not sure if the box wall paper will overwhelm the prints, I decided to use it for the bright pastel paintings and charcoal whicj will leave the prints for the opposite wall. some of the darkly inked prints do work. It certainly needs clever layout. Very nervous. I continue to draw and photograph whilst searching for Chiquita boxes
i have been visiting, photographing and drawing in the market for nearly two months. I started with little idea of what my outcome would be, whether I had the skill to produce anything more than a bundle of sketches, hurried unfinished drawings
I have produced work that I am proud of and will continue for the next weeks before the show finessing some of my drawings, finishing them and making them presentable.
I have been looking to see if I could catch any of the essence of the market, but of course its impossible, an encyclopedia would not be suffcient to captrue the subtlities of such a place. An emil Zola or Dickens may captrure some of the characters and stroies, a cartier Bresson would capture soe of the subtle realtionships, between stall holders and subjects.
I gave a print I had made of Jay a fishmonger to him,for jay, I belive it was a shock to understand that he had been seen, that someone had noticed him in the chaotic mix of the market.
I tried bery hard to show some of the colour and nuttiness of the market wares.
my regrets are my failure to capture the interplay between peopel, I hope to improve my drawing skills, I have found some kind of rhythm but I still lack in capturing any subtlety. I leave this project with a profound gratitude to the market workers, some of whom I have got to know well, all of whom made me welcome
shepherds bush market is as diverse as anywhere in the planets, Multi coloured Brits, Sudanese, Egyptian, Afghan, Jaoanese, Punjabi and Aghani Sikhs, Nicco the fishmner is a greek orthodox Albanian. And these are the stall holders I know. Chatting with an Egyptian suitcase seller about Gaza , he siad how useful it was that the gulf arabs bankrolled gaza, otherwise he sad sadly, ..”they will all come over here, then God hlep us..”
I have a plan to print some T shirts, scourced in the market, exhbited and then returned to sell in the market. Tony, a wise and amibale Seikh who runs Bobby’s with his sister told me that no regular custoe of his would have enough money to pay for a value added souvenir T shirt”… No one has any money , we keep going for the tow months in the summer selling to Middle Eastern tourists, and they are the worst, bargining me down to the lowest margin…”
my plan to print some t shirts, scourced in the market at a local screen printer met some opposition form the market authorites. Shepherds Bush Market Lives implies that it is dying they said. OK Shepherds Bush Market stays. Lets see if I mange to get any printed.
as an elderly white male with a RP English accent Shepherds Bush market is not the easiest place to be accepted. After several weeks of daily sketching and countlerss cups of tea and long conversations I got to know some of the market and its stall holders. I teneded to work in the Northern ( Uxbridge Rd) stretch of the market
from reams of drawings and sketches I was able to produce a series of works illustrtaing aspects of market life
I printed two long panaromas of market life, using a bit of licence with geography the prints showed a variety of stalls with their stall holders and customers
I also etched en plein aire
i also worked hard to capture the essence of the market variety and decided on a simple format
I continue to draw and exmaine the market as my market protfolio grows and grows,
Nithing is better than help from my peers. We had a very consturtive day listening to eachother’s proposals for the Final Major Project(FMP), deadlines approac;, with a solid presentation by Monday 3rd June and a show to install by the 8th July. A month, effectivly 7 day,s in studio to build sets, frame and mask pictures. Finish off videos and drawings.
We wrote anyomous critiques of eachother’s work. I learnt from the critiques that for the first time I was on the right road, with a coherent argument. By 3rd June I hope to have a good slide show/powerpoint to illustrtate my arguemnts, my fidnings, my assesments and my plans for the FMP.
I have to dig deeper into the meaning of the market, the issues of trade, poverty migration, identity in my arguments
REVIEW. In Unit 1 & 2 we explored creative expression in the classical form of fine art.
From a a career as a photojournalistI found new ways of exploring my curiosities and
passions. From dry-point prints of funerals to plaster sculptures of mourning gods, I have
found new ways of expressing myself.
I was successful in my Unit 2 sculpture to find in art the capacity to express my frustration
and despair of the media images from the horror of October7th and the invasion of Gaza.
We were shown the possibilities of expression in photography and digital imaging and
manipulation. This is exciting and opens many new forms of expression for me.
A brief sculpture course crafting a terracotta head gave me an insight into form, shape,
scale and led me into exploring the three dimensions in my sculpture ‘Atlas in Gaza’
In addition, I explored colour and composition with acrylic paints and pastels,
understanding and discovering how to capture light and colour. It led me into producing a
successful triptych of panoramas with pastels on wood. This success has led me into
exploring pastels and drawing
PRoject concept
Shepherds Bush Market is a declining market in West London. It is in the early stage of a radical redevelopment, the market will be rebuilt, the stalls replaced, the project has the support of many of the stall holders, but remains controversial in the community, security guards patrol rigorously I live locally and know the market.The diverse community of stall holders and their customers interest me. I propose to spend time every week drawing and recording the market, the stall holders, their stalls, the contents, and, I hope, stories. This will be difficult; the stall holders are a diverse group, a few white British, the majority are Sikh, with people from the Middle East, Africa, Eastern and Southern Europe. It may be difficult to get their trust, and their agreement, to record their working lives. I have the permission from the Market owners and managers
The market encapsulates many of the issues of the 21st century, poverty, inequality, trade, the commercial dominance of China, migration. Shepherds Bush was a white working-class suburb, it is now a maelstrom of diverse cultures, all to be found in the market It is shabby, chaotic, but still full of life. Its shapes, angles, colour, life fascinate me, I hope to record it before it disappears.
From my drawings and photographs I am working on a series of prints and pastel drawings to reflect my impressions of the diversity of the market, not the ethnic mix but the heady cocktail of open air fishmongers, food stalls, night dress and stocking stalls, pots pans and plastic bowls. The commerce of the market depends on negotiation, it is not a priced regulated supermarket, but a free flowing social acuity with a bit of shopping on the side. I am reflecting this in a series of drypoint prints and coloured pastel drawings. The final presentation will include a multi dimensional representation of elements from a market stall
EVALUATION
Half way though my project I am feeling confident that I will be able to capture some of the essence of the market. Working in the printing and drawing studio over the last three weeks I have been encouraged by the positive criticism of my peers and tutors. I have shown some of my work in the market to general approval and agreement that it reflects some of the complexities of market life.
from the look of this print I am having a successful time in Shepherds Bush market, I am drawing twice a week in the market and getting to know the stall holders ( Market traders)
i have slowly gained the trust of the very closed market people. I have especailly been attracted to the array of goods, clothes, fabrics, watches, pots, pans, vegtables
I have been drawing on site and working on a series in the studio
and yet I struggle to see how to capture my feelings and thoughts of the market, about the market workers and their lives, the produce they sell and its story of world trade, and the aetctics of the customners and stall holders.
I am planning a series of prints, and some panamric pastels, similar to the tryptic I produced at the end of Unit2
I have also been contemplating how to capture some of the assorted chaos of the stalls and the rigid reptation of others
It is a vivid but drab, ordered chaotic, confusing place and it is probably not a surprise to myself that I am often bewidlered as to where this project is going. I have a limited amount of time, and still wonder if I should abadon monochrome for a burst of colour, should I try a collection of photgraphs, or rely on my drawings as a document. I feel very pressured in my self directed work, and a little lost. I guess this is not an unusual creative issue, we look at the complete finished work without understanding the volumes of sketch books, and destroyed fauilures that preceded them.
Review
In Unit 1 & 2 we explored creative expression in the classical form of fine art. From a background of photography and a career as a photojournalist I explored ways of expressing my curiosities and passions. From dry-point prints of funerals to plaster sculptures of mourning gods, I have found ways of expressing myself. I believe I was successful in my Unit 2 sculpture to find in art the capacity to express my frustration and despair of the images from the invasion of Gaza. In the meantime, I explored colour and composition with acrylic paints and pastels, understanding light and colour. We were shown the possibilities in photography and digital imaging and manipulation. They were exciting and opened many new forms of expression. However, I will continue with drawing into Unit 4, to learn and improve on my line, my composition and aid my understanding of colour, light, and tone
Proposal
Shepherds Bush Market is a declining shopping street in West London. It is in the early stage of a radical redevelopment, the street will be rebuilt, the stalls replaced, it has the support of many of the stall holders. I live close by.
The diverse community of stall holders and their customers interest me. I propose to spend time every week drawing and recording the market, the stall holders, their stalls, their contents,….and, I hope, their stories.
I realise this will be an interestingly difficult task, the stall holders are a diverse group, very few white British, the majority are Sikh, with people from the Middle East, Africa, eastern and Southern Europe. It may be difficult to get their trust, and their permission, to record their lives.
I have the permission from the Market owners and managers and will be working with them and their street security workers.
From my drawings and photographs I hope to produce a coherent art piece. I am unsure if it will be a traditional set of drawings and prints. Or a more complex work.
The market street is visually uninspiring, grey stalls, a tarmac path, a nondescript brick railway embankment. The people, and the kaleidoscope of watches, African clothes, fish, falafel, exotic fruits excite me.
I may produce nothing more than a documentary on paper in a series of sketchbooks.
I am nervous of my ability to capture what I see and feel, I enjoy drawing but have very little confidence. Beyond anything, I hope that this exercise will help me to learn to capture and reflect life with my art
Nicholas Turner Morley Art Foundation 