Birmingham Museum and Gallery Vist

During the summer holiday I visited Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery to gather inspiration and ideas for my own personal investigation. Not only was the artwork useful, but the actual building, architecture and interior was also inspiring.

The old architecture mixed with the new buildings gave a contrast of old and new, much like the modern, contemporary art contrasted with the 17th century paintings inside the museum. I enjoyed the shapes of the brick work and the dark, dirty colours on the walls showing the long history of the building itself, as well as the paintings and artifacts inside. As we were entering the gallery, i noticed the steps themselves were worn from the countless steps taken on them throughout the centuries. 

The ceilings also shown interesting shapes and forms including circles in a dome shape and elaborate coving. The strong geometrical shapes of the circular ceilings contrast well with the smooth, elegant curves on the coving as well as the vibrant painting depicting a Birmingham street (unfortunately i did not get any extra information on this piece).

The first area I came to was a gallery with a range of portraits and landscapes done by a range of different artists. I was particularly interested in the way artists painted fabrics and the sea (water) as they were realistic and shown shadows and detention making them look like photographs. In the center of the room was a stature of Archangel Lucifer, which i think was a powerful center piece for the room. 

Psychology Behind Drug Use and Addiction

Developing my Ideas

Whilst researching into drug abuse and addiction, I began to research why particular people become addicted to drugs. Chronic stress and trauma (no matter when it may happen in an individuals life) can lead to a higher risk of drug addiction and self medicating. This is due to individuals who have experienced trauma in their life being unable to find a way to cope with the feelings and memories of this stress. They may then begin to use substances to allow them to forget or simply detach them from their reality, causing them to frequently rely on drugs and intern, becoming addicted to the substance.

I then began to look more into emotional abuse and detachment as I felt this would be useful to use within my art work. People who have suffered with forms of abuse tend to detach themselves as a coping mechanism.  

Carol Nelson

Carol Nelson is an artist who creates landscapes, portraits, 3D sculptures and abstract pieces using a range of materials from rice paper, metals and foils to acrylic paints and other textured mediums to create contemporary mixed media acrylic paintings. I personally find her abstracts and mixed media works to be the most appealing and inspiring for my own personal work.
I find that the multiple textures creating depth and shadow in the pieces are not only pleasing to the eye but also can express emotions and experiences depending on the roughness or softness of the texture. Colour is also relevant in Nelsons work as the pallet ranges from vibrant reds and blues to dull grays and rusty oranges, again depicting different emotions.
Nelson also uses a range of lines from straight sharp lines to smooth curls and curves. I think this compliments the different textures in her works along with the particular colour pallet she chooses.

Research: Statistics

Statistics

To begin my research i started to look into statistics of drug miss use in the UK to get a better understanding of how much of a problem drug use is. Here's what I found:

Drug misuse related hospital admissions (England)

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  • There were 7,545 hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of drug-related mental health and behavioral disorders. This is 12 per cent lower than 2015/16 but 12 per cent higher than 2006/07
  • There were 14,053 hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by illicit drugs.This is 7 per cent lower than 2015/16 but 40 per cent more than 2006/07.
  • In 2016 there were 2,593 registered deaths in England and Wales related to drug misuse. This is an increase of 5 per cent on 2015 and 58 per cent higher than 2006
  • Deaths related to drug misuse are at their highest level since comparable records began in 1993
  • In 2016/17, around 1 in 12 (8.5 per cent) adults aged 16 to 59 in England and Wales had taken an illicit drug in the last year.
  • This level of drug use was similar to the 2015/16 survey (8.4 per cent), but is significantly lower than a decade ago (10.1 per cent in the 2006/07 survey).
  Drug use among children (England)
  • In 2016, 24 per cent of pupils reported they had ever taken drugs. This compares to 15 per cent in 2014.
  • The likelihood of having ever taken drugs increased with age, from 11 per cent of 11 year olds to 37 per cent of 15 year olds.
  
  
  
  

Initial Ideas

Addiction

Addiction noun

1. the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity.
2. For my year two, component one work I would like to look into addiction (mostly drug addiction) and reasons as to why people take drugs and then become addicted. I believe that many people take particular drugs because they find it fun or are curious as to how certain drugs will effect them. However I also believe that other people (especially people who become addicted) have a darker reason as to why they take drugs; this is what I would like to find out through my research.

Main Ideas

• Why do people become addicted to substances?
• What causes people to start to take drugs?
• How does addiction to drugs change a persons mental health?
• Psychology behind addiction.