Emma Jordan
Critical Reflection
This section will identify experiences throughout Term 1 that have triggered questions to consider in my practice, further explorations in the studio, and ideas or perspectives of which have made an impact on my artistic outlook..
Elemental: A Love Letter to Light and Sound
Light thoughts I have thoroughly enjoyed you.
For you come in many forms and bend into many more.
Pushing through my iris, pushing through a lens.
Dancing in perpetuity, until energy's end.
Theres something familiar in this unfamiliar space.
Where you reflect and refract around forms untraced,
How you are the same who blankets the summer child,
stretches every mile and touches every face.
Deliver yourself gently through liquid scorched sand,
feel the heat of radiance against your hand.
Parading between, around, beneath and above,
paired with the echo of form whereof.
There is no darkness, only the absence of you.
where edges become soft, and boundary-less too,
until I'll rely on your companion to guide me,
your absence challenging, disrupted, way-finding.
Though she follows you, mimicking and playing.
ringing or mute.
noticing every shift and plain,
she's composing for you.
Your energy she feels and sings in delight,
hand in hand, and bite for bite,
those who know you,
would say you're a match,
of rainbow prisms, harmonious catch.
Light Thoughts in Familiar Spaces- Helen Maurer
Workshop
Emma Jordan, Júlia Mazzoni, and Zhengwen Chen, Projection Study II, 2023
Emma Jordan, Júlia Mazzoni, and Zhengwen Chen, Projection Study II, 2023
Emma Jordan, Júlia Mazzoni, and Zhengwen Chen, Projection Study I (Projected View) , 2023
Emma Jordan, Júlia Mazzoni, and Zhengwen Chen, Projection Study I (Projector View), 2023
VPR - Martín Del Busto
Talk
The emphasis in which I interpreted during this talk laid heavily on the prefix of "Re-" when discussing artistic decisions, habits, presentations, and lenses, in which to view work in progress, documentation, and information. The talk was laid out categorically under the subheadings of the "Re-" prefix, something I found interesting. This style of giving information and presenting work felt more logical and easily separated views of ideas. It not only provided the image of the work but an overall feeling towards the process behind it.
After attending this session, I was intrigued by how differently I viewed my own processes and finished works when using the "Re-" prefix as a starting place to identify characteristics about it and decided to created a list of as many words possible in this way. I will be referring to this list in the future with my own work to analyze processes in consideration more deeply. already I have noticed 'Repetition' being a large point in my work, and Martín had also included repetition as how he presented the work in a way he felt made the audience view it more in depth for both image and sound.
Upon finishing my own list (Left) of "Re-" words, I was immediately reminded of Richard
Serra's "Verb List" (Below)
remove
reuse
reinterpret
reimagine
reconsider
redesign
rearrange
redo
resize
reorient
recover
reclaim
react
remodel
rematch
rephrase
return
repeat
renew
reiterate
replay
rehearse
refashion
regenerate
replicate
reenact
reinvent
reword
retry
recuperate
rethink
relay
reassess
record
recede
recite
replenish
reconcile
retell
reassign
reassemble
reveal
revive
repackage
recount
repay
restore
research
reconfirm
rediscover
recalculate
readjust
reenter
regain
reabsorb
readmit
repurpose
reform
rehash
return
reintend
remark
rehang
redraw
recoil
rectify
reject
reflex
refer
reemit
represent
release
regrow
redefine
recognize
remember
reduce
recycle
reintroduce
retest
redress
regress
rewatch
rest
reface
refilm
refill
retire
retort
rescind
revolt
refeul
refine
reopen
redact
reflect
readapt
rebut
retract
retreat
reshoot
respect
restart
recruit
redraft
revisit
recommit
redirect
reallott
repel
reenact
reconstruct
replace
realign
recall
resettle
reattach
revamp
Martín Del Busto at Making Conversations Show giving Artist Talk. 2023
Richard Serra,Verb List,1967
During the Printmaking intensive we were focussing on the image and the many ways to translate, manipulate and alter the original while also learning about different printing processes that we can use to our advantage. I began with a Dom Perignon ad collaborating with Lady Gaga and team of contemporary dancers. I have not worked with the human figure in a long time, so I was interested in how I can take the pose in the ad (right) and transform its qualities into a print that encapsulates characteristics already in my practice.
we began with relief print, practicing carving out a lino block in the same manner as the original image. (below left). After the first few prints on the press and by hand, I had the opportunity to try monoprint.
The intention was to layer the group of dancers overlapping one another to create an even larger cohort, almost unidentifiable from one another, tangled and crossing three group poses, tied into one.
As someone who often layers by powders and carbon materials, it was a challenge not to see each layer beneath the one I was working on, and to keep in mind what they would look like once amalgamated. Mainly this was because of the use of coloured inks. I find comfort in working in black and white, however took this opportunity to try colour and experiment (bottom right).
Emma Jordan, Dom Pérignon Response, Relief Print, 2023
Emma Jordan, Incantation, Monoprint, 2023
Mediating the Image- Transformations through process and material.
A 3-Day Image Making Project
Lady Gaga x Dom Pérignon, a Poetic Encounter Between Icons, Vogue Magazine Dec 2023 edition
Emma Jordan, Dancing Ensemble, Monoprint, 2023
In A401 I was taught to roll ink onto a large wooden board, to print by scratching and pressing into the back of a sheet laid face down onto it. I have never done this before and thoroughly enjoyed the process, and will be adding it to my practice in the future.
The thought process for the two prints done in this manner (Both Left) was that I could include the tracings of the figures from the previous prints by laying them on top of the sheet I was scratching into and take a skewer to follow along the limbs of the dancers. I repeated this process in many different places and orientations, while also emphasizing the reoccurring form in my works throughout the term, a scalloped edge pattern created by the tops of fingerprints and by pushing through paper until it busts open.
I quickly learned about the ghostly drawing you can see beneath on print from the one prior too, which I found very interesting, as it added texture and depth I didn't think of when creating the print. The top left print was created second, and contains elements from the print below it in the background and negative space.
In the end, I had taken the original image, and reduced it from the 3 dimensional quality of a photograph, to 2 dimensions, simplifying the forms, multiplied the content in one print by tripling the dancers and modifying their poses, added colour, changed the scale to much larger, added texture and space not present originally, and fragmented pieces of the pose to expand across the entirely new print, abstracting the ad so much that it is no longer traceable from original to final print.
Emma Jordan, Invocation, Monoprint, 2023
Pop-Up Critique with Yu-Chen Wang
On the last day before Winter break, we had the opportunity to have a group critique with Yu-Chen in the drawing studio.
Here are the 3 most important concepts and feedback I took from the gathering:.
Firstly, I can push my work much further in regards to material exploration, trying something other than paper to form a stronger understanding of material choices with the processes that I am currently using, even if that means coming back to paper with a more well rounded outlook. The way light shines through it or reflects off of it can shift with the material choice, and I believe I need to consider that more in the future since I know I would like to emphasize light more.
Light was another key topic for most of the room, including my own work, and how we can use light to our advantage in staged scenarios using technical lighting and light boxes, but also knowing the space and how light travels through it naturally. For example, Júlia Mazzoni's work. Her line drawn portraits connected by sightline (right) was shown opposite an exterior window. While during the pop-up show the lighting was all studio overhead, when we arrived for the critique in the morning, the light was completely different and casting shapes and forms onto her work, which made an entirely different feel. Because there are many small holes in my own work, I feel this is necessary to think about in the future when making exhibition and documentation decisions.
Finally, not only focussing on your own work, but including the entire room when critiquing, creating and exhibiting work with others is an important aspect to making a cohesive show and in analyzing our work.
Work Pictured done by Júlia Mazzoni
Work Pictured done by Júlia Mazzoni
Emma Jordan, Black Layered Form. 2023
Emma Jordan, White Paper Roll, 5ft continually growing length. 2023
Features work By Noah Mclean (Left wall: round wire portrait),Vár Samuelsen (Bottom Left: Metal Sculpture) Zhengwen Chen (Sculpture on Plinth, Work on right wall, and Dome above)