Sunday 11 January 2015

Assessment Feedback

I had my assessment last week and the feedback was good, I got a mid/high 2.1 which is what I was hoping for.

I got high 2.1 in the following categories: Research, Analysis and Articulation.

Mid 2.1 in: Finished work and Awareness of contemporary context.

Low 2.1 in Methodologies.

The written feedback was as follows: "There is a real engagement with the subject matter and a seriousness to your approach that is very positive. You really need to see more art in the flesh and take a broad approach to the exhibitions you see. Also start to get your work out of the sketchbook and experiment with stand alone pieces. Question whether it really is the 'Ladyboys' that are interesting. The story of 'Auntie Frankie' seems to be the most inspiring focus perhaps."

After my assessment I felt a lot more clear on where I want my work to go, I feel that my main focus should be a personal one and focus on the emotions of the people and how their identity evolves. I am now going to step away from my focus on the body and start to look at more personal accounts and start to produce work with an emotional theme.

I got the idea of possibly experimenting with book works, as I am interested in peoples journeys it seemed appropriate to use books as a medium to help communicate my ideas. Fortunately I had an old book laying about so I started to make some work with it (see images below), my starting point was a persons journey from Female to male.

Book Work In Progress

First two pages complete

Outside of the book

Second set of pages complete

Top down view

Third set of pages complete

Close up of third set

Open book

Unknown

Vikki Stevens is an emerging artist interested in many areas including body image, mental health and abstraction. Her latest series of work aims to show how images and perceptions of women are “put- together”/ manufactured, and how these images and perceptions affect how women feel about their own body image. Vikki’s ideas for her artwork are expressed in mediums such as paint, collage and sculptural objects, mostly incorporating repurposed images from magazines and found documents. Artists such as Tracey Emin and Hannah Hoch have a large influence on her work. Both the personal perspective and distorted images play a major part in creating pieces that discuss personal as well as cultural issues within mainly the western world/media sphere. Stevens is planning on developing her work into a more abstract sphere to investigate feelings that she has herself and how she can communicate them by using and developing abstract techniques, continuing with collage as a starting influence. Currently the materials and processes she has used in her past work and the work in development are having a large impact on how the work develops and the message behind the work is entirely open. Rather than having a stand out message Stevens is now moving towards a more indirect way of working, focusing more on feelings rather than statements. Current concerns within the work reflect how Stevens feels about herself in day-to-day life and how outside influences affect her and her work. More specifically Stevens is dealing with feelings of anxiety, panic attacks, depression and how she feels as an individual in the world. Artists such as Gerhard Richter, Barbara Kruger, Yago Hortal and Steve Salo are having a large impact on the current work in development.

Vikki Stevens

Sunday 11 January 2015

Assessment Feedback