Applied Arts Reflective Journal: January 2015

Wednesday 21 January 2015

Wednesday 21st January 2015

Today I carried on drawing pine cones and thinking of ideas and concepts I could pursue.

I carried on with research and pinning things to a pinterest board to collect images and inspiration.

This morning we had a lecture talking about our dissertation proposal, we were told to write it on a subject we found interesting and not too vague as the paper will be 5000 characters. I written notes on how to layout a dissertation and how to create the proposal professionally so the information would be directed and correct to then move on and write my paper. I felt quite confused after the lecture because of all the information we were provided with but I felt more motivated to find a subject I would be interested in writing 5000 words on.

In the afternoon we visited Erddig, we were met by Sue and a few other staff members when we arrived at the gates. We were told we couldn't go inside the building which I was quite disappointed by this news but I understood the building isn't open until Spring again.

I decided to run with the theme I was already thinking of involving the outside of the building.

I carried on drawing more pine cones I'd collected from the grounds below the trees.

I got some more photos to work with late.

Monday 19th January 2015

After having a think about what I seen last Thursday I had some ideas of the things I could start experimenting with, I found some bits I collected from the grounds of Erddig to draw and began my sketchbook.

I first started with drawing a spider diagram/s to branch off ideas and concepts.

Next I started drawing some pine cones I found on the grounds near the trees.

I also found the trees had small metal numbers nailed to them, I assume this indicates the specimen of tree or maybe how old it is.

I found this interesting and it sparked my imagination.

Thursday 15th - Friday 16th January 2015

We arranged to look around the grounds, of which we could access walking from Felin to the house itself, on the way passing the cup and saucer and other landscapes. As Sian new Sue the director at Erddig she asked if we could access the gardens, fortunately we could and got some lovely shots!

On both of these days I started researching Erddig, Trying to find stories and information on the owners on their website.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/erddig/

I found information on the history of the Mansion and gardens.

I researched into National Trust and other installations as well as site specific applied arts.

I will use all this information within my Contextual file.

Tuesday 13th January 2015

Today we received a new brief!

I was really excited to start a new project, we were told we had around 6 weeks for this project and would be making pieces for Erddig, a National Trust house in Wrexham.

Jenny explained to us we wouldn't be able to look around until the following Tuesday, but told us she wanted us to create something that reflected the building or something that relates to the history and heritage of the family that owned it before National Trust.

I went through the brief and highlighted key points to make it easier for me to understand and read it thoroughly.