Northumbria University

I’m currently sat invigilating the second last day of the show. It’s been such an experience since the preview evening and it has been incredibly rewarding seeing my work being judged and critiqued by the public.

The actual night of the show was incredibly hectic and I barely got around the different floors. I’ve still been around University quite a lot however, getting in my applications to some art prizes and the Northumbria graduate schemes. I was lucky enough to have my family come up from Somerset, Birmingham and Glasgow so had a proper reunion for a few days, something that made the whole experience even more special. On the night I was introduced to some of the curators from the Baltic Gallery which was a fantastic opportunity to chat and network with some members of the NewcastleGateshead institutional community.

Since the show I have been preparing my ideas for the display of work in our London show. The space we have in the Old Truman Brewery is a large basement space and I have visited it before for previous year’s shows. There will definitely be something complimentary in the post-industrial space but I am slightly worried about the complete absence of natural light for my work.

Finally I need to start thinking about constructing consecutive works. It will be important this summer to maintain a strong creative presence and regardless of my results of the graduate applications I will need to get a studio space sorted just to get back into the motions of creating work.

Wow, well that was without a doubt the most fun/intense/stressful/rewarding process I have been part of for a very long time. The amount of work that me and my two first years put in makes me feel very proud and now I cannot wait for the preview in just over a weeks time (18th of June, 6pm for anyone around Newcastle or the North East!). I have to say that since handing in I have been mainly celebrating in the sun, something that I feel absolutely no guilt whatsoever!

I have had to go into the University every other day to water my grass, something that I still find rather amusing. There were some fantastic developments in my practice throughout the last few weeks and I wish I had kept this blog up to document them. The absurdity of it all has definitely been one of the concerns I’ve been happily exploring.

The next week is to be spent getting my bodyclock back to work mode and getting some applications in for Northumbria’s Graduate Schemes. I also really need to sort out my London accommodation, our show goes down for an opening at the Truman Gallery on the 4th July. Another event in the calendar that I cannot wait for!