Final project – Ola Señorita

Final project reflection

Reflection

To be honest I was quite excited for this project as I felt it had lots of room for appropriation, which is something I quite enjoy doing and have done in previous projects. (https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/awong011/2016/03/22/research-paper-on-chinese-paintings-lol-jk-project-2-final-post/) I feel that appropriation, if done well, can better express information about an object/person by letting viewers see it in a totally different light.

When our group first met up in class to discuss possible objects I had lots of fun coming up with ways to appropriate various objects/artworks we came across this semester. I had ideas like making a statue of a Buddha where one hand was raised in the ‘do not fear’ mudra while scrolling on a smartphone in the other, painting weird images on chinese ceramics and a lot more that were pretty wild. But after awhile I realised that I had difficulty forming a thesis statement with these wild ideas, which was a problem I faced in semester 1 where I would have grand concepts that lacked a coherent message.

After consulting with the stand-in teacher (I forgot her name I’m sorry) and Sujatha I got a better idea on how to form a relevant thesis statement for our object, rather than just flipping things on its head for fun.

Another thing I learned from this process was that too many options limited creativity, which was evident when my team and I had lots of ideas but couldn’t quite settle on a object to focus on. In the end we chose a plate we saw at the Asian Civilisations museum and from there began the process of visual analysis/research/idea generation/consults to arrive at our final product.

In the end, I really enjoyed this process of working with my 3 other teammates (Chenyue, Fern and Ziyu) and is definitely more enjoyable than studying for a paper like we did last semester. See everyone around school next year! Cheers!

Queries about final project

So my group (Ziyu, Chenyue, Fern and I) have chosen this particular ceramic as our main object.

This is a Chinese ceramic that was produced in the JingDeZhen kilns during the Qing dynasty, and was probably made for people higher up the social ladder such as emperors.

After researching, we found 4 main characteristics about this ceramic that we can come up with concepts for.

Christian influences on the development of this ceramic, mainly on the technological side
That it was catered to emperors in the Qing dynasty
Western-influenced designs such as the slight pink enamel
That it was later imitated by European countries

However we are unsure if these are suitable for this project and if suitable, how to come up with a thesis for it.

Art History final project (visual response)

As mentioned by my group members in their posts our group has decided to focus on Chinese ceramics, namely functional ones like plates or bowls.

I remember seeing examples like the one pictured above at the Asian Civilisations Museum when researching for my team presentation and I thought we could generate some interesting visual responses to these ceramics.

A possible idea/concept is to expand on the development of ceramics from esteemed decorations pieces/symbols of status to our current usage of them to hold food items etc. This difference is highlighted when comparing the highly valueable plate shown in the picture above with disposable paper plates, which hold almost no aesthetic value.

Thus a visual response could either be using high quality ceramic plates to hold everyday food items such as potato chips or painting on paper plates.

We’re currently still in the research phase and are exploring possible avenues to change the meaning of a ceramic/plate.

Stay tuned!