Ideas started coming together again today during my swim. 2500m in a 50 m pool - 5 x 10 lengths.
In my literature review, I have decided to review Schwartz's Theory of Basic Values, followed by some stuff on masculinist values, women being associated with a single value (caring).
In the body of the work, I'd like to do a case study, where I review the new 20th century Gallery at the National Portrait Gallery to see how the new hanging fits with the policy criteria for this gallery (which they specify) and their Collections Policy. I have a suspicion that, although the new hanging is better than the last one (for a variety of reasons), it does not represent women equally favourably as men. I'd also like to consider the media of the imagery for its gender match.
Wednesday, 8 November 2017
Monday, 6 November 2017
Exploring my Abstract for my Literature Review
I went for a swim after class and the thoughts started to come together. Tomorrow's session is the first writing practice. I don't know whether to be delighted or scared.
I've been reading about Nancy Hartsock's Situated Knowledge which basically says all knowledge comes from the perspective of the individual, therefore is partial and conflicting. I want my literature review to cover this ground to try to identify what values are formed and held by women, but at present my reading only indicates that these gender specific knowledges are present, not what they typically are about. So not only do I need to explore Situated Knowledge but also I'd like to identify some specific fields of situated knowledge (like Gilligan - women typically operate with an ethics of caring). I think I'd like to identify 3 fields of Situated Knowledge. I was reading another (political) article which said women were more likely to support government policies that focussed on education and health care, so maybe these might be my next two areas of Value that are associated with women.
So my slightly amended abstract for the literature review is:
"The aim of this literature review is to explore why, what and how women value other women. The time range has been restricted to the last 30 years - 1987 to date. The literature review uses the concept of Situated Knowledge to identify values associated with women. It aims to identify different methodologies by which women's values have been explored, and to consider how the outcome of the research is impacted by the method. Further analysis will take place to identify how the values of women have been represented in art, by women, with examples of media which have a materiality that resonates with the subject."
I've been reading about Nancy Hartsock's Situated Knowledge which basically says all knowledge comes from the perspective of the individual, therefore is partial and conflicting. I want my literature review to cover this ground to try to identify what values are formed and held by women, but at present my reading only indicates that these gender specific knowledges are present, not what they typically are about. So not only do I need to explore Situated Knowledge but also I'd like to identify some specific fields of situated knowledge (like Gilligan - women typically operate with an ethics of caring). I think I'd like to identify 3 fields of Situated Knowledge. I was reading another (political) article which said women were more likely to support government policies that focussed on education and health care, so maybe these might be my next two areas of Value that are associated with women.
So my slightly amended abstract for the literature review is:
"The aim of this literature review is to explore why, what and how women value other women. The time range has been restricted to the last 30 years - 1987 to date. The literature review uses the concept of Situated Knowledge to identify values associated with women. It aims to identify different methodologies by which women's values have been explored, and to consider how the outcome of the research is impacted by the method. Further analysis will take place to identify how the values of women have been represented in art, by women, with examples of media which have a materiality that resonates with the subject."
Writing Week Day 1
Researching PhD Through Writing
Research is a process through to writing.
Read, research, analyse, write.
Important to write as you go.
Read widely.
Group your articles
Mind map - colour code what is ideas from your reading, and your thoughts about them
Don't think of your writing as an object, an end product.
Think about what you want to argue. Not about the text as an end product, but how to produce it. It's about creating the knowledge.
Write all the time. Your ideas/focus will change from what you put in your proposal, to what you put in the Masters/PhD.
Book - Writing Your PhD in 15 minutes a day.
Pre-writing and Playful Writing.
Keep notes on what you have read, what your opinions were. Play with ideas. Define the problem. Find conflicting arguments. Use the polemic and find your position.
Re-drafting
Streamline by argument and iterative process. Get some structure.
Revise
Get the structure right. Sequential order. Linear process of points in argument.
Editing
Grammar, punctuation, spelling. Minor alterations only.
Find daily writing time. Same time/place. Get into a discipline of writing every day.
I think I do this - sometimes on my blog, but also in my exhibition book.
Start an Annotated Bibliography
1. Citation details
2. Statement of main focus
3. Argument/theory?
4. Limitations of paper (identify the gaps)
5. Your evaluation of fit/non fit with your research.
Free Writing
This enables you to separate the creative ideas from the dross, while preventing the editorial mind from removing creative/unstructured bits because they aren't obviously useful. Then review a few days later to pick out the gems. I think I do this anyway via my blog.
How Experienced Writers Revise - George Ttroouli
You are looking to find your niche in relation to other known stuff.
When reviewing your work, continually revise - look at your Research Question, what are you doing, which way are you going next?
Guide the way you make decisions about what next by setting limits to your scope and checking them continually.
Create your abstract. What does your framing achieve?
Useful book - Writing your Journal Article in 12 weeks - Belcher. Useful techniques.
Be brave enough to discard. Understand the 'why' for the need to change.
1. Set own measures - be clear about the purpose of each paragraph/chapter.
2. Recognise the emotional side to intellectual work.
3. Invent (your questions)
Plan
Draft
Revise (macro changes)
Edit (micro changes - don't do this earlier as it is a waste of effort when you subsequently revise it)
Then there was a bit that I was not clear about. We were talking about the first few lines - but I'm not sure whether this was about the whole thesis or an article or a chapter? Define your terms. In the literature review or the chapter? Outline the conceptual processes of article. Keep narrowing the direction of the chapter. WYSIWYG. What you see is what you get.
Signpost your writing. At the start: This will do ..... At the end: Having done ... I move to ...
Science theses have standardised structure:
Introduction (purpose, literature review)
Methodology
Research
Analysis
Discussion.
Subheadings are part of the signposting.
Art subjects less clear/more flexible. But no actual direction given!
Paragraphs are 3 stage structures. Point, evidence, analysis.
I enjoyed the day, but feel both sessions were very brief overviews, with too much input with very little actual practice or understanding gained.
Research is a process through to writing.
Read, research, analyse, write.
Important to write as you go.
Read widely.
Group your articles
Mind map - colour code what is ideas from your reading, and your thoughts about them
Don't think of your writing as an object, an end product.
Think about what you want to argue. Not about the text as an end product, but how to produce it. It's about creating the knowledge.
Write all the time. Your ideas/focus will change from what you put in your proposal, to what you put in the Masters/PhD.
Book - Writing Your PhD in 15 minutes a day.
Pre-writing and Playful Writing.
Keep notes on what you have read, what your opinions were. Play with ideas. Define the problem. Find conflicting arguments. Use the polemic and find your position.
Re-drafting
Streamline by argument and iterative process. Get some structure.
Revise
Get the structure right. Sequential order. Linear process of points in argument.
Editing
Grammar, punctuation, spelling. Minor alterations only.
Find daily writing time. Same time/place. Get into a discipline of writing every day.
I think I do this - sometimes on my blog, but also in my exhibition book.
Start an Annotated Bibliography
1. Citation details
2. Statement of main focus
3. Argument/theory?
4. Limitations of paper (identify the gaps)
5. Your evaluation of fit/non fit with your research.
Free Writing
This enables you to separate the creative ideas from the dross, while preventing the editorial mind from removing creative/unstructured bits because they aren't obviously useful. Then review a few days later to pick out the gems. I think I do this anyway via my blog.
How Experienced Writers Revise - George Ttroouli
You are looking to find your niche in relation to other known stuff.
When reviewing your work, continually revise - look at your Research Question, what are you doing, which way are you going next?
Guide the way you make decisions about what next by setting limits to your scope and checking them continually.
Create your abstract. What does your framing achieve?
Useful book - Writing your Journal Article in 12 weeks - Belcher. Useful techniques.
Be brave enough to discard. Understand the 'why' for the need to change.
1. Set own measures - be clear about the purpose of each paragraph/chapter.
2. Recognise the emotional side to intellectual work.
3. Invent (your questions)
Plan
Draft
Revise (macro changes)
Edit (micro changes - don't do this earlier as it is a waste of effort when you subsequently revise it)
Then there was a bit that I was not clear about. We were talking about the first few lines - but I'm not sure whether this was about the whole thesis or an article or a chapter? Define your terms. In the literature review or the chapter? Outline the conceptual processes of article. Keep narrowing the direction of the chapter. WYSIWYG. What you see is what you get.
Signpost your writing. At the start: This will do ..... At the end: Having done ... I move to ...
Science theses have standardised structure:
Introduction (purpose, literature review)
Methodology
Research
Analysis
Discussion.
Subheadings are part of the signposting.
Art subjects less clear/more flexible. But no actual direction given!
Paragraphs are 3 stage structures. Point, evidence, analysis.
I enjoyed the day, but feel both sessions were very brief overviews, with too much input with very little actual practice or understanding gained.
Sunday, 5 November 2017
20th Century Gallery at National Portrait Gallery
I had a very interesting trip to the NPG. The 20th Century Gallery has been in the same format for about 15 years. They have had a rehang, closing off the windows on one side, thereby giving a lot more wall space for hanging, and dedicated lighting that is constant and not impacted by moving shadows caused by daylight. It's meant to represent inspirational pioneers, in a century of tremendous change.
This rehung gallery had 4 types of media represented - oil on canvas, black and white photos, cigarette cards and sculpture (head and shoulder busts). While the NPG is a gallery with conservative media, its Collections Policy states it is seeking to represent a wider selection of British people (and is aware of its under-representation of women and ethnic minorities) and to use a wider range of media. In my opinion, the media displayed in this gallery, seems to be more aligned with the male. Cigarette cards in particular would associate with men. So why no textiles?
It has been hung chronologically - 1900-1913, WW1, Interwar years, and WW2 and post war years to 1990. I only had the stamina to look at the first 3 sections, before I ran out of energy.
1900-1913 - I had seen a lot of these images before - lots of Charleston group artists and writers, suffragettes, (therefore good representation of women).
The WW1 images were heavy on representation of men, with three famous, huge, images of Army Generals, Navy leaders, and Parliamentary Statesmen. However there were also black and white photos of army people (I think who subsequently were the first armed forces who flew planes, i.e. before the RAF had formed) and cigarette cards. These were interesting - donated by a former director of NPG who had a large private collection. There were 6 cigarette cards, representing army and navy, old and young servicemen from Scotland, Ireland, England and Australia. There was also imagery of the first men to gain a double VC. Only one image of a woman nursing orderly, and one of an Indian soldier - both of which I have seen before (so obviously the paintings that get used to represent these groups).
I went into the Interwar section, and there were plenty of women represented - 33% - so not in line with population, but much better than usually represented. I need to go back and look again but my impression is that the women were artists, politicians, economists or significant in their own right e.g. aviators. Quite a few images noted that the sitter was of Polish Jewish origin, so migrant status could be inferred, although very few other minorities were apparent (e.g. Britten and Pears - gay men).
What was interesting was what was not there. Women were not represented as charming, beautiful, or sexualised. No nudes or partially clad bodies. Women were not represented as the sidekick of a significant man. Limited representation of the Royal Family - nothing of Elizabeth II subsequent to her accession or of her offspring or extended family. Representation of royalty was done via large old images of Edward VII and family when George V was a boy, a young Edward VIII (when Prince of Wales) in WW1 army uniform, George VI (who would not strike a royal pose) and George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and Elizabeth & Margaret as a family. Definitely playing on family and service. Nothing about modern Royals. Very little about celebrity.
I'm going to finish my analysis on my next trip and see what the driving forces are for representation. So far the men seem to be portrayed on grounds of status and heroism, but I can't work out what the women were portrayed for. Status in their own right? For being innovators in their field? But this seems to be entertainment or typically male roles e.g. aviator. Nothing about being valued for being a woman. Watch this space.
This rehung gallery had 4 types of media represented - oil on canvas, black and white photos, cigarette cards and sculpture (head and shoulder busts). While the NPG is a gallery with conservative media, its Collections Policy states it is seeking to represent a wider selection of British people (and is aware of its under-representation of women and ethnic minorities) and to use a wider range of media. In my opinion, the media displayed in this gallery, seems to be more aligned with the male. Cigarette cards in particular would associate with men. So why no textiles?
It has been hung chronologically - 1900-1913, WW1, Interwar years, and WW2 and post war years to 1990. I only had the stamina to look at the first 3 sections, before I ran out of energy.
1900-1913 - I had seen a lot of these images before - lots of Charleston group artists and writers, suffragettes, (therefore good representation of women).
The WW1 images were heavy on representation of men, with three famous, huge, images of Army Generals, Navy leaders, and Parliamentary Statesmen. However there were also black and white photos of army people (I think who subsequently were the first armed forces who flew planes, i.e. before the RAF had formed) and cigarette cards. These were interesting - donated by a former director of NPG who had a large private collection. There were 6 cigarette cards, representing army and navy, old and young servicemen from Scotland, Ireland, England and Australia. There was also imagery of the first men to gain a double VC. Only one image of a woman nursing orderly, and one of an Indian soldier - both of which I have seen before (so obviously the paintings that get used to represent these groups).
I went into the Interwar section, and there were plenty of women represented - 33% - so not in line with population, but much better than usually represented. I need to go back and look again but my impression is that the women were artists, politicians, economists or significant in their own right e.g. aviators. Quite a few images noted that the sitter was of Polish Jewish origin, so migrant status could be inferred, although very few other minorities were apparent (e.g. Britten and Pears - gay men).
What was interesting was what was not there. Women were not represented as charming, beautiful, or sexualised. No nudes or partially clad bodies. Women were not represented as the sidekick of a significant man. Limited representation of the Royal Family - nothing of Elizabeth II subsequent to her accession or of her offspring or extended family. Representation of royalty was done via large old images of Edward VII and family when George V was a boy, a young Edward VIII (when Prince of Wales) in WW1 army uniform, George VI (who would not strike a royal pose) and George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and Elizabeth & Margaret as a family. Definitely playing on family and service. Nothing about modern Royals. Very little about celebrity.
I'm going to finish my analysis on my next trip and see what the driving forces are for representation. So far the men seem to be portrayed on grounds of status and heroism, but I can't work out what the women were portrayed for. Status in their own right? For being innovators in their field? But this seems to be entertainment or typically male roles e.g. aviator. Nothing about being valued for being a woman. Watch this space.
Friday, 3 November 2017
Exhibition books
I've been photographing my exhibition books - of which there are about 6 now. I first started keeping them purely to 'do as I was told' in order to be a good student. I was told to record my attendance at exhibitions on two facing pages of an A5 notebook - name of exhibition, date, location; a postcard, a drawing and notes on what occurred to you while looking at the exhibition. It has become an essential tool for me being a student.
I note down what occurred to me when looking at the exhibition - usually around the idea of "how does this exhibition represent women?" And sometimes years later, I look back at the book and realise those fleeting thoughts actually picked up on something critical. I use these books all the time and they often give me pointers to my current work, years after they were drawn. My best exhibition book pages always have my drawings on them.
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| Pitt Rivers Museum, thinking about labelling work and how it shows the thought processes/preconceived ideas/assumptions of the curator. |
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| National Portrait Gallery museum, WW1 exhibition, identifying that Officers were named, decorated, clean, fully suited-and-booted; whereas ordinary people were unnamed, possibly dead, generic types |
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| British Museum, Vikings exhibition. Packed exhibition with entry times 10 minutes apart and I tucked into a tiny corner with my stool, to be able to draw. |
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| Foundling Museum, Grayson Perry tapestry. I had to draw part of the tapestry before I realised it was a classical reference - the artist's self portrait is in the mirror. |
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| Foundling Museum. Grayson Perry tapestry. Part of the 6 tapestry Class and Status series. |
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| Smithsonian Museum - Happy memories of sitting in the atrium drawing the environment , while waiting for the free tour. |
Wednesday, 1 November 2017
Tutorial with Jill
We discussed how my literature review was coming on. Jill was ok with the 4 main articles I had chosen, but explained that during the 2000 word review I would end up referring to probably 40 articles. I'm having a good time reading around Nancy Hartsock, Donna Haraway, Sandra Harding, Carol Gilligan. I was reading Situated Knowledge by Donna Haraway on the train.
Literature Review purpose: to read, digest, and summarise. Not to come up with any conclusions of my own yet). This forms the basis of the MRes report, but will be expanded over the next 2 years.
Grounded theory - start with information gathering and having one's own suspicions/line of enquiry.
Information and suspicions/enquiry
leads to data gathering by
Research and reading
Interviews with candidates
Archive searches
Review all the above
Which helps formulate Clear Questions
Which returns to the beginning of the loop - informed literature search.
Look at Donald Schon - the Reflective Practitioner
Merlaut-Ponty - Phenomonology
Julia Negus on FB
Madeline Atkins.
I showed Jill the format of my note taking (hard copy) and she thought this was well thought through. The notes will end up in secure digital format, but I want the hard copy for back up. She said I needed to keep my research private until my MRes was completed, so I might need to take my blog off my website.
I also showed Jill some of my artwork from my recent classes. I'm linking the techniques of art (cutting) with Aunt Joan's key skills (dressmaking, glovemaking, flower arranging) by cutting into paper, and making Linocuts. I've mastered taking photos on my new iPhone which is useful during the tute, but I've not yet mastered where the images are stored, or how to upload them to this blog. (Another learning need!)
I'm going to be in Coventry all next week - despite my mess up on booking the Research Week seminars, I've been allocated a place on every seminar because others have dropped out.
After the tutorial, I went home via the London Transport Museum and looked at the Poster Girls exhibition. Very interesting. In the 1920s and 1930s, Frank Pick was a forward thinking company chairman who was way ahead of his time - he employed women artists alongside male artists to create posters to drive demand for train services, by advertising services to the leisure market so trains were used in the off peak (nothing changes - LUL only advertises off peak services to this day as the system is at capacity in the peak). Interesting facts included women being commissioned to create posters for sporting events (for men), and not being limited to posters of flowers (women used to be restricted to drawing flowers). The exhibition noted that women were paid less than men for the same work. Lovely posters and an enjoyable exhibition.
Literature Review purpose: to read, digest, and summarise. Not to come up with any conclusions of my own yet). This forms the basis of the MRes report, but will be expanded over the next 2 years.
Grounded theory - start with information gathering and having one's own suspicions/line of enquiry.
Information and suspicions/enquiry
leads to data gathering by
Research and reading
Interviews with candidates
Archive searches
Review all the above
Which helps formulate Clear Questions
Which returns to the beginning of the loop - informed literature search.
Look at Donald Schon - the Reflective Practitioner
Merlaut-Ponty - Phenomonology
Julia Negus on FB
Madeline Atkins.
I showed Jill the format of my note taking (hard copy) and she thought this was well thought through. The notes will end up in secure digital format, but I want the hard copy for back up. She said I needed to keep my research private until my MRes was completed, so I might need to take my blog off my website.
I also showed Jill some of my artwork from my recent classes. I'm linking the techniques of art (cutting) with Aunt Joan's key skills (dressmaking, glovemaking, flower arranging) by cutting into paper, and making Linocuts. I've mastered taking photos on my new iPhone which is useful during the tute, but I've not yet mastered where the images are stored, or how to upload them to this blog. (Another learning need!)
I'm going to be in Coventry all next week - despite my mess up on booking the Research Week seminars, I've been allocated a place on every seminar because others have dropped out.
After the tutorial, I went home via the London Transport Museum and looked at the Poster Girls exhibition. Very interesting. In the 1920s and 1930s, Frank Pick was a forward thinking company chairman who was way ahead of his time - he employed women artists alongside male artists to create posters to drive demand for train services, by advertising services to the leisure market so trains were used in the off peak (nothing changes - LUL only advertises off peak services to this day as the system is at capacity in the peak). Interesting facts included women being commissioned to create posters for sporting events (for men), and not being limited to posters of flowers (women used to be restricted to drawing flowers). The exhibition noted that women were paid less than men for the same work. Lovely posters and an enjoyable exhibition.
Art class at the Shedio
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| Graphite stick and printing ink |
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| Printing ink, graphite stick and gold pen |
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| Graphite stick and printing ink |
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| Printing ink and watercolour |
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| Printing ink on drop sheet, paper pattern, stitch |
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| Printing ink and hand stitch on paper pattern |
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| Graphite stick and artbar oil pastel on paper pattern |
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| Artbar oil pastels on paper pattern |
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| Artbar oil pastels on paper pattern |
Great day at the Shedio. We were in a new studio - huge loft apartment over a barn. Still a bit cold for some students, but fine in temperature for me!
This time I worked on an interpretation of my most recent sketch at an exhibition. I had been drawing a monochrome sketch of a friend's artwork. Lori's work was oil and wax on paper, highly coloured in shades of salmon, ultramarine and white. My drawing was tonal. I was thinking about Aunt Joan and her use of cutting implements in all her activities. So I decided to make an interpretation of this sketch by cutting into Lino. I cut a piece about 2" x 5", then played around printing it with black ink and graphite stick on newsprint and paper pattern. I happily created about 12 different versions of it in class. Then at home when the prints had dried a bit more, I worked into them with watercolour, thread, and gold pen. (see above)
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