The course is a 2 year Masters degree in Fine art sculpture. The university itself is based in New York State and is about 5 hours from the city itself. It is actually only an hour or two from both Buffalo as well as Rochester.
A small very vibrant and exciting student body make up the university which is a mix of disciplines at both the graduate and undergraduate level.
Just to let people know I am having some issues with those little cyber gremlins that we all get from time to time. The full performance that I had writen about previously shall be online soon, In the mean time those nice folks at youtube have allowed me to post an overview of the event, the link is below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP1U0i0mVRg
Hope that keeps people happy and please let me know your thoughts.
Til next time.
Well time for an update. Some very interesting and encouraging news since my last posting. The group met with the mayor of Hornell on Thursday and it appears as though the town, and certainly the mayor himself, are all for supporting the show. It’s still early days yet, but suffice to say we were shown some buildings and spaces that are owned by the city, and we now potentially have a little over 15,000 square feet of space for the group to show in, in the form of different locations in Hornell itself.
As we start to get nearer to the show we were discussing publicity and it appears as though the city are happy to help us on this front as well as with transportation, which is extremely encouraging. More on this as it develops.
As for the more short term I have Mid term reviews on Wednesday and I have been looking at different aspects of the performance I will be performing for my thesis show. Various themes and issues have come out of looking into these fields as they inevitably do when one analyzes one’s work in this way. After talking with faculty the very fundamental point, of the content of the show, was raised, and the suggestion of exploring these performative elements in greater depth. After all it is all very well setting up the venue, organizing press releases and laying down the physical infrastructure for the piece, but if the work is no good in it’s own right then what is the point of engaging in the exercise?
One very important point that was raised was the risk of spending too much time making the physical work and then the performance being an afterthought due to time constraints. Hence why I am looking at this aspect well ahead of time so as to develop it fully.
I will be performing a piece tomorrow night and all being well streaming it online either Monday or Tuesday. The domain for the website has been registered and I have set up web hosting, all that is left is to record the piece and to physically stream it. The piece can be found @ www.stevecoles.org however it won’t be online til the start of next week so watch this space.
The performance itself involves me planing a block of Nepalese wax and turning it into shavings. I then gather these shavings and re-melt them in a wax pot and recast the wax into a block. I then take this block and begin planing it again in order to make a fresh pile of shavings, to be melted in the pot in order to recast the block. One element I am looking at for my thesis show is the point of documentation and how documentation serves it’s purpose without the presence of the physical work. This piece is all about process and the value of labour. I will be interested to hear your comments on it. Until next time.
It’s just over two weeks since I last posted and I believe, that the fortnightly cycle, is a good system to operate in with this sort of thing. A monthly posting and you can forget what your really talking about, and a weekly posting puts pressure on finding stuff to talk about. So I’m going to try and make this a fortnightly blog.
Anyway to get into the crux of where we last left off. Myself and the group that I am working with to show in May met with the dean of the school of art yesterday and it seemed to go well. We have been given a few leads to chase and the most constructive point that came out of that discussion was a few thoughts on how one advertises a show. The traditional format of the card and flyer is tried and tested, but, in order to try and attract curators or critics, something truly original is needed. Therefore we are giving serious thought to taking over the air waves and Super information highways in order to get our message across. More to follow on this as it develops.
There has also been a real emphasis on my work as during the past couple of weeks I have had to present various ideas and thoughts to my peers in a series of critiques, presentations, and reviews, and it seems as though it is really starting to make sense. Which is a wonderful feeling to be able to realize not necessarily how your work relates to other’s or the outside world, (as that is almost impossible), but how your work relates to yourself. Once you know that then you can get to some really interesting places.
There isn’t really much else to cover at the moment per say, except to mention that by the time I next post, my mid term assessments shall be right around the corner and that is going to be rather intense. Once again more to follow on that as well.
To close with, thinking back to how I got here from undergrad, I truly think that although a lot of hard work was involved there was also a degree of luck. When I applied to Alfred I didn’t give it a second thought, I put the letter in the post and expected to hear nothing more back. For all those poor souls out there who weren’t as fortunate I thought this may be a piece of rather entertaining comedy relating to the issue of rejection. Until next time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jj9Ke_SL8I
For artist Stephen Coles attending the 5th International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art in Ironbridge in 2006 gave direction to his love of making and artistic practice. Experiencing the materiality and spectacle of iron casting had a deep impact on his artistic explorations and began a love of foundry practice and metal casting that defines his career today. Stephen studied sculpture at West Wales School of Arts, Carmarthen, achieving a 1st class Hons degree before winning a full scholarship to attend the MFA Sculpture programme at Alfred University, New York. After graduating with a distinction, he was invited to teach foundry practice in the graduate sculpture programme at Alfred. He then returned home to his native Dorset to continue his own artistic practice and open his own artist led foundry, Coles Castings, which specialises in fine art castings in cast iron, bronze and aluminium. www.colescastings.com @colescastings.com
