OUIL501 - Meat Industry Research

http://www.journalofanimalscience.org/content/57/Supplement_2/119.full.pdf

The red meat industry has undergone significant change during recent decades.
Mechanization has resulted in high-efficiency, high-volume cattle slaughter-dressing facilities. 

Future trends will include consumer marketplace expression of a preference for reduced fat, which will be reflected in further grade standard changes.
Cultural trends affect the industries that supply them and they change to meet certain changing demands.

The passage of the federal Humane Slaughter Act became effective on July 1st 1961.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/13/slaughtering-animals-cut-meat-consumption-vegetarian
We must stop this cavalier slaughtering of animals
perhaps we shouldn’t be wiping them out in such a cavalier way, or eating so many of them. This is, apparently, the Age of Extinction. We are dominating the ecosystems and making a terminal mess of them; vertebrates have declined by over 50%, bees, hoverflies, ladybirds and earthworms aren’t doing too well, and without them, we are done for.

Animal Behaivour
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/04/animal-behaviour-laurel-braitman
I asked him how similar my anxiety might be to Oliver’s. (Her dog) “The underlying brain structures that are involved in these responses are really not that different at all,” Weinstein said. He went on to explain that the basic neurological hardware for emotional states exists across animal species, and with these similarities comes the possibility of malfunction.

Most animals cannot narrate their emotional experiences for humans, and even if they could (signing apes, say, or talking parrots), this isn’t necessarily the best measure of what they’re experiencing. The complex process of making sense of our racing heartbeat, sweaty palms and surges of good or bad feelings is what underpins much of psychotherapy; we simply don’t always know what we’re feeling while we’re feeling it.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/29/slaughterhouse-crossing-line-between-life-meat

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/21/giving-up-beef-reduce-carbon-footprint-more-than-cars
Giving up beef will reduce reduce carbon footprint more than cars, says expert.

The heavy impact on the environment of meat production was known but the research shows a new scale and scope of damage, particularly for beef. 

• Beef requires 28 times more land to produce than pork or chicken.
• 11 times more water
• Production results in five times more climate-warming emissions.
• When compared to staples like potatoes, wheat, and rice, the impact of beef per calorie is even more extreme, requiring 160 times more land and producing 11 times more greenhouse gases.

Agriculture is a significant driver of global warming and causes 15% of all emissions, half of which are from livestock.

The huge amounts of grain and water needed to raise cattle is a concern to experts worried about feeding an extra 2 billion people by 2050.

Beef had a far greater impact than all the others because as ruminants, cattle make far less efficient use of their feed.

“The biggest intervention people could make towards reducing their carbon footprints would not be to abandon cars, but to eat significantly less red meat,”

http://science.time.com/2013/12/16/the-triple-whopper-environmental-impact-of-global-meat-production/

Livestock production — which includes meat, milk and eggs — contributes 40% of global agricultural gross domestic product, provides income for more than 1.3 billion people and uses one-third of the world’s fresh water. 

• Each year, livestock sector produces 586 million tons of milk, 124 million tons of poultry, 91 million tons of pork, 59 million tons of cattle meat and 11 tons of sheep and goat meat.
• 1.3 billion tons of grain are consumed by farm animals each year.
• The highest total of livestock-related greenhouse-gas emissions comes from the developing world, which accounts for 75% of the global emissions from cattle and other ruminants and 56% of the global emissions from poultry and pigs.

OUIL501 - Layered anatomical illustrations

Dan Beckemeyer

My initial idea for this project is to create an anatomical drawing of different farm animals onto tracing paper or acetate, and then layering them up to create a full image. I want to challenge people's perceptions of what meat actually is and where it comes from, because I think that people often don't associate a slab of meat with the animal that it actually comes from, creating an emotional detachment and a lack of empathy with the animal, taking into consideration the meat industry and it's practices. 

OUIL501 - Development sketches

After my trip to Leeds market, I began just skecthing meat, as I was a bit stuck as to where my project was going. At this point I was interested in creating more detailed work that was more time consuming. I enjoy using lines as marks to create texture and used this to create depth and realism in the sketches. I began to start digitally sketching and creating patterns with the shapes of the meat, and played around with layering images with different opacities and colour.

An initial idea for my project was to create a layered painting of different farm animals, I would paint different layers of the animals anatomy onto tracing paper and then layer them on top of each other to create a full image, kind of like the examples below:

OUIL501 - Study Task 4

BA (Hons) Illustration - Level 05

OUIL501 Context of Practice 2

STUDIO BRIEF 1 - Research Proposal

Look at the ideas and sketchbook work produced for CoP2 by another member of your group. Suggest ideas for areas of further research, for each of the following categories, which will ultimately inform any decisions concerning their overall research question for the module.

Proposed Research Question or Theme How demand and growing consumerism has changed and developed the meat industry

1. (Research Behind) What research needs to be undertaken into the general and specific contexts of the Research Project?

I need to research further into the history of consumerism and where it’s at today I need to do research into the different areas in the meat industry Also how the meat industry has developed over time I need to find any connections between consumerism and the meat industry and how they affect each other.

2. (Research Through) What approach(es) could be taken and what processes, methods, materials and tools could be involved in the Research Project?

I need to visit places that relate to my themes, like farms and markets. I need to read texts that are specific to the areas that I’m researching (consumerism and the meat industry) I need to look at contextual references with other illustrators and work that they have done with similar themes.

3. (Research For) What preparation or investigations needs to undertaken for the Research Project to take place?

I need to find out what texts to read I also need to look into places that I could visit

4. (Research In Front of) What research needs to be undertaken regarding who the project is for?

I need to think about exactly who I want to target my project to Look at things that have already been produced by other illustrators and see who they targeted their work to.

Sources of further Research (illustrators, books, websites) Sue Coe

Suggestions for a revised Research Question(s) based on the above.

OUIL501 - Study Task 3

Summary of Walter Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Benjamin, W, 1936)

Speedpaint #22by Sylar113

Benjamin suggests that the way we reproduce art is changing as technology advances. He states that 'Around 1900 technical reproduction had reached a standard that not only permitted it to reproduce all transmitted works of art and thus to cause the most profound change in their impact upon the public; it also had captured a place of its own among the artistic processes.' Suggesting that not only does mechanical reproduction affect the impact that art has on the viewer, but also how artists produce work. The piece of work shown above is a digital painting meant to mimic the aesthetic of an actual physical painting. Digital painting is becoming much more popular as an easy way of producing highly detailed works of art, as an unlimited amount of materials and techniques are contained in one computer program. He also says that 'One might subsume the eliminated element in the term “aura” and go on to say: that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art.' Because digital art is so easy to produce, it is often perceived as less deserving of praise compared to analogue methods of production, the painting above would be perceived very differently if it was not digital. The aura of a piece of work represents its originality and authenticity, 'One might subsume the eliminated element in the term “aura” and go on to say: that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art.' Benjamin also argues that 'The uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being imbedded in the fabric of tradition. This tradition itself is thoroughly alive and extremely changeable. An ancient statue of Venus, for example, stood in a different traditional context with the Greeks, who made it an object of veneration, than with the clerics of the Middle Ages, who viewed it as an ominous idol.' Meaning our perception of art is affected by society and historical context, art may be perceived in different ways by different people when it is in a certain context and the uniqueness of an art work is also determined by the context in which it exists. For example, digital work that is posted online may often be seen as less unique than work that is shown in a gallery context, because of the type of work that is often shown in a gallery context.