Individual Tutorial notes

Prior to this tutorial i was quite unsure on exactly where i was going with the written side and the project on a whole. As it stands i am still a long way off from having all my research together and even starting the written work but the tutorial was very helpful and beneficial and at least now i have a bit more of a sense of direction with it. 

So the notes i have got from the tutorial are as follows: 

- Focus down on one music genre 
- The Key theme is 'visual representation' 
- Use interviews - A good valid source/way of getting reference material 
- Visual clues and symbols 
- Avant Garde and abstract 

Theme - 'The Phenomenon of Sound & Philosophy of Music' 

'The role of the album cover in the visual'

- Theories of art & music 
- Examples of album covers and relation to music 
- Your own responses to music 


- Visual arts and relationship to music 

'All constantly aspires to the condition of music' 

- Looking into album covers - specific genre? - Miles Davis/Jazz?....

-Key word -' Translation '

' The role of the album cover in the visual translation of music' ?...

'You need to unpick the music and the artwork!!!'

What is the practical?

- An exploration/unpicking of ONE single album? - Perhaps...

Use Case Studies to help make sense of the question 

Could do an analysis of 3 to begin with - then narrow it down 

Things to look at/Action to take: 

- Stanley Donwood - Radiohead artwork 

- Bjork

- DR.ME 

- Roger Dean - Yes Album Covers 

Final Advice - Use Keywords in JSTOR

COP Lecture 2 notes

Organising your project: Integrating theory and practice 

Praxis = theory, action, reflection

''DONT WAIT START PRACTICAL WORK'' 

'IT SHOULD BE ABOUT CREATING WORK TO ALLOW SYNTHESIS TO GROW AND HAPPEN'

'THINK ABOUT METHODOLOGY PROCESSES THAT I CAN USE' 

Process  - Data - Product 

Key Skill - Critical Reflection 

Questions lead to questions not answers 

- Write down all questions that you want to investigate.

- Consider primary and secondary. 

- Write an A4 first thoughts sheet. 

- What is the purpose? 

Consider timings with research 

Deadline 15 weeks 

Consider holidays, work, life 

Think about your working title and the different component parts that need researching 

 Use journals - J store

Benjamin, Kandinsky & Pater notes

I will be sure to do some more expansive posts on these theorists but for now these are a few notes i have collected so far...

Aura of an image - Walter Benjamin 

https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/walter-benjamin-art-aura-authenticity/ - with a couple of 'edits' 

' Historically works of art had an 'aura' - An appearance of magical or supernatural force arising from their uniqueness (similar to mana) - (in Polynesian, Melanesian, and Maori belief) an impersonal supernatural power which can be transmitted or inherited.

The aura includes a sensory experience of distance between the reader and the work of art' 

Wassily Kandinsky 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/jun/24/art.art - The Painter of sound & vision 

He believed...

'Shades resonated with each other to produce 'Visual chords' and had an influence on the soul'. 

Theorist - Walter Pater 

Walter Pater on the Place of 'music among arts'

The Journal of aesthetics & art criticism - 

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7443931-all-art-constantly-aspires-towards-the-condition-of-music-for

Walter Pater said: 

' All art constantly aspires to the condition of music' - look into what he means by this!


Thats it for now. Like i said at the start i will hopefully be looking more in depth into these guys and their theories so there will be a lot more to go on than just this obviously. Just using them as starting points for now...

Discussing possible themes/tutorial advice

The following information is what i have put down in my COP notebook where i jot ideas and thoughts down. I felt it would be a useful exercise in then putting it onto the blog as another way of documenting my thoughts on my project. As it is only notes in the notebook it might not appear coherent and as well organised as it could be. A few of these notes have also come directly from Jamie my tutor so it is of course best to make use of that valuable advice. 

Possible themes/questions 

'Looking into the relationship between music and the visual element of album covers'

'The emotional resonance of shape, line, texture, colour - visual devices/formal elements - that have meaning' 

'The exploration of 'Sound and Vision'

Further notes/questions 

Unpicking structure, feeling, emotion of music to TRANSLATE it into visuals (translate is i feel a very key word in that respect).

How do we read formal elements? - in terms of - mood, atmosphere etc. 

WHAT IS THE 'AURA' OF AN IMAGE? - related to Walter Benjamin 

Action Points 

A good starting point is 'Automatic drawing' 

Suggested reading 

- Visual Literacy - Dondis 

- ...Aura - Walter Benjamin 

Could look at - 

- DR.ME 

- RVNG International covers 

COP Tutorial

' You need to create an argument based on evidence ' 

Pick apart the elements of your study. 

Visual Devices.

Aura of an Image. 

Communicating feeling. 

- Relationship between music and album covers. 

Emotional resonance of shapes, line, texture, colour - Visual devices that have meaning

Sound & Vision

Unpicking structure, feeling, emotion of music to translate it into visuals 

How do we read formal elements? Mood, atmosphere - what is the aura of an image? 

Automatic drawing - starting point 

Suggested reading: 

Visual Literacy - Dondis 
Aura - Walter Benjamin 

Suggested practitioners/work to look at:

DR.ME 
RVNG international Covers 
Kandinsky

COP lecture notes - Organising your research project

Introduction to COP 3 - Lecture 1/4 - Organising your research project 

I didn't take a great deal of notes from this lecture however just like how we are taught to be in our research i have been selective and have taken note of what i felt was most relevant for me to take a note of. 

'What is there to study?' - Ontology 

'How can we know about it?' - epistemology 

'What do i want to know?' 

'What do i need to know?' 

'To gain knowledge your research needs a purpose '

'Purpose should be formulated into a research question'

'These both Purpose and research question will change'

Start with what you already know 

Identify what you want to know more about

Plan how you are going to find out about it  

Initial books for research

With my presentation tomorrow and the fact that i've been able to do no work over the weekend and yesterday due to an unfortunate bout of what seemed to be freshers flu, i thought i could at least make a last ditched attempt at correlating some research together on a theme i might want to explore. 

For now i'm going off the basic phrase of researching artwork/illustration that looks like music/sound. The main incentive for doing so is i want be able to make work that vibes and make sure it represents the music i may be listening to while i'm illustrating it. 

So for now its a basic start but i believe these books hold enough relevance to indeed get me started...i hope