Tuesday 30th April

Collaborative statement

So we thought we had completed our collaborative statement but we didn't take the first year prints into account, so Joe and Liz had kindly added a small section about the prints onto the bottom.

So this is now our final collaborative statement:

Thursday 25th April 2013

Decals on labels

This was a very simple and easy process which didn't take much time. Cath had bought some original Victorian pharmacy labels from Ebay. She had them put onto some screens and which were screen printed onto specialist transfer/decal papers. 

We cut out our chosen decals and put them onto our labels. Furthermore, the decals were soaked in a tub of water so the glue created a slippery surface, letting the decal slide off. We then slid the decals over our hands or along a finger. We then turned the sticky sheet down on our label, smearing the left over glue and water across the area of the label. This ensured that when the label was placed, positioning it would be easy.

Tuesday 30th April 2013

Final Poster

After amending our poster all morning which included correcting many one letter spelling mistakes, various punctuation errors, we then printed them out to proof read and identify further mistakes. This process was repeated several times to achieve perfection.

Monday 29th April 2013

The Poster

We began creating our poster by using the image from the invites to keep it all flowing and relevent. This helps people to understand what our work is about. As the invite had a welsh translation, we thought it would be a good idea to keep the same text, rather than needing it re-translated again further down the line. We watermarked the image, making it more transparent so the text would show through.

First draft of the poster: Text too small and barely visible, not quite a poster layout.

Tony's draft of adding some colour.

Tony's draft of adding more colour and making the text white and larger so it is more visible. Not too keen on the colours of the lines of colour, needs to be more neutral.

Our finished poster with the help of Liz using photoshop, Megan, Sammi and I sat with Liz and discussed what the outcome should be. She helped us in particular with how posters should like and what the should tell the viewer.
The white opaque box allows the text to sit on the surface much better and makes it easier to read.

Now we have our poster we can put them up around college, in town and pop some into the galleries too. 

Sue Brown artist research

http://suebrownprintmaker.blogspot.co.uk/
Researching Sue Brown who looks at lost relatives.  She etches and enamels these labels, also laser cutting pattern into some works.

Wednesday 24th April

Collaborative statement

Our aim today was to finish the collaborative statement which we started before easter. As we only had a limited amount of time, we split into two groups; the group working on the installation and the group working in the cabinets in the middle room. This was a good way of working as we had already written the introduction. This method worked well as we only needed a couple of sentences from the two rooms (the middle and the end). This explained the content and concept of our work.

"Materia Medica, is a collective group show by fine art students based in Carmarthen. Responding to 'Medicines in May', the annual event held at the Botanic Garden of Wales, the works explore notions of layering from delicately considered building of metaphorical histories of place, through to the exposure of the fallacies of the methods of which these are constructed."    - This is our first attempt for the introduction.

My group for the installation came up with this as a first draft...

"The installation follows on from the apothecary's room, appropriating medicinal bottle labels as its focus to investigate the history of medical material. The ornately hung enamel labels portray a mystical atmosphere aided by a soft directed light creating reflections and shadows."

This was the second draft of the introduction after being edited by both groups...

"Materia Medica is a collective group show by Fine Art students based in Carmarthen. Responding to Medicines in May, the annual event held at the National Botanic Garden of Wales."

This was the second draft from the other group working in the cabinets edited by both groups...

"Using the context of remedies found within the surroundings of the Apothecary’s Hall, the work investigates the historic chronology of medicine by subtly intervening within the space."

This was a second draft after being edited by the group as a whole...

"The installation follows on from the Apothecary’s room. Its focus is to investigate the history of medical material by appropriating botanical illustration and medicinal bottle labels."

And our final draft of the whole statement...

Materia Medica

The group exhibition entitled ‘Materia Medica’ is a collection of works created by Fine Art students based in Carmarthen, which responds to the annual event Medicines in May held at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.

Using the context of remedies found within the surroundings of the Apothecary’s Hall, the work explores the notion of how we construct histories about past methods and practices through our archival of medicinal plants by way of subtle interventions inside the space.

Drawing upon and responding to the experience of the sedimentary history of the apothecary’s room the installation investigates the history of medical material by appropriating botanical illustration and medicinal bottle labels.