since my last post i have been back to Napton Skate park to check up on object for moving over #2and although the two pallets have been pulled apart it has clearly been skated upon which has left many fairly brutal signs of this and is hence performing its function. However the work being pulled apart is making it more apparent that more solid materials are necessary, perhaps concrete…
I have also been working out how i will actually put together my rope swings for the out yer treeexhibition at coombe abbey and have been checking up on rope strengths and am about to engage on learning knot tying.
I have also briefly installed installation 1 point 5 (mock-up) which is a bill board stating point 5 of the manifesto i wrote for my last assessment point at uni. Although the work is not actually resolved taking it outside made me quite egar to actually make the work as an actual billboard which i intend to do when back at university.
Yesterday i finally installed object for moving over #2 at Napton skate park. It was actually quite strange to do – as it was going into a skate park it sort of got lost as a piece of work, Also the fact i was skating it myself (i’ve been a skateboarder for over a decade) made me view the work in a sort of confused way, i think i need to go back and view the work without having my skateboard with me and when I make further objects for skateboarding i think i need to try and remove myself from skateboarding so i can evaluate more clearly.
However seeing other people skating on and around it made me quite pleased. This process of installation really made me wish I had of had chance for people to skate object for moving over #1 when it was installed at central library in birmingham.
Another exhibition opppertunity has also presented itself – an outdoor exhibition at Coombe Abbey near Coventry and i was asked to put togeather a proposal pack, something i had not done before – but found quite useful in actually reviewing what i had done before. I have proposed the installation of rope swings to intergrate the sites play and walking space with each other.
Also at Coombe Abbey there is a wood turning workshop coming up which i am going to take part in, i am quite worried its going to be quite an old fashioned craft based day – but i guess with a bit of research before hand i can approach it with a method which will help my pratice.
Again a busy 5 or so days! I attended the animation workshop at Leamington Spa art gallery that i have mentioned before and really enjoyed it, it was more of a 3D digital modeling workshop than an animation workshop but i found this more useful to my practice than i feel animation would have been. I was also looking at the days tuition style and was quite interested to see it was basically pure instruction/step by step and i guess that suits the computer work / sat at desk style of learning and am still looking for other workshops to participate in so i have something to compare it with. The last workshop I took part in was a relief print workshop with Ryan McCalland which i feel i got more out of due to a greater interaction with the artist and being able to incorporate the workshop into my own practice. However the digital modeling workshop has left me wanting to experiment a bit more so i can really see what is possible.
I also finished Sign work #2ready for the LSA summer show and have had 5 limited edition prints of the work made which i am going to number and sign on the rear, these are going to be priced at 20quid (unframed) and am pricing the sculpture itself at £300. I am really pleased with how the piece has come out and its finish has actually convinced me to only show one work as opposed to the two i was planning on. I am still really looking forward to seeing it in an exhibition space and as my prints still haven’t arrived I’m quite excited to see them as well. This being the first time i have had to price work i really struggled on deciding on a price and am still not really sure how i decided on £300…its times like these where i definitely noticed how useful the uni studios and staff are!!!
I have been struggling to make work over the past week, and not for lack of ideas or materials or even time… The thing i have been struggling with has been trying to work in a studio which is actually a room in my flat, there are so many distractions which just aren’t there when working in an actual studio space!!!
Despite this struggle i have managed to be fairly productive, i have started working on a new sign work, using a pre-fabricated sign i found on ebay – i have been treating the surface ready to apply the text and should have pictures up (on here) later in the week. I am planning on using gloss paint to get a really smooth, convincing and almost reflective quality but am not sure if perhaps some sort of metallic paint would be more suitable or even a vinyl of some description – which i guess will be discovered when the work is finished!!!
Another thing which has been keeping me busy has been filling out my entrance form to the LSA (leamington studio artists) summer exhibition I have been invited to exhibit in as well as trying to decide what to actually show!!! I have decided upon my gazibo roof piece which i have provisonally titled object for living under as well as the sign piece I have just been discussing which I am calling sign work #2. I am really excited about the prospect of this exhibition as it will give me the opportunity to see my work alongside other workingartists and in a gallery space i have not had the work in. From previous experience this process of seeing work in a different context is really useful.
I am still also waiting for an opportunity to install my work in Napton skate park which i hope will be happening soon. I am also returning to Bournville College tomorrow an am looking forward to seeing what the students have done since I was last there.
In the past 2 weeks i have also visited The Potteries Gallery in Stoke -on- Trent and a folk music and dancing day at MAC both of which were enjoyable but i wasn’t paying much critical attention and need to get myself back into the routine of visiting exhibitions and really paying attention.
I started giving tutorials at Bournville College today which was actually quite enjoyable, some of the students were genuinely enthusiastic but others really didn’t seem to care about their work, how it read or what it was engaging with. Still i hope i managed to give some insight to what they can expect over the next few years. It also shows how difficult trying to teach actually can be!!!
I also moved a piece of work out of storage in the university today ready to be installed at Napton skate park so as soon as I’ve been to Warwickshire their will be photo’s upon here. I keep on reminding myself to get good documentation of the work in use as it is something which will eventually be used to death and will never actually be seen by an “art audience”. I have also realised that the digital print to go with the work is going to need laminating to survive outside which i feel could change the aesthetic of the work quite significantly so will need to review that as well when installed.
I have also recently started a digital sketchbook which i have been saving artists video’s and interviews to and might eventually put some of my work into, this can be see here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrRyanstyle
through this process of searching you tube i have discovered Robert Morris’s Bodyspacemotionthingswhich have really interested me…
I have also finally got my home studio into a state i am going to be able to work in and have started making some drawings of ideas I’ve been mentally developing for a while now…
