Introduction to Mail Art Project
Brief
For this project, we were supposed to create a card/object that we would like to send back home. The theme is a response to something that I have accomplished during the last 2 months.
To kickstart our brainstorming, we did a collage workshop to explore and experiment with different ways we could create our card/object for the project.
The workshop was broken down into 3 parts:
1. 3D Collage
2. Photo collage
3. Mixed media collage
14th November 2019
Collage Workshop
3D Collage
For the first part of the workshop, we were asked to use items that we have in our bag that we could use to create our collage.
Some artists that were shown to us as reference/inspiration were Zoe Miller and David Goodman.
Miller & Goodman (2011)
This book is a compilation of 3D collage works by Zoe Miller and David Goodman. It shows how faces are all around us, everywhere we look. It is an inspiring and imaginative book of unusual ways to create faces using printing, collage, geometric shapes and sculpture. (Miller & Goodman, 2011)
I was inspired by the way they used ordinary everyday objects and created faces with it. Zarah, our tutor encouraged us to just have fun and not think too much of how you want your collage to look like. She wanted this session to be fun for us. It honestly felt like I was back in primary school art class but I wasn't complaining because I was just playing around with the items in my bag creating random sculptures.
Figure 1. A sculpture of a hand holding a pen using gloves
3D collages that I made using items that were available in my bag and pencil case
These are just random sculptures that I made using random items that I have. Looking back at the collages, I think the main focus was my gloves. It took up the most space in my collages and I used that as the foundation and started working from there. I honestly had no idea what I was doing but one of the collages that I particularly liked was the one where I made it look like it was writing (refer to Figure 1). It kind of looked like it was a ghost.
After doing this exercise, it reminded me that even the simplest items like pens and pencils could create weird sculptures like this. Just like the book "Faces" by Zoe Miller and David Goodman, there are faces around us, we just have to take a closer look and this taught me that there is always beauty in the most mundane things.
Photo collage
Photo collage made by me
As for the photo collage exercise, I was cutting, pasting, and tearing stuff that inspired me. I decided to make use of typography and created the quote "Don't give up". In summary, my photo collage is just culmination of different images that looked interesting to me.
Mixed media collage
For the mixed media collage, I decided to use markers and draw little doodles around my collage. Honestly, I was running out of ideas of what to do so I just drew whatever came up to mind. I liked how I incorporated the images of the flowers with the faces. I personally felt this collage was more dynamic because of the incorporation of using markers and images.
In the future, I think using mixed media for my works would give more texture and range.
21st November 2019
Typography Workshop
The following week we did a typography workshop where we experimented using calligraphy pens. Our first exercise was to block out sentences from newspaper articles. It was kind of tough as I was trying to find words that I could make a sentence with so I eventually blocked out most of the sentences in the article.
Blocking out texts and experimenting typography with calligraphy pens
For our second exercise, we used calligraphy pens. I personally have never tried using it before so it was a rather fun experience as I got to make texts look very 'flowy' and organic. I liked the effect that it produced which I think I will use for my mail art project.
Using calligraphy pens to create sans serif texts
I continued to create more typography. I tried writing sans serif fonts and see how it would look like. It turned okay but I think it would be better to write in serif as it looks better.
Overall, my experience with the typography workshop was pretty successful as I got to try something new. I think calligraphy is an interesting medium to use for my mail art project. It fits the concept of writing mail to loved ones as I wanted a slightly vintage look to my works.
Bibliography
Miller, Z. and Goodman, D. (2011) Faces. London: Tate Publishing
For this project, we were supposed to create a card/object that we would like to send back home. The theme is a response to something that I have accomplished during the last 2 months.
To kickstart our brainstorming, we did a collage workshop to explore and experiment with different ways we could create our card/object for the project.
The workshop was broken down into 3 parts:
1. 3D Collage
2. Photo collage
3. Mixed media collage
14th November 2019
Collage Workshop
3D Collage
For the first part of the workshop, we were asked to use items that we have in our bag that we could use to create our collage.
Some artists that were shown to us as reference/inspiration were Zoe Miller and David Goodman.
Miller & Goodman (2011)
This book is a compilation of 3D collage works by Zoe Miller and David Goodman. It shows how faces are all around us, everywhere we look. It is an inspiring and imaginative book of unusual ways to create faces using printing, collage, geometric shapes and sculpture. (Miller & Goodman, 2011)
I was inspired by the way they used ordinary everyday objects and created faces with it. Zarah, our tutor encouraged us to just have fun and not think too much of how you want your collage to look like. She wanted this session to be fun for us. It honestly felt like I was back in primary school art class but I wasn't complaining because I was just playing around with the items in my bag creating random sculptures.
Figure 1. A sculpture of a hand holding a pen using gloves
3D collages that I made using items that were available in my bag and pencil case
These are just random sculptures that I made using random items that I have. Looking back at the collages, I think the main focus was my gloves. It took up the most space in my collages and I used that as the foundation and started working from there. I honestly had no idea what I was doing but one of the collages that I particularly liked was the one where I made it look like it was writing (refer to Figure 1). It kind of looked like it was a ghost.
After doing this exercise, it reminded me that even the simplest items like pens and pencils could create weird sculptures like this. Just like the book "Faces" by Zoe Miller and David Goodman, there are faces around us, we just have to take a closer look and this taught me that there is always beauty in the most mundane things.
Photo collage
Photo collage made by me
As for the photo collage exercise, I was cutting, pasting, and tearing stuff that inspired me. I decided to make use of typography and created the quote "Don't give up". In summary, my photo collage is just culmination of different images that looked interesting to me.
Mixed media collage
For the mixed media collage, I decided to use markers and draw little doodles around my collage. Honestly, I was running out of ideas of what to do so I just drew whatever came up to mind. I liked how I incorporated the images of the flowers with the faces. I personally felt this collage was more dynamic because of the incorporation of using markers and images.
In the future, I think using mixed media for my works would give more texture and range.
21st November 2019
Typography Workshop
The following week we did a typography workshop where we experimented using calligraphy pens. Our first exercise was to block out sentences from newspaper articles. It was kind of tough as I was trying to find words that I could make a sentence with so I eventually blocked out most of the sentences in the article.
Blocking out texts and experimenting typography with calligraphy pens
For our second exercise, we used calligraphy pens. I personally have never tried using it before so it was a rather fun experience as I got to make texts look very 'flowy' and organic. I liked the effect that it produced which I think I will use for my mail art project.
Using calligraphy pens to create sans serif texts
I continued to create more typography. I tried writing sans serif fonts and see how it would look like. It turned okay but I think it would be better to write in serif as it looks better.
Overall, my experience with the typography workshop was pretty successful as I got to try something new. I think calligraphy is an interesting medium to use for my mail art project. It fits the concept of writing mail to loved ones as I wanted a slightly vintage look to my works.
Bibliography
Miller, Z. and Goodman, D. (2011) Faces. London: Tate Publishing
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