Formative Assessment
Preparatory Notes
What has worked for you? What was your best, or favorite, method?
Possibly Mark Bradford?
Deeply layered collage is a messy, fun thing to do and I can see it having interesting possibilities that I’m already thinking through.
I like the idea of using a string/rope to pull through layers of paper. I’m interested to try a more fine grained approach. Perhaps apply a layer of colour, add drawings of people on newsprint on top, then use thin strings to pull through them aligned to the limbs, so that you get a kind of sinewy effect? Worth trying.
How could these methods reflect aspects of hakari through the resulting artworks?
I quite like the richness and deliberate nature of this technique, although it is destructive in nature. Hakari can be partly about displaying wealth, almost in a gratuitous way.
Why?
As to hākari, I can see a link here. A feeling that I’m adding richness to a work that’s ultimately then something of a sacrifice.
Note: I’ve no idea why I’m making this connection, but it does remind me of some Native American blood rituals. It’s the tearing through of something as the final act in the process. Probably an old movie called A Man Called Horse, which is a mixed up mess of a thing with a white guy playing the Native American lead, the ritual aspects borrowed from the wrong tribe, and so on.
Notes taken by a peer
My own thoughts on the event
This was useful in refining my thinking. Very easy to get stuck in perfectionism and “analysis paralysis”, so one comment in particularly resonated with me, “low stakes”. The kind of work I’m doing is low stakes – worst case is I screw up a canvas and then gesso over it or reuse it elsewhere. The most I can ever “lose” at the level is a couple of dollars and some time.
Next Steps
How will you iterate on your earlier experiments to produce a final artwork? What research and further experimentation will be needed? How will you go about this?
While making in this way, I did have a number of things that I wasn’t entirely happy with, and also places where I wanted to try additional techniques:
- I did not have much control over what was exposed on underlying layers. I think with my next piece this should be more deliberate.
- Adding the string/rope back into the piece is what Bradford discussed in one of the interviews we watched. How might I do that?