Lakeside Arts

Nottingham Lakeside Arts is The University of Nottingham's unique public arts centre and museum presenting an eclectic programme of music, dance, theatre, visual art, special collections and family events all year round. Nottingham Lakeside Arts was established by The University of Nottingham in September 2001, when the Pavilion housing the newly built Djanogly Theatre first opened, adding to the University’s pre-existing arts buildings of the Djanogly Gallery and Djanogly Recital Hall.

(view of the main entrance of Lakeside Arts)

And so on the 14th of December, we travelled to the Lakeside Arts in Nottingham to take a look at the art works in the exhibition and to gather some inspiration for our own works that we will be creating in the future. To get to the exhibition, we arrived by tram to then walk through the grounds to the exhibition, where inside there were sculptures, drawings and prints created by Sophie Ryder.

She is renowned for her large-scale open-air sculptures of animals and mystical hybrid creatures. In the early 1990s, her reputation was established with monumental outdoor works constructed from twisted wire. Like her friend and supporter, the sculptor Elisabeth Frink, she has also worked in plaster and bronze as well as a plethora of other media including sheet metal and marble.

This exhibition focuses on the artist's smaller-scale sculptures shown alongside works on paper. Some of the bronzes are maquettes: models for much larger pieces. Others were created to be art works in their own right. Drawings and prints may relate directly to sculptures or vice versa or be entirely independent creations. Occupying a middle ground between the two are the wire drawings in which the artist has manipulated a mesh of twisted wire to construct flattened images on the wall. From a distance they resemble large charcoal drawings.

The Ladyhare is a creature born of the artist's imagination. Half-woman, half-hare, she is a recurring character in Ryder's work, appearing either alone or paired with her male counterpart, the Minotaur. Whereas the hare is a creature whose symbolism is deeply rooted in English folklore, the Minotaur has its origins in classical mythology. Picasso's famous representations of this hybrid monster were a direct source of inspiration for the young artist. She speaks of the Ladyhare and Minotaur occupying an ambiguous space between wild nature and orderly human culture.

Other subjects that feature often in Ryder's work - particularly in the large drawings - are her beloved dogs. The last of our galleries is occupied by a large and atmospheric installation. Temple to the 200 Rabbits is a work provoked by the paradox of man's reverence for, and cruel mistreatment of, the animal world.

My favourite piece that I saw created with resin by Ryder was Temple to the 200 Rabbits 1999. This large installation was inspired by two very different experiences. The first took place in the South of France. The positioning of the installations are to represent Ryders inspiration.

Ryder tells how a farmer proudly took her to see the rabbits he was breeding for eating:

"He led me into a dark room with a low ceiling and only one little window with a shaft of sunlight shining through. There in front of me were hundreds of rabbits - some dead, some living, some hopping. The outcome of this experience was that I felt compelled to record it in some way."

In 1995, the artist and her family spent some months in Mexico in a village called Tepoztlan. Rising above the village was a mountain topped by a stone pyramid. This temple, called Teposteko, is dedicated to the Aztec rabbit god of drunkenness and fertility. It was this that provided the title for the work.

The resulting installation - which actually features native hares rather than rabbits - combines her memories of these two contrasting encounters. Subdued lighting and a soundtrack of Morton Feldman's Why Patterns adds an otherworldly atmosphere.

Exhibited alongside the installation is a bronze maquette of the same name. Originally modelled in clay at the Mexican pottery in Cuernavaca, it was cast in bronze on her return to England. The interior of the temple is polished so that the viewer, looking through the windows, has the impression of seeing hundreds of little rabbits.

Research - photography in art - chosen topic for essay

Photography is the art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially on a light sensitive surface (such as film or an optical sensor). It is an application and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light sensitive material, like photographic film.

It is employed in many fields of science, manufacturing (such as photolithography), business, as well as its more direct uses for art, film and video production, recreational purposes, hobby and mass production.

Photography can be an art form, but not all photographs are created to be artworks or as forms of artistic expression. It took time for photography to be truly recognised as a valid art form. However, in the present day, many art museums and art galleries now exhibit photographic artworks.

 

Photography art is photographs that have been created to be seen as artworks. They have been developed specially for creative expression, not for a commercial brief. They are rare and collectible and can be exhibited like other forms of artwork.

Photography art differs from other forms of photography that serve educational, documentative or commercial purposes, such as selling products or documenting evidence or process.

Examples of non-artistic photography could include adverts, passport photos, news photography, etc. And personal photography, such as selfies, everyday portraits, and family photos, are also not considered photography art. However, portraiture can still feature in fine art photography. Some galleries even specialise in this type of fine art photography, such as London's National Portrait Gallery.

Photography uses the same essential elements and principles as other visual art forms like painting and sculpture. The most common elements of art seen in photography include:

- line

- shape

- form

- texture

- balance

- asymmetric balance

- colour

- size

- depth

- light

- positive space and negative space

An artist that works well with the talent of photography is Alex Stoddard, he began taking self-portraits at the age of sixteen in the woods behind his Georgian home, and this stirred in him the need to create and express himself through the craft of photography.

His work focuses on the human form and the process of infusing it with natural surroundings. He also strives to create whimsical and surreal portraits.

This photographer mainly focuses on dark, narrative portraiture. What inspires me about his work is that all of his pieces tell a story of their own. What appeals to me most about Stoddard's photos is that they give out genuine emotion; they are dark, depressing, and beautiful, all at the same time, sometimes looking like they are portrayed by a fantasy.

This photo taken by Stoddard in 2017 is called Bleeding out, with a woman in a blue dress is laying in a patch of blue flowers, who is, supposedly, bleeding out as the title states. I like this image because of the consistency of the colour blue throughout, the colour blue can represent rest and can cause the body to produce chemicals that are calming and release feelings of tranquility. It is also cooling in nature and helps with balance and self-expression. Dark blue is associated with depth, expertise and stability, so that this image seems more calmer than the meaning may be. The image has a medium underexposed filter where this gives the overall picture a mysterious and whimsical feeling, like Stoddard had originally intended. The photograph has a rough texture to it, because the patterns of the flowers laying around the woman, as well as the photograph having a soft and silky texture to it as the lighting on the fabric of the dress gives it a smooth shine, the outlines of the shines aren't too bold or bright. The photographer had used a greater field of depth, thus allowing more distance in the image to be more clear with sharper edges, especially in the distance where it looks distant, the smaller the aperture used, the less light would be allowed to be let into the camera lens, making the frame darker. This darker image allows the shutter speed to capture this crisp image with a faster shutter speed as the photographer wanted a still yet meaningful photograph. What I like about this photograph is how simple the image looks, yet how detailed and layered the meanings could be, and so I would say that this image is a success, it captures the whole essence of Stoddards other works that he had created throughout the years.

Research - Conflict and Remembrance

Conflict and remembrance art emerged as an art form produced by artists who responded to consequences of war. Contemporary artists such as Diana Forster and Willie Birch work creatively in this genre to gradually introduce difficult histories to their audiences. Both of these artists have a unique way of expressing history in different art forms, such as street art and sculptures.

Any colour of each conflict and remembrance can mean something different, as colours are used to express emotions, it can be a powerful tool in representing conflict. Using contrasting shades can be a really simple and effective way to show turmoil as opposing colours can show a clashing of feelings and emotions which created symbolism in artworks.

A simple example of this would be to think of poopeint wires being represented by colours as different ends of a spectrum or clashing colours. Using contrasting colours like this would show two opposing sides of reason, creating something for the viewer without the need for explanation.

As well as colour, context also matters, this both creates pieces of work that have many symbolic meanings.

(WWII Marine Corps Aviation is a painting by Historic

Image which was to fineartamerica on August 18th, 2013)

In 1940, at the beginning of the Second World War, Stalin's troops invaded eastern Poland. A million Polish people were forced from their homes at gunpoint and sent to labour camps in Siberia. Diana Forster's mother and grandparents were among them.

“Diana's practice in art and conflict arose from her mother's experiences in Poland in the Second World War. Her mother was forcibly removed from her home in eastern Poland when Stalin's troops invaded, and was transported along with an estimated 1.7 million other Polish people to labour camps in Arkhangelsk and Siberia. Diana tries to communicate the unimaginably shocking rupture between a settled, normal life, and a terrifying future decided by people who don't care about you.” - Web.

Forster avoids showing traumatic, disturbing images in her installations and prints as they can turn viewers away. Accepting the art in presenting subsequent generations with the realities of war, we have to find new ways of engaging audiences and Diana does this through formal qualities which draw the viewers attention while the work is gradually understood. She creates impactful, meaningful abstract scenes with simplified images of cutouts of what happened in the war, shining light onto them to cast shadows on the wall can represent people, being the light, recognising what had happened and coming to terms that it actually happened.

Whereas Birch is best known for taking up social justice issues with a style that alludes while also drawing on folk art. Initially known for making use of rich colors, Birch now works predominantly in black and white, a shift that coincided with his move from New York back to his home city of New Orleans in 1994. His works earned the attention of critics early on, with the New York Times’ Roberta Smith in 192, 9n the occasion of a show that storied Exit Art gallery, that Birch “casts an unflinching yet loving eye on black life in America.”

Some of his figurative works range from materials such as pencil and gouache on paper depicting a lone youngster playing against a desolate backdrop or decrepit or abandoned buildings alongside a griffiti-streaked vacant lot, to Ritual of Inevitable Violence (1989), a seemingly charming scene of five boys playing in a grass-strewn lot that takes on a sinister tone as the viewer realises the boys are sucking on the barrels of gun-shaped candies, which can indicate more sinister meanings, and they’re more modern comparing to war related art. But this also relates to the violence that is influenced onto people depending on where they’re from and what their background has been.

Research - Portraits

A portrait can be either a photograph, painting or sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person. In which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, mood and even the patriarchal status. But in photography, it is not considered a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, in order to most successfully engage the subject with the viewer.

Most early historic representations are clearly intended to show an individual era of rulers, and tend to follow idealising artistic conventions, rather than the individual features of the subjects body, though when there us no other evidence as to the rulers appearance the degree of idealisation can be hard to assess.

The art form of portraiture goes back to at least ancient Egypt, where it flourished from about 5,000 years ago. The uses of paint, sculptures or drawn portraits were the only way to record the appearance of someone before the invention of photography. A portrait is intended to record the appearance of an individual, but may sometimes represent a type. They may be of any medium used for sculpture, such as marble, bronze, terracotta, plaster, wax or wood.

They have been used to show the power, importance, virtue, beauty, wealth, taste, learning or other qualities of the sitter. Portraits have almost always been flattering, and painters who refused to flatter, such as William Hogarth, tended to find their work rejected.

Figurative art describes any form of modern art that retains strong references to the real world and particularly to the human figure. It is a type of art where the subject matter is recognisable from the real world, hence it shares a “likeness” of shapes, objects, figures, or even places. For example, the Mona Lisa.

An artist who was well known for his portraits of wealthy and known people is Hans Holbein the Younger (1497 - 1543), who was a paint and print maker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greater portraitists of the 16th century. He is called "the Younger" to distinguish him from his father, Hans Holbein the Elder, who was an accomplished painter of the Late Gothic school.

His art has sometimes been called realist, since he drew and painted with a rare precision. He was never content with outward appearance, however; he embedded layers of symbolism, allusion, and paradox in his art, to the lasting fascination of scholars.

Such as his work called 'The Ambassadors,' created with oil on oak in 1533, with Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve, containing all sorts of symbolism with the objects in the image.

My opinion on this painting is that it could show some of the luxuries of that time period, such as the globes and lute can show that people with money could buy such things, whereas today anyone can buy them. The curtain that covers the background looks expensive, apart from the material, green had a resurgence in art during the Impressionist movement due to advancements in green pigments and paints, as it could be seen as a rich colour depending on the setting.

The Ambassadors was painted during Holbein's second stay in England (1532-43), which coincided with Henry VIII's break with Rome - over his decision to anull his marriage with Catherine of Aragon - and the formation of the English Protestant Church.

The painting memorialises Jean de Dinteville, French ambassador to England, and his friend, Georges de Selve, who acted on several occasions as French ambassador to the Republic of Venice, to the Pope in Rome, and to England, Germany, and Spain. Upon closer inspection, it is seen that the face of Dinteville is in more light than Selve, potentially suggesting that Holbein highlights more important figures this way. Dinteville is positioned with his legs more apart suggesting that he is asserting dominance in a way, showing who is more powerful between the two. Them both being stood on a patterned floor in front of a green, what seems expensive, curtain, also showing that they are high in status as they would be able to afford these types of things.

The upper shelf includes a celestial globe, a portable sundial, and other various instruments that are used for understanding more about the heavens and measuring time, while the lower shelf reflects the affairs of the world as it contains musical instruments, a hymn book, a book of arithmetics and a terrestrial globe. This could all show a representation of space and things about stars on the top shelve, suggesting that it is the sky, and earth as things we would use and find on earth are there too. Potentially showing the important things.

Furthermore, the religion and politics was reflected symbolically in the details of the painting.

- A crucifix that is half-obscured by the green curtain in the top left of the painting, symbolising the division of the church.

- The broken string on the lute evokes ecclesiastical disharmony during the Reformation.

The Reformation was the start of Protestantism and the split of the Western Church into Protestantism and what is now known as the Roman Catholic Church.

- The open book of music next to the lute has been identified as a Lutheran hymnal, and the book of mathematics is open on a page of divisions which opens with the word "Dividirt."

At the bottom of the image we see an elongated skull, as artists often incorporated skulls as a reminder of mortality. Holbein may have intended the skulls and the crucifix in the upper left corner to encourage contemplation of one's impending death and the resurrection.

Another painting of Holbein's called 'A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (Anne Lovell?).'

It is an oil-on-oak portrait completed in around 1526–1528 by German Renaissance painter Hans Holbein the Younger. The painting shows a demurely dressed young woman sitting against a plain blue background and holding in her lap a squirrel on a chain eating a nut; a starling sits on a grape vine.

My opinion of this painting is that the Starling could be telling the Lady something, as Starlings are symbolic of communication, of relationships with your other people of society, and your standing in society. They also symbolize unity; often seen flocking together, these birds have learned that we are always stronger together than alone.

The quote of 'your standing of society' can refer to the woman's status in the time that this was painted (1526 - 1528), as the woman's job was to take care of the home, help her husband with his work, and produce children. Power writes, “the great majority of women lived and died wholly unrecorded as they laboured in the field, the farm, and the home” (Loyn, 346).

A squirrel, like the ones in the Lady's lap, represents rebirth, renewal, energy, positivity, hard work, duty and balance. While squirrels consistently guide us towards working hard and being prepared, the squirrel totem specifically guides one's attitude. The squirrel totem represents positivity.

Both of these animals together could represent the Lady's future, to remind the Lady of staying in her place due to the patriarchy.

The background of the painting is a darker turquoise colour, and the representation of this colour means wisdom, tranquility, and protection from harm and negative energy. Meaning that the Lady is in a state of piece with her current lifestyle.

Women who faced left in portraits were suggested to be a weak and submissive role in society, whereas facing the right in the painting makes them seem more powerful. Which was common for painting with people in higher power, as they had the wealth and status.