Lantern Man: Creating Place with Material, Light and Shadow.
Practice Project Aims: Please elaborate on the above describing the area of interest you will be exploring, stating what the project sets out to achieve, and listing your aims
I intend to develop a body of work and a finalised object related to the research I gathered during my MAI 130 critical publication. Specifically, I want this project to begin with a folklore I encountered known as ‘Lantern Man’. This is a regionally based folklore from the county of Norfolk, UK. It seems to be one of many personified renditions of the globally and more famously observed folklore called Will-O’-The-Wisp (an ethereal, mysterious floating luminous entity sighted in marshy, dark, and liminal locations.) From what I know about this folklore at this point in research, the narrative is simple and linear. I think that this would give me room to be playful with the overall outcome of the project
I found myself intrigued by the concept of ‘Lantern Man’ during my research – it reminded me of the Tarot character, the Hermit. However, I could not find much visual material concerning this folklore. I have since been contemplating how this bodily form can be fleshed out. This ranges from its possible origin story, which archetypes it embodies, and how the influence of darkness – specifically twilight or gloaming – could empower or defame its form. Furthermore, the way that light could be used to physically influence the flow of the narrative.
My intention is to combine threads of research I have been gathering, with my burgeoning interest in light and shadow, to create an object which nods towards a sense of place. I would like the finished object to have recognisable elements related to the location where the ‘Lantern Man’ is situated (local knowledge of fauna and flora, for example.) Also, for the eponymous figure to have a sense of character. In terms of audience, I do not have a specific age range in mind, but more of a sense that this could be suitable for a parent and child to experience together, or an item of regional interest.
I aim to complete the term with an object/s which is the culmination of a considered time experimenting with light, dark and materials. I plan on working with materials which are both familiar and new to my practice. These may include cyanotype, considerations of light/ dark through hand-cutting or laser cutting and experimenting with various thicknesses of paper or fabric. Another possibility is to consider movement via analogue means or an introductory set of classes in Adobe After Effects if I realise that an animated element would strengthen the project.
Rational: Please describe your broader reasons for choosing to undertake this inquiry, indicating its context as authorial illustration.
Reflecting upon my MAI 120 practice project, I feel that my application of research to practice could have been more permeable, and I would like to strengthen this process in current and future projects. This is one of the reasons that I have chosen to continue the research from my critical publication into this semester; I absorbed a lot of material and would like to continue developing this knowledge into making. Running parallel to my critical publication’s research on luminosity, I was also reading about the sun’s benefits on bodily wellbeing. I am interested in light sources in general and would like to communicate both topics within my practice.
I am hoping to encourage myself to be bolder in my illustrative practice and foster intuitive skills. I envisage that conscious consideration of tactile creating processes, audience involvement, and generation of place, will lead me naturally into fresh approaches.
The regional specificness of this semester is to have an item relatable to my own sense of place and to create something which could be of interest to potential organisations in the area.
So Far….
Drawings: reflecting on research / studies of twilight / darkness / dappling
Writings: Using exercises from Orford & Walton’s slideshow on free writing and belongings / lost list to flesh out the character of the Lantern Man. Trying to go past the cautionary tale aspect to create a realistic character
Research: the Hermit in the context of Tarot, etymology of connected words, connected archetypes to the hermit, and reading about the sun & darkness.
Indicative bibliography and related sources: Indicate the main reference sources: books, film, web, exhibition, interview, etc.
HARPUR, Patrick. 1995. Daimonic Reality : Field Guide to the Otherworld. New ed. Penguin.
MARLAN, Stanton. and David H. ROSEN. 2005. The Black Sun the Alchemy and Art of Darkness. 1st ed.College Station: Texas A&M University Press
Geddes, L., 2019. Chasing the sunADORNO, Theodor W. and Stephen. CROOK. 1994. Adorno : the Stars down to Earth and Other Essays on the Irrational in Culture. Edited with an Introduction by Stephen Crook. Routledge
PROPP, V. I A. (Vladimir I Akovlevich), Sibelan E. S. FORRESTER, Jack ZIPES and Sibelan E. S. (Sibelan Elizabeth S.) FORRESTER. 2012. The Russian Folktale by Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.SADOWSKI, Piotr. 2018. The Semiotics of Light and Shadows : Modern Visual Arts and Weimar Cinema. London, England: Bloomsbury Academic.
DOUGLAS, ALFRED and DAVID. SHERIDAN. 1972. The Tarot : The Origin, Meaning and Uses Of the Cards. LONDON: GOLLANCZ
GOMBRICH, E. H. (Ernst Hans). 1995. Shadows : the Depiction of Cast Shadows in Western Art. London: National Gallery Publications.MUNARI, Bruno. 1999. Nella Notte Buia in the Darkness of the Night. 2nd ed. Mantova, Italy: Corraini.
ANDERSON, Kelli. 2017. This Book Is a Planetarium : and Other Extraordinary Pop-up Contraptions.San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books LLC.