Tea Culture

A cup of tea is good. No. Amazing. It is one of the few things that is common amongst so many different classes and cultures of people in england. From afternoon tea with the queen to builders having a brew, its can be enjoyed by everyone, yet be seen in completly different ways depending on the social situation.

TEA TEA TEA

FACTS:

INTRODUCED TO ENGLAND IN 1650s

MORE COMMON NAME FOR CAMELLIA SINENSIS PLANT

MOST WIDELY CONSUMED BEVERAGE AFTER WATER!

5 MAIN TYPES OF TEA: BLACK, OOLONG, GREEN, WHITE AND PU-ERH TEA.

MAINLY COMES FROM TROPICAL AND SUB-TROPICAL CLIMATES

ONLY TOP 1-2 INCHES OF THE PLANT AER PICKED

TEA TYPES ARE DISTINGUISHED BY THE PROCESS THAT THEY UNDERGO

MOST TEAS ARE A MIXTURE OF OTHER TEAS!

HUGE PART OF BRITISH, AND IN PARTICULAR ENGLISH, CULTURE

icons of england

I found THIS website on english icons which I thought was brilliant. Some of the icons featured include:

THE PHONEBOX
ROLLS ROYCE
MINI SKIRT
BLACK CAB
BOWLER HAT
ENGLISH WEATHER
CUP OF TEA

It reminded me of Martin Parr's work, in particular Think of England, which I have already mentioned in blog previous. Most of the icons featured are very steriotypical, which is an aspect of Parrs work, though this does not make it any less interetsing to look at. It has given me an idea to take one of these typically 'english' icons, and explore in more detail. As Im typing this, Im sat drinking a cup of tea! I think tea drinking is a huge english tradition and the possibilities that could derive from it would be exciting to explore.

Other artists....

here is a link to my year 1 blog where I have researched other artists who collect, as they are still relevant to this project in terms of how they display their collections. 

Jake Tilson

Martin Parr

I really like Martin Parr's photographs, in particular the ones featured in Think of England. The photos capture a real sense of what England is about, if sometimes quite steriotypical which I quite like about his work as it gives an almost playful approach to his subject matter. Some of the photographs that stand out in particular I have uploaded on here.

So what is it?

I have been wondering what collecting is. what does collecting actually entail? how do you become a collector? And how does something become a collection and not just a load of stuff? 

I think it is key to answer these questions before i even begin to think about what i want to base my project on. 

Dictionary.com definitions:

COLLECTING

col·lect ¹        (kə-lěkt')  Pronunciation Key  
v.   col·lect·ed, col·lect·ing, col·lects 

v.   tr. 

1. To bring together in a group or mass; gather.
2. To accumulate as a hobby or for study.
3. To call for and obtain payment of: collect taxes.
4. To recover control of: collect one's emotions.
5. To call for (someone); pick up: collected the children and drove home.

v.   intr. 

1. To come together in a group or mass; gather. See Synonyms atgather.
2. To take in payments or donations: collecting for charity.

adv.   & adj. 
With payment to be made by the receiver: called collect; a collect phone call. 

COLLECTION

col·lec·tion        [kuh-lek-shuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.	the act of collecting.

2.	something that is collected; a group of objects or an amount of material accumulated in one location, esp. for some purpose or as a result of some process: a stamp collection; a collection of unclaimed hats in the checkroom; a collection of books on Churchill.

3.	the works of art constituting the holdings of an art museum:a history of the museum and of the collection.

4.	the gathered or exhibited works of a single painter, sculptor, etc.: an excellent Picasso collection.

5.	collections, the various holdings of an art museum organized by category, as painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, or film: the director of the collections.

6.	the clothes or other items produced by a designer, esp. for a seasonal line: the spring collection.

7.	a sum of money collected, esp. for charity or church use.

8.

Manège. act of bringing or coming into a collected attitude. COLLECTOR col·lec·tor        [kuh-lek-ter] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun 1. a person or thing that collects. 2. a person employed to collect debts, duties, taxes, etc. 3. a person who collects books, paintings, stamps, shells, etc., esp. as a hobby. 4. Electricity. a device for accumulating current from contact conductors. 5. Electronics. an electrode in a transistor or vacuum tube for collecting electrons, ions, or holes. 6. Metallurgy. promoter (def. 5). 7. Energy. solar collector.

Trip to Manchester!

I went to manchester at the weekend and found this AMAZING shop. It is like a buy, sell exchange shop and everything is for sale. These are just some of things they have!

The idea of collecting so much stuff is quite daunting. I dont really want to base my project on something as broad as this, but the idea of focusing on one thing and exploring it from there is something that interests me. i just dont know what that is though yet...

Book Binding

Today's book binding lesson was a good recap of what i learnt in year 1, as well as learning different techniques to make different styles of books that I can use as ideas for possible book designs for my work. The notes I took are in my notebook but here are the end results of a productive day!

Leeds Art Gallery Trip

Collectors, Collecting and Collections Brief

I dont quite know what to think of this brief. My final project in year 1 was similar in some aspects, as I analysed and questioned the notion of collecting and exhibiting work, so Im thinking how I can look at this brief from a different perspective to what I did in my final piece last year. The outcome should be a book or any other visual response to the brief, submitting a piece of work to the ESA and a piece of work for the viscom christmas exhibition.

Year 2

So, this year actually counts. Lots of blogging then...