This thesis examines visual representations of English country life and labour in the period 1870 to 1905 in relation to contemporary beliets in the centrality of the rural world to conceptions of national identity and'Englishness'. Centering upon an analysis of oil and watercolour paintings, but also interrogating prints, posters and photographs, the thesis examines the ways in which the production and consumption of images of rural lite in the period addressed and articulated widespread elite cultural concerns over a complex range of social issues, including purported racial degeneration, growing class conflict, and the checking of British imperial ambitions. Divided thematically into five distinct yet interlinked chapters, the thesis investigates firstly the stylistic evolutions in the painting of rural life across the period, and the connections made between particular visual languages and notions of a'national' school of art. The second chapter focuses upon an assessment of pictorial representations of the farmworker, looking in particular at the ways in which visual descriptions of rural labourer's bodies explored ideas of racial identity and national character. Chapters Three and Four look in turn at the representation of the country village and of field sports, the chapters both individually and cumulatively charting the relationship between visual culture and the generation of ideas around community,d eferencea nd social cohesion. The final section addressesth e portrayal of agricultural work, looking specifically at the themes of ploughing and mechanisationa, nd the cultural negotiationo f signso f modernity in the countryside. Treating visual images not as historically-transcendant objects, but as significant elements within a particular and specific material culture, the thesis compares visual images to other contemporary accounts of rural life, including those offered in novels, poetry and agricultural journalism. It views paintings of rural life and labour as critical spaces in which contemporary elite ideologies were actively articulated and contested, describing paintings of the rural world not as sites of settled meaning, but rather as formative elements of a dynamic process that continually re-worked and reevaluated evolving conceptions of rurality and'Englishness'.

No description available.

Artistic practise. Watercolour, akvarell. Memory landscapes. Memory mapping. Master essä. / Sovkupen

Master of Fine Arts thesis by Alexandra Thiesson

Sweet Tooth is an exploration of childhood culture as it exists in an adult world. I am interested in the power dynamics resulting from the cohabitation of youth and adults, and the manner in which adults impose their knowledge, faith, and morals upon children. Through the watercolour paintings and textile sculptures in Sweet Tooth, I investigate nostalgia, childhood playthings and childrens literature, especially cautionary tales and religious texts for children. These morality tales are a product of Victorian-era theories of youth education and child rearing. While much has changed in the past 100 years, the impact of this era can still be felt, especially in conservative religious cultures such as that which informed my own youth. The childrens stories produced during this particular time use a mixture of scare-tactics and theological themes to convey their message. In Victorian times, there was an apprehension about failing the intellectual, physical, and spiritual needs of children. This was compensated for with well-intentioned, but peculiar, attempts to frighten youngsters into strict obedience. The painting style in my exhibition, and my use of the watercolour medium, recalls the colourful imagery found in Victorian-era books for children. The textiles in my sculptural works relate to treasured childhood toys. My paintings and sculptures reference the human bodies of both children and adults and employ dramatic shifts in scale. Conceptually, the artwork challenges didactic lessons, but, nevertheless, the children in the paintings appear to crave approval from authority figures. The illustrations of bodies in Sweet Tooth defiantly reveal their imperfections and limitations, but also display a playful humour and desire for worldly delights. The conceptual themes of my art stem from sentimental and romantic views of childhood and my desire is to dissect and expose the actual struggles children endured in past generations, and continue to experience today. These themes recall the Christian teachings during my formative years and relate to adult recollections of youthful guilt and punishment.

Sweet Tooth is an exploration of childhood culture as it exists in an adult world. I am interested in the power dynamics resulting from the cohabitation of youth and adults, and the manner in which adults impose their knowledge, faith, and morals upon children. Through the watercolour paintings and textile sculptures in Sweet Tooth, I investigate nostalgia, childhood playthings and childrens literature, especially cautionary tales and religious texts for children. These morality tales are a product of Victorian-era theories of youth education and child rearing. While much has changed in the past 100 years, the impact of this era can still be felt, especially in conservative religious cultures such as that which informed my own youth. The childrens stories produced during this particular time use a mixture of scare-tactics and theological themes to convey their message. In Victorian times, there was an apprehension about failing the intellectual, physical, and spiritual needs of children. This was compensated for with well-intentioned, but peculiar, attempts to frighten youngsters into strict obedience. The painting style in my exhibition, and my use of the watercolour medium, recalls the colourful imagery found in Victorian-era books for children. The textiles in my sculptural works relate to treasured childhood toys. My paintings and sculptures reference the human bodies of both children and adults and employ dramatic shifts in scale. Conceptually, the artwork challenges didactic lessons, but, nevertheless, the children in the paintings appear to crave approval from authority figures. The illustrations of bodies in Sweet Tooth defiantly reveal their imperfections and limitations, but also display a playful humour and desire for worldly delights. The conceptual themes of my art stem from sentimental and romantic views of childhood and my desire is to dissect and expose the actual struggles children endured in past generations, and continue to experience today. These themes recall the Christian teachings during my formative years and relate to adult recollections of youthful guilt and punishment.

Konstnärens roll som forskare är svår att placera då det är svårt att hålla sig objektiv när ens forskning går ut på att undersöka ens kreativa handlingssätt som en individ.. Detta kandidatarbete har tagit ståndpunkten av en posthumanistiskt synvinkel på världen och hur vi agerar med den, speciellt genom ögonen på konstnären och ens material. Med detta i åtanke så utvecklade vi vår frågeställning kring fenomenet av diffraktion. Diffraktion är ett naturlig fenomen där vågor av ljus kolliderar och formar ett mönster där vi kan studera effekten av de skillnader som uppstår. Vår förståelse och syn på diffraktion är baserat på Donna Haraways och Karen Barads djupdykande kunskap kring området både i ett filosofiskt och vetenskapligt perspektiv.   Med diffraktion som metod experimenterar och dokumenterar vi vår position och intra-aktioner med vårt konstnärliga material som en bestående partner i att materialisera en 3D miljö inuti en spelmotor. Vi och vårt material blir fokusgruppen för vår undersökning för att svara på frågan hur diffraktion kan användas som en metod för konstnärligt skapande med analoga och digitala verktyg. Denna resa dokumenteras genom anteckningar och reflektioner från våra individuella perspektiv och beskriver även vår produktionscykel för att belysa vår process och vilka metoder som implementerades i vilken del av processen. För att avsluta detta arbete så diskuterar vi även de förhållanden som uppstod i vår undersökning och hur temat och fokuset skulle kunna expandera utanför vår valda inriktning. / The role of the artist as a researcher is difficult to place since it’s hard to be objective while researching your creative approach as an individual. This bachelor thesis has taken the stance of the post-humanist viewpoint on the world and how we as humans act within it, especially through the eyes of the artist and our relationship to our materials. With this in mind, we developed our research question surrounding the phenomena of diffraction. Diffraction is a natural phenomena where waves of light collide and form a pattern where we can look at the effect of the differences that occur. Our understanding and take on diffraction is based on Donna Haraway’s and Karen Barad’s deep knowledge on the subject in both a philosophical and scientific way.  With diffraction as a method we experiment and document our positions and intra-actions with our artistic material as our joined partner in materializing a 3D environment within a game engine. We and our material become the research subjects to answer the question about how diffraction can become a method for artistic creation in a blend of analogue and digital art production. This journey is documented through notes and reflections from our separate perspectives and we also lay out our production cycle to display our process and which production methods are integrated where. To finish this paper, we discuss the conditions of our work and how the theme and subject of this research could be expanded upon.

Sjön Öjaren i Sandviken är den största dricksvattentäkten i kommunen, färgen på Öjarens vatten har med åren ändrats och blivit allt mörkare. Detta bekräftas vid analys av vattenprover mellan år 1995-2015 som utförts i denna studie. Denna förändring av vattenfärg är inte unik för Öjaren utan har påvisats i flera andra sjöar och vattendrag. Orsakerna till förändrad vattenfärg skiljer sig till viss del beroende på vilken vattenförekomst som undersöks, olika egenskaper som klimat, markbeskaffenhet samt föroreningar bidrar i varierad utsträckning till brunifiering. Gemensamt för Öjaren och andra vattenförekomster är att ökad tillförsel av löst organiskt kol och järn är orsaker till brunifiering. För Öjaren har även ökade manganhalter visat sig påverka brunifieringen. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka ett eventuellt samband mellan färgen på vattnet i Öjaren och de faktorer som anses påverka färgen. De faktorer som analyseras och enligt tidigare studier anses vara relevanta är järn, pH, COD, mangan, temperatur och nederbörd. Syftet är även att undersöka möjliga åtgärder för att motverka brunifiering. Vattenprover från Öjaren mellan åren 1995-2015 har legat till grund för den statistiska analys som utförts. För att finna eventuella samband har Pearson´s korrelationskoefficient beräknats i programmet Minitab 17. För att ytterligare beskriva det eventuella sambandet mellan faktorerna har en principal component analysis (PCA) utförts. Trender och prognoser har även de tagits fram genom Minitab. Korrelationsanalyserna har visat på mest signifikant samband mellan färgtal och faktorerna järn, COD och mangan. Resultaten av korrelationsanalysen förstärks av PCA:n där det uppvisas att färgtal, järn och COD till störst del samvarierar. Trenden och den framtida prognosen för samtliga undersökta faktorer visar på stigande värden. Detta innebär att dricksvattenberedningen blir mer komplicerad och kostsam samt att dricksvattenkvalitén riskerar att försämras. Denna utveckling är något som förväntas beröra flera ytvattentäkter i bl.a. Europa och Nordamerika. Färgtalet i Öjaren förväntas stiga med 63 % fram till år 2050 vilket innebär att åtgärder för att motverka brunifieringen i Öjaren och andra liknande ytvattenförekomster är nödvändiga för att de ska kunna användas som dricksvattentäkter i framtiden. / The colouring of water in many lakes across the Northern hemisphere is increasing. This is also the case in Lake Öjaren in Sandviken municipality in Sweden. The lake is the main water source in Sandviken and has a high and increasing watercolour. This leads to more complex cleaning methods and higher costs for the society. This study focuses on the changing and increasing watercolour in the lake over a period from 1995-2015. The factors analysed in this study are those who is considered to have an effect on the watercolour in the lake. The reasons for increased brownification are different depending on which type of water body is studied. Climate, soil conditions and pollutants contributes in varying extent to brownification. Increased levels in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and iron are common reasons for brownification in Lake Öjaren and other water bodies, in Lake Öjaren increased levels of manganese are also shown to affect brownification. The aim of the study is to evaluate the correlation between the watercolour and the factors: iron, pH, COD, manganese, temperature and precipitation. The aim is also to investigate which actions are possible to apply to prevent increased watercolour. Water samples from Lake Öjaren between the years 1995-2015 have been the basis for the executed statistical analysis. Evaluating the correlation between the factors we have used Minitab 17 and calculated Pearson´s correlation coefficient. To further explain the relationship between the factors a principal component analysis (PCA) has been performed. Future scenarios and current trends have also been produced, in order to develop a better foundation for further studies. The correlation analysis reveals that the most significant connection with watercolour are iron, COD and manganese. The result of the PCA also corroborates this connection where three factors are the ones that are most co-variating. The trend and the future scenario for all the factors in Lake Öjaren are that they all are increasing and the watercolour is expected to be increasing by 63 % until year 2050. This scenario means that actions are needed to counteract the increasing colouring of the water.

Children's book publishing was a part of the state-controlled system after 1945 and several movements can be recognised within it. The development and illustration requirements, changing during the 1950s and 1960s, can be mostly inferred from contemporary literature by writers Stehlíková and Holešovský, the Zlatý máj magazine or submissions to the 1972 Brno symposium exploring the relationship between literary text and its visual art interpretation. After outlining the principal relationships, this work focuses on a more detailed exploration of the illustrations by Mirko Hanák, whose work originated during the 1950s and 1960s before being terminated by a premature death in 1971. Hanák freed himself of the compulsory realism during the 1950s and chose a path towards symbolism, which helped him achieve a respected creative status in the 1960s. Hanák's talents chiefly manifested themselves in his wildlife illustrations for adventure books, where he employed the watercolour technique. He took inspiration from Chinese ink painting, with which he became familiarised thanks to the many exhibitions taking place in the context of the contemporary cultural exchange between Czechoslovakia and the People's Republic of China. Both working with the originals of Hanák's illustrations and a comparison between individual...

The overall objective of this thesis is to fill a gap in art historical research as well as in the history of women in a more general sense. The main focus is the life and work of artist Anna Berglund (1857-1946), who’s artistic practice spanned the fields of design, decorative art, calligraphy and watercolour painting. The thesis is the first attempt to conduct research into Berglund’s artistic practices. Primary sources from and about Berglund are scarce, as not much has survived the test of time in terms of personal documents such as letters, notes or diaries. Therefore, the political, social and cultural conditions of Berglund’s time and environment have complemented and contextualised the primary source material. Biographical method, archival research, and the application of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory have formed the foundation of the thesis. In addition, the thesis is built around questions into 19th century women’s development of social networks and adaptation of strategies to navigate and establish themselves as professionals. The research show that Anna Berglund’s habitus and economic, cultural and social capital enabled her to enter and navigate the field. Furthermore, Berglund developed and adapted professional strategies to navigate the field and to build a network that enabled her to push her career forward. The nature of pattern drawing as a new and quickly expanding professional field in the late 1800s contributed and enabled Anna Berglund, as well as others, to enter, navigate and establish themselves on the field and as entrepreneurs.