Charles Sheeler

Charles Sheeler was born in Philadelphia in 1883. He is recognised as one of the founders of American modernism, specialising on city buildings and industrial areas.

His work reminds me a lot of the animation illustrations of the Rhapsody in Blue film. The looming ominous buildings are they key of Sheelers works, we see these tall, dark, depressing tower blocks in the Rhapsody in Blue animation. The use of colours remind me alot of the animation, they really emphasise New York at this time, no joy or colour, just the same blending colours.

The dark mix of blues are blocky and solid and the buildings take up the image and look like they could expand off the page

Skyscrapers

I had a go at re-creating the feel of looming, ominous tower block skyscrapers. I experimented with different shades of blue. They have a gloomy and depressing feel. I created it with water colour pencils, to get a smudged eerie look.

Fantasia (2000) Rhapsody In Blue

I remember watching this as a child, the song stuck with me and relates to this project.

Rhapsody in Blue is a famous 1924 musical composition by American composer George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz- influenced effects. The piece of music was put with an animation created by Disney in the film Fantasia (2000).

It is based in New York city in the 1930’s, the animation to the music depicts a day in the lives of four people within the great depression era.

Looming dark blue buildings. ‘Rhapsody in blue’ the ‘blue’ being represented like blues for the style of song, and emphasizing the blue depressing feeling that everyone in the city at this time felt. The scale of the buildings make you feel uncomfortable as they make you feel small and trapped. They emphasize the scariness cities can be, especially with the dark blue colouring. They are huge, concrete sky scrapers that are ugly looking and man made.

The scenes perfectly illustrate city life in New York city for people living there during the depression era. I like that the people are the dark blue colour that the buildings are, shows that they are like the cold, depressing concrete of the buildings and that they blend in.

Scenes enhancing the rushed mornings for people in New York. Day to day hum drum same routine traveling around for work, migrating in the city. Hectic, rushed, manic, office workers, bank workers, builders.

Showing the rush of people traveling via public transport, the subway.

New York

I have decided to look at one of/ if not the biggest cities in the world. It is a large metropolis bustling and lively with people and activity- known as ‘the city that never sleeps’.

Population of 8.337 MILLION (2012)

Known for its hectic mornings, congested roads and traffic jams, packed streets and a chaotic atmosphere.

Human Migration?

I decided to go down the path of human migration.

I began by looking into why people migrate within the city; from common knowledge I know that people travel around for predominately two reasons- for work or for leisure. If I look into people travelling for work this leads me on to think about when they travel to work, for example ‘peak times’, people migrate to work during peak times via walking, train, car, bus, bicycle etc. We can also take into account human migration from city to city via modes of transport including planes, so people migrate within and out of cities.

Migration Mind Map

Today I thought that I should look more in depth into what I would actually like to look at within the migration theme that I chose. I decided to do a quick mind-map of ideas-

I think that I will look into people migrating in the city, how/why they migrate.

Slinkachu

I decided to look into artists who work within cities.

I discovered Slinkachu, he is a artist who created the ‘Little People Project’ started in 2006. It involves the remodelling and painting of miniature model train set characters, which he then places, photographs and leaves on the street.

It is both a street art installation project and a photography project. The street-based side of his work plays with the notion of surprise and he aims to encourage city-dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings.

His work represents how we abuse our surroundings within the city, he focuses on littering, our human effect on animals and wildlife, violence, murder, suicides, and the effect of activities within cities have on children.

Comparing

I decided to compare where I live (a village called Congresbury) to the nearest city to me (Bristol) which is aprox 15 miles away.

Bristol has a population of about 428,100 (2011). Congresbury has a population of about  3,497. You can see that there is a big population difference in only a 15 mile distance.

Bristol is bustling, always busy, packed with people, never sleeping. Comparing to Congresbury which is not busy, quiet, sleepy village.

The bottom two photos I took of the centers of both places.  I can see that the center of Bristol is dominated by buildings, its modern with all the lightings, water features and buildings- contrasting to Congresbrury which is more green with plants, fields, trees and animals, very little buildings and modern influences.

Where I Live

I started by researching about my village, I noticed from photographs now it really hasn’t changed that much, through layout and buildings, here are two photos of the same street-

The top photograph is from the 1940’s and the bottom photo is from 2004. You can see that the village has not particularly changed! The buildings are pretty much the same, in the same places. Even the signs are still the same.

Starting The Project

With a brief as open as this, it’s important to go down the correct route. This means I need to do a lot of research. We have 3 weeks worth of research, which is great and I cannot wait to behin, but where should I start? Tutors have advised me to look beyond what you can just see and look into things with more depth, not just what you can see but think of the why/where/who/what.

To help you in your research, we have created a series of “themes” :

Migration – people/ideas/material/industrial

Power/technology – religion/politics/sustainability

The hidden city – the multiple guises or layers of city life

 – Stay true to these themes, but above all observe! research! and gather information

We have been asked to chose one of these themes to base our extensive research on and create a ‘Petcha Kucha’ presentation on our findings in front of the class. I have decided to look into the theme of migration as I can see myself studying people in the city.