DEGREES UNEDITED

# 83 [3 June 2010]

OK I can't resist posting another image.

Here are the internals of my installation as I left it today.

# 82 [3 June 2010]

Another excellent day.

A quick trip to B&Q this morning where I sourced the final few components to realise the 'tweaks' I mentioned yesterday. A couple of hours later and all was done.

I liken this stage of the installation to the snagging of a new build house - it takes a lot longer than you think - you need time to reflect on what you already have and what it might yet become. My advice for all first time exhibitors is: take the very earliest opportunity to get your work on-site and then spend time living with the space and working out how to best utilise it.

Give yourself time to reflect and adjust.

Having finished my install (by lunch time) I turned myself over as a helper for one of my colleagues. It seems my height is invaluable when it comes to positioning work! I was very happy to oblige.

Tonight I am taking one final pass through the journals and support work while adding some reflective thoughts on the exhibition installation. From tomorrow noon it is all out of my hands (for assessment) until Wednesday and the final couple of hours before the Private View.

I am excited..!

# 81 [2 June 2010]

Today was a good day. Everything is installed and could now be left as-is. A couple of minor tweaks to do just to satisfy myself really. These are planned for tomorrow and then Friday I hand over the support work so the assessment can begin bright and early on Monday. So that leaves four days rest before we have to be available to meet the external examiner on Wednesday before the Private View Wednesday evening.

A side job for tomorrow is to document the installed installation to occupy the last few pages of my last BA journal.

All-in-all it is quite a strange feeling to realise how close the finishing line now is.

No more pictures until I take the official 11degrees.co.uk record next week.

# 80 [1 June 2010]

I installed the outside surface of my exhibit today - see photograph - and then promptly uninstalled it again. Now I have all the fixings in place it is a fifteen minute job to install or uninstall. I will install the outside again once the inside is finished - a task for tomorrow.

# 79 [1 June 2010]

Today the install begins.

I'll post pictures later - time permitting.

# 78 [30 May 2010]

Everything is ready for installation to begin on Tuesday.

The official private view invites are now available. If you want to come along then please contact me and I will send you either a physical or electronic version for you to RSVP to the college.

There is a contact e-mail at:

http://www.11degrees.co.uk/p/contact_22.html

# 77 [28 May 2010]

Yesterday went well, I now have my exhibition space almost ready for installation to begin next week. A little bit of bracing for the gallery panels and it will be done.

I will spend some time today helping others.

# 76 [26 May 2010]

The ground elder is subdued - for a week or two at least. The day in the garden made for great relaxation. I managed to forget about the degree show and assessment for a couple of hours.

I now have all the hardware required to mount my work in the exhibition. All the work is ready too. The final step, before installation, will be to finish the preparation of the gallery boards. This is now scheduled for tomorrow. So everything is on-time and I should be installing the work from next Tuesday.

In just 14 days I will be hanging around waiting for a call to talk to the external examiner and looking forward to the evening private view and a huge sigh of relief!

# 75 [25 May 2010]

My journals are indexed, cross referenced and ready to go. So is the other support work - mainly books.

One last thing to add to the journals will be photographs of the final installation when it is built.

We had a message late yesterday that the venue will not be ready for us to start our part of the build until Thursday, giving an impromptu extra day off. I think some much needed gardening is in order. I will commence battle with the ever invading ground elder later this morning.

# 74 [24 May 2010]

I have just completed my second pass through the unit of work. One more should do the trick and complete the job of indexing and cross-referencing my unit submission. I plan to do that this afternoon, giving me tomorrow as a rest day before the exhibition build begins on Wednesday.

Our private view is on the 9th June and the assessment is made on the 7th, 8th and 9th, so the 9th is the end of the road. Everything beyond that is just a side-effect of taking the degree: public exhibition, show dismantle, clearing the studio, waiting for the assessment feedback and results day (22nd June), the assessment feedback and results day and the graduation ceremony are all necessary evils.

Just maybe I could leave public exhibition out of that list of evils, but I remain unconvinced that such exhibitions are the way my art will develop, so it is in (the list) for now!

***

A short teaser video from one possible kinetic component for the exhibition. I am leaving the final decision on which kinetic components to use until the very last moment when everything else is installed. The external surface of the installation may be entirely logical, but the internal surface is driven by my own emotional response to the unit of work that is the final major project.