2021: Breathe: Art in Process

I haven’t been blogging for several weeks, but I did do some work on my project. It’s pretty difficult at the moment to make time for everything, but I’m trying to spend a little time a few days a week, which does add up. I’d love to be more methodical in my routines, but, yeah, just never happens.

My approach for the last several weeks was much the same as week 4, but accomplished more using nature to inspire the structure of possible storytelling. I’m trying to see if I can develop a method, so then I could possibly lead a workshop in it – which would be fun and hopefully beneficial to those who attend.

So, the method seems to be working, however I need to repeat it a few more times and develop it into something more substantial so there are more divergent ways someone could use it, but I am beginning to see the potential. Last week I took a piece of grass we have here in New Zealand, which we locally call Harestail Grass, but which is formally called, Lagurus ovatus, and although it is originally from the Mediterranean, it is found in most coastal areas. It’s a pretty grass, soft and used often in dried flower arrangements, so it’s a good example to keep.

Like in week 4, I first described the object – not scientifically, just on what I could see. I didn’t draw it this time, however, I did spend a lot of time looking at it and thinking about its qualities. Then I chose 3 of those qualities to explore.

There is a lot in one stalk of grass! I decided to choose 3 points of inspiration to carry on with, brainstorm and explore. These were:

• Random
• Life after death
• Peeling back layers.

At this point I created 3 structural diagrams. This process is totally intuitive, I’m not a mathematician or statistician, all I’m doing is taking inspiration from nature to inspire the creation of structure and it helps me to draw a diagram of sorts.

So, for ‘random’ a drew dots and just randomly connected them, for ‘life after death’ I drew a timeline backwards, and for ‘peeling back layers’ I started off in a linear fashion but then drew parts returning to a point and going somewhere else from there. From this process I decided to take ‘peeling back layers’ one further step.

You can see this on the right hand side of the image. I have worked narrative into the diagram, tried to see where and when plot points could be returned to. Again just an idea at this stage, another exercise which furthers this particular project. From this point, a story could be formed and placed within the narrative – just thinking – it may be beneficial to create several structures and layer one story over all of them to see how they develop or unfold. I guess this would be called plot – the story is told through plot.

That’s all my notes and developments at this stage.

Catch you next time xx.

2021 Breathe: Art in Process Week 4

Today I spent some time thinking about a ‘shell’. Yep a small sea-shell and how it could inspire me.

It is a process.

To understand what I’m on about you will probably need to glance over week 1 – 3, however, I’m working towards a body of art-work and interactive media for an exhibition later this year. The project is based around being influenced by elements of nature to create structures of narrative.

Surprisingly it did – inspire me, the shell. I first drew it and then just listed elements I could see and feel. Things like: lines of spots, 3 rings, textured, neutral colours… and so forth. It took a bit of contemplation and for a while I was thinking, ‘what the heck am I doing?’ – how is this shell going to inspire the structure of a interactive media installation??

This is the shell, which I used in last weeks blog.

I think one thing to remember is to that the process will happen, you just gotta have a little creative faith.

Once I had listed the elements of the shell, I decided to choose 3 elements that could structurally work for story telling. I chose:

• Shape has function
• 3 circles
• Live edge

Once I had chosen this list I wrote what they could mean for story structure. (They could mean anything – this is just what I came up with).

• Shape has function: The way the story works has function for the content
• 3 circles: 3 parts, or 3 points of view
• Live edge: Nothing static, plot points have a living quality, some paths could go nowhere, or characters fall away (like life)

Then I started crafted the very first stages of a story together. It came a lot quicker at this point than I imagined, but by now I was really open, allowing the process to just unfold without my critical mind getting in the way.

I broke the story up into 3 parts, a diary entry, a text, and the description of the world. Once I had those parts, I just wrote, which you can see on the left – yes, I tend to work backwards…

Absolute draft stages, and I don’t think I will carry on with this story – it was just my first attempt to see if nature could inspire structure. And obviously it can. Still a lot to work through – but that is what process is all about.

This attempt only took 1 – 2 hours, I had to walk away a few times just to let me mind think of something else, then I would come back and contemplate a bit more. It’s how I work. I will try again through this week with another item. Drawing the object first was a good start, it just allowed me to be with the shell for a while, also choosing 3 of the descriptions worked well, it gave boundaries for creating structure. So I will do both those things next time, and try a few others as well.

Catch you next week xx

2021 Breathe: Art in Process: Week 3

This week is a little explanation of what the heck I’m trying to do. My partner and I were going for a walk and I was telling him what the project was about – so I thought I would share some of that here:

Often VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), and interactivity within storytelling heroes the technology rather than the technology being in the background. This can easily turn into a ‘technological’ experience rather than the forgetfulness of technology – like going to the movies and not thinking about the projector.

So how to switch this around?

In this project I intend to be inspired by nature, as in the forms, structures of how nature works as a starting point to create Vr, AR or interactivity. My hope is to create a more natural placement of the technology within the story development. (I do need to add here that I’m not intending to create VR my concentration will be around interactivity with a small AR element. But the intention is for the technology of all of these to always be in the background).

For example, a person maybe seated at a gallery engaged in a installation, and within the experience the story asks the person to use something, like headphones for part of it, or glasses for part of it, or choices on the screen and it seems very natural, it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary, so the parts of technology being used are not focused on – rather inherently part of the experience.

I mean gaming is very good at this. When I’m gaming (and this is very rare), I don’t often think about the controller – unless I don’t know the game well.

So, my first mission is to grapple with how nature gives or provides structures and frameworks and how to incorporate that within a narrative piece. As I stated in the week 1 of this project I want to start with the patterns and oddities in nature and then move onto systems, as in weather patterns as such. But first off, patterns in leaves, shells and stones.

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The first part for me is to collect objects and think about the forms nature has given them. There is no wrong or right way of looking at an object for this. For example the first image of the stone I’m interested in the random elements of it, but with the shells I’m interested in the patterns. What I’m not going to do is analyse why they are formed in the way they are formed – not at this point anyway. Rather, I’m just letting myself be inspired and then see what happens.

I really have NO IDEA where I’m going with this – but I have some sort of faith that I will find a way at connecting nature with interactive and AR technology….

That is the hope.

So, my challenge for this week is to be inspired from these objects with no intended outcome at this stage – just to be inspired and of course to remember to breathe.

Catch you next week xx

2021 Breathe: Week Two

How to set up a art based project?

There is no one way, there are as many ways as there are projects. So, this is not a set of rules or a check list, just the way I’m going to do it for this specific project.

My project consists of research before beginning the creative part, and the project also needs managed. So first I’m going to think about the research; how I collect it and collate research that relates to me, how I make notes and observations of my work. Then there are the outcomes, the creative part, what it is that I’m going to create – what I want the final output to be, and, lastly how do I manage the project, including time, budget…yep all the fun stuff.

1. research and observations. 2. creative work and outcomes. 3. management.

For this research I will keep topics, research collected and thoughts in a spreadsheet… For observations I will keep a journal and use OneNote.

Creative outcomes I am aiming to achieve: Feature Film Script, Interactive Video Art and exhibition, Workshop for public. I will be using Final Draft (scriptwriting software), Adobe and AVID, plus recording devices – but not sure what yet. For the workshop I will be teaching with DSLR cameras, and using Adobe.

Management systems I will be using is Trello.

You probably know about most of the software I’ve mentioned but I’ve linked them anyway, just in case. Also, these are just tools I use and there are many more that do the same task. But it is good to acknowledge what you will be using and try to stick to these, which helps with the consistency of the work. That doesn’t mean you can’t change mid-way through, it’s just helps me to set-up the project in this way.

Seems like a odd image to choose, but setting up a project is like setting up anything even setting a table. The choice over what you use will have some impact on the research and outcome, so think carefully about the systems, ways and even software, or tools. There can always be a time to explore some different tools to see what will suit the project best, but it is a good idea to come to a final decision and stick with that.

Catch you next week xx.

2021 Breathe – Art in Process: Week One

Last year I had to stop blogging. I was getting in my own way and things became unfocused; No one wants to go over 2020 again – so, breathe.

Here we go. It’s time to make new commitments with new intentions. Yay!

This year the blog will primarily focus on the process of new art work. I’ve been accepted into an art-gallery residency in June-July 2021, so, firstly I will blog my process of working and researching towards this residency, then blog the residency experience and finally I will focus on the after-process, findings of the research, and art outcomes (work, exhibitions and screenings).

I have a working title, ‘The Narrative Structuring of Nature: Te Hangahanga korero mo te Taiao’. The focus of the project is to look at creating narrative structures through patterns in nature.

I’m at the first stages of this research, so other than the idea and my first inspiration, I have nothing to show. Which is great! I have to start somewhere, and this year’s blog will hopefully document this entire process.

In my proposal for the residency I suggested that the project would look past the ’cause and effect’, ‘3-act structure’ or ‘hero’s journey’ pathways, which are very commonly adapted for moving-image storytelling, and towards unique narrative structures inspired by patterns in nature. Usually, for research purposes, I would start from, and discuss, why particular frameworks are common, successful, or “tried and true”, and then branch out from there. But I’m not going to do that.

I’m just going to dig straight into the work. Enough has already been said and is being said about these common structures in storytelling – you don’t need more on this from me.

There are a few things I want to do to set up the project, and that is to find several applications or programmes that will fit with the research. These could be anything from excel to photoshop – I want to decide on specific tools for a variety of functions and stick to those for the coming year. There are a number I have used before – but I’d also like to challenge myself and try different things out. I’m also going to write an overview of the outcomes, as there are several, and create a calendar, tasks and milestones for each to keep me on track, as each outcome is large. These planning aspects will make up the next couple of posts, so you can see my set up from the get-go. I hope this helps if you are also embarking on research or a project you need to keep track of and stay motivated with.

Me at RM Gallery, setting up for the ‘At The Horizon’ exhibition.

Must admit, I’m pretty excited for the project and happy to be using this blog as a platform to express my process. I’m going to leave the post here – just an introduction to the year ahead. Love this quote from Carla Melucci Ardito:

Learn how to exhale, the inhale will take care of itself.

Catch you next week xx.