Swansea Metropolitan University

The last week has been a encouragingly productive one. The body casting has gone extremely well. I explained earlier about the first attempt to cast the negative directly. Which wasn't as successful as i had hoped. So instead we cast the two torsos separately with Alginate, reenforced by plaster to help keep the shape. The plaster casts in the mould came out wonderfully detailed, needs a little attention where there are air bubbles in the alginate were casted. The Alginate mould came off surprisingly easy and on Monday we are going to try and get another bust out of each mould.

With the plaster busts i can now cast the two negative spaces and connect them together to create a rubber negative space. I can then use this and the busts to use a variety of materials to express the negative space, each hopefully holding its own connotations. One of which is glass, i'm looking forward to the process. This is a great progression in the artwork, i have a collection of process' available to develop with, ones that were not open to me when casting the space directly – in-between two hands for example.

My new digital camera arrived on Wednesday, just in time for our field trip up the woods. We found a wonderful space for Sean to test his cit-scape paintings and projections out doors in a very contrasting environment. He wants to test their potency in an environment that has the potential to be very overwhelming. And for me, well we found an old Slag heap and grabbed a few samples of what i thought was coal to test back at uni. And yes, it was coal… ive struck gold! Ive also included a photo here of pools of water that have been effected by mining, right next to the slag heap. Shows some of the colours that will be involved when im filming for my Utopia – projection collage.

Have a good weekend everyone!

can't wait for monday!

I spent all day (a long day) in the plaster workshop on Monday. Doing more casts of negative personal space but this time using the torso. The cast was difficult to set up, a lot of hair was pulled out, and the final object was massive in comparison to the previous tests. So we are going to try it again, much to the disappointment of my partner, but this time we are making a rubber mould of our torsos which we will then use to cast. I know it’s not as spontaneous or actual as i would like it to be, but this way i am in control, and i can recast whichever areas i want and make a variety of test pieces. Next session in the plaster workshop is tomorrow morning; hopefully it won’t run through to the night again, but if it does then it does, the work needs to be done!

Yesterday i had spent the whole day in a park, in the pouring rain, taking photographs to test my multiple slide projections. And it was like pointing and clicking, this is the first test so i don’t actually have a set idea of what i am looking for in the slides. So i spent a confusing afternoon trying to take a photo of the ‘selected object’ in its natural surroundings, with a white background and a black background. Putting a background into an image taken in a natural environment is surprisingly difficult. I was lucky enough to have my friend and fellow artist Hannah helping me, a spare pair of hands makes all the difference! I got the slide film in the last post, first class, so if the royal mail is on its toes, then i should *fingers crossed* get the slides by next week. Perfect timing for my installation room. I still need to get more filming done this weekend, and edited by Monday.

Today was a lot more cheerful and relaxed. We had our elective choices this morning; i’ve put my name down for ‘marketing and self promotion’. I would have loved to taken the 3D skills elective but i want to get as much help as i possibly can to further my success as a working artist. I was pretty happy with the decision, i feel it signifies a development in my person – i want to make sure i am ready for this…. as in…. i am actually considering my goal as possible. At noon we then went on a field trip up to Resolven, just me, another student and our lecturer. Both of us needed to visit the area for our art practice, and we needed our lecturer there to help me identify coal and to help write a risk assessment proposal for the other student. We spent a few hours walking around the woods and searching through old slag-heaps. I really enjoyed myself, the company and being outside (even if it was raining, again).

Now, to get carving my coal…..

The last few days have been stressful, little irritations have been throwing me into fits of rage. This time of year is hard for me, my previous partner died in January. But at least i know the reason for my behaviour, hopefully means i can calm myself down quicker. Which i need to do. Ontop of the stress of assessments, crits, interviews, electives and money – i dont need to be all hot under the collar.

On a good note (i think), my boss has spoken to me about work. I explained i was only leaving because i couldnt do 40 hours a week for the next 5 months and that i needed a part time position. And, to my surprise, he offered that i only work friday nights and weekends until im able to go back to full time. Which suits me wonderfully, it means i dont need to go into the difficult situation of searching for a part-time job. Only working 24 or 16 hours a week now (depending on the shifts). Which is much more managable, and it means i can continue to (hopefully) save money. Im looking to buy second hand equipment etc to start building up a studio of my own. I just hope that i can be strick with my spending until then (i honestly cant remember the last time i went out on the town with my friends… im looking forward to my next moment of relaxation).

Other news, my course director Harold wants to sort out a practice interview for me. Going to have a couple of lectures and a couple of staff members from other areas of the university. Turns out one of them used to work for Safle, so they have a good idea of the questions that i will be asked. I am not entirely sure if this makes me feel better about the interview, or slightly more stressed. I've been reading up on public art, and looking at sited public art around the south west (I love my boyfriends rubbish old car), and the more i find out the more uncertain i am.

I am floating in water, and in every direction i turn there is simply more water. Im not sinking or swimming, just waiting, nervously waiting.

And finally, i have booked the plaster workshop out on Monday morning to do a torso cast. Now i have more time during the week, i can up the speed of my process'. Finally!

I recieved my letter from Safle, outlining the details.

My interview is on 6th Feb, in the morning. It will last for 45 min, which consists of me showing and talking about my work for 10 mins, and then a discussion about my work being translated into the public art realm (amoung other things, im sure).

This is simular to the 'Big Crit' set up we go through each week. Though rather than looking at a room of faces ive grown to feel secure amoung, i will be facing a pannel of strangers who are there to watch and judge and come to a conclusion about me. I am feeling the pressure.

However, a new element was introduced. The images i show them in the interview have to be of art i have worked on since i sent in my application (10th December). Well, after suffering with pneumonia for near on a month, i only have between today and the 5th to sort myself out…..Uh-Oh…..I will be burning the candle at both ends, for sure!

I want this to go successfully, so much – i know not to get my hopes up, but i also know i want to put 200% of myself into this.

So i went back into my note book collection. Every artistic idea (no matter how tiny) has been put into these note books, just for future reference. Been flipping through them to find a piece of work that doesnt demand time (as im short on time). But i need it to add towards my exploration in video installations, as well as being appropriate to the concepts im currently exploring.

Pulled out two ideas, after i started to plan and mentally construct them i realised that one would need more time than i had originally anticipated.

I now have one new mini-project, a continuing casting project, and the start of a very large project. I will just have to show a few test photos for the larger project, as it wont be finished for a good few months.

The installation room i enjoy using, (the larger one, as projecting in that space is wonderful), is currently booked up right until mid-Feb. So im going to go into the studios tomorrow and ask nicely if someone would mind giving me there time-slot for the installation room. I dont see there being a problem, the guys i share my studio space with are very relaxed and understanding. The people you share your studio with really make a difference.

Finally, the year has started! I had been waiting for everyone to wake up and get back into the swing of work. Mainly because i have been waiting to contact with a fair few people involving my next project. Since university has opened on the 5th i have managed to have a meeting with the university environmental manager, get in direct contact with the bog's environmental warden and arranged a meeting next week, gathered information on equipment rental and started making head way with the purchase of 8mm filming / projecting equipment and work 32 hours in the hotel!!!!!

In short, on the 8th of January, only 3 days into the semester and i've done a lot. But it doesn't feel like i'm progressing at all. Every activity seems to take twice as long and, in turn, requires just as much effort. After suffering with illness, working and house decorating i don't feel that refreshed and alert. (surprise surprise)

Even if i had the chance to stop and relax, i am certain that i would fall into a dark damp muddy hole. So maybe it is a blessing that this year is all go go go.

In university the hallways are still echoing. The people i have seen have had their heads buried in books or their eyes forced open as they wearily type away. I do not envy them. I was there, a year ago, and it is so very hard. I try to encourage my friends within the studio. You start the year with a slight grumble about the dissertation, which soon turns sour by christmas. But now is when things start to turn around, all the little bits of paragraphs start linking up. And you love it, i honestly handed in my dissertation – thankful that it was over for a little while, but thinking about my next article of writing with enthusiasm. Mind you, it's easier to say that now.

So the meeting with the environmental officer went well, found out a lot about the bog that i didn't know. Also left with my arms filled of maps and documents she allowed me to take copies of. Turns out the ground is highly dangerous, a large area of the bog is unattainable to the public (sometimes even when you have a warden guiding you). The landscape is deceiving, a few years back a bulldozer was lost – it had sunk into the bog and was never found. (Sounds like a ghost story for industrial vehicles everywhere).

My assessment is on tuesday, about 15mins after i finish an 8 hour shift at work. I'm praying that the lectures will be running late and i have a little bit of prep time.

I can't wait until i am an unemployed student bum again. (18th January)