Our brief:  A 2,000 word essay on a topic of our own choosing, relating to ideas explored in this blog and my own art practice.

So plenty of scope there!

However, a comment from Grayson Perry in his first Reith Lecture has niggled away at me, especially as another remark made by John Berger in 'Ways of Seeing' has similarly been niggling since a first reading two years ago. These both relate to popularity in art, albeit there are 40 odd years between the two and they're said for rather different reasons.

This is not the moment to start the essay, but it's worth quoting the 'niggling' remarks:

"..... the masses, thanks to reproductions, can now begin to appreciate art as the cultural minority once did. Understandably, the masses remain uninterested and sceptical."  John Berger, 'Ways of Seeing' 1972.

"And God help you if you're popular." Grayson Perry, Reith Lecture 'Democracy has Bad Taste', 2013. 

Needing to turn my 'niggle' - this germ of an idea - into something more concrete, I have employed diagramming techniques to help expose themes and queries that I can subsequently  explore and discuss in more depth. Initally, I used a technique very familiar to me - the mind map - capturing my thoughts quickly and almost instinctively with whatever paper and pens are to hand.  Concern for attractiveness only interrupts my thought process so here it is in its raw, first, and only version.

Clearly, more rigour is needed to arrive at a workable essay and options for this include Venn Diagrams and Concept Maps.

Venn Diagram example concerning learning so that key elements are captured in the main circles, the linkages between them in the outer crossover areas and the crux of the matter 'engagement' right in the centre where they all cross.

The following image gives a straightforward example of the differences between a mind map and a concept map:

 And this a worked example of a Concept Map:

In 1997, Jeremy Deller utilised the concept map idea to produce his artwork 'The History of the World'. This explores the links and social and political points of interest between two types of music across different eras and is a good example of using graphic images to reveal connections. 

Working on the Venn Diagram first, I was able to identify the crux of my subject more clearly as circles led me to the centre:

Now clearer about both my starting and finishing points, I went to work on the Concept Map.  It was a bit of a journey ......

And I finally got there! 

 

I found this exercise incredibly useful as it introduced all sorts of prompts and questions as well as development of links between topics and themes for further exploration.

A Formal Essay Plan

To bring focus to these ideas and start drawing together a clear route for discussion in the essay, I worked with a 'writing frame'. This provides an essay-related structure for organising what, until now, has been quite a broad collection of ideas. For example, it requires you to state the topic and its  main focus, the key research question and the context or background within which the topic sits. It is also a useful document for summarising the point of view to be put forward and a starting point for what to research in published texts that address the same or a related topic; a useful springboard for devising a reading list. It can also be used to capture key terms and, for our purposes, examples of artworks and artists that can be used as case studies to illustrate the essay's argument.

                                                          

My completed writing frame

With this completed and a clearer focus, my next task is to research and identify key reading and to complete a Literature Review.  This will be covered in my next blog entry.

 

References and sources of information:

Berger, J. (1972) Ways of Seeing. BBC and Penguin Books

Links to websites with guides to diagramming:

https://ldaamerica.org/info/graphic-organizers/ 

https://creately.com/blog/diagrams/ultimate-concept-map-tutorial/

https://www.mindmeister.com/blog/students-guide-to-mind-mapping/

Link to Grayson Perry's lecture 'Democracy has bad Taste':

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03969vt 

Link to the Tate description of Jeremy Deller's artwork 'History of the World' (1997):

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/deller-the-history-of-the-world-t12868