Artist Statement.

As an artist, architect, 3D designer, I work hard to develop models that speak to both me and others about the issues of todays society. The world is not pretty, no matter how hard people try to pretend it is, how often they believe these things will not happen to them, life is inevitable and life is unpredictable. We can go to the beach, we can play in the sand and we can paddle in the sea, but misfortune is still inescapable. War, drugs, death is still happening. You just have to take notice and look. Really look.

'Vintage beach' is what it says it is. I have explored through 3D design the styles, fashions and landscapes of English beaches through the 1960 period. I have experimented with wood, plastic, fabric and film to portray my ideas to allow people to really view my work and get a feel for what it is about. Throughout my final project I have explored through a range of artists, methods and materials, gaining a wide range of knowledge to successfully juxtapose my final piece, empowering the audience to see beyond the sadistic humour of my deigns and understand the real issues the population faces.

Sketchbook Artist research.

1. Jamie Reid

Jamie Reid is an English artist and anarchist with connections to the Situationists. His work, featuring letters cut from newspaper headlines in the style of a ransom note, came close to defining the image of punk rock, particularly in the UK. His best known works include the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols and the singles "Anarchy in the UK" and "God Save The Queen", which was based on a Cecil Beaton's photograph of Queen Elizabeth II, with an added safety pin through her nose and swastikas in her eyes, this was seen as the single most iconic picture of the punk era.
For my page on Jamie Reid's work I have tried to replicate his work, however, with my own twist on things.  I have taken the "God save the Queen" quote and using his style of letter cuttings I have pasted this over a recent photograph of the queen. As I could not find the photograph he had used for the single cover art, I used this one of the queen as I thought it would have worked just as well. I then used more examples of his work which also display the paper letters cut from newspaper headlines. In a lot of Jamie Reid's work he uses short phrases and words such as 'pretty vacant', 'no feelings' and 'liar'. I cut these out and displayed them around my page as I believe this is a big part of his work. 
I chose to look at Jamie Reid work as it presents a unique vision that articulates key issues of that time. I like how he uses passionate anger and sadistic humour to portray his attacks on politics and civil liberties, coalescing political drive. Jamie Reid's work will not affect or influence my own, however, I have enjoyed studying him and his work.

2. Keith Haring

Keith Haring was an American artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s by expressing concepts of birth, death, sexuality, and war. Haring's work was often heavily political and his imagery has become a widely recognised visual language of the 20th century. 

One of many consistent ideas, sexuality was a predominant theme throughout Haring's work. Through much of his art there are scenes of penetration, in a bodily and sexual sense. These scenes are often filled with monsters, skeletons and beasts, which almost always add a nightmarish feeling to the work. The theme of AIDS permeates Haring's late work, most likely because it had a heavy influence on his personal life. Midway through Haring's journals there is mention of the disease claiming his friends' lives, and later passages show Haring worrying increasingly about his own HIV status. In his work Silence=Death Haring portrays multiple figures covering their eyes, mouths, and ears. The piece is intended to illustrate the oppression and invisibility that AIDS victims felt in the 1980s. Works like Haring's helped to give those living with AIDS more visibility at a time when many were suffering in absolute silence, with no voice, no visibility and no support from those around them.

In July 1987, Haring visited an AIDS specialist. On May 1, 1987, he mentioned in his journal rumours that were circulating throughout the art community about his AIDS status. Haring died on February 16, 1990 of AIDS-related complications.

For this page I wanted to portray a strong focus of Haring's use of colour in his work and his very distinctive style. I collected a range of images of his work and used them to draw from, for this page. I then used gauche to paint them. I wish I had drawn them slightly bigger or maybe have drawn a few more in the middle as I feel the page is very heavy in the top left corner with a big space at the bottom of the page. However, I do like this page as it is bright and colourful and I feel I have portrayed his work well. One thing I do not like about this page is that I have smudged a lot of the black gauche by accidentally resting my hand in it, I then found it difficult to cover as it smudged further when painted over. 

I chose to look at Keith Haring as his methods of portraying his messages are in art are very well and subtly done, which I think is hard to achieve. I love how his work his made less aggressive and sadistic by his use of doodles and colours. His colours is something I would have liked to take forward in my work, however, I have already chosen to display my work in a pastel colour theme.

4. Bubble Palace - Antti Lovag

Antti Lovag was a Hungarian architect.He is best known for his Palais Bulles (Bubble House) design.
The Bubble Palace was built between 1975 and 1989 by the Hungarian architect Antti Lovag, who wanted to design a home that mimicked prehistoric human dwellings in caves. Its undulating lines, circular spaces and lack of corners were the trademarks of Lovag, who said he considered the straight line to be ‘an aggression against nature’.
I chose to look at the Bubble Palace as I was intrigued at the experimentation of organic architecture within this design. I like how the house has been developed and transformed throughout its designing and building stage even now in its restoration process forty years later.
For this page I washed the background with a mixture of terracotta, yellow and burnt orange water colour paint, using a sponge to create a textured effect. I chose to use these colours as the original colour of the building is terracotta. Using images of the building I collaged them onto the page. I like this page as I find it simple yet effective, however, when I painted the background it caused the paper to dry crinkled, making it difficult to stick the photographs of the building neatly on top. 

5. David Hockney - Pool Paintings  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hockney-a-bigger-splash-t03254 

David Hockney, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. An important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. 

Hockney made prints, portraits of friends, and stage designs for the Royal Court Theatre, Glyndebourne, La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Born with Synaesthesia, he sees synthetic colours in response to musical stimuli. This does not show up in his painting or photography artwork, but is a common underlying principle in his designs for stage sets for ballet and opera—where he bases background colours and lighting on the colours he sees while listening to the piece's music.

Between 1964 and 1971 he made numerous paintings of swimming pools. In each of the paintings he attempted a different solution to the representation of the constantly changing surface of water. He began to leave wide borders around the paintings unpainted, a practice developed from his earlier style of keeping large areas of the canvas raw. At the same time, he discovered fast-drying acrylic paint to be more suited to portraying the sun-lit, clean-contoured suburban landscapes of California than slow drying oil paint. 

For this page on David Hockney I have looked at his collection of swimming pools, focusing on his use of colour and movement within his work. To display his work within my sketchbook, I printed a selection of his swimming pool collection off from online, collaging them in my sketchbook over a blue watercolour wash. I would have liked to have attempted to recreate his work, however, due to time restraints and my lack of skill and technique in painting, I stuck to collaging to present his work. From his work I have considered a similar colour scheme, taking the pale blues and pastel colours he has used. 

6. Tracey Emin  http://www.traceyeminstudio.com/biography/

Tracey Emin is an English contemporary artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. 

Emin’s art is one of disclosure, using her life events as inspiration for works ranging from painting, drawing, video and installation, to photography, needlework and sculpture. Emin reveals her hopes, humiliations, failures and successes in candid and, at times, excoriating work that is frequently both tragic and humorous.

For this page I chose to look at Tracey Emin as I feel she is a very honest artist and very open about herself in her work. I like how she uses materials that have personal significance to her in the pieces that I have looked at. I have tried to recreate some of her work, however, I have used paper instead of materials. I cut out lettering from different types and colours of paper and used them to duplicate some of her slogans such as 'She went out like a 40" and 'I do not expect to be a mother'. I believe this page is somewhat successful as I feel it is a good attempt at her styles, however, if I could redo this page I would make the lettering bigger and I would actually use materials like her instead of paper.

Samples.

For my final piece, I began experimenting with how I could portray water in my model. I started brainstorming ideas on what materials would best replicate water in colour, texture and movement. Finance was a huge problem. Most models that include water use resin. Although resin would be one of the best substances to use, it is also the most expensive. Using resin to replicate the water is not the most practical. 

As my brother is an architect that has created models that includes water, I asked him what he has previously used. He suggested I use Perspex. I chose to use clear Perspex as I felt blue look too unrealistic to represent water. To try and replicate the texture and appearance of water when the waves break or it ripples over rocks, I glued stones and pebbles to an angled piece of MDF, to portray the natural slope of a beach, and using a heat gun, I heated the edge of the perspex until it began to bubble, then butted it up to the stones until it started to flow over and around them. Doing this did cause some of the stones to break off under the pressure, so I used more glue from a glue gun to stick them back down.

I did not like the look of this water sample once it was complete as I felt it was a poor representation of the ocean. The plastic did not mould around the stones as well as I had hoped they would, therefore I will not be using this method in my final piece. 

The second method I tried was inspired by a video I found on BuzzFeed. It used glue from a hot glue gun that had been painted with nail polish. In the video the end result of the water looked quite good so I thought I would have a good. I used a plastic wallet for a base for the glue to go on. The video made this look very easy, however I found it very hard to get the glue to come out and in the right places I wanted it to go, as it was also hot glue it cause the plastic to melt underneath it which was not displayed in the video. When the glue had dried I went over the holes that had been created through the melted plastic and then painted it using blue and white gauche paint. I had no access to nail polish like the video suggested. I mixed the paint until I had a range of blues that I could work with. I then dabbed the paint on the glue to try and replicate the blended colours of the sea like the way it had been done in the video. I was not successful. The paint would not stick to the glue when first applied, making it very hard to blend in other colours. The paint also dried looking very dull, so maybe using nail polish would have been the better option, however, if the sample was turned over, the plastic wallet gave a glossy effect making the samples look slightly better. Although I do like the texture the glue gives, I do not like these samples and will not be using them in my final piece as I do not feel they are of a good enough standard and replicate water as well as i was hoping they would.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngaAgLjwYqE

The last sample I collected of water was using Tyvek. I was introduced to this material by my tutor who showed me that when it was heated, the material warped and shrunk into different positions. The Tyvek could also be dyed to display different colours. 

I started with a strip of white Tyvek, using brusho inks to dye it. I gave the strip a wash of blue adding in greens and purples to give the effect of light and dark sections as the sea is not one solid colour. After I had left this to dry, I used a heat gun to heat the Tyvek up, causing it to distort and twist until I got a rippled effect on top. 

Although I find this process fun and interesting, I do not feel using Tyvek to portray water is one of the better samples. Despite like the crinkled effect the heat gives this material the colour and appearance does not match that of waters.

After experimenting with different materials to replicate water, I don't feel there are any that will work as well as real water would. Therefore in my final piece, I will add real water to my model, adding a few drops of blue food colouring to give it that blue colour the sea has. 

Design sheet - Projection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C63jnZL8PI

The further I got into my project I realised that I had began to digress from my main subject of choice, 3D, and had started to focus on fashion. As I did not want my project to be fashion based, I felt that my project needed something to make it more appealing and interesting. As I had started looking at Mods and Rockers and Hippies and their fashion styles, I found events that had occurred in the 1960s based on these social groups. One being the Mods and Rockers beach war of 1964 and the other being the Summer of Love in 1967. After I looked more closely into these events, I started researching other events that had taken place that had caused big social and political change. Other occurrences I researched were the assignations of JFK, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, the building of the Berlin Wall and the Vietnam War.

I then began brainstorming ways on how I could present the idea of incorporating world happenings into my final piece. I thought about positioning the figurines in my project to make them appear to be fighting like the Mods and Rockers War or protesting like the Summer of Love, however, as these events have already taken place, I didn't feel like it would fully be my own ideas and work if I portrayed them in my own way. So I carried on with the idea of creating my original ideas of a beach scene, but create a projection to go behind it of old news reels and documentaries of each event I researched. 

To create this projection I used YouTube converter to download each clip I had found on the events, then using iMovie to edit them all together. This is the first edit I made of the projection. I like each of the clips and the order they go in, however, the full video is too long and needs editing further to shorten each clip.

Corporate Business Card Designs.

For my own corporate business cards, I wanted them to relate to my project but not in an obvious way. Therefore, I chose to create my business cards based on the colours used in my project and theme. As my project is based around 1960s beach I chose two colour schemes to work from. The first being bright and colourful like I feel the 1960s were, to portray this I chose bright oranges, reds and yellows. My other colour scheme is based on the beach side of my project, therefore I chose different blues and greens.

Inspired by watercoloured backgrounds I have seen before, I used the different colour schemes to create a wash on a plastic wallet, I then placed a business card sized piece of card over the top, removing it to create a blended pattern. I also tried the same process with coloured marker pens. I found then when placing the card over the pen wash, the pattern I desired worked better if I then moved the card around over the top, if I did not do this, it created a dotted look, which I did not like as I think it looks boring and unprofessional. I feel that the marker pens worked a lot better than the watercolours did as they were a lot more brighter and blended better too. My favourite out of the two are the orange and yellow pieces as I deem they work a lot better together and blend more than the blue and green cards did. 

As I wanted my business cards to be of a decent quality, I had them professional made on vista print. Before I uploaded my designs to have them made, I looked through their templates to see if there were any similar that I could choose from. These are two examples of business card templates that were similar in pattern and colour to my own.

For the front of my business card, I felt it needed a logo to go along with my name and chosen subject. I wanted something related to my theme to make the business cards more personal. After coming up with ideas such as a beach setting, bucket and spade and umbrella, I decided on using a deckchair as I felt it looked the most professional as well as relating the my beach theme. I used a clip art image, removing its background on photoshop and pasted it onto my designs. On the back of my business cards I included my name and chosen subject, as well as all my relevant contact details. I experimented with using more clip art to go along side my contact information as I really liked this idea in other examples I have seen.

Out of the two examples, I chose to print the blue watercoloured one. Even though the common one people liked was the orange one, I felt that the blue related better to my theme and people would understand it more. When editing my cards, I removed the '3D Design' from the front as the dark blue it crossed over made it very difficult to read, so I deleted it, put it on the back and made the name and logo central. I would have preferred to have had my font white to make it easier to read, but as the deckchair was black and could not be changed, it did not look right having the font and logo separate colours. However, I do think that the black font does make it look more professional. I am very pleased with my business cards as they do look very well made and do relate to my project even though it is not very obvious like some I have seen.

Creative Business Card Analysis.

1. Disney - Beauty and the Beast Mirror.

I like this idea of using the mirror from the beauty and the beast as a business card as I feel it is quite a clever and creative idea. However, it is not the persons own design as it has already been created for the film, therefore is isn't as creative as it would have been if it was their own work. I also feel that the card is very poorly made. The image used has a huge watermark across it, making it very obvious the image is copyrighted and again, it is not her own work. I like how they used tinfoil to portray as the mirror, however, the text on top has just been cut and stuck down making it look very unprofessional, rushed and cheap.

2. Dreams - Day and Night Cushion.

I really like this creative business card as I feel the designer has really thought out of the box to come up with ideas related to her project. I like how they have not only differed away from using just paper for their designs but also used different shapes instead of a general rectangle like corporate cards. I think using a pillow to support her dreams and nightmares topic is clever and shows that they have thought about related objects to display their business cards in. I also think the print they have used is very relatable and is also very well printed. Although I do think the business card could have been sewn together slightly better, I really like this business card.

3. Movies - Dress.

I feel like this is another good example of a creative business card as it uniquely portrays this persons ideas for their final piece and chosen topic. I feel it is very obviously linked to fashion and that this person has created maybe a dress or coat for their final piece and that their chosen topic for this final unit has been based on films due to the strip of film reel. I like how they have added a further piece to the business card that displays their contact details instead of just having it on the back of the card, this is something I could maybe take into my designs for my own creative business cards.

Design Sheets.

For my first design sheet, I used secondary photographs, taken from Pinterest of the beach and events that occurred in the 1960s. As my model for my final piece is going to be of a beach scene, I used photographs of both Brighton and Scarborough beach. These were then collaged into the corner of my sheet. My final piece is also going to consist of a projection of world events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the JFK Assassination. Photographs of other events I am focusing on are displayed on the bottom of the page portrayed through a suggestive film strip. At the top of the page I have draw a collection of vintage suitcases, these show how my final piece is going to be presented, in a vintage suitcase. I also plan to make small scale beach huts to fit into my model, to show this I have chosen to create a paper cut of beach huts, as I enjoyed experimenting with this in my sketchbook and thought it would be a creative way to portray the huts on my design page. My final piece is also going to contain small figurines that I will paint on, influenced by artists such as Rudi Gernreich and F.C. Gundlach for bikini designs. Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne may also influence my bikini designs. As I ordered the wrong size figurines for my final piece, I ordered some more the correct size and used the others on this design sheet. 

In my project proposal I wrote mainly about how I was going to look mainly at fashion and fashion designers within this project. However, when I started I thought that the subject was beginning to take a more fashion and textiles route instead of a 3D one. I also didn't feel that my final piece was going to look interesting enough compared to my mental health project the previous year. As I am interested in history and the 1960s thrived with many world events, I began looking events that took place on the beach such as the Mods and Rockers war in Brighton 1964. I thought about making my model a scene from this event, however did not feel this would support my own ideas and work as it is already a previous scene. I then started looking at ways in how I could portray the events, settling on creating a projection on news reels of the events that happened. 

For my second design sheet I have experimented with colours creating three different colour schemes for my final design. The first selection of colours I chose to look at is taken from 'the swinging sixties' and what I would typically portray the colour scheme to be based around the 1960s period. I have taken bold and warm colours such as yellows, oranges and red as I believe these colours strongly represent this period. 

The second colour scheme I chose to look at takes a less bold approach and focuses on more pastel tones. I chose to look at these colours as I believe they represent a more vintage vibe than the brighter colours do, something that I am trying to portray in my final piece. 

The final colour scheme I chose to look at is based on F.C. Gundlach's futuristic styles, achieved by the monochrome colour scheme. I like this look very much in Gundlach's work and think it would look very well in the way I paint each of the small figurines, however, in the rest of the model I don't think it portrays the sixties very well, therefore I won't be using this a main colour scheme.

My favourite look out of all the palettes is the pastel one as I feel it would be the best option in portraying the vintage beach theme I planned to created. 

To create this page I mixed gauche paint to achieve the colours I wanted and used a piece of card to scrape each colour across the page.