After my last post, I started to read Carter's 'Nights At The Circus'. I have paused halfway through the book because nothing has jumped out at me so far. There are aspects of the story that interest me, but I am aware that time is moving on quickly. I thought I would be managing my time better if I were to start reading another book, to see if that inspires me more so. Then I can continue with 'Nights At The Circus' if necessary.
So I began to read Carter's 'Burning In Your Boots', a collection of lots of short stories which I have now finnished. I found the book strangely interesting. But sections of the book were too vulgar for me, such as stories concerning themes of rape or aspects of paedophilia. This is not the direction I wont my FMP to head in! However, towards the end of the book, I read the story of 'Ashputtle'. This consists of Carter's three versions of the story which seem to be inspired by the story of 'Cinderella'. This story not only provides interesting imagery for my project, but I would also be able to link ideas of women being manipulated like dolls and of women's interests in material goods. These were ideas that I initially wanted to explore for my project.
Other stories within the book that interested me were;
- The Executioner's Beautiful Daughter,
- The Loves of Lady Purple,
- Master,
- Black Venus,
I am also considering exploring the idea of women taking their revenge upon their men, as Carter often writes about.
I would still like to continue reading other Carter books as my project continues. Other books that will be useful to me are, Marina Warner's, From the Beast To The Blonde, and possibly Bruno Bettelhelm's The Uses Of Enchantment. A useful website is http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/ .
- Web Presence
- Reading of Angela Carter's Burning in Your Boots', decision to further research 'Ashputtle'
- FMP Timetable
- Ideas for Pres Doc
- Pres Doc Time Table
- Mark Pawson Lecture
- Portfolio Presentation
- Reading Marina Warner's 'From the Beast to the Blonde'
This week, a lot of people have been on a course trip to Paris. I did not go, not because of lack of interest but mainly because of money. So while uni is quite quiet, I have used this opportunity to make use of the large scanners. Over the week I've been taking in all my work that I've done , to scan. This has taken a while, but is something that I would have needed to do before I leave uni. I now have all my work backed up digitally and ready to use for a website and for the portfolios we will need to put together. For the rest of my time, I've continued to read Carter's 'Nights at the Circus'.
- Scanning.
- Reading of Angela Carter's 'Nights At The Circus'
Fig Taylor's lecture provided insight into the working world of illustrators. Her information on the different areas of illustrative work and her advice on what to include in our portfolios was very useful. This afternoon I managed to meet with fig and show her my most recent sketch book. She guessed that the work was based on 'The Bloody Chamber', which must have been a good thing.
On Tuesday 25th, the 3rd years gathered together to brainstorm ideas for the theme of our exhibition. Ideas were based around the university and the city of Southampton, particularly the docks :
Art School, 130 years,
Nautical, the sea,
Compass, travel, cruise ship, import and export, docks, containers
MOUSTACHE! (inspired by our very own Peter Lloyd!) - Victorians,
B movie poster- theatrical.
After a few hours of sketching we agreed (sort of) on the idea of making a small theatrical stage for a show. Within this stage we can place various back drops, such as of the docks and produce a series of scenarios. I think that we are heading in in the direction of suggesting a theatrical/ circus/ freak show theme! This allows groups of people from the course to select sections of the show to work on, such as the tickets to the show (both the degree show and the 'theatre show'), the stage, the boat to link to the dock, the posters, and so on.
The idea put forward so far, is that each student will choose a character from the show to draw from in their own unique style. They will then insert an appropriate (or not so appropriate, depending on the character) head shot of themselves onto their character. Eg Im tempted to go for the puppeteer and puppet, which relates to themes of my project, or the contortionist....just for comedy value!. To me this seems an exciting project however as it is quite a big production, we agreed to have more meetings concerning this to make sure everyone is happy and to check its working successfully. I am in the group creating the stage, so for now my jobs are to consider the lettering, the decorative top of the theatre curtains, and my characters. I wont put to much time into this just yet though, as all may change.
I haven't had much reading time so far...Im currently applying for university this following year. However its taking a while to complete the application. I'm trying to finish this before things really get going on the FMP. Almost finished though...hope to spend the last couple of hours on it after the lecture tomorrow.
After the trial of my last, and first, blog below, I've decided that I will keep this format of entry for my presentation blog. So I hope to post something of interest daily :).
Missed the Lecture today... Was waiting outside the wrong room. Doh! Thought it must of been cancelled last minute. Silly me. If it makes it any better, two interior design girls did the same as me. Not sure why they were going to it though.
