20/03/23
Today we had our research presentations based on key concepts, i felt mine went well. There’s not much to say other than that due to their only being 4 of us and no questions were raised.
Here is the Script / Cards:
1.
Hello everyone and welcome to my presentation based on the concepts we were given in the last workshop. Mine as you can see is based on the word belief. So to begin with I thought I’d share a bit of background into my personal beliefs to provide some context and to make it a bit more interesting in terms of what I believe personally. So I am an agnostic and I’m very set in that way of thinking that I will not disapprove anything until I have seen it for myself. The official meaning for an agnostic belief is to 2.
(Read board) And although I may not directly fit into that category, I’m definitely not an atheist or a firm believer in christianity or any other religion. But what I do know is that within myself that I do believe that this world was possible, so how can I deny anything else? Even if it is a higher power or any extension on the meaning of life itself. I also firmly believe in the balance of our ways, there can’t be good without the bad. Otherwise how else would we know the difference between the two? I also believe that there is more to life itself, to simple die and not exist anymore seems fruitless to me. I’m sure that we all would rather be a comma than a full stop right? To finish on that I also believe that there is an energy within our existence that brings us together, whether it would be love, hate, friendship or just the way we can cooperate within a crisis. Creativity also flourishes when we work together too, that has to count for something right?
3.
So this brings us to the belief. What is belief? What is it to believe in something? It could be in yourself, someone else, what if it’s your cat? Belief can come across in a lot of different ways, you could believe something exists, you could have faith or you could simply believe in the sole fact that you can do something and that can build your character and strengths. It definitely up for discussion as it’s relative to the individual or a mass of people.
4.
So my artist of study is doctor David Petts, who is the Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Durham. He is also the leader of the project I have chosen to present by him today. He holds to his name a range of qualifications such as a Bachelors, Masters and a PHD. His main focus of research is the social archaeology of the 1st millennium AD. To achieve this he lays out a fieldwork on the holy island on the site of the early medieval monastery of Lindisfarne, in collaboration with DigVentures. This venture is funded through crowdfunding and a multitude of other grants including one from national geographic.
His other interests are in the archaeology of post-medieval and contemporary past, epsecially in Britian.
5. The project I have chosen by David is the group excavation and two year study of the heritage of religion in the north-east of England. The project, named ‘Belief in the North-East’, will focus on the main subjects, that being a number of 4 from the Neolithic rock art to the medieval monastic period. This will lead also lead to looking at faith up to the present day.
This project has been awarded a 180.000 grant from the national lottery heritage fund and consists of hundreds of volunteers and isled by David himself.
David has stated this:
“During our Roman investigations, we found the head of a god and an early Christian ring. And there is a legacy in the north-east going back to the early Anglo-Saxon Church, Lindisfarne and the Gospels, which is high in the local consciousness. We also have an amazing resource of local pre-history which people here are really aware of. There is a sense that religion is something that can be looked at from almost any period.”
6.
The project is based on the co-operative approach with the community. With a theme emerging from a consultation with a variety of groups and organisations. David also stated this in line with that sentence:
“While many people have studied particular aspects or places, such as Lindisfarne or Durham Cathedral, no project has ever tried to capture an overview, right from prehistory to the present. That’s the task we’ve set ourselves for Belief in the North-East. While academic staff and students from Durham University will be closely involved, community engagement with the project will be vital if it is to succeed.”
7.
This is a carved head o fa roman god from the excavation. Dating back1800 years approx, this was discovered at the Binchester Roman Fort, near Bishop Auckland in County Durham, England. It is made out of sandstone and linked to the Celtic deity Antenociticus, worshiped as a source of inspriration and intercession in militariy affairs.
8.
How this is linked to my clock project is that idea of co-operative work within a community to reach a specific goal, just like the clock idea. It’s as simple as that really, it’s also in line with the belief i had that we could accomplish that said goal just like the team of volunteers did at the exavation site.
9.
Thanks for listening, if you have any questions i appreciate it.
21/03/23
Today I worked on completing the drawings I have done so far. They are now looking very clean and honestly i’m quite proud of these. I’ve never attempted to illustrate like this before. I then scanned them in in the mac suite (wordpress wont allow me to upload the hi-resolution files as they’re so big.)The travellers journey so far:
23/03/23
With these drawings I feel much more confident in cross hatching and other shading techniques. I love using fine liners too, they just give so much depth, I may switch to ink at some point too. I also feel that I want the drawings to be more quality than quantity, so the book wont be full but their will be a decent amount to look through overall at the takeover. These drawings can take their time to finish, it depends on the detail.
The way I have gone with the story of the world is definitely more of a political one, I actually find it fascinating that the people or aliens who had lived on this planet decided to freeze the planet in time as it was then to carry on living their and destroying it. This adds more depth to the overall narrative I found.
This week may not hold much in the notebook, deadlines are literally within the weeks for a lot of assignments and focus needs to be shifted. But easter holidays is nearly here and from Monday expect to see a tonne of work involving props, lighting and finalising the field sketchbook.