Exam Time

The exam is underway and I am documenting all the stages of making my installation. Currently at the end of day one I have wallpapered my wall which took the longest amount of time as just staple gunning the paper up did not work so PVA was used also! I have put up the daily routine pictures on the third and also the the and bottom border of the first wall. Tomorrow I need to paint on the lettering on the second wall/back wall and sort out the space that my video will be shown in. Finally I need to put up the portraits of my Grandad on the first wall. Everything is going to plan and pictures will get up as soon as I have finished documenting the proccess.

Sorting

Currently I have sorted through all my pictures and have all the material printed and ready to go. I have found an old chair in a charity shop which is a replica of my Grandad's and he has kindly let me borrow his hat and an old pair of glasses. I also had a rummage in his loft and found some wallpaper much like the stuff used in his lounge so I will incorporate that into my installation.

Something more...

After some more thinking about my installation I decided that it needed to be even more personal. I approached my Grandad again and wanted to find out what some of his favourite things were. My Grandad writes his own poetry and I was interested in looking at some of the poems and incorporating them into my final piece as it would be something more about him. Another of the things I asked him was what was his favourite poem, he answered If by Rudyard Kipling and also Leisure by William Henry Davies . These poems hold a lot of meaning and I want to somehow include them in my installation. A critic studying the poem 'Leisure' said 'he poet lamenting over the rush and hurried manner in which we spend our lives. We deprive ourselves of the richness and diversity of life.' This has some relevance to my piece as it is about the way my Grandad lives his life and the manner in which he does so especially now my Nan has passed away. I also asked him his favourite colour which he replied green. Then his favourite past time, which he struggled to answer right away but said he enjoyed most things but reading has become on of his favourites since my Nan past away. I also asked him his favourite drink which he replied orange cordial of course Sarah, much to my amusement. I think by having a bit more knowledge of his likes and dislikes my project will become slightly more personal and meaningful. I have now just got to find a way to try and include these items and thoughts into my final piece. I have asked my Grandad to write out two of his favourite poems that he wrote himself and I have photographed them in a fragmented way to show small snippets of text. The poems are interesting but I am unsure if I will include them in my installation.

Perhaps an Idea

After thinking about my installation I have decided on what I want to do. I first thought about displaying my images on 3 seperate boards and hinging them together to form something to look at. However I shortly decided that this was not the approach I wanted to take. I wanted to make something much more personal that the viewer could understand and seem to be involved in rather than just to look at. I have decided on a space I would like to use and its a 3 walled cubby hole which I am going to develop into my installation. My initial idea was just to display my picutres in it but then I thought I should develop this more, so I am going to make it into a prototype of a lounge, and in particular my Grandad's. I have purchased a chair from a charity shop which looks my like the one at my Grandad's house, and after some bargaining I have got my Grandad to lend me his glasses and hat which were also in the black and white print. I wanted to relate my installation to an artist or photographer to ensure my work had a bit more substance and I found Van Gough and Grauguin. Van Gogh painted each one with his inspression of the chairs and the outcomes are below. This is the sort of thing that will be in my installation as the chair will be the central piece. I am very happy that I found these artists that relate however I am also glad that I found them after I decided on the idea so it gives my idea more individuality.

Getting On

I have now picked out 150 images that I wanted to be printed to go in my final piece, these are the ones that I took on the day that I followed my Grandad around. I also have many images that I collected from my Grandad's house and family albums. Along with this I have had the film processed and have my images on a CD so I can fully view which one's I want to print before wasting any vital time in the darkroom. Finally I have the video I filmed at my Grandad's house last week. I am currently working on developing my images that I found at my Grandad's and I have photographed all the pictures and had them put onto a CD so I can edit them and put them together to portray perhaps some sort of 'life in pictures' by layering my images. I will try this on photoshop as well as in substance by cutting up the prints and fixing them into a collage type picture. I made this picture by cutting up old pictures I found at my Grandads house and making them into a timeline.

Printing Time

These are a couple of the pictures I took of my Grandad when I went round to film the video. I also took with me my film camera to incorporate my film photography project of 'formal portraits' into my final piece. For speed and general convenience I took the film to a lab to be processed and got the pictures then transferred onto a CD however I do really enjoy printing my own pictures so I will be printing my own for my display of my final piece. I think the pictures have come out slightly over exposed however they make the images look slightly older and I think this compliments my Grandad's skin tone and overall appearance.

Where am I?

I am now at a stage where I think I have all the material I need for the exam. I have many pictures of my Grandad's daily routine, I have a video interview of my Grandad and myself, I have many old photographs of my Grandad and my family years ago and finally I have a film and digital portrait of my Grandad as he is now. I think all these bits and bobs will fit together nicely to create some sort of innovative final piece.