FMP Project Proposal: Exploring the subconscious:

For this project I wanted to explore themes of the subconscious and dreams, as well as lucid dreaming. I believe that dreams are an important part of everyones lives, including mine. I wanted to move away slightly from my previous project and the themes of the natural word while still incorporating the surreal elements that were being seen in my final cyanotypes. To do this I have decided to explore the subconscious, the subconscious influences our lives and actions in ways that we often do not realise or understand. I wish to delve into the mind, dreams and even showcase the act of taking control and becoming aware, in ways such as lucid dreaming. I have always been interested in the surreal and am especially drawn to surrealist artists such as Hannah Hoch and Leonora Carrington, with their works seemingly bridging the gap between dreams and reality. 

For primary research, I worry that this might be difficult for me as the majority of the surrealist exhibitions and museums about dreams are located in London. I will have to figure if I can arrange to visit and if I am able I plan to see the 'Bethlem museum of the mind', the 'House of dreams museum' and I will also be using my own personal dreams journal as primary research. Other than this I have found that there are many online exhibitions about surrealism and dreams that I am able to use for research such as 'The shape of dreams' Exhibition on the Salvador Dali Museum website and the 'Dream states' Exhibition on the Metropolitan Museum of Art website. Some more initial artists that I would like to look at would be Salvador Dali as he is widely regarded as one of the leading painters of the surrealist movement, Rene Magritte and more contemporary practitioners such as Borna Bursac and Florencia Degraf. I think that Exploring surrealism is the obvious starting point to this project as it is a movement that seeks to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind and is inspired by Freuds theories on the subconscious. 

In terms of materials I wanted to explore textiles in more depth during this project. using fabrics and textiles is something that I have previously dipped my toe into but never fully explored to it's full potential. I would like to focus on more craft based techniques such as stitching and sewing, as well as printing techniques such as Lino print and possibly screen print as I believe that these processes pair well together and are able to compliment each other. I would also like to include cyanotypes within this project as I have always thought that the results have a surreal quality to them that fits in well with the current theme. I have already been inducted into using the sewing machines but perhaps this is something that I could learn more about. 

To begin with I will use some of the cyanotype mixture that I have left over from my last project to coat pieces of calico, and use these as test pieces that I can print onto and stick together. I would like to look into tapestries, the history and how they were made and feed this into my own work. I will use these first two weeks to try and focus on primary and secondary research as well as initial ideas and experiments, I will then use the next month to explore and develop and use my remaining time to prefect my finished piece. I will definitely try to keep a more detailed time plan and not stray from it during this project, and will make a real effort to balance my written and physical work as well as my critical studies report. I will be making use of the weekly one on one tutorials for feedback and advice as well as the occasional peer review. I will take feedback and try my best to use it to my advantage and improve my work.