Extension Task - Science Project

This display of Hexagonal panels was developed from a collaboration between the Maths & Science Departments, and our Art Foundation students. The art works are the result of an artistic visual enquiry into the rich worlds of science and maths.

Science tutors and technicians gave tutorials, insight and technical help which provided an alternative and exciting platform for visual enquirers.

Devised as a stretch and challenge project, it was run outside of timetable, during the Student's busy Final major project examination period. The project has clearly benefitted and fed into a number of the students Final major projects, and resulted in some excellent Final exhibitions which are displayed in the Arts centre.

Jonathan Bate
Cameron Brown
Jess Chilcott
Georgina Cuthbert
India Gary
Sian Halfpenny
Laura Hopkins
Liz Hough
Rachel Marley
Alex O Toole
Andrew Stratford

Jonathan Bate - Science meets Graphics

My FMP consisted of working as an art director on a scientific display located in the corridors of the science labs, I had to develop my skills of listening and considering groups ideas, working as part of a team and setting the example, as I wanted to show others and myself how much I have developed in this year of foundation. The plan was to then take ideas forward and expand them further into a more refined and individual piece towards the end of the project. I believe the project deviated slightly in terms of influence and outcome, if you asked me at the start of the project what I would be creating, I wouldn't have given you the answer that I have produced in respect to my work.

I found working with the client to be a positive experience, Ken was very positive and inspired by the potential ideas and imagery that initially arose from discussion, Ken was very open in the terms of project expansion, as long as we had a display at the end of it and it represented the elements of science discussed in the brief. He was also very helpful in terms of gathering resources whenever we needed something from the labs, he would do the utmost to ensure we had these devices to play around with and create art from. It was a pleasure to have been able to work with Ken and I believe we are all happy with the outcome that has been produced.

I challenged myself to do something different, so I decided that because I am going on to do graphics for the foreseeable future, that it was my last opportunity to do something different and prove to others that I am not a one trick pony. I believe I have accomplished that with the help of my peers and the tutors, they managed to influence me and lead me on the correct path, which lead to an installation consisting of Petri dishes, paint and a whiteboard.

I believe that I was exposed to the right environment when it came to look for something different, I was working alongside fine artists, illustrators and architects, I believe that the group formed a healthy relationship, which translated into positive feedback, which I think will be evident in people's journal the level of cohesion was impressive and I would like to think that people valued my input and it went some way to help them with their work.

I believe the strength of my project was the fact that I was able to nail down relevant and inspirational research from the beginning to the end of the process, I didn't have as much as I expected, but what I did have went a long way to inspire my designs, which is the purpose of the research in the first place, this shaped my outcome, which I am happy with as it clearly illustrates my thought process and concept.

Thomas Griffiths - Science meets Graphics

Over the course of the project, I feel I have developed an understanding of the theme that I aimed to investigate. The experimentations allowed me to build up an understanding of change and how these changes affect the final outcome, based on the initial starting point of a sculpture. There was a transition from lines, 2D and 3D shapes, due to experimenting.

I chose to use 3D shapes as the shape itself would become more complex when connected but also would have a higher load bearing strength. I chose to use cubes, as they are seen in the outside world for construction which is the purpose, but creating something aesthetic at the same time.

Later on in the project there were many difficulties when changing to a larger scale due to material and size. There was a higher thought process due to weight of the overlying sculptures and how they would support one another and what angle they would work at successfully. I overcame this by trial and error by investigating different sculptural materials. I had to compromise on materials and the way the sculpture would be structured, which is why I opted for cardboard as it is lightweight yet strong and sturdy when fixed together with bolts.

Using the space given and creating the sculpture in that environment gave me an added advantage to the support of the sculpture. The idea of working with the space is something else I learned from, as my sculpture was an installation, I worked using the space. This contributed to how the sculpture was shaped and how it changed during the construction process by having to work around a triangular base, ceiling and second level with an open space. I know now from this experience that an installation such as a sculpture works focusing largely on the environment you are working, rather than what I initially set out to create a free standing sculpture. The installation being created as site specific gave a more personal feel to the space as it appears to be part of it, changing the way that space is viewed. This idea of altering space links briefly to my pathway of interior design which I hoped to achieve.

I feel I was successful over the course of the project, due to the artist research, primary and secondary sources which initially helped me establish what I wanted to investigate with coinciding small experiments; all allowed me to understand about the theme and how to develop further via media choices. Time planning was crucial, I felt more prepared, even though near to the end of the project time was short and problems did occur as mentioned, keeping to the time plan really helped. In the critique I realised if I hadn't researched and compromised, the final result would not be the same, expressing the theme with a conceptual finish.

Louis Collins - Space

I feel I have completed the brief set by myself successfully and I am happy with the outcomes I have created they are fit for purpose and give SPACE more meaning. During the start of the course I was unclear on the direction to take but with some guidance from my tutors I was able to find the right path to go down. The pathway stages helped me greatly to open up to ideas, the photography and concepts pathway were the strongest for helping me to get to this point they allowed me to grow as person, understand art and design better and view it from different perspectives.

The photography pathway helped me out when it came to finding imagery for my FMP, understanding composition and lighting aided me in my cause to find a solution for my imagery. The concepts pathway helped me to open up and view avenues I wouldn't normally take, this lead me to finding the jigsaw concept. I am glad I found this idea as it resonates with the company completely for example a jigsaw piece is made to fit and fills an empty space just like the company plans to do with it its furniture you can also look at as a jigsaw connects together just like a piece of furniture.
During the course of the project the research that came from competition research and designers helped me to paint a picture of what my final piece may look like. My main inspiration came from Celeste Provoste, Wondereight and Bauhaus. Although some of the inspiration isn't well known they have helped me in creating my final piece through their techniques and style.

Adobe illustrator played a massive part in the process of my work, as I have knowledge of the software I thought it made sense to use it and seeing as I am going on to do graphic design at university next yea, I thought revising my skills and using it for my final piece because it would be beneficial to me as I have gone the year without using it to explore other techniques and process with the different pathways.

Using the information provided for me through a peer review and conversations with my client to use as guide I have achieved what I set out to do the overall look of space seems be at a professional standard and I believe could compete in the industry.

Rebecca Lamonby-Edwards- Psychological Space

I think that my final major project has been as successful one, I managed to achieve everything that I said I would in my statement of intent and more. I think the experiments helped a great deal with how my final pieces have turned out. I was expecting them to be the foundations for quick responses to progress into something else, but I was able to use them throughout my project.

I think the experiment that was the most interesting to me was the tea leaf reading, I felt excited to find these little symbols in a cup and find out what the symbols are meant to mean. Other then learning tea leaf reading and palm reading, I think that I have learnt a lot from this project such as recognising when the standard of work isn't to a good standard and thinking fast to try and rectify it. I think will help me in any future career, if a client doesn't like the work that I have produced for them, I will have to think fast to try and produce something else.

This project has proven to be a challenge for me, with using new software such as illustrator. I think that it was a big gamble for me to make that my main media even though I haven't been taught on it, it's all been self taught, but in saying that I am pleased with the quality that my final pieces turned out to be, I know that my cards could be a lot cleaner with the border and I think if I had more time I would go back and fix the parts that I'm not happy with.

Overall I think that this project worked well because it was quite personal to me so I think I was able to connect to it so it was a lot easier to put my all in to try and make it the best that I could. I've learnt a lot from this project and I think that it has developed my skills greatly, on the computer and with the hand illustrations, I hadn't used ink pens before because I was always to scared of ruining my work with how it can't be erased, but I'm glad I explored this media because its built my confidence as an illustrator and you can create a lot of detail with the pens which I hope to explore further in the future.

Chelsea Thornley - Woman with a Suitcase

In this project I have focused on developing the concept of a woman with a suitcase and the making of a ready to wear collection. I have learnt how to use a conceptual garment to inform decisions for the design of a collection and how to create patterns to translate these ideas into a three dimensional form. Originally the idea came from using my experience in the pathway project where I challenged the concept of body image developing three visual boards, the problem being I couldn't translate the idea into something wearable with the time frame I had. I feel I have learnt how to do this through attending making tutorials from my tutor where I developed fabric and paper toiles before constructing the final garments using draping and pattern cutting.

I have kept within my statement of Intent as I used primary photographs of women with suitcases to establish character profiles; I then selected one of

the profiles (the professional woman with power) and used this as inspiration for the collection. The conceptual garment was made using an old suitcase which I dismantled and reassembled which was a literal link to the concept: The idea was influenced by Maison Martin Margiela who I referenced in the statement of intent. I then photographed this and used sections of my photographs to create graphic prints that I could heat press onto fabric for the collection. I also used the idea of what clothes she may carry in the suitcase to influence the silhouette of the ready to wear garments: I cut old clothes up and reassembled them in different arrangements to develop designs and ultimately shapes for the clothes. This idea hadn't been originally outlined in my statement of intent but shows the development of the concept and how it has a cohesive relationship with the ready to wear collection, which was my main aim. In my statement of intent I referenced ESMOD the international fashion school in Berlin and said I would look at the house wife garments as a conceptual collection, as my project progressed I realised that this couldn't help me successfully

translate a conceptual garment into ready to wear so the idea of how I could use my experience from ESMOD shifted. Instead I used influences from the fashion illustrations I had seen there as I was keen to develop this area after a lecture from Tony Green a Fashion graduate from Central Saint Martins. I learnt that illustrations can be expressive as well as informative and I have developed an individual style of illustrating my ideas throughout the project.

In my statement of intent I had originally planned to evaluate the success of my collection if the viewer would have an opinion about the identity of the woman with a suitcase. However after completing the project I feel the success of it should be determined by the viewer realising the links between the concept and the ready to wear collection as this has become the main priority whilst developing my work.

Cameron Brown - 'The brain has never actually seen light and yet can recognise it'.

My entire project stemmed from reading the sentence 'The brain has never actually seen light and yet can recognise it'. I found this fascinating and began researching into light and perception which in turn led me to looking at how the human eyeball functions. I started looking at Da Vinci and his idea of using drawing as a way of learning, so I started to focus on biological diagrams and using drawing to increase my understanding of the eyeball. These accurate, precise drawings fulfilled my desire to leave my comfort zone as I have a tendency to stray towards large, abstract expressionist pieces and wanted to try something new.

I had the idea of manipulating eyesight as a way to produce work, I toyed with the idea of lenses and filters but then decided that I would look at items that correct or enhance eyesight (prescription glasses, magnifying glasses etc). I wanted to alter these in a way that would only be noticeable when you use the items as they are meant to be used. I was introduced to the Laser Cutter machine, which I instantly loved due to its clinical and precise execution which tied in perfectly with the scientific manner of my project. I wanted to try and etch my biological drawings onto glass, lenses and magnifying glasses, so that there would be a diagram showing how the eyes should function on an item that corrects it when they don't work as intended. I particularly liked the conflict between the miniscule etchings onto magnifying glasses. I was playing around with different lighting through the magnifying glasses when I realised that I could see the etchings shadow projected onto the paper on my desk, I experimented more with this idea of shadow projections, which resulted in me making the glass box with my etchings on; with the intention to have it on a light box so that the shadows would be cast around my studio space.

After more experimentation, I realised that the piece would look more effective with spotlights placed at certain angles, which I did and through serendipity discovered that it gave the piece a certain look of a science experiment, an investigation into the human eyeball, which I was thrilled about.

Jennifer Duckett - Nostalgia

My starting point for my Final Major Project came from an unused barn in the surrounding area of my house. Here, contained an abundance of objects that embodied a mass of nostalgia from different generations of my family; an aspect that I believed would be extremely interesting to explore and translate.

My key influences started with Eugene Richards, an American photographer that documents desolate houses and spaces. I commenced to base my documentary photography around a series called The Blue Room, 2008, where I photographed wide shots of the barn in Eugene Richards’ technique, but also zoomed into objects that I was discovering as this procedure was happening. The emotions that came with this process were unexpected yet pleasurable as I started to discover, remember and realise where some of the artefacts came from and who they belonged to. This is where I started to experiment with the idea of documentation through labelling and translating mine and my immediate family’s knowledge of the articles onto paper, and also creating a physical chronological timeline.

I played around with different documentary techniques including drawing and self-coloured stitch (a particular love of mine) inspired by Shane Waltener, however in the end I regressed to photographing collections of objects that took my interest as a main response to a painter called Lisa Milroy; some of which these photographs can be seen on the wall above my bike. I felt that photographing the objects was the best form of documentation to the public eye, as it is the most realistic form of translation.

Through taking an interest in the smaller objects of the barn, I wanted to try and bring all of these together, originally in a chronological installation format. This idea was dismissed after determining that creating almost a historically combined, new-generation artefact was much more suited to what I wanted to achieve. In keeping with the unorganised theme of the barn, my love and interest for the five bikes that stood in there determined my final idea; that I wanted to make a bike out of all of the historic objects that I had discovered, and create a literal journey out of them.

Leah Smith - Personal Behaviour

My final major project is based on the concept that everyone's behaviour changes when they are in different environments as they act according to their surroundings. I decided to base my project on my own personality to make it more personal to me so that I could be really enthusiastic and passionate about it; also making my work individual but because of the concept everyone can relate to it. This was a slight development from my statement of intent where I hadn't decided at that point pacifically who I was going to base my project around or if it was going to be a generalisation.

I carried out a lot of in depth research looking at sociological behaviour methods to add more of a background to my work and also for myself to get a greater understanding, as well as creating my own primary research and linking my work contextually.Experimentation was a major aspect of my project by exploring and manipulating different

materials, I decided to use a reflective material as something that is reflective doesn't really exist as it changes whenever meaning it has no focal point representing the idea that we change when we move into different environments.

I have represented my concept by using a 6ft wooden mannequin that in total weighs round 12 stone and covered it in a reflective material which then left me with a life size mannequin with a mirrored surface. I took the mannequin to places where I spend most of my time. In these places I photographed the mannequin stood in different parts of the environment to capture the surroundings in the mannequin's reflection. Representing the idea that we only exist due to our surroundings as we behave according to the environment that we are in.

I had many challenges along my journey throughout my project but after exploration I always found a solution. The main constraint was that my

mannequin was so big and heavy I couldn't physically lift it myself, so I always had to have someone helping me move it around and get it from place to place.
If I was to do this project again without having time constraints or cost issues I would look at creating a family of reflective mannequins, representing my own family so that I could go really in depth about my personality and behaviour by including my families own representation of their behaviour.

Overall, I am extremely happy with my project and the outcome. There were many challenges along the way but to the best of my ability I found solutions and I am happy with my exhibition and outcomes. I really feel like my final exhibition does represent my concept thoroughly and through this project I have developed my skills and gained confidence in myself. In conclusion, I feel this project has been extremely positive and successful and a great learning curve.

Rachael Marley - A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words

'My Final Major Project 'A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words' has progressed from initial research of idioms through to digital, painting and concept experiment stages and developed into my final three large scale paintings. In my Statement of Intent I said I was inspired by Cy Twombly's 'Quattro Stagioni' series of paintings which illustrates the seasons and includes words and phrases. I researched these pieces in depth and really wanted to translate the same type of history within my own work and convey the meanings of the idioms. I decided on the three which I wanted to experiment with in terms of developing imagery and editing later with Photoshop and finally into paintings. By choosing to use Photoshop I was completely out of my comfort zone, therefore, extended my limited editing skills in order to create photo edits which mix clear handwriting and blurred images.

Within my FMP I used materials I had never used before, I used the laser cutter to create a few stencils for drawing and out of college development, I experimented with oil paint which allowed me to understand the difficulty of its use, and I used masking fluid to create lettering on my paintings which I had never come across before, among other materials.

At points within my FMP, I became stuck as to how to develop and in which direction to next take my work. At points like this I asked and debated ideas with fellow students as well as tutors, mixing out there ideas, to push my own skills and also ideas which seemed a natural development for my work. In my SOI I said I wanted to explore several painting techniques and explore a range of typography, I feel I have done this because I have experimented with several types of paint as well as several painting techniques. This experimentation has allowed me to feel confident in my final painting process for the final

three paintings; I had tried out options of layering and handwritten elements therefore, for the final outcomes I was not left in the dark. Some elements I wrote in my SOI and Time Plan changed as the project developed because the choices I made in response to one experiment altered the FMP slightly, I reviewed both the SOI and Time Plan and altered them to fit the changes within the project.
The process of creating a final piece and preparing a space for final exhibition was a first for me and a great experience. I was able to see all of my hard work displayed in a good space for other students to see, also viewing the work other students have created and the variety of creativity within the group.

Overall, I think my FMP has allowed me to explore and experiment in ways which I had never done before and therefore, pushed myself to create work at a higher level.'

Michael Woods - Time

I was interested in what time was as a whole, as I understood that we perceive it in linear time but I wanted to know where it came from and also what time is? These are questions I explored throughout my project.

I began the project by researching into the artists Tim Knowles, Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long. I became inspired by these artists for their vision of how art should be, in the way that they wanted to collaborate nature with art to create a piece of work. I found this very interesting as fundamentally an artists job is to have an understanding of the world around them and use it as a source of inspiration. After researching this, I wanted to produce a piece of work involving nature to show a form of time.

At the beginning of my project I wanted to produce a piece of Land Art that would be similar to David Nash's piece- "Wooden Boulder". My initial idea was to apply time subtly to the piece, so that you would understand how the destination was justifiable; how the material had been manipulated through time with the elements. As the project moved forward, I choose fire as a way to understand time. I find that it is a quick and a presentable way to record time through one of the elements.

I have learnt a lot during this project, for instance, the significance of critical thinking and how it encourages my work to move forward and develop further. Throughout this project I have consistently been honest with myself and been critical with the work I have produced. I have tried to focus on the negatives of my work rather than the positives as this is where the learning occurs. I have started to develop my creative thinking, whereas also extending my independence to make justified

decisions with work. I have come to understand how important tutorials and class peers are in extending and influencing my work. During my project, I have always had a specific vision of where it is going. With this I get a fresh perspective on the project as different ideas are proposed out of my general train of thought, which then gives me other leads to follow and ultimately a more extensive body of work.

There are some aspects of my project that could've been improved. I feel that I could've explored the elements further, particularly earth, wind and water. These should have all been explored instead of the sole element of fire. Also my journal is not as thorough as it should be, at first I began documenting my journal in depth, I was insightful and the journey of the project can be followed well. However towards the end it is not as strong, and this will probably stop me from getting the higher grade.

Alexandra Swiderska - Displacement

My original intentions were to comment on the struggles and difficulties that society suffers. With time my project evolved to become introspective. I have attempted to capture photographs based on my views on today's society and I have focused on documenting my personal experiences such as my unemployment, my status as a 'foreigner' and my relationships. Some of these experiences affected and changed my life drastically. At the time my personal circumstances were challenging and throughout my images I wanted to portray the displacement I was feeling and I wanted to share my perception with the viewers. The artists that I chose to research were influenced by the surroundings and environment I experienced at the time of the project, for example Henri Cartier Bresson and Boris Mikhailov look at similar issues. They explore how current society status affects people. I have been mainly influenced by the concept and ideas. For example Boris Mikhailov's work is visual presentation of real life. Whereas my work present the location as each of the subjects are specific things we see every day but I have putted them in the dark way as I wanted to portray the emotion I felt such as emptiness and numbness.

I have documented real life but I have presented the things that people don't necessary want to see, for example negative emotions. I feel that people ignore the negative and like to concentrate on positive. To help to convey my ideas I have used a monochrome colour scheme which enhances the drama and allows the viewer to concentrate on the subject matter. I feel that my use of black and white has exaggerated the timeless quality of my work. There is no colour to distract the viewer. The square format is almost like film framing as it feels like I have presented different aspects and sights; I have mirrored them in this way because I wanted to focus the viewer's attention on specific features which close up camera angles allowed me to. I have chosen a square format because I feel that it enhances the details.

The square format is more like voyeurism because it again it helps further to enhance the grainy details and allows me to show the focal point in detail. I have intentionally varied the composition so some are more simple than others. I chose very similar compositions for each of the photographs, using the rule of thirds and focusing on the vertical and horizontal lines.

Rachel Ferguson - Curiosity

I began this project working under the title of curiosity. I wanted to explore and utilize the curiosity which all of us posses. I wanted to achieve this by creating an interactive piece which when people are confronted, encourages them to use natural curiosity and relate with the art. As I feel curiosity is a thirst for knowledge I feel my own inquisitiveness has been satisfied throughout this project.

This project taught me different ways curiosity can be approached, my initial ideas for this was to lead and control people into being curious by leaving obvious pieces like cupboards in unfamiliar places and taking somebody on a journey this doesn’t leave the individual with control of their curiosity. However I feel as the project has evolved I have grasped the idea that curiosity cannot be controlled by me and it is the individual which consciously controls their own thirst for knowledge. This enabled me to look at the idea of curiosity from a completely different angle. Instead of creating a piece which controls the person to be curious, I started looking at the idea of being curious in the sense of asking questions. This led me too wrapping. I first started wrapping things to disguise the objects ultimately leaving people to question what was inside of the wrapping however the more objects I wrapped the further my intentions for wrapping evolved and took tangents away from curiosity. I started by wrapping up furniture and small objects.

As I wrapped each piece new reasons developed for each piece. Looking at the ideas of negative space, removing functions. Ultimately by wrapping up the object to the point where it is no longer functional we can begin to appreciate the chair for example rather than looking at is something we use we can see if from the viewpoint of the shape, form, material. I then began looking at this further by creating pieces on a larger scale changing the shape of the objects to create ambiguous forms.  To wrap objects I was using a reel of string, I made a makeshift spindle using a chair leg enabling me to move the furniture around when wrapping and using a continuous lines of string. By doing this it led me to idea of building a wrapping machine which incorporated all of the intentions I had and gained as the project progressed. Leading me to create a wrapping machine. The wrapping machine was made to combine the idea of interactive art and wrapping objects to change the way we view them. I am using milk bottles as milk bottles are an object which hold meaning because of their function. However when the function is removed and we are only presented with the milk bottle , we can appreciate the bottle as a form and space.

However the piece is surrounding the process in which the bottle is wrapped , the space in time and the continuous process through and interactive piece of art. The piece would not be successful without people and whether they are curious enough to take part and watch the milk bottle wrap over time as different people wrap it.

Andrew Harrison - War Veteran

I was extremely hesitant about going to a University when I first started this course for many reasons; debt, is it worth my time? Will I get a job at the end of it? Since I have completed this course, it has confirmed my choice for higher learning. The experience has opened my eyes to many different pathways and that signing myself off to one way of doing things at the beginning is the pathway to failure and mediocrity. Constant inspiration is everywhere and my tutors have shown me that just because something isn't written in an article or hung up in gallery, does not mean that it shouldn't be recorded or at the very least remembered for the future. My ideas and concepts have improved massively as I have realised that taking influence from completely different areas of life and bringing them together is the key to a great and unique piece of design.

The final Project has given me the privileged experience of working in real time with a live client and a client that was completely open to ideas, treating me as a designer rather than a college student. I have taken and learnt a vast amount from creating this poster e.g. Sharing ideas and aspirations, only to scrap them and start again, meaning that I have to be able to suggest things on my feet, thus in turn meaning I must always retain a bank of knowledge of environments around me in general as a jumping off point for any proposal. Doing so has only reaffirmed my hunger to enter the industry as a graphic designer with fresh and modern ideas. There have been many aspects that needed to be stripped away right at the beginning and the lesser aspects that were carried on to the end which brings me onto the essential lesson learnt this year which is not to be precious with your work. I recall Steve saying it right at the start to which I completely disagreed and now I could not agree more. This lesson should not be overlooked for future students looking to take the course, it has opened my ideas to much more than I ever thought

Nicole Jenkins - Sorities Paradox

The Sorities Paradox states that if you have a heap of 1000 grains of sand, and you remove one grain, is it still a heap? And what happens when this process is repeated until the "heap" is nothing but one grain of sand? Quite simply: Are definitions lost when aesthetics go or function? I set out to find an answer to this argument.

My project developed into exploring pre-made objects and was much more conceptual then I planned in my Statement of Intent. I started downgrading items to the raw materials they are made of and altering them to see how this can change an item and what people percieve it to be. When does it lose one classification, and gain another? Even removing something from its usual context can completely alter not only the object itself, but the negative space left behind. My view on

the world around me has completely changed. I was questioning not only art and how it can blend two disciplines into one but products around me, and even the basics of science.

The Law of Conservation of Mass; states that "Matter cannot be created or destroyed –only transformed", and after my exploratory works, this has became all the more true in my eyes. I have consistently destroyed objects, moved them, changed them, and rebuilt them. If I could change them back to what they originally were, surely all off the states it has moved though in the middle of the transformation do not matter? If it can return back to the original and retain its original function (such as my first altered t-shirt) surely its role was never truly lost? The item holds potential energy even if it is cut into 70 pieces and laid out on the floor. The boundary at which it has changed is so unclear because the object itself has never changed.

The energy present in every object can be harnessed in different ways, it can be used to make new things, it can lay unused but secure, or it can be rebuilt into what it once was. Taking a garment and reducing it to a line of wool and pulling it around a corridor converts an object, it isn't damaged as much as it is lost, the raw materials are still there and therefore so is the potential. Energy is changeable. It can be pulled and taken apart, pushed, prodded and separated. But nothing in itself has changed except the way in which we view it, the object it presents itself as, or the function it now temporarily provides. It can always return back to what we naively expect it to be - the one item we first saw it as.

Rhiannon Ellison - Hitchhiker's Guide

My final outcome for the project is a series of images which reflect on the tv series and film for the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, throughout the project I have learned and developed several art styles, ranging from traditional to digital but ending at predominantly digital using a cel shaded style, I initially started my work focusing on no story in particular as I planned to either use one that I already knew or write my own, after some research I decided it was best to use a pre existing story as I would struggle to plan a whole story and all the art for it in such a short amount of time as I'm not a writer, just an artist.

Thanks to the help of Matt and research I have learned more about my pre existing art styles, how the professionals do the work I aspire to but also new styles such as cel shading, in an ideal world with an infinite amount of time I would have created an entire book of my art, but due to the short time scale I couldn't create that many pieces of work at the quality I intended, I am happy with my final product as the lineart and the shading has turned out very well, during the start I was encouraged to use a new style at first the style I used was very messy using a lot of scribbles to create rough shapes which I would then refine, this is reflected in my development book alongside my final prints.
If I could go back and start the project again I would try get to the cel shaded style earlier as I have produced high quality work from that style but I would rather have created more, I would have liked to add more characters and fully developed Trillian, I would also have liked to tackle some aliens as other animals and used something that wasn't just cats, such as vogon ferrets. Throughout the project I had a few group critiques but the main one I had was at the end in which there was suggestions that I should've put up a different image due to the ball of yarn being ambigious as a single image, I had also created a second version of the ball of yarn with the characters in but I felt that the quality was better without the flying characters.

Out of all of my images I am so happy with my A2 print as the colours have come out very well, while I was setting up my space I had my print fall to the floor and damage however after remounting it I have mostly fixed the problem with the corner.

Amy Abbott - Cats

Missing text

Laura Hopkins - Identity

I chose to look at identity because I was really inspired by a photography exhibition I visited in Berlin, the photographer was Christer Stromholm and his work was really influential and eye catching. I wanted to challenge myself and other people's perceptions. I wanted to show people that 'identity' is not always how it seems.

I started to look at lots of different photographers and documentary style pieces. I also looked at press photos and media stories as I wanted to take an editorial/journalistic approach to my work. I had a few ideas in mind of who I wanted to document. One of them being a close friend, the other was going out and finding someone I didn't know. I did an experimental shoot with my friend, who is a drag queen; I wanted to capture the transformation. I experimented with a range of different shots and angles, capturing him doing his hair, make-up, and nails and finally putting on his dress. The thing I found most fascinating was watching his whole personality change as his appearance did. I wanted to show that through my photos. I didn't want them to be fun and for people to laugh, I wanted the raw truth and grittiness. I stayed focused on Jack, and his life, so I decided not to look at anyone else and make this about him, just one person, that way I could look at every aspect. I also wanted to ask him, why? Why he dressed as women? How does he feel as a female? Which gender is he most comfortable? So I did an interview, but I asked him to be him, Jack. As I got the camera out I instantly realized this shoot would be different. From his body language showed he was insecure and didn't want his photo taken. A big chance from the other shoots' I wanted to capture this part of his life, which he is normally pretty private about. I want to educate people and to show that everyone is different. Everyone has their own reasons for the way they live.

Isabelle Rudge - Identity

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Laura Fletcher-Derby - Public Response

My original idea for my final major project was to focus upon the public's responses to my art work and how they adapt to their surroundings, whether they notice that their surrounds have changed by placing my art work into it. I was going to base my project around Frodsham train station as that is where I first notice that the people who got the 7:50am train done the same things every day. When I was going to document and photograph the people who were normally there at that time they wasn't there due to the timing of the year as it was Easter holidays, so this changed my idea as I was unable to capture what I wanted.

From not being able to get my images I decided to take photographs of the people who go to the market

on a Thursday. I wanted to photograph the same people when I went back to do a second shoot. I was unsuccessful doing this because there was no guarantee that they would be there again. Instead I took lots of shots of the same person on the same day so I could get a range of different expression they was pulling whilst walking past me. I feel that this worked quite well as I liked how some of the people noticed that I was taking pictures and sort of changed expressions more noticeable during each shot.

I struggled quite a bit with trying to figure out my painting style. I think this was because I was so inspired by Francis Bacon's portraits I wanted my portraits of the public to be abstracted and unrecognisable as well. Although I wanted to have an abstracted style I kept on painting more realistically, I decided to do more experimentation

due to this which led me to my final painting style. I feel that if I didn't have a time constraint upon my project my style of painting would have changed again to become more abreacted that what my final outcome was.

I feel that I should have placed my paintings back into the community like I had originally planned, but I quite like the idea that these people that I have painted done know that I've incorporated them into my art work and that they're my piece that I want to show to others. My paintings aren't what I imagined them to be when I first had my idea for the project, they have grown into something else and I think that going through all the experimentation has made them stronger and has made them into my own instead of taking too much inspiration from other artist.

Fay Benson - Dress Size

There was once a time when woman's clothing were more conservative and more tasteful in the way garments were tailored in order to make certain aspects of the woman's body flattering. My project was based on the reasons why and how the fashion industry has such a negative effect on young girls self esteem, as this is something quite personal to me .I would never dream of leaving the house without makeup which, I think, the fashion industry has part to blame for this. Seeing beautiful, very thin woman on covers of magazines does make you realise that you want to look similar to them; whether you realise it or not. I wanted to find out how the industry has this lasting negative impact on woman and what it is doing to young girls. In today's society woman's clothing has become more revealing and certain aspects of the woman's body are on show. The phrase 'bare all' basically sums up how fashion is now perceived.

My aim was to determine how clothes affects girls self esteem and confidence when adapting to new revealing fashion trends, such as hot pants. This involved me doing research and experiments based on my findings. For one experiment, I photographed mannequins and window displays to see how many stores actually used the UK average size for a woman (size 16) and I found that none did. This must cause some distress to plus size girls as all they see before entering a store is an ultra thin mannequin. This is also what young girls see and may wish to look similar to them. However many young girls do not realise that these mannequins are not real sizes, no model is a size zero with the desired assets of a bigger woman and yet this is what these stores wish to perceive. I also looked at how sizing changes between different stores. For instance, I went in to Jane Norman and I found out that I ranged between sizes 6, 8 and 10. How can I lose and gain weight within the space of ten minutes baffles me. I cannot imagine how some young girls may feel when they see that they have gone up in size within the space of ten minutes. This must be very distressing and confusing; this is why there are eating disorders. The fashion industry needs to change this, all dress sizes should be the same throughout the stores.

I also looked at photo shopping which also plays a massive part in self esteem because the photographs you see of models and celebrities are often not real. I investigated ten famous celebrities and looked into how they have used photo shop to improve either their glow or their wrinkles in order to look more youthful and "perfect". Once I had done all my research I decided to make three garments ranging from revealing to none revealing.

Throughout this project time has been a major issue for me as well as other problems which were not supposed to happen, happened. The fabrics I used turned out to be a disaster to work with, any movement ripped them as well as them being difficult to cut I would often create them too small for my body shape. However after the ups and lots of downs with my project I feel that I have explored my theme and portrayed it as best I could. I would have liked it to be a lot better but I feel that my theme is captured and is easy to understand. My intention was to inform and make people aware of the impact that fashion can have on girls self esteem and confidence and I feel I have been able to show this.

Emily Moore - Crash investigator

My original concept for this project was looking at an air plane crash from the perspective of the air crash investigator who has to solve what caused the plane to crash and how. I originally looked at how only parts of the story are known originally and the missing pieces have to be worked out, by creating small model planes and covering them in images and text which showed the story and destroying them. However I moved on from this to look at more how the investigators put the answers together and how it is like a jigsaw puzzle and so I started to make jigsaws and puzzles small scale which I then developed onto a larger scale.

I learnt a lot during this project about model making and how different materials can be used and best manipulated, for example the can metal I used worked best when I didn't use the original shape of the can and when the bend lines were scored before hand. I also learnt how important it is to understand differences between the materials I use such as thickness and strength, which I learnt from trying to make my postcard plane out of different materials, as I didn't change the template I was using to suit the material, which caused problems with pieces being to small/thin and the holes being to small. If I did the project again I would follow the suggestions that were given to me during my group critique of looking at 3D jigsaws and possibly creating a model plane that I would crash and the pieces would then become the jigsaw. I would also look at trying to get and audio version of the records from the cockpit voice recorder from the Tenerife crash I used that could be playing during my exhibition. I could have also explored the plane crash from the passenger's point of view during the crash and what is the best course of action after watching "The Plane Crash" documentary.

Overall though my project was very successful as I was able to create work based upon the view of an air crash investigator, which followed my statement of intent and went further. I was also able to follow my time plan I created while still adding new elements.
Foundation Diploma in Art and design

Alex O'Toole - Akwardness

My Final Major Project was about awkwardness and how a piece or art, whether that be a painting, sculpture or performance piece, makes the viewer feel uncomfortable or awkward. I was glad to have chosen a project which allowed me to expand my artistic knowledge as well as providing me with a challenge to come up with concepts and ideas; especially towards the end. There was a huge amount of enjoyment and I did have a laugh throughout it with pieces such as "The Awkward Box" and the Jimmy Savile series. As a project I found that most, if not all of my work created some form of reaction which made people somewhat uncomfortable, and even perhaps going a bit overboard and too far with some of them for a college project. However they were all produced in good faith and to create a reaction.

From the group critiques I received during the project, I listened carefully about how they perceive my work and how they would go about producing similar types of work. In particular they, through the first major group critique, mentioned about how my work could be more subtle and less overpowering which was one of my major barriers to cross; especially with the already narrowing pathway I was heading into (Nudity, Sexual, Language). I do believe though that I did create pieces of work towards the end that tackled this issue to an extent. One in particular was my final painting of Jimmy Savile which I believed works very well to cause someone to feel uncomfortable and repulsed in a subtle and indirect manner.
One of the things I regret while doing some of the pieces was actually going outside of college grounds and performing to a "real" world audience as there would have been such a better diversity of reactions. Pieces like "The Awkward Box" in particular would have been interesting. I also would of liked, if I had more time, to have gone out and handed the painted condoms I created to people and record a perhaps perplexing reaction, or to even have mailed them to random addresses; that might have been interesting.

Overall as a project I believe that the work I created has definitely caused some form of awkwardness and was glad to have expended my artistic nature to performance art as well rather than just painting – something which might of never happened if I did not go see the KW Gallery in Berlin. I really enjoyed, not just the project, but the whole course as my perception of art has completely changed and cannot wait to develop my skills and techniques in the coming future.

India Garry - Misinterpretation of Faith

In my statement of intent at the beginning of the project, I talked about the "misinterpretation of faith". This is one aspect of my original idea that I wish I would've explored. While developing many ideas throughout the project, I stuck to the idea of working with religious statues and worked with this up until the end of the project. My statement of intent was quite specific in discussing a starting point (i.e. religious icons), so at this point I feel I have achieved what I set out to accomplish while expanding on these plans. However, after becoming wrapped up in the idea of commercialisation, I feel that I focused too much on the gimmick of how I could market my theme and forgot to look at other aspects of the theme, such as the aforementioned misinterpretation of religion. I wish I would've looked more at other aspects of how commercialisation affects religion but feel I lost some time as I worked with many mediums that I was inexperienced or felt uncomfortable with such as graphic design work done in Illustrator. While I feel negatively about the aspects I didn't explore, the new mediums I did experiment with impacted positively on the project as they helped me to develop new skills, making me work harder to prove I could successfully work in these new fields.

Overall, despite not expanding on all intended ideas, I have articulated successfully the theme I chose to look at in my original statement of intent. I have, hopefully, discussed a somewhat serious issue yet produced a lighthearted outcome that addresses my theme in a jocular manner. My exhibition explores my ideas in two halves: a literal approach that has explored the commercialisation of religion through the production of actual products, presented through the form of a shop , and a more subdued approach (the gradual decay of the religious figure), that expresses the effect commericialism has on organised religion.

Theo Gilmour-Rees - Light and Shade

At the beginning of this project I stated that I intended to explore the qualities of light and shade within art. This began as a series of photographs looking at interesting compositions with plenty of contrast from dark to light. These studies became the focus of my drawings taking shapes and compositions from the photos and abstracting them on paper. With these drawings I was able to investigate tone, light and depth on the paper. I slowly worked up to a larger scale until stopping with the drawings on display. At this point I felt that I had gone as far as I could with charcoal and paper and wanted to enter into new territory with my project.

My initial response was to bring in a 3rd dimension to my drawings essentially and this took me into looking at sculpture. At the same time I had taken an interest in light art and how it related to my project. This led me toward fusing both lights and sculpture into my work to bring the drawings of the page and create a piece that would physically explore space, light and depth. This began as a series of sculptures made from foam board and string designed to throw up large shadows when illuminated. It was hard to imagine how each sculpture would interact with light and each time I made a new one I would have to think about how the light would cast shadows again. In my head I would have a several sculptures that would each be illuminated at different angles and would create a composition of shadows on the wall that would surround the viewer. In the end I suspended the sculptures using glass rods and only using one light to cast shadows. Getting the best and sharpest shadows proved to be the hardest challenge with certain types of lights being useless or creating dim or blurred shadows. This resulted in me experimenting with different light sources such as an overhead projector, torches and camping LEDs. As it turned out the most effective light was a simple bedside light.

Ellis Dagnall - Brand identity

I set out to explore and develop a lifestyle which reflects the brand identity creating a niche market in modern youth culture. This is aimed at visionaries the definition of a visionary, "A person with original ideas about what the future will, or could be like." I wanted to view this from an entrepreneurial perspective, not from a fashion conscious outlook.

I explored current creative trends alongside seeking and beginning to collaborate with industry veterans and other creative's. I am not a seamstress or a fashion designer; I am a visionary, an entrepreneur and relied on others to produce the garment. Due to my time scale I used prints, I produced in the early stages of the course to meet the lead time for the seamstress to produce my garment. Using my Graphic skills I created the logo and labels using the laser cutter, produced the identify. I also studied garments and sizes to establish how I wanted my garment to fit and look, this lead me to focusing on the cut of the sleeves. After a research trip to Manchester I was inspired to create my own short video to promote the brand.

This was something I had never done before so it was all new to me however I want to challenge myself. I contacted a friend to model, who aim at my target audience. I then

Benjamin Jewitt - Shape Cycling

For my FMP I came up with my own bike company, this was non exsistant before hand. the company I came up with is called 'Shape' this bike company mainly focuses on bikes called fixed gear bikes. From what I put in my statement of intent at the start of my project and my time plan, I would say I stuck to in very well producing what I intended to.

Using many different techniques and process to create all parts of my final work and development. I used different media such as photography, computer illustrated and graphic design. Designing logos, T-shirts and graphics. In this project I also used video which wasn't originally intended on using in video in

the end worked really well for me and my project and was a fun process to having to cycle upside down.
Some problems that I did come across in this process was keeping up with my journal and personal work as I get to excited about making and creating, that forget about the other work which I then have to finish at the end. Another problem, has been an interactive motorized logo that has had a few problems as this is meant to rotate but wont due to size of the motor and weight of other components.

Overall I am really happy with my finished exhibition, which has come out clean and professional, with all my work on show clearly. My posters look nice and outstanding to as I was unsure about them as I didn't get them done professionally but they look really good.

This project has definitely been a learning curve for me as I've learnt sticking to a time plan is a lot more helpful than not having one. Overall I have enjoyed being able to come with my own company doing what I would like to do. From at the start all these things just being ideas and then it being created and produced is great to see your work looking professional.

Bethany Davenport - My body My mind

My body My mind is derived from a curiosity towards societies understanding of the body and the ways in which language controls this. Beginning with a small idea, I explored a variety of media such as documentaries, installations, film and sculptures to investigate how my own decisions, thus actions, control my 'value' within society. I looked back in to the history of nudity within art and also the idea of the vulnerability of children before they build an understanding of the body. I used essays and blog

posts to help me to strengthen my concept and also to see it from other individual's perspectives. With aspects of religion, culture, upbringing and even lifestyle, I began to question who was to blame for misjudgements, other men, or females themselves. For the project to be effective, I felt it must be personal, and so through the use of film, literature and photography, I used it as a journey of experimental clarification that brought to light times when I have been categorised or misjudged, that I hope other females can relate to. Ambiguous to the viewer, each movement of the naked body is a display of a particular situation or emotion. Then

reflected in my own words, and written through the middle of each wall within the space, the piece explores both image and language in its representative state; interlocking the relationship between thought and action- mind and body. The project encouraged me to practice acceptance within myself, so that I can practice a positive attitude towards other females. Also, to work to build a better understanding of the issue to the public. So that they themselves can reinforce the importance of not verbalising the understanding of a choice or action made by another.

Eleanor Harris - Contortion and Manipulation

I began looking more into gravity and the effects it has on objects. I have researched many artists, designers and architects who have influenced me throughout my development as a whole. I have learnt many techniques and methods that can be used to manipulate objects that have advanced as well as my choice in materials. I kept all of my work on the borders of Fine Art and Architecture because I felt that I needed an architectural approach to a more loose and abstract type of art. My main influences were Baptiste Debombourg, Arne Quinze, Frank Gehry, Andy Goldsworthy and Lebbius Woods. I learnt that there are usually more things that go wrong rather than go the way you want them to, but these failures can also be successes in the way that we all learn from our mistakes and also these mistakes becoming influences to other pieces of work.

My project has evolved from small scale sculptures and large scale drawings to larger, more sculptural work. This changed because I feel that more 3-dimentional pieces say a lot more than drawings or paintings, as it allows the audience to explore the space. I feel I have achieved what I set out to do in my statement of intent. I have used new influences, as well as my trip to Berlin and the Pathways project. I have expanded my use of new materials; experiments on how objects and space is perceived. I haven't used any special design books or Architecture books because during the first two weeks, I felt I needed to be less specific with research and I wanted to be more expressive in an artistic way. I have looked into some areas of woodwork and glass making. I kept to my time scale, making sculptures every week, constantly criticizing and evaluating the successes, problems and solutions.

In conclusion, I feel that my work is a success, as I achieved what I intended and more, keeping my architectural influences close by. I had problems that I managed to solve on my own as well as with the help of others.

Ben Watson - Empathy

I feel as if my work will make quite an impact on how people approach simple day to day activities, not just confrontation but decisions and actions that are influenced by opinions and past experiences. I never understood how true, raw emotion can inspire artists to create pieces of work, until now. The emotion that sparked my work was a mixture of anger and disappointment, I have never pitied someone's opinion until that day, it was as if he didn't see me as another human being, just another face, blended to the train seat.

Seeing as the main theme of my project is Empathy, I realise that numerous people have had similar experiences to mine, therefore ideal in order to create an empathetic piece of work. Firstly, I painted a piece using a photograph I took of the man that set off my inspiration, I was very satisfied with the outcome of the piece which motivated me to create more work but with a bigger impact. I then needed more research and imagery in order to create work therefore, I collaborated my work with another foundation students work from Warrington Collegiate. We went through Warrington town centre with a camera, asking if we could take pictures of peoples shoes. People reacted in the obvious state of confusion as I must admit, its a fairly odd request, but little did they know that the mobile phone I had in my hand was recording their immediate reaction. A lot of people hesitated because of the state of their shoes, one man even rejected straight away which was strange, whether he was in a rush or just thought we were trying to sell him products I don't know, but we found it amusing at how self conscious people are towards there clothes. Like I said in my sketch book, we now live in a world where people are made to hate their own clothes, forcing them to buy more, which might lead to people being scared of the opinion that others have towards their attire, like what the film 'Robots' states, "if people are happy the way they are, then they won't buy spare parts" which is rich coming from a 20th century fox, children's movie. The scavenge for research was successful which lead to more detailed, thorough pieces of work, I met a few interesting people on the way too.

Overall I would say that the project was pretty successful in my eyes, which means quite a lot to me. I hope to become a full time artist in the near future and I think that pride in your own work and other's work is a key element of becoming what you aspire to be. I hope that my work makes people reconsider the opinion of others before they judge and dismantle what could be a great opportunity.

Kayleigh Choi - Empathy

Does one's habitual gestures, way of speaking or behaviour ever cause you discomfort or the opposite? If there were no line between good and bad mannerisms would the world be the same?

Mannerisms are a great form of control over every aspect in our lives. We go forward and backwards in specific ways that define us without effort. Mannerisms are our silver lining, our first impressions and they're our surroundings. The beautiful, the ugly. The good, the bad.

Travelling to Berlin unravelled my analysation of good and bad mannerisms. I noticed how I personally could instantly switch from feeling at ease to on edge just by a single change of mannerisms.

Within my journals you will dig out my opinions on good and bad mannerisms and the effect they hold upon society today. I take you through a wild journey of possible routes I could speak through Fashion Design and translate to you, these opinions.

Pulling through with the innovative idea of creating a commercial, minimalistic collection that is on trend yet still speaks volume. I explored in rough and edgy, neat and delicate techniques that reflect the feelings these different mannerisms control in me and even others. Putting an emphasis on this, I chose specific fabrics and stuck to a black and white colour palette. With being inspired by world renown Fashion Designers such as Alexander McQueen and Alexander Wang, there was no stopping me in being daring and creating something you would not imagine yourself looking fabulous in.

Andrew Stratford - Human Evolution

I was very interested in the human body and how it evolves in ways that able us to function in everyday life. My idea moved towards how we kept in touch over thousands of years and showing the strong communications that we had. It all started at cave paintings, a simple map, where strokes of lines would indicate where the best food source was or the where the nearest water hole was located. I wanted to show how mankind had evolved and changed through a series of illustrations but I wasn't too sure what I would use to create my illustrations.

I looked at a collage artist named Richard Hamilton; he uses bits of torn magazines and newspapers to create his collages. I was inspired by his work and I wanted to create my own Hamilton inspired collages. I used secondary resources that I gathered from the internet to create wacky montages, I wanted various characters in my montages and I felt that cavemen would be good characters. I have moved out of my

comfort zone of solely drawing and working with primary sources to develop work using secondary resources. Secondary sources can often be frowned upon especially when developing CAD work as usually primary sources would be utilised. Yet in my work I wanted to create a naive effect to respond to cavemen and their behaviours.

This was my opportunity to think outside of the box and create something different before I then specialise in illustration and commercial work at HE level, and I wanted to explore wacky and crazy ideas in my artwork. I have achieved what I set out to do initially, to explore human evolution and exploring the concept of environment and placing cavemen into our modern world. I did encounter a few problems with my project as I developed a wide range of samples and experiments working on a collection of artworks all at once and often felt I lost direction, even though I was still working toward my abstract concept. I found this uncomfortable as I have always had a clear direction but looking I feel it aided the development of my outcomes. I tried several

attempts of trying to go around the idea of using secondary resources and working on the idea of layering drawings onto the montages, but they didn't work out and towards the end of the project I actually enjoyed making the montages and after all I was rather pleased with them. I did spend a lot of time creating the montages, and trying to add humour to the scenes as well as keeping it sincere to the theme.

reflected in my own words, and written through the middle of each wall within the space, the piece explores both image and language in its representative state; interlocking the relationship between thought and action- mind and body. The project encouraged me to practice acceptance within myself, so that I can practice a positive attitude towards other females. Also, to work to build a better understanding of the issue to the public. So that they themselves can reinforce the importance of not verbalising the understanding of a choice or action made by another.

Fern Baxter - Empathy

The Art Foundation Course has been extremely beneficial for me; this project especially. From starting the course I always displayed my confusion about future decisions and university choices, one week I would be set on doing Criminology, the next Graphic Design and then nursing. Each of the diagnostic projects conveys this confusion, for example the extension project is a canvas and a collection of prints, which projects my thought process scripted in rough handwriting getting gradually more intense as I start to layer my stream of consciousness. The Final Major Project has been a very personal and meaningful project, in the sense I have explored areas that are very personal and at the same time I have explored new experiences which has helped me make the right decision about going to University.

My statement of intent states 'I would love to be able to fuse two different fields that interests me, I would take an issue that is meaningful and personal which is caring for the elderly and use that to create a graphic outcome in advertising/promotion.' Initially I intended to explore both areas, Care and Graphic Design. Although I faced several restrictions with my intention to volunteer at Westvale Care home, although I am working at the care home regularly now - during the ten week project it took the majority of that time waiting for paperwork to process and then training. At first this was a major problem as my entire statement of intent is focused around this idea, however as I began using my own experience with My Nan I didn't want to stop. ''This would allow me to create a relationship and an insight into their everyday lives which excites me and my creative ability' I planned to go into the care home, and interact with the residents and gain an experience, even though once I started to look at my own experience I realised I wouldn't get any bigger insight than my own.

Chloe fryer - Manipulation of the Senses

The concept of my final major project was the idea of the manipulation of the senses and how people perceive textures. I wanted to explore the senses of touch and sight and how people use their vision to interpretive textures, rather than physically touching them. Throughout the course of the project my ideas have developed greatly as I considered artists, different viewers and different Medias I could use for my final piece. I looked at a range of artists from photographers, sculptures and illustrators to influence initial ideas that could then be developed through different media techniques.

At the beginning of the project when I wrote my statement I hadn't considered my viewers at all and I have no idea what I wanted to be in my exhibition, as the project developed I considered different viewers, such as art work for the blind and how they interact with art using only their sense of touch, which sparked ideas to create a sensory piece for my exhibition. Experimenting with a range of media techniques I decided upon using photographic images that consisted of a range of different textures that were edited greatly to allow the viewer to focus only on the texture, rather than the subject of the image. As well as images I experimented with the use of moulding, inspired by the work of Claes Oldenburg's whose aim is to manipulate an objects natural state and texture and create an alternative texture to a familiar object. From my statement my ideas and outcomes have developed as in my statement I said I wanted to focus mainly on photography, however for my exhibition I supported my chosen images with mouldings, as I decided that I wanted my exhibition to be a sensory experience, so that the viewers could experience both seeing my work, as well as feeling it.

I am happy that I chose to include moulds within my final piece, as I hope it enabled my concept idea to be portrayed more clearly and strongly. Throughout the project I have learnt that both touch and sight are used to interpret textures and that both of these senses can be used within art. Many artists create sensory and interactive pieces to allow many, if not all of the senses to be explored, as well as their art to be viewed my many different types of viewers.

Jessica Chilcott - Boundaries of Painting

My initial theme for this project was to explore the boundaries of a painting, to do this I looked how other artists had done this for inspiration. I looked at how Shintaro Ohata combined sculpture with paintings by using them together to describe a scene, and the work of David Batchelor who created paintings with light through the use of lightboxes. I also used artists I had seen whilst in Berlin such as Glenn Brown who painted over a sculpture so it was no longer visible and was just paint. I began by pouring paint through large test tubes in attempt to create a painting which was inside an object which is not conventional of a traditional painting. I felt this worked well and particularly liked how the painting was viewed from outside the tube and was essentially showing the back of the work.

I also explored a more stylistic piece similar to the work of Glenn Brown but I did not feel this to be as strong a piece of work so chose to continue with the idea of painting within an object. To do this I painted within other objects such as small tubs and pint glasses, using the same technique as with the tubes to create similar marks on other groups of objects. I decided that these pieces all remained rather sculptural considering they were paintings within a three dimentional object and a traditional painting is two dimentional and therefore flat. I thought to make these more of a painting I needed to find a way to flatten the paintings, which is when I started to experiment with painting on rolled up acetate, treating it as a tube but, opening it up to lie flat. This resulted in two sided paintings, the most interesting, I thought, was the back. The back of a painting is not traditionally seen as it would be covered by canvas or board, which is what the paint was applied to, and therefore hidden. I then began to make some more flat paintings on clear plastic focusing on the front of the painting as with a conventional painting, but then chose to display the back as it was the more unusual side to display, fitting with my theme.

I feel I have learnt that the boundaries of a painting are subjective to a viewer individually and can not be specifically pin pointed, however I do feel that most of my work is non-traditional and does cause people to question if it is sculptural or a painting, which was the intended purpose. I do feel I could have improved it by maybe painting a more representative image instead of remaining abstract, as a portrait for example may have been interesting to view from the back.

Clint Torralba - Emtiness

There are many different challenges that I have encounter in this project and along the process I have also learned different ways to communicate my skills and develop them as well as gained independences throughout the project. This project was about how I show my appreciation to Daniel Libeskind's architecture work on the Jewish museum as my initial inspiration.

I based my project on how natural light can interface with an inside spaces in which it would have energy to the void of space. I have found inspiration to different artists beside the Jewish Museum by Libskind. Artist such as; James Turrell, Nancy Holt, and Dan Flavin, was suggested to me and all have relation in style of how they work with light, which is a major factor to me work. As a starting point to this project experimenting with cardboards was my initial first step, creating small sculptures from it. A void empty space that has only little for light to get in. A group critique and discussion was conducted after the experimental stage of the project, commenting and reflecting on the project of how it will lead to the next stage and how I can progress and develop it from the experiments so far. Discussing with tutors about my space because my work needs natural light there for I have to be in a space that is next to a window frame.

Analysing the criticism and comments towards my work I have improved on my designs and make it relate to my concept. Moving forward I have looked into more artists such as; Steven Holl and Gianni Ranaulo to further my knowledge for this project. Working with foam board for my development stage has been a significant turning point to this project as it is a good suggestion material for my sculptures as it gives elegant and soft tone on how the light shines through and gives it a professional finish to it.

Towards the final part or the project, I have to be more ambitious and create a live sized sculpture using timber and canvas. Due to delays with the materials I had a shorter time frame to construct my final piece as well as a talk to my tutors on how demeaning and lacklustre it is to just base it from one of my model and scale it up, it is better to create something fresh and new. Although I think it has put me under pressure, I have agreed to on the talk with my tutors about my final piece. It also made me think that the whole process give significant reference to my concept of 'Emptiness' that I don't think about what to create but build it along the way.

Sian Halfpenny - Emtiness

There are many different challenges that I have encounter in this project and along the process I have also learned different ways to communicate my skills and develop them as well as gained independences throughout the project. This project was about how I show my appreciation to Daniel Libeskind's architecture work on the Jewish museum as my initial inspiration.

I based my project on how natural light can interface with an inside spaces in which it would have energy to the void of space. I have found inspiration to different artists beside the Jewish Museum by Libskind. Artist such as; James Turrell, Nancy Holt, and Dan Flavin, was suggested to me and all have relation in style of how they work with light, which is a major factor to me work. As a starting point to this project experimenting with cardboards was my initial first step, creating small sculptures from it. A void empty space that has only little for light to get in. A group critique and discussion was conducted after the experimental stage of the project, commenting and reflecting on the project of how it will lead to the next stage and how I can progress and develop it from the experiments so far. Discussing with tutors about my space because my work needs natural light there for I have to be in a space that is next to a window frame.

Analysing the criticism and comments towards my work I have improved on my designs and make it relate to my concept. Moving forward I have looked into more artists such as; Steven Holl and Gianni Ranaulo to further my knowledge for this project. Working with foam board for my development stage has been a significant turning point to this project as it is a good suggestion material for my sculptures as it gives elegant and soft tone on how the light shines through and gives it a professional finish to it.

Towards the final part or the project, I have to be more ambitious and create a live sized sculpture using timber and canvas. Due to delays with the materials I had a shorter time frame to construct my final piece as well as a talk to my tutors on how demeaning and lacklustre it is to just base it from one of my model and scale it up, it is better to create something fresh and new. Although I think it has put me under pressure, I have agreed to on the talk with my tutors about my final piece. It also made me think that the whole process give significant reference to my concept of 'Emptiness' that I don't think about what to create but build it along the way.

Jessica Belton - Divisions

Originally produced from Berlin historical influence (the Berlin wall 1961-1989), this project has digressed from the exploration of metaphorical & physical divides between the academic & creative students within college, to divisions within the English Language and dialect. This digression to Language has been inspired from Fiona Banner (fine art and installation artist) and people within my everyday environment. Studying bold and loud English slang, I have explored ways of reflecting the way words sound and make us feel in contrast to traditional poetic English terms (for example: if you were to be complimented, would you prefer to be called "beautiful" or "fit"? "Beautiful" being the traditional term and "fit" being the slang). The point of me studying the way language has developed was to decipher the true feelings of the modern language & to convey these feelings to the audience through composition of objects and textures. I looked at the way words rang on and the amount of syllables within the words and how that relates to the way they make us feel. "Fit" only has one syllable which creates a hard punch to its sound, connecting to a stamp-like action; therefore, I created a stamp of the word. From researching and studying the differences within English language it became apparent that even the younger generations acknowledge that traditional terms are more flattering in comparison to modern day slang. I have chosen the word "beautiful" as the traditional term as the majority of today's slang terminology is about attractiveness. Using lights & script-like font to represent traditional language automatically makes the audience feel positive because of the psychological link to light being good. Then in contrast to this the slang words have been made with flat colourless materials to again, clarifying the barrier between the two. By studying the English Language in depth I have learnt to understand terminology further, also expanding my knowledge of art practioners, techniques and idea development. If I were to take this project further I would explore a wider range of mediums to express language and maybe take it further than terms of attraction looking at a bigger range of terminology looking deeper into the traditional English Language.

Overall I think that this project worked well because it was quite personal to me so I think I was able to connect to it so it was a lot easier to put my all in to try and make it the best that I could. I've learnt a lot from this project and I think that it has developed my skills greatly, on the computer and with the hand illustrations, I hadn't used ink pens before because I was always to scared of ruining my work with how it can't be erased, but I'm glad I explored this media because its built my confidence as an illustrator and I think that you can create a lot of detail with the pens which I hope to explore further in the future. This whole project has taken me out of my comfort zone but I'm glad I did these things because I now can take this experience and work hard and practice to develop stronger work.

Lucy Reid - Camouflage

Throughout my final major project I've learnt as an individual that initial ideas never seem to turn into what you had planned. Not to lose hope if you hit an artistic block and to be patient because theres a light bulb waiting to be switched on somewhere in your mind. I realised that I had to be completely independant with my ideas and that not every one of them is going to be a good one, but to be persistent and note everything that popped into my mind down on paper for future reference. Annotate everything as you go along because forgetting vital processes is not helpful. Time runs out quicker than you would imagine it would and there is never enough time to make things perfect, so don't waste time dawdling when you could be experimenting with new ideas and medias.

My project has developed from my initial statement almost completely, as I started with researching into camouflage and exploring the ways I could camouflage inanimate objects to then progress onto painting models, to clothes, to exploring invisibility and emotions, to recording movement, drawing from movement, filming dance scenes and being a general public terror. There have been difficult tasks to overcome and some I have completely written off due to its boring concept. However I strived to make something work out of my initial idea and I would say its developed from something plain and linear, to something distinguished and of great importance to me, as it has definitely shown me I have the confidence to do pretty much anything I want to and to always try something different if one thing doesn't seem right. My final piece has been a great success and something I'm proud of creating.The final stages of my fmp definitely showed me that I don't enjoy having to do one thing one way and not another and that modelmaking and special effects isn't the degree I want to pursue. Foundation has been an amazing year for me as my tutors and peers have all inspired me.

Georgina Cuthbert -Twins

During this project I have taken myself out of my comfort zone and looked at making different sculptures and using different methods of making the sculptures that I had never done before, using different body parts to try and create my sculptures like using my hands, feet and face.

My work has travelled from looking at twins in freak shows and information on the freaks shows like other people that were shown as freaks, to looking mainly at twins themselves and the differences and similarities in different sets, including me and my twin.

In my original statement I wanted to focus more on the freak side of the freak shows including Siamese twins but when looking at the work that I had already created I realised that the work was more focused on twins instead of freaks I decided to just focus on twins and the bonds between them and the differences and similarities between different sets of twins. After looking at an artist called marc Quinn I became very interested in creating sculptures so I started to look at how I could create my sculpture and what material I could use so instead of looking more at photography which was what I intended to do I started to look more into doing something more sculptural. The main problems that I encountered was waiting for my material to create my sculptures and waiting for my sister to come into college to help create my small sculptures.

I am very happy with my outcome and if I was to change something it would affect my outcome even if the change was for a good reason to make my work better I would rather keep my work the same. If I had the time and money to extend my project I could maybe consider looking at techniques I already have such as my textile skills and create different samples looking at body parts and faces. I could also look at extending skills that I don't use as much as others such as painting and drawing using different materials such as chalk and graphite. I could also look at personal possessions which mean something to a set of twins.

Elizabeth Hough - Science Vs Religion

My original statement outlined my idea of science vs. religion and fate, this included old wives tales and urban legends. My work progressed with the start of the science project in which I adapted to fit in with my FMP. Through looking into germs and microscopic photography I had a starting point in which to base my "scientific" side of the project on.

For the superstition side of the project the photography was going to be more challenging. I started by doing a number of shoots based on texture and macro photography, I chose to photograph what people considered "superstitious objects" such as an umbrella, broken mirrors and pieces of wood. The shoots where overall successful but it was a struggle to make them fit into the style of my other work in the piece. I considered doing set up images of suppositious sayings with models and props but I thought it would look to staged and perhaps unprofessional. I discovered a link through researching about superstition to OCD. I thought this would be a good topic to interview people on, so I developed questions that made people think and answer truthfully about things they may have on confessed before. What makes them feel comfortable and safe and keeps their day flowing smoothly. Through further tasks in my project I thought that I did not want typical set up of superstitious scenarios but decided to photograph "the superstitious age range", therefore I documented parts of my grandma's house. After photographing the house I thought my exhibition should be more than 2D images on a wall but have a sense of the atmosphere and feeling of home, the location where these superstitions take place and where a lot of OCD sufferers spend their time trapped performing their habits religiously.

Another area I wanted to focus on was "superstitious sayings". I wrote them all down and tried to come up with ideas to build them, illustrate them or photograph them. There was a link between "touch wood" and how OCD sufferers repeatedly touch objects so I decided this would be a good place to start and engraved into the wood the sayings on the laser cutter. From this I did an umbrella being opened inside and fear of hurting people, keeping broken mirrors like a hoarder to prevent 7 years bad luck and I also carved into purse to represent "find a penny" but OCD sufferers have a fear of contaminated objects from the floor. I think this piece could be an eye opener to people about the amount of habits that have to be done religiously for things to appear normal. From the project I have learned how easy it is to be influenced and be drawn into the world of superstition and what lengths are gone to, from fear fuelling peoples choices.

Kieran Crow - Tattoo Story

This was a very different project for what I am used to doing, but it has been a very interesting project and I have learnt a lot from it. At the start of my tattoo project I was struggling to come up with a good concept, I didn't want to base a project around advertisement of tattoos because that has been done time and time again in magazines and on TV. After a chat with Allistar he gave some ideas of concepts I could use for my project. I ended up with basing most my project on my own tattoo and the story it tells. I wanted to show that every tattoo has its own story behind it and it is a timeline mark in some one's life, as you cannot get rid of a tattoo once you have one (it is a scar).

In my early research week I look at tattoo artists, history behind tattoos and looked at what people think of tattoos today. One part of this project I was not expecting was that I had the chance to go to a studio and also go and see a tattoo being done in a house, I found that the quality from the house did not match up to the quality in the studio. One reference I was recommended to look at was The girl with the dragon tattoo, I used it as reference to the mutilation side of getting a tattoo. With my imagery I really enjoyed getting dressed up and making my mask, it was something that I wouldn't normally do in projects but it was a lot of fun and I am happy with the photos. One thing that was mentioned during the group crit was that instead of using photography I could have used film and had it projected on my wall, looking back I would have wanted to do that instead because I have never used film in my projects. I decided that I wanted to tell a story with my tattoo hence why I did a time line using Illustrator of my tattoos design, I am happy with the time line as it shows me when I was growing up, where I am today and what I aim to achieve in the future. One thing I would have liked to have changed was my typography; I like how it has all of the primary source photos of people's tattoos I have collected as they all have a story behind them, however I would have liked to have spent more time on it and maybe of used a different card.

All together I am happy with my end result there are a few things looking back I would of changed but apart from that I have enjoyed this project and I have enjoyed working with a new look behind tattoos.

Anna Fitock - Uncertainty

At the beginning of this project I was I looking at the effects of uncertainty and uncertainty as an entity. I have moved more towards people's feelings and the things that seem to effect everyone's life on a daily basisas the project has gone on. I didn't realise when I started out that uncertainty creeps into to most people's day more often than it seems even when it is somthing really small like should they pick something up or shouldn't they. I have tried to look at all the hesitations we make through my experimants but I have chosen to look more at the bigger uncertainties in people's every day lives that need more thought and time given to them.
My chairs deal with four main things that I have found people are uncertain about, the stuggle to better ourselves and learn more, the way we change oursleves to try and fit into groups and criteria, our unstable financial situations and the fear of losing what we have.

In my exhibiton I have tried to bring these feelings of uncertainty into the physical, I wanted them to make people feel uncertain by looking at them as well as them just representing the uhncertainty. I have tried to do this by creating fragility and precariousness with the structures and materials I have used.In this project I've definitely learnt to let the material do more work, I have let it take more of it's own course and not tried as hard as I have in other projects to conrol it.

I would like to have made some changes to the aesthetic of a couple of pieces, in particular the chair about knowledge and the chair about identity but it wouldn't have been safe or physically possible with the materials.

Chloe Randles - Define What A Wallpaper Is

The aim for my final major project was to push the boundaries that seem to have been set around a traditonal roll of wallpaper for such a length of time, I wanted to try and illiminate the idea of it just having to be a flat, printed surface design for decorative purposes and wanted my pieces to be much much architecturally influenced.

My initial research began whilst on a trip to Berlin, I found myself being inspired by the atmosphere in galleries and the architecture within the city, this is how I came up with the idea of creating pieces that are designed for a calming and creative environment.

My research really began to develop at home, initially my plan was to visit the Whitworth Gallery, Machester as they have a wallpaper collection dating back to the 17th century, unfortunatley I was unable to visit due to work being done on the gallery, I overcame this problem by bringing in an element of market research and focusing on what is in the market today rather than in the past, I feel that this really helped and I found that there is a gap in the market for collections that are not print based and that also focus on involving the client and giving them an element of creative controll, making their pieces much more personal.

Throughout my initial research I created a series of explorative samples, using a range of different media from paper to glue from a glue gun, these were inspired by several designers such as Tracy Kendall, Suzzane Morlock and Jessica Stockholder, I feel that this really helped as I was able to establish what media worked best and what I wanted to develop further.

Whilst putting up my exhibition I came across many different challeneges, as the space that I originally chose did not allow enough natural light onto my pieces therefore making them look dull, I decided to move my pieces to a window space and display a range of samples on my original wall, I feel that this works a lot better as the textures within my final pieces are now a lot more visable and my samples look great on a white on white background, allowing them to blend into their space whilst still adding an element of texture. I also found that my intial way of haning my wall hangings did not work asmy plan was to use fishing wire and two of my samples were not sttong enough to hold the weight. I overcame this problem by re-enforcing the top of the piece with a hanger, this added much more strenght and support.

Overall I am extremely happy with the way that my final major project has turned out and feel that I completed what I set out to do, I feel that my pieces are an explorative way of creating a new and unique wallpaper/hanging collection.

Sophie Mcdonald - Swiss Design

I will work towards producing a set of designs geared towards promoting a graphic design exhibition. This will include leaflets, posters and tickets.
I decided to explore graphic design at the pathway stage where I used it for promotion. This has lead on to me taking commercialised promotion further for my Final Major Promotion. I'm also going to use some of the same influences such as Jacqueline Casey and Bradbury Thompson, but this time I'll utilise them further. It is preparing me for my graphic design BA hons course at university by widening my creative ability in this field. I will extend my knowledge on how to effectively communicate ideas through imagery and creative skill, and in doing so I will learn to understand design in more depth.

For the project I have researched into various graphic design movements which I will use for my designs, as

the 'exhibition' I will be promoting will include work from the particular movement I chose. I chose swiss modernism, which originated from parts of Europe in the 1920's and has been growing ever since. It uses abstract geometric patterns, unusual colour combinations, grid systems and typography (mostly in the font Helvetica). I'm influenced by various promotional work and magazine spreads along with many formats of design from various artists. An example would be Mike Joyce, who created a concept project called 'Swissted'. It is a large range of posters for past music concerts/gigs using the swiss style. Another influence is Anton Stankowski, who uses incredibly bold colours within his geometric designs.

The work of Sagmeister & Walsh is also quite inspiring as the designs are all very unique and different from the last. I will also be making reference to past promotional work for exhibitions that are similar to the one included in my concept.

These influences are relevant to my ideas as I can see how I can use similar designs to communicate with the public for my FMP. I will gather research into my specific path of art exhibitions and how they are presented and how the promoting captures the essence of what will be on display.

I intend to use both hand rendering and computer software to create my designs. Hand rendering is very relevant to the designs I will create, which I can then take further with the use of photoshop, illustration and a graphics tablet. I may use artwork to display on the promotional imagery I create. I will follow my timescale in order to divide my time effectively over the upcoming weeks to create a substantial amount of work for my project. In this time I will investigate, develop, produce and evaluate my work to create the right outcome.

Kate Allman - Contrast

Throughout this entire project I was exploring ways to show contrast through the media of animation. During the first week of this project I had decided on the song (Busy Dream by Ben Cocks) I was going to use as audio and chosen to create a 2d animated video in sync with the music. While developing the concept of doing a 2d animation, I began to experiment with rota scoping using footage from a planned video shoot. Through this I became more interested in movement and decided to make it influence my overall animation. This was also designed to be an experimental project, which took me out of my comfort zone as I usually create more clean cut illustrations. I used a variety of media, which showed contrast with in the sequence but also contrasted against previous and future sequences around it. Artists such as Sally Fryer and animation concept art from Paranorman influenced my work because of their styles and techniques. Throughout the process of making this animation I went through 855 pieces of paper to create a one minute animation and to show that contrast can come in a variety of forms. I am really pleased with is outcome and I feel it is my best work.

This final animation has been placed on YouTube and I have had nothing but positive feedback from people I know, people I don't know and even from a tutor, who will be teaching me once I go to university. If I had more time I would have used influence from Virgil Widrich and experimented with his style as well as created more abstract, surreal and busier animation sequences. I have found that there is a lot of dedication needed when creating an animation as well as that contrast isn't just black and white but can come in a variety of forms..

Oliver Garcia - Movement

In the past couple of weeks I have been working on my FMP project, at the beginning I had a quick idea on what I wanted to do. After writing my statement of intent i was really determent in doing and achieving what I had written. I was told at the begging that i would most likely go a different way about doing it, I disagreed and told them that i was strong about my idea and that i was going to stick at it. As it turned out to be, i did go a different way about it and not exactly ended up with the final outcome as i had in mind. I started off by wanting to make a film/clip of someone floating, challenging gravity in different locations, doing different things, through the means of photography, still imagery to moving images. I did a quick sample of what i wanted to produce, and then moved on and tried cinemagraphs, a picture with a small movement, 360 degree pictures, and sequences showing movement. I had researched many photographers that inspired me with some extreme editing and others with more simple ones, after trying out many different techniques of blending photographs with movement.

In my exhibition there is a short clip on a loop of my step sister pushing away from a chair in mid air, I asked her to jump whilst I took a picture of her all the way around, taking numerous shots till I made a complete circle. There is also a couple of images of my friend Olly floating with some simple edits.