Focusing on Any Specific 'Thing', Discuss the Ways in Which Its Meanings Are Constructed.

Focusing on any specific 'thing ', discuss the ways in which its meanings are constructed. It seems that we can only understand ourselves by the ‘things’ we find around us. Even if it is only to understand everything we are not. Any phenomena perceived within what we call our Universe can be coined under the term of being a ‘thing’. Whether it be a piece of toast, a planet or a Neuron firing within our brain, any phenomena which can be observed and, therefore, named can be said to fall into the all encompassing term of being a ‘thing’. Some would argue that even that which cannot be physically observed, such as a dream, a thought or sensation could also be thought of as being a ‘thing’. I suppose their argument would be that whatever can be differentiated from something else can be argued as being a ‘thing’ in its own right. I, however, would like to keep the term related to this, perceivable, dimension and focus on that which can be seen to be physically ‘real’.

Specifically I would like to focus on the Artists sketchbook and pencil, in terms of being ‘things’ which unquestionably play a huge role in the practice of art and my particular field of study, Illustration, and has done for centuries. During this essay I intend to explore and discuss the ‘life and death’ of the Artists sketchbook and pencil, starting with the initial encounter and how an individuals life experiences can and do affect our personal and public perceptions towards these ‘things’. I would also like to reflect upon how, as practitioners, we interact with these two very different, but equally important, ‘tools’.

I hope to briefly discuss the phenomenology of ‘things’ in general and reflect upon the way in which construct meaning towards them.

I am interested in the notion that we ourselves bestow a kind of ‘life’ upon these, seemingly lifeless, ‘things’ by the way in which we give them a particular place in our own lives. Finally, I will explore the ‘death’

References: Hooper-Greenhill, E. (2000) Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture, Objects and Interpretive Processes: 103 – 123. London: Routledge Hoskins, J. (1998) Biographical Objects. London: Routledge Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962) Phenomenology of Perception. Oxon: Routledge Parker, C. (2010) youtube. [available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64WRqHoKM5s&feature=player-embedded].[accessed on 28/04/10].