Central Saint Martins, UAL

Its now 3 days after the PV, it feels like months…

Am really tired and haven’t managed much today except loaf on the sofa.

The PV was great, really busy and I really enjoyed chatting to people about my work. It seemed to be really well received and I was happy at that. It made all the long days and busy months really worth while.

Yesterday we had a focus for friends and family to visit so it as another busy day. I spent a lot of this showing them around and getting a chance to take in the rest of the show myself. Which was good.

It doesn’t seem real that its now just about all over. This time next week my work will be down, the results will be up and I will have left the building for the last time as a BA student.

The interim 2 weeks between meeting my deadline and the show opening were equally as hectic as the previous period was, and again thats just not how it was meant to be. But I had the damaged painting to re-do, my website to update (took much longer than I thought) and my book to get printed.

It all got done, to varying degrees of success. I wanted to re-design my website but when I realised how much work I had to publish let alone going in for a re-design I decided against this for now.

The painting I re-did, but in the end decided not to swap it as I preferred the old one much more. Would have to worry about it if anyone considered buying it, otherwise go with what I liked best.

The book I got printed, along with postcards and business cards. The printers have been great, really helpful and spot on with delivery.

Looking at how I am displaying the book, 3 days in, I don’t think it’s very successful and it’s my fault. I should have displayed it on a flat surface where I would have been able to lay it out demonstrating the slide-to-view technique required. Instead people are pulling at the pages to see the images …. Lessons we learn….

The exhibition overall I think looks great, our room looks great, there were no space issues in the end, all the stress-induced discussions were all for nothing. As is often the way.

I am proud to be part of the exhibition and proud to be showing alongside those I am with. Well done everyone.

Our catalogue and website guys were successful and we have good visual representation for our show.

BUT NOW WHAT….

The show is on for another 4 days, 12-8pm mostly, closes early (6pm) on the last day, then we have friday to start dismantling it and collect our results. Not something I want to think about right now, but its not to far away in my mind…

I haven’t sold any of my work as yet, and although that is always nice, thats not what its about, getting the feedback, sharing my thinking, my motivations, explaining the reasoning behind the blank squares – that they represent actual students on the course but they are ones I had no photo of from the time the others were all taken – its all been really good.

I decided in the end to propose that anyone interested in buying an individual portrait would be invited to have their photograph taken in the photo stdio by me and I would then crop this, paint them and replace the one they took with it. That way the whole piece would keep its integrity and also evolve into something completely new. So from his point of view it would be nice to have some buyers, to explore this next step if you like, but maybe all it has done is serve to scare anyone off. Hum-Ho …

I think this blog is pretty much coming to a close now, I’ll finish with the show end in a few days possibly.

I’d like to move on, look at a fresh start, start a new blog on artist talking but I’m not quite sure where or how to start there… any tips?

www.csm-2010.co.uk

www.bernicewilson.com

(please read ⌗29 and ⌗30 first, this is a continuation)

The rest of the week picked up. My friend got her work on the wall the next day – the batons worked and it looked amazing. We were both really chuffed for ourselves and each other.

This left the floor clear for the other guys to get their work in and up. This hadn’t been an issue as they were both still making their work and it hadn’t been ready for install up until now.

There was still a little tension between myself and the guy I’d had the words with over my sound piece. But not about that, that had been a non-issue in the end. No, it was more about the placement of his work within the room. He had two floor pieces, one a large display cabinet, and I was worried it would sit too far into the room and encroach on the viewing of my piece. While I understand that my work is likely to dominate the room from a size perspective and also that the work around it serves to compliment rather than argue with it from a viewing perspective – photographs, display case, prints, video pieces – I am also conscious that it has to have the viewing space required to actually take it in. My feeling was/is that it would also hopefully be a non-issue and all would be well in the end, but his attitude did nothing to assure me of this. In fact it only served to worry me.

Best thing I decided was to let things pan out before worrying too much about it, I still had loads to do. A sound piece still to build and book(s) still to make.

I took myself home to get on with these tasks having covered all my work in bubble wrap to protect it for now and while the floor is painted.

Our deadline was looming quick and fast – 6 days left till all our supporting work and documentation had to be in for marking. Then we’d be banished from the building till the day before the PV on the 17th…

These six days are just a blur. Everything took longer than anticipated, there were no major hitches, just long days and in fact the night before the deadline I didn’t get any kip at all, thats how close it was. Totally unplanned for. Thought I was in control of the time frame. Thought I’d easily make the deadline. How wrong I was. Compromises were even invoked – there were only 2 books, the third option of a box set of prints didn’t happen and the other two only had bare canvas covers – no time to paint or affix an image onto them.

All over now. Its all the hands of the gods now, I mean tutors.

Here’s hoping I’m pleased with the result they bestow. One thing for sure, I couldn’t have tried any harder. I couldn’t have been more committed. I am ecstatic with my achievement on a personal level, I think it looks great. I’ve had great feedback so far from my peers and one thing I hadn’t banked on was how much the speakers resemble cameras, cctv in fact, bringing me full circle on my journey.

Two weeks now till the PV, got the fated painting to re-paint. My website still to update, my chosen book to get to the printers and other marketing material to sort, postcards I think… so no rest yet!

Before I forget:

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE WHO HAVE A DEGREE SHOW COMING UP. HOPE IT IS A GREAT SUCCESS x

(continued from previous post)

Best plan I decided was to stick with what I was comfortable with – paint a new one. So I took myself down to the painting workshop, while the others carried on with the wall re-build, to apply the latex in a dust free environment and start painting. It was chocka-block with work so I had to set my canvas down on the floor in a corner of the room and rope it off.

As I got started the painting tech arrived – she doesn’t do Mondays and in fact was in for a short course she runs. Never the less when I explained what had happened she was as gutted as I was and made time for advice. She was also of the opinion a repair was possible and explained how to do this. It would be less stressful than painting a new one.

I agreed reticently, deciding to pursue both options for now. With the repair under way and the latex drying I set about sorting my other major problem out. Oh yes there was another. All the photo’s I’d taken of my paintings in the photo studio, hoping to get great images for making my book(s). Well I had sort of. It turned out they were all a bit dark, the colour wasn’t as it should be and short of re-photographing them, I wasn’t sure what to do – except go seek help. My next stop, the photo technician. To my relief it was just a matter of adjusting the white balance. Phew! That I could cope with.

The day finished quite emotionally – a heated discussion around the placement of speakers for my sound piece – with the upshot being that I agreed to cobble together something resembling it for fellow student also sharing the space to hear. I do think it was just all the emotion of the recent events just catching up with me rather than this isolated incident. Never the less I was in bits on my way home.

Good news was, the wall was now up and with the efforts of my friend and her boyfriend it was also re-painted so would be ready for install tomorrow.

Tuesday 25th, together with help from our other halves we make a start on hanging my work. Least we did eventually! Attaching the mirror plates to each column and hanging the speakers on the wall – positioning them where we’d finally agreed they should go – took most of the day. But by the time we left that night half the columns were successfully on the wall. Hurray! We started from the new wall end, which meant my friend could look at hanging hers now too.

It never rains but it pours – where does that saying come from?! Who cares, it was apt and our patience continued to be tested. You must understand that although my friend and I were not the only ones exhibiting in this space (there were two others) and our work was completely independent, we had worked together so much on this install that whatever affected one affected both of us. More acutely with the passing days too.

The next day we start on installing her work, to find it bowed out at the bottom! All the advice she was given AND followed regarding hanging mechanisms for her work failed! It was now time to feel gutted for her.

Incidentally, the update on my damaged painting: repair applied, acceptable (to me) to submit for assessment but plan to re-paint for degree show viewing.

Further advice sought, new plan, vertical batons need to be applied to her work to stiffen and remove bow. This was an overnight job and further expense, glue took 24 hours to dry once applied, and needing space to layout whilst doing so, there was only one option – to install the rest of mine in the meantime.

And thats what we did, once the emotion had been dealt with that is. By the end of the day my work was all up. Even the repaired one. A blessing – if you could call it that, is that it is at the bottom of the column and rather than bolt all six together we bolted five and hung this piece independently, so I can easily exchange it with a new one for the show. All that said it looked really good, I was pleased…

Not sure where the time has gone. Got quite a shock when I realised the date of my last post. I really have been burying myself in my work.

It’s even been a week now since my deadline and I don’t know where the time has gone.

Let me see if I can take you through how it all ended, it wasn’t without drama I can tell you now…..

On Thursday 20th, day after last post, I managed to get 8 of the 11 columns of paintings bolted together (see image to follow what I mean by that). Friday I went in early, as was my habit, to continue. My friend who is showing next to me was hoping to hang her work that day, two large 150cmx150cm photographs. But try as we might it wasn’t happening. What we hadn’t realised, with all our painting and making good, was just how bowed her wall was – we’d even used lining paper and wall-papered it trying to make it a smooth wall. There was only one thing for it, the wall had to be replaced!

Yep, thats right the stud wall had to come down, rebuilt and repainted! Originally only half of it was coming down, but as the technicians started they decided it’d be easier to re-do the whole wall. So with my friend and I as ‘lackey’s’ the wall came down. I joked with them that it would have to go back up in exactly the same place (my wall is perpendicular to this one and I had about 2in to play with currently!). As it turned out, there was some room to manoeuvre so the new wall was positioned a 2in back, giving me a little more confidence my work would fit, one good thing had to come out of this set back :O)

I was so relieved I hadn’t actually started to install my work, or any of us for that matter, as there was dust everywhere, thankfully mine were all wrapped up and protected.

Or so I thought, cause as fate would have it, on the Saturday – I didn’t come in, had work I wanted to get done from home – a length of 2×2 fell sideways and onto my paintings. Before taking the wall down I’d got two more columns built, so only had one stacked ready to build. This stack was where the wood fell. It went through the sheet and bubble wrap AND canvas. Yep I got a phone call to tell me there was an 8cm gash in one of my paintings.

Gutted goes no where close to how I felt. It was an accident, it could easily have happened when I’d been there. My friend was devastated, it was hard to console her. Until I saw the damage I had no idea how bad or what actions were open to me. But I did play out quite a few scenarios in my head over the rest of the weekend none of which were good.

Monday arrived and first in I was able to have a few minutes alone with my work, see the damage for myself and work up a plan to deal with it.

We were now way off schedule – having been way ahead only a few days ago – without the thought of re-painting a piece…. But thats where it was at. The tear was right, near as damn it, in the middle of the canvas.

I did have a stretched primed white canvas spare, albeit on a squinty stretcher. But I’d re-use the stretcher the damaged painting was on so I didn’t need to worry about that. I set about swapping them over so I could add coloured primer to the new one ready to re-paint the portrait.

When the tutor arrived – we had one of our cluster group meetings scheduled – there was a lot for him to take in, not least the fact that there was a huge gaping great chasm where the wall had been. My friend also brought to his attention the misfortune to fall on my work. He was of the opinion it could be repaired. That may as well be I thought, but (1) I didn’t feel I had the skill to know where to even start (2) I couldn’t possibly have a repaired one in the actual degree show.

Hhmmm…