MA Contemporary Art Practice provides a multi- and inter-disciplinary programme for arts practitioners to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding across the wide and discursive range of methods, techniques, media and approaches that contribute to contemporary arts and its changing and growing contexts and audiences.
This extended 2-year full-time programme supports developing artists to realise their practice to the fullest possible extent.
Last week saw the start of the installation and unfortunately I couldn’t be there for the beginning of the week but luckily my lovely peers worked on rebuilding and painting the whole of the space, including mine. On top of the reasons I couldn’t be there, I felt terrible that I wasn’t able to help, but comforted by how much time I had already contributed through the website and flyer design. I got to the space later in the week and started selecting the works for inclusion. Getting them out of the studio and into the neutral space helped me to refine this selection even further. I curated a basic sketch of the work quite quickly, using a couple of works which I knew were definitely going in a certain location and so I worked from there.
I haven’t finished the installation yet and still have bits of tweaking to do for the majority of the work and there are two pieces I simply can’t resolve the display of yet. I am due to go in today to work on those, I have just today and tomorrow to do so, but have not been to sleep at all, so don’t know what to do! Being over a 50 mile round trip I don’t like to risk going in as I don’t know if I’ll be fit enough to drive home later in the day with no sleep! But do I have much choice? I am also worrying about what state I’m going to be in by Wednesday, my assessment! Between now and then I have to write my evaluation of the works I have put in the show. I think I worry too much and don’t get enough sleep because of this. Then, I worry about worrying and worry about not getting enough sleep and so the cycle continues. I have no way of rectifying this right now, just to keep going and I then think I shall sleep for the whole of August!
It was the last day of the undergraduate degree show at Plymouth University today, which can only mean ours is getting closer now! The BA students are now expected to take their work away by the weekend and we then enter the space on Monday. I think we might have a bit of wall removing and cosmetic work to do on the space before we can start installing.
Our assessments are on the 10th July, so we have 9 days, and providing all goes well with the students’ work being out of the space when we turn up on Monday I think this is a reasonable amount of time to work in.
I’ve been getting quite anxious recently and my sleeping patterns are all over the place. But at least I have the MA project report out of the way. Nothing like leaving it till the last minute though. The written work was ready well in advance and I decided, because I have ONE bookbinding workshop under my belt, that it would be a great idea to make my report into a handmade book. It was honestly the hardest thing I had done this whole MA! After 3 attempts, I did it, it’s far from perfect and only because time was not on my side I stopped at the third one. I had it under a heavy slab of granite drying on the Monday and not too concerned about the deadline the day after as I thought I would make it good time. Well, I was up all night worrying about not waking up in the morning, then in the morning I was not fit enough to drive (50 mile round trip in the car) so decided to have a nap, luckily my husband got me up in time and I got to the hand in desk with 5 minutes left till the deadline. Least it’s in now and now I could concentrate on the show.
If you fancy reading the report it is online now www.independent.academia.edu/RebeccaHarris1
With the project report out of the way I remembered it was that time of year the car’s MOT was due, so thought I would quickly check, only to find it expired days before. Not best pleased and the last thing I need right now as I would not be able to get to Plymouth to work in the studio! I tried to remain optimistic and took the car to the garage but they found the exhaust was dangling off the car, so I am still waiting to get the car back and am grateful for an overdraft!
Whilst stuck at home I have started on another work, similar to the one pictured but working in black linen this time. I know I have enough work to put on my MA show but there is also a voice niggling that says you could always make one more piece, one more better piece, what if that work you’re putting is not good enough, can you improve it? Make another piece that says what that ones says but better? Or is it just me?
Another way of spending my time productively at home is I have given my website a facelift so it’s ready for anyone who then sees the show, takes a card and checks it out. You can also see that here: www.rebecca-harris.com
I really can’t believe it’s been a month since my last post! But I really didn’t want to keep posting about, well writing a project report! We have two weeks left till the deadline and then we fully concentrate on the show. Although, I have been very busy getting the promotional material ready for our show, which seemed like a great idea at the time I volunteered to do so! It’s been very time consuming but slotted in nicely to those ‘quiet’ times where I did not feel inspired or could be bothered to work on the project report. We now have a website, Facebook page, Twitter account and various flyers and posters for print or email. Just hope all the effort pays off and we get a good turnout for the show.
Check them out:
Haven’t had anything interesting to write here for the last few days, been working on my project report, didn’t want to keep telling you all about that.
It has been briefly interrupted as I prepare my poster presentation for the Weight Stigma conference at Birmingham University this Thursday. I mention it here as a particular aspect of my MA show includes the research work I have done for this conference and others. The stretch-mark work, you may have noticed images in previous posts, is an arts based research project which I investigate the materiality of the fat female skin through a series of machine embroidered textile pieces. I won Plymouth University’s equality and research grant to complete this work and to attend a conference back in March at York University.
So it’s all go and tomorrow we are having a studio shift. The BA students are taking over most the space now to put up their show. I have been very lucky to have a big studio space the last few months and like a goldfish I have grown to fit my bowl. So it’s gonna take a bit of downsizing and shifting unnecessary materials back home to squeeze into my new space. It might help to refine the work anyway as I have made soooo much work recently.
So it is degree show season and I came across this article
“Artspeak alert: what not to write or say
From ‘radical unreality’ to ‘leggy plasticity’, we collate the most baffling examples of art lingo going” from The Guardian. It’s like stories about diets coming at the start of every January and are we now going to have an artspeak bashing every May? I think there are some words included on the info graphic that justify some confusion and which I have only just noticed is in the shape of a skull!?! But really, are most of those words necessary in their inclusion? I struggle with it as I am now a few years into the system and supposedly brainwashed by artspeak and reluctant to drop the language that has been part of my art training, especially ‘materiality’. But, really, are ‘over’, ‘combine’ really words which leave our audience baffled and alienated? If so then whether they ‘get’ our work is really the least of their worries.
I agree that the text presented at exhibitions etc. should not leave the audience feeling the work is only for the art elite. This pushes them away, makes them feel stupid and if they do not understand a ‘description’ then they really don’t stand a chance with understanding the work. Can’t we have the work at the fore, shouldn’t the artwork itself be a means to understanding the art?
It’s not that I am text shy, far from it, I enjoy writing about my work/research etc but I am not very keen on the artist’s statement. I will write one, only because I might have to, or think I should have one on my website. It might be though that it’s in the affective nature of my work though, it has a form of autonomy and it exists for the audience without needing any further guidance or told why I did what I did and what it all means TO ME. Of course if this is of interest, then that’s fine, I am happy to supply this, but my problem is too much emphasis on the text. I don’t know if you have ever been to one, but the season is nearly upon us, the maize maze. When you go in there is an option to have map to find your way back out again, now really what is the fun in that!? That’s how I feel about art, I don’t want to go see some work and be given a map.
But it’s that time of year when we are put in the position that we provide our artist’s statements with our shows, there may be exceptions but I think it is generally the case. This sends many students into a panic which often breeds the crappy statements that are quickly put together. Often aping those they find online, extracting words that sound good. My studio space backs onto the iMac suite and I overheard a conversation between two students doing just that. One says to the other, what about ‘alchemy’? But said a word I have no recollection off, which sounded nothing like ‘alchemy’, a completely made up word, so how the other student knew what she was trying say I have no idea! Anyway he asked her what she thinks it means, to which she replied “I don’t know, I thought it sounded good”. This is most of the problem, artists are taking words that they don’t understand, so how on earth will the audience? It does need addressing, else following graduation students enter the art world just continuing this cycle.
I have been guilty of all this myself, and probably still do to some extent. So take some time out, don’t panic write, don’t quickly put something together that looks right. There is plenty of advice on the web for good approaches to writing the statement, get Google-ing. Also, get some help from your peers, help them in return, ask someone you know who has strength in this area for their advice on what you have written.
Anyway, I have spent most my afternoon, procrastinating on the internet which led me to coming here to write. I could waffle all day about this but I shall go now so I actually have some work to waffle about come July.
* artist and researcher * blogs at starvingfatartist.wordpress.com * also does web design etc at radishdesigns.uk
