Ogre-Faced Spider Hunting Behaviour - Tara Hughes

 

I chose to theme my sequence around spiders as they are often represented as somewhat distasteful. They repel most people with their intimidatingly disproportionate bodies and legs. But the spider can be beautiful. Their webs are intricate structures that are used as skilful instruments to capture and entangle. My sequence is an expression of art and science, based on my research into contemporary and historic scientific illustrations.

Crow- Amir gurung

Mixed media piece, I have used charcoal for the skull, cut out silhouette for the crow and torn cardboard for the background. Crows are also a scavenger which is why i have drawn a skull and crow on top of the skull.  

Charcoal drawing of a crow catching a frog and ready to eat.

Crow on a branch, I have used a watercolor for this work and used black as it is the color of the crow. Splashed lots of different colors for the background to see the outcome.

Crow is intelligent ! This is a continuous line drawing of a crow on top of the tree so it can drop the nut from top so it breaks into pieces for the crow to eat.

Llama - Emma West

Creating my own Peruvian style patterns

My chosen animal for Research Methodology was the llama! I chose it because of its characteristically quirky and humorous nature and appearance. I was also given the nickname 'llama' a few years ago by my friends (to this day I still don't know why!) - so I figured it would be fun to work with an animal that I had some association with. My initial thoughts on how to approach this project would be gaining more information about them and the environment that they live in, which led me on to researching about Peru and its culture. This also prompted some historical research in the 'Incas' - in which I learnt about the multicolour llama deity 'Urcuchillay' and the importance of textiles in their culture and traditions. From here I experimented with creating my own Peruvian style patterns, and incorporated a lot of vibrant colours into llama drawings - inspired by both Peruvian culture, Andy Warhol's pop art work and the Fauvist movement. 

Through my experiments and cultural research influence I decided to take a textile based route, thinking about how I could use sewing, knitting and other wool based crafts. The five words I chose allowed me to have some real fun with experimentation and idea development, from the beginning of the project I knew that I wanted to create something fun and colourful. The five words I chose were Quirky, Goofy, Proud, Rugged and Colourful, all of which relate to their appearance and characters, as well as cultural roots. 

Embroidery experiments

Using textiles was a really good choice, it allowed me to re-familiarise myself with machine sewing and I got to revisit experimenting with embroidery which I enjoy doing in my spare time. The final pieces turned out exactly how I wanted them to! Together they encompass the five words and summarise the colourful, quirky nature of llamas. The two embroideries feature colourful patterns inspired by Peruvian textiles, displayed within the llamas coats to reflect on their home country and the culture of it. The weave is a physical representation of the llamas rugged coats combined with Peruvian inspired colours, Tulunpi ear decorations and pom poms they are adorned with during festivals. The three googly eye prints are a response to Andy Warhol's 'Marilyn Monroe' print, duplicating and varying colour palettes to create individual characters whilst adding some extra fun and humour to the llamas. 

Final pieces on the wall together!

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!

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