Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is an artist , photographer and film maker.
Her work may be described as feminist as she depicts herself in most of her photographs dressed up in various outfits all depicting different moods and objectives.
I have chosen to put her up on my blog as a source of inspiration because her personality changes so much in each photgraph and the so  does her dress!

Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayhan December 2008

I came across Hussein Chalayans designs in 'Fashion now' by Taschen!
My project is taking yet another leap in a different direction as I focus my attention away from the issues of the world like religion and its cocooning effects towards a more personal area in my life and one which I am more familiar with!! Identity and perception!!
As a young woman who has just entered third level education I am no stranger to the crazy changes of my peers.
New settings demand new personality changes I believe!
I think it may be naive not to discuss the fact that all of us alter our personalitys in new situations.
Fitting in is something we all crave sometime in life and maybe more times than we think!
Some people go into their inner selves and become shy , others are boisterous and want to impress!
I thought this image was a good reflection on how personalitys change and perceptions are formed!
We move away from the norm and try to become appealing , interesting people...whether we actually are is a different story!

Mike Nelson

I was looking at an installation on youtube by an artist called Mike Nelson. The installation is called 'The Coral Reef'.The installation was held in the 'Tate' in London!
When you enter it's a maze of dirty cab offices , junkie hide outs sleezy dodgy motel rooms and references to terrorist hideouts and torture cells. It is certainly an umcomfortable place to be and to make things a hell of alot worse you are led to deep into the filth and corruption that you cannot find your way out.....trapped some might say!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUsaSnyvZnA&noredirect=1

Evelynn Glynn

I found this artist who is a former student of LSAD. Her website is called 'Breaking the Rule of Silence' It's an extremely interesting website which deals with a history of LSAD as ' The Good Shepherd laundry' there are also stories from women who were penitents in the asylum many years ago.
I took this ladies thesis out of the library last week and read it , it's called 'Left holding the baby'
I'll leave a link to her website in this post!
http://www.magdalenelaundrylimerick.com/biography.html

Exploration Images

Second floor in the church building......an old bath covers the old infirmary door which is now all bricked up

Empty space at top of stairwell

LSAD explorations

In the coming days I will be exploring the hidden spaces within the college. I have noticed there's a door on the second floor in the church building that is boarded up with bricks! I found out that it used to be the old nuns infirmary. The sick nuns would reside there and then they were taken to the church across the landing into a small room to watch mass! I've also noticed some boarded up old windows in the same area on the first floor of the church building! The attics also are un-used spaces so i'll try my best to access them however I belive they are out of bounds at the moment due to health and safety!

3D experimentation

I just thought I'd upload some of the 3D experimentation work that i've messed around with last week!! Still on the theme of trapping the human form and wrapping objects with different materials just to try things out....these are not finished pieces !!

Clay body and twine wrapped around....it's supposed to be suffocating and uncomfortable

wire and fabric wrapping

Cheryl L Parry

I found this artist Cheryl L Parry whilst researching the magdalene laundries in Ireland!!


This installation is an exhibit of pieces of furniture and other items found in Magdalene Laundries!! I find it quite interesting as the space becomes filled with items from the past...looking at the photo there seems to be an air of regiment and order!!

Exploring the space around me!

I've decided to look into the background of LSAD and it's purpose before it became and art college.
I knew myself that at one point it was a magdalene laundry and housed Limericks outcasted women.
I took some pictures of the church building and some features that reminded me of entrapment .


This is an eary looking building! It was called 'The good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry'

I'ts hard to believe that so many fallen women ended up in this same building in which I study now.
The resemblance is definetly still prevalent as this part of the building is still intact.
I thought of looking into the buildings roots as the women were literally trapped in these places unable to leave sometimes even dieing here.


Some of the nuns that were part of 'The good shepherd laundry'

I found a very interesting link which tells the story of the building http://magdalenelaundrylimerick.com/about.html

This definetly wont be the end of my search to uncover some hidden truths about this place in which i will be spending four years of my life in!
I think it's important to know the history of spaces which we spend large parts of our lives in.

Exploring 3D

This week I began to explore some 3D ideas to bring into my project.
Confinement is still key in my explorations and I wanted to try out different ways of confining the human form. The reason for this is that I was looking at entrapment in really uncomfortable spaces.I researched Gregor Schneider as an example.



Schneider creates uncomfortable rooms and people in bizare positions and coverings.
This photograph is part of a compilation of work by Schneider in which he enlisted people to die infront of others as part of his exhibition.....it's safe to say all of the people were terminally ill ,however I found this an extremely interesting piece of work!!!
“I want to display a person dying naturally in the piece or somebody who has just died,” he told The Art Newspaper. “My aim is to show the beauty of death.”

Some 3D paper weaving I was experimenting with!! It's supposed to resemble a wrapped body at the end.

It's not the best finished piece of paper weaving you've ever see but it was just experimentation!!

I will be trying this method out again for sure.

Thanks to Elaine for showing me this technique today in the 3D workshop.

What I know best!!

Today I retaliated and could no longer fight the urge against using my sewing machine to draw!! I've lasted four weeks without using it so it isn't too bad!! I'll photograph one of the pieces and put it up later! I've also been looking at the works of Naseem Darby as part of my research!
I knew of her before and had done some research last year about the artist.
Darbey explores the elements and relationships between drawing and textiles.
Her sewing machine is her pencil/pen.
Darbey sews on paper and also soluble fabric which gives her work and interesting 3D quality.
This form of stitch can be structurally formed into the shape desired when the fabric is wet.
Darbey mainly works with black threads as it gives the pieces a raw stand out quality.



An example of one of Naseem Darbey's pieces

Confined Spaces!!

This week I have been looking in to confinement and a sense of trapping!!Physical trapping of the human body! I have a few pieces of work that i'll upload here! I continued my research this week in my contextual notebook! I found a book in the library called 'mirror Images women surrealism and self representation'.I've been looking at oppressed women so I thought it was a good idea to pick up some sort of feminist book mainly for the striking imagery. Frida Kahlo was featured greatly in the book as she is seen as a fierce representation of the female form.

'My Birth' (private collection' Frida Kahlo
Kahlo has a great talent for representing her feelings in paint! This painting is a dramatic representation of Kahlos relationship with her mother Matilde!! Her mother is lying on the bed with her face covered it is possible that she is dead!!
The room is completely empty apart from an image of the virgin hanging above the bed.
Kahlo's head is emerging from her mother not as a baby but as herself 'a woman'. It is also unknown whether    
Kahlo is dead or alive in the painting? This lonely isolated entry into the world is deeply emotional and very personal!!

I did this piece as part of research (black acrylic paint and charcoal) it's a shrouded person covered in fabric and unable to leave the dark covering! it took no more than five minutes as I wanted to do it aggressively with quick strokes!!

Charcoal and paint drawing in my sketchbook depicting entrapment!!!

Wire and Fabric 3D experimentation!!