My turn...

Tam Chun Ho (Harry)                              Blank Century

Inspired by the art history the V&A museum offers, I was star struck by the different forms of art in each independent culture. Doing some further research in my personal time, I noticed that there are blank centuries in cultures which are yet to be discovered. For my final project, I wished to fill these blank spaces of history through visual means. Extrapolating from the information we already have in each culture, I tried to conduct a realistic background between the lost spaces of time. In addition, I also added spontaneous visual elements which make the lost spaces of time a unique style that can label itself as Harry Tam. 

By experimenting with different materials to represent my world, I used more illustrative ways to represent my work because of the fairytale illustration section in V&A museum. Those drawings tell stories and I wanted to imply that in my drawings. Also my world is in a very old century and I do think people have a more innocent and simple mind, so I tried to use a very fun and simple way to approach my work and make it special and to tell stories.  

Overall, V&A museum have gave me a very strong feeling about different culture’s art, and I wanted to use my way to create some art works and represent its own culture.

Thank you Caroline for corrected my english mistake!! 

'ad vitam aeternam'- Dina A

‘ad vitam aeternam’ is the result of my contemplation of the Classical sculptural tradition using the process of covering.

The video piece, a 13 minute process of forming a featureless anonymous portrait by covering a head with buttercream icing, is a direct response to the Baroque era busts of the likes of Charles I, Charles II and Cassandra Sirigatti at the V&A. It communicates with the commemorative tradition of the portrait bust, which is focused on capturing the likeness of the sitter, and the way in which this tradition fails as time erases likeness. The sitter himself is forgotten and the portrait becomes an example of portraiture. Much of my time was spent in the Dorothy and Michael Hintze Sculpture Galleries, where the two rows of busts formed a ‘walkway’ of portraiture examples rather than a celebration of the individual. In the same way my work is an anti-commemoration, as I create a generalised portrait.

The piece deconstructs the processes of this long-standing sculptural tradition. By using a deeply temporal material- buttercream icing- to cover, I echo the temporal properties of marble; a naturally heavy, brittle material that is liable to internal weakness and breakage, which I discovered during my research at the V&A. Thus the reason why such pieces survive is through careful preservation and restoration. Though a neo-classical tribute in aesthetic, my piece is even more temporal than marble; by the end of the covering process the icing starts to melt off the model’s face. In producing it in such a way I have understood the significance of the gallery or curator to prolong the life of the artwork by displaying it.

Though a video piece, displaying it as an object is important to me. I would ideally want to show two monitors on two tall plinths with the videos at different stages, perhaps positioned on two sides of the doorway, echoing the display of portrait busts in public places.

(Dina, Sculpture Pathway).

RUINED

My final project was a menswear fashion collection concerned with the aesthetics of decay and social impact of dereliction. The starting point was a derelict mansion near my home in Scotland; abandoned for over twenty years it represents a forgotten era now lost to our modern society. The decaying interiors influenced my choice of colour and texture, while wider research into the plight of the British Country House introduced an historic perspective. I introduced a contemporary dynamic by exploring the issue of campaigning to save historic buildings, contributing to the poignantly smart yet distressed character of my collection.

During my initial research I discovered two past exhibitions held at the V&A entitled 'The Destruction of the Country House' (1974) and 'Save Britain's Heritage: Thirty Years of Campaigning' (2005). Researching these exhibitions using the V&A online resources and catalogues helped me to define the different aspects of my project and develop my theme into a concept.

My exhibit consists of a sketchbook, garment and a series of boards. Depending on the space available I may need to edit the display but I think it could adapt well to a smaller space.

Cheers, Duncan (Fashion 2)

Clay and metal lexicon (phrase 2)

Hi, I'm Robert Cervera from Sculpture and the piece I'm showing is the result of a project called 'Hard/soft: a dialogue'.

The dialogue I refer to is one between order and flow, inorganic and organic, system and chance. My interest, though, lies in the interplay and overlap between those terms, rather than in their opposition. Many exciting things happen to materials when they evolve from one state to another (wet to dry, fluid to rigid). And many more happen in the dynamics between a hard material (like metal) and a soft one (like clay). To summarise, I'd say my piece is about materiality and perception (our perception about the properties of things).

The V&A collections were a great resource to find examples of these concerns, particularly the Contemporary Ceramics collection at level 6. For example, Fernando Casasempere's spectacular Form (2004) showed me how the collapse of a regular clay body can bring the tension between form and anti-form to life.

The way I displayed the work changed during our final show. I decided to take it as an opportunity to experiment with the space and the way in which people interacted with my piece. More than a closed, final piece, I see my work as a vocabulary of clay and metal elements - hence its title, 'Clay and metal lexicon (phrase #)'.

My intention is to adapt my piece to each new displaying context (where each new display becomes a new phrase), so its disposition may change for this V&A show. I will work with the space available, using floor space to position the different elements.

Hide and Seek

Thank you Caroline and Ellie.

Well,,, now my turn.

I'm Hiroko from Graphic design / Illustration.

Hide and Seek

I created this board game kit which players can change the patterns and rules. As children develop play, you would enjoy this toy with your creativity and imagination.

I set my initial theme, which was about children's imagination, and thus started the research in the V&A Museum of Childhood. The museum was filled with so many old toys and games. Recalling my childhood memories inspired me to incorporate several elements of toys into my outcome. I informed the layering techniques of the Victorian theater set, mosaic puzzle, fashion dolls and old blocks which I found in the museum. This game kit itself is like a toy chest of our memory.

I also investigated the correlation between environment and children's emotions. I found spatial elements influence children's feelings and imagination. I researched the main emotions, curiosity and fear, which link lightness and darkness, as this kind of contrast is very common in fairy tales and children's book. I also researched V&A exhibition 'Telling Tales' to create two patterns of this game set.

A Foxy Gentleman

Right, as Caroline has said, we should probably start to post our project summaries. So, this is mine......I am Ellie from Fashion 1 by the way.

A Foxy Gentleman

I wanted to explore something traditional and quintessentially English for my final project, so decided to look into Fox Hunting. The stereotyped upperclass, country gentleman associated with this sport captured the tailored and classic feel I wanted to incorporate, whilst still allowing me to create contemporary and wearable menswear.

The initial points of inspiration for the project were the Fox Hunting garments within the V&A's Fashion Collection. I then used the online catalog to search for related artefacts within the archive, and was intrigued to find several interesting items within the Asian collections, despite choosing such an 'English' theme. One particular artefact that I used as a source of inspiration was a wall hanging depicting a Colonial Fox Hunt in the Himalayas. I loved the colours and the vibrant graphic quality of the design. Although I had intended to use the red/orange tones of fox fur as my main accent colour, I actually found that I was more interested in exploring varying shades of green, predominant colours within the hanging.

As the project developed, the Fox itself became the focus for the majority of the project. I was particularly inspired by the imagery in the recent adaptation of Roald Dahl's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', and also visited a furrier to look at vintage fox furs. I then used the shape of the foxes face to create a printed and stitched motif, as well as to inform panelled detailing on my garments.

come on guys...

..it really is about time that we post about what we're showing, so we all have a better understanding of what this show will look like. Thank you, Francesca, for taking the lead! I'll go next....I'm Caroline from sculpture.

My piece is titled You Can Hide But You Can't Run, a product of a long study of the habits of women--mostly pertaining to vanity, but from a more anthropological and psychological angle. In the V&A, I referenced a sculpture of a flawless young girl, called The Age of Innocence by Alfred Drury. I then drew the connection to Edith Wharton's novel of the same title--one written after the sculpture was created, and one which is about women quite opposite to the girl in the V&A. That was my starting point, though there is almost no evidence of my inspiration in my final piece, as my process and many other pieces created along the way led me elsewhere.


The object itself is a life size woman, which is actually made of a polyurethane foam mannequin covered in tissues on which I've collected the makeup off of the faces of a few female students of CSM. I asked them to take off all of their makeup for me and trimmed them according to the natural shape of the colour, and assembled them sort of like a puzzle to the surface. She is buried into the wall, as if she is pulling herself out--the idea is that she is a direct product of her environment. In order to execute this in the Sackler Centre, I will most definitely need a false wall, as the base of my piece must be directly build and plastered onto a flat surface in order to be effective.

Voila! Your turn!