New College Stamford/University of Lincoln

It’s the Christmas holidays and I’m in Full Time Mum mode. Today I’ve been helping my 8yr old make some stopmotion animations, which are pretty amazing. They involve flying socks and a cushion-eating blanket.

On the last day of college, I did (“performed”?) my peer presentation, which consisted of the standard powerpoint presentation and a discussion of my work so far. I always get a severe confidence crisis when actually explaining what I’ve been doing (is my work valid? does it mean anything? why am I doing this? …etc), so it was good to receive some positive feedback from people. It’s given me the confidence to carry on full force with my plans, and take them as far as I can. I feel happy with my ideas, but do occasionally have a wobble that I could/should be doing something else. The possibilities are endless, and I know that at this stage, for the purposes of the degree, I need to just focus on developing the best work possible from the ideas I have been exploring so far.

In my presentation, I included the photograph of child-me on the bike to discuss how I feel like I still have my “conceptual stabilisers” on. My tutor suggested that rather than conceptual ones, I still have my physical stabilisers on. So next semester I need to work at getting those off. It feels a bit scary/worrying to still be in the experimental stage as I’m approaching the final semester though. But perhaps as artists, we never come out of the experimental stage.

I’ve been mulling over the idea of reducing my work down into miniatures – I tried scaling them up but they just aren’t working as larger pieces. There’s something about smaller works that fascinates me. I loved the ridiculously minute paintings in the film “Synecdoche, New York” – I’m not sure I’d go that tiny; I need to have an experiment. The microscopic/microcosmic content of my work would perhaps suit being viewed through a magnifying glass… Or maybe that link is too obvious.

Over the holidays we have to finish our dissertations, for which the final deadline is Jan 7th. I will be so relieved to have it handed in and to be able to focus on practical work and the degree show.

Here’s to 2011!

This week is all about finishing the 2nd draft of the dissertation, ready to be handed in on Friday. At college, we are also getting ready to do presentations to our peer group, and a mentoring session, where we pass on any advice, tips and general wisdom (!) to the second year students.

One of the features of studying at a small college is that there’s only 8 of us on the entire course (we have no first years, and the course will probably be cut after next year due to Lincoln wanting all their places back because of government funding cuts – it’s all really depressing). The plus side of being such a tiny group is that we have plenty of one-to-one time with our tutors, but sometimes I do wish there were a few more people to bounce ideas off (my fellow students are lovely though!!). While we do tend to discuss our practice regularly with each other, the peer presentations will give us the chance to have a more structured discussion about our work.

I’m still working on my layered structures, and have just finished this small mixed media canvas. I desperately want to create more work but am being sidetracked by the need to make nativity costumes and birthday cakes. If only I could incorporate them into my practice somehow…