Final Major Project #2

Last month, I shared some work which formed the beginning of my Final Major Project at university. I had such a lovely response from that post and I think it's about time a did a little update. As well as the fact that I love sharing my work on my blog, it'll be so nice for me to be able to look back and see how things have improved over time. My project has come such a long way since the original post and it's kind of scary/exciting to think that in just a few weeks time I'll be putting up my exhibition, and soon after that it will be open for the public to view.

While my FMP subject is still 'Experimental Typography', I have now become much more focused within this subject. Textiles has begun to play a major role and I can't wait to share that part of my project once it becomes more developed and final. For now though I thought I'd share some images from various things that I have done within my work since my last post.

Above is an image which I created within the time constraints of one day while I was on holiday in Devon. I decided to make use of the seaside environment and went on the hunt for naturally formed letters on rocks and pebbles. It was surprising how easy it was to find letterforms once I'd started looking! I've always loved beach combing so it was a really fun little thing to break up my main project.

This next image is another 'mini-project' which I based around phrases and idioms. I wanted to illustrate the saying 'humble pie' in a literal way using typography and this is what I came up with. It was a nice, easy, quick image to make and was great fun - plus I got to eat the apple pie afterwards.

I was so overwhelmed and happy with the positive response I received from my first FMP post and so I hope these updates are something you enjoy seeing. I can't wait to share more of my work soon as my Final Major Project comes into it's final stages and ultimately post photographs of my complete exhibition in June!

My Failed Attempt At Seeing Antony Gormley's 'Another Place'

At the mouth of the Mersey estuary, just North of Liverpool, 100 cast-iron figures of Antony Gormley stand staring out to the horizon. Gormley's sculptural piece 'Another Place' spreads out along three kilometres of Crosby Beach, stretching up to one kilometre out to sea. As time has passed, nature has taken over and the men have become at one with the sea and their environment, weathered by time, engrossed with moss, algae and rust, making them ever more poignant in their location. 

It is supposed to be an incredible spectacle and there are some truly stunning photographs of these figures dotted around the internet. Unfortunately however, my own will not be adding to these! At the weekend I decided it was about time I travelled the hour that I takes down the motorway from my house to see the sculptures. It’d been on my to-do list for a while and since we have been getting such lovely sunny days recently I thought there was no time like the present…cue unpredictable British weather! Judging by all of the reduced speed limits and warning signs along the M62, I knew we were in for a windy day, what I couldn't have anticipated was the gale force winds we were met with upon arrival at Crosby Coastal Park. My car door flung open almost dragging me with it, and an unknown receipt was swept away. Regardless, I decided I hadn't come all this way not to even catch a glimpse of the statues, so me, my dog Tara and slightly unimpressed boyfriend set off down the path.

It may seem like I am overreacting but the sand was hitting our faces like bullets, I could barely see a thing through the dust! I've never known wind like it in my life and looking back we were slightly crazy to even consider going onto the beach. Eventually we reached the very first statue, and as we did, the rain started. I just about managed to grab a few shots (with my eyes 90% shut!) before it was too wet to have my camera out. I was determined not to have a wasted journey so we battled to the next statue and snapped a quick picture with my boyfriends phone. Tara usually adores the beach which is why we took her along, however by this point she was shaking and crying and the sand was getting into her eyes too much, so we decided we had to call it a day and head back to the car. Disheveled and cold, we ended up in the nearest McDonalds before heading back to Manchester!

Tara having a 'closer look' at one of the statues!

While I am disappointed that I didn't get to see more of the statues, I can't help but think that my experience is an important and necessary part of the artwork. Gormley wanted to harnesses the ebb and flow of the tide and in turn, explore man's relationship with nature. Each persons experience with the statues will be different, and therefore everybody who visits will see a different piece of art. In the words of Gormley himself, “each person is making it again". From clear sunny days, to glorious sunsets, to snow, to busy summer bank holidays, to the peak of the tide where the statues closest to the shore are up to their necks in water. My experience was perhaps unique. I was able to look out and see nothing but the eerie figures themselves, staring out alone with a sense of serenity and thoughtfulness. Battling the elements in their full force, the figures remained as we, the only people mad enough to be there, left the beach.

Antony Gormley's 'Another Place' is a permanent fixture @ Crosby Beach, Merseyside

The Seaside Is Good For My Soul

For the past few days I have been spending some time away from Manchester and city life in south Devon, somewhere I have been visiting for my whole life. Unfortunately I have this nasty habit in life where I will just work, work, work and completely burn myself out to the point where I have to stop entirely and do nothing for a while. On Monday I reached that point. I was just so stressed out and overwhelmed with everything despite the fact that I'm supposed to be on a three week break from uni for Easter. I basically decided that enough was enough and it was about time I stopped, even for just a couple of days, and visited the seaside.

There really is nowhere in the world that I feel happier than by the sea, I'm a proper 'water baby' I suppose. There's just something about fresh sea air, sand between my toes and the few degrees temperature increase that Devon always seems to have on rainy Manchester that clears my head and puts everything into perspective. Everything is done just that bit slower in Devon and so it's the perfect place for me to recharge my batteries. Being on the hilly south coast also meant that I had very little, if any, mobile signal for my whole trip. This only allowed me to have short stints on social media this week if a small pub happened to have wifi. I didn't even take my DSLR with me so all the photos on this post are taken from my Instagram feed. Removing yourself from the online world, having something of a 'digital detox', and realising that it's not all going to disappear if you switch off for a few days is defiantly important once in a while.

Often I really have to force myself to take these breaks because I worry about all of the work that's not getting done while I'm away. Honestly, in the end it's a much better use of my time because now I'm back I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get things done in a productive way. When I'm stressed it can take me a whole day to complete something that will now only take me an hour or two. Another bonus of visiting the seaside is that the change of scenery has got my creative juices flowing again and I now have a tonne of new inspiration and ideas! So even if you can't completely remove yourself for a few days like I was lucky enough to be able to, maybe just put aside a day where you go somewhere completely new and unknown. Just being in a new surrounding can do wonders for your creativity as well as your wellbeing.

What do you do to recharge your batteries when you've completely burnt yourself out? Or how do you organise your working time so that you avoid that happening in the first place? I'd love to hear your methods because I could defiantly do with a few tips myself!