The final stages are edging closer and closer now. Our course involves the first years in the degree show by assigning each student to a third year. Their role can be as involved as that third year wishes, from painting walls to fabricating actual work. I was assigned my first year at the end of last week but I am yet to properly meet her. All I know is she uses soil in her practice, works for me.
I also had my last tutorial. It was a really useful one and has added a whole new dimension to my set up strategies, although at this stage that could possibly a good thing and a bad thing. I think that as I am happy with a more formal sculpture being located in Gallery North I should try to play around a little with the installation in my studio space. One element that was brought up was the conflict that I have always had within my practice. Dealing with the environment has always made my practice quite earnest and very serious. Sometimes I can feel a bit constricted by those concerns. I think that maybe this two-part/two-space exhibition could give the chance to open up my work and let in areas that can bring a light-hearted, playful attitude to the space.
After a recent exhibition at the opening of the new Offquay studio space I feel more comfortable around the idea of introducing text to my work. Though I used this exhibition purely as an experiment to gauge reaction, it enabled me to look at text in a new light. While text can give me the chance to directly communicate, I can also play with the power of words and sentence structure. This could be a way of introducing humour and the ‘artist’s joke’ into my rather serious work.
