The BOW Thread

[beatroot]

Before you can participate in ‘The BOW Thread’, you'll have to make an ATAR Notes account here. Once you've done that, a little 'reply' button will come up when you're viewing threads, and you'll be able to post whatever you want.

Hey everyone! Welcome to the ‘BOW Thread’     

In this thread, you can ask questions regarding your Visual Arts major, post pictures of your progress and ask for feedback from the AN Community. Think of the BOW thread this way... It’s essentially an online version of your VAPD with the help of Band 6 Visual Arts students and current VA students who can guide you during this rewarding journey. Also it’s a great way to keep track of your progress and making it easier for you when handing in your VAPD/major for progress marks throughout the year. The goal of this thread is to encourage collaborative learning and to increase your confidence during the completion of your body of work.

Whether that’d be deciding the medium of your work, adding more metaphorical layers to your concept or anything BOW related in general, feel free to ask and post in this thread
*To post pictures in this thread, you can either attach them to your post or embed them within your post. Instruction on how to embed images can be found right here

[mariaruizdavila]

Hello,

I am a Art student and I am just concerned that people will post photos of their major and someone else could still the idea or copy it. This would really impact their HSC so I just wanted to let you know.

Thank you

[Potatohater]

Hello,

I am a Art student and I am just concerned that people will post photos of their major and someone else could still the idea or copy it. This would really impact their HSC so I just wanted to let you know.

Thank you

I have heard of people with concerns such as these during my HSC year, but really, who is going to steal somone else's work at a HSC level? Especially on ATAR notes, I feel there is a mutual sense of trust not to steal content from one another. People share essays and other works on here all the time and there doesn't seem to be any issue.
Obviously Bea is the VA expert and moderator of this board so she might have different point of view and course of action, but this is what I think after coming across this same concern in Industrial Technology Multimedia (before I dropped it in June) and ultimatley I still believe this thread would be very benificial.

[beatroot]

Hello,

I am a Art student and I am just concerned that people will post photos of their major and someone else could still the idea or copy it. This would really impact their HSC so I just wanted to let you know.

Thank you

Hey there!

Just adding on what Potatohater just said above, I highly doubt anyone would steal ideas from ATARNotes as we are a community and we encourage collaborative learning on this site! People post their essays and creatives all the time on AN. If there's a problem of plagiarism, you can easily log into your account and show people that it was you who posted the pictures and that you didn't steal someone else's work.

You don't have to post your pictures on AN if you don't feel comfortable, but it is just merely a suggestion as VA is such a subjective subject (just like English) and it's better to have different viewpoints beyond your own class

If you have any more questions, please feel free to PM me

[dancing phalanges]

Just adding a different way to back up what has been already said! All Art Express works can be accessed and viewed online so if people were going to steal ideas that is where they would go as these works clearly scored well Either way, when I did my BOW I found that my work only really progressed once I started experimenting with my own ideas and focusing less on what others were doing!

[dcesaona]

Hey guys! I haven't got a solid idea for my BOW yet! I thought I did, but now I'm considering a new one. SO, I was wondering if there was a way that I could incorporate the 'Ashcan School' into my artwork. I LOVE the style of painting and the things that they choose to paint (aiming to depict the gritty parts of New York society rather than the beautiful). I was thinking, do you think it would be a good concept to use the movement's subjects and style, but I would focus more on painting 'run down' shop fronts with lonely figures standing in front of them. The problem comes with the fact that 'Ashcan' is renowned for its depictions of NEW YORK CITY, so do you think that it's still okay to take the idea and translate to Sydney nonetheless? I just don't want the markers to think it's stupid (I can picture this dialogue going on in my mind: "Oh...she attempted to emulate the style of the Ashcan movement...but in...Sydney? Not doing it for me". I'm worried ahhhhhhh.

Thank you for any of your help! 

[beatroot]

Hey guys! I haven't got a solid idea for my BOW yet! I thought I did, but now I'm considering a new one. SO, I was wondering if there was a way that I could incorporate the 'Ashcan School' into my artwork. I LOVE the style of painting and the things that they choose to paint (aiming to depict the gritty parts of New York society rather than the beautiful). I was thinking, do you think it would be a good concept to use the movement's subjects and style, but I would focus more on painting 'run down' shop fronts with lonely figures standing in front of them. The problem comes with the fact that 'Ashcan' is renowned for its depictions of NEW YORK CITY, so do you think that it's still okay to take the idea and translate to Sydney nonetheless? I just don't want the markers to think it's stupid (I can picture this dialogue going on in my mind: "Oh...she attempted to emulate the style of the Ashcan movement...but in...Sydney? Not doing it for me". I'm worried ahhhhhhh.

Thank you for any of your help! 

Hey!

I completely understand where you're coming from. I was planning on doing Van Gogh inspired paintings for my BOW at one point but got immediately rejected because my teachers didn't want me to look like a Van Gogh fangirl to the HSC markers.

I do believe it's completely fine to adopt and appropriate the techniques of the Aschan school but in terms of ideas, it does seem a bit that you're trying to copy their intent. You can still technically have the whole 'I want to show the gritty parts of Sydney' concept going in your BOW BUT it would be so much better if you had another layer of meaning on top. Why do you want to depict Sydney in this unconventional manner? Does this root back to your childhood where you learned to appreciate Sydney beyond it's pristine touristy, alluring aspect? Does this root back to your culture? Do you find satisfaction within the cracks and the underbelly of Sydney?

I'll let you decide which extra layer of meaning you want for your BOW But keen to hear your thoughts and see the progression of your BOW.

Hope this helps

[dcesaona]

Hey!

I completely understand where you're coming from. I was planning on doing Van Gogh inspired paintings for my BOW at one point but got immediately rejected because my teachers didn't want me to look like a Van Gogh fangirl to the HSC markers.

I do believe it's completely fine to adopt and appropriate the techniques of the Aschan school but in terms of ideas, it does seem a bit that you're trying to copy their intent. You can still technically have the whole 'I want to show the gritty parts of Sydney' concept going in your BOW BUT it would be so much better if you had another layer of meaning on top. Why do you want to depict Sydney in this unconventional manner? Does this root back to your childhood where you learned to appreciate Sydney beyond it's pristine touristy, alluring aspect? Does this root back to your culture? Do you find satisfaction within the cracks and the underbelly of Sydney?

I'll let you decide which extra layer of meaning you want for your BOW But keen to hear your thoughts and see the progression of your BOW.

Hope this helps

Thanks for this! You got me thinking. I like what you said about finding satisfaction within the cracks and underbelly of Sydney. I like the idea that nothing is perfect no matter how beautiful it's exterior surface. I'm just going to have to experiment with appropriating the ashcan school techniques (the contrasting of light and dark, expressive brush strokes usually applied impasto) and Brett Amory's way of depicting lone figures waiting. Basically, I'm trying to amalgamate my two favourite artists and their techniques to fit the mould of my idea (is this a correct way of doing it? Are there faults in what I'm doing?)

[beatroot]

Thanks for this! You got me thinking. I like what you said about finding satisfaction within the cracks and underbelly of Sydney. I like the idea that nothing is perfect no matter how beautiful it's exterior surface. I'm just going to have to experiment with appropriating the ashcan school techniques (the contrasting of light and dark, expressive brush strokes usually applied impasto) and Brett Amory's way of depicting lone figures waiting. Basically, I'm trying to amalgamate my two favourite artists and their techniques to fit the mould of my idea (is this a correct way of doing it? Are there faults in what I'm doing?)

No worries! This is just a lil suggestion but you should go read this book called 'The Life of Crimes of Harry Lavender' by Marele Day. If you happen to do Standard English and this is your text for Mod B, then that's perfect! If not, just check out little excerpts from the book. It involves a lot of commentary on Sydney's seedy underbelly and it might help a bit with your BOW

Completely fine to adopt both techniques into your work as long as your concept is not a carbon copy of their intentions (-though since you are planning to do the whole concept of finding satisfaction within the cracks and the underbelly of Sydney, this is quite original so I believe that you're on the right track)

[dcesaona]

No worries! This is just a lil suggestion but you should go read this book called 'The Life of Crimes of Harry Lavender' by Marele Day. If you happen to do Standard English and this is your text for Mod B, then that's perfect! If not, just check out little excerpts from the book. It involves a lot of commentary on Sydney's seedy underbelly and it might help a bit with your BOW

Completely fine to adopt both techniques into your work as long as your concept is not a carbon copy of their intentions (-though since you are planning to do the whole concept of finding satisfaction within the cracks and the underbelly of Sydney, this is quite original so I believe that you're on the right track)

I took photos just yesterday and I got some really cool shots! I found a derelict petrol station covered in graffiti and a man sitting on his balcony smoking with a 'for lease' sign under him so those are pretty cool, and they're really interesting too! I'm still figuring out the composition of the works but I was wondering if you think this is a good idea: So I will have one big canvas, that will be the centre piece of my BOW, depicting one of those shots I took last night (that I just mentioned) and around the big canvas will be smaller canvases that depict more intimate things like a sign on a wall or crate boxes stacked in wonky piles... Do you think that would work? Or would 3 big canvases of equal size be more impactful?

Also, I was wondering what you think of when I say "the cracks and underbelly of Sydney"? I just want to get a more well-rounded view of what others perceive to be the cracks in Sydney.

Thank you so much for all your help! I really do appreciate it! 

[beatroot]

I took photos just yesterday and I got some really cool shots! I found a derelict petrol station covered in graffiti and a man sitting on his balcony smoking with a 'for lease' sign under him so those are pretty cool, and they're really interesting too! I'm still figuring out the composition of the works but I was wondering if you think this is a good idea: So I will have one big canvas, that will be the centre piece of my BOW, depicting one of those shots I took last night (that I just mentioned) and around the big canvas will be smaller canvases that depict more intimate things like a sign on a wall or crate boxes stacked in wonky piles... Do you think that would work? Or would 3 big canvases of equal size be more impactful?

Also, I was wondering what you think of when I say "the cracks and underbelly of Sydney"? I just want to get a more well-rounded view of what others perceive to be the cracks in Sydney.

Thank you so much for all your help! I really do appreciate it! 

For the composition for your canvasses, again this all depends on you and your intentions. Don't just do three big canvasses or one big canvas with small ones surrounding it just for the aesthetic value. Look at the big picture here in conceptual terms. If you were to do three big canvasses; why do you think they're more impactful? What does the number of canvasses stand for? If you were to do one big canvas with smaller ones; what will be in the big ones and what will be in the small ones? Are you trying to compare and contrast the sizes of the different cracks in Sydney? Why should the intimate things be in a smaller canvas? Can they not be depicted on the bigger canvas instead? What meaning and intent are you trying to portray if you were to do this? However in terms of practical terms, are you willing to paint three big canvasses or one big canvas and smaller ones? For my BOW, I used small canvasses and put them altogether to create one big painting as my artist of influence did the same thing for their practice but also this meant it was easier for transportation. I know dancing phalanges did a painting for their body of work as well and they did three massive paintings and had small photos on the side. You can check out our paintings in this thread here. Hopefully our BOW journey recap can give you a slight idea on which direction to head in. But coming from me, I honestly think you should use a composition where you are most comfortable with.

As for the 'cracks and underbelly of Sydney' (this is coming from a realllyy biased opinion), I mentioned the book 'The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender' in my last post and I studied it for my Mod B text last year. The book just kept saying how Sydney had an alluring facade which covered up Sydney's underbelly and the many crimelords (in particular the antagonist Harry Lavender himself) but as well as the corruption found within the law system, the police, the price of technology (kinda good at first but can kill you at times etc.), the role and status of men and many more. But definitely get more opinions from other people (especially those who haven't read The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender aha) because the cracks and underbelly is such an abstract concept- you can practically head into whatever direction you would like with that statement.

No worries and good luck with the rest of your BOW

[EclipseApocalypse]

Okay here's my BOW that I'm working on rn, there's a lot of information I want to convey but I'm 100% sure I will miss or skim over because I will probably forget as I'm writing so feel free to ask me questions!

Potential titles: Mind map, In hindsite (the one I liked the best), trip down memory lane

Size of artwork: https://imgur.com/XsXHgT7  4m x 1.5m with a 15 cm border around which i will cut off later

Mediums: Watercolour, inkjet print transfer, pen and ink

vommitting out my idea: My BOW idea is that memories are subjective, convoluted and complex and how individuals combine details from separate experiences to form different memories. This will be represented in my composition consisting of my memories from both Hong Kong and Sydney where I grew up. My work is quite large scale to overwhelm the audience who will view its entirety as an abstracted blur much like how we reminisce on past experiences, hence forcing them to examine closely to have an intimate view into my 'world' which could also elicit familiar memories they have with from my own. I am using watercolour as it is quite fluid and can reflect the nature of these memories in how they can conform, distort, be vague and flow but also having pen and ink as well as inkjet transfer prints to anchor parts of the composition as these mediums are bolder acting as firmer memories, the different scenes are painted within a very convoluted road map sort of composition with the roads leading the audience's eyes through the piece (i decided to not do anything to the road in terms of writing or painting them black or grey as this is too literal and I still want the audience to interpret the 'roads' to their own choosing ie. they could be roots of a plant which can still convey a similar idea) anyways back on track, the negative space that is not the 'roads' themselves will be where the scenes are painted, in some parts they can overlap and merge to create either still cohesive or entire abstract scenes (again going back to the nature of memory) sorry for rambling but I'm trying to get it down so I can in future reference this if i need to for my artist statement, pretty sure I miss out on some parts explaining my idea so feel free to ask any questions!

Idea of what it will look like: roadmap with a patchwork https://imgur.com/83UUvxc of elements of cityscapes/scenes rendered in a imperfect watercolour pen and ink style such as this https://imgur.com/2BtRGpi some parts will be abstracted, overlap, get pastiche-y

Influencing artists:
Sohei Nishino's diorama maps
David Hockney's photo-joiners
Ilit Azoulay (came across this artist when my teacher was giving us a practice exam, her 'shifting degrees of certainty' was very similar to my idea https://imgur.com/a/33MlygH imagine the negative spaces in that installation as the roads in my artwork and the photos in the frames as my scenes)
Artists that paint those scenes of suburbs with watercolour and pen and ink

Things I originally had in mind that I changed:
- Wanted to have the paper cut into two scrolls to further emphasise on Chinese heritage but my art teacher felt it didnt really add anything conceptually other than that and I agreed with her so I am planning to cut it into 4-5 panels and get those professionally mounted onto foam-core

Other notes:
-May have to make some scenes obviously associated with Sydney and Hong Kong for markers to realise they are of those places
-Since my artwork is stuck to a wall, the watercolour tends to drip down when I'm painting but I think i can accomodate to this can use the drip effect to my advantage and link it back to memories

[beatroot]

Okay here's my BOW that I'm working on rn, there's a lot of information I want to convey but I'm 100% sure I will miss or skim over because I will probably forget as I'm writing so feel free to ask me questions!

This sounds like an AMAZING BOW EclipseApocalypse! Can't wait to see the rest of your BOW flourish in the next few months

[priyanka.sharma13]

Hi, almost a month until BOW is due and even though my art teacher has been giving me positive feedback on my work, i feel like I'm not expressing my concept through my work and it's scaring me out!

[beatroot]

Hi, almost a month until BOW is due and even though my art teacher has been giving me positive feedback on my work, i feel like I'm not expressing my concept through my work and it's scaring me out!

Hey there!

Welcome to the forums In what way do you think you're not expressing your concept enough through your work? Surely the positive feedback must mean something. However, we are always here to help What is your concept and what medium are you using?