Charles Glaubitz

This isn't the usual style of artist that I would look at, but I found his work so beautiful and I got a real sense of the mood and meaning all his work. I just think its really clever the way he produces work and the ideas he comes up with. The attention to detail with whats in the forefront/ background is the best part of his work, as it allows his work to breathe and for images to really stand out.

From my own artist interviews I went through last year, one aspect I learnt that was crucial was the stage before the finished design - the idea stage. Im struggling myself to come up with good enough ideas atm, because I'm thinking to literally and obviously. What this artist does so well is not draw the obvious but something different and unique, not just drawing out a homeless man if the articles about homelessness. I need to learn from his work and ideas and try and implement them especially in the ideas stage.
Even the initial drawings he has created really reflect and show what his intentions are for the end goal, which is great fro showing potential clients early ideas.

http://mrglaubitzillustration.blogspot.co.uk

The Wellspring (charity visit)

To donate to the wellspring visit here http://www.thewellspring.btck.co.uk


Im not homeless and Ill never understand or know what its like to have my life affected in such a way. Therefore I need to try and get the best possible understanding of it and understand who it is I'm trying to communicate to. This is why I visited the Wellspring charity in stockport, whose primary goal is to help and aid the homeless.

This would give me a better insight from people who are actually homeless and people who work day in and out with the homeless. I arranged to meet with project manager Jonathan Billings who was more than accommodating of me and offered his thoughts and ideas to my project.

I was apprehensive about going there. I don't know why, but i felt awkward ( ridiculous pre ideas) To just see the people and hear what they've been through really gave me a different perspective and changed my feelings towards the homeless.


I asked a few questions to Jonathan and the conversation just expanded from there…….
Im not writing down everything he exactly said, just best as I can because I was listening to what he had to say.

Are Government cuts having an effect on the number of people becoming homeless ?

This was the most definitive answer he gave me… It was a emphatic yes, the numbers have gone up a large amount especially in the stockport area with council cuts having a big effect. The numbers have gone up three fold in just a few short years. People aren't getting the support they need and cuts to things like benefits, social housing and loss of jobs are having a dramatic effect.

He did say in terms of housing the wellspring are helping to accommodate people in low cost housing, with the council being quite helpful in that regard. One of the problems of this though is that in order to be able to get say housing or benefits, you have to be able to fill in online forms and make sure they are filled in on time and correctly. The problem being most homeless people don't have access to computers on the internet so this does become a problem. The wellspring are trying to help with this with computers being used within their complex. Donations from food, clothing and money are up from lots of different people and organisations as more people in the public are seeing whats happening.

They have an active relationship with stockport college and these illustration posters helped to raise awareness a few years back. 

What are the main reasons behind people becoming homeless ? 

Obviously there are a number of reasons, but I wanted to know. He mentioned a lot of different things from persistent drug use, troubled upbringings, violence with families and psychiatric reasons. I did ask him is it a stereotype to say all people who are homeless on drugs ?, he did say it was, but a large proportion of people at the wellspring are there because of persistent drug use and a reliance on drugs. Often stealing to be able to get the money. Even though I know that happens it is still a shock to hear.

Another story he told me that happened recently was a man who suffered from schizophrenia refusing to take his tablets and becoming worse, to the point where he was sectioned quite violently. Not all homeless people are drug abusers, but often struggle with psychiatric problems.

Jonathan Billings 

Not everyone who attends The Wellspring would be homeless, but 95% of the client group are people who would be at risk of becoming homeless. The Wellspring feels very strongly that engaging with the people who are at risk of homelessness is the only way to reduce homelessness in the future. Prevention is so much better than cure.

Do people choose to be homeless 

This was quite a controversial question, but to my surprise he did say this does happen. For example there is someone in stockport who isn't homeless and pretends to be, the hook he gets people on is that he has a dog and he sits near the pet store - he makes a £100 a day apparently. This was a shock as I walk past him a lot and often sympathise with him and can see how the dog works. 

The wellspring had many ways they provided support, for example art classes every friday to try and get the creative side out of some very creative homeless people or the homeless band they are currently in the process of creating. All things that help them. 

This was a great experience for me and helped me look in a different way and hear from someone with first hand experience. I got to see first hand the great things the Wellspring are doing with there brand new building and clear structure. All helping the homeless people of stockport. 

To donate to the wellspring you can donate here http://www.thewellspring.btck.co.uk

My view (Manchester)

To try and think in a different way and come up with new ideas, I thought it would be good to take some photographs in manchester to try and capture the life of someone endlessly walking around. I have to admit I felt uncomfortable at times sat down whilst the masses walked past. It felt as if everyone was staring at me and as if I shouldn't be there. I wasn't pretending to be a homeless person of course not, but I was trying to capture the same lonely essence and feeling within my photographs - hence the use of black and white images. 

One aspect I did notice is how empty some certain areas of Manchester are, almost forgotten about and left to wither away. This was a different way of working for me, but I felt like it may make me think in a different way and it's helped me to come up with different ideas. 

I saw some interesting characters and I found personally that a lot of people were just walking around aimlessly almost with no purpose. You really see things in a different perspective when observing whats around you. 

Animals and Humans

Throughout history there has been a relationship between animals and humans wether its through friendship or through work reasons, like farming. Ive always had a consideration for animals and I've always liked creating work with them involved. This is just an initial idea, nothing definite as I will be experimenting ……. but I do want to include animals somewhere within the prism of my drawings. 

I was thinking of animals that have an isolated existence and are dependant on themselves to survive, just like most homeless people are, they have to keep going to survive often in harsh climates. Again I want a surrealist feel to this, just like with the cave drawings above, perhaps not definite images, but maybe gestures of animals ? 

Edward Hopper - all the lonely people

http://socialistreview.org.uk/286/edward-hopper-all-lonely-people

His paintings don't invite you in - they are full of shadows and dark places as well as patches of harsh, bright light. But they are very rarely hospitable or welcoming - instead they seem to throw you back, to reject your gaze and ask you instead to examine what it is that you are feeling about what is in front of you.
Take 'Gas'. The petrol station on the empty road seems about to close down. The lights from the hut are almost fluorescent. The petrol pumps are garish splashes of red against a dense, dark background. The trees are solid and impenetrable - only the road continues, but it quickly disappears behind the building and there is no sign at all of where it might lead, if indeed it leads anywhere. And then there is the solitary, half-hidden figure. Is he turning off the pump, or hiding?It is impossible to tell.

The only thing that is certain is that he is alone. His loneliness is shared by all the people in hoppers paintings. His paintings are very carefully planned out, look simple and have a deep emotional message about loneliness, which links in with the main theme I want to create. 

October Colouring Book

"Devalue the visual in favour of the verbal" x

This was a very humorous and interesting creation by artist David Batchelor. He added colour to monochrome library books. He wanted to make these visually desolate plain books into colourful and design minded pieces of work, that anyone could open and look into. He really though about composition, design and the colours that he's used, they aren't just random patterns, but cleverly thought out design.

This was more related to my dissertation essay on the 'elements of drawing' but I felt like this was a good way of showing you some interesting work that I admire.

Lee Jefferies - Homeless

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2012/jan/20/big-picture-homeless-lee-jefferies - all images are from this website and are Lee Jefferies photograhs 

"Like strokes of a painter’s brush, every pore, wrinkle, scar and hair is accentuated in the faces of these homeless people. Some have kind, crinkly eyes, others seem wary, but most, with their weathered skin and intense gazes, tell of the hardship of life on the streets perhaps better than the subjects could themselves" 

I really admire the way Lee Jefferies has shown the true face of homelessness here, you can really see the years of hardship and almost torment in their faces. They almost look like intricate paintings. They really capture a mood of despair, they are visually stunning though. 

When The Tide Is Out - Short film

This was just a short animated film I came across. It sort of fixes you into watching it and I end up in a sort of paralyzed state if that makes any sense. It really highlights the repetitive and lonely life of someone, with the eerie silence of just water dripping down.

Henry Derger - The realms of the unreal

One of the main points of my work is that I want it to reflect my own true nature and my own ideas. I want it to look like mine and mine alone. I have to have a connection with the topic and show deeper understanding of what it is I'm trying to portray. Surrealism is a big part of the way I work and I want to show something along those lines. Im not just going to draw something weird and random and say look thats surrealist. It has to connect and be a true representation. 

I came across an artist called Henry Derger and instantly fell in love with his style of work and imaginative drawings. Im became slightly obsessed with wanting to leaner more about his working methods and his bizarre yet almost truthful long book "In the realms of the unreal". You get a real sense of loneliness and isolation from his own life, working in total obscurity and isolation - no one even found out about his book until years after he died. He used his drawings and writing to reflect on his own conflicts and dysfunctional life. He lived a very troubled childhood and this book of his reflects on that. 

What got me the most though was the beautiful drawings and dream like way of working. They really represent what he was thinking and are ver clever  in the way the talk to you and communicate with you. With his own marginal status he creates a book where children rise up against the oppressive adults- who look down upon the "feeble minded". The manipulation of images and overlay of collage and colour are really something to be admired and a way of working I want to try and explore in this project. 

He had his own personal connection to his drawings and story. The theme of loneliness is one that keeps coming up everywhere I look and the connection to homelessness and nothingness been intertwined throughout my research. 

Darger had created a totally specific world, titled 'The Realms of the Unreal', that told the story of the Vivian girls, and their adventures during many Christian-led wars, the Glandeco-Angelinnian War, caused by the child slave rebellion. The paintings, constructed with various mediums and methods, illustrated this fantasy world, using collage, ink and paint, and he collected images, xeroxing many particular images over and over, to portray his beloved Vivian girls. With no exterior life, and a lack of social skills, Darger had lived completely within this inner world, where he kept intricate details and charts detailing the events in the "realm", and documented the wars - including names, dates of soldiers deaths, the costs of each of these wars: immensely detailed, impeccably assembled.

A point of view

A point of view is a topical radio show on bbc 4, which involves presenters talking about a wide range of subjects from political, economical, entertainment issues.... A chronicle of twenty first british opinion, which is informed, thought provoking and insightful. 

Being an illustrator its very important to be able to communicate sometimes difficult topics and ideas and its my job to create a well balanced representation of that. Therefore its very important that I have a genuine interest in the subject. Being an avid watcher of all things political and taking a keen interest in social issues this brief immediately spoke to me. Sometimes you just have a hunch that this is the right one for you and I had that with this. 
For my final major project it has taken many weeks of research and deliberating, but i think I have finally come up with the right idea for me and an idea that allows me freedom to work and the work to naturally develop itself. From previous projects such as the editorial brief, I wanted to challenge myself with difficult subjects and really reflect the story behind them. I dont feel like I can show you my initial research as its a confusing and complicated idea, so I thought it would be better to show you my initial idea and then show the research behind it later on.

The Pursuit of Happiness - 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04vr10l - Check out Al Kennedys view here 

This was a view that stood out and here are my thoughts and ideas behind it,A L Kennedy reflects on what it means to pursue happiness in a world where "not having enough money can be utterly miserable" and indulging our desire to acquire is also unsatisfying. The answer may lie in seeing that happiness is, "not so much a condition as a destination. She's reflects the pursuit of happiness itself and says." when I'm happy I'm waiting to be sad". A lack of happiness damages our well being and our physiological state and according to media aquiring objects is the only way to happy, materialistic symptoms of an unhappy society. I myself can see this everywhere if you haven't got the latest technology you aren't "normal" and feel the urge to join others. That awareness of others poverty is driving people to acquire and be like every one else and the effect this has is that people sleeping in the street are not unremarkable and part of the side of society you dont want to be part of. She also reflects on the fear of hunger and the violent almost aspirational drive that stops that, but it creates a false image of happiness. even with enough of everything we still necessarily aren't happy, 2 million people people are malnourished, to them happiness is almost heroic". 

Eduardo Paolozzi: Living in a materialist world - poking fun at a post war world - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/eduardo-paolozzi-living-in-a materialist-world-8784364.html

In my opinion this idea of a pursuit of materialistic goods is very evident in the modern streets of Britain  The homeless people as she talks about become the ignored and looked down upon. Many people have the idea of disgust at not wanting to become homeless themselves, but then are blinded by that greed and the homeless become the invisible and ignored. 

Book review - Down and out in Paris and London

Down and out in Paris and London - George Orwell 

Having previously read '1984' a classic by author George Orwell, I was very excited to read this book. Down and Out in Paris and London, published in 1933, is Orwell’s technically-fictional chronicle of penury in two of the great European capitals. The protagonist, more than loosely based on Orwell himself, washes dishes in Paris at the “Hotel X,” tramps from lodging-house to lodging-house in London. A real story of struggles and the effects of living on the poverty line. 

The first half of the book is set in Paris, as Orwell depicts the invisible underclass on french society. Surviving on day by day work and no hope, stuck in a never ending spiral. Orwell made the point first that dishwashers and “tramps”  have absolutely no hope of ever emerging from their desperate situations, not because of laziness or the incapacity to resist blowing all their money on booze and drugs, but because they simply can’t. They live paycheck to paycheck, barely retaining enough money to pay rent and keep themselves fed week by week. A dishwasher, for instance, who typically worked six days a week, sixteen hours a day, hardly has time to spend scoping out the job market or training himself for other, better possibilities.

This was one of the main underlying themes of  the book. Sometimes people can't help it that they are poor and they are stuck in a system, that never allows them to be free and do something different. The rich need the poor, without them who would do the cleaning and menial jobs. The rich manipulating the poor to think thats what they have to do. Another part that shocked me was the persistent pressure to try and live, with every day becoming a struggle just to even eat. Castigated aside as some kind of parasite - i.e. the invisible. 

The second part of the book is set in a grimy London. Being from manchester and seeing countless homeless people on my own streets this was no surprise to read it was no different to then. Orwell tries to humanize the homeless and empathize with their struggles, retelling his own experiences and the characters he met. Starved and forgotten about the homeless of London in their thousands wonder the streets, begging, performing and isolated. People walk past as if they aren't there and the government criminalize them for having nothing. 
This book told a lot of truths and is a fantastic read. Its definitely changed my own view on what homeless people go through and what they are like as people. I will be using this to influence my own project and outcome. 

“It is worth saying something about the social position of beggars, for when one has consorted with them, and found that they are ordinary human beings, one cannot help being struck by the curious attitude that society takes towards them. People seem to feel that there is some essential difference between beggars and ordinary 'working' men. They are a race apart--outcasts, like criminals and prostitutes. Working men 'work', beggars do not 'work'; they are parasites, worthless in their very nature. It is taken for granted that a beggar does not 'earn' his living, as a bricklayer or a literary critic 'earns' his. He is a mere social excrescence, tolerated because we live in a humane age, but essentially despicable