Well I’ve been back down in Somerset for the Easter weekend which was a good way of taking a small amount of time off. I managed to get to Stourhead and look at the landscaped garden. This was a place that I used to visit all the time when I was younger and it was interesting how it was completely transformed when I looked at the landscape with knowledge of its historical context.
I think that it is fundamentally important to get out to some gardens back in and around Newcastle. The nearby Jesmond Dene is another fabricated green space in the city and it will only be more and more beneficial for my practice if I take in these surroundings, definitely something that will help my conceptual research take form.
Before I took the bus down south we had our exhibition in Haltwhistle. The opening was really successful but quite un-conventional. As the gallery is located in a village community arts centre we had a whole group of children come to the opening, something I hadn’t expected. It was quite amusing to see them interacting with the artworks, again something quite unexpected! Working in these un-conventional spaces has always allowed my work to function in ways that generally wouldn’t occur in a typical white cube. I really need to do some careful thinking about responding to my degree show space. I want to take over the space confidently and utilse motifs and techniques from my research. Hopefully the rest of the easter break will give me a good amount of time to approach these issues successfully.
Well the start of the Easter break has been really quite good so far. I discovered on Friday afternoon that my application to exhibit my work in Gallery North – the professional gallery based within Northumbria University -during the degree show was successful! This is a huge confidence boost for my current direction and was a pleasant confirmation of my ability to write an attractive exhibition proposal, I personally believe the proposal benefited hugely from the photographs that I took with help from a recent graduate and a Uni 5d mk2. I imagine these high-res photos helped the tutors visualise what I was trying to communicate in my proposal.
I was also successful in securing my first choice studio space. The space is a large, high-ceilinged space with stairs leading up to a mezzanine, my problem now is that I will really have to be creative in taking control and ownership of the huge space. I imagine this week will be spent constructing some macquettes and clearing as much of my work out of the space (the space also contains my current studio). I really want to make sure that I don’t rush into constructing some grand idea just yet and definitely want to test out some less-is-more ideas with my work.
So yeah, I’m in a pretty fantastic mood regarding my degree show spaces! I think pretty much everyone (in sculpture at least) got the space they asked for. We are currently located in a large annexe of the main building and although in previous years the public do tend to know where to go I would like to construct some sort of linking system. I always thought a clever idea would be a couple of coloured lines leading to the space, similar to that of a large hospital with lines leading to different departments.
But back to this week, I got a lift out into Northumberland to help set up the CON. show in Haltwhistle. My grass piece was taken out in a van on Friday and survived the 38 mile journey in one piece! The space is really interesting, essentially a converted barn in a community arts centre. One with brilliant flat lighting and a good amount of floor space and new clean white boards. The only problem was that the oil heater wasn’t working so we literally froze! Cups of tea and halogen heaters provided a little bit of respite but only temporarily… I should be heading back late today or early tomorrow to do the final touches before tomorrow evening’s opening. Hopefully the heater will be on!
Well the deadline for choosing our spaces for the degree show has hit us and hit us fast. The mad scramble to get ethics forms and health and safety signatures was yesterday and now we simply have to get our application forms emailed off by the end of today.
Northumbria University has a professional gallery called Gallery North which students can apply to exhibit work in for the degree show. Students can choose to mount their entire exhibition or just a single piece of work in the space. It has a certain amount of prestige attached and is a completely different space to the studios which we would exhibit in otherwise. Unfortunately there is a seperate application process which involves a more detailed proposal and professional photographs. These final requirements are what I have been hastily completing over the last few days after contemplating whether I wanted to exhibit work in the professional space.
The clincher in the end came from talking to the Grad Fellows who spoke about the conversation that could be brought up between my grass work and the cultivated lawns outside of the large glass windows to the west of the gallery. There is something very artificial and ornamental about the lawns – students are never seen on them and I believe that my work could comment on the use of private green space in the exterior and interior of the university. The professional appearance of the gallery could also strike up a complimentary dialogue with my use of traditional materials, however subverted they may be…
The only thing which slightly worries me is that I haved asked for quite a large space (the space that my studio is actually located in now) to mount the main part of my show, with the Gallery North space as well I hope that my work isn’t spread to thin. I have always wanted to construct a large immersive space and having work in two areas of the university may stretch out my ideas. I’ll soon find out what application has been successful.
I’ve attached some of the photographs from my application, this is also the piece I am sending on a 30+ mile journey into Northumberland! I’m hoping it will make it there in one piece…
During this week I have been building a website and managed to secure my own .com, definitely one of the perks of having an unusual name!
I’ve been using the website host and builder squarespace6 which has been really useful and definitely helped me create a professional artist website. It’s also pretty cheap for a .com
The reason for creating the site is really because of the looming presence of the degree show and the thought of having to start getting my name out there. It is an interesting process that I would definitely recommend – selecting which work to display, which exhibitions, how much detail to go into, etc. I had a documentation tutorial in which we scrutinised various aspects of how I had chosen to display information in reviews and statements; the website definitely added an extra dimension to the conversation.
I have constructed two more canvasses for my grass pieces – currently entitled the ‘Capability’ series (an homage to the landscape architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown). The double depth of the canvas gives the work a much more sculptural feel and allows extra volume for rooting, hopefully resulting in stronger and more vibrant greenery.
Additionally I have been selected for an exhibition in two weeks in rural Northumberland. It is working with a group of graduates who I have exhibited with before and the exhibition is based around the processes involved in using traditional materials in an alternative fashion – growing grass in upturned stretchers seemed to fit the bill quite nicely.
Fundamentally though it will be a brilliant opportunity to exhibit work that I am considering for the degree show and see if I can process how the work functions in an exhibition space rather than within my studio walls.
A long post I know but I am definitely having to catch up!
Conceptually I have been looking at the history and ideology behind gardens and in particularly the landscape gardens of the 18th century. The two models I am exploring are the French and the English landscape garden. The former concerns the display of beauty using nature as a material. French gardens were grand and carefully orchestrated, relying on pattern and symmetry. They were also the property of the rich aristocracy. The English model was much more interesting, with the concerns surrounding the sublime and the emergence of the enlightenment came a new respect for the beauty and power found organically in nature. The gardens of England looked to show this natural beauty and opened up the land for leisure yet also considered functionality. Open spaces could breed livestock to raise money and offer employment. Rather than the private gardens of the upper classes, these spaces were often public, providing egalitarian environments were the populace could mingle.
I find these ideas really interesting for a 21st century context. Providing public spaces that are egalitarian reminds me of the WochenKlauser boat trips I discussed in my dissertation. I have a desire to connect all the areas of my practice that are currently floating around all over the place. A work which connects the social, political but has an underlying environmental context would be a perfect piece to propose for the degree show.
The last group crit of the year threw up some interesting new considerations. Generally the grass work went down well with the tutors. It appears that the entirety of my practice is moving into a final direction that satisfies all my aesthetic and conceptual considerations. I think that when I head back to Somerset for the Easter weekend I will spend some time in Longleat and Stourhead, perhaps maybe able to get hold of some plans for the landscape gardens which should benefit my research.
The use of a canvas as a frame for my grass work also brought up some interesting discussions. I had initially looked at using the canvas as a base for the connotations towards a creative base and the starting point for the work. However when viewed by the group, the use of a canvas immediately brought forth the ideas of landscape painting and the juxtaposition of art materials. Landscape painters sought to bring the natural landscape into the built environment and celebrated the beauty of nature. This gathers many of my interests and gives me many future reference points from art history. Additionally the use and subversion of art materials showed a relationship between the hung painting and the idea of sculpture, sculpture as a mass, of a floor based form.
Since the crit I have built two new canvas frames. One 6’x5′ and one 4′ square. The larger canvas definitely lends itself to the traditional large scale of landscape painting but I think that the square has potential. Better get growing!
