Heritage
Show + Tell Presentation - 1st March 2016
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| Well, how DID I get here? |
My submission for the University of Leeds's "Heritage
Show + Tell" was accepted and I was pleased to be able to present my
research and practice to their audience. The Heritage Show + Tell exists to
showcase aspects of heritage in Yorkshire, particularly research, learning and
outreach. The idea is that you talk for three minutes with three slides. There
are 5 or 6 speakers and afterwards everyone mingles and chats over wine and
twiglets (yes, really).
I spoke on the theme "How did I get here? Using heritage for creative
practice". I explained the three strands of research by
creative practice:
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Research through practice - producing visual outcomes. I mentioned my twin narratives of identity and industry and showed visual pieces relating to these.
- Research into practice - articulating the theory that underpins your practice. Here I mentioned Harrison's theory that heritage is based on people, places and objects, and how I have these three things: myself, my foremothers and forefathers; my place in Leeds and Yorkshire; and my manufactured industrial objects. Therefore my practice is underpinned by a theoretical perspective of heritage.
- Research for practice - I showed images of my generative wandering to Armley and talked through these. I went past my birthplace, "found" a mill which brought into play textile heritage, saw used and derelict factories, photographed the Armley gasometer and spent time considering the railway which brought power and prosperity to Leeds.
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| Third slide |
On my third slide, I showed some of my responses to the
wandering and invited people to chat to me afterwards.
I said most of what I wanted to say, but was hit by a
technical hitch partway through the second slide. The animation of my 5 images
started ok and 3 appeared, but the other 2 didn't. A bit of clicking
backwards and forwards brought up the
full 5 images, but a similar problem beset the final slide. This threw me
although I tried not to let it show. I essence I had broken my cardinal rule;
never present without first running through the slides on the kit you're going
to present on. I just hadn't been able to do that. The Show + Tell was talking place in a new
venue and the organisers were having problems even getting the presentations
onto the kit. It was a "smart screen" so the control was through the
"projector screen" on which the presentation was running, so there
wasn't even a PC to get to, to take the animation off. A lesson learned - don't
put animation into slides unless you know the venue you'll be presenting at!
The audience for this particular evening was a bit
different to previous audiences. There were not so many students - there are
often a lot of MA students from the University of Leeds - and more members of
the public. I had a good chat afterwards with Elaine Evans, another of the
presenters, who teaches Fashion at the University of Leeds. We were talking
about the longevity of clothes from the 1960s and 1970s and the throwaway
culture of today. I also talked to another lady from Leeds City Council who
likes trains and architecture and she showed me some fab pictures of Budapest
bus station that she'd taken recently - brutalism and yellow buses! She also
said she thought my image would weave up into a nice teatowel. That gave us all
a laugh.
This was a good experience for me. It moved me away from
my work persona and placed me as an art student.
Another presenter kindly videoed me on my phone and I have reflected on the
event. It was a first step back on the way
to public speaking and as such I think it was positive. I can learn not to
put animation into my slides (which is something I always do, to try to keep
audience interest). I would like to be able to present a poster or short paper
next, so I need to keep any eye out for opportunities to do this. I really
enjoy the Show + Tell. It's always a really interesting and entertaining night
and I was glad to give something back to it.
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