Hitchens uses bold colour to represent space. His works have a dream like quality, at times there is a randomness to the composition. They are an abstraction of landscape and environment. There is an absence of gravity in the paintings, the compositions do not follow the laws of science and yet they feel like an environment, they capture a moment. The abstraction allows the viewer to bring their own lens of understanding to the scenes. They feel familiar but removed in the way that memories can.

His earlier works explore somewhere “between figuration and abstraction” and it feels like he sought to evoke an atmosphere without intending any direct symbolism.

Bell’s theory of ‘significant form’ was influential to Hitchens – the use of line, colour, movement and form “to stir our aesthetic emotions”.

He sometimes named his paintings after a completely different location to further abstract it from the scene depicted e.g. Arno II is names after the florentine river but was based on the River Rother and River Itchen in the UK.

At times he worked with the connection between music and painting, attempting to created a ‘visual sound’.

Perhaps I could explore the different ways that we relate to landscapes through memory. How landscape comprises part of our identity. I liked his ability to capture a feeling/environment through abstraction.

I wanted to explore different ways of interacting with cloth in relation to memory. Placing the cloth over canvas, I painted with loose reference to the image I’d seen in the V&A. I wanted to explore the idea of layers of memory, to see what feeling or atmosphere could be evoked. I chose blueish colours to represent early photography and to create a dream like quality.

I used a lot of medium to make the paint more fluid and this saturated the cloth in an interesting way.

I could not see the effect on canvas going in a way that I wanted so I removed the cloth and held it to the window to see how the effect changed in a different environment.

It left an imprint on the window which made me think of how an impression/print is a sort of memory. It references something that has been before, something that has left a trace.

I tried printing the cloth onto a piece of acrylic a number of times to observe the trace that it left. The paint and medium dropped down the surface, denoting time. The acrylic represented the window. I liked its translucence and wondered whether it could represent the way that memories shape the way we look at the now. I would like to work back into this piece, scratching more representational images into the surface to see what affect this has and reference how memories can feel both abstract and representational.

I printed the cloth onto pieces of paper, wiping with my hand as if I was blotting. Each impression left was completely different. Each interaction had created a different trace from the same stimulus. These pieces of paper represented memory traces. An abstraction of memory.

I liked the affect of the oil on paper, it made the surface more translucent. These pieces were particularly interesting when lit from behind as the had a glowing, varied quality.

I liked the mundanity of the A4 printing paper, the repetitious nature of the action. It referenced the daily elements of memory, that they may be recurring but fluid, ever changing.

In order to consider the images I had drawn from another perspective, I placed them on the scanner and created photocopies.

I was interested in the chain of digital and analogue that had occurred. I had first seen the image of my grandfather on Instagram, I had then drawn from it, digitised it and then printed again. It seemed indicative of the many different ways that we now interact with photographs. We are exposed to an abundance of imagery both physical and digital. The different contexts of each image offer different contributions. Settings vary how we perceive, a tactile interaction feels different in memory to something seen on a screen. Looking at a photograph on Instagram would feel different to looking at a photograph in a photo album or framed in someone’s home.

There was a simplicity and colloquial feel to the materials used – simple fabrics, biro, photocopies – which lent itself to the everyday elements of memory.

I played with collage, ripping the photocopies and pasting them together in different configurations. Distorting them as memories become distorted. Pieced together with different pieces of information.

I also tried incorporating paint and collage, print and person. I used different shades of blue, cyanotype-esque to reference photography. I used photocopies of the ribbon which I’d drawn loose references to the castle photograph from the V&A. I had intended to have a fairly even ratio of paint to collage. Ultimately the paint kept spreading, and only a small suffocated corner of the photocopy was left. From memory, I scratched into the paint rough responses to how I remembered the image of the castle. The marks were made quickly and quite abstracted. The results were naive, childlike.

For me, my interaction with the two images was very different. Both employed imagination, triggered questions about the location, the situation, what had happened before and after the photograph was taken and who was involved with the photographs. However, one was personal, the photograph of my grandfather triggered the various memories I associated with him, conversations we’d had. I tried to piece together the various information I had of him, first and second hand. Later I saw the image in a photo album that he had created of his time in India, confirming my suspicion that it had been taken there. The German castle I had no affiliation with and therefore required only imagination and historical referencing to associate with.

I wanted to experiment with different materials to see what visuals could be achieved to evoke the sensation of memory. I trialled various transparencies of white cloth as I felt these embodied the liminal, tangibly intangible quality of memory. Veil like.

I liked the idea of the cloth defying 2D form, ripples distorting the image as memories become distorted and change at different moments, in different contexts.

I wanted to play with layering the cloth, again to allude to the transient quality of memory and that so often a memory is incomplete or influenced by other memories.

Some cloths were easier to draw on than others. There was one synthetic one which was particularly difficult as the ink from the biro did not want to transfer onto the cloth.

I drew onto netting with the intention of layering it with the other cloth but having placed a piece of paper underneath to see the image more clearly I liked the effect of the netting slightly distorting the image underneath, never fully being able to create a clear image, looking hazy as memories can be.

I would like to try this with paint but will try with a lot of medium in order to avoid sticking the netting to the paper.

Having deliberated about going down a contemporary still life route, I have chosen this artefact as a starting point for my project. A photograph offers many dimensions on an artefact, it depicts an artefact and is one in itself. It is seemingly objective yet both the viewer and photographer have agency. Many lenses of understanding are at play.

As one of the first artefacts I came across on our trip to the V & A, I had not expected to choose this, however found myself returning to this image, sepia, otherworldly, fairytale like. It is both real and yet feels like escapism. Of our world and another.

I would like to explore the notion of memory and artefact and as an artefact associated with memory, a photograph provides an interesting springboard. How do we relate to photographs? How do photographs relate to our memories? How has the role of the photograph changed? Photographs are increasingly experienced digitally as opposed to tangibly. How does this affect our association with it as an artefact? We experience a much higher number of photographs day to day and are much more likely to see them on Instagram than in a photo album. How does the experience of a photograph change with different degrees of relation? Having been on site when the photograph was taken, being related to an individual in the photograph but never having known them, knowing the place etc.

I am interested in layering images to evoke the notion of memory. Sometimes memories feels intangible and at other times clear. By layering the imagery I hope to achieve this idea visually.

I drew onto a ribbon that I placed over the image. A ribbon of thought, membrane like, fluid.

Working on the ribbon was challenging because it moves as you’re drawing. Chasing a memory, trying to pin it down. Perhaps I should tape the ribbon before working on it but then I quite like that the inaccuracy references the “inaccuracy” of memory. The ribbon almost feels like a ribbon of film, the negatives from a camera reel. As the ribbon moves on it denotes linear time, the curling of the ribbon, back and forth represents how memory can become distorted, abstracted, the narrative twists.

A biro could be perceived to be mundane, the pen associated with school, the office, admin, a stationary staple. There’s something about the everyday, as memories occur everyday. Drawing in biro reminds me of doodling in the margins of a school page, hijacked by memories and imagination when I should have been focusing on something. It also feels like a fairly flexible material as if lends itself to achieving different gradients, you can achieve a hard and soft touch.

We unpicked our shoes in order to understand their function and physicality. Having chosen an incredibly old pair from home, as I pulled out the laces a sun bleached pattern was revealed, a memory of the laces form.

Undoing the shoes provided a new perspective as the object became removed from its function. The scientific, investigative nature of the deconstructing process and the antiquated look of the pieces of shoe made the objects feel more ‘artefacty’.

The physicality of undoing the shoe meant that our understanding of the object was based on touch as well as the visual and preconceived. Secret layers to an everyday utilitarian object that is often overlooked were revealed.

We drew with our non dominant hand, from a description and from touch. Knowing that it was a shoe and understanding the feeling of it, I found it difficult to use non shoe related language when describing the object. The exercise required an elevated level of engagement with the now and a removal from expectation because we were attempting to engage with the objects without preconceptions and assumptions. The drawings were therefore documenting a moment of interaction rather than just a physical representation.

When required to reconstruct the object, I began by tracing some of my earlier drawings with wire. I wanted to understand the physicality of the line I had created while using the sense of touch.

Constructing a kind of sculpture from the deconstructed shoe was more challenging than I’d expected and made me realise how unfamiliar I was with working in 3D.

I created scans of the deconstructed shoe by laying the pieces out on the photocopier. Some of the images felt almost x-ray like.

Throughout the day we oscillated between 2D and 3D, culminating in constructing large scale 2D representations of our sculptures.

Beginning with drawing, I observed the structure and moved my hand loosely in response, without attempting a fully representational drawing. I collaged my scanned images, ripping them, signifying the deconstruction of the shoe visually and physically and reapplying them in a new formation (as we had done with the sculptures). I also drew the abstract space between the laces in various points on the page in order to consider representing the 3D in 2D from another perspective.

We trialed organising our artefacts in a number of ways including colour, historical order, feeling and value. We ultimately curated with a particular narrative in mind but one that would not be shared with the viewer in the hope that they’d create their own.

We went for a white cube set up, internal and external walls. On one of the “walls” there were splashes of paint, marks of productivity.

We used a mirror to present our introduction, representing how the viewer brings their personal reflections and experiences to the exhibition.

Some visitors commented that it was hard to come up with a narrative that wasn’t influenced by the other museums they’d visited earlier. Visitors commented on the calming affect of the music which we’d chosen to encourage the idea of “outer space”.

In the Renaissance/Baroque room.

The idea of framing an artefact, the frame as the work?

I thought the “paradise: sketch model for a painted dome” was a modern installation because of the way it was presented. When I raised my camera, the light on the screen moved in a way that was not evident to the naked eye.

How does restoration affect the quality of the artefact? In a painting, is the artist’s hand something of intrinsic importance and is it being removed by restoration?

“Baroque” as a deformed pearl, could this be incorporated into a work with a symbolism of showing how an artefact becomes removed from its original meaning? When I think of baroque I think of lavish, intricate, ornate details rather than deformity. It ties into the Wabi Sabi idea of beauty in imperfection. A pearl in its original setting is different to a decorative pearl, value is perceived/culturally attributed and context changes the value.

Bernini

Within Catholicism artefacts “intended to evoke a sense of penitence or awe”.

I love the pixelation of the Napolese Cabinet – what does the digitisation of artefacts mean for archaeology? Will an archaeological dig just become a google search?

The Dutch cabinet stand, a piece that depicts nature using nature’s materials. Mekeren has used the organic blemishes in the wood to his advantage in creating the image. Similar notion to florentine stone work.

Mirrors as artefacts, framing the present with the past.

The window panel as a memento mori from Switzerland. Perhaps I could paint on glass and display with a candle behind. Almost a moving image as the candle flickers? Enlightening? Bringing light to a subject matter? What would it mean to paint on copper? Or tiles?

A still life of “dark” flowers. Tulip, poppies etc. Seemingly beautiful, often positive but sometimes with negative affect or connotation. In the style of a Dutch old master, in reference to “artefact” but asking the viewer to dig deeper, engage with the subject and consider the accessible totality.

“Oil on oak” painted on wood.

Paint on copper, scratch onto some of the paint to illuminate? A visual pun to scratch beneath the surface?

The curation of firearms pointing at a hunting still life with a dead stag.

A collage of parts of sketches, documenting moments in time, abstracts of artefacts creating a puzzle to create a new artefact. Creating my own tapestry of history/memory. Referencing the intangible quality of memory.

Here I drew fragments of artefacts, areas that I was drawn to because of the rhythms, drama, narrative. I didn’t complete the image as I wanted to see what a fragment could convey. I also wondered what drawing and artefact in biro insinuated. Drawing a revered item with so many different meanings attributed to it in an everyday material, often associated with the office or education.

Production of photographs as memento/for armchair tourists – how do the different values attributed to a photograph change it as an artefact?

Photographs as a way of documenting without removing something from its location. Can be captured in its setting. Original context. Photograph as a way of sparking a memory, imagination intrinsically part of a memory?

My dad lived in Naples just after graduating from university. When I was about 6 we went to Tuscany and visited a restaurant that had a tortoise. Somehow with a loose, tenuous reference to actual events – and with the material: tortoise, Italy, childhood – I cultivated a memory in which we had returned to visit a restaurant from my dad’s childhood which had the same tortoise as when he was growing up. It was not until my early 20s when I was referencing said fond memory that we established it had been born of a fair amount of imagination. A memory is not factual. It cannot exist without a person’s agency. A photograph is factual but it’s magic relies on a person’s imagination.

Pillars with numbers make it feel more like an “artefact”.

“Curation” can give artefact feel.

Ironwork of pinafore feels like artefact in itself but also represents an artefact. A garment of clothing is weighted with cultural expectations. A pinafore as a representation of a woman’s role? Cultural constructions?

The reproduction of David doesn’t compare to the original in Florence. It is a replica but does not match in scale or finish. An iconic image that is constantly replicated. The replicas never compare but seeing the original is completely affecting but it’s difficult to articulate why. The aura of David. In some cases the copies have more of an aura? Someone once tried to steal a bit of the original David’s toe, what does this say about artefacts? Were they defacing, why? Were they taking a piece of relic? Why?

Andy Holden – Rock from Egypt

The bronze modelling and casting almost looks like surgery when the sculpture is figurative.

Frederic Leighton’s painting of Cimabue is presented in such a way that it almost looks like he’s standing in spotlight. The subject matter and artefact almost presented as celebrity.

You have to look up at Leighton’s cartoon, typically and stance of reverence suggesting how it is supposed to be perceived. “Cartoon” makes me think of the narrative of cartoon. The change in definition/practice over time and why. A cartoon as an artefact.

The role of perspective in curation and artefacts. There was a warning sign and bucket placed in preparation for a leak. It’s location made me question whether it was an artefact. There’s a plaque above the radiator in the loo, is this an artefact? Very Duchamp.

In some cases, the back of the artefact almost looks like an artwork in itself, a different meaning. The abstraction of an artefact. Does this perspective create a new artefact or develop of same? How much of the term “artefact” is based in perception?

Assigning new meaning with consideration of contemporary and historical context, visual.

(Horniman museum seal, colonial animal constructions created through a particular lens of understanding without having seen an animal).

Troubling objects in the context of colonisation. Complex attributes to artefact, positive and negative. Plaques on wall, rarely presents information about the exchange.

Still life of objects of troubling artefacts? “Tea drinking culture” actually based on colonialism? A still life of a tea cup? As artefact?

Order of relics. How many parts of the true cross, does there need to be an element of doubt and intrigue?

Symbols of artefact without being the artefact itself e.g. wings angelic in Christian context?Religious/ecclesiastical artefacts. The meaning of the cross. Fashion symbol, Madonna.

In a museum I like the visual layering of an artefact, there’s an abundance of information – foreground, background, periphery. At times it’s potentially overwhelming, too many choices and difficult to focus.

It’s raining, the original drain of building is rendered ornamental. *Side note – it became apparent that the drain was not ornamental when it later started leaking, creating its own installation “the flood”.

People’s interaction in gallery – a lot of selfies and posing for photographs – will those be artefacts in themselves? The different type of artefact in a museum.

The frustration of not being able to see something, the power of the framework around the artefact. Power of position.

The role of the “artefact” in age of consumerism, placing an importance on objects.

How do I feel about the 3D printing as means of creating multiples? Is it undermining hand made objects or is it in a separate sphere?

I was surprised, angered and amused to see this cast 3D printed in the V&A as I had spent weeks drawing it and found it the most difficult and frustrating project I undertook in Florence. Artefact and Memory. I could not experience this artefact without referencing my past experiences of a similar artefact.

An object does not occur in a vacuum. An object is not a single thing – smoking as the ritual, having something in your hand rather than the nicotine hit.

(Actual footage of me trying to get out of bed in the morning)

JAPAN

In the Japanese section, many works seem to have been acquired recently from contemporary practicing artists. Something positive in an establishment where many of the objects were likely acquired through colonisation.

The shadows cast almost a part of the artefact.

Ceramic looking like paper, origami.

Symbolism, eagle as symbol on Japanese vase as allusion to might of USA.

A man was clapping at random intervals in the Japan area.

To research – Pauline Oliveros, tune meditation