“Start from something organic” – those were the words of one of my first tutors at Glasgow School of Art.
Whenever over the years I have strayed from this advise the result has been in most cases disastrous.
Now as I move into digital painting his words come back to me with even greater force: how do you combine the real world with the digital world which plays an even greater part in our lives each day?
“Start with something organic” was something of a mantra at Glasgow School of Art and I remember it now as I mosh data in the computer to create images that tell us something new about the world that we are in yet have their roots firmly in the organic world around us.
In the case of this digital painting ” Knock on the sky and listen to the sound” – based on a Zen saying – the source material was a rose grown in my garden.
Have begun experimenting with datamoshing of Scottish landscape.
I understand this technique – pushing the computer to its limits- is widely used in the fashion/music world.
So I thought I would have a go using it on some very traditional images – Classic Scottish landscape.
I am a convert to Twitter. Find me at : www.twitter.com/titchtwitter.
Why? because of the immediacy and ease of use. Take my latest tweet which allows me – based in Scotland- to participate in a discussion about a London project:
“Asked on BBC Radio this morning if standing on a plinth in Trafalgar Square is art, Anthony Gormley replied:
“Is it life?”
I reckon this project is going to prove to be enormously popular with the public and awaken a good deal of interest in contemporary art amongst folk who think art is elitist, “not for them” and all about money and posh galleries.
Glasgow School of Art have asked for a copy of “The Children of Craig-y-nos” for their library, partly because they always want work by alumni for their collection and also, the librarian tells me, because of the increasing interest amongst students in the links between art and science crossover.
They have also mentioned it on the college blog: http://gsaartdesign.blogspot.com/2009/06/ann-shaw-and-wellcome-trust-centre-for.html
Met David Harding, OBE, my former Head of Environmental Art Department at Glasgow School of Art this week while going around the Degree show.
He is involved in an innovative drawing project aimed at giving intensive tuition to 16 year olds who may not have the necessary academic qualifications to get into art college but show distinct promise.
Check it out:
www.theglasgowdrawingstudio.com
