There is tension in the Bloom household. Mother is reaching the end of a 6year part- time Fine Art degree course. Son, J, in his customarily applied manner, is preparing to finish his A levels while he waits to hear from his last UCAS application. Daughter, M, to whom organised application does not come naturally, is revising for GCSEs. Meanwhile, Father, R, bears the pressure of being senior partner in a cutting-edge law firm based in the North East. To add to all that the Boro have to turn around a 2-0 defeat in the UEFA Cup at the Riverside tomorrow night. There’s definitely tension at the Blooms.
I study part-time because my family takes priority in my life and I will inevitably include them over the next few weeks. I must say the past couple of years have not felt like part time to them or to me. I feel part of the reason I was selected to write this blog was that, as a wife and mother, I present a somewhat different perspective than the usual graduating student – if there is such a thing. Not that I haven’t been that creature myself, way back in the last century, the 70s to be precise – huge hair, curtain cloth cut into denims and lashings of Leonard Cohen (entirely coincidentally, I was at UCW Aber, like Mike).
There are 5 part-timers graduating from CCAD this year. 3 of us are from the original group of 7 or 8 (so long ago I can’t remember!) who started out in 2000. Fallout seems to be a hazard of the part-time course and disappointing uptake will probably lead to its withdrawal altogether. We have an odd relationship with the full-timers, getting to know various groups at different times, usually due to Contextual Studies modules. Probably the ones we got to know best were last year’s graduates with whom we produced our dissertations. This year’s cohort was virtually unknown to us but we have built bridges through our degree show fundraising (another blog) and planning the catalogue. This year marks the tenth year of Fine Art graduation from CCAD and coincides with the opening of our very own and very special new art gallery in Middlesbrough. The full-timers have effectively taken over our ‘hut’ at Burlam Road post deluge (another blog), meaning that for the next few weeks we’re all confined to barracks – which brings me back home.
I work from home anyway, going into college on our designated Thursdays, so you can see that we part-timers develop in a rather solitary manner. I paint in part of an unconverted cowshed attached to our former farmhouse home. Over the past couple of years I have been developing a very fluid painting style using pure pigments, oil and turps. I have always enjoyed printmaking and used it as a reason to work at college on our ‘days’. Recently it has taken on greater significance for me in connection with artist’s books. I have always loved books and paper so book-making is an ideal medium for all the themes I’ve been storing up to use in the future. I should have mentioned more about my work but it will have to wait until next week now. I’m running overtime since I made a complete hash of submitting this blog earlier today. I’m in to college tomorrow so hopefully some kind soul there will help me post some images before too long. Let’s see if I can get this on first, though. Fingers crossed…..
