Charlotte Topcott

For my project based upon animals within Shakespeare's plays I chose a stag. To describe this animal I chose words such as; wild, proud, leader, mysterious and delicate. As i developed further understanding of the animal I wanted to portray it through the use of materials to suggest these traits. I chose to use natural products such as woods and glass to reflect the wild aspect of the creatures personality. I also chose to reflect the animals delicacy through the use of glass painting and developed this design so that one piece was intact and another was smashed. This reflected the vulnerability of the animal and although proud can be broken.

Wood cut using laser photographed to show how the animal can blend within its surroundings and make itself unseen

Wood cut laser development to compare how different types of laser could affect the outcome of the design. This design could be used to represent the idea of hierarchy and how the more dominant or darker cut design would be more of a leader. 

Painted glass to suggest that the animal is fragile and needs to be handled delicately, also suggests that the animal is used as a mere decoration and it is us who are the ones who put these animals at risk. 

Jack Bruce

Typographical piece to accompany images.

Final image selection.

Shakespearian text reference.

Sketchbook page.

My submission focused on the symbolism of the lark and nightingale in Romeo and Juliet. Each bird has a different song one for the day and one for the night. They represent the journey of forbidden love encountered by the protagonists, which I have attempted to portray in a graphical and contemporary style.

Georgie Robjant - Magpie

For our research methodology project I chose to do the animal, Magpie, I chose this animal as I feel that it holds a reputation with it, I love a story behind anything and the magpie definitely delivers that, I love how such a small animal can hold so much meaning and can be seen as such a superstitious creature

                                      Here is some sketch book work of some artist research
                                                   that influenced my Magpie creations.

                                  Here is one of my final A3 pieces I created on book pages

Here is the second part of my final piece on book pages.

Here is some experimental work I did with A watercolour magpie

and a dream catcher.

Rats by AmberAtlantis

For my 'Shakespeare's animals' project I decided to focus upon the rat, as it's my favourite animal and they posses some interesting superstitious qualities, as well as similarities to the human body which are used for scientific study.

After conducting broad research into the animal such as their anatomy, behaviour, habitat and diet etc, I visited a large pet store and started producing lots of direct observational sketches. This is what helped me most in understanding their movement and behaviours. I also reviewed the texts in which rats are mentioned in Shakespeare's works, and I decided to centre my ideas around a scene in 'Tempest' where Prospero describes a boat that he fled to Italy on. This scene evolves around the superstition that rats leaving a ship in port indicates that the vessel will encounter misfortune at sea such as sinking.

With this idea in mind, I experimented with collage and 3D techniques which i could possibly use to illustrate the ship superstition, including wire sculptures wrapped in twine and wallpaper collages as shown above.

Eventually I settled for using paper mache to create the basic structure of the rat, and then I glued card triangles over this to create the fur. For my final piece I produced 2 rats; the card triangles on one were covered in ripped magazine, and the other was using a watercolour + salt technique to look like rust. Both of these symbolise neglect. 

I did some final research in rat euphemisms, where i came across the term 'rat king'. This is where rats live in an extremely cramped space, so eventually their tails become knotted together. I decided to join the tails of my two sculptures, but I did so by researching the types of knots used in sailing and made the tails out of rope to connote the boat superstition. I made the remaining features out of clay, and set the sculptures on a piece of driftwood which I found at the beach. My intention with this was to convey a narrative of the plank being a stray part of a recently sunken ship, and the rats had to escape together due to being connected at the tail. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this project and I look forward to seeing my work displayed in the Shakespeare's animals exhibition at Portsmouth Guildhall! Feel free to check out these links for some of my other art and photography work!

www.facebook.com/amberatlantis

www.youtube.com/AmberAtlantis

www.amberatlantis.blogspot.co.uk

Shakespeare's Animals - At the Guildhall, Portsmouth 2016