DEGREES UNEDITED

# 20 [7 June 2011]

Well... it's all over. Almost. After a rather traumatic morning of final installation (involving drama over incorrect details on postcards and a last minute rush reprinting job, and then having to bring in my 2 boys and bribe them with bags of Haribo to sit in the corner and NOT TOUCH ANYTHING while I finished blutac-ing my pieces to the wall), by the time the private viewing began, the studio spaces had been transformed - as if by magic! - into a lively gallery. The evening went by so quickly, fuelled by possibly too much wine, but it was fun, and such a relief to finally have the work all finished and installed and hear people being so positive about it. I took some photos of my area the day after, when it was quieter.

I've had a few moments of feeling a little flat after the initial buzz of actually finishing had worn off, but I guess this is normal. My musician brother always claims to suffer from "post-tour blues" when he has finished a set of gigs; I suppose this is similar. The flatness hasn't lasted too long though, as I've got so many projects I want to start on. Now is the time for some focus, and to begin planning my next moves...

# 19 [29 May 2011]

It appears that the relative calm I felt last week was merely delusional, as it’s full on proper stress time now. To complicate things, my boys are now on half-term from school, so the next couple of days will be spent juggling degree stuff (important) with mum stuff (even more important). 

Our brochures have come back from the printers and everyone's really happy with them. As it was decided that we wouldn't have an exhibition brochure for the whole college (we've got individual postcards instead), us Fine Art students felt rather sad, so we decided to make our own little brochure just for the 5 of us. It was my first time a) using Indesign and b) getting something professionally printed, so I was really worried I'd screw it up somehow. The relief that it's all turned out ok is pretty immense. 

The private viewing for our show is on Tuesday evening but we’re being thrown out of college by midday for assessments to start (and we can’t get in on Monday due to the bank holiday). None of my work is installed yet (although I’ve painted everything white and put some screws in a board) as I have a list of minor and not-so-minor finishing touches to make - I’m hoping 3 hours on Tuesday morning is going to be enough time to put it all in place.

I’m excited about getting some sleep when this is all over. 

# 18 [12 May 2011]

I can’t believe this is finally it…tomorrow is technically our Last Day! Or, at least, it's the last day for handing in anything we’re not planning on exhibiting. After that, we have a couple of weeks to add finishing touches to anything for the show, which opens for the private view on 31st May.

We have a degree show website (which is soon to have links to a personal page with some info and images): www.uncoated.co/. The Graphic Design students who we've been organising the show with have been absolutely brilliant - everything looks great.

Strangely, I don’t feel as stressed as I’d thought I would/should be at this point… maybe it’s the calm before the storm. After handing in my work tomorrow, I have a face-painting assignment at my boys’ school sports event (!) and after that, it will be an intense fortnight of getting things ready for the show. It all feels a bit surreal that after nearly 3 years the end is in sight. It's a strange old mix of emotions.

# 17 [2 April 2011]

We've recently had two visiting artists at college, Simon Woolham and Gurps Kaur. Both have been really interesting to talk to and bounce ideas off. Next week, we have a studio visit to Wysing Art Centre, in Bourn near Cambridge... can't wait!

I'm trying not to worry too much about the fast approaching exhibition, and just keep carrying on (much easier said than done). Currently, my attentions have been turned to monoprinting, as I was feeling a bit disatisfied with the results of my glass domes. I wanted the images inside to have a less controlled quality, so decided to experiment with a bit of printing (which I've not done for ages - not sure this is the best time to start doing something that's new but I like to scare myself sometimes...). Luckily, it was a happy experiment, and I've been enjoying the process. 

I've also started making little collages and paintings on scraps of cardboard, which I plan to display in groups, or 'constellations'. To be honest, these are interesting me more than the domes at the moment, so I need to make some decisions about what I plan on actually exhibiting in the final show. Or maybe I'll just leave it til the last minute.

Plans for the show are coming along OK I think. We have all been assigned a colour, which is our 'branding' for the exhibition... I don't quite understand it all, but I am a very pale blue. I'd probably not normally choose pale blue as a colour to represent myself, but Fine Arts have been given gradients of blue to choose from and pale blue looked the prettiest. 

We have a photography studio at college booked for Thursday morning to get some of our work photographed, ready for brochures etc. The pressure's on to get some pieces fully finished for then!

# 16 [15 March 2011]

I wasted that £1.99, as my camera lead has now reappeared. At least I have a spare one now for the inevitable time when I lose the orginal again.

Here's a mock up of the domes I've been working on. Not quite there yet. More domes have been ordered and I am in the middle of creating more 'innards' for them.

# 15 [12 March 2011]

It feels like I've not blogged for ages. Maybe I've not had anything interesting to say. I've been sourcing items to potentially use within my work, although I'm not sure if I will use the actual objects, or rather drawings of them. Today I received a box of crows feet through the post - that's something you don't get everyday. Yesterday I got a rabbit's skull. I feel like some kind of morbid collector of animal parts. 

My website is finally up and running: www.alice-lynch.co.uk. It’s not perfect, and needs a bit of tweeking, but for now I think it’s ok. I shall play with it a bit when the degree’s finished, probably take out some of the images and add in newer/better ones. I also need to write a better statement and bio, but find it hard to write seriously about myself so have been procrastinating a bit on that front.

I had planned on sharing some photo’s of the glass domes I’ve been working on, but they're still on my camera and I've lost the lead somewhere so that’s not going to happen today (had to order a new one off ebay - a bargain at £1.99!). I’ll put in a little pic of something else I did instead, which I have incorporated within the domes. 

Everyone at college is gearing up for the grad show. We share ours with Graphic Design, which historically means some kind of Graphics vs Fine Art showdown over the ‘branding’ of the exhibition. Fingers crossed this won’t happen too much this year…

# 14 [18 February 2011]

It has recently been drawn to our attention that we’re supposed to have an ‘online presence’ as part of our module outcomes. I know that blogs count towards this, but since I’ve always planned to have my own website anyway, I now own

http://www.alice-lynch.co.uk. Hoorah! 

I had several days of deliberating over (or probably over deliberating) the domain name, as unfortunately, alicelynch.com and alicemarylynch.com and the co.uk versions were already taken. I did consider using my future married name (Alice Holmes) but decided just to stick a hyphen in my current name instead. The site's still very much ‘under construction’ but I’d like to get it at least functional within the next couple of weeks.

Our initial discussions regarding the degree show brochure and budget, etc have taken place, and we’re all feeling pretty positive about it all. In past years, fine art students have had to share the budget and brochure with the graphics and lens based media students (we attend a small college), but this year we are pushing for control of our own brochure and budget. We also need to start planning personal business cards, postcards and all the promotional material... lots to do!

On the work front, I’ve completed an experimental ‘exploded box’, and have started on a second, larger version. They're not quite what I want yet. My glass domes are just beginning to come together now, after a few failed attempts at creating exactly what I'd envisioned. And I’m mulling over an idea to create a handmade book using some of the little illustrations that appear in my works. I do feel more focused now, although do still get unhelpful urges to go off and paint pirate cats or something. But they will have to wait.

Lastly, a few days ago, a fellow student and myself ran a children’s workshop to show a group of primary school children how to make a plaster tile - a basic introduction into abstract mark making and using clay and plaster of Paris. I was actually strangely nervous before starting it, but found the whole experience really enjoyable and rewarding - the children were so enthusiastic and excited by the materials. It’s made me think about my options for post-degree…I would definitely be interested in running more workshops, which is something I’d not really considered before. General positivity all around! 

# 13 [2 February 2011]

Our dissertation and semester A feedback has been...feeded back...and I’m pretty happy with my marks. Not amazingly spectacular but a little better than I’d estimated, so I can start the final semester with a smile (hoorah!).

We've recently had a rearrangement of our studio spaces at college, and I'm so much happier with my new space. I hadn’t realised how much the studio space affected how I worked. It now feels much more conducive to productive working (very important considering the final exhibition has suddenly become very real and worryingly close!)

I’ve been working on some layered ‘boxes’, and have just started on some ‘exploded’ versions of these boxes, to take away their sense of confinement (in other words, remove the frames and sides - open up the box). I've set myself the challenge to get one finished by the weekend (slightly feeling the pressure to produce more work now the dissertation has finished!). 

Lastly, I’ve been ebaying and charity shopping again and picked up some great vintage anatomy books and glass domes - there's an idea developing involving 3D layered structures displayed under the glass domes, like taxidermy or a biological specimen. Lots of plans, just need to stay focused!

# 12 [19 January 2011]

The dissertation ("The Art of Staying Young: A Critical Analysis of Childlike Qualities in Contemporary Art") is handed in... 

And breathe.

I'm almost happy with it. I feel I could have done better, but it's also important to keep the degree/life balance in check. Someone needs to do the housework and cook the children's tea. I'm just glad it's all over with now, and we can concentrate on studio work, and THE DEGREE SHOW.

Our previous semester's work is still being assessed so we won't receive any feedback until next week; until then, I'm trying to have a bit of a clear out, mentally as well as physically.

I'm very aware of needing more focus in my practice for this final semester, yet am a little wary of focusing in on the 'wrong' thing. Decisions, decisions. I think some feedback will help.

# 11 [21 December 2010]

It’s the Christmas holidays and I’m in Full Time Mum mode. Today I’ve been helping my 8yr old make some stopmotion animations, which are pretty amazing. They involve flying socks and a cushion-eating blanket.

On the last day of college, I did ("performed"?) my peer presentation, which consisted of the standard powerpoint presentation and a discussion of my work so far. I always get a severe confidence crisis when actually explaining what I’ve been doing (is my work valid? does it mean anything? why am I doing this? ...etc), so it was good to receive some positive feedback from people. It’s given me the confidence to carry on full force with my plans, and take them as far as I can. I feel happy with my ideas, but do occasionally have a wobble that I could/should be doing something else. The possibilities are endless, and I know that at this stage, for the purposes of the degree, I need to just focus on developing the best work possible from the ideas I have been exploring so far.

In my presentation, I included the photograph of child-me on the bike to discuss how I feel like I still have my “conceptual stabilisers” on. My tutor suggested that rather than conceptual ones, I still have my physical stabilisers on. So next semester I need to work at getting those off. It feels a bit scary/worrying to still be in the experimental stage as I'm approaching the final semester though. But perhaps as artists, we never come out of the experimental stage.

I’ve been mulling over the idea of reducing my work down into miniatures - I tried scaling them up but they just aren’t working as larger pieces. There’s something about smaller works that fascinates me. I loved the ridiculously minute paintings in the film “Synecdoche, New York” - I’m not sure I’d go that tiny; I need to have an experiment. The microscopic/microcosmic content of my work would perhaps suit being viewed through a magnifying glass... Or maybe that link is too obvious.

Over the holidays we have to finish our dissertations, for which the final deadline is Jan 7th. I will be so relieved to have it handed in and to be able to focus on practical work and the degree show. 

Here’s to 2011!