ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [11 July 2009]

Well this is it. The end of a long, and difficult 3 years for me. A first in my family ... which is a very worrying thought!

Reflectiing on the course is something that I find difficult. The course is excellent and cannot be knocked. It keeps me engaged through developing concepts, portraying issues through imagery and also working with others to achieve a final goal. What I do struggle with is the way the work is marked. Coming from a deep understanding of what is required of me to achieve the desired grade. Academic course have engrained this into me. With this course, however, the marking scheme is not that of academic and therefore left me in the lurtch.

The course itself has had its ups and downs, as have I. The final year of the degree ,for me, took its toll. As a result my marks took a beating and my final grade is not what I would ideally set out for. But in this less than ideal situation, I can be happy with what I have achieved.

Our final exhibition (www.contemporary-collective.com) went extremely well. My work had an excellent reception with a great number of comments on its subject matter (electricty of its dominance). I had questionable framing with left some viewers baffled in its use, leaving me having to answer to both my family and the viewers! Using anothers artists framing technique may have been to confusing to the traditionalists!

The future holds another 2 years of intense study. Hopefully I will be accepted onto the Masters degree, again at the University of Cumbria. My work has come on leaps and bounds and I would love to continue my explorations academically into my given subject: the 'environment' and our interactions within it.