My Artist Statement

                                                          Jackie Gibbs

                                                                                                            Macclesfield College

                                                                                                            Foundation Degree

                                                                                                            Creative Arts for

                                                                                                            Employment

                                                                                                            2013

Statement of Intent for My Final Major Project

CAE 10: Creative Arts in Practice (Student Negotiated Brief)

Theme “Sense of Place” (Relationship with the Environment)

Subject Areas;

Photography, Print, and a wide range of Mixed Media

Section 1:

During my 2 year Foundation Degree I have revisited some subject areas such as photography, printmaking, pen and wash, sketchbook (for initial ideas), work, mixed media and Photoshop, which has enabled me to become more proficient in these areas.  I have experimented with all aspects of media, but for this project my aim is to focus on specific areas from the above as I think they will afford me the best mediums for my final project.  I have decided this after looking at the mediums I work best with from previous projects I have completed successfully.  I have developed a particular style that will in part fit well with the ideas I’ve had so far, but I want to experiment more with mixed media and incorporate old and new techniques for a final piece/s of art.  I am looking forward to this project but at the same time I’m apprehensive too.

I have enjoyed completing my commission for Arighi Bianchi’s using a mix of traditional and non-traditional methods of painting, which I want to take further, as well as using photography, pencil sketching, pen and wash and watercolour.  I also want to create layers using various mediums from my own photographs, which for some I’d like to age giving a sense of place from a by-gone era, intaglio and collograph printing too using various textures to create a sense of depth and also as a way of bringing the foreground into the present.  I will be using Photoshop to manipulate images from my photographs that I can use on the final piece/s too.

Section 2:

I’m inspired by a great number of sources but I’m mainly drawn to the natural landscape, which I intend to include as part of my project, by introducing small oasis’s of green into my work.  When transforming Manchester’s old mills and giving them a new lease of life, they have included small gardens to soften the harsh lines of the buildings and to inject a sense of tranquility not normally found in a city centre. 

I aim to use a fairly limited colour palette of warm earth tones i.e. raw and burnt sienna and umber, red and yellow ochre, and soft greens to reflect Manchester’s rich colours.

Artists such as Turner, Constable, Leonardo, Caravaggio, Titian, Jackson, Keifer, James Naughton, Colin Halliday, Ingrid Karlson Kemp and other mixed media contemporary artists, inspire me.  I have researched in detail a multitude of mixed media techniques some which I will use and others i will save for future projects.  I like the relationships between the past and the present and how the changing faces of familiar places take us on a journey of discovery.  I find Manchester has sympathetically modernized itself within keeping of the fine Victorian architecture and it is this relationship with the environment that intrigues me. 

My long term aspirations after successfully completing this course is to concentrate on the gallery I co-own with Louise Knight, Carol Newton and Michelle Stringer called StudioFour Gallery helping to raise its profile and be an accomplished artist, whilst hopefully working as a tutor or in the art industry to help make this venture a permanent fixture. 

I now have a good understanding of under painting, mixed media techniques, photography and printing, which will stand me in good stead for this project.  I also want to experiment with new techniques and I will also research old and new artists for inspiration, whilst refining my style.  I aim to be more expressive with my approach and techniques for this final project.

Section 3:

Personal Confirmatory Study: Aims & Objectives

My aims for this project is to look at the changing environment of Castlefield from the Industrial Revolution to the present day looking at relationships between the landscape and the people who lived and live there through experimentation and research both primary and secondary.  This will involve looking at snapshots of specific time periods such as when it was a thriving social and economic society, the decline of the use of canals and some railways to carry produce to the regeneration of the old mills into prestigious apartments.  

I have been particularly interested in 'Chiaroscuro' and 'the Golden Spiral or Golden Ratio as it's best known', which I want to develop.  Chiaroscuro is the strong contrast between light and shadow and Golden Spiral or Golden Ratio of appears in mathematics and nature.  I'm fascinated by how the great masters chose to show how intense the difference between light and shadow and whilst it draws the viewers eye it doesn't detract from the whole image.  i can say the same for the Golden Ratio too.  I aim to experiment with both these techniques in my sketchbook with a view to using it on my final work.

I will use photography, intaglio, z acryl and collograph printing, mixed media, using my sketchbook to design experimental pieces in acrylic, watercolour, sketching and pen and wash before deciding which to take forward to the final outcome/s.  I will achieve this by sketchbook work and producing small canvases as a prototype to reflect the past and present through applying layers of various mediums.  I will make notes on material I have used and my theories about their application and result cross referencing between my sketchbook and reflective journal.  I will look at artists analytically and theoretically to back up my findings both in written form and practical work.

From photographs I’ve taken of Castlefield I want to include some of the patterns and ornamental decoration I’ve seen on the viaducts and bridges that I could incorporate in the form of print onto a mixed media piece/s.  This will help link in the past and the present.  I like the idea of using the arches in print as a layer within the work and as a way of projecting the link from the past, the present and the future.  I see the bridges, viaducts, railways and canals as the foundation from the Industrial Revolution to now and the future. Foundations have a strong bond with society, material products like buildings, personal items and in particular families.  

My anticipated outcomes will consist of a number of works in my sketchbook and canvases that will show my developments that I will annotate in my sketchbook and discuss further in my reflective journal, working towards possibly one or more large canvases.  Using traditional to contemporary painting, a series of photographs and various printing methods and mixed media, that will reflect my research and also inspiration from different artists.