MA Week 33 - Holbeck urban wandering : End of Days

Holbeck Urban Wandering – 23^rd June 2016

An urban wandering to find some more Northern shapes, inspired by the view from the train leaving Leeds.

 

Transcript: 

23.06.2016, en plein air, Granary Wharf 

I didn’t do the wander I’d anticipated. In the end the bus I got only went to the Bus Station, not City Square, so I got off there & wandered via Call Lane. I returned to my old haunt of the path by the canal near Brasserie Blanc. It was great to be doing an art project while the skirts and suits were in their offices. Then I walked down Water Lane to Tower Works. Very gentrified now; offices and open spaces, but a very peaceful and welcoming space. I ate my sandwich and sketched the shape of the towers, nearby offices and Bridgewater Place. You can get out onto the canal there, too, which I never knew. Lots of railway signal gantries as that’s where the main line to London leaves the city. I’d intended to go look at Temple Works but I walked by the canal a little way instead, and photographed the reflections. I was thinking about this idea of how much of an actor you are in an artwork? How much of an actor are you in a generative wandering? If you let yourself deviate from your intended path, have you lost control or gained the point of wandering? You can always go somewhere else another day. Wandering heightens your sense of place and your perception of shape. I thought it would be difficult to wander somewhere I didn’t know, but you just have to open yourself to the experience.

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Tower Works

I’d taken a rubbing of a door at Tower Works and wrote the above transcribed text onto that, although it was really a bit dark to write into. It was written at the end of my wander, sitting on a bit of grass, surrounded by bars with office workers eating and drinking al fresco. By chance I had wandered into the world of others at their lunchtime. I felt a bit like I was moving amongst them as an interloper, a ghost. I hadn’t realised how many offices there were nearby, and there were many workers taking the chance to walk in the warm sunshine – it was about 22 degrees – and to have a cheeky drink with their colleagues. I began to wonder about their stories. There was a group of six women who strode out as I sat sketching, chatting twenty to the dozen. They were on the way back when I strolled further up the towpath, and I guessed they did this most days, come rain or shine.  What did all these office dwellers do? Who was in with the in crowd and who was out? Did they even notice me sitting sketching and writing? Were they all as cheesed off with their jobs and daily grind as I was when I worked in Finance in the city centre?

 

Leeds Minster, 23.06.2016

It was a gorgeous sunny day, a day when it’s really good to be alive. Oh how different life felt the next morning. I took over a hundred photos, including Leeds Minster in use as a Polling Station. Without intending to, I had recorded the quotidian in image, sketch and text on the day of the EU Referendum.

In some ways I can hardly bear to look back on the photos as they seem to represent the last day that things were (vaguely) sane, but at the same time they present compelling evidence to support my ever-growing belief that each day is gently laying down the heritage of the future. That day certainly did.

 

 

MA Week 33 - after the show, printing and planning

 

Reflection on the past two weeks – 27^th June 2016:

the show, printing and planning

 

I visited the end of year show a further three times with different people. I had quite a good look at a lot of the other pieces as well as the ones in the MA room. On reflection, our works are definitely works in progress. Mine didn’t have the finished quality or size you would expect from a final piece. I did feel that I definitely need to do some work on the quality. But that’s fine, it’s acknowledged that there’s still a long way to go.

I was sad to take the pieces off the wall, but then I needed a break, having been in college so much. I also felt like I needed to take things in a different direction. I wanted to get back to printing so I decided to spend the morning of Friday 17^th June doing some monoprinting using colours and stencils. I envisaged a very loose type of outcome but the first thing I did was cut some pylon-based geometric shapes from card. It made me laugh that even my free, “unplanned” work had to be controlled.

I inked an A4 etching plate in the blue and yellow colours of one of the pairs of boards from the show and I did let the work direct itself. Using and re-using the plate and the card shapes gave some almost ghostly images. I experimented a little bit with partial inking of the plate and felt that could give some interesting results but would need further work. I worked on bulky newsprint as one of my classmates had mentioned that this was a good paper for monoprinting. Wendy, the print room supervisor, also gave me some sheets of a Fabriano paper that is quite glossy. Evidently the first print is not so good but the second one is better. I wasn’t too sure, but I think I might have over-inked the plate. As I was just experimenting, I didn’t bother about this too much, but I need to take some notes about my processes and to vary the amount of ink I use. The turquoise blue I used was a bit too dark and it gave a dark green over the yellow, so the colour mixing on the paper also needs more thoughts.

 

Multiple monoprints

I ran out of time at two colours although I may go back and apply a third colour. There is also scope for working into the prints with acrylic or perhaps charcoal. As college was closed last week I haven’t worked on them further and really I need to have a look at them to see where next, either with them or with a new set.

 

The best-laid plans...

With college being closed it was time to take stock. The show represented the half-way point of the module so what now? Really there is such a lot I’d like to do; more mark-making with acrylics, explore the use of modelling paste and textures in the acrylics, think about building the paint off the board… monoprinting, both drawn and printed styles, lino cuts, more drypoints, try “proper” etching… I spent a couple of evenings planning and have decided that I need to prioritise one thing, so that will be printing. I can paint and draw outside of the MA but I need to make the most of being able to print whilst I’ve got access to the college facilities. I won’t pre-judge the outcome but it would be good to do a print that feels a little more finished.

 

 

MA Week 32 - secret exhibition in Somerset

1000 Postcards – exhibiting at Black Swan Gallery, Frome, 18-28 June 2016

Alongside my acrylic pieces for the exhibition, I produced and submitted two postcard-sized pieces for an exhibition I’d spotted on social media. The Black Swan Gallery in Frome, Somerset, had put a call out for 1000 postcard-sized original artworks to raise money for their Round Tower gallery (see www.blackswan.org.uk). The cards are on sale for £30 each and the “hook” to get people in is works by the singer Cara Dillon and the designer Pearl Lowe. The gallery intended to use all submissions so it seemed like a win/win situation – I could get some work into another part of the country, and they could hopefully get some much needed funds. As is the way of these exhibitions, the postcards are exhibited anonymously, so I will have to post a photo of them retrospectively!

#1000postcards

It was a lot of fun following the progress of the submissions on Twitter. The gallery tweeted photos of the growing postal deliveries each day. I tweeted a photo of my efforts packed up and ready to go, and that was retweeted (thereby getting my name “out there” in Somerset!). They also tweeted images of themselves putting the exhibition up and the opening night.

Opening night support

Alas, the gallery is too far away for me to visit, and I’ve not yet spotted my cards on any of the images shown so far. There have been a couple of unexpected pieces of publicity, though. One is the “Wall of Fame” with all the artists’ names on, as shown in this picture by @forgottenbee (used with permission).

Fame at last! Credit : @forgottenbee

 

Another unexpected boost is a piece on the ITV South West website – again my name is pictured on the Wall of Fame, and the exhibition gets a good write-up. I am really pleased by this. Although it’s a small step, it broadens my horizons and it has helped me connect with a couple of people down in the South West, which I didn’t anticipate. It just shows what can come from taking up an opportunity. Already 200 postcards have been sold so I am hoping mine will go soon if not already!

 

MA Week 31 - an afternoon well spent

An afternoon well spent - 15^th June 2016 

I took the afternoon off and went to the Tall Tales : Crooked Yarns research forum at College. I’ve discussed this in detail here. It really was a thought-provoking afternoon and a validation of the way I’m conducting my research. 

Prior to the forum, I met a former classmate who has sadly suspended her studies. It was great to catch up with her and our conversation yielded a couple of significant points that I want to document.

Sometimes it takes a conversation to make you realise the blindingly obvious. Both of us are mature students, and in my own case I don’t have a first degree in an Art subject. We acknowledged between us that returning to studying art later in life meant we are not in a position to compete with the young graduates in their early 20s. However, we do bring life experience and the experience of our own respective careers. Is there a way that this can be acknowledged within the educational field? How do we make this experience count? In my case, the latter is probably answered by putting to use my transferable skills – project management, presentation skills – and I acknowledged to myself that these skills, which I take for granted and barely notice, are helping me to progress with the course. 

Following on from that, we talked about motivations. We both love being artist/makers and both of us have had health issues. We articulated the joy of doing something creative simply because you can and you are still breathing! Harking back to one of the comments I made in my week 27 post - in and amongst all the methodologies and perspectives from which we try to hang our work, shouldn’t there be one which describes working for the sheer thrill of creativity?

 

 

MA Week 31 - "Made Here" - opening night and beyond

"Made Here" end of year show - opening night and beyond!

 It was fantastic to walk into the room on Friday afternoon and see everyone’s work hung. Despite it being a work in progress exhibition, it looked pretty polished and professional. One interesting point was that quite a lot of the work was black and white – prints, drawings and photographs. So my little boards added a splash of colour, a welcome foil to some of the other exhibits.

Next to other people’s pieces, I felt my work was a little bit small, and also that one of the boards (the blue and yellow one) could have been better. But there was such a buzz in the room that it barely mattered. We had a steady stream of visitors, and not only family and friends. A couple of people I know turned up unexpectedly, which was lovely, and they seemed to understand what I was trying to depict. I fell into conversation with a couple of people I’d never met, and they were encouraging and provided different viewpoints to my own. One particular point was the tension between the black/red pieces and the blue/yellow pieces. Which did they prefer? Did the colourways jostle for priority?

When people walked past without studying my works, I felt a little crestfallen initially, but then realised that not everybody is going to like everything. Don’t I go to galleries and “get” some works, but not others? Of course – and this is what is going to happen with my work.

The wine flowed and the evening passed all too quickly. I returned today with another friend and had a more critical look, both at our room and some of the other work. Our works may be smaller in scale and number, but they stand their own against many of the degree show pieces. There were a number of visitors to the room while we were there, which was gratifying. Overall I’m happy to say that both our room and my own contribution to the exhibition have gone much better than I expected.  

MA Week 30 - Ready for the end of year exhibition

Reflection on the past two weeks – 7^th June 2016

Ready for the end of year exhibition!

I can’t believe it is already two weeks plus since I last posted a blog. Most of the time has been devoted to working up the four acrylic boards from the pylon monoprint, ready for the end of year show. They are definite works in progress, which is what we are being invited to exhibit, and I can see lots of improvements I can make. But they’re hung on the wall, and that’s the main thing. 

I picked up working on them on 26^th May. I’d already done a second acrylic sketch for the black and the red pieces and I started them on the MDF board (each 20x20cm). The black sketch had got too busy and I sought to simplify it. I also decided to reduce the amount of masking and layering in the red piece.

The red piece worked OK, perhaps not as good as the sketch, but better than the original. The masking and marking didn’t come off quite as well as I’d hoped. I think using this technique for a resolved piece would need quite a lot of painting onto transparencies to understand how the layering would look when you take off the masking tape.  My classmate Mel had suggested that the black piece looked like lights emanating outwards, and I took up this idea in the final version of this. It’s much neater and cleaner than the sketch and I think it works quite well.



Sketching in progress

Over the weekend I worked on the sketches for the two blue pieces and started the boards based on these. Things didn’t go too well when I peeled off the masking tape for the diamond image and it (the tape) had stretched and curved, meaning I had to start again – but such is life. Throughout doing the boards, I experimented quite a lot on a test board with modelling paste and with adding depth by using layers of transparent colour. In the end I decided against the modelling paste as it’s white, and was adding too much white to the colours, weakening them and altering them too much. However, I made some nice marks with them, and I will pick up that mark making again as I think it needs further investigation.

Of the four, the blue diamond worked up best after the initial nuisance. Some of the textures from the painted lines are a little too textured (uneven or imbalanced), but it has some nice layers in it (as suggested in the crit) and plenty of ideas for future work.  The other blue and yellow piece didn’t work up as well as the sketch. I think I chose the wrong content and positioning for the little “mini-paintings” that sit within the overall painting. But, as I said, it’s a work in progress.

 

Pylons I - IV

In all of these I found that I need to improve my brush control, and I need to find out more about how I stop the brush losing its point and having little hairs split away (it might be that I am handling them too roughly when I wash them). Some of the energetic lines worked better than the others, and sometimes it depended on how tired I was. Some of the sketches and the final pieces engaged me more than others, just as various works always do.



Only took one and a half hours to hang...

After much messing about trying to pack out the fixings so that the boards would hang as well as possible, I got the pieces hung last Saturday. Here I have to acknowledge the help of my partner, Nick, who produced endless amounts of different packer materials from goodness knows where, and who levelled the four pieces on the wall. Bring on Friday!

 

MA Week 30 - Funding and working internationally

Funding and working internationally – 3^rd June 2016

Sharon and Annabeth presented this session on the topic of gaining funding and working internationally.

Working internationally is a bit beyond me at the moment but there were a couple of things that might be within my reach. The first is using social media. I have a few international followers. Could I gain more? I’ve certainly gained more UK-wide coverage over the first year of the course. The second would be to attend local conferences with international speakers. So far I haven’t seen any likely opportunities for this, but that doesn’t mean to say there aren’t (or won’t be) any.

Some pointers on funding:

• Think like you have the funding! – continue your practice and keep searching for the funding.
• Look for opportunities for collaborations/art in the community
• Can you get sponsorship from companies? Perhaps put their logo on your project? (reciprocality).
• Assess the impact of your work to help with funding applications. Can you use a comments book or a form of social media to do this?
• Collaborate with others to gain expertise – join with them on funding applications. Join Leeds Creative Timebank?

Funders

• Craft Council – have a look at this every month
• Fenton Arts Trust
• The Arts House Wakefield produce info re pots of money
• Ideas Tap
• Leeds City Council – Arts Development
• Leeds Inspired – promote your event through this, e.g. if you’re doing a pop-up show

Match Funders

• National Heritage Lottery Fund (could be of interest to me?) - Can you do something round an anniversary, or an oral history?
• Wellcome Trust – would be good to visit theme
• Leverhulme Trust – will fund artist in residence in a University department

Crowdfunding – Artsfund, Indiegogo, Kickstarter - be careful, you may not get any of the funding! The project has to be partly up and running to stand a chance of success.

Not sure if any of these are relevant to me at the moment – but documented here for future reference!