Art Diploma Blog Ellie Fisher: 23rd March Visual Sheet Development

On Thursday 23^rd March, I continued to generate further initial surface design outcomes through the development of my second visual sheet. The sheet continues to follow and develop my interpretation of local industry and coal mining which incorporates “Justice” and Miners’ Strike. Through the workshop, I developed a repeated surface design exploring the elements of the Miners’ Strike and elements that contributed to the movement which includes slogans, badges and features that symbolise mining. Also, within the workshop I continued to generate my knitting sample which explores a colour scheme of grey that has been developed from my research generated. The sample has allowed me to gain confidence with hand knitting as I have previous knowledge of the technique with guidance. I have worked independently and gained the skill of knitting with a new width of needle to allow me to experiment with texture and length of wool. The colour scheme symbolise the metallic colour obtained from buildings, interior design and machinery throughout my project. The task has allowed me to develop research, analysis and evaluation for my chosen subject of "industry" and "justice" to complete a visual sheet exploring coal-mining. Also, the workshop allowed me to plan, organise and produce initial surface designs and outcomes towards my final development of the project. Finally, the workshop allowed me to solve practical, theoretical and technical problems within the process of designing my visual sheet.

To start the visual sheet layout, I obtained a compass to measure out equal measurements to create my badge layout. I wanted to incorporate badges within a design as they had a major impact within the movement to demonstrate support through the community. To relate it to the movement I continued to use the slogan “Coal Not Dole” as it was an iconic symbol of the strike and it was an engaging piece for others to observe. A problem I faced with the slogan was that I struggled at first with transferring the slogan accurately onto the surface of the design. To solve the problem I went to the photocopier and transferred the primary research onto the machine to be reduced in size in order for the font to be traced and transferred. As the font was captured I transferred the design onto the layout and repeated the design which achieved an effective outcome. Previously, I have discovered that layers of Gouache cause erosion and damage to the layout. To solve the problem, I placed pen above the gouache the capture the font and make the piece engaging for the slogan. Once I completed the badges I decided to create a textured layered piece that captured elements of the strike and items of mining. This allowed me to incorporate the element of design which was texture to create and effective outcome. For the piece I decided to include drawings of horses which were an influence within the mine pulling coal and known as “pit ponies”. Also, the animal has connections to the strike movement through the event at Orgreave. I decided to use ink to capture the background of the animal as I have previous knowledge of the material working well with layers of Gouache. To capture the features I used the contrasting colour of white which emphasised the facial features accurately. Once this was completed and repeated within the piece I included more layers that included Pit Lamps. This iconic figure was obtained through my primary research and is an important object to me through my family history. The object was successful through layers and I was pleased with the outcome and I believe that the piece will be developed further into my project. Due to time management and visiting a production of a play around the miners’ strike I was unable to continue to complete my second visual sheet. The outcome is presented below.