Connections Through Visual Art: Joan Macleod's Design Portfolio

Delve into Joan Macleod's mesmerizing design portfolio from August 2021, where she captivates viewers by respectfully collaborating with nature to evoke emotions, memories, and the essence of time and place. Through intricate visual themes, Macleod shares her personal resonance with the natural environment and beautifully intertwines childhood memories with present-day explorations. Discover the significance of elements like gorse, water, earth, and air in her art, and follow her journey of creating striking pieces that blur the lines between reality and imagination.

• Visual Art
• Design Portfolio
• Nature Collaboration
• Emotions
• Memories

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1. Design Portfolio Year 1 Examples Joan Macleod August 2021

2. Contents Setting the Scene Visual Themes Connections and Memories Time Essence of Place Exhibition Possibilities Visual artist collaborating respectfully with the natural environment to elevate the everyday and interpret evocations of emotion, senses, memories and time

3. Setting the Scene Without the restrictions of Covid, my focus would have been around the sea/shore east coast living versus west coast childhood this aspect remains unfinished business for me. Here my focus is narrowed but the intention is still to complete a body of work which comes from a place of deep personal resonance something that connected me with family even when travel was impossible and embodying my connection with the natural environment I first visited Aberdeen on a family holiday circa 1964 the little girl here feeding the ducks in the Duthie Park, didn t know that this pond would one day effectively become part of her garden or that almost 60 years later she would use an app to track her regular runs around this very spot

4. Visual Themes/Options for further exploration 1 2 3 Based on shared connections/memories evoked by the natural environment Based on the various ways time is evoked in the natural environment and in image making Based on Evoking The Essence of Place Memories evoked Found images/objects Senses touch, taste, smell, sound, visual Emotion Stars, childhood play/activities Text Colour, texture, shape Weather Events (flood, snow ) Senses touch, taste, smell, sound, visual Emotion Text Seasons Plant/Tree level Tides/Flow Night/Day Events Etc Content Areas Content Mix Anthotypes Cyanotypes Phytograms Photograms Chromatography Colours Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink Elements Water/Earth/Air (Sky) Senses Hearing/Taste/Touch/Sight/Smell (Prickles, Poison, Perfume, Pop) Connections and Memories Soundscape wind, water, leaves, grass, birds Natural features petals, prints, leaves, flowers, feathers, roots, stars/moon Sustainability of practice Digital images Sound recording Video Found images Text

5. Connections and Memories - Gorse Gorse on the family croft where we played as children. Wherever encountered gorse evokes the perfume and prickles of hide and seek. The snap of exploding seed pods scattering on the breeze. Shelter for insects and animals and fairies. Photogram Gorse Petal Chromatograph Photogram tinted with Chromatograph Anthotype 30 days weather mix exposure on Gorse emulsion Photogram Vit C Developer Cyanotype 9 minutes in spring sunshine

6. Connections and Memories - Bluebells Signs and perfumes of spring. The colour of forest shadows. Brownie wildflower badge. Fairy hats. Kitchen window decoration. Photogram Coloured with Chromatograph Photogram Vit C Developer x x. Portrait In Situ Anthotype 30 days exp on Bluebell emulsion Chromatograph

7. Making Marks The natural environment changes slowly unseen yet in front of our eyes. Tides and time mark their passage. Cyanotypes exposed directly in Hail Rain snow Here snow arrives in spring quickly followed by flooding. The trees and plants remain steadfast fortitude and resilience. Flood debris collected and exposed on cloth (bottom right) and incorporated in paper (top left) The presence of hidden wildlife signalled The passage of time written in the anthotype lime leaf (left)

8. Evoking Place and Time - The Sparrow Bush Generations of sparrows live on this dogrose bush rain, snow, wind resting between flurries of activity. I watch them each time I pass I video them I record their tuneless chirping. Fluorescent pink and perfumed in summer the bush is bare or snow-decked in winter, the last of the rosehips, like the sparrows, still visible. Photogram Photogram Colured with Chromatograph Anthotype example from rose emulsion Chromatograph

9. Essence of Place - Blue and Yellow and Pink (and Green*) x x. If I think about this area I see Green, Blue, Yellow and Pink. I smell a light rose perfume mixed with fresh grass. I hear the swish of wind in sycamore and beech leaves, the steady burble of water flowing by and the shrieks of black-headed gulls ; squawks of crows and sparrows. * to be added

10. Sound and Video I have collected a large amount of sound and video of the area still to be edited - as well as creating some specific sound recordings.

11. 2 x Display Possibilities - refine dependent on available space and final content 2 1 Digital prints on handmade or Rag paper Use of acrylic or glass? Block Mount? Soundscape? Video??? Memories and Mindings: On plinth (trunk): Box or Envelope containing original and possibly found images/objects loose or hand bound 3rd option not illustrated - around constellation (Orion) layout