Oxford Brookes @ Swindon College

I went to the private view for this year’s Foundation and Access courses on Friday. The show is at Station Square, Swindon – where our degree show will be set up in a couple of weeks time.

We have the studio next door to the fine art foundation students and I was keen to see their work. It was also a good opportunity to see the space that we’re going to fill with work and visitors.

It was great to see so much talent in one room. Swindon is not necessarily known as being a hub of creativity but tonight’s event was a treasure trove of talent.

From ceramics to sculpture, fashion design to fine art – the fifty or so students who exhibited put together a show full of vitality and energy.

Each student had presented their final pieces and there were sketchbooks and supporting research full of ideas and aspiration.

As well as their name and specialism, labelling their space, there was also an indication of their ‘destination’ – what they’re going to do next. It was great to see that Swindon College is sending these talented students across the UK from Edinburgh to Bournemouth and many of the major universities in between. The tutors have done a fantastic job nurturing these students so that they can continue in their studies and artistic practice.

Next…our turn.

My daily drawing continues and along with it, the writing.

Every time I draw, I sit at my old typewriter and write.

I decided to use carbon paper rather than buying new ribbons. So I write without seeing what I’m writing appear on the page. I can’t see the words unless I peek behind the carbon paper.

This is OK for me because I taught myself to touch type when I did my A levels, twenty five years ago. I remember I had a book from the library with repeated phrases and combinations of letters which taught me how to memorise where the keys were. There were strict instructions in the book about not looking at the keyboard.

One of the things you had to do when looking for a temp job was perform a typing test to ascertain your typing speed. This figure often meant the difference in an hourly rate. It was important at the time to get that speed up as high as possible.

I find it interesting now that a skill I learnt primarily to temp and earn money is now one that I use as part of my artistic practice.

I made the decision after a few days of this final project to limit each day’s writing to the length of the carbon paper rather than the timing of the drawing. Confining myself to one page (just like in the drawing) defines the quantity of lines.

Each day of writing requires a re-arrangement of the carbon paper, the top sheet and the roll behind. A reminder of my early work days when I had to make carbon copies and the whole activity of sitting at a typewriter, writing someone else’s words or information now seems as antiquated and historical as writing with a quill by candlelight.

Typing for me is automatic and I find that the language that appears after drawing is easily translated through my fingers and keys onto the page.

Today, as I look back at the roll of accumulated words and thoughts, I can see where each section has started with the gap and slight shift of text across the page.

It’s these tiny differences that seem to becoming more significant in both the drawing and written pieces.

Three weeks to go. Plans are set (almost). Display decisions have been made (nearly). Lists are still growing. Anxiety levels are rising. Deadlines are being met. This is it.

My daily tasks are still shifting, with the smaller drawings being made but not on a daily basis.

Only the main drawing and writing tasks are set in stone. Everything else shifts depending on daily demands and the increasing pressure to make sure that my sketchbook and files need attention.

I have become a better sketchbook keeper although I still make drawings, sketches, lists, notes, diagrams on envelopes, scraps of paper, haphazardly, as the thoughts and ideas come to me.

This is fine as a method of capturing thoughts but not fine at all as I head into the final few weeks and find myself searching and compiling the work behind the work.

I have moved my triptych drawing out of my office and into another room in the house. This will inconvenience anyone wishing to play on the wii but will allow me to make a chequerboard of sketchbooks, notebooks and files on my office floor.

I feel as if I’m opening a filing cabinet that has been dropped from a great height and turned upside down.

This evidencing of the work is a whole other project and I find that, like creating a bibliography for a dissertation, providing the evidence of ideas, work and activity leading up to the production of a final piece of work almost more difficult than producing the work itself.

I want to make sure that my tutors and the external examiner can trace a path through the development of this year’s work, particularly since Christmas. It feels like a kind of reflective mapping – looking back at the last few months and connecting my interests and activity.

I also want to use this mapping as a process for me, to consolidate the three years of the degree so that I can form some kind of plan for going forward. One of the reasons I became a mature student was to provide a stepping stone to a different type of career. I realise that I haven’t chosen a particularly easy path but it’s one full of possibilities.

Professional Practice has been a continuing theme throughout our studies. We are asked to consider and record plans for exhibition, promotion, future career development, next steps.

It has prompted me to seek out and participate in some really interesting stuff this year – drawing with Mark Wallinger @ The Hayward last summer was a highlight, attending a Writing& workshop at the Arnolfini was another (and one I’ll be repeating this weekend). I also took some time to work on my bookmaking skills with Guy Begbie in Bath – a great practical introduction to making and thinking about the architecture of books. I’ve also found more local opportunities via our Wiltshire Arts programme and spent a fascinating and enlightening day at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in the company of other local artists, thinking about possibilities of engaging with this fascinating archive.

I’ve taken advantage of student rates and used the time I’ve spent in these alternative learning environments to think about my practice.

Walking into a room full of strangers is always daunting but I’ve been fortunate to meet some extremely interesting and supportive people along the way. As well as coming together for a specific purpose and being led through the workshop by a teacher or tutor – the opportunity to learn from the other participants is an enriching experience.

“It’s not what you do, it’s the place that you do it”…or so Bananarama might have said in the eighties.

I wrote a little in my last post about taking my lines for a walk (see what I did there…). It’s Friday. Forgive me.

Anyway…as I was saying. I’ve drawn at home this week and in the photography studio. Prior to beginning this month-long project, I tested the premise in the installation room at college.

As I draw each day my mind wanders. Not too far. I have to count the lines. Nevertheless each five or six minute blast of drawing allows a short mental meander.

My main pre-occupation is time. Why do we do the things we do? Why do we think some things are a waste of time? How are our online activities shaping our realtime activities?

As I draw, though, I’m starting to think of the where – drawing at college feels purposeful, drawing at home feels like a distraction, drawing in the photography studio feels like some kind of performance.

Drawing these lines as well as taking up time is also marking out a territory of time when I can think and I suppose I’m thinking about the who, what, why, where and when…