Bethan Thomas

another pic...

2008-06-12T09:15:00.001-07:00

Final Outcome

2008-06-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

Well after much work and umming and aahing here is the finished book! Single signature binding using a hard cover with bookcloth. I'm really pleased with it. It took me a long time to work out the pagination, and I used a photocopier to print it. I decided to call it recollection because it is looking back at memories I have and things from the past. It is also a collection - of drawings, of objects, of thoughts.

Artists books

2008-06-11T03:30:00.000-07:00

I had a session in the library looking at artists books - found some really nice books that inspired me - particularly Ed Ruscha's '26 Gas Stations'. I really like his work - I saw another couple in the V&A's Blood on Paper exhibition which inspired me. I loved how the books were such beautiful objects on their own, like Ian McDonnell's 'I Like Aerials' which consists of lovely drawings of aerials from all over the world (found this in the Design Museum shop). I really want to create a book which is a lovely object in itself.
I also went to the V&A China Design Now exhibition, and there were some lovely displays of books and exhibition catalogues with beautiful binding and stitching and paper.Inspired!

oooh old games consoles!

2008-06-11T03:28:00.000-07:00

I discovered that one of my friends has an extensive collection of everything Nintendo. I was round his house straight away and took photos to draw from.

Coming together

2008-06-11T03:22:00.000-07:00

So I'm more focussed now. The crits at uni have been very helpful - everyone is really enthusiatic about my ideas, and I've had lots of suggestions. One idea is to take apart the old telephones and radios I've found and look at the insides and how aesthetically pleasing they can be. But I'm too precious about the objects! Another idea is to create a technology timeline or family tree but it is now at the stage where that would take a lot of time which I don't have. I would like to in the future though - a family tree for each decade - and make them into massive posters.
So now I'm thinking I would like to collate my drawings somehow - and I'm mostly thinking I'd like to make a book because I had a bookbinding workshop with Billy Bragg from Le Gun and he taught us to perfect bind. I really loved it!

My drawings...

2008-06-11T03:19:00.000-07:00

Evolution

2008-06-11T02:50:00.000-07:00

I am interested in the idea of evolution, and the way trends change, and how fashion comes back around and everything gets recycled again and again. The fashion at the moment is to recycle anything from the past, any trend, and mix it with something else, the more mixing the better. And it seems the same way with music. Mixtapes are cool again, there is a record label called mixtape records who just release music on cassette. People are still buying vinyl too.
Old technology is not seen as rubbish, it is retro, and has cultural value.
This fascination with the past is what my project is focussing on - the notion of nostalgia is a major aspect of what I'm researching. Nostalgia is the feeling that lies behind all the objects I'm drawing.

Ideas

2008-06-11T02:33:00.000-07:00

The history of print is a topic I considered - I really enjoy letterpress and screenprinting and I already have an old typewriter and the word processor. I've always been fascinated with the process involved and the imperfect outcomes you get.
I thought about how typewriters differ from computers today and the way they have evolved. Essentially computers are there to speed up process - and in doing so your work is editable and you are able to change things before you print. The main purpose of technology is speeding things up and improving and perfecting and standardising. I looked at Moore's law to research this further - his theory is that the speed, memory and capacity of computer technology doubles every two years, and the theory has not been proven wrong so far. I like the idea of speeding things up but keeping the quality you get from writing on paper, the individuality and making mistakes perhaps. So I thought I would design my own typeface based on my handwriting, using Fontlab. It didnt really work out well, so it was abandoned but I will come back to it at some point.

Research

2008-06-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

I took a trip to the Science museum to find types of old technology and I spent hours looking at the displays down the right hand side of a huge hall. It was titled 'Everyday Objects' and I think it was roughly 1800-2000. There are so many categories of technology - domestic, telecommunications, music etc and this made me realise I have to narrow down my project. I thought of perhaps documenting music technology by drawing all the formats and types of radio, record players, up to modern day MP3 players. But still, the question is - what do I want to say about these things?
Seeing the old Apple Mac computer and the gameboys in the museum brought back memories!

Development of project

2008-06-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

So... instead of pondering on my project for too long like I always do, I began drawing the old technology I own, and the things I'd bought from charity shops. Just simple pencil drawings, then went over them in black ink pen. I really enjoy doing this - so I decided to go in this direction instead of the other ideas I had: looking at the history of certain technology, eg the evolution of the telephone, or looking at how different types of technology have evolved into one object now - the iPhone or the Blackberry.
One main inspiration for me is 'The Lost Formats Preservation Society' created by Experimental Jetset. They have collated almost every type of format you can think of - music formats as well as video, computer etc. Have a look...

http://www.experimentaljetset.nl/lostformats/01.html

Old typewriters

2008-05-02T02:16:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more I found in the shop...

charity shop

2008-05-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

I went to the charity shop near college today and bought a word processor! It's amazing, and I love how it functions. The font is pretty good too - will have to find out what its called. Maybe do my project based on this? It could focus on printed type - the history of the keyboard, the evolution from the typewriter to the computer to the mobile phone to the blackberry.

Analogue to digital

2008-05-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

I need to research this in more detail but I think a good topic to focus on for this project would be the switch from analogue to digital and how this effects us. I for one am really annoyed that this is going to happen, as i really enjoy TV as it is normally, and tuning in my old radio. why do we have to change?

Old technology

2008-05-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

Getting into thinking about old forms of technology - the most interesting being recorded music formats and their players, eg the walkman. I've always had a fascination with cassette tapes and i still really enjoy playing them. I remember recording myself as a kid, playing around with my best friend and imagining we had our own radio programme!

Final Idea!

2008-04-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

At last I have decided on a final idea. I want to do a project on old technology as it has always fascinated me. Typewriters, floppy discs, cassette tapes, etc. I would like to create a book or maybe a set of postcards or a poster? Perhaps even create illustrations and patterns to print on wallpaper, T-shirts and soft furnishings? I like the idea of nostalgia, looking back, and paying homage to old objects. Maybe find people to interview on their favourite piece of technology, if they still use it or not? Old people and what they remember using when they were young. I think this will give me a wide arena for exploration, and opportunities to go in different directions.

Inspiration...

2008-04-25T05:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the design museum and found a lovely book called 'i like aerials'. I'd love to create something like this so I was racking my brains to think what i could do...
So in the meantime my ideas have been:

Open a fortune cookie everyday for 30days and record in a diary what happens, or challenge what it says.

Take a photo of each student in the class, but just show their hands, maybe holding their favourite creative implement? Create a book from this.

Create a book of drawings of animals or birds. Perhaps showing extinct or endangered animals?

new project: self initiated brief

2008-04-25T05:51:00.000-07:00

Exciting! However, since last Tuesday I have become increasingly distressed with the task of setting myself a brief. There are so many ideas i want to pursue!! Well to begin with i narrowed my choice down to creating an illustration project, as i really enjoy drawing and collage. "whats an illustration project?' said Luke. Right, got some thinking to do. I think i really just needed to have a theme and be more specific rather than just say i want to illustrate. The two ideas i had were to contact a band and create a set of graphics for them, or to create an illustration book of all my drawings, on a theme like sweets or buses or something.
Here are two illustrators i have fallen in love with - Nina Chakrabarti and Si Scott.

Another book

2008-04-25T05:48:00.000-07:00

I found this book whilst researching the city for my film, but actually it has inspired me for some ideas for my next project. It is a collection of contributions from various creative people on the city and urban space. The chapter i like most is about found objects, and street museums. I love collections of things, whatever they are, and categorising and organising!

Update!

2008-04-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long, I've built up a massive collection of things i need to put on here! but for a start, I've been getting into reading again lately, which i'm very glad about because i enjoy it so much. I took a philosophy elective at uni which i found very interesting and inspiring. I was recommended this book by a friend, and in turn i recommend it!

Footage

2008-02-21T01:36:00.000-08:00

These two clips below are experiments with film in the city. Ive had the idea of filming out the window of the tube because all the electric wires quickly going past creates an interesting effect, but of course there is the problem of the light reflecting back from the window, which ultimately makes this idea impossible.
My other idea to film looking up at the sky is somewhat more successful, though I would like to do a solid days footage to select from, with various locations, as just looking at the sky may be a bit monotonous. However, this is quite fitting, as I do find the city monotonous; concrete, roads, buses, cars, clouds, all grey and lifeless at times.

Psychogeography research

2008-02-14T11:13:00.001-08:00

Psychogeography

2008-02-14T11:10:00.001-08:00

Research

2008-02-11T14:12:00.000-08:00

In my research so far, Iain Sinclair has stood out as being an inspiring filmmaker. I watched his film about the M25 (the london orbital) a couple of years ago, and still remember it because of its unique narrative, the dull voice that spoke through the film, and the way it made me think about something that I had never considered before - the social impact of a motorway. It made me realise that humans have a relationship with the space around them; one that is very important, yet is not often recognised. I would like to explore a space that noone has thought about before.
I found a website callled www.urbansquares.com which was interesting in the way it recorded derives from around the world, exploring squares in different cities. This made me think of perhaps recording a derive/journey for my final piece.

Section of Sinclair's orbital documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ow5vTyHz9k

New Project: Psychogeography

2008-02-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

This brief is very interesting, though it is moving image which I find more challenging than print, mainly because I am less familiar with the software.
The brief asks us to produce a piece of moving image about the 'notion of the city and it's many narratives.' I think this will be a really good topic to explore, as it involves immersing myself in the city and seeing what I find. So far I have taken some photos inspired by the beautiful sunlight on Friday 8th feb.

My pages

2008-02-11T13:47:00.000-08:00

I was mainly inspired by the last line of the book, I loved how I had such a vivid image in my head of a white stag, and just had to create it on paper. I wanted to convey the feeling of a wintery surrounding, cold and icy, I imagined the book to be set in Canada, and I've still not read it so I have yet to find out. I decided I didn't want an influenced perception of the lines I was given, so as to have a fresh outlook, and an original idea for my pages.
The photograph was taken on a cold day in Hyde Park, and I like how you can see some urban landscape in the background, as I was unsure of the time the book was written.
In the final magazine all the information about the books(plus students emails) are written, so that everyone finds out the name and author of the book their lines came from.Watch this space for pics of the magazine in all it's glory....

First Last magazine

2008-02-11T13:26:00.000-08:00

Well, we won the pitch and managed to create a magazine in two weeks, from briefing the group to delivering the final version to the printer. It was some task!
The concept behind the magazine is to provoke a variety of different responses by giving each student the first and last line of a book, and providing them with a double page spread in which to communicate these lines. The only restrictions being that the lines have to be in thin boxes, bleeding off the edge of the page (the left bleeding left, and the right bleeding right) in Adobe Caslon pro 8pt, and it must be in black and white. This enabled us to create a coherent and professional-looking magazine, yet retaining it's character and student's individual style.
The outcome is brilliant, we had a huge variety of work; illustration, photography, written work etc. We were also able to provide our own paper to the printer, so there are lots of different colours for extra individuality.
My book was The Lumber Room by H.H Munro (Saki) See my pages above.

New project: Publications

2008-01-16T03:22:00.000-08:00

A new year, a new project!
We are required to create a magazine as a class. To begin with, in groups of 6, we have to come up with a concept for the magazine - content, layout, typog etc - and then pitch our idea to the class. Whoever gets the most votes becomes the editorial team for the magazine.Going well so far, my group has a sound idea - we will find out the winner on friday.

In my research I have found some really interesting magazines, my favourite being Marmalade. I really love the collage used and the cut and paste feel to it.
check it out: www.myspace.com/marmalademag

Also, I have found a few other homemade publications on myspace, Fever zine and sketch stance. They are really basic, just black and white and photocopied. This has inspired me to create a zine of my own!watch this space....

www.myspace.com/feverzine

Outcome

2007-11-26T13:18:00.000-08:00

This film is a short representation of a theory of Jarry's - that there is no night or day, and that life is continuous. It also represents the surreal quality that is found in Jarry's work, and the blurred border between real life and fantasy. I feel this is what sums up Alfred Jarry in a way, as he lived his life walking (or cycling) along the divide between dreams and reality, constantly challenging the world and traditional science, and the beliefs and values in society. This film includes the logo of a spiral shape, which is the emblem belonging to the College of pataphysics. The reason a spiral was chosen was because it represents something potentially infinite, and ever growing and expanding, which is appropriate because of the nature of pataphysics-always developing and pushing forwards. I think that the symbol represents Jarry too, as he was continually growing along with his work, and questioning everything. He was also of course very absurd, and confusing when looked at for too long.

Solution...

2007-11-22T15:07:00.000-08:00

Due to the vast expanse of Jarry's work, and the fact that he did not just write plays, it is very difficult to focus on one aspect of him to communicate within my final piece. I think with any person it would be impossible to create a 'biography' as such, which included everything about them. I will aim to create a representation of an interesting aspect of Jarry by the most appropriate means. I am still most intruiged by his philosophy of life, the mind that created such diverse work, and pataphysics. I hope my final outcome will be successful in communicating these things in a visual way.

Developments

2007-11-22T14:47:00.000-08:00

The apsect of Alfred Jarry I have found most interesting, and most challenging to understand, is his philosophy of 'pataphysics. The fundamental things to understand are that pataphysics describes a world additional to the 'traditional' world - crashing the barrier between reality and fantasy. It is the logic of the absurd, the science of imaginary solutions, yet it seems to make a lot of sense to me in terms of contemplating the world-although the language is often hard to decipher. A definition I have found to be very accurate when looking at Jarry's work:
'Pataphysics is a kind of "spiritual freedom, born of a detached contemplation of the kaleidoscopic spectacle of life (or of the essential 'theatricality' of existence) and of a detachment, ultimately, from one's own 'self'".
(from Alfred Jarry: A Critical and Biographical study, Keith Beaumont)
Much of Jarry's work is about freedom - from the world and from the self - the end of this process being death.
Even though his work is often challenging to understand, I like his ways of thinking, and the simplicity with which he makes such unique observations and conclusions.

Jarry project

2007-11-21T08:21:00.000-08:00

Here are some items I have found in the research process of this project. The absinthe is a key point to look at because Jarry drank copious amounts of it. Through my research I have come to the conclusion that the state of mind you are in when having drunk a lot of absinthe is not dissimilar to that of the state of mind of 'pataphysics. A kind of spiritual freedom - a detachment from one's self. I think that this is a refreshing find, as it enables me to comprehend the mindset of Jarry and the mentality behind his work.
You may be thinking that I have just gone and got pissed but that is actually not the case - I have only tried absinthe once.
I have also found that Jarry was horrified by the idea of physical existence, which explains his theatrical personality, his constant facade, his consumption of alcohol, and the way he lived in general. Jarry was very much caught up in his imaginary world, which comes into being in his plays and various works.
The other image here is the character King Ubu, which Jarry actually created from a woodcut he did. King Ubu epitomises all that is ugly and mediocre in the world. He has a spiral on his belly, which is now the symbol of the College of Pataphysics. It signifies a movement outwards, which is potentially infinite in it's expansion.

Jarry

2007-11-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

The results of a google image search on alfred jarry include black and white portraits of him, some unusual illustrations, and an image of John Peel reading Ubu Roi - the play that Jarry is most famous for, because the first word in the first act is Merdre (shit). I am a fan of Peel so this interests me further - i wonder if i will have time to read the whole play by the end of the project...So there was a riot when this word was heard on the stage, and people booed, though it marked the beginning of experimental theatre and, soon after, the Surrealist movement arrived. Jarry did not just write plays, he wrote novels and texts, and developed his own theory of 'pataphysics' - a philosophy which concerns itself with parodying science theories and metaphysics. so in the loosest sense of the word he was a theorist. I need to look into this in greater depth as it is the background from which jarry took his ideas, and the ideology behind his work.

New project: Biographies

2007-11-08T15:05:00.000-08:00

The name I have been given for this project is Alfred Jarry. I had not heard of him before, so the first thing I did was to look him up on Wikipedia. I was expecting to be able to access some pictures from this page, as I enjoy looking at images to give me ideas prior to reading up on something. However there were none, so I read the wikipedia article. Content that I had consumed a nicely sized summary of who Jarry was, I went to check my emails, and found that I had recieved mail in my designers are wankers account. Went to look at that and found an invitation to an exhibition by Fiona Gall called the Emerald Faerie. The emerald faerie is locked in a bottle of absinthe. Gall bases her light installations and 3d light pieces on her experience of absinthe - just as Jarry was influenced (and under the influence)by absinthe when he wrote his plays and thought up his theories. Jarry called absinthe the 'green goddess'. It is likely that his love of absinthe and drugs killed him. I thought this would be a great start to my research, and to compare his work to that of the present day will give a different perspective to my outcome.
Here's the link to designers are wankers:
http://www.designersarewankers.com/profiles/profile.jsp?profile_id=5374

What London listens to

2007-11-02T02:48:00.000-07:00

the next step

2007-11-02T02:38:00.000-07:00

Now all i need to do is decide which method I think is more successful and carry out more research on that particular thing in order to collate my information and present it in a visual way. I like the idea of taking photos of the people I ask and making a booklet, or making a mix cd of all the tracks people listen to. On the other hand I could create a geographical map, and map the lyrics of the songs directly onto the place I met the person.

what are you listening to?continued

2007-11-02T02:35:00.000-07:00

This is a series of videos I took on the second day when interviewing people about what they were listening to on their headphones. This proved even more difficult as not many people were willing to be filmed!! Thankyou to those that did.
I also sent out an email to some people in London, and also to the designers that I know, to see what they were listening to at that moment. I like the idea of focusing on one question like what are all the girls i know listening to right now?

What are you listening to?

2007-11-02T02:32:00.000-07:00

This is the question I want to ask. I want to know what London is listening to. Over two days I have gone about researching this in a few different ways. I began on the 31st October in Trafalger Square asking people what they are listening to on their headphones. I then recorded their voice saying what they are listening to. This proved slightly difficult as some people did not want to be recorded. I wrote down the time, place and date as well as the track name and artist.

New direction

2007-11-02T02:28:00.000-07:00

I have thought more about the project and what I specifically want to find out, so I have decided to go out around London to gather research. On the first day I just listened to what was going on around me and took notes. Then I thought I needed to pick an aspect of the sound in London that I could record something about, rather than descriptive words, as this would prove difficult when it came to making a map.

research

2007-10-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

I began my research with a camera, planning to go to areas of London, take photos, gather flyers etc but I realised my idea is not refined enough to begin this kind of research. what am i actually gathering and what for?I feel that my map has to have a more focused purpose and appeal to a certain audience. Then i can gather the specific information and present it visually. finding this hard.

Poster design for uni lecture

2007-10-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

This is a side project for our weekly lectures with visiting designers. Looking back I think I would have used a piece of coloured card for my collage - as you cannot see the edges of the playing cards.

Simple map

2007-10-18T11:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a basic drawing for the beginnings of my map - I will do a series of collages to visually illustrate the areas of London, and select music and perhaps sounds recorded on a dictaphone to reflect the areas too.

New Idea

2007-10-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

The idea I have that is strongest at the moment is a map of sound. I would use a simple line drawing of a map of London, then on Flash create buttons over certain places in London, which are collages, and they enlarge when the mouse goes over them. I would put sound on these buttons which is music that reflects that area of London. In order for this to work I think I would need to spend a lot of time on it, but I think it would be successful.

photos I've taken...

2007-10-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

Project2: mapping the territories

2007-10-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

update of all my ideas...
This image inspired me for an idea for a map: taking random or selected objects and dropping them from a height onto a map, or maybe a blank piece of paper, then plotting where they lie by taking a photo or joining them together with string or felt tip by drawing on the paper. perhaps repeatedly doing this then superimposing the results over eachother to create one image.

1st project in 2nd yr: You are here

2007-10-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

This film was created to reflect upon some of the things that have inspired me recently, and also to tell you a bit about me. I think I could have refined it much more, although it has sketchbook feel to it which conveys how it was made and thought up originally. The soundtrack was an important element to me as music is a great passion of mine. I wanted to pick a song that describes me at the moment, and this felt right. It is called Quite spectacular by Hint, hence the name of the film.