Adam Darwish- Iberian Ibex (mountain goat)

For the 'Research methodology' project I looked at the Iberian Ibex (Spanish mountain goat). This particular goat caught my attention mainly because of its large horns. I wanted to express the use of its horns, I did this by creating a sculpture from wire of the particular goat taking the stance during an attack.

I looked further in to the symbolism of goats in mythology and came across the 'Capricorn zodiac'. In early depictions the astrological sign was depicted as a regular goat rather that a goat with a fish tail.

I created an image with watercolour paint and a white gel pen which depicts a goat head on a background that looks like outer space.

For my final piece I wanted to combine the use of wire with the mythological aspects that goats are surrounded by. I looked further in to myths and came across the murkier side of the myths like how the devil is depicted in some cultures and religions as half human half goat. I worked with the lighting and shadow to try to emphasise the darkness of the sculpture.

Paishe Ansell - Fox

From the beginning of my research into methodology unit, I knew I wanted to research into the fox. Foxes are often labelled as pests by humans but after researching into them  thoroughly I found that foxes and humans have many similarities and were not as different as we think we are.

  

To explore the concept of humans and foxes being very alike I decided that I wanted to make  my own narrative of a fox and human on their travels meeting each other along the way. I decided to make a concertina book with the two character meeting in the middle. I wanted the back and front cover of my book to contrast showing the different habitats each characters live in, however the inside pages to show the similarities. I  started to experiment with stitching as it was a media I have not worked with before. From that I decided to do a continuous line stich throughout my book telling the story with out the use of words.  

My Final piece consisted of a concertina book with the front cover made from a log and back cover made of concrete with the inside paper pages stitched with black cotton presenting my narrative.

Allison Carter - Seahorse

For the Research Methodology project, I researched into the Hippocampus "Seahorse". Seahorses had danced around the edges of myth and have always been a fascinating creature to me. I chose to research into the Seahorse firstly because of their mythical value but also because I have known people who didn't even think they existed. Through my research, I delved into the Greek Mythology of Seahorses and their importance in there stories. I discovered that the Hippocampus was the steed of Poseidon, and in fact, the Zodiac Symbol of "Capricorn" is in the same species of the Hippocampus. I also researched into all the different species of typical seahorse, some more stranger looking then others, and facts about them i.e The Seahorse are the only species in which the Male becomes pregnant.

Hippocampus Abdominalis - Profile Illustration of a Typical Seahorse

Hippocampus - Greek Myth Hippocampus Illustration using Ink and Gouache Paint

1st Solution Image using the Hippocampus Abdominalis

2nd Solution Image using the Hippocampus Abdominalis

Final Solution Image using the Hippocampus Abdominalis

Rainatu Habib - Squid

For my Research and Methodology I looked at the Colossal squid. I choose to look at squids as they are very misunderstood creatures, what first drew me to them was their jelly like body which then led me to look at the Colossal squid which is know to have the largest eye in the world this fascinated me.

 Tentacles done using wire and plastercine.

This is my Squid from the my dog sighs workshop

Screen Printed Tentacle

This is my Final piece 

A life size eye made of Mod Rock, letter press and paper cut out for my tentacle.

Ross Hughes - Owls

Owls always seem to be there in the background, when I chose to do them for my project I started to see them appear on a lot of things, mainly as cute little patterns. This inspired me to do create a patter of my own, I drew them by hand and then clean them up and duplicated the owls in Illustrator. I then looked into owl myths and found a creature in one Native American tribe called Stikini who are sinister monsters from Seminole folklore. Originally they were evil witches, who transformed themselves into owl-beings. By day they still resemble people, but by night, they vomit up their souls and become undead owl-monsters that feed on human hearts. With this in mind I thought that comics are the modern day myths so I turned this monster into a anti-hero and a comic cover and the cowl he wears. The felt owl was made as a children's toy, its head turns all the way around to try and help them sleep at night as owls were seen to ward off omens.

Georgia Down - Japanese Flying Squid

For this project I chose to look into the Japanese Flying Squid. I always found squids fascinating, mysterious and totally unique, so I chose them for this project. I experimented with printing with actual squid corpses, which was a unique experience that yielded some interesting results (see below). I also wanted to create cute, childish squids - away from the colossal monsterous creatures like the Kraken that typically spring to mind (see below). For my final I chose to hand bind a concentina book focused around solving the mysterious nature of the Japanese Flying Squid. I wanted it to be broken up into basic factoids but impossible to read for the average consumer - so I wrote it in Japanese in homage to the squids home land. It was all done in ink (to represent the squids ink, of course!), which I smudged a lot. If I were to go back and change my outcome, I would have pushed that smudging more and made the final product much more weathered and aged. (See below).
I also took part in a 'My Dog Sighs' workshop which included me painting a piece of rubbish and discarding it - I took a picture of my piece where I found it originally!

Joseph Gardner - Mouse

For my Research Methodology project I chose to look at the mouse. For no simpler reason than my house was somehow infested with them, which is more common than I realised in Portsmouth. My project started when I caught a mouse in my kitchen. I tried to replicate this mouse with the wire workshop we had early in the project. After this I spent a lot of time working continuous line drawings of mice. In the Los Dave workshop I partnered up to create a owl-mouse crossover, I found this very successful as I was able to work on a larger scale than that of a mouse. After much development I decided on the idea of a Mouse in a tin can, they are renowned for going into cupboards and rummaging for food - and after the influence of My Dog Sighs I found the use of tin cans as very appropriate. I have chosen to add my Joint project from the Los Dave workshop.