Pastiche: My presentation to the class

We had to give our presentations today. My word is Pastiche. Pastiche is when an artist recreates an other artists work. It can be imitation, copying or an artists use of an other or a few artists style. This idea felt really broad to me so I did feel a little intimidated. I decided to go more with the link between an Artist- The moment of inspiration- and the recreation.  I wanted to capture the feeling of inspiration, and the way that that feeling can make you feel. I wanted to capture that with light, colour, emotion. I really wanted to use Feathers as I feel this has been pastiched through history, so I really wanted to include this into my final shoot. This mood board, I feel captures that. 

I unfortunately didn't get to show my presentation to the class but I felt that I really needed some feedback and so I stayed behind so that I could see what Sharon thought of my direction. I showed Sharon my Idea and talked her through my thought process and she explained to me that my Idea was  too figurative. Sharon explained that I have made the word too big and that I need to stick to one direction and then expand from there. At first I felt quite disheartened and confused but I decided to think about what Sharon said and see if I could channel my thoughts into one space. I realised that I had lost the word in my idea. So I looked at my mood board again and had a look at what images drew me in the most and that were relevant to pastiche. This was a struggle because I didn't want to be too literal and I also didn't want to be to metaphorical. Other words for pastiche are imitation, copy and mimicry. 

The main Images that I was drawn to the most were of feathers. I thought of how used they have been through history, Through costume and art. I had a look at shamanic costumes and clothing and the traditions of shamanic people's imitations of the animal Kingdom. They believed that Birds connected them to the spirit world and that if they wore the feathers of specific birds it would bring them closer to the gods. They would mimic Birds and all animals for different reasons. Each animal would represent something different in nature. I want to explore there costumes and different beliefs and see if I can Pastiche there costumes and create my own interpretation. I also want to have a look at the materials used, Fur and feathers specifically and how these have been pastiched in art, fashion and costume. I feel that this will be really good inspiration for my contemporary shoot.