Foundation Year Part 3: Drawing

         Sometime in November, we were finally separated into the pathway of our choice. I was torn between Design for Performance and Fashion. At that point I was sick of looking at Fashion magazines and was more drawn to the ‘fun ’ aspect of performance design. But somehow I got into the fashion pathway, so I went with it. The sessions were extremely different than my fashion 101 classes.  We did a lot of draping: cutting up old garments and re-pinning them. Tons and tons of drawing, more than anything else.

        That’s one thing I never did or probably will not get- the odd mystical creature of the fashion figure. (8 feet tall, small head, small torso, long legs, weighing 80 pounds, distorted proportions, androgynous yet feminine, not to fashion-y, not fat, no boobs, the list of the ideal qualities goes on…).  

Some drawings done during my time in the fashion pathway.

I had asked probably 10 different fashion authorities on what I was doing wrong, all with conflicting opinions on what was right. When I would try to do something that I thought was experimental, it wouldn’t look ‘right’. But then again, according to the tutors, nothing in art was wrong. But I wasn’t getting it right according to them. I started to hate drawing. Luckily, eventually choosing the right pathway that fit me, made me less frustrated.   Not everyone can be a fashion designer, after all.

Foundation Year Part 2: Art-Stamina

“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London

Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life."

-Charles de Gaulle

On my way to Brick Lane Market one sunny Sunday in September, I happened to come across a Korean Girl looking for directions outside of halls. We somehow struck up an instant friendship. Turns out she was a talented Fine Artist, an MA student at Chelsea College of Art, Jung Eun Ryu. From then on, every weekend or two, we would trudge out into the streets of London, gallery map in hand and go to at least 3 different galleries/exhibitions in a day.

The beginning of one of those days would start with us energetically chatting away, by the end of the day we would be completely silent from exhaustion.  It involved a lot of walking and getting lost in Shoreditch. Now that Jung has long since been back in Korea, it was a gift to have someone with such art-stamina, that’s a trait hard to find.

Not only did I see a lot of Contemporary Art, but our tutors encouraged us to research new artists and designers. I especially liked doing the spatial design/ architecture pathway, not because I was particularly good at it, but I find it incredibly fascinating.

I was lucky enough, when I lived in London with my parents when I was 14, to have seen Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern. All throughout my high school art education it gave me a point of reference and propelled me to become a designer.It still gets me heated up! (no global warming pun intended).

Being an artist isn’t a completely solitary thing.  We soak up what’s around us. Somehow living with the only cultural bastion being selected by the television and media executives, makes for conformity and brain wash.  It is important to go out and experience inspiration from the source, not from information regurgitated. pre-packaged. lobotomy.

Notable and awe- inspiring exhibitions during 2008/2009:

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/miro-calder-giacometti-braque-aime-maeght-and-his-artists/

http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=7272

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/minisite/annette-messager/annette-messager-exhibition/

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/ronihorn/default.shtm

Lest we forget, Giles Walker’s pole dancing robot strippers at Mutate Britain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_C_4eAIB0g

"Imperial College- your gallery sucks! But your men are hot "

Wandering the streets of Shoreditch

Came Accross Piers Gough's Circle Apartments on the way to the (crappy) Design Museum. Amazingly gorgeous and atmospheric. Has real tree trunks supporting the balconies. Future home? I think so.

Foundation Year- Part 1

When I first imagined writing a blog, I had at first, wanted to write a review of Stephen Frear’s most recent historic film, Cheri. But looking at photos from my foundation year at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, I realized that it would probably be more interesting and original to look back and narrate my first year abroad (am now in my second year BA), in 2008. One can easily watch a silly costume film, but reading about a random American girl’s experiences with the British Art Education system is probably harder to find.

                To begin with, I had already attended Savannah College of Art and Design for one year and had already completed my first year of a fashion degree there. Arriving in London, I felt pretty damned assured of myself and my drawing abilities. After doing a whole year of still lifes and color theory, I was ready to take on the school that produced the likes of McQueen and Galliano, right?

First day of foundation, I was shocked culturally, linguistically, mentally, and artistically. What! I’m supposed to use my left brain! Creative! I found myself in my free time creeping back to my comfort zone of copying pages from fashion magazines, proving that I could draw.  Being an artist isn’t about getting it 100% correct, ordinary college is for that, there has to be some room to make mistakes!  Or else we would all be copying pages out of Vogue.

One of the first projects, we went out on the streets of London to take pictures of city 'texture': decay, wear, and signs of time.

We then went back and worked together in groups, for quick (5 minutes) artistic exercises.

For the 'final piece' I decided to create a string sculpture within the boundaries of my room in halls.

Finding it fun to 'play' in it, I jokingly took photos. It became a set of sorts. Looking back now, I realise how all theatrical this whole thing was!