Essay_on_Art

In class I have studied Peter Chang and Jack Cunningham’s work. This essay will compare the different styles of jewellery between them and how they handle their materials and influences. Peter Chang a British Contemporary Jewellery artist/designer known for working in manmade plastic. He was born and raised in Liverpool in 1944 to a British mother and a Chinese seaman. Peter works with jewellery and sculpture but he prefers to be labelled as a jeweller or a sculpture and he tends not to name his art work. His brooches and bangles are easily recognised due to their striking sculpture forms. At Liverpool Art School he studied sculpture, art and graphic design. After college Chang later travelled to London and Paris, In Paris Chang worked with a famous surrealist and abstract printmaker called Stanley William Hayter. As a student Chang was influenced by Chinese Philosophy and surrealism, he likes to create work that express his own ideas and he would rather his viewers have their own opinions on what the pieces are about and therefore doesn’t name them. This Ring by Peter Chang is a good example of his chunky asymmetrical jewellery design. Approximately 8 x 4.5 cm, this is a bold design worn on top of the index finger or on the index finger hanging off the side of the finger. The materials used are small gold balls, gold leaf and acrylic. This is a mixture of traditional jewellery materials and modern light weight plastics. It is a colourful design and the contrast between the primary colours red and blue to the metallic gold effect are quite loud. This ring attracts me to it due to these bold colours, variety of textures and the unusual 3-D shape of the ring. Due to the larger size of the ring and the different surfaces makes me feel the overall form suggests a decorative snails shell. The gold leaf in three areas of the ring has been made to look like a mosaic effect, underneath is gold leaf broken into pieces made to look like a mosaic. This is unusual because this mosaic effect is not flat as it is the normal way you see it. The clear plastic must first be melted into a curved shape, and then cut into sharp mosaic shapes, then the edges have been painted red and then carefully jigsaw fitted into the recesses on the ring, which have been lined with gold leaf. This helps give a feeling of depth and thick clear plastic in these parts. In between the mosaics there are ridged curved lines lying together separating the mosaic, coloured in blue and green which give me a seaweed feeling. Scattered around the ring are random balls of gold, which almost remind me of pearls. The main visual elements shown in this ring are line, shape and colour, this is recognisable due t the strange unusual shape of the ring and line is shown throughout the mosaic and linear decorative areas of patterns. Another example of Peter Chang’s jewellery design is a large brightly coloured bracelet made in 1997, the outside diameter 19 x 4.5 cm. The materials used in this bracelet are resin, PVC, acrylic and silver. Chang does not name his jewellery as he usually names them by what they are, such as bracelet and ring etc. Chang’s jewellery is generally large in scale and unable to be worn as everyday wear due to the clumsy nature of them, they enlarged branching off bits and the overall thickness would make it difficult to wear, write and eat comfortably. I personally would not feel comfortable wearing this bracelet and feel I would be restricted on the things I could do. I also think you could wear an un-detailed, plain outfit and the bracelet would jazz it up. This bracelet I have chosen to study has 10 unique objects sticking out the perimeter in a random order. I feel the objects sticking out gives a sea life image. The top object gives me an image of an octopus due to the several lines sticking out which makes me think of tentacles. I like this object because this is where I get the idea of a sea life image. The use of odd shapes used makes me wonder what Chang’s ideas were. I feel the objects used are very unusual and are not found on a traditional ladies bracelet. At the three o’clock position I get the impression the object is a chess piece. I feel the type of person to wear this bracelet would be a female with a fun loving nature due to the brightly patterned and coloured bracelet and the shiny texture. The main visual elements in this bracelet are pattern, colour and texture. Colour due to the bright colours shown and texture due to the objects sticking out, some are smooth, layered, spiky and rough. Random spots appear like animal or fish markings and a snake patterned body effect. This piece of jewellery would be found on sale in an art gallery as it would be too expensive to buy on the High Street. It would be displayed in a glass case like a sculpture. If I had to alter this bracelet I would subtract the objects sticking out as I think this could be an issue for health and safety and it is quite dangerous and not practical. Jack Cunningham an academic and contemporary studio jeweller was taught in the 1990’s till 2009 at Glasgow School of Art where he completed a practise based PHD and also were he was head of jewellery and silver smithing. Cunningham trained at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee. He particularly had an intersest in narrative jewellery and he organised an exhibition in 2005. Jack has progressed over the years and he has many different styles of brooches and collections. Jack borrows his ideas from different cultures and old sayings, his brooches usually tell a story and they are based on personal themes such as relationships or places Jack as visited. “Where Now'” is an example Jack Cunningham’s brooch design. Made around 2002 the size is approximately 10 x 6 cm. The materials used are white metal, wood, paint and cultured pearl. Cunningham has used some found objects and used them to help create the story in his narrative design. The use of simple objects suggests the story, the objects are glued, pegged or soldered to the metal rectangular supporting bar at the bottom of the brooch. I think the bar itself suggests a journey from A to B in a straight line (the house to the cultured pearl), the house suggests a safe place and the number 6 in tally marks may represent a house number. The figure has been sawn from a sheet of white metal (silver) and is treated with a chemical oxide to give it an aged blackened appearance. In this brooch one object that Cunningham has found and incorporated into his design is the coloured banded top piece of a fishing float. Next to the long float is a hand painted stripy pole. The stripy effect has been used in many of Cunningham’s work that I have researched, this pattern symbolises the poles often seen in the modern built environment such as road side works signs. It also clearly relates to a photograph Jack took in New York of a white and red stripy pole, sticking out of a man hole like a traffic cone. I personally think the stripy effect lets the overall quality of the presentation down as it is unevenly painted and the wood texture cheapens the overall effect I get the impression that the x on the house shape represents “x marks the spot”, like a safe place he has been on his journeys, or somewhere he would like to be. Cunningham has intentionally lacked colour in this brooch and it is very simple. The pearl at the end is a cultured pearl that has grown oddly, the cultured pearl means the pearl has grown this way on a pearl farm intentionally irregular and unique. The main visual elements shown in this brooch are line and shape. All the objects are either in a straight line horizontally of vertically and the bar at the bottom is also a straight line holding the objects together. The house and figure shape help to create the story and give it character and a personality. Both these shapes look like novelty shapes and it helps make the brooch more fun, unlike the serious title. I think this brooch is not practical, I feel the tall objects would tangle in long hair. The pin must be hidden behind the house shape. It may have balancing problems and lie at a slant. Jack Cunningham’s designs aren’t sold on the high street and you would usually see his work available to buy in craft centres but more so art galleries because it is in the high end of the market. I personally don’t like this brooch due to the fact that his target audience would be generally 30 years pus females who were untraditional in their jewellery tastes. But this design could even be worn by an artistic expressive man as it is not feminine at all. This is created by the lack of pretty colours and the simplicity of the shapes. Another Jewellery brooch made by Jack Cunningham is “In the Garden”. “In the Garden” was made in approximately 2002 and the materials used are black cultured pearl, coral and fragment ceramic of crockery, wood, paint, white metal and moonstone. I get the impression this brooch symbolises nature, due to the leaf, the rose and the pearl shaped cactus plant. In many of Jack’s brooches a metal bar is usually seen holding the objects together. In this design it is a right angled shelf that folds out towards us and all the pieces rest on and under it. Again Jack has used a stripy effect relating to many of Jack’s designs and the stripy pole in a man hole cover he photographed in New York. Beneath the bar there are two moonstones, if you look closely there are engraved faces to give a human touch. In the middle below the rose there is a piece of patterned ceramic. I feel this patterned ceramic is like a plate you would find in an old ladies kitchen. It gives an old historical slant of past treasures, a bit like modern archaeology. I like this brooch as it has many objects working together. Some people might think there are too many bits to this design but I like how you see all the different shapes colours and textures as a group. I feel an older woman would be more likely to wear this rather than a young person. I think this as the brooch looks quite old due to the pastel colours and the nature ideas. The silver leaf at the end is an acorn leaf, I feel the leaf looks really unrealistic due to it being cast in silver even though it is cast from a real leaf. I personally do not like this brooch as it is not my cup of tea. I dislike the cultured pearl as it is ugly and looks like a 3 fingered hand and I feel it stands out to much as it is the darkest object and it looks a bit eerie. In class I have been studying two well known artists, Peter Chang and Jack Cunningham. Both Jack and Peter are contemporary artists. Peter Chas has never trained in Jewellery design and he is recognised as a sculpture and that is why Peter’s jewellery has a more 3-D look. I feel Peter’s designs are far more unusual and I have a personally never seen such jewellery like it. By this I mean the scale of the jewellery and the unusual objects sticking out. As many of Peter’s jewellery has objects sticking out I feel this would be uncomfortable to wear and I think the person wearing the jewellery would be restricted to the certain things they could do. In my opinion I feel a young fashionable female would be likely to wear Peter’s jewellery due to the enlightened colours. Whereas I think Jack’s brooches would be worn by an older female. Jack’ brooches usually tell a story and the objects used mean something. His brooches look very simple and easy to make, whereas Peter’s jewellery looks complicated, due to lots of objects and colours scattered around and it is hard to visualise making it a joins and layers are hidden and his overall finish is very sophisticated. The materials used by both Peter and Jack’s work are different although they have some similarities such as, they both make brooches, they have both worked with colour and recycled and they both sell their art in the same place, art galleries. The differences between Jack and Peter’s work are that Peter works with more plastics, uses form more and he makes a variety of Jewellery pieces. I feel if Peter named his jewellery I would have more of an idea of what his ideas are about. Compared to Peter, Jack is more narrow minded and he mainly sticks to brooches. His brooches are restricted in size to be comfortable for everyday wear. Also anything too heavy could rip your clothes. I personally prefer Peter’s work, I feel his work catches my eye as it is different to jewellery you buy in the High Street shops. His work is more imaginative and creative and it could really change your mood and make you feel confident. I like Jack’s ideas and his brooches, his objects used to create a story interests me but I much more prefer Peter’s work and it is more interesting to study. If Peter’s jewellery were to be more practical I think I would wear it myself, his work catches my eye and it makes me want to feel the texture of the jewellery.