Research on Exhibition Posters

Today I have been doing some research on different exhibition posters to try and get some influence to create my own poster for our show in July "Splash". A good poster must catch the audiences eye, persuade  them to go to the event, film, show, gallery, etc, it must also be aimed at your target audience so that you get the audience that you want and finally must include enough information so that the audience know what time to go, where to go, how to get there, etc.

Different Show Ideas

For the first part of this unit 'Show' we have to come up with some different ideas of what we could create to be presented in our show. We have to base our idea's around the title of the show which is 'Splash'. So I the first thing that came into my head was surfing. I thought of surfing because it ties in well with the theme and the title of the show. I am interested in surfing and would like to base my product on it, so I have come up with some different ideas of what I could create for the show basing it on surfing.


 

Surf Photographers/Video Artists

I have been researching some different surf photographers and video artists to get an understanding of how to create a well thought out and planned video which I will be able to present in the show in July. Living in Cornwall is a great place to live when it comes to surfing and stuff to do with the sea, because there are beaches and sea everywhere in Cornwall. 


I have found this website call 'catchawave free-sports'. atchawave is all about Freesports, Surf, Skate and BMX Photos, Videos and News. Their Surf photos are shot from local breaks around Devon & Cornwall whilst Surf Video content comes from the likes of local rippers, Luke Dillon, Jayce Robinson and other well known riders. The site started back in 2008 and was merely a gallery of photos, from there it has grown into a full media site containing Surf and Freesports Video content shot by a full featured Surf and Freesports photo gallery containing stunning action packed shots. The Photography content comes from Bob Frost  and Shaun Leaman. Together they have at least 40 years of experience.They both provide high quality images from local breaks which can be bought via the site for a minimal price. The money from these photos help keep the site running and keep it free.


http://www.catchawave.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=53

Above is the website link.

Newlyn Art Gallery

On Monday 12 June 2011, we had another college trip where we visited the Newlyn Art Gallery. This trip was very different tot the minack theatre trip because this art gallery is very small and the exhibition that they had on at the time was very limited and didn't show a lot of work or provide enough stuff to look at. 


Newlyn Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in Newlyn, Cornwall, UK. Opened in 1895, designed by James Hicks of Redruth and financed by John Passmore Edwards the gallery was conceived as a home and exhibition venue for the Newlyn School of Art the works of which are now largely located at Penlee House Gallery and Museum in nearby Penzance. The building is dedicated to the memory of John Opie, a famous Cornish artist; a plaque to the memory of John Opie made from Newlyn Copper now forms part of the building.


In 2006 Newlyn Art Gallery announced a major programme of works including the extension of the current building and the creation of a new art gallery in Penzance, Cornwall known as The Exchange, located on the site of the former Penzance telephone exchange building. The two galleries, designed by MUMA (McInnes Usher McKnight Architects), opened in July 2007. John Pearson was the craftsman who made the four large copper plaques, earth, air, fire and water, that decorate the facade of the Gallery.


I didn't really learn a lot from this gallery, however I did like the different work that I seen. The exhibition which was being shown when we visited was called ' Down There Among The Roots' which featured sound recordings from BAFTA Award winning, Chris Watson and the clay models by the V & A artist Phoebe Cummings. Through the exhibition both of the artists investigate the passage of time in relation to specific geographical locations; revealing aural and visual elements that are often overlooked. The lower gallery space was filled with the haunting sounds of Chris Watson’s recordings of telegraph wires, sounds which were captured by burying equipment below the ground. The room was completely dark except for a spotlight illuminating Phoebe Cummings’ miniature landscape, intricately crafted by the artist from un-fired clay. The upper gallery’s light, airy space has influenced the second of Phoebe’s specially commissioned pieces. There was a large, clay installation comprised of exquisite small scenes and life-size fragments informed by details from the Cornish landscape, such as satellite dishes and palms. I think that the clay models which were being exhibited were very unique and very cleverly made. However I have not been influenced by this gallery because it is just four different rooms with one piece of art in each.

The Minack Theatre

On Monday 6th June 2011, we went on a college trip to the Minack Theatre to have a look around the Rowena Cade museum and a look around the actual theatre, stage and dressing rooms. It is an open aired theatre which is built on the edge of a cliff of the Porthcurno Bay. The Minack theatre was designed and built mainly by Rowena Cade who was born on 2nd August 1893, in Spondon, Derbyshire. Rowena moved to Cornwall and moved into the Minack house which overlooks Porthcurno Bay.  In 1929, a local village group of players had staged Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in a nearby meadow, repeating the production the next year. They decided that their next production would be The Tempest and Miss Cade offered the garden of her house as a suitable location, as it was beside the sea. and her gardener made a terrace and rough seating, hauling materials down from the house or up via the winding path from the beach below. In 1932, The Tempest was performed with the sea as a dramatic backdrop, to great success. Miss Cade resolved to improve the theatre, toiling hard over the course of the winter months each year throughout her life with the help of Billy Rawlings and Charles Angove so that other performance groups could perform each summer. n 1944, the theatre was used as a location for the Gainsborough Studios film Love Story, starring Stewart Granger and Margaret Lockwoodbut inclement weather forced them to retreat to a studio mock-up. In 1955, the first dressing rooms were built. Since 1976 the theatre has been registered as a Charitable Trust and is now run by a local management team. Rowena Cade died on 26 March 1983, at the age of 89. Nowadays, the theatre is used from June to September for a full summer season of 17 plays, produced by companies from all over the UK and visiting companies from the USA. The theatre is open for visitors throughout the rest of the year. The 75th Anniversary of Minack was celebrated with a production of The Tempest in August 2007, directed by Simon Taylor and performed by the Winchester College Players.

I thought that the visit that we had to the Minack Theatre was very interesting and was a good way to see how these unique performers show off their work. I really like the fact that the theatre is open aired, I think that where it is located is stunning, I like the idea of sitting in the theatre watching a show with the stunning scenery which surrounds it, I think it gives off a nicer feeling when your there compared to other theaters which are all inside. This is the only open aired theatre I have ever been to and I really enjoyed the experience. I also enjoyed looking in the small Rowena Cade Museum because I have learnt alot about the Minack that I didn't know before our visit. I have been influenced by the Minack a little bit because I really like the idea of being outside in the sunshine watching a show or viewing someone's work. 

Task One - Research

For task one of this unit we have to do some research into Glastonbury Festival, Cornwall Film Festival, Montol Festival in Penzance and some other festivals that we can think of making sure that we consider:

• how the staging and exhibiting work has changed over time

• how developments have affected the work of practitioners

Glastonbury Festival 

Glastonbury Festival is the UK's largest music and arts festival which takes place every summer in the South West of England near Sommerset. It is best known for it's contemporary music, but throughout the festival there are also dance, theatre, circus, comedy and many other perfoming arts. The Glastonbury Festival was first opened in September 1970, at Worthy Farm but it wasn't called Glastonbury Festival it was named 'the Pilton Pop, Blues and Folk Festival'. It was set up by Michael Eavis and was attended by 1,500 people, much less than 2009 which was atteneded by 137,500 people. In 1990 the festival took the name Glastonbury Festival for Contemporary Performing Arts, to reflect the diversity of the attractions within the festival. This year was the 20th anniversary of the very first festival which ended in a riot between the security teams and travelers who lived near by, which resulted in 235 arrests and £50,000 worth of damage to the site. This year seen 70,000 people who attended the festival and ticket prices were £83 each. In 2010, Glastonbury celebrated it's 40th year, which was a milestone for the festival and brought a fresh buzz of excitement to Worthy Farm. This year had so many different headlining acts like Gorillza, Shakira, Kylie Minogue, Plan B, Tinie Tempah and many more. 2010 had the biggest audience every at Glastonbury at a huge 135,000 tickets were sold for the whole weekend, 37,000 other tickets were passed for the crew, performers, stewards and traders, and on top of all that an extra 5,000 tickets were sold for the Sunday. Ticket prices were £185 each which shows a huge difference and shows how popular Glastonbury Festival has become over the last 40 years. You can see this because the first ever festival in 1970 was attended by 1,500 people, whereas last year was attended by 137,500 people. Glastonbury has a lot of different stages and attractions which also add to the fun and excitement of the festival. It's like a load of different festivals going on at the same time on the same farm. 


The main stages at Glastonbury


The Pyramid Stage: The first Pyramid was first built and opened in 1971 by Bill Harkin and his crew. The structure was built close to the Glastonbury Abbey/Stonehenge ley line and over the site of a blind spring. In 1981 a permanent structure was built on the same site using redundant telegraph poles and surplus box section iron sheets form the Ministry of Defence. This Pyramid grew to symbolise the magic of Glastonbury Festival before it famously burned down in 1994, shortly before the Festival.This is the festivals main stage where you can expect to see the highest headline acts which are performing. It's the acts which have cost the festival the most and whose agents have insiteded that they get to perform on the Pyramid Stage. The music that is played on the pyramid stage is electric and is the highlights of the weekend. It has hosted artist's like Jay-Z, Oasis, The Prodigy, Dizzee Rascal, Bjork, Lily Allen, Kings of Leon and many more. 




Other Stage: The other stage is around the back of the Pyramid stage. It is a good place with a great atmosphere where you can see more big headline artist's. 


Acoustic Stage: The acoustic stage is in the Kyam tent. Its the place to hear chilled, unplugged songs from some of the world's biggest artist's.


Over time the Glastonbury Festival has got bigger and bigger and to this is still continuing to get bigger and more successful because of all the amazing acts they have performing and the whole Glastonbury site which attracts more and more people each year. 

Golowan Festival (Mazey Day)

The Golowan Festival started in the late 1980's in Penzance. It is a community celebration based around the traditional Feast of St John. The festival, which brings the past and present together, features the likes of The Golowan Band, Penglaz, the Serpent Dances and the Quay Fair day, the demonic democracy of the Mock Mayor Elections, Summer Fire, seaborne visitors to Sea and Sail and Quay Fair Day, banners and greenery, giant imagery and parades. As well as the hundreds of local performers taking part, Golowan is pleased to welcome a host of national and international artists visiting to participate in the full ten day programme of events. From simple beginnings, and years of gradual development, Golowan has become a unique Community Arts organisation. Their primary charitable aim is to:"Advance education for the public benefit through the promotion of art and culture with particular, but not exclusive reference to the art and culture of the Celtic regions of Europe.
Golowan brings together people of all ages in the town's annual June festival and runs year round community projects, which celebrate local culture and enhance the social and natural environment. People can help out in lots of ways, from selling Golowan Festival merchandise to handing out water, staffing road closures and stewarding during the Mazey Day processions. Much of Golowan's success is due to the fact that it involves everyone from the elderly to the younger generation. In 2010, the festival had 30 seperate events, 50 street entertainers, 20 local schools took part in the parades, 10 stage acts in Festival square, firework displays, dancing on the streets and several life size daleks from the TV show Dr Who.




          





                    

My Idea

For this project the first idea I have come up with is to create a short documentary video about surfing in Cornwall. I like this idea because surfing is a major sport in Cornwall which a lot of local people take part in. Surfing is a thing which people do for various reasons such as to earn a living, as a hobby or just plainly for fun. This is why I would like to create a documentary, where I will go down to some local beaches like Sennen, Praa Sands, Gwiven, etc. and capture some good footage of surfers surfing and then I will ask them questions about what they like about surfing?, what do they like about surfing in Cornwall?, Why they like surfing so much?.


I have been looking on YouTube at some different surfing videos and have linked the ones that I like down below:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnm7cXsLIak&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LrYZtQy5Zk


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_8m1qucBrI&feature=related


After I presented my idea to my class the feedback that I have received has made me changed my idea. But I have still decided to keep sort of on the same track but I am creating a photo montage in a slide show presentation of my surf photography. I think that this will be a better way to start exploring this sort of media instead of going straight in and create a short film. I am going to get some photos of surfers that I will then put into a slideshow which can then be displayed on a screen during the show.

Learning Outcome 1

Understand the Principles of Showing Creative and Media Work


The last unit of our first year is called Show. Throughout this unit we will have to create creative work using any media medium especially for a show, we will have to explore the purposes of exhibiting or staging creative work and the possibilities it brings, also plan and prepare for the showing of your work, publicise our show and then present our show at PZ Gallery in the summer and evaluate its effectiveness through audience response. 


The theme of the show is waves which was chosen by the art students who are involved. So they have come up with the title Splash for the show. Personally I don't really like this theme or title because we have to create something that responds to the area we live in and there are so many other words that are more meaningful and that respond to Penzance much better. Although I am not to happy with this theme and title I am going to try my hardest to create something that responds to the brief and that will look good in the show.