"A small print on a mailbox becomes something really precious when you remove all the noise from around it and isolate it from its setting" (Merel Karhof, Project two). Explore familiar or alien surroundings by isolating, documenting and displaying anything you think will create a new awareness of a landscape.
When I was introduced to the first project during the second week I found it quite challenging and very different to what I have been previously used too. I found it hard to get started and I felt really deflated. After going onto the Green in Bournville I found a sprig of three oak leaves, after wondering around for a while, being inspired by the surrounding area I saw a map of Bournville and associated by sprig with the map of the three main roads. This then lead to an idea of direction and boundaries.
After much thought I made a sculpture of a tree made up of found items in Bournville. It was too literal and I had only 1 day left until the group crit, so I developed that idea and made a leaf. I made the left out of Greaseproof paper and printed a map of Bournville Trust onto it. I also added a stem onto it to make it look appropriate.
It was to demonstrate that the leaf was the generations of Bournville People and that it was going to go in different directions in contrast to the tree which is a permanent object in Bournville.
This outcome wasn’t one of my strongest and I feel that it was rushed and it doesn’t showcase my ability as an artist, it doesn’t demonstrate my full potential. If I were to do the project again I wouldn’t have chosen ‘Nature’ as a starting point as Nature is a fixture in most places and isn’t really unique to Bournville.