This blog follows on from one I wrote back in June which I didn't realise at the time was actually part 1! Since then I've been conducting my primary research for my concept which has taken me in directions I hadn't anticipated. This instalment’s aim is to help you think critically about your progress during the primary research stage of concept development.
Reading back on my first blog, I realise I had just scratched the surface, and who knows how many parts this blog will eventually be, given I'm only three months into a two year long project! This research and subsequent glass art collection will form the coursework for my MA in Glass, which I am undertaking part time at UCA Farnham. I will discuss some of the detail of my own concept development throughout this blog.
Is your concept cliche? How can you subvert it?
Let’s take an example of a concept that has on the face of it been exhausted in art - the London skyline. Your primary research would include taking photos of the skyline (aiming to find untapped perspectives), finding out the history of the buildings, how the design of the buildings is defined by the era they were made in and speaking to people who work in the taller buildings to get their visual perspective and emotional perspective of working in that environment. Does the skyline create an exciting environment, the construction equivalent of a celebrity? Or is it actually claustrophobic? Do the people on the streets of London Bridge ever look up at The Shard or The Gherkin? Do the uses of these buildings measure up to the fame of their stature? As primary research is conducted, answers will be revealed which will determine the direction of your concept. You’ll know you’re on to something when you find something new, whether that’s a literal, visual perspective, or a piece of information or experience that provides artistic stimulus that you otherwise wouldn’t have considered.
When I wrote the first part of this blog, my own concept was about mothers' relationships with babies. And I realised as I began my research that mums are so often presented in the arts as half of the whole, where the child is an essential counterpart in displaying the full image of the mum. The research I was gathering revealed that my initial direction wasn't radical or anything new, but my interest was piqued when I couldn't find any art that specifically explored the insanely powerful, magical, often traumatic transition women go through as they become mothers. What is a mother's relationship with the woman she was, rather than her relationship with her child? Having gone through a very complex journey of early motherhood and feeling very transformed as an individual, you wouldn’t know for looking at me. So how could I show that. How do I make visible the invisible? I feel and see such power and also such variance of experience just in the women that I know. And so began my interviews with Bristol women; with new mums, older mums, mums of different cultures, very young mums, mums who experienced baby loss, maternal mental health charities, and I started to build a wider picture of what this transition looks like. And alongside, I’m studying the psychology of colour, the science of colour, asking the women I’m interviewing about the colour and shape of their experiences and always, always making with glass. Sample after sample.
So you see, what primary research consists of varies considerably between concept ideas. I personally feel I’m an empathic person, and as such I find I move away from cliché and find authenticity in human emotional response, whether the concept has a pictorial basis like the London skyline or a much more abstract basis like women’s experience of early motherhood. But that doesn’t mean it has to be the right way for you. Your own authenticity will be found in how your concept relates to your own experiences and personality. If you were a midwife you would have an entirely different route in on my motherhood concept. If you were a structural engineer you’d have a totally different perspective on the London Skyline concept.
Is your research inclusive or is it stuck in the bubble of your social demographic?
I realised quite quickly that my preconceptions about what I was going to discover were way off the mark, notably because my knowledge of mums was limited to who I knew in real life, which I hadn't been aware to that point were all of a similar social demographic. This meant there was a significant lack of diversity and I wasn't able to take into account cultural influences on motherhood experiences; such as the reluctance in some cultures to discuss birth experiences in contrast to how important that is to other cultures. How alienating is that to those women in a city whose women are largely open to those discussions? This is an example of the kind of unexpected questions that can arise when you strive for inclusivity. Which means you need to...
Be prepared for your concept to take abrupt shifts in direction.
You can't be precious. Sure, you're working towards an end goal, but until you get well into your research you don't know if what you're going to find is as inspiring as you once thought, and new, more interesting ideas might come through. This can be scary! I went into this project thinking I knew exactly what I wanted to make. I would explore colour theory in depth and create a series of artworks, each one inspired by a different mum, and I would use colour transitions to convey emotional transitions. But trying to do research when I already had the end idea was really stifling. I was trying to make the women fit into my existing ideas, but actually what they told me was very different to what I anticipated and frequently the important answers they were giving me were to questions I wasn't even asking. And I noticed there was so much they had in common. I realised I needed to move away from the really literal idea of one mum=one glass artwork and allow a question mark to sit there in order to really be open to the research. This has allowed new ideas to start to trickle in, and I'm wondering about creating interactive artworks, works that convey collective experience and work that requires moving across a room to get a different effect/perspective.
Is your artwork accessible to your target audience?
This is one I'm pondering a lot at the moment. My collection will be about and for the women who form the research, who won’t necessarily be interested in or feel inspired by abstract art. So for me this question runs hand in hand with this one…
Is your chosen medium the right one to deliver on this concept?
This can be a difficult one to address, especially if like me you're developing your concept as part of a course in that specific medium! For me the question came up as my research began to suddenly gain momentum and feel bigger than me. I felt it was getting away from me a little bit and I also had an overwhelming sense of how important the research was and how deeply I connected with what I was discovering. I became conscious that I really want my collection to be easily accessible to the women who inspire it, and I don't know exactly how I do that yet. In practice, I am hoping to produce a high end collection of glass artworks that I also want to be instantly recognisable as emotional responses to the journey of new motherhood. And so begins the next part of my research, and likely the basis of part 3 of this blog - how do I do it?! Until I can nail that down, the answer to this question remains unanswered.
I've also become increasingly conscious that my natural mode of expression, and the one I feel I can express myself most clearly through, is the written word. Does this research in fact form the basis of a book rather than a collection in glass? Maybe both! Writing is certainly important in the recording of my research, and it will be part of my journey to figure out how much writing, essentially information that gives context, will be available to audiences of the final collection.
Take time to understand the context of your work
I could write a whole blog on this, and I probably will! Knowing how you fit in context allows you to better define what your intention is, and predict how your work will be received by audiences. Will it be received differently by different audiences? You can only control your intention, not others' perspectives which will be totally unique. Are there other artists exploring similar subject matter? Is there somebody else working in ceramics, painting on canvas or working in any other medium who has the same inspiration? What do you notice about how they interpret it? How is it different to what you do? Do you achieve the same tone or make the same impact? Identifying this can help you hone your craft and give clarity to your artistic direction.
And that’s it for now! Let me know in the comments below if any of this resonates or if you have anything to add! I’d love to hear about any concepts you’re developing.