We’re back at college now but not that you’d notice. The third year studio is as quiet as the grave – although there was a flurry of activity yesterday (deadline for having work photographed for inclusion in the catalogue). I suspect that most people have got their heads down at home – no, I don’t mean in the pit still, I mean concentrating their efforts on their final written work, and getting themselves ready for 8th May when we all have to start preparing the studios for the exhibition itself.
The series of four are now complete, and in time honoured fashion they’ve undergone name surgery (sorry a-n editor, I know I supplied the first image as Fragment:P1 but in the overall scheme of things I think this title means more in the context of my exhibition).
The installation itself remains unchristened as yet, but no doubt some witty and pithy (no spelling mistakes here!) title will eventually detach itself from the ether and fall to earth. I just hope that it happens soon! The enigmatic titling of the modified objects will, however, not be subject to change! (Well, that’s the plan so far, although I do have two more tutorials lined up, so expect the unexpected).
Whoopee! The hard work of a couple of weeks ago seems to have paid off. Both paintings entered into the Mid Wales Open have sold; one on the opening night, the other on the first official day of the show. (Big question mark – am I charging enough?)
Work on my series of four paintings is almost complete and my final piece of written work is now well under way. However, attempting an objective analysis of my own work is proving a daunting task – just how hard can I be on myself?
I’ve marked out an area of floorspace at home for the trial construction of my installation piece. It’s strange how every time you think that you’ve got it cracked further problems rear their ugly heads. With only a month to go to the opening it really is time to get focussed (and I mean focussed!). Next week everybody else comes back again so things are bound to start buzzing again. (Manic panic all round, no doubt.) Deep breaths; stay calm; rise above it. Who are you kidding? There’s something about animal fear that’s contagious.
The weekend has been spent doing final prepwork for submission to Mid-Wales Open (check out their website www.cambriaarts.org.uk ) which kicks off on Saturday – all work safely delivered to venue yesterday pm. I also needed to get some decent images of work for the Oriel Davies Open, and complete the paperwork for that submission – in the post yesterday – and some people think that all I do all day is sit and paint!
Now back to the job in hand – my own final show.
Canvases have been stretched and gessoed ready for me to complete the series of four that I have to produce as part of my final assessment. The installation is, however, a different matter altogether. So far I seem to have amassed lights, timers, quantities of wood, a display case, oh – and plenty of good intentions. My sketch books are full of drawings, scale plans and thoughts and I’ve even built a quarter-scale maquette to try and identify possible problem areas, however there’s nothing like building full-size to bring out the gremlins.
Time to get down to it I guess. (Well at least for the time being, although those Cambrian hills certainly do look inviting!)
Well, here we are already at the end of week 1! I thought time was supposed to slow down as you get closer to a black hole (mind you I’ve never studied astro-physics, so could very well be talking out of one). The wild and woolly West is out there putting temptations in my way – probably the same as it did when you were here Tish, and some days it’s difficult to resist.
I’ve resorted to writing ‘To Do’ lists in order to get some sort of daily routine. Very sad, I know, but at least you get the pleasure of crossing things off! Work is still progressing steadily (thanks to aforesaid lists) – big panic still well over the horizon.
By the way, if anybody out there thinks they might know me – well you could be right! Big hello to all C & G Decorative Stained Glassers at City of Bath College, and even bigger hello to Wiltshire College, Trowbridge, Foundation Course 2002/03.
Signing off for the weekend. Have a good one everybody.
Hi there everyone. Time to start blogging!
With only just over six weeks to go before our Opening, things are beginning to warm up a bit here in deepest Wales. Term officially ended last Saturday and quite a lot of the others have gone home for Easter break – hopefully taking some of their work with them. See them all again near the end of April in time for the final mad scramble.
My work is coming along steadily (famous last words!), but there’s a lot of it still to do. Nothing like pressure to focus the mind (or so I’m told). The theme of my Final Show is interpreting the past, and my draft catalogue entry gives an insight into what I’m trying to do.
“Interpreting the past is particularly problematic. Information may be scarce; anecdotal evidence corrupted by ‘Chinese Whispers’, or worse still, deliberately rewritten to fulfil a particular purpose (a reason itself lost over time and also probably the subject of editorial licence). The artefact remains: an enigmatic orphan; open to suggestion and ripe for misinterpretation.
My work explores the world of these ‘orphans’ examining how their identity can be disguised, manipulated and modified to provide the potential for reinterpretation (and possibly misrepresentation).
Step into this world and judge for yourself.”
The plan is to build an installation using plaster tile shards from a fictional ancient culture to represent the remains of that culture, and use variable lighting to throw shadows. Thoughts behind this are that the physical pieces represent the material facts from the past, and the shadows thrown by the lights become the different interpretations that we put upon these facts. In addition I’m creating a load of small pieces that will displayed in a glass-top box, in the same way that museums do, but haven’t worked out yet whether to label them or not. Also I’m doing a series of paintings (I need to in order to satisfy assessment criteria for the module) – all in all a lot of work, but if it comes off it should look good. I’ve been allocated a complete room for all this, rather than a regular exhibition space, so it’s now down to me to make the most of it.
