Browsing by Author "Spencer, Faye Julia."

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Bronwen Findlay, Yinka Shonibare and Joanna Smart: Approaches to pattern and form in contemporary artists’ practice.
(2017) Smart, Joanna.; Spencer, Faye Julia.; Hall, Louise Gillian.
The purpose of this Master’s dissertation was to investigate the use of pattern and fabric in the artworks of contemporary artists Yinka Shonibare, Bronwen Findlay and the researcher, Joanna Smart. Through this enquiry the aim was to position her practice and approach with respect to pattern in the contemporary Fine Art context. This research intended to explore how pattern and textile is used to challenge the art and craft hierarchy within the art of a few contemporary artists. Further this research acknowledges a subjective element in these artists choice of pattern and fabric. The methodology used in this research is Practice-Based, which will reflect on how the researcher makes work through the painting process and the documentation of that process. The theoretical framework that underpinned the thesis is the art/craft debate. The researcher’s studio practice aimed to disrupt hierarchies of art and craft, and this dissertation explored how notions of art and craft have been interrogated in her painting. This dissertation discussed how the approaches of other artists has shifted the researcher’s work with regard to pattern and cloth. The researcher aimed to experiment with the different ways in which textiles and pattern can be used in the researcher’s paintings. Through a reflection of her painting practice and an examination of how other artists use pattern and cloth, the complexity of possible meaning inherent in pattern and fabric was explored. For example, the conceptual meaning of pattern and fabric in the researcher’s painting practice was encouraged by the research into other contemporary artists’ works. The researcher discovered a deeper appreciation for the way cloth and pattern challenges hierarchies within art and craft. Furthermore, the way in which pattern and cloth are often used as signifiers of culture and identity was explored. This dissertation explores how pattern and cloth reflects the researcher’s experiences. Importantly, the review of other artists’ work shifted how she uses fabric and pattern as a representation of culture and identity in her paintings. Additionally, her practice shifted visually with regards to diverse textures, colours and tones.
Bronwen Findlay, Yinka Shonibare and Joanna Smart: approaches to pattern and form in contemporary artists’ practice.
(2017) Smart, Joanna.; Hall, Louise Gillian.; Spencer, Faye Julia.
The purpose of this Master’s dissertation was to investigate the use of pattern and fabric in the artworks of contemporary artists Yinka Shonibare, Bronwen Findlay and the researcher, Joanna Smart. Through this enquiry the aim was to position her practice and approach with respect to pattern in the contemporary Fine Art context. This research intended to explore how pattern and textile is used to challenge the art and craft hierarchy within the art of a few contemporary artists. Further this research acknowledges a subjective element in these artists choice of pattern and fabric. The methodology used in this research is Practice-Based, which will reflect on how the researcher makes work through the painting process and the documentation of that process. The theoretical framework that underpinned the thesis is the art/craft debate. The researcher’s studio practice aimed to disrupt hierarchies of art and craft, and this dissertation explored how notions of art and craft have been interrogated in her painting. This dissertation discussed how the approaches of other artists has shifted the researcher’s work with regard to pattern and cloth. The researcher aimed to experiment with the different ways in which textiles and pattern can be used in the researcher’s paintings. Through a reflection of her painting practice and an examination of how other artists use pattern and cloth, the complexity of possible meaning inherent in pattern and fabric was explored. For example, the conceptual meaning of pattern and fabric in the researcher’s painting practice was encouraged by the research into other contemporary artists’ works. The researcher discovered a deeper appreciation for the way cloth and pattern challenges hierarchies within art and craft. Furthermore, the way in which pattern and cloth are often used as signifiers of culture and identity was explored. This dissertation explores how pattern and cloth reflects the researcher’s experiences. Importantly, the review of other artists’ work shifted how she uses fabric and pattern as a representation of culture and identity in her paintings. Additionally, her practice shifted visually with regards to diverse textures, colours and tones.
Constructing self : mimicry and multiplicity in the work of Frida Kahlo, Berni Searle, Steven Cohen, and Rory Klopper.
(2016) Klopper, Rory Wallace.; Spencer, Faye Julia.
The purpose of this dissertation is to interrogate my perception of self which is grounded in my visual arts practice. Through my enquiry into the works of Steven Cohen, Berni Searle, and Frida Kahlo, I expose the corporeal body as an illusion of sociological enculturation. Using concepts situated within sociological discourse, for example, I foreground the grotesque body as a body in the act of becoming, as theorised by Mikhail Bakhtin. I consider the multiplicities inherent in queer theories and interpret these multiplicities through my Fine Art practice. I use the concept of the cadaver exquisite as a vehicle to draw these theories into a visual realm; situated within fine art making. I scrutinise processes, imagery and motivations that underlie the search for self. I present my findings through consideration of select works by Steven Cohen, Berni Searle, Frida Kahlo, and myself. I draw connections between the work of these artists and my own practice. Chief among the works I focus on are my series of self-portraits, namely, Smile Like You Mean It (2013), Crap Baby (Part III): The Intervention (2014), and I Tried To Make You See (2014); my paper cut-outs, namely The Dancer (2015) and a series of photographic work, namely, Jellyfish: series I (2015) and, Jellyfish: series II (2016), as well as the following assemblages: Fat Man (2015), Phantom of the Opera (2015), Jellyfish (2015), Mantis (2015), and Cake (2014 / 2015). I draw attention in my analysis of my own practice to the role played in the development of these works by examining the performance art of Steven Cohen, namely, Chandelier (2001 – 2002), the installation work of Berni Searle, namely, Snow White (2001), and the self-portraits of Frida Kahlo, namely, Self-portrait with Necklace of Thorn (1940).
Experiencing artists' books : haptics and intimate discovery in the work of Estelle Liebenberg-Barkhuizen and Cheryl Penn.
(2013) Haskins, Phillipa.; Spencer, Faye Julia.
This dissertation centres on the classification of artists’ books based on the qualities they possess as works of art as well as the intimate engagement required by the reader in order to experience such works in their entirety. Among the qualities investigated are intimacy through the use of novelty devices, haptics, text, narrative and concrete systems, space, and shape. These qualities are exemplified through works by Estelle Liebenberg-Barkhuizen and Cheryl Penn.
Multiple images and the construction of meaning : a study of multiple-image artworks, with reference to Daina Mabunda’s Twenty rings, Angela Buckland’s block A Jacobs men’s hostel and Ernestine White’s memory wall.
(2013) Wang, Elizabeth.; Spencer, Faye Julia.
This dissertation explores the significance of multiple-image artworks, in which a number of discrete images are presented to the viewer together as a single work. Daina Mabunda’s Twenty rings, Angela Buckland’s Block A Jacobs mens’ hostel, Ernestine White’s Memory wall and the candidate’s own work are explored as examples of this type of artwork. The concept of fragmentation in visual art (particularly as a feature of modernism) is looked at, including the development of installation art. Theory relating to installation art is explored, particularly the ideas put forward by Claire Bishop in Installation art and Graham Coulter-Smith in Deconstructing installation art. Bishop’s work on the role of the viewer in relation to the installation, particularly her concept of activation, is looked at. Coulter-Smith’s response to Bishop’s ideas and his work on deconstructive art as nonlinear narrative are examined. Concepts from literary theory dealing with fragmentation, and the role of the reader are also dealt with. Literary theory (particularly work by Bakhtin, Derrida, Kristeva and Barthes) provides different ways of responding to some of the questions at the heart of this research, namely: what constitutes reader/viewer engagement, what facilitates this type of engagement, and what is the significance of this type of engagement?
Narratives of departure : a body of art and literary work accompanied by a theoretical enquiry into the process and methodology of their production.
(2017) Spencer, Faye Julia.; Stobie, Cheryl.; Wessels, Michael Anthony.
This research undertaking comprises the dual submission of closely related practical and theoretical research. The thesis represents the theoretical component of a practice-based PhD research project. The practical component of the project is made up of original creative work drawn from three bodies of practice across the creative spheres of painting, creative writing and printmaking. My Office Politics Series, comprises an extended immersion in paintings and drawings that utilise dogs and canine behaviour as metaphors for the workplace specifically, and the present social climate more broadly. The second project, The Indian Yellow Project began in creative writing, and consists of both printmaking and creative writing. The story unfolding within the writing is one of familial loss and efforts at recovery. Through writing I was enabled to create visual imbrications on this theme in printmaking. The prints themselves and the images contained therein reference the story outlined in the novella but also serve to act independently of it. The third project, the Wish List Project began as a series of paintings by a single creator (myself) but over time transformed into a multiple participant print-based collaboration for a public space. A significant part of my research comprises a detailed enquiry into the manner in which each of the three projects engages with notions of departure and dislocation in various forms. In my thesis I consider the dialogue that each project establishes internally in relation to the theme of departure as well as the form that this dialogue assumed across all three projects, including the novella. I reflect on how this exploration of departure relates to the humanising functions that I believe art fulfils: catharsis, cohesion and community. In my thesis I refer to writing from a wide range of contemporary theorists. These include ideas on signification, visuality and narrative proposed by Mikhail Bakhtin, Roland Barthes, Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva, insofar as these relate to my philosophy and experience regarding the function and potential of creative practice. Also contributing to this research are Bakhtin’s notion of dialogism (1981, 1984) and what he terms the “eternal” (1984:202) mobility of signs. In my Indian Yellow Project specifically I consider numerous ways in which the text and images can be read. The cathartic function and the ‘call to’ or motive for writing (and other creative acts) form a central question in the thesis, and ideas proposed by Cixous on the relationship of writing to death and to catharsis are of particular relevance to this research enquiry. The reading and creative investigation for the project span philosophical, narrative, thematic and material (medium-related) concerns. I also reflect on the important role metaphor and story-telling play in each project; and I consider their use as mechanisms for dialogue. Through my practice I discover, as Hannah Arendt (1995:105) suggests, that in story-telling we make sense of experiences, we uncover meaning without cancelling out or defining it in a narrow ambit. Through my enquiry into each of the three projects I consider ways in which creative practice offers the creators, and those who view, read or interact with the works, opportunities to, as Cixous suggests, say the unsayable (1993:53). My thesis and my practice are driven by the conviction that art is a valuable site for healing and for dialogue which “avows the unavowable” (53). While the first of my projects analysed in this thesis specifically references ideas about power relations and feelings of disempowerment, on the whole the traumas I reflect on in these three bodies of practice are personal in nature. Nevertheless, I believe that their implications for creative practices as tools for catharsis and communication of the “unsayable” are particularly relevant to a society such as South Africa where there remains so much scope for repair. As a person involved in arts education I believe it is important to draw attention to my conviction that creative practice offers opportunities for dialogue and repair, and my engagement with this thesis is an effort to emphasise this conviction.
The transpersonal in shadow and self : finding catharsis in the second half of life through the visual arts, referencing Deborah Bell, Colin Richards and Paula Hulley.
(2016) Hulley, Paula.; Spencer, Faye Julia.
This dissertation explores the relevance of the transpersonal approach in research. In an historical overview the value of the transpersonal in visual arts is discussed with particular reference to Deborah Bell, Colin Richards and my own journey in creative practice. The study examines the terms self, shadow, catharsis, and the second half of life in relation to painting and the use of mixed media in visual arts. This dissertation illustrates, through selected works of Deborah Bell, Colin Richards and Paula Hulley, the transformative role of transpersonal research, with a focus on the method of organic inquiry and the three steps of preparation, inspiration and integration. Deborah Bell’s creative practice acknowledges her quest for a spiritual truth, which has parallels to my own personal narrative in search of self and shadow. Memory, and recovery of memory, in Colin Richards’ art-making, is discussed as potential transformation and catharsis in the second half of life. Organic inquiry, a qualitative methodology to the transpersonal approach, is examined and applied to my experience of going inward to self through painting and mixed media.