eating disorders, warns that our obsession with size 0 celebrities might be fuelling the problem.

My final major project focuses mainly on this issue – The size 0 debate. The pieces of conceptual work displayed reflect body dismorphia (in other words, how an anorexic perceives their body to look like – overweight). Dainty materials have specifically been used to portray what people suffering from this eating disorder possibly look and feel like - This can be seen in the suspended sculpture made of string, giving it a skeletal image, and also in the hanging, translucent materials.

Alongside the size 0 debate/anorexia nervosa aspect, works have also been created based on obesity, the flip-side to anorexia (another common problem in today's society) to create a shocking contrast within the project using meat as the main material.

Hannah Williamson - Humanity

For this project my primary aim was to study the conditions of the human race, focusing on the notion of humankind existing in social hierarchies. For instance, the class system in which high, middle and lower classes are divided by wealth and therefore stature still regiments many of our lives: Money is power.
This concept is one that has forever fascinated yet bewildered me - how people who are financially better off are often more greatly respected and regarded as higher on the social spectrum. As primary research, I spent time studying the behaviour of people and their interactions with the homeless around Manchester. This clarified my thoughts that the homeless are often ignored and rebuffed due to instant stereotype. What I witnessed inspired me to bring to light the concept that if we are all born 'equal', if every man consists of blood and flesh then why is there such stark divide in how people are treated due to material possession and wealth?

The larger scale painting is a portrait of Carlos Slim Helu, a Mexican businessman whose worth is estimated at 69 billion US dollars and who is currently the richest man in the world. The other larger scale painting is simply of a homeless man. I aimed for these works to exemplify social hierarchy as they are extremes at either end of the human hierarchy. When viewed from afar, you see simply the painting of the poorer man. Yet when you walk nearer and begin to look more closely, Helu's face appears through the slightly transparent muslin cloth canvas, overshadowing the faint piece – thus emphasising the transience of people with no material wealth and the everlasting power of the financially affluent. The layout of it is designed for the observer to walk into the exhibition space and stand between the two paintings – hence finalizing the piece as they are the 'middle man', as such, as wherever they may be on the spectrum they are at neither extreme. The way in which I painted the two polar opposite individuals I wanted to reflect the situation also: spending many hours on the richest man and minutes on the poorest.

Drawing upon the idea that art can highlight such issues, yet can also benefit them, I looked then at the hierarchy of Priestley, with three people regarded at different levels commissioning me to paint them and with this money going to charitable college funds for struggling students. I will also contact Helu in an attempt to sell his portrait to him and give the increment to people living on the streets.
Finally: the relevance of the letters portrayed in hierarchy form is to explore the concept of why people end up where they do in life, and why they believe this is so. Does it boil down to different mentalities? Varying education and chances? Or is it fate, are some simply more lucky than others? As the saying goes, the majority of us are only three pay checks away from homelessness.

Eleanor Monks - Evidence and Exploration

When i began my project, the possibilities and ideas came all at once, ideas of using different ways of portraying evidence and exploration. This project had a lot of initial starting points and gave me such a wide range of outcomes that i could of gone in a number of directions to the creation of my work. At first i decided to focus on exploring into peoples behaviour, movements and conversations. I explored and Developed my ideas of human behaviour to an extent of where i couldnt control myself and would ease-drop peoples conversations in day to day situations. My work quickly developed into 'why do we watch people' and 'why do people watch' in which i explored into how many times i get watched a day, #that i know of# and why people watch me. This gave me a furthur insight and longing to know why we are such a parinoid and nervous society. Extending my project and exploring each part has broadened my artist knowledge and i have also learnt alot about conceptual art.

My project soon led me on the path of videos, for example, youtube. i explored into the world of 'youtube' and why people are so addicted to watching it. This led me on to the thought of "what if i created my own youtube videos, and would people watch them?" So i created 30 of my own boring and mundane youtube videos. Did people watch them? To my surpise they did, 459 people infact. Throughtout the project, my focus centered more on the idea of youtube, the idea that people sit and watch youtube because they are bored, and its an easy quick release. After getting more youtube hits than i thought i would get, i started thinking about how bored people must be to watch my videos, do they have nothing else to do? Are people facinated by learning and watching things online? why cant they tear away from the idea of the internet helping. This path gave me my final outcome, convenience. If i took convenience out of the world, would people know how to cook? clean? keep warm? even entertain themselves. Society is lead by convenience. Corner shops, microwaved meals, heating, fridges. If all that got taken away, how would people cope. The decided path i would go down was video/photography. I have been studying videos and film for the whole project. I wanted my final piece to be something you have to watch, and focus on, just like youtube. My final piece is set out with 6 squares, 6 videos being played at the same time. on the left, videos of 'cave man' like ways of creating without convenience, and the right side are videos of convenience. i decided to play them all at the same time, so the viewer can choose which part they want to follow. All my research and experiments are documented in my notebook, supported by detailed analysis of every stage of my project.

Luke Henshaw - Sound, Noise and Music

My project "Sound, Noise and Music" has revolved around the entity of sound where I have explored possible avenues to demonstrate its existence within time and space. I began my project by watching clips and collecting relevant research into work by John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, controversial artists dealing with sound, in order to aspire to. From these artists I was then able to practically respond by smashing a guitar and reassembling the fragments into a new sculptural composition, leading to the deconstruction and exploitation of the musical element the materials possessed. I used a voice recorder in order to capture and manipulate the sounds made from the newly composed instrument. I moved my project on by looking into recording a mixture of natural and technological sounds in acknowledgment to questionnaires I had created for a sample of peers and tutors to find preference and reasoning into sound, noise and music. The results gave me insight into a concept linking sound also with the likes of time, space, light and population, things that consist within our world. My intention for capturing the recordings was to display visually and audio relationships to consolidate these identified aspects.

This concept was inspired by Cage due the appreciation of the world in conjunction to Stockhausen using manipulation to change the characteristics of sound. By looping the twelve hour video in reverse (midday to midnight) I predicted that the day will be split down the middle at act as a mirror at midday due of our days consists of leaving home in the morning then travelling home later. As I was charged fifty pounds by National Rail I decided to overcome this problem by building a bike frame in order to attach two video cameras, panned left and right, to be able to evade any problems with security by visiting Lime Street after encountered problems. The bike frame was majorly influenced by Simon Starling's modified bike in order to become more functional and more importantly to collect water from a cactus to create watercolour paintings.

Another piece which I created for my exhibition was inspired using the same concept but involving just time and space by asking my friends and family to record location at 2:00 on Monday 7th May 2012 in order to capture time in synch in contrast to the spaces used for the recordings which has been displaced as a head device to contain the sound projected from stereo speakers connected to an mp3 player.

My last piece was inspired mainly by Ceal Floyer, Janet Cardiff and Haroon Mirza due to the compositional aspects and use of technology to create their own instillations.

My last piece has been constructed by using a tent to confine a separate space with CD players scattered inside intending for human interaction due to personal preference. This piece consists of different ways the sound of water is manipulated through process which has been used as layers to create my soundscape/instillation piece.

Tom Dennett - Gravity

Sound and Art, two mediums I have always been interested in, two mediums that are synonymously linked, two mediums that I have combined within this final major project to ideally create a visual representation of the connection that both Art and Sound share. Beginning in the diagnostic stage of this course where my interest mainly lay in painting and conceptual art, progressing on to do a very conceptual based piece for my pathway project, eventually ending up here, with this concept.

My original intention was to create the link between Emotion, Sound and Art, an intention I feel that got lost within the process of experimentation. It began with this idea of creating art myself whilst being influenced by pieces of music and the emotions that are conveyed within them. I looked into Automatic Drawing, wanting to create drawings whilst being completely immersed within a song, allowing the different melodies, beats and rhythms to create the drawing for me. Looking at how different genres could create different styles, different marks, different colours, different media and different scale. I did however begin to feel my outcomes were becoming quite similar, so I took all of this onward to better things. On the other hand I wanted to switch this concept around, creating sound whilst being influenced by art but this proved too difficult to create anything of any weight, due to my limited knowledge within that area.

So, I began searching the expanse of YouTube for any inspiration related to Art and Sound. Falling across many ways I could relate the two. Everything interesting I was coming across was process driven, based on how the sound is heard rather than what the sound is. How speakers bounce, how they vibrate, how these processes can be used to manipulate and create. The emotion within sound was taken over by the process of sound. Non-Newtonian fluid was my starting point with its strange properties being of real intrigue, yet it was when I began to include paint that things got interesting and the experimentation really took off. I began using different consistencies of paint, different colours, different canvases, ranging from fish tanks, to wood, to the speakers themselves but also I had to try different techniques of shielding the speakers, which unfortunately didn't always work out and several were sadly lost in the process. I got to the point in which a canvas itself was the best for what I wanted to do in terms of safety and outcome, so the focus was now entirely on allowing the speakers and the sound to do the paintings.

To summarise, the paintings in front of you have been created by the sounds you are hearing. The unique method has allowed the paint to naturally evolve, forming an interesting outcome through a process of rhythm, melodies and song. With close observation, you can see the paint dancing across the canvas, random but controlled. Art created by sound.

Jevon Birchall - Smoke and Mirrors

At first I was interested in the all the controversy and scandals that have taken place in the history of the world. From when the sham of The Titanic was covered up to the preposterous uncovering of the MPs expenses. I wanted to be unbiased in my work, always trying to show two sides of a story, maybe even offending people by what the truth uncovered. Over the course of FMP My work and concepts slowly developed into the importance of newspapers, coming up with the concept, death of a newspaper. I thought about the importance that is given to a newspaper, but when the day is up they are unwanted and discarded. I created many developments to do with this like burning and burying my newspapers, showing two sides to the story and then went on to look out how much news and adverts there are in a single newspaper and how we don't Understand the size of the amount of each.

The first piece I produced, Comes from the idea that whilst I have been on the FMP, I wanted to know how much news had been created, whilst I didn't really care about this, I just read the news that I wanted, not really taking to account the amount of adverts and stories that we think don't affect us but really do subliminally. I used the Warrington guardian as it is the local paper, taking photos of each front page for the amount of days we were on FMP and layered them up from the first being clear and the last which is ended up black.

The second piece of my exhibition are my photograms, I created these after looking at old newspapers, as though they are part of an archive, as archiving is the only way that you can view previous newspapers in history. Some developments that i had produced previously, using the technique of photograms, I used to show of both sides of a story. Even though the stories on each side don't

relate, I like the everything has overlapped and intertwined.

My third piece came from a development, but I wanted to show it off on a larger scale, I wanted to show the amount of news we consumed without knowing we did in a whole week. This piece was also inspired by the importance of column inches and the space that is given to different articles and the money it costs. I collected a weeks worth of newspapers and cut them up into articles and adverts, I varnished them onto to the floor so that people could see in a different way and you don't normally see art on the floor.

Sam Waiting - Propaganda

Here I'm looking at Propaganda advertisement especially from a political view, looking at politicians, world leaders and corporation that control the media our countries and our freedom. The issue behind the piece are as followed what do we believe? Do we believe everything we are told by the people in power or everything we see and hear on the television do we believe every person views that is expressed over the internet. In our modern society we are more connected to the world we see more about are politicians and corporation we gain more knowledge and can communicate with many different sources. We must chose what to believe, we shouldn't and cant believe everything we read and hear over the internet as anyone's political views can be heard yet we shouldn't take our politicians words as the truth as politics in modern society seems to be a game of popularity and brainwashing the majority of the public.

My work is to expresses the thoughts, feeling and views I have gained though out this project, I have learnt a lot about the way in which we interact with the rich famous and powerful leaders of our world and how conspiracy derive from this world of the rich and powerful that we have now gain access too though new media and how we see through the simple advisement methods of companies, corporation and political groups. A person believes constantly changes, at some point I believed in most on the conspiracy I was researching and at other point I didn't. I believe it all to be a journey in which I make up my own mind of what's really going on in our world, who controls what? Who has the most power? Who controls my freedom? The world seems to be a place full of dictatorship and greed.

Propaganda is everything and everywhere its where most of are believes come from it helps us to feel save in a world so economically, structurally, politically and naturally unstable. In some ways I believe that we will never truly be free we live in a police state we see a democracy yet we feel the hand of a dictator, however without this we wouldn't feel save. In a world of true freedom we would become Anarchism a world where everyone is free to make there own decisions would be true Anarchy. We are sometime manipulated into believing we have control over what we watch eat and wear (how we live) yet every part of modern life has some type of hidden agenda to make money to keep control to brainwash us to believe someone else's views.

Money is power yet money is just an exchange for a person time therefore real currency is people; therefore if you control the money you control everything, you control the people.

To sum up the work is to allow the viewer to try and make up there own political mind over what they believe and see through some of the simple ways in which through the media we are manipulated to believe certain things by our leaders.

Daniel Hancox - What Do You See?

The main purpose of this project and Final Pieces was to experiment with different ways I can use my camera and find a different approach towards my work. I have always been at locations with my photography, always traveling around and finding the image, however this is something I wanted to stay away from for this project. I wanted to start creating the photographs rather than finding them, like painting or sculptures. This meant I spent most of my time in my college and homemade studios experimenting with different materials.

I got a lot of my inspiration from a photographer called Mark Mawson, he uses paints under water to create suspended sculptures or paintings and as soon as I saw his work I knew that this was a concept I wanted to follow. This work follows several concepts such as my new approach towards photography, I wanted my work to stand for itself and have no real linear thought process from the beginning; I wanted to be surprised with what I was creating and let the work in a way, create itself. This then brought up new concepts relating to the elements of control and protocols, I could choose the materials I was using, colour of the dyes/paints, the settings on the camera, the background and so on however I still had no real control over the composition of the image.

What do you see in the images? The main concept which brought a lot of body to my work and gave me personal motivation was the concept of automatic drawing or painting; in many of the images before my final pieces I got feedback from tutors, friends and students about what they see in the images, how they feel about them and relating them to the real world. I was surprised with how much people differ in what they see, some people personify the images by finding faces and people within them and some people see more material objects like explosions and fluids.

I wanted to show another side to my images by creating a video installation, the purpose for me doing this was to show the contrast between the motion of the piece and how they differ dramatically from the images. I found that I could show the viewer the erratic and almost aggressive nature of the images; the images are suspended in time and are clean and crisp whereas I wanted the video piece to be fast and unstable bringing out that contrast between the video and image. I slowed down the movement of the sculptures to give the viewer a good understanding about how the images are made but not give the process away to much that it loses its impact. I looked at the work from artists known as 'The Boyle Family' who work mainly with video installation pieces in a similar nature to mine, often using paints and dyes to create a surreal motion that captivates the viewer.

Over the course of this project I have gained a strong connection with this work, I will be carrying this idea and concept on into the future and create more pieces whether this be for a project or personal pleasure. In a way I'm sad that this project is over because it has taught me much about the different ways I can work and use my photography, Ive discovered a different path to go down and have opened my mind up to a more experimental way of working.

Rebecca Appleby - Apocalypse

The Apocalypse was the chosen concept for my final major project. I wanted to portray a dark and ominous representation of what I believe the Apocalypse would look like if it was recorded. I included creatures which represent biblical references from the book of revelations. I was inspired by Ged Quinn's post Apocalyptic landscapes of decayed buildings and sinister storms approaching or fading away, leaving the destruction behind. I wanted to create something that I could relate to Quinn's threatening paintings and still entwine my own illustrations and thought processes' used a range of mixed media for my final outcome including Indian ink, acrylic paint, bitchuman paint, varnish and other house hold paints. I found it hard to adjust to the painting style that I wanted to adopt, I hadn't painted on a large scale before and looked into how I could create larger paintings with the limited knowledge I had.

I created some samples of working on canvas and various boards and woods. I found a style very close to my style of illustrating, which worked to my advantage as I favour the smaller details in drawing. I wanted to create a sense of fear and depth when displaying my exhibition. I wanted anyone who viewed it to try and understand my ideas and concepts by looking closer, through the obscurity of what once a landscape but has been concealed by darkness therefore representing my idea of the Apocalypse as a sparse, sombre, hollow landscape with the absence of light. I added continuous layers of paint and varnish to keep the colours that I used still visually noticeable through the murky colours that I layered on top. I also created a number of illustrations which showed my concept of included distorted creatures into an apocalyptic world, replacing the inhabitants. I used relatively the same drawing technique throughout the project as I have explored different drawing styles before into he pathway stage. I also created prints which I have displayed in my exhibition to append that larger scale paintings. I layered the prints to make the drawing underneath unknown, unless a closer look was taken to give an insight into what might be behind the larger paintings. I used the same media for the prints but executed them differently to my other paintings by using white spirit to water down and create an almost dirty, decayed look to the prints and produce the impression they had been discovered recordings of the Apocalypse.

Samantha Fearns - Opposites

For my Final Major Project I focused on 'Opposites' and whether it is possible to alter how some things are usually perceived. This project has been by far the most diverse of all my previous projects and has developed into a completely different idea and outcome than I originally expected. I began the project looking at ballet and over the course of time had developed my work into working with weeds. I thought of weeds as my main focus because it fit perfectly with my 'Opposites' concept. Weeds cause no harm and yet people have a

naturally negative opinion of them. I thought this would be the perfect example and opportunity to change that. I worked on giving weeds the appearance of something to be desired and cared for; basically I cared for them as you would do flowers. I picked a variety of weeds and arranged them into different bouquets and took a range of photographs. I also potted a number of weeds, nurtured them and produced a name label for each one. Finally, I designed a range of seed packaging for weeds and created each design with a unique style in order to show variety. I've found it to be quite difficult during

this project working with plants, especially for my exhibition piece because the timing has to be right for the plants to be healthy and presentable. I have discovered that it was best to plan ahead and pick the weeds I needed the afternoon before I'd planned to work with them. Overall, I am happy with my final pieces and think that my outcomes have turned out successfully. 

Rebecca Smith - Little Man Being Erased

My artwork takes a critical view of conventional social procedures. Upon a metaphysical journey of my imagination, I highlight the ignorance society as a collective accept towards a lifestyle in which I believe no one to be truly alive, or in many ways human.

I portray these views through a cynical stream-of-consciousness present in short passages which describe the world I experience. I depict my own opinions through an unknown protagonist. This was to reinforce the concept of being another statistic and conforming to insignificance in society. The protagonist challenges the daily conventions yet my project reveals that the attempt to escape social routine condemns oneself to isolation and social rejection. Which is how I confront the viewer with the ultimate question; is it better to obey to the rules of a guarded life of expectation, or challenge this and become rejected as an outcast.

The title of my project, 'Little Man Being Erased' in itself is a metaphor. An explanation and conclusion of this process. And in due course a miserable insight of despair and anxiety driven by an unstable meaningless existence.

Displaying the short statements with the laser cut allowed the viewer to perceive my illustration initially to produce their own interpretation however the text as a secondary aspect will alter and develop their understanding of my concept.

These 'poetic rants' display the viewer with confusion and vulnerability alongside a grim sinister humour. As the short stories develop they gradually escalate into frustrated madness. I realised I was to rely on uncomfortable, abstract metaphors such as insects, fingers or mocking faces as representations of the forces I find intimidating in the world. The recurring image of the swarm of moths is personal to myself and is a hallucination/representation of the forces I find threatening. This visual in particular, was the fact I did not conform to sleeping at night. The narrator explains in the brief text the sound of a neighbour soundly, ignorantly sleeping is beginning to become problematic. The moths represent anxiety, isolation and confusion. These emotions are inflicted by the sound of the sleeping, and I am able to transfer these emotions into a visual in my metaphorical illustration. The moths then fly from the mouth of the unknown sleeper and target and 'attack' our paranoid protagonist.

I illustrated these transforming into stone upon the face of the character. Which are once again a visual of the emotions present, angst and despair, which ultimately attack and disfigure the physical and mental form, reinforcing the feeling of isolation.

I display these absurd metaphors against recognisable and comfortable images which contrast the ordinary with the illogical, which later inspires my illustration. I enjoy this fuse of abstract and regular, and combining the two easily spurred illustrations. My style is ensured to remain detailed but fairly unrealistic as I did not want it to be a specific character but a figment of my imagination which represents all of society.

Hannah Ford - Movement Within Environment

The title for my final major project was Movement within Environment- the Ballerina Project which I think has proven to be an appropriate title that reflects simply the main themes of my project. My final images are a collaboration of the environment, the dancer's response to the environment or object and their personal interpretation. It looks at taking a dancer out of the traditional context of a studio space or a stage and pushing them to be creative with movement in order to reflect a specific space or object.

The ideas for my FMP stemmed from the work of Hawaiian photographer Dane Shitagi who created the Ballerina Project. His work focuses on taking professional dancers to unusual locations and photographing their dancing. However, Shitagi claims

that the project looks more in to the emotion of the dancers. I wanted to steer away from having a narrative or emotional attachment as I feared my work would become an amateur replica of the Ballerina Project. From this I looked into working with the environment and found, through the dancer, I was able to capture interesting, contemporary shapes whilst still keeping some traditional, classical dance values. This work progressed into direct interpretations of an object in the environment (i.e. the gate) and later in to studio work whereby the dancer was asked to mimic an object in a studio. Although these were successful, it seemed to drift to far from my environment theme. However, I felt that my previous photographs from location weren't developing enough and seemed too similar to my influences. This dilemma lead me to my final outcomes where I was able to incorporate both areas explored. I decided to look at how I could remove an

object from an environment and replace it with the dancer interpreting the object and then photograph the object in a studio space. I really enjoyed this process as it allowed me to control and direct the shoot in a specific way whilst still giving the dancer the opportunity to explore how she can interpret the object. I also think that it is a logical accumulation of my work that still allowed me to use my original influences without it being a direct copy of their work and incorporate the more successful aspects of my project. Being able to amalgamate the different aspects of my work have given me the scope to experiment whilst keeping to the ideas set in my original statement. Finally, I think it fits the title I proposed several weeks ago at the beginning of the project perfectly as it demonstrates a link between movement and environment in the style of the Ballerina Project.

Jade Tickle - We help create the truths we register.

When I started this project it was on the platform that my previous projected presented me with. My pathway presented me with so many questions that I was excited to answer, I was just so unsure how. The questioned that triggered this was, do we know ourselves if we never see ourselves? My answer was its not what we see it's what we know. Taking this into account it only seemed right that I questioned what it is that we know and the why do we think the way we do?

I questioned how do we know our selves if we are born to believe, not to think. We're born with these pre conceived ideas, some instinct. We know certain things because we are programmed that way. It's nature and forced nurture that give us all a brain filled with thoughts at a early age that don't even belong to us. They are family beliefs that have been passed down to us. How do we learn new things if we're constantly taught the old. Never do we learn for ourselves. We don't question what's wrong and right we just follow the rules that we have been given from a early age. When we were younger if we ever tried to question then we were told off, told by our elders what's wrong in their opinion but how do we know what's "right" of we never experience the "wrong"

When capturing examples of this conformation behavior I needed to have a full understanding on what exactly that is. Studying psychologists and philosophers lead me to study mirroring. This is when my theory turned to visuals. I searched for this behavior everyday. Taking me from benches to cash machines, train stations to coffee shops. Capturing conformity wasn't as simple as I'd expected. It was when presented with these problems that I tried a different method to capturing my photographs. I Noticed I had fell trick to conformity myself. By taking photographs the way everyone else does left me with imagery everyone else gets. Constructing a bag which allows me to hide the camera from the public yet still shoot and be able to conform
myself in the crowd with out being noticed. I needed to power through with my own method because; even though it's not the "right" way to take a good photograph, it's my way to prove that sometimes the right way is wrong.

My shots became my own way of capturing peoples identity. My photographs not only show conformity but also show our own charecteristics that shine through, when taken from a different perspective you see things differently. To conclude I know I'm right as I've now experienced the wrong.

Zoe Papiz - Girl Anachronism

The Oxford English dictionary definition of 'anachronism' is: "a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned". My main aim was to explore this concept in a self reflective and personal way while also being relatable. The idea for "Girl Anachronism" came from thoughts I've been having for the past few years; the vast majority of the music I listen to comes from the 1960s and 1970s. With that choice of music comes a sense of isolation and despondence from more current music and therefore a lot of the popular culture of today. My anachronism is that I do not fit into this brand of music or the way it is produced.

I believe that music has the power to change the way we think and behave and it enriches our lives. This project was initially, in basic terms, a celebration of the music I love. Yet as I grew into the project I realised that what I was trying to achieve was not an outward look to the music and musicians themselves, but rather the part they play in my life and also why they are so important to me. How did I come to love these musicians when so many others my age take a different path of musical appreciation? Where have my influences come from to become so interested in this era of music?

The large illustration on the wall is a self portrait, exemplifying the self reflective content in my work. However, the background to this piece is just as important as the illustration itself. It depicts articles about musicians and adverts from the 70s as well as postcards and photographs belonging to my parents; a perfect summary of where my influences in music have come from. The watercolours are translucent and allow the viewer to see beyond the initial layer. The television plays a series of 5 short films totalling ten and a half minutes and reflects certain aspects of my life set to relevant music from the mid 60s to the mid 70s. The box is intended to be treated as a memory box. The viewer is encouraged to open it and look through the illustrations, writing and photographs at their own leisure. The collection of work I have produced is intended to be like a visual diary in which the viewer is welcomed in to 'read'. It holds more emotional value than monetary (the paper used is old, ripped and faded) and should be treated as such.

In a way, I have consciously rejected 21st century popular music and culture by regressing back to the 60s and 70s. The birth of concept albums and rock operas in the 60s along with the melodic tunes and poetic lyrics resonates with me more than any music today. I'm yearning for something I've never experienced by listening to older music but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Jareth Fletcher-Miller - Greek Mythology

I chose to do my project based around Greek mythology, this is because it is something that I have always been interested in since I was younger and watched the old films like clash of the titans. I originally started off basing my research more about different styles of photography rather than photography based around Greek mythology specifically. I used the Coilhouse blog to help further my research. I found many interesting and avant-garde artists. I was hoping that this blog and the artists that I picked would be able to open my eyes to different styles of photography. I decided that I wanted to make props for my work so that I could transform my models into the creatures rather that photoshopping it all, this was because I felt it would look too fake if it was all photoshopped. During my pathway stage I made many different miniature sets for my photographs and although I didn't use them in

the end they inspired me to expand my use of handmade props within my final major project. I spent a large quantity of my time making the props and overcame many different obstacles during the production of the props. Through out the whole project I changed the props to fit in with my ideas although I did initial sketches and designs I couldn't stick to them all precisely because of practicality issues.

I originally planned on taking my photos in a studio setting and then layering them over photographs of different scenes. I took my first two sets of photos in the studio in college and I got some really interesting edits from these photos. Although they did produce some interesting outcomes, when I tried editing them over scenes they didn't work as well. After conversing with my tutors I decided it would give a better result if I took the photos on location so that the creatures would blend in better with the pictures. I took both digital and film photographs but I was only able to

develop and scan the films from the first two shoots personally. Certain photos worked better on a specificmedium, so in my final pieces there is a mixture of the digital and film photographs. I originally used Photoshop to carry out the majority of my edits because I used many layering effects in my pieces. After I had finished editing my photos on Photoshop I then finished them off using Lightroom to give them a smoother more professional look. I then selected out my four favorite edits, one from each creature and they were the photos I decided to put into my exhibition. To finish my exhibition off I created small definition cards for each creature to help explain a what the creatures are and a little history behind them. I laid the cards out in a dictionary style and displayed them in alphabetical order. The definition cards help to relate the photos to one another.

Rebecca Murphy - What is the Narrative?

I wanted to investigate and understand how a narrative could be developed and what technical aspects have to be used to create them. Along with exploring the idea of what is reality and what is fiction? Investigating how photographers have combined the two together to create one visually interesting narrative or world using their own imagination.

From a number of inspirational photographers such as Kiyo Murakami, Izima Kaoru and Anna Gaskell, I looked at their work in depth to investigate where they had developed their ideas from and what photographical techniques and editing they had used to develop their pieces.
From learning that a lot of the photographers inspirations were to do with dreams, old movies and stories, I decided to select a number of novels and movies that I was strongly interested in and loved making it become more personal as I felt like I was able to keep more of an open mind on how I could recreate the novels/movies.

I wanted to undertake the challenge of recreating novels such as Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Hansel and Gretel and many more which had already been written and created within a visual form. I was able to keep my focus and mind open, I decided that I wanted to select out certain quotes which I felt interesting and visually create them using inspiration from the photographers I had looked at, and I was able to achieve the different sides to the stories that were not showing within any of the previous remakes.

Using the time plan I had created I was able to keep track of when and what I was doing each week and was able to make sure all the novel I was able to design a plan for what I wanted from each quote consisting of locations studies, prop creations, costume designs, scene designs and strong influences to make sure each photo-shoot was created in a strong amount of detail and being captured to a high standard.

Kelsey Avis - Less than Human

'Less Than Human'; Sophie Lancaster was my influence for this choice of project. Sophie was attacked because of the way she chose to express herself, which others did not agree with as they believed it was wrong.

Less Than Human' is the idea of how a belief can change the way a person views or thinks of others and

what they think being human is about. A belief is some thing that everyone has even if they don't realise it, it is something they truly think is real or right; this belief can be bad or good. The believes that are seen as bad are seen as good to those who believe in them. Discrimination is a belief. It's when a person believes that others who are different are wrong those people are then viewed as 'Less Then Human'. Belief is seen as religious a sort of faith that people have, but when someone manipulates that

faith it is then turned in to something that can ruin others lives and influence many other people which in turn makes that particular "belief" stronger. For example cult leaders use the member's faith in the religion to do certain actions or behaviours they may not usually do, a person's belief can be in anything it could be a way of life for them. Some of the believes of the general public are shown in my exhibition; all are anonymous yet some believes remain the same.

Zara Brodrick - Sounds and Movement

My final project that I have covered and explored different sounds and movements I wanted to show a concept of how to visualise sounds and how they travel though us all. I wanted to show what it's like to have sounds amplified and for others to understand how I can hear sounds. To do this I developed and explored arrange of different noises and sounds that are created naturally each day.

I was inspired by many different kind of artist's for my final piece which involved John Kovacich, Brice Marden,Gjon Mili and Piccaso who studied different ways of showing and creating visualised art thou movement of the body and light which I found interesting to look into. It really inspired me to create and come up with my own concept of visualising my hearing and how I would translate it in to an art form and show how I receive sounds in places around me. This inspired me to show an array of ways that show the meaning of sounds and how I observe them though my hearing.

I have developed my sculptural work and really thought that my wire pieces represent my hearing well. They communicate an understanding of the movement within sound, light and movement in my project. I decided to show four wires piece's that display there own sounds. This is shown in a mixed media piece that is visualised around the surroundings by its own sound wave that helped me create each of the pieces. My recorded four sounds are based on different kinds of surroundings, sounds that are going on each day. My sculptural piece's show varying levels of noise; individual pieces of sound for when they were created. I decided to have the four sculptural pieces placed with their sounds because they can be listened to by others to give a more detailed view on them. I want to let others see and hear what it is really like and to see the concept and understanding to my final pieces. I decided to have them played from flowing sounds to really noisy sounds, this I think will help people to understand my work and the concept that links up in my art work when the pieces of sounds are heard by them. The other part of my display will have the reflective views on my sculptural pieces of work and how light is reflected in different ways. This was accomplished by having my wire pieces projected onto the wall to create the shadow of the outline of the sculpture, using a sharpie pen which allowed me to follow the shadow of the out line. This will capture the creativity of light that has reflected and left a mark of the sculptural piece. My final main out come will be a basic theme but will have a lot of concept behind the design and idea of my piece.

Joyce Hewitt - Life into Digital

my theme for this project is Life into digital. I have looked into digital arts and relied on my imagination to create different environments and characters. For inspiration to create my environments I read pages of books and used that information to draw out sketches from what I imagine the environment to appear like. Influences throughout this project I have gathered from books, video games and films that I have seen.

My influences to create my out comes in that style I have was inspired by some digital painting I saw at a university I am going to attend. So then I researched into the theme of digital painting and concept art and saw the processes and software they use to create them. I visited Warrington museum to gather some primary research and photographed various things to help with my character creating such as insects, animals and machinery. I have used Adobe Photoshop to create my environments, I sketch out a drawing from my imagination, that were inspired by pages of

books and I digitally painted it in using different tools on Photoshop. I used Adobe Illustrator to create some of my character drawings. Using illustrator gives them a cartoony thick black outline around the character.

For my starting point I just created my environments by relying on using paint tools in Photoshop. The process was long and this limited my amount of environments and characters I could create as they were time consuming. To speed up the process I added photographs to certain parts of my environments which all ready contained colour so I didn't have to colour them in using the paint tools on Photoshop. Using Illustrator is a quicker alternative to creating my characters rather than painting them in on Photoshop. I have continually annotated my processes to determine whether there successful and ways I could improve my previous ideas and outcomes. I have had individual tutorials and taken part in group critiques and reflected and acted upon the comments.

Kristian Bird - Monochrome

Monochrome, one colour one pattern. I have created a space which portrays a psychological state of anxiety, while my eyes are ticking over constantly scanning for a cognitive change in the pattern. What was once an image is now an environment.

In my work I have tried to influence our understanding of how we initially react to art and how this changes depending on location, placement, text or colour. For example, an image can define many different influences from one human being to another. The statement of a single word or pattern can draw a different conclusion. "The meaning of an image is changed according to what one sees immediately beside it or what comes immediately after it." From the book looking at "Ways of Seeing" by John Burger. The Bauhaus colour theory has also been very influential in my work. I wanted to link the idea of changing the perception and understanding of images by using a unique approach in the photography stage. I wanted to look at how I could manipulate the viewer's eye to show the diversity of how an image can be presented and understood.

In my work, I experimented by making a 1900's folding camera into a lens for my DSLR which was like contrasting digital and analogue which I then used to create my own colour filters using different colours / shapes of Perspex. When I visited New York and Berlin as part of the course, I acquired first-hand knowledge and experience of Andy Warhol's work in large scale silk screen prints. His work using repetition of imagery with topical items like the "Soup Cans" and "Marilyn Monroe" This particularly made me think about the impact and influence to the viewer if an image was multiplied, what effect this may have on its wider interpretation and understanding. I experimented with different images, sizes, colours and amounts of repetition. I also tried the introduction of secondary images. I then started to scale the image work to include 3D objects giving the viewer an acceptable aesthetic appearance. On closer inspection the appearance was actually really composed of controversial images e.g. a "Tabloid Page 3 Model" or a "Starving Child. When these images are viewed at normal scale, it is likely that these images would be unacceptable and would cause a completely different understanding and reaction from the viewer.

This gave a particular impact which represented my ideas. I then developed the idea of using my own imagery to take this particular research further. I further evaluated many different single images and combinations as my aim was to create a single image which would be unique in itself and capable of being attached to itself to create a novel flow and appearance giving a unique and combined impact that a single image would not portray. To achieve this affect I was hunting for the right lines, tones, contrasts and negative space. I found abstract silhouettes working the strongest.

I was not looking for an image but a pattern.

Chloe Franklin - Mistaken Identity

Mistaken Identity the idea that we can be wrong, that we judge based upon something we have been taught to believe, without ever really knowing what lies beneath. Memories we believe to be real and that shape and form our lives into something unrecognisable from reality. Are our thoughts real or do we contrive ideas to create a life for ourselves? Is everything we have been taught a lie and do others tell us the truth? Everything we know is learnt from other people so how can you possibly know it to be real?
Elizabeth Loftus is a lead psychologist in false memories; she studies the idea of whether our memories are formulated plans, constructed to give ourselves justifications for the people we are. My journey begins here.

I have explored the idea of stereotypical thoughts. I created a social experiment in which people were to put a word in a box. The word would be placed anonymously and it had to describe their thoughts on me. A lot of them were quite obvious such as loud and giddy. I think these words were put in because that is the persona I try to show to the world; maybe the people that put them in don't know me that well. I wanted to explore words that I didn't understand or words that intrigued me.

Inconsistent, Lonely, Brave, Whore.

I decided to split my work into two parts. The first being an outer perception of myself, me taking these words, embracing them and then taking them away. I felt that the animation technique of pixilation would work well. Keeping this area in digital format allowed me to explore a raw footage style for my second section.

I wanted to display a number of memories, be they happy, hurtful or general thoughts from my life time. I have always wondered whether I actually remember things from my childhood, or whether I have taken these ideas from photographs and home videos. I therefore chose to use cinefilm as the quality is of a home video style. I went through photo albums trying to remember certain things, revisiting places where memorable moments have occurred and generally digging up my past.

Through this I have created the film you are about to view. The project began as a simple idea of exploration but I have found out much more about myself and memories I have had than I realised. The personal ideas behind this project are things I have kept protected in my life, things I don't want people to know. I still don't know how this project will affect me, whether any of the memories I have portrayed are infact real but how can we ever possible know…

Kevin Boardman - Product rather than Fashion

The original intention of my idea was to ensure control, imagination and creativity to the user rather than the designer having these advantages as a result my role as a designer was to design a process in which the user can gain these advantages.

This was heavily inspired by Lego; I was fascinated with how many people at first follow the instructions until they have achieved a finished outcome then boredom takes over which fuels the user to gain ownership and create something that supports them as in individual. I wanted to treat my work as a product rather fashion or a garment mainly because I want the ability to not only create fashion but to consider creations outside of fashion evolving the design philosophy to not reduce the limitations of creativity. This proposal sparked many questions to tackle such as joints, manufacture and function? These questions were continuously challenged throughout the process by doing this the project was able to lead in to its own direction making me explorative by rejecting traditional ways of production and even the aesthetic value of fashion, making this was the pivotal part of my project by establishing my emphasis on designing the process leaving the aesthetic secondary.

I felt the content behind the product was an aesthetic value in its own right as well the user was my creator; therefore they are the people that will have the control to define my product. Joints was essential to my product as I discovered this is what allows the variation in outcome possibilities, my research in Lego informed me of the restricted access by how some of the joints were designed. My goal was to reduce this, and as time progressed the word 'product' was required as I was constantly testing a range of fabrics that could withstand durability as a joint which resulted into a plastic. An unconventional material to fashion a common material to product design.

A constant theme of unconventional ways in fashion was throughout this journey, no more than in the production side showing similarities to flat pack furniture from IKEA whose mass production resulted into a decrease in labour. This was translated into my work as I paid more attention to the design aspect and having laser cutting machine to manufacture a large number of accurate shapes that only required a small amount of stitching compared to traditional garment production. The end result delivered this industrial effect, from the elements of the joints, materials and colour something which I did not intend at the start, by keeping the aesthetic secondary I was able to question the design process in fashion creating a unique way that challenges the user how far they want to take this product with finished results from a chair cover to a sculptural dress. Stop motion was my illustrative way of informing the user to develop an awareness of the content within the product and the potentials of what the product can achieve.

Tyler Seraphin - The Exploited Industry

Do we really know where our clothes come from and how they are made? So obsessed as a nation to look good on the cheapest budget we often lose thought on the garments origin. Exploitation is rife in the industry and i feel there is not enough out there, artistically nor fashion related. This is what i want to change.

Fashion law was my starting point. I needed to know what the guidelines were for design and manufacturing so i knew where things are were not correct. I looked at different types of exploitation from unpaid internships, the exploitation of women and the rights to a specific design. By doing this i was able to get emotionally involved with the research i had conducted. Being an aspiring fashion designer myself, i can see the sorts of conditions that young designers have to go through all in the name of experience. This in itself makes me wonder, if i was to put myself into those conditions, would it be worth it?

During this project a clear pattern was immerging. People are being deprived of their human rights. This immediately put me on the track of researching sweatshops. It came to surface in the media that the company that i work for has been found to be beating and only paying 10 pence and hour to the workers who manufacture the brands knitwear. With this news came my initial experimentation with labour and time. By knitting 4 plastic bags branded with my company's logo in 4 hours i made a piece that structurally represents the workers exhaustion. However the knowledge of me only earning 40 pence at the end really puts your effort into perspective. On the contrary, i have a choice to stop but these workers often don't, this is their only income.

Time and labour started to push my inspiration. Following my investigation into sweatshop working conditions i came across forced overtime, making common working days of 12+ hours with no extra pay. The environment is threatening and health and safety is regularly ignored. My response was to put myself in such an over-worked atmosphere to produce a conceptual installation piece. First starting with an 8 hour restriction to sew as many pairs of underwear as possible, inspired by Mary Portas' Bottom Line documentary, it concluded in running out of patterns resulting in 80n pairs of underwear in 5 hours and 42 minutes. The decision to record the process was to elevate my work to more depth through a performance. The projection and the sound of the video draws in the viewer to my experience with the underwear as proof of the rushed, and occasionally faulty construction of a garment to receive payment. After all, it's all about making a living so that we can look good.

Sam Abram - Amnesty

Amnesty' is a contextual fashion based body of work that explores the contrast between the political ideologies of Communism and Capitalism within a Class versus Classless society. The idea began on my recent excursion to Berlin, where I was inspired by the history and atmosphere of the city. From visiting exhibitions and landmarks (I.e. The Jewish Museum, Fashion Talks exhibition at The Museum of Communication and The Berlin Wall) I had a overwhelming sense of responsibility to actively

respond to what I had witnessed. I chose military/business wear and everyday workwear as representations of Upper and Working Class garments but used 18th Century influences through material and colour choices to show extravagance and wealth, but also recycled existing workwear with a mixture of traditional and contemporary tailoring techniques and subtle detailing in order to create my exhibition pieces.

Throughout the process I have developed a greater understanding of more difficult techniques in garment construction, the research has enriched my contextual knowledge and has helped my project mature in to what I think is a successful thesis which is more about the thought behind than the final outcome.

Jamie Daniels - Blurring the Boundaries

I believe that when someone views my pieces of work, they will most likely already have an idea of what they believe fashion and fine art should be, my idea of 'blurring the boundaries' took on these prejudgements and opinions and attempted for find a good medium between the two, a way of finding the midway point between the two usual opposing subjects. I realised by the end of this project that it was more of an experiment and asking a question as opposed to discovering the answer, which even now I still haven't yet uncovered, but during this FMP I gave myself the opportunity to gain complete freedom and control over the style of paintings I created and the style of garments I made. I hope that people view my work with a prejudgement and believe my work to be one of them many exhibitions that shows the usual pretentious ideas of the fashion designer, who has taken prints and included them into garments, as this will prove my idea of people's preconceptions and beliefs towards these subjects, as in fact to me personally, its so much more.

Not only is my idea fuelled and influenced by this idea of mixing fine art with fashion, but there are also many autobiographical aspects to this piece. I've been told many times that art can be some form of therapy and can let you escape or let out different emotions, this is another idea I was interesting in testing. There are certain things that have occurred in my life that I feel quite uncomfortable discussing and communicating about, so I thought that with the emotions I felt, I could create one of the most personal pieces of art I've ever done. Originally I was focusing on certain moments in my life that I believe have defined me as a person, eventually I realised that I was wrong to restrict my concept in such a way, and after a monumental conversation with my mother during the earlier stages of this project, I decided on focusing on the daunting idea of creating a piece based around the relationship between me and my mother, and me and my father; which if you knew about the contrast between the two relationships you'd know how different they are, and how difficult it has been for me to reminisce and focus on them throughout this project. There was plenty of struggles and turbulence throughout, first of all building up the confidence and courage to discuss subjects I feel so protective and anxious about, then creating garments from scratch and attempting to keep them as well made as possible, but I believed that all this stress and nerves would be rewarded at the end of the project when I naively believed id come out of it a better person with somewhat of a heavy weight lifted from my shoulders at last, a form of therapy and a way of healing. Sadly, this didn't happen, if anything it has made my feelings and emotions stronger, more implosive and possibly more destructive, I always said from the start of the brief that the best art is the most personal and after the heartache I've felt during this time, I pray it all pays off.

Rebecca Dunn - Tiemline

Focusing on the 1940s to the 1960s I have explored clothes and accessories worn throughout these times and created a number of photo shoots that I styled myself and even created some of the clothes on the photos. I took inspiration from designers and other creative avenues that have taken part in evolving styles that are show in current fashion magazines. I built upon my pathway stage where I explored the history of a place to create a fashion shoot styled by myself. The costume Museum in Manchester was a great place to visit and look at clothing from the past years it was very inspiring and helped me when creating a final look for the photo shoots.

I focused on key designers and brand from the past and current that reflected the 1940s up until the 1960s. 'Christian Dior First spring Collection' was a key designer for the late 40s up until the early 50s. A contemporary designer that I looked at was Parada SS12 collection as they had been influenced by the 1950s look. Both designers helped me when creating my own looks for photo shoots and choosing suitable

locations. One thing that I did notice when gathering my research was that a lot of past trends influence current trends today and past trends are always travelling back and forward in fashion with a slight modern twist to them that could just simply insist of change in colour.

I have produced a 'time line' of photos that represent the 1940s, 1950s and the 1960s. I experimented with fabric and clothing used throughout my chosen years for example rationing from the 1940s where I created as many skirts as I could using only a small amount of fabric and even creating a patchwork skirt with the scraps of material left so there was no waste. My final piece is shown in frames in a diagonal manner to represent my own interpretation of a time line. The frames insist of photos that I styled and created myself , fabrics that represent my chosen eras and even some accessories for example Flower hair accessories from my 1960s photo shoot. I also took inspiration from current magazines to create flats with clothing from my Photo shoots to show them as a whole piece instead of on a model including shoes and accessories.

Throughout the project I reviewed my own work and got tutors input and feedback which helped me a lot throughout the project as It helped me to understand how to take my project further . Each talk that I had with tutors I documented in my journals. I also took park in group critiques where I talked about my work to peer member and got feedback . In response with these Critiques I documented them in my journal and developed my work when needed. I reflected on my own work on a weekly basis ensuring that I had kept with my time scale and measured my progress and success throughout the project.

Eleanor Stephens - How far will you go?

Explores all aspects of vanity and how far people will go for it. It delves into the inner truth behind cosmetics and reviles designers that go to extreme lengths to create the new styles and trends regardless how many animals they kill. I have gathered a collection of research from designers to films and articles, Which have helped me to explore more areas such as the lengths people go for surgery and Botox. From all of the research I have created work to shock viewers and inform them with the truth, For my final work I have created two garments that reflect on the current styles with the concept embedded within them. One has been printed onto, the prints were based on illustrations that I have drawn responding to animal testing for cosmetic products. These drawings are to shock viewers and to inform the truth that the products they are using are actually killing animals. The other garment is based on hair dye and hair extensions and how it's not conventional to use and wear for a garment and it is seen to be a necessity in people's lives. I have exhibited my work in a cage to represent the animals that are being tested on for cosmetics. I have also created two rabbit masks to represent the animals being alive and showing off what they are tested on. This makes my concept and ideas come to life and is overall more shocking, to make people realise that everyone is hiding from the truth behind vanity.

Ben Canning - Muscle Development

Muscular development holds the key to success and welfare. The ability to manipulate and develop this is the core of which my life absorbs. It is a perilous journey through frustration and progression, which feeds an ever increasing desire for more. It deconstructs and rebuilds the foundations of which a man's confidence and integrity rests on.

My exhibition transforms the muscle growth and expansion into a visual. Portraying the effects one can achieve when interacting with the work. When the viewer participates in my artwork this begins a mirror like process. Whilst the muscles within the structure stimulate, a similar stimulation is formed between certain muscle groups of the body. The installation allows the viewer to understand how the muscle can work to its full extent. I consciously designed the movement to challenge the participant, who will find difficulty in completing the contraction and relaxation. As the stress put on the contributor's muscles will tear and rebuild them into a stronger form, the viewer

will be physically affected and aware of this concept. The structure is almost a piece of gym equipment. With enough time and effort, you would see developments throughout the body.

Art is a synthesis of creativity and progression through a process that allows the viewer to witness something that is not usually visual to the naked eye. This is something I have attempted to achieve with my installation. By bringing to light how simply a muscle can be developed and expand, I trust this will allow the participant to establish a new understanding of the fundamentals of how an object can operate, therefore pushing themselves to new limits and expectations. After my installation has been witnessed and experienced, I want the contributor to leave with a permanent impression upon their life. This will expose that the hard work and perseverance can establish into physical form. The contributor will leave with this new outlook and believe in a new beginning. The piece exploring my passion will then be exposed, understood and passed on to others so they too can be inspired.

With each repetitive movement the muscle tears and the progression is developed into a physical growth, beginning a development and ultimately a birth of a stronger person. Prosperity enters the body through a deep burning sensation, and the endurance is controlled; allowing the participant to decide the intake of the benefits. Not only does this improve ones physical health, but it improves ones motivation and will power. To myself and hopefully to the viewer I will create a sense of accomplishment, which builds as an excitement within the flesh. My work explores the relationship between power and poverty, and I ultimately want to portray that one can manipulate, improve and progress this through perseverance and will power.

Ben Robinson - How far will you go?

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Jessica Henry - I don't live here, I exist here

At the beginning of my Final Major Project, I intended to focus on what I called the 'Identity' of a space. These aspects ranged from the functionality to the personal meaning it may hold. My previous project, it helped me gain the knowledge that the simplest of idea can have the most solid of outcomes and helped me develop a more conceptual way of thinking about interior spaces.
My main inspiration was a visit to the Judisches Museum in Berlin, where there was an installation named 'The Holocaust Tower' and this was an interpretation of what a gas chamber was perceived to be. When in there, you are surrounded by 79ft of solid concrete and nothing else but a snippet of natural light at the very top of the chamber. Even though this was only an interpretation, I instantly felt cold, empty and many other emotions that I didn't enjoy. It was as though history had taken place within the chamber and contained all the memories of what had happened during the holocaust.

Another influence for my project was an artist named Absalon and his work in the Hamburger Bahnhof, again in Berlin, titled 'Cellules'. This was an installation created to the measurements of Absalon, which made the space personal to him. It was a very minimalistic piece yet still stood out to me. This made me decide that I wanted to work in a minimalist way, but still have a strong concept behind it.

I came across a television programme called, 'Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder' where Richard Wallace hoards everything he buys and how he has adjusted his life around the junk in his house, when in reality he doesn't need it. This got me thinking of how to develop my project further, and the thing that came to mind was what we need to survive (e.g. oxygen, food, water) and what we want to survive with (e.g. internet, phones, make-up). I mainly focused on what we need to survive as I felt they would be more interesting to conduct experiments with.

I began experiments where I separated my studio space into two. On one side, the 'object' we needed to survive with would be existent, such as burning candles to represent oxygen. On the other side, the 'object' would be non-existent, such as the candles being covered until they went out which represented oxygen being absent. I conducted a few more experiments with the same process until moving on to plan my final exhibition.

I wanted create my final exhibition in relation to my previous experiments as mentioned. I wanted to produce a contrast within a space. This may not be a literal contrast, such as hot and cold, but more of a conceptual contrast. The concrete cushions suggest a sense of absence, as though something existed here but it now no longer does. That there is just an imprint, maybe a memory, left with them.

Hayley Birch - Part of Everyday Life

The project is called 'Part of Everyday Life'. Everything is a blank canvas before you put your own stamp on it; this is why I created an all-white set which is simplistic so I am able to capture natural detail within the film causing it to be live art within life itself. I'm projecting my everyday life onto the set to show how something so simple can also be so complex. The messages within the films are of me in different environments which build up and capture my everyday life.

Throughout foundation I have create a range of various sets, so I knew I was going to end with a set for my exhibition. Throughout this project I have talked to tutors about my ideas, research, further research, a range of experiments with film and small individual project within this project to help me develop my concept. But there is one part in this project that I believe helped me develop the set and the concept which was when I did research into 'Minimal sets' an architect named John Pawson, had designed a stage set at the Royal Opera House, the piece was called 'Chroma'. What I liked about it was how he created a simplistic stage for the dancers to

perform on so the main focus was on the dancers throughout the performance.

Furthermore this performance relates to my project because of how simple the stage set is but how powerful it is at the same time, just like the dancers are the focal point of the entire performance. In my project my everyday life is the main focal point; this is why I created a set to work around my everyday films.

Keri Johnston - Part of Everyday Life

Within this project I wanted to explore more ways I could use the themes of a story to recreate them in a narrative form. My pathway project consisted of making sets in a metaphorical manner that helped portray certain themes of a story. At the beginning of my Final Major Project I was still in the mind set to create props and sets related to themes and also use quotes I found particularly inspiring from the story.

I began by choosing a book that I thought had several interesting running themes that I could work with and that I hoped to generate a strong personal response to. The Picture of Dorian Grey is the book I had chosen and was written by Oscar Wilde. The first artist that I looked at started to change my mind already from the initial plan that I had. I researched Yoko Ono and looked at her performance piece called 'cut'. This linked in to my work in terms of the theme 'influence', and the development pieces I created that related to this work led to me down a pathway that involved the actions of other people, then I found in some cases the action of carrying out the piece was more relevant than the actual final outcome of the piece. I did a painting of Dorian Grey that consisted of a deformed version of himself, then a normal one layered over the top.

I asked a friend to act as an outside influence and to gradually strip the layers from the top of the painting to reveal the distorted image underneath. I also experimented with another outside influence using the weather, leaving a painting outside in the rain over night to find it had washed away all of the paint leaving no image at all behind. Vanity is another theme from the book, which caused me to move my project forward from not only having influence be the concept, but to using appearance and then the changes of that appearance due to external or uncontrollable influences and the effect they have on a person's emotions or feelings. This led me to the idea of using mirrors and the people who were the subjects in my project each had their own mirror that they added layers to, using different materials, onto their reflection whenever they had or felt a negative change. This links in with the story of Dorian Grey, who had a portrait of himself that took the form of his constantly darkening soul and ended up visibly deranged, whereas he personally had no changes occur in his appearance at all. From this mirror idea, and being inspired by a specific quote, 'see the change taking place before his very eyes', it directed me to the idea of making a stop motion video of a clay version of each of my subjects faces, and to make changes to them in relation to what changes they each made to their mirrors. This way, viewers could literally see the change taking place before their eyes.