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Throughout this semester I have think I have developed a more concise understanding of my art practice. I have also researched various contemporary artists and their work which, in turn, has let me to go further with my work in a more confident matter. This encouraged me to create more pieces and experiment with more techniques and pieces of media. I deepened my understanding of feminist art work and would like to continue directly on from where I left my practice this semester.

My top priority will be the tea party and finalizing that but I also will continue to work with the self portrait mural and develop that alongside. I have a lot of artists and pieces of media ready to start looking into next semester to broaden my contextual thinking.

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After a final tutorial with Mark Essen he showed me more artists to focus on next year. One in terms of physical outcomes and the other in terms of theory and concept.

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These are some artists I was shown by various tutors which I plan to research next semester and integrate successfully in my practice moving forward. 

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These are some artists I was shown by various tutors which I plan to research next semester and integrate successfully in my practice moving forward. 

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In a seminar focused on time led by Mark Gubb the author George Orwell was briefly mentioned due to his approach on the idea of the future seen in his famous literature '1984'. He explores what the future could've looked like. I found it interesting that his view on the future was still a patriarchal state as seen in his novel ‘1984’. Throughout the novel the subject of women is briefly mentioned at different points throughout but they are usually seen in a negative light regardless of the situation they are in. I thought that this approach to depicting women during a dystopian scenario where the whole of society is in a totalitarian state appeared almost contradictory to the message of the novel itself. Upon reflection of this however, I see this as an intelligent social study conducted by Orwell in regard to the perception of women and how and if that would possibly change depending on the human environment at the time. This is illustrating that even in society where human rights are stripped away from everyone available, women are still seen as a secondary citizen and simply an outlet for objectification and pent up upset and anger caused by the state.

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Two fired eggs and a kebab- Sarah Lucas 

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Two fired eggs and a kebab- Sarah Lucas 

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At this point of my practice I had been considering Judy Chiago and her work, specifically her piece ‘The dinner party’. After seeing Lucas’ installation work the parallels were obvious and confidently something I wanted to explore further.

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After having a tutorial with Jane I felt a lot more confident in regards to my project as it appeared to make chronological sense and followed a clear narrative. AS well as this she gave me more artists to have a look at such as the art due 'Harrison and wood' who create short ironic videos. This made em consider video work and how I could successfully use it next semester to advance my project.

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Harrison and Wood – Studio Visit | TateShots

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Whilst creating my plates, I began to consider a title for the tea party as it was slowly progressing into more of a performance piece rather than a still installation, eventually I came up with the title ‘Giving myself a seat at the table’. In my tutorial with Mark Essen, he suggested I label everything with this title to continue to take up space physically and to push the limits of how much space I can take up. He also introduced me to the artist Carrie Reichardt who focuses her practice on ceramic designs. She combines a vintage illustrative style with a political message to overlay on top of the plate.

I wasn't sure what I wanted my plates to convey to the viewers yet besides the fact that I was taking up space.

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Katy Hessel- 'what is women ruled the world?'

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Katy Hessel- 'what is women ruled the world?'

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(typed out for accessibility)

Hello, my project is 'taking up space' and I am focusing primarily on taking up space as a woman in society as well as exploring what it means to take up space as a woman in the art world.

My initial ideas stemmed from the work I was doing in the second year prior which was later centered on the idea of maker vs muse and how women are presented in art. This idea evolved into taking up space after I was introduced to the concept of 'the fruit bowl' in art and the similarities a bowl of fruit and a woman share when it comes to being a muse. They are seen in similar lights as they have both been used as primary muses for countless pieces throughout art history. This inspired my thinking and encouraged me to direct my practice into where it is now.

when I first began this project I had two questions, How do I take up space as a woman? And do I even take up any? I wasn't too sure on the answer to either at the beginning but it enabled me to progress in my practice in an attempt to explore these questions.

To kick start this project I immediately began working big and on a larger scale as I wasn't sure yet what ideas I wanted to explore in detail but I knew I needed to start taking up space. Through this my work progressed and as I developed my self-portrait I decided on how I would continue this idea. I want to eventually have at least 3 self-portraits all in a similar scale joined together through the 'jigsaw' of boards and create almost a mural-esque image that extends over a whole wall. I thought that this would be an interesting way of exhibiting my work as when you enter or approach everyone is immediately outnumbered by me and my image, finally being the most dominant figure in the room. A contrast to my everyday life.

In terms of artists that are my main point of focus, the Guerrilla girls and Caroline Walker have inspired my work the most.

Many of the Guerrilla girls work focuses on how women are treated and portrayed in the art world. Through my research I found work of theirs from 1989 and work from 2021 that hold the same message centering on the same idea of how women are not welcomed into the art world unless they are objectified as the muse. Seeing how this treatment still stands today I was curious to know is making art as a woman, of a woman (who is me) would make me feel more welcomed or accepted in the art world or if it would still leave me uninvited. This is why I wanted to continue to focus on self-portraits.

My second artist is Caroline Walker who's work celebrates the regularity of women simply existing. For some, her work is viewed as 'voyeuristic' as it can appear as if she is intruding on these women's (who she focus her paintings on) lives. She prefers to challenge this interpretation and the history of women being used as a muse in art by changing the narrative. She is curious to see if a piece of work created by a woman makes you change the way you feel about it. This is what I was curious about, also as i'm interested to see if my self portraits convey a more feminist point of view with the knowledge that I created them. Or if they still just read as a common portrait of a woman.

My final artist is Judy Chicago and mainly her work 'the dinner party' which is a large table with a place for notable women in history at each place mat. All including a customized plate and other decorations linking to the individual. Through this work Judy Chicago metaphorically gave women a seat at the table.

Elaborating on from this concept, I too wanted to direct my 2D work into a more 3D setting by creating a 'tea party' of my own.Creating pieces of crockery by hand and re purposing existing pieces. I want to paint or somehow print /sublimate features of my face or my whole face onto each piece of the tea set. Alongside this I want to also have a table cloth underneath all of this with my self-portrait sublimated into it. Once I have all of this completed I would like to do a performance piece with some participants ad actually have lunch at this tea party using all of the items I have created. This shared a similar idea of taking up space that my portrait mural does but just at a larger scale whilst also directly taking up other people's space without them avoiding it. Therefore, giving myself a seat at the table and taking up every other seat regardless of who is actually sat there.

In terms of further references I have researches Sofia Coppola and her set designs used in her filmography and how they are all very detailed and realistic to the character of choice. I think this intricacy to a female's personal space is very positive and reminiscent of Caroline Walker's work. Her movie adaptation of 'the virgin suicides' is also an interesting point of interest as it focuses on the troubles and hardships that come with existing as a woman.

As well as this I have also briefly looked at Jo Spence and her photography and self portraiture celebrating womanhood and ridiculing the patriarchy.

More work I have created as well as other ideas center on the idea of time. Specifically taking up time. For this piece I was curious to discover what is more impactful, the fact that it took me 16 minutes and 48 seconds to waste a whole oil pastel or the fact that a woman spent 16 minutes and 48 seconds on a piece of art. I am yet to explore this element of my practice further. This is something I wanted to channel during my pop up by installing my work in the men's toilets and have the image set up in a way that makes a female the more dominating figure in a male dominated space.

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In terms of further references I have researches Sofia Coppola and her set designs that are used in her filmography and mainly focusing on how they are all extremely detailed and realistic to the character of choice. I believe that this intricacy to a female's personal space is very positive and reminded me of Caroline Walker's work. Her movie adaptation of 'the virgin suicides' is also an interesting point of interest as it focuses on the troubles and hardships that come with existing as a woman.

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The idea of the tea party directly stemmed from Judy Chicago and her own piece of artwork ‘The dinner party’. Naturally, I drew inspiration from it to create my own piece of work which is focused on taking up space while also allowing the female to become the largest person in the room.

From this I thought of the idea of having a physical tea party with plates and bowls as well as other typically elements of a tea party such as: center pieces, napkins, and a tablecloth which would all include an element of my face on it. This would allow me to take up space regardless of where I am or where my artwork is placed.

As I was planning this I studied ‘the dinner party’ by Chicago and started to think about who I would invite to the party and what impact would be the best result.

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Another artist I have been primarily looking at is Judy Chicago and mainly her work 'the dinner party' which is a large table with a place for notable women in history at each place mat. All places included a customized plate and various other decorations linking to the individual. Through this work Judy Chicago metaphorically gave women a seat at the table which is what I want to be able to do for the muse.

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My oil pastel piece links to Scott Robertson who creates his work based off the time and cost it took for him to make it. He then sells his work for said price and continues to create more in the same style.

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An intimate distance- Rosemary Betterton

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An intimate distance- Rosemary Betterton

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During a lecture on time led by Mark Essen the poet John Donne was bought because of up his poem ‘The sun rising’ and how it observes the concept of time and what commentary it makes based on it. Initially I found his o=poem interesting as I enjoy literature and enjoy studying it but upon further research into John Donne as a poet and individual, I discovered his extremely misogynistic views on women and how he writes about them in his poetry. I wanted to start designing the plates for my tea party at this point but I was still considering what to focus on for their center. After researching Donne and his objectifying views and opinions, I came to the conclusion to have each plate showcase a facial feature of mine. This is because I wanted to avoid having the focus be my body. This is due to the fact that I want to take up space on my own terms without having to mirror the works of countless male artists in the past, such as John Donne. John Donne chose to view women as just their bodies and wrote about this and included this focus in his influential literature for his own entertainment. From this I decided that my tea party is just for me and is allowing me to take up space in my own way

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The story of art without men-Katy Hessel

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The story of art without men-Katy Hessel

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This book was an inspiration to me in second year and it continues to be as inspirational this year as I believe the comprehensive history it holds is very beneficial to the development of my practice and it allows me to contextualize my work.

This book also inspired me to explore more of Katy Hessel's work, especially her articles written for the Guardian.

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The Guerrilla girls work primarily focuses on how women are treated and portrayed in the art world and how they have been throughout history. Due to my research I found work of theirs from 1989 and work from 2021 that hold the same message declaring the same idea of how women are not welcomed into the art world unless they are objectified as the muse. Upon seeing this I was curious to know if making art as a woman, of a woman would enable me to feel more welcomed and accepted in the art world or, if it would leave me uninvited regardless. After considering this idea I decided I wanted to remain focusing on self-portraits.

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Seungwon Jung focuses on '3d and digital fusion work'. I think the main part of her practice that truly inspired me and my work was the portrayal of time in her work. It made me question how time impacts your work or your final outcome? Relating this to my own practice, I find that I value the time I take and believe that spending detailed amounts of time on one individual piece of artwork is important to the progression of my practice. In terms of ‘taking up space’, I do not believe that women have been given time to truly and authentically showcase themselves or their work. As well as this, women are not regarded as valued for long enough in general society making them a second thought. I believe that by taking my own time allows me to take up more space even if that is only in thought.

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Self-portraits by women painters- Liana De Girolami Cheney, Alicia Craig Faxon, Kathleen Russo

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Self-portraits by women painters- Liana De Girolami Cheney, Alicia Craig Faxon, Kathleen Russo

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Me, Myself, and I- Tessa Jackson w/ Lara Perry

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Me, Myself, and I- Tessa Jackson w/ Lara Perry

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In this book there was infomation on Sarah Lucas and her self- portrait which encouraged me to do further research on her as an artist. I came across one particular installation ‘Two fired eggs and a kebab’ which something that truly generated further thinking and consideration.

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An artist that heavily inspired my work is Caroline Walker who's work celebrates the regularity of women who are simply existing. Critics say that her work is viewed as 'voyeuristic' as it can appear as if she is intruding on these women's (who she focus her paintings on) lives. She prefers to challenge this interpretation by changing the narrative. Her work showcases that she is curious to see if a piece of work created by a woman makes you change the way you feel about it. I then wanted to explore this and was curious about it, also i'm interested to see if my self portraits convey a more feminist point of view with the knowledge that I created them. Or if they still just read as a common portrait of a woman that could be seen regularly in a gallery.

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Another piece I created last year was this large scale self portrait depicting myself in an unwell state. This piece was created out of watered down acrylics and I experimented with a more free approach to painting in contrast to the style used to create the mirror portrait. This piece was again a another way of taking up space through physicality. I was originally exploring femininity. However, upon review I can see that my work was almost demure in contrast to the chosen meaning. I created such a large scale portrait but confined it to my studio wall. The only space I was managing to take up was my won and that is something I wanted to avoid this year. It feels almost contradictory that I was taking up my own space with my feminist artwork, I believe it reflects the lack of confidence I held in regards to my practice last year and the insecurity I prioritized when it came to displaying my work and thinking deeply about my practice.

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I wanted to develop my practice from the work I had completed in my second year and elevate the outcomes I had from that time. One of these pieces being the mirror painting I completed using acrylic paints to depict a self-portrait. The thought behind this piece was the take up space in a mirror and therefore, limit everyone else who chooses to look into this mirror as they will be restricted to their own reflection and instead will be forced to face my own likeness.

In my current practice I have been able to develop this thought in terms of concept and research as I have been able to create a whole body of work reflecting this idea of 'taking up space' successfully and confidently. Whereas, Last year this piece was simply a last minute decision and did not hold as much weight as I would've liked it too. I was unable to expand my thinking last year and lacked a strong contextual background to my work, resulting in an almost flat body of work. This is something I wanted to highly improve this semester. I have been able to do this through my extensive research into contemporary and historical sources and artists as well as many different exhibitions and media forms all exploring the concept of women in art and taking up space.

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My project began to evolve onward from this idea of maker vs muse into a study of taking up space due to the fruit bowl idea. Furthermore, the question of how women can take up space in the art world through physical art work or through examples shown in media truly propelled my thinking and I began to focus on how it would be possible for women to be seen more in art in a respectful manner; contradictory to the objectified way they have been throughout art history.  At the start of this year I had two questions in mind: How do I take up space as a woman? And do I even take up any? To begin with I didn't actually have a final answer to either of these, but it encouraged me to explore it further and develop my thinking and understanding of the the subject.

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The initial idea of taking up space came from my work I made during my second year where I mainly looked at the idea of ‘maker vs muse’ and how women are presented and treated in the art world. I also looked at how women were depicted in actual art work from history. The final thing I looked at was the idea of 'the fruit bowl' and the impact it has had in art. Women have also been viewed as a muse for still life and have acted as a muse for many art piece throughout history. The concept that women can be seen at the same level as a bowl of fruits openly highlights the limitations thrown upon women in the traditional and modern art world

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I fell very unwell this week and was unable to make as much work as I would've have liked. However, I had a very vivid dream about making two banners with the phrase 'giving myself a seat at the table' across the two of them. I knew that I had to make these and have them act as a table cloth and back drop (as seen in my outcome images).

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I found my presentation to be very useful and it aided me a lot in terms of developing my work and having more ideas regarding it

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Things I want to consider for next year:

How will I install my work?

How do I have an impact?

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For my pop up I wanted to place my drawing somewhere effective and meaningful and I briefly considered the lift before deciding on the men's toilets.

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Antonio Roberts is a digital artist who focuses on glitch-art to capture his ideas and moods, he distorts texts and the makes visual art out of the programming. Whilst he was leading this lecture, he said that the tech world is still very male dominated as he was showing images from an exhibition where barely any women artists were present.

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I found my crit very useful and beneficial to the progression of my practice as it gave me the confidence to explore various different avenues of media to collect my resources from. It also gave me lots of ideas of what work to make next and how to elevate my practice. From my crit I decided to create the tea party as it was one of the suggestions given to me by the participants involved.

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A critique of social practice art.- Ben Davis

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A critique of social practice art.- Ben Davis

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Originally I was going to do a singular self portrait on one board and complete a series of A3 self-portraits. However, I quickly moved past this original idea in favor of completing a large scale self-portrait spanning over multiple boards in order to successfully take up space from the start.

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Culture (society 1958)- Raymond Williams 

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Culture (society 1958)- Raymond Williams 

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I chose to photograph the muse only as I wanted to experiment with a more professional environment and I was intrigued to see how it would transfer on camera. I was also interested to see how or if the narrative was altered due to the setting. I do not believe that it was as I still think the muse appears to be jeering and a large presence regardless of the overwhelming studio