In order to gather research for this project I spent the day exploring my home town of Sheffield. I found this extremely helpful in developing my ideas, as I simply explored all the place had to offer whilst drawing and photographing everything which I felt inspired by.
One thing which was completely unplanned was how I accidentally got involved in a Christian carol service in the Winter Gardens, and afterwards felt too awkward to say I wasn't religious to the Minister's wife, so ended up telling her I went to a local church when I could and that my mum attended every Sunday (which she definitely doesn't!)
Although my interaction in the Winter Garden's was fairly awkward, I noticed many strangers coming together under this religious umbrella and I thought it really showed the community spirit this place held.
Another activity I did was follow a leaf in the wind and took photos of what I saw along the way (Although I lost sight of the leaf several times, so I picked a new leaf a few times). I thought this was quite good, as it took me out of the mindset of finding the pretty places, and made me go to areas I probably wouldn't have otherwise.
Whilst in Sheffield I overheard some people talking about how green and beautiful the city was, and I recalled people always saying it was the greenest city in the UK, so I researched this a little, and I discovered that it is actually the greenest city in Europe, and has an estimated 4 trees per person, which I thought was very interesting considering it is supposed to be an industrial city.
Because of this I began to think about the juxtaposition between the man made and the natural environment, so looked in depth at the content and context of the Winter Gardens, a very modern glass building which is home to thousands of plants, as well as the slightly broader architecture of the city.
I also thought briefly about the mix of buildings in the centre, and how their ages vary drastically, so I tried to photograph as many varying styles and ages as I could, as I thought about developing a timeline of when and how these building were created.
In addition I collected lots of printed ephemera and tried to do as much drawing as possible, however since the light fades quite early and I had to catch the train home I only had a few hours and did not do as many observational drawings as I would have liked to. Therefore I think another trip to Sheffield is necessary as soon as possible.
Overall I had a very informative and stimulating day, however I do feel a bit confused about where to go from now, so hopefully the group crit next week will help me to clarify what theme I want to persue and how I can develop the imagery I have already collected.
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