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the apple of accuracy – arrow through the apple – striking down the oppressor
the apple of discord or apple of beauty –
apple of healing – “Hera owned a wood of precious apple trees given to her by Mother Earth which were tended by the Hesperides, the Daughters of Evening, and guarded by a fierce dragon. The apples growing there were golden and had the power to heal and renew. For his eleventh task, Heracles had to go and get some of these, which involves trekking through Africa to get to the garden, tricking Atlas into doing his dirty work by strangling the dragon, then tricking Atlas into taking the world back on his shoulders and then somehow getting the apples back to base. All in a day’s work of course, but if the apples weren’t so precious and beautiful, would they be anything like as alluring?
the apple of trickery – apples were used to enchant and distract
apple of love- Apples crop up a lot in love spells and superstitions – if you manage to get the peel of the apple in one go and then drop it over your shoulder, supposedly it will spell out your future husband’s initial, or if you cut an apple and put a note to the object of your affections within it, your beloved would apparently begin to return your feelings. Is it the shape?
The apple of gravity: Izzac Newton gravity
the apple of immortality – keeper of the apples was tempted out of the garden by a woman offering new/different apples. apples symbolise life/fertility.
Guarding the apples – why are they so precious?
symbolise something to attain / strive for.
gold / red
people of beauty/status keep the apples or tree safe, care for it and protect it.
generally apples have some symbolic meaning and everyone has their own ideas. i dont want to push anyone to directly thing there is one symbolic meaning behind an apple. for me there is not. i want people to think independently and be influenced by their own experiences although they may think about some of these things themselved.
two days later – the liquid from the sugar had dipped down onto the hand. as the hadn’t was in an upright position it dripped onto the paper below. I am not sure how to stop this from happening but I like that it is a real food material. It could add to the work if it had been positioned on a wall and dripped onto the floor?
Following on from my research into “draw yourself picking an apple from a tree” which refers to your own self reflection upon your ability to reach and obtain goals. At the moment a goal talked about is the covid vaccine. Portrayed in the media as the answer to all current covid problems.
Last week there was much controversy surrounding the vote on wether to extend free school meals for children over the holidays. This was voted against. Unsurprisingly 320 out of 321 of those votes were tory. According to an interview with MP Nicky Morgan this out come was because “If the Labour Party had not called us scum we may have voted to give the kids their food aid during the holidays?”. STUPID.
#ToryScum was then rapidly trending on twitter where I came to find a post written by footballer Marcus Rashford which interestingly states “We talk about the devastating impact of covid-19 but, if projections are anything to go by, child food poverty has the potential to become the greatest pandemic the country has ever faced”
In a socially distanced or locked down society with closed galleries and museums. Art is becoming less accessible and harder for artists to get there art in this world of a ‘new normal’
Social media, blogs and websites are a great tool for artists to present work and show it to a wide audience. However, emails can be missed, end up in junk mail or social media posts might not get high engagement. But does the internet really engage the public? If art isn’t being seen in person how much is someone actually engaged? Is it getting the same response that was intended?
Considering my research on “draw yourself picking an apple from a tree” which is a tool used by art therapists to often determine the state of mind of the client. It can suggest many things about a person to the therapist such as signs of depression, trauma or schizophrenia. By taking part in this exercise it allowed friends and family to form different form of communication. It allowed them to spend time drawing, some even up to an hour, which otherwise they probably wouldn’t have done without my prompting them. Many of them laughed at their childish drawings and seemed to have a positive experience.
In terms of presenting my work, i have looked at the milk cartons that were part of a campaign to get children to look at other missing children in the hopes someone was recognised. They were placed directly with the intended viewer.
As another example Ed Sheeran’s charity collaboration with heinz tomato ketchup is another example of altering an object that is directly within someone’s home to vet them to engage with art work.
Typically my sculptures are made for gallery space; if galleries are closed how will I get people to see my work?
Will the work be engaged with if it is just on an object?
If the work requires the public to do something will this be more engaged with?
I have been researching into Art Therapy practices and how to analyse art works in a therapeutic sense. I have asked friends to complete a simple therapeutic exercise just purley out of interest. They were asked to ‘draw yourself picking an apple from a tree’ using A4 white paper and coloured pens and pencils.
Interestingly, it has formed a new way of communication between myself and friends other than the typical use of facebook and facetime. However with me being in isolation it couldn’t be in person. In future i would like to do this in person. I have found that the people participating were very hesitant and feared not having a good artistic ability. These people are a mix of ages and show a cautious approach to creating simple drawing. Considering drawing with pencils is something we have all been doing since we were children – why do we stop and suddenly fear doing it?
Due to galleries and museums being closed and people in and out of isolation, art in its typical form is becoming less accessible; especially to those who arent usually engaged with art. This activity of drawing yourself picking an apple is engaging people in creating art again and allowing them to become re engaged even if that is only for a couple of minutes. i am going to continue looking at ways to engage people with my art in this new world we live in from remote environments such as their homes. I will also consider different methods of displaying my work which will allow it to be forced upon people within their homes or daily routines during a socially distanced society. This could be through more activities or tests, adverts, postal mail or even on typical household items such as milk, eggs or a ketchup bottle.
Through this test activity I found that Chloe, Suzanna and Amie both found it amusing once they had started feeling their approach was somewhat childish. Chloe and Amies images both visually appear in a happy context with bright colours and repetitions of bright coloured fruit and clothing. (I will analyse images further and upload more as i receive them)
If anyone wishes to participate and ‘draw yourself picking an apple from a tree’ please email to s1745981@ed.ac.uk
As of Monday the 5th of october i have been in isolation with my flatmate who is covid positive. This has limited what i could do during this two week period. Thinking about my new routine and how my daily activities will now alter to focus on decontaminating things. This then translates back to the ideas around the home now being an unsafe environment. It has changed my view of my environment and has forced me to consider everything as ‘contaminated’.
Throughout my practice there has been a themes that my work has surrounded such as family relationships/dynamics and identity. Often my work is using found objects and sourcing conflicting materials to accompany the objects. I am mostly drawn to household objects or objects with childhood connotations such as toys, clothes or furniture.
Looking more at the current covid situation and being instructed that it is no longer safe to enter the homes of loved ones that you do not live with. After a quick internet search, images making a mockery of Boris Johnson’s disastrous approach to provide rules and guidelines I came across a drawing by Steve Bell stating the words “Wash Hands, go Home, Die”. Not that I am particularly interested in politics nor do I want to make my work political. I just found that this phrase resonated with some things i had been thinking about , in relation to the insinuation that was made that if you visited family/’broke the rules’ you were instantly putting lives at risk and essentially told they would get the virus and die. Continuing with the phrase I made a collage image of a house whilst thinking about typical ‘live, laugh love’ home decor.
With working in a nursery I come across broken/unwanted things very often. Yesterday I got part of the front of a doll’s house.This part of the dolls house reminded me of an exhibition by Shani Rhys James Out of the dolls house, where she featured a red dolls house upon a red table. I find the installation of this work also intriguing; the dark room filled with rubble along with an automata figure of a victorian woman tapping her finger on an iron disk. These works together are exposing the constraints of being a mother, a wife and a child. To be seen and not heard. It appears as if you would walk into this room with caution and feel intimidated.
Just stuff
