Assignment Two (Part 3 of 4): Fourth Image

For this part of the assignment I had to select a story from before for our target story. I then looked for another image to add, to influence the people I ask to come up with the same or a similar story. Here are my results:


1. Female, Age 20, Politics Student
A family got trapped on a desert island all by themselves, but they found a gun, which they used to kill a tiger for their evening meal.


2. Female, Age 20, English Student.
There was a family who had taken a holiday on a remote island and were sun bathing on the beach when the little girl screamed and as her dad turned to look, he saw the stripes of a tiger. There was only one thing to do ... get his family inside, grab his gun and return to the beach...


3. Male, Age 21, Geography Student
Ina magical universe far away, gun where human in a fight to inhabit all exhuman islands. Another prime predator living on these island where tigers, guns and tigers where not friend. A family by the name of the Matthew’s invaded this paradise, which caused a rufus. This angered the tigers and created an all out war. Noticing this, the guns which there previously enslaved my humans decided to fight on the tigers sided. Human where then banished from the island and all the surrounding islands.


4. Male, Age 19, Art Student
There was a family on a boat transporting tigers to a zoo. But on the way there they get shipwrecked and end up on a desert island, where they have to shoot the wild animals to stay alive.


With the fourth image all the stories are similar, apart from some had a happy ending or a sad ending.

Assignment Two (Part 2 of 4) – Talk To People

For the first part of assignment two I asked people to look at the three images (Assignment Two - Select Random Images) . Asked them to make up a story connecting them in any order they like. Here are my results:


1. Male, Age 21, Art Student.
Gypsy travel to the remote island. When they get there they can’t believe that all tigers on the island are carry guns.


2. Female, Age 21, Criminology Student.
We all live on an island and out of the blue we all have been kidnapped by tigers how all have guns.


3. Male, Age 21, AutoCAD Student.
A group to male gun carrying hunters traveled on a boat to an island. They are planning on hunting the tigers to make a rug from it, to make money.


4. Female, Age 20, Art Student.
People went to a dessert island on holiday to shot some lovely looking tigers.


5. Male, Age 19, Art Student.
A traveler shot himself on his island holiday. A few days later a tiger was really hungry and eat the dead body for a meal.


6. Female, Age 20, Speech and Language Therapy Student
There is a tiger that escaped on an island and the police looking for it where carrying dart guns, ready to tranquilize the beast.

Assignment Two (Part 1 of 4): Select Random Images.

Disney

Honesty did it ever cross my mind while watching Disney Film that there was an underlying message - for example sexism,domestic abuse, undermining women’s independence and much more. Even thought the past two generations have grown up watching and love Disney movie, such as ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Snow White’.

Assignment One - You are my Friend, but do I really know you?

We are finally back at Art College from the Christmas holidays. It's time to get back to some serious blogging.

Our first assignment is to pair up with someone we barely know ("another student who you do not know well"), switch personal pictures of their childhood, and analyze those pictures to understand the other student.

For this assignment, I chose a fellow Interior Design student, Karen Lyttle.In Interior Design we spend a lot of time with each other, but how well do we actually know them and their past!

Karen Lyttle is 21 years old. She was born and bread in the countryside of Northern Ireland. But three years ago she moved to Dundee to study, and she is currently in second year Interior Design after leaving Architecture.

While I was analyzing her pictures, I was looking at every detail such as environment, possessions, influences and taste.

I started by analyzing the youngest photo of Karen. This looks like a school photograph, because Karen’s sisters look like they are wearing school uniform. Karen is wearing a very formal outfit. Karen is located in the middle of her older twin sister, which illustrates that there is a close bond between her and her sister from a young age. Karen’s facial expression makes me believe that this was the first time that photograph like this was taken, and still must mean a lot to Karen as this was the first image she gave me. I could imagine this photography being in a frame in a prime location for everyone to see.

As I am going through the rest of the pictures. I discovered that this was the only formal photograph. This is noticeable due to the background and the formal poses.

This photograph was taken on the beach at Castle Rock. This is a place where Karen and her family used to and still go on their caravan lodge holiday every year. In this image you immediately know that she is with her Mum and Dad. Karen is the focal point here due to the body contact that her mum and dad are giving. From this photo I felt that Karen was closer to her dad rather than her mum. This is very interesting because Karen feels she is closer to her Mum. Karen is wearing casual clothes here that are suitable for the beach.

The next image is taken at the same place as the one before, Castle Rock beach. In this photograph, Karen is with her twin sisters and one of her younger brothers. They had just completed making a rowing boat out of sand. Karen is once again located in the middle. In front of her is her brother who seems to be excluded from the girls or maybe he is just excited to have the photo taken because of his smile. Her sister at the back of the boat also seems to be excluded, this may be due to her thinking that she is too old for all this or maybe she is just trying to get herself into the photo because Karen is in the way.The sister to the left of Karen appears to be the closest to her because of the way she is leaning towards her. It was interesting to find out that that sister is also studying in Dundee even though Karen said she was really close to both of her sisters.

This is Karen 13^th birthday. There are six girls in this image, who all lived on her street, outside a house. Two of the girls are Karen’s best friends and they still are today. This is a very posed photo as they are all in height order holding one another’s hips. It was really hard to pick Karen out of in this because she has dark hair.

In this photograph there are seven girls including Karen. This image would have been taken at Christmas time as there is a Christmas tree in the background on the right. Speaking to Karen, I found out that this group of friends are family friends and also church friends .The dress sense in this picture has changed to much more formal party clothes which makes me think that they are having a Christmas get together.

The last photograph Karen gave me was the most recent. The image is of her and her friends three years ago at Caste Rock in the caravan lodge. The last three photos that Karen has given me have the same friends except they look older in each image.

I feel that this has been a really interesting exercise, trying to analyze people though photos. By analyzing Karen Lyttle I have learnt a lot about her and her past so much so that I feel that I was there. I felt that that these images were a good range of photographs even though there are only six. To analyze her more in depth I would have to see more images of her growing up to more recent photographs, as the most current one was three years ago and she has changed a lot since them.

Edinburgh Culture

Back in Edinburgh to see in the New Year with friends. Once all the snow had fallen I decided to start 2010 with some culture. My favourite gallery ‘The Gallery of Morden Art’ was covered in snow, making Charles Jencks Landform look other worldly. I have never seen it like this before, it was beautiful.

‘Everything is going to be alright’ is in fluorescent lights on the front of the building. This is to promote the current exhibition, ‘ What you see is where you’re at.’ This is a celebration of 50 years of the gallery.

‘The display will reveal the richness and range of the Collection in a series of rooms which aim to delight and surprise.’

I have seen some of these exhibits before but re-hung they took on a new meaning for me. ‘ Nightscape’ by Louise Nevelson is a 3 dimensional piece made up of wooden boxes assembled to reflect the New York nightscape. At first glance if looked a bit random but on reading the description it all made sense and when viewed from a distance I was drawn into it, wanting to touch it. The imagery of a city developing randomly with new and old buildings side by side and the evolutionary nature of a city, old building coming down and new building being built.

Hamish Fulton’s framed poster type text ‘ No talking for Seven Days’ had a big impact on me. It was hung in a prominent place; although very simple it told a story of a journey that a photograph or painting of the remoteness of the Cairngorms could not have told.

The Dean Gallery is exhibiting the BP portrait award 2009. These are the work of amateur artists from all over the world. This is a highly reknowned portrait competition. There were 1900 entries and 56 were selected. The quality is outstanding and some are very realistic and have a photographic quality, but also capturing the essence of the subject perhaps in youth or old age.

A cultural trip is never complete without a trip to Harvey Nichols not for shopping but to look at their window displays. They are in the process of changing their displays. Spiraling wood structure from floor to ceiling of the 4^th floor but as yet unfinished made quite an impact. I think the power tools on the floor were not part of the display but you never know! I will revisit to see the finished outcome.

The Portal eco- shop, St Mary’s Street was closed but I had a nice browse in the design shop in Jeffery Street. Here they had great designs – cool chairs, hot lights, quirky dishes and funky cushions. When I am rich I’ll shop here.

My Designs on Sweden- Christmas Holidays 2009

I was fortunate this year to spend Christmas in Sweden. In the beautiful Arctic town in Åre in Northern Sweden, 630 km from Stockholm. The mountain air has attracted visitors to Åre since the end of the 19th century. At that time the village was primarily a health resort that also attracted people for hunting and fishing. Eventually, hotels were built and the first lift was opened in 1910. The downhill race, “Årebragden”, was held for the first time in 1921, but it was another ten years until alpine skiing was regarded as a leisure activity, after some enthusiasts visited the Alps and imported the concept to Sweden.

Today, Åre is famous as a world-class ski resort with an extensive slope system However, it has also preserved its authentic charm which, along with its mountain location, gives the village an atmosphere that few other places possess. The beautiful mountains, a rich cultural history and a great variety of activities and events, winter and summer, make Åre a living village – all year round.

It was beautiful to see such an unspoilt part of the world. In fact, the local church dates from the 12^th century. I now know what its feels like when the innkeeper said ‘there is no room at the inn’ We tried to go the midnight Christmas service only to be told that the small church with capacity for 120 was full – we managed to squeeze in the back to listen to the service – all in Swedish.

However, it was the design and the care for the environment that really struck me. Sweden is the home to many interesting designs – none more so that the new Copperhill Mountain Lodge at Åre. (http://www.copperhill.se/en/). Copperhill was a copper mine in the 18^th century with the last mining taking place in 1919.

The Copperhill Mountain Lodge was designed by a renowned American architect Peter Bohlin. Bohlin has Swedish ancestry and is today regarded as one of the best in his profession. The architecture firm of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson was founded in 1965 and now has offices in Wilkes-Barre, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Seattle and Berkeley. It has received more than 290 awards. (http://www.bcj.com/). The villa owned by Microsoft’s founder, Bill Gates, is one of their most notable projects in the last few years, where twenty other firms competed for the job. Copperhill is Bohlin’s first project in Scandinavia.

“For me, the intuitive is as important as the intellectual,” says Peter Bohlin. “However different the jobs may be, the challenge is always the same – to succeed in sensing what is unique and suitable for each specific place, and understanding how people want to live or work there. Then you have to realise those needs in a way that fascinates and inspires and works.”

The care for the environment really struck me as well. Sweden does not import oil and is self sufficient in energy with extensive hydro-electric, wind and cogeneration plants which as 99 percent fuelled by pure bio energy from forests as well as nuclear power stations. Even the Swedish approach to airports is impressive with a ‘green approach’ – this means that an aircraft descends towards the airport in a so-called continuous descent approach (CDA) with minimal use of the engine throttle, in order to reduce fuel consumption, emissions and noise.

Sweden has held eco-driving courses with fuel consumption dropping by as much as 20 per cent.

We have a lot to learn in both caring for and using the environment sensitively.