The second being the Penguin Student Design Competition.  I did an entry for the Steven Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” book. It was a painting acrylic background with planets printed onto tracing paper and placed. I haven’t quite finished it but the deadline has yet to pass so I’m still good for time. I could just add the text and call it done now but I want to repaint a good few galaxies and rearrange the planets better for that. 

I think painting some galaxies will be a great way to destress after my hand in. 

Live Briefs I submitted work to two of the briefs the first being the V&A. I painted this piece for no real reason and I can’t really tell you what I was thinking other than I wanted to paint a person, ice cream and then put them in space ? I haven’t...
Live Briefs I submitted work to two of the briefs the first being the V&A. I painted this piece for no real reason and I can’t really tell you what I was thinking other than I wanted to paint a person, ice cream and then put them in space ? I haven’t...
Live Briefs I submitted work to two of the briefs the first being the V&A. I painted this piece for no real reason and I can’t really tell you what I was thinking other than I wanted to paint a person, ice cream and then put them in space ? I haven’t...

Live Briefs

I submitted work to two of the briefs the first being the V&A. I painted this piece for no real reason and I can’t really tell you what I was thinking other than I wanted to paint a person, ice cream and then put them in space ? I haven’t really done an oil painting since sixth form so I was glad with how it turned out.

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Conclusion

I’m pleased with the prints and merch I created. I learnt a lot of new printing techniques which was cool. I spent a lot of time on my dissertation, so much so that I didn’t really leave a lot of time for the actual project, as I would have liked to try and make more of a point with my newfound printings abilities. It’s just such a rich subject it captured more of my attention. But I wanted maybe to make more of a statement about the effects of the commodification of activist art but in the end I just used my feminist images. I’m really proud of how they came out but I feel in the end I just created more of an homage to them rather than added my own voice in with my work.

If I were to do this project again I would try  and make more of my research bleed into the images I created to make people see my dissertation translated into imagery. Maybe try and do more to subvert the culture of commodification. That being said I learnt a lot around the subject and in creating new images and I hope to take these skills into my Final Major Project.

I coloured the other eye of my Daruma Doll as I completed my goal, hopefully that brings me good luck. 

Also just to prove they actually were stickers, surprise appearance from my Frida Kahlo drawing turned sticker. 

Dissertation is done and handed in, I would like to say it’s a relief but I still have a lot of work to do.
Dissertation is done and handed in, I would like to say it’s a relief but I still have a lot of work to do.
Dissertation is done and handed in, I would like to say it’s a relief but I still have a lot of work to do.

Dissertation is done and handed in, I would like to say it’s a relief but I still have a lot of work to do. 

And liked the process so much I brought a bunch of blank tote bags and printed on those.

I even tried with the lino prints to see what would happen: 

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I like how it came out, not sure if you can wash it though. 

Making Merch

After I finished printing everything I thought about moving them away from quick prints into commercial products. I printed out stickers with the images on, first paper stickers then stickers on clear plastic.

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I then created badges, since badges have always been a part of protest culture. 

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(Yes this an old toy from the early 2000s)

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Then I got a little more ambitious and printed one on old t shirts of mine.

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Changing the Context

I purposefully kept the text on these posters quite vague, similarly to those “political” feminism shirts at high street retailers. They are saying or fighting for anything in particular, just a vague nod to the trendy discourse of the day. I wanted to do a similar thing to show how easy it is to jump from protest posters to the commercial realm. So I want to change the context from activism to commodification and the way I’m going to try and do that is through print.

Instead of easily distributed posters, I’m going to make merchandise.

Quick experiment with one of the prints…
Quick experiment with one of the prints…
Quick experiment with one of the prints…

Quick experiment with one of the prints…