ARTISTS TALKING

# 42 [18 October 2011]

I just thought I'd let you all know I passed my MA.

With a Distinction!!

Extremely happy + now settling into my new job and life as a working artist again.

New blog will start soon.

# 41 [23 August 2011]

I abandoned this blog in favour of the Butterfly Park one as that took up all of my time and was essentially my MA project so it seemed daft keeping two blogs. However on the slim chance that someone reads this one, I'm almost finished my MA now.

Few weeks left to go, thesis written + printed. Some more map drawing and framing to do, help set up the MA show and then take the caravan visitor centre up to Preston for the PV evening in Sept and wait for the results...eek

Thesis can be read here:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2408319

Please Come along to the PV on the evening of Wed 14 Sept in The Hanover Buliding, UCLAN Preston if you are around the North West.

# 40 [13 March 2011]

Best laid plans got scuppered due to vile illness , been off work and off working for this project all week. 

I officially hate being ill. 

I do not do it well, my creative thinking vanished! 

In the midst of this, just as I began to feel 'slightly'  human I had to take a group of school children on a tour of the park, pre arranged ages ago so had to go.

It went really well, the kids were all so polite and very interested, they followed me around listening intently and asking lots of questions. We talked a bit about the visitor centre that they will be making work for. I go into their school on 24th to do an assembly and discuss all this in detail with the rest of the kids.

Then because I'd been out in the rain, I got ill again :(

I did however manage to speak with my old lecturer at Wirral Met college and they've agreed to loan me one of their old plan chests for the duration of the summer. I'll re-furb it into a lepidoptera cabinet for the visitor centre saving a small fortune not having to actually buy one, major bonus staying friends with other creatives.

The entries are in for the Butterfly Art trail, some really interesting ones amongst them. I'll be presenting to the team this week (pending my feeling better) and looking for a decision on who to invite to join with us this year. Very excited.

# 39 [31 January 2011]

Had an interesting meeting last week about our Contextual Reports, these are in place of a Dissertation. An MA without a dissertation seems very bizarre to me. I LOVE writing and was looking forward to this part greatly but and here is where i make some other MA students very envious, the Contextual report that accompanies our work is only 6000 words, I've written longer essays.

I have to say I am going to really struggle to ONLY write 6000 words, I don't know if I can manage it, my Butterfly Park blog alone stands at 6000 words and with 7 months to go.

How do I tell the story of the park and all that I've been doing/planning in 6000 words, it's nigh on impossible and I can pretty much guarantee it'll be more than that but heyho.

It's how to present it that will be key, lots of imagery, let the pictures talk for themselves apparently. 

I'm still unsure what format to work in for this, was originally thinking of laying it out as a guide to the park but now a set of tourism students have asked if they can work with us to make a guide, which is fantastic news but kind of puts my plans out a bit.

So maybe an evaluation type report that can be used to put with funding applications in the future.

WHo knows yet?

Stayed up until 3am last night filling in an application form for another residency later on in the year, the first one I've actually put a proposal in for that would be funded, well, when I say funded, they will appoint the artist and then apply for funding but it does sound hopeful.

It is an amazing project, so utterly up my street, it was like it was written for me in particular  but obviously hundreds of other artists will think that too and also apply so I have to just sit and wait now with fingers crossed and baited breath.

# 38 [14 January 2011]

In Preston yesterday, presenting our work so far. Great to see what the others in the group have been up to, very diverse work.

We don't get to meet up as often in this final year and as such  I think it's important to have these presentation sessions to catch up. 

There is an interim exhibition in Preston, a chance to see all the 2nd year MA work to date, very much looking forward to that as I don't get to see the Studio Practice group at all nowadays.

I made the decision not to join in the exhibition, though I would love to be part of it, as my work is all site based it seems odd to 'make' something specific for an exhibition nowhere near the site, it wouldn't have the same significance in a white box setting.

5 of the UCLAN Fine Art MA students were accepted in the Atkinson Gallery’s MA & Other Postgraduates Show 2011, how good is that? So happy for them all.

I didn't enter -as again - site specific doesn't really travel well. Feel like I might be missing out a bit but it'll all be worth in come September I'm sure.

# 37 [1 January 2011]

Happy New Year to all.

Lets hope that regardless of all the Government cuts to the Arts that we all  do more than survive but actually prosper! I know there is slim chance of this for most but we can still make great art regardless, lets all prove it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Years Eve, had friends around, drank champagne (ok cava) and feeling like the future is where it's at. I've had a mixed up year of very hard work, many exhibitions and potential redundancy and have come through it all in one piece, may 2011 be prosperous  and somewhat less eventful, I'd love time to concentrate on my MA :)

# 36 [12 November 2010]

The second exhibition I did in a week was for 'Squaremile' at Bridewell Gallery in Liverpool.

The Gallery was once an old Police Station/Prison hence the name and the brief was to respond to any place within one square mile of the gallery. 

Exactly 0.94 miles away as the crow flies stands a tiny tower in Everton Park that was once a prison, it's now most commonly known as part of the logo for Everton Football Club.

I wanted to recreate the small prison inside the Bridewell Gallery, a bridewell within a Bridewell. It is made entirely from out of date Law Books donated by Liverpool Law School (also within the square mile) 

I want viewers to go inside the small structure, stooping to enter the narrow door and feel uncomfortable, as you would in an actual jail cell.

St Bride’s Well

Law Books and Wooden supports

bridewell  (ˈbraɪdˌwɛl, -wəl)

— n

a house of correction; jail, esp for minor offences

[C16: after Bridewell  (originally, St Bride's Well ), a house of correction in London]

This work represents the diminutive Everton Tower or The Roundhouse as it’s known locally, built in 1787 to ‘incarcerate wrong do-er’s’ and to remember those who received little or no education in days gone by which is perhaps why they became ‘wrong doer’s’.

# 35 [8 November 2010]

Wolstenholme Creative Space is a beautiful old wreck of a building that does indeed have fally down bits to it.

They sent out a call for submissions earlier on this year for an exhibition called 'With these walls we are shaped'. The exhibition called for artists to respond to the gallery space itself, the building, it's history and the way it is now used.

Here is what I came up with, not one but two installations. One directly dealing with the walls (literally) and inviting the viewers to become part of the walls.

The second responding to the musicians who play at Wolstenholme regularly.

Piece 1:

Stereotactic

stereotactic [ˌstɛrɪəˈtæktɪk ˌstɪər-]

adj. 

orientation or movement of an organism in response to the stimulus of a solid object.

Using bricks from within Wolstenholme Creative Space, this piece of art invites the viewer to respond to the stimulus of this particular solid object. Become shaped by these walls - become the Organism.

Piece 2:

Stereo-tastic

Stereo-tastic[ˌstɛrɪəˈtæsktɪk ˌstɪər-]

n

(Electronics) the technique of reproducing and transmitting visual surround sound

This work plays music recorded at live gigs within Wolstenholme Creative Space, the piece represents and reacts to this music; a visually explosive resonance and invites the viewer to walk through the installation to hear and be surrounded by the space and sound.

# 34 [8 November 2010]

Ah a-n blog, how I have missed you. :)

It's been a while, where does time go? Yet again I have been busy but I will be blogging again far more regularly now that things have started to calm down.

So...updates galore. 

The Biennial is great, if you haven't made the trip up to Liverpool you still have time and there is so much great work to make it worthwhile. 

I had a week to install 3 installations in 2 galleries, it was mayhem.....to say the least. In the midst of the mayhem I pulled a muscle in my back and was out of play for 2 days.

However, not one to give up and with some help from my husband and Julie Dodd it all got done in the end. 5am finish on the day of the opening on one of them, so a bit touch and go!

I think I'll update each exhibition in separate posts so as not to bore anyone and to save having one enormously long post.

But suffice to say for now I am in  a good place, happy with the way the work has gone, proud to be part of two excellent exhibitions and I got Artwork of the Week on the ArtinLiverpool website...fantastic.

http://www.artinliverpool.com/blog/2010/11/artwork...

# 33 [7 September 2010]

Spent yesterday evening in the studio, all alone singing to myself along to spotify random songs on the laptop - fab evening and very productive.

Have made my 'shoebox portfolio' its to go into a large structure in an old unused shop space that The Cooperative are taking over, each artist from each local studio group has been asked to make a shoebox size work representing their practice that visitors can then take down and look at/into.

 http://www.thecooperative.info/

Sen some of the others around the studio, all are so different it will be really interesting to see all of them together with the other studio groups too - a very wide variety of art.

My proposal for Bridewell was accepted too,which is fantastic news.  I've been having a play around with the law books I have already but even though there are a lot, I may well need more - this will be a very heavy installation to transport. 

Work at Liverpool Biennial is hotting up, all the International team are doing a tremendous job, this looks to be a fantastic collection of works with lots of new strands to it, so excited to say I have work in two of those strands, S.Q.U.A.T and The Cooperative are both part of Biennial and The Bridewell and Lauries work are both part of the Independents, it' going to a busy and exciting couple of months.

www.biennial.com