Art, design and me

My beautiful Arts & Crafts sideboard Christmas pressie

(Source: M. Stuart 2010)

The world of art, architecture and design has been a growing influence on my life and has no doubt been ushered more speedily in the last 10 years by advances in technology.  My personal aesthetic has been heavily influenced by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement. I love the oak furniture, the patterned linens and beautiful typography. The interesting thing about William Morris is that he eschewed modernism; he was very much against the industrialised, mass mechanised nature of production, and in favour of the handmade artisan approach. You can learn more about him at my other blog.

William Morris created typefaces
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Kelmscott_Press_Typefaces_Detail.jpg

After studying printing and graphic art at TAFE, my interest in design, art and typography was well and truly entrenched.  The Internet has fostered my access to information on these subjects, and promotes local interaction and participation.  Adamson, Riello and Teasley (2011: 6) argue that a global perspective on design ‘accurately reflects design’s actual situation as a globally-always local practice’. 

Seb Lester, UK typeface designer and letterer, will be speaking at 
Semi-Permanent Melbourne in October 2013.
Source: http://www.semipermanent.com/speaker/seb-lester

A key characteristic of globalisation that pertains to art and design is exchange, which Adamson, Riello and Teasley (2011: 6) define as ‘the simple movement of things in cultural space’ and ties in with Rockefeller’s (2011: 557) explanation of flow: ‘transnational movements of money, people, images, commodities...’.  The notion of exchange in the world of art and design applies not only to saleable objects but also to ideas, images and skills. 

Adamson, Riello and Teasley further note how, despite influence of multinational corporations in the sphere of design (think of the massive power of branding), it is the ‘persistent power of objects and personal contact’ that remains of central importance (2011: 7-8).  You can look at Monet’s artworks on the Google Art Project but how do you explain the 200,000 people who walked around the National Gallery of Victoria's Monet’s Garden exhibition?

Go, it's worth it.

Source: http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/monets-garden

Steven (2003: 57) acknowledges that ‘cultural industries have symbolic importance to the societies or states where they reside’ and that they 'act as guardians of a nation’s culture’.  The continued, or perhaps renewed, popularity of designers such as Ray & Charles Eames is just one of myriad examples of the globalised – across time and space – nature of art and design today. 

Eames DSR chair 1948
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2012/jul/22/10-best-eames-designs-pictures#/?picture=393411594&index=0

References:

Adamson G, Riello G, and Teasley, S, 2011, Global Design History, Taylor & Francis, Hoboken, US.

http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/(S(maf1elwzzbg15xeqvgplmxqj))/Reader.aspx?p=668829&o=154&u=XZi7W1iv2hK5FxAI8BGPcQ%3d%3d&t=1375236985&h=0AEFE45B1F779FDD83BC9C667FB1B0C0D8F9C78B&s=9337538&ut=484&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#  accessed 30 July 2013

Rockefeller, S 2011, ‘Flow’, Current Anthropology, Vol. 52, No. 4, August 2011, pp.557-578

http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=3cf96b2b-ba98-44c8-858f-50ac16c3fd1c%40sessionmgr104&hid=106  accessed 22 July 2013

Steven, P, 2003, The No-nonsense Guide to the Global Media, New Internationalist, Oxford UK, pp. 37-59.

Intensity, complexity and extensity

Once upon a time, children grew up and learned about their world by listening to parents, family and friends (and other societal institutions like the church).  If you were lucky you got to meet the people in the next village.

Thanks to Johannes Gutenberg, we added reading to that list: the world got a little bigger.  Late in the 19^th century, the Lumiere Brothers projected motion pictures, and in 1925 John Logie Baird’s television appeared up in Selfridge’s, and so it was that in 1969 they brought “the moon right down to our sitting room”.

 

We could see the entire globe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sundays-staticandsilence.jpg

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Professor John Branch (2009) sees globalisation as an evolutionary process and key themes of interconnectedness, information dissemination and interdependency would have also been applicable two hundred years ago.  Of the many definitions of globalisation, intensification is the uniting thread.  It is the increasing speed, reach and involvedness that are major characteristics of this current phase of globalisation.

Thompson (1995 cited in Rantanen 2005) puts the question, “how do developments of media and communications affect traditional patterns of social interaction?” and to find an answer I interviewed Mr19 and Ms17 about their interaction with the global world.

(Image: M Stuart, January 2012)

Mr 19 began participating in online communities in primary school “to provide a space for myself, where I didn’t always feel like I had one; using the online world to combat a sense of isolation and otherness.”

He says now that “the global online world gave [him] a chance to get involved in communities that were not easily accessible to [him], but now are.”

Ms17 enjoys the variety of entertainment available in the mediated online environment.

“Currently I use it for downloading music, watching YouTube videos, sharing art and writing on deviantART.  Browsing the Internet increases my interests" and "allows me to connect/ relate to more closely with some of my friends," she says.

The things that humans have always looked for, such as social relationships, identity and information, are still sought after, but it is clear that it is now the mediated world that is having a significant impact on social interaction.

References:

Branch, J 2009, 'Understanding the Global Economy', University of Chicago Centre for International Studies podcast,

https://itunes.apple.com/au/itunes-u/understanding-global-economy/id426476799 accessed 18 July 2013

Rantanen, T 2005, ‘Theorizing media and globalization’, Media and globalization 2005, Sage Publications, London, pp. 1-18

Welcome to my mass-experienced monological quasi-interaction*.

Hello! This blog is about globalisation and media, something that binds us all together, wherever we are and whether we realise it or not. Please let me know where you are in the world if and when you comment. 

I'm Mary-Anne, a 51 year old student doing my first undergraduate degree in Media and Communications at Deakin University in Burwood, Melbourne. I commenced a communications degree when I first left high school - in 1980! - but dropped out after 6 months. I'd discovered life and it was far too interesting and incompatible with study, or so I thought then. 

I grew up in Sydney in the 60s and 70s and remember when an overseas phone call to my dad's family in Holland was an expensive and rare event.  I first travelled overseas in 1984 and sent airmail letters, which took more than a week to arrive, back home to my mum and dad. I have friends and family both here in Australia and in UK and Europe, and have reconnected with many of them in the last 5 years, mostly thanks to Facebook.

My work history has been in secretarial and administrative positions, both here and in London. My favourite job was  working as PA to a museum director, and the least favourite job was working in a clothing store. 

After 15 years out of the workforce raising my children, I completed a Cert. IV in Graphic Arts at TAFE in 2007 which only whetted my appetite for higher education. 

I'm interested in visual communication, art and design. I'm  loving uni and don't really want to finish - there's so much to learn. 

The internet has opened up the world even more. I love that I can share in other people's creativity on Behance, Facebook, Pinterest, or Tumblr. It amazes me that I can admire the work of someone who lives 12,000kms away on the other side of this planet, 'talk' to them on Facebook and learn that they're coming here to talk at a seminar. I'm going to that for sure.

This is my monologue, but you can join in. I'd love to hear from you, and you can also visit my other blog which is about my art and design inspiration at http://maryannestuart.com/

* Rantanen, T (2005) The Media and Globalisation, Sage, London p10