A wee project...

I feel I've been neglecting my wee blog for a while so I thought I'd upload some images of the work that I've been doing in class. Let me fill you in on my project... we have to design an exhibition based on the title Juteopolis. (Basically this was the nickname given to Dundee after the city was taken over by the Jute industry in the late 1800's and early 1900's.) In my group we decided to focus primarily on the connections within the community and decide to portray this through the human form all connecting...

We asked people to stand in specific positions so as to mimic jute weave patterns, street grids, etc but they were always connected in some way - the underlying theme...

A Mini Project...

In studio based time, we are currently undertaking a project called Juteopolis (based on the Jute trade in Dundee). Although we have our main project to concentrate on, we also have a mini project too from artist Louise Ritchie. At the 2009 Degree Show in Dundee she created an exhibition that was very unusual.

Most artists spend many painstaking days, months or even years on their work but Louise Ritchie took a different approach to creating her exhibition. She did something which I had never before been aware of...she asked other people to create the pieces for her show.

12cm³ blocks of wood were the 'canvas' that the work would be created on and participants were given a very open brief where they were able to paint, slice, burn, etc, their 3D sketchbook basing it all on the theme of Juteopolis.

Bearing all this in mind I decided to focus on the connections of the Jute industry. In these times, people basically lived on top of each other in very poor living conditions - some small tenements were housing on average 8 people! Neighbours were almost like family and friendships were established within the Jute communities, all relating to the similar harshness.



The first thought that came into my head were paper chain people - all connected and all similar!