University of Wales Aberystwyth

Reclusive Students or Artistic Exhibitionists – where are all my fellow students?

Well the exhibition is now just a month away, with two weeks left until we begin to hang our work on the studio-turned-gallery walls. It's all very exciting, and I can't wait to see all the work up. It will also be very interesting to see what the other students have been up to – one of the main reasons I came to university was to interact and work alongside other students, rather than paint alone at home – however the vast majority choose to paint/work away from the school and some I have barely seen since the start of term in September. Where do they put themselves? With the "teaching" in the final year reduced to a half-hour tutorial every fortnight, surely students would want to get something for their money? A studio space at least! Its there, why not use it? If you pay for a car, you drive it, don't you?

Meanwhile, as the rest of the UK has been shivering in the chill of April, we students in Aberystwyth have enjoyed weeks of unbroken sunshine – spring reached us months ago! This also makes painting outdoors much more pleasant too.

I seem to have spent all my time making frames for my paintings, rather than painting. I am quite aware that the time spent framing will not alter my marks, and if I'd spent more time painting my marks would probably be better. However, I have saved a fortune on framing costs, and as some of the wood was free from a friend and some came from a skip, plus I'm also pretty handy with the studio mitre saw and my staple gun, it made sense to do my own framing. However, the frames are now finished which leaves me with the best part of two weeks to paint at leisure. There are of course sketchbooks and visual diaries to collate and tidy up, plus that essay! I thought I had the essay finished, having read and re-read the text over and over, inserted my images, checked the footnotes etc, only to find when gate-crashing (or class-crashing) a lecture on neo-romantic landscape artists, there were some points so relevant to my theme I just had to re-write some pages to get them in! Heavy sigh. This has now pushed me well over the 5,000 word limit, though according to a colleague is now 6,000 – I wish they'd make up their minds.

So its all hands on deck now to get the studios cleared out for the exhibition – time to bin those old paint clogged turps jars and moth eaten old paint rags… on my visit to the skip however I retrieved more than I dumped – loads of hardboard off cuts in really useful sizes! Whoopee, I'm all for recycling.

Magic Varnishing Spree makes up for Cupboard Door Madness

With the date of the degree show looming ever closer, I have been making little picture frames for my little paintings as fast as I can go for the last few days. My reasoning is that if I frame all my work this term then I can select from that what looks best together, and as they are all very small I shall need a moderate number to fill the space. Also after school has finished I shall want them framing anyway to send into open exhibitions, competitions etc.

The other day I found a small jar of clear varnish knocking around in the studio, and began slapping it onto some of my paintings – wow what a difference! The colour that you mix on your palette is always fresh as it is still wet, but as the paint dries on your canvas it can fade into a dull, matte tone. I don't want shiny glossy paintings, but a thin layer of varnish really brings back the freshness of the colours and the contrasts, particularly in the blacks.

In a mad moment of over-zealous inspiration, I had an idea to put little cupboard doors on the front of my box frames, and to extend each scene by painting on the inside of the doors, therefore creating a triptych when opened. However my tutor did not favour this idea, and although I was a little put out after we had finished arguing over it, I realised that it was just a strange gimmick and therefore rather against my principles of trying to do something new just to be noticed. The paintings are quite enough really in their simplicity and stand up for themselves just in simple frames. Oh well!

Student Panic in Masters Application Cock-up

Well the Easter break is now over, and I must admit that I didn’t manage to get very much done. With three weeks to spare, which seemed to stretch on into the far distance, I felt sure that I would have my essay finished and a whole stack of paintings completed. The reality however, is that the essay is still only half-finished and I only managed three miserable paintings! However I did managed to frame and enter four paintings to a local art show, all of which were accepted.

Now I’m back at uni its tempting to start panicking. I have applied to another university for a Masters, but today received a polite but firm email informing me that I had missed out my second reference, research proposal and portfolio with the entry form! Somehow I missed the guidelines which informed me what to send – now I must hasten to catch the boat. I must also get a move on and produce a few more paintings. Call myself an artist?!

Another option of course is to settle back and relax – much as I find my fellow students. Few have actually even started the essay, few have submitted the image and text for the degree show catalogue, and there isn’t much evidence of much painterly activity in the studios either! The sun in shining, I have a roof over my head and food on my plate – what else do I need? Answers on a postcard please…

Unconvinced student in dissertation dilemma

Well its been two weeks now and I'm still writing my essay. In the meantime we students have received some "guidance" since I started writing, which as you can expect is completely ambiguous. We were told to begin with that we were to write an academic paper. While the essay will emerge from a consideration of our own work, it was stressed that it should be a scholarly endeavour rather than either a biographical, journalistic, or in a "diary" form of writing. We are expected to observe the same conventions for writing and publication as if it was a dissertation in Art History. Then, we receive the guidelines which state that it is NOT an exercise in Art History, and should relate an almost biographical account of your own work. What-a-to-do?

All this research and consideration of my work in a modern context is making me think very hard about the reasons behind art. One thing I keep realising is that I am not at all convinced by the modern trends of concept art. I just can't justify spending £100,000 on a collection of mumblings by a group of unrehearsed amateurs gleaned from the street, culminating in week's radio broadcast… which but a handful of people probably heard or cared about.

This is just scratching the surface – hundreds of forgettable projects carried out at the public's expense. A brand-new lorry was turned on its side and hundreds of pounds worth of fresh cut flowers were heaped around it, to make it look as if it had crashed. So what? At the end of the day, the artists (whose names I shall omit here), bless their generosity, let the public help themselves to the flowers. I wonder if any of those pedestrians realised that those flowers had been bought with their own taxes – without their consent? Conceptual wizards or opportunistic con-artists – ready to jump (straight faced) onto the nearest bandwagon – (as long as there was a government grant available). What use to the public, who are paying, inadvertently, for these gung-ho shenanigans? To be honest I find it all rather depressing.

Putting my negative criticism aside, Government grants are all very well for artists to fund their work, whatever the outcome. But, as the Lion stands to perish at the top of the food chain should one of the links fail, so the conceptual artist stands to topple should the Arts Councils give way – and in an economic depression, unnecessary things, such as art, would be the first to go.

On a lighter note, I have finished and framed four paintings for a competition, which will be judged at the beginning of April. If I am chosen, some or all of my works will be hung in an exhibition in Sheffield, and with any luck somebody will purchase one – watch this space!

Downgrading diatribe or sympathetic synthetic word synthesis?

Working alongside others is obviously a great experience – feedback, discussion, lack of isolation etc., but it also reminds me that I really seem to be painting in the wrong century. The students around me are etching vague scribbles, videoing themselves asleep in bed, and pushing the boundaries of their comfort zone. They are using phrases like "visual synthesis", "engage with the individualisation", and "space affecting space". Used out of context of course they are meaningless, but used in context I am still left considerably baffled, and nodding with that vague half-smile which is reserved specially for these occasions. I think it is dangerous to use phrases if you don't really know what they mean. If someone were to challenge your statement, you must be prepared with a ready answer.

I therefore am perfectly happy to keep both my work and my writing simple, at the risk of looking hopelessly unfashionable – but then I've never followed the "in" crowd, I've always sought to do everything my own way. Does anybody else out there have this problem? Or am I just hopelessly backdated? I'd love your comments please!

The reason I've suddenly become so theological is that I have started the 5,000 word dissertation, which as a final year student at our university, have to write on our practice. So far its really helped to make me look at my work in real depth.

Yesterday was a very productive day, the sun shone again and my paint box was pressed into active service from 1:30 until 10:30 at night, the result three good paintings, two okay and one just plain rubbish.