Initial Research

As Manchester School of art Artists, we made our way to Islington Mill, with a lot of curiosity to explore but also with some fear of being unfamiliar of the other part of this artistic world. 

How I visualised the atmosphere inside the gates of Islington mill:

·      Extremely professional and formal 

·      Fast paced, industrial-like workshops 

·      Strict rules and deadlines 

·      Interior – a lot of up-to-date and hi-tech machinery

·       

Vs

 How it actually looked like:

·     Extremely friendly artists and informal, old school environment 

·     No restrictions and regulation — for time, materials, context, ideas/themes everything is organised by the artists. 

·     Freedom of speech — no right or wrong way of performing/making art. Not being afraid of saying out any idea that comes to your mind. 

You might unnecessarily assume in your head, it isn’t a smart idea, but someone will relate to it and learn that there is a possibility of your ideas coming into life. It might become an indirectly given inspiration for someone to create something extraordinary.

·     What attracted me the most was the architectural aspect of the building

The Architecture of the Mill

Being a very detailed conscious artist, i’m very fond of old architecture because I find these patterns that are extremely rich in details. Going from Benzie, which has a very modern and geometrical architectural structure, to the Mill where I sensed this richness of olden times.

It is an aged building

Nothing has been changed in order to, perhaps, “fit in” to this modern world. 

To see these bare bricks and the earthen rustic colours of the inside was an exciting moment for me. 

·     In those bare bricks, wooden floor and rustic radiators, was a sense of natural phenomena

The ‘Light-bulb’ moment 

During our first interaction around the dining tables, while having lunch

Timothea Luckcock, an Artist from Islington mill, just ever so casually, says“...Manchester is very bizarre that way...it’s become very congested...there is these extremely tall buildings right next to these very old buildings... so it’s kinda a juxtaposition that we see around us...”

And the gold paint added on the window sills, for even more richness. It was a moment of realisation as to what I find pleasing to see. Benzie building, which has a very sophisticated structure but it lacks those details and patterns versus this old school atmosphere at the mill.

Next step: Reading for a better understanding of Collaboration and making a gift for someone. 
And, I found inspiration from the Mill’s architect which then gets reinforced by the reading.

 Ideas for the gift:

·     The gold on the window sills.

·     ‘super-expensive art objects made by “geniuses”’ (Artspace, 2017: online).  This makes me think of something luxurious and perhaps expensive. 

What better then a fine luxurious silk and 24 carat gold leaf.

I left it out to stain, inspired by the Mill’s aged look. 

Even if it doesn’t look too good, it will at least be too ‘rich’. 

‘When I have to explain what we do to someone who doesn’t know about art, I always talk about “us,”’ (Artspace, 2017: online). I realised how we are all giving away and taking in ideas from each other — it’s an unspoken language in the artistic world.

More research to start generating ideas physically onto materials

Library research - All Saints library
inspiration for colours — how to achieve the old look to start generating ideas on paper
Inspirational Idea: using tea or coffee for staining; crinkling paper; burning paper and consider natural ways of manipulating materials   

Bibliography 

Artspace. (2017) How to Collaborate: 25 Leading Art Collectives Share Their Creative Processes, Part 1 /unpag. [Online] [Accessed on 11 May, 2018] https://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/book_report/how-to-collaborate-25-leading-art-collectives-share-their-creative-processes-part-1-54686