Last year, for our end of year unit we were expected to come up with a concept we would be exploring in a self directed project which lead onto our end of year exhibition . My boyfriends idea was called ‘shapes & spaces” which was a running joke due to the fact that by the last week of the project, the name was still the only thing he’d done. However, his concept was strong & due to his practical eye for simple design, he was able to excel in that one week and come out smelling of roses.
The reason I have began with this is because after reflecting on ideas for my current project, I realised that just over a year on, I have come to be interested in that very same concept. Shapes & Spaces.
My interest initially started while I was on holiday in Greece. We were driving through the open landscape and the whole entirety of that completely amazed me. The natural space and opportunity for absorbing the beauty around me filled me with excitement, wonder & hope. It made me feel very alive and present.
I spent lots of time in the ocean, just looking at my surroundings. Trying to really take in the image, which was of vastness and abundance; feeling like if I tried hard enough I could been the image into my mind to keep forever. The image, which then became very important to me was a feeling and idea, enabled and surrounded within a beautiful place in the world.
This is when I really thought about shape. Of the mountains on the horizon and the arid, dense land below it. And space, being both physical and mental. A mindset. A feeling of having escaped, an idealism, an optimism, an instant nostalgia for every second spent in the hot, steamy dew of paradise.
After the last six months of quarantine, we are all slowly but surely making our way out of hibernation and back into the ‘real world’. For the majority of my friends this means moving to a new city or enrolling on a new course which in itself brings along much doubt and fear but on the flip side a lot of possibility & excitement.
This, I’ve been told, means I am entering the ‘real world’. Which quite ironically appears as some sort of mystical void entered only upon adulthood but in reality is an umbrella term used by people wanting to reference the sludge of daily living… oh so mystical.
What I keep reminding myself of is why I wanted to take some time out and what I wanted to do with it.
Which was to have space & freedom outside of the institution. This was a choice I made out of hopefulness and romanticism of possibility; which I don’t regret at all. In a hope that I could generate my own identity, motivation and body of work on my own accord. Existing was essentially my only plan. The idea of existing on my own filled me (and still does) with excitement. I envisioned traveling, photography, developing my work, learning, reading and just being in the present.
Taking a breath.
However, over the last 6-8 months, circumstances have changed ie.corona. Which has brought about much fear in the majority and has shat all over my enthusiasm for the time ahead of me. This week I have really identified that. Which is why I am currently typing.
September begun, all of my friends moved away to start their new courses/ do their own thing and I was left contemplating what it actually was I wanted to do. How I wanted to use my time and reassess what this year was hopefully going for bring for me. That is when I decided to create my own project. Write a project proposal and work on something fulfilling.
There I began, looking back on the pictures I’d taken over the summer in Crete, googling Soviet constructivism and feeling that familiar excitement of a new idea beginning to erupt.
Since finishing college 4 months early due to Covid-19, I have been doing a lot of reflection about my time there- on my projects, pieces and the evolution of my practice. So I decided I wanted to have all my thoughts down in one place (here) in an attempt to hold some reverence for my time spent there and also to help me evaluate what I learnt and how I can continue to create things moving forward into the real world.
In the September of 2018, I had no idea that I would have ended up where I ended up and having achieved all the things I’ve achieved. I initially enrolled at xaverian college, choosing to pursue a-levels in art, textiles and English. Thinking practically about all the things people had said to be prior to my final decision about keeping options open, broadening skill set and preparing for employment. But, after just a couple of days I knew it wasn’t right for me. I felt boxed in by a choice made out of fear opposed to real investment.
Thats when I contacted a friend who told me about the course she’d just enrolled on; being the UAL Visual art and design course at the Shena Simon campus, Manchester City centre. (which I’d never even heard of). But that same day I went to check it out, and enrolled on the spot.
The course was a full time art course, which may not be ideal if you are still very unsure as to what you’d like to peruse, as it may limit your options. However I was sure- and as any creative knows, the label isn’t what matters. Weather its A-level, B-tec, Diploma or some other random course you’ve found. Its all about portfolio; which is why a full time course is so successful. As it allows time to be spent purely on your practice & projects…the most successful way to develop your portfolio. It also creates a very lovely sense of belonging and community with such small groups- spending two years together: working on projects together, spending time in the studio together and watching each other grow and evolve.
I’d say my decision to enrolled on the course was the absolute best decision I could have made and I am so happy I ignored all of the fear around me. I followed my intuition and prioritised what I enjoyed- which is always a good start.
On the course I met my best friends, made my best work and had the most brilliant times.
Now knowing I will not go back there to learn again, I have spent a lot of time thinking about my experience as a learner but also as a person over the past 18 months, as I know all of my friends have.
The course has been absolutely life changing for me. Both socially and artistically. I have had The Manchester art gallery co-produce & sell a zine I was involved in creating, had my work on billboards around Manchester, proposed and organised a pop up exhibition in a massive institutional art gallery, made my very own zine and discovered photoshop for the very first time. All of these things for me have been incredible. But besides from those major achievements, I have also learnt the fundamental basics of my preferences as a creative. I have developed a style, a practice and a skill set that has allowed me to create work reflective of that. All of those things being priceless.
Something I definitely took for granted was the studio space we had in college & the facilities at hand. When enrolling on the course (2 weeks late) I was told repeatedly that the facilities were by no means top of the range but what the college and course in general did have was freedom, guidance and full access to all that they could offer. This really couldn’t have been closer to the truth- and over the next 18 months there it was one of the most charming aspects to my little college and something that has assisted me in creating the work that I am most proud of.
The guidance given on the course was also something I’d like to speak on as even though I moaned my fair share (as we have all done) about what could be better- our tutors were amazing. We were provided so much freedom and given a lot of trust by our tutors which has been pivotal in the development of our work. The course is very independently driven- but overall I think thats one of the greatest opportunities I’ve been given whilst at college. The space to be self interested and independent.
Anyway… ramble over.
The rest of this blog post will be a small portfolio tour and also a timeline of the things I’ve achieved over the past 18 months/ 2 years.
GURLZ Zine
‘Gurlz Gurlz Gurlz’ is the zine me and two other people on my course were approached about creating by The Manchester Art Gallery, in conjunction with a project they were doing with our college called ‘Future Creatives’. They gave us a very brief project idea which was essentially creating a zine. Everything else was essentially up to us. This project was created with the intention of giving young female creatives a space to exhibit there work and their voice. We took to social media to advertise entries and after a few weeks, our little team of three had a meeting, deciding which works we wanted to include.
From then on, we decided on a layout, colour palette, a name and all the extra little tweaks. One of the two other girls involved in the project was the only one of us with decent photoshop skills, so she headed the project. Creating every page individually and checking in with me and Georgia every so often to run her queries/ ask for our opinions.
The project was finally accepted, printed and launched in March 2019, and sold in the Manchester Art gallery gift shop over the moths following.
This project was my first experience working on anything artistically outside of the college environment and it certainly taught me lots of things. From asking the correct questions to understanding the process behind a project of the sort. This was such an exciting moment for me as a young woman and I am so grateful to the Manchester art gallery, the two other girls on the project with me and all of the people who came down to our launch event.
FIRST COLLEGE EXHIBITION & SELF DIRECTED PROJECT
This is my exhibition space. Which consisted of multiple different pieces. The project was about my experience completely offline, without a phone for a month. I did this to evaluate how the internet (or lack of it) affected different parts of my life.
The project or the work was essentially how I recorded the process and how I responded to my findings.
I responded in multiple mediums. During the month I worked on an archive book (pictured below) which was essentially a visual diary. Containing dairy entries, letters received, notes made and pictures taken during the sabbatical. I’d say this is the first piece of work that I am still very proud of and enjoy looking through again and again. For me this is where I began making better work and finding my own style.
I also wrote a long analysis of different aspects of my life and how I’d found being offline affected those. This was exhibited on the wall. From anxiety levels to my dream cycle, this document was very thorough and helped me feel very consolidated and accomplished in how I’d used my project to inform and educate me.
The final aspect of this body of work was a short sensory video I’d made. Recording all of the things I’d created space to recognise without the distraction of my phone. With beautiful scenes from nature, sounds around us in the city and small moments with friends; the video piece was a lovely little slice of my month prior.
This book feels very nostalgic and cinematic when I look back through it. Which is exactly what I hoped to capture. It is a beautiful time capsule.
Manchester Art Gallery project 2020
This year we were lucky enough to be invited to work alongside The Manchester Art gallery again on yet another ‘Future Creatives’ project. For this project we were given a brief to make work about how we feel as creatives in the city. The brief was all about Manchester. After we had all created work, we would hand it into the gallery on the deadline and they would further shortlist people and decide who would be offered on opportunity to be featured in their ‘publication’.
For this brief, I had pretty much decided to work as if we didn’t have a brief because thats how I work best. So I began exploring lots of different mediums, and it was in this brief that I began to discover a whole new process and a whole new medium, that I have now taken through with me to my most recent project and coined as my ‘thing’.
This consisted of me taking images of my friends, buildings and scenes in Manchester- creating collages with them (on paper)& scanning those collages in. Experimenting with the printer in inverting colours, messing around printing on acetate & photocopying different colours/ sections ontop of each eachother.
This was essentially some very basic, DIY photoshop as my skills were next to none and this is how I created all of my pieces for this project. Which looking back is very impressive to me.
Very surprisingly, I was picked by MAG to have my work in the publication. Which meant the image chosen by them would be featured in there 30+ page broadsheet which was designed to enable the work to be used as posters, up on billboards around the city and available to purchase in their gift shop. Again- another really exciting project.
These were my original images created for the brief.
This was the final product.
I was also lucky enough be able to takeover the Manchester Art Gallery instagram page, documenting the exciting events leading up to the launch of our billboards/ the newspaper and then do a speech at the launch event. All very crazy.
Supporting our friends who helped curate a show at The Whitworth art gallery
Two of our friends were involved in the young contemporaries group at The Whitworth Art Gallery and spent months helping curate an exhibition there called ‘utopia’. So one of my favourite moments has to be supporting my friends who were involved in this. It was a beautiful show and I was so proud of them.
Creating my very own zine & learning photoshop!
The last project I was able to do in college (before covid) was fortunately my favourite so far. In this project I was inspired to uncover some of the hidden history of women within the arts; after reading the book ‘invisible women’ which had been gifted to me several months before, and bringing into focus my favourite painting in The Manchester Art gallery- ‘Sappho’ by Augustine Mengin. The reason that painting inspired me to begin my project was because after admiring her form I realised that Sappho was more than a nude painted by a man. After doing some research into Sappho, I began to learn who she was and the ground breaking things she had done.
I wanted to explore these women and share there lives.
The project consisted of a lot of documenting, all of my research was followed up by a piece and informed by what I’d discovered. A type of visual research. This really helped me to continue generating ideas and prevented me from becoming stagnant in my practical work.
At the end of the project, I had a lot of work but didn’t want to create a single final piece as such because my exploration into the topic was by no means over. I still felt very passionately towards my project and didn’t feel comfortable concluding it yet.
This is when I decided to create a zine. It was the perfect way to document my process and exhibit all of my favourite pieces without having to seal the project shut. However- creating a zine required me to use photoshop and In-design to create it digitally. So it could be sent to print (for 50+ copies).
I had no idea how to use photoshop let alone in-design, however with the help of my friends and youtube, somehow (I still have no idea how) I managed to create the whole thing digitally. Scanning in my collages at a high resolution, editing them and then creating my zine- page by page. This is one of my biggest achievements because when I started college one of my goals was to learn how to use photoshop and it was getting to the point that I didn’t think it would ever happen. Now I realise I just needed to challenge myself and I could have done it all along. That taught me a lot about reaching goals and stretching out of my comfort zone in order to expand my skill set.
These were a few of my original collages.
These are a few of my In- design pages whilst the zine was in the final stages of creation.
This was the final outcome. My zine in print.
Pop Up Exhibition at The Manchester Art Gallery
In early January, me and a friend approached The Manchester Art gallery proposing that they allow a small group of us college students to host a pop-up exhibition in one of their spaces. Due to the fact we’d been getting to know the team at MAG for just under two years and had both worked with them closley before on multiple projects- they said yes.
They proposed that we use the front, ground floor gallery space, that was under refurbishment and waiting for its next exhibition to be installed. So after we’d worked out dates and time, concepts and basic arraignments; I was invited in to look at the gallery space. The space was huge, light and fairly intimidating- but exciting at the same time.
This was the space.
As you can see there are big windows towards the front which was very exciting and also ALOT of space. We began talking about how we’d go about using the space and Emma took us through certain rules the gallery had regarding what and how we used it. Firstly, we were not allowed to put anything on the walls. Which made complete sense but also posed a fair few challenges for us to overcome as a group. Secondly, untested electricals were not permitted/ insured to be used inside the gallery. Again, absolutely makes sense. However, did call for some problem solving on our behalf.
After coming back and having a group meeting, we decided we would make our own structures to exhibit the work and began planning with Cynthia what they would look like and how they would be made. We then organised the class into days over the holidays that we could come in and work on them.
Unfortunately as I started to discover happens a fair bit when organising these things, lots of people failed to show and it was left to the select few to hold fort and pull through.
This we did and over a 2 week period, in a mad rush just before the show- we designed, constructed and painted all of our structures (with so much help from our technician) 🙂 (thank you Cynthia)
After making them, all was ready to be brought over to the gallery, which is luckily less that 5 minuets away by car from our city centre campus.
We loaded the van full and headed straight over to the gallery to set up.
Setting up took a long time, and as only I and maybe two others had seen the space- there was a lot of changing plans upon arrival. However, it did all work out in the end after hours of touching up the paint, rearranging work and assessing the entire layout of our exhibit.
We were finally done and all we had left was to attend the event the next day.
This was our final exhibition and it was amazing. I was so proud of all of our work and how many people came and loved it.
Little did we know that this would be one of the last times we were all together before covid. So I feel very grateful that we were able to do this all together as a group and that The Manchester Art gallery were kind enough to let us. This was the final show we didn’t get to have and it felt like a real celebration of us.
I feel so lucky when reading back through all of the projects I’ve worked on and things that I’ve accomplished over the past two years.
These for me have been the highlights of being a young creative and my first experience really pursuing art. It has made me so happy to be around such creative and loving people whist doing it. I wish I’d been aware of this possibility in school.
So thank you to The Manchester College & our tutors for being the foundation and The Manchester Art Gallery a catalyst. And to all the people I’ve become friends with along the way that continuously inspire, support and encourage me.
If you’ve made it all the way down this long ramble- thank you for reading 🙂
This month I had a fair few books I was excited about reading. However, because a select few of them were fairly lengthy (700+ pages) I was apprehensive about how many reads I would get though during the space of the month.
Turns out I need not have worried because my reading ability in terms of stamina and interests just seems to be intensifying as the weeks go on; and if I wasn’t smashing through book after book last month, I certainly am now.
These are the books I read this month (not including two others I had borrowed/ not included in the picture) So all in all 11 books.This book I have read multiple times before, but feels like a space of comfort for me whenever I need to reconnect to myself and the mysticism in the world. As usual I enjoyed this book to no end and discovered even more elements I had never recognised or appreciated in previous reads. The falconer was the third book I read this month and seemed to fly by. The storyline followed a young girl growing up in NYC and basically encapsulates a coming of age so beautifully. The main character is defined by her love of basket ball and the city around her. The book had a lot of romanticism and mysticism within it, which as always I am a sucker for 😉 so I really enjoyed the read. This book was a spiritually/self help type book, which for a long time was by far my book of choice. However recently (over the past year) id found that the more I read the more regurgitated ideals were being retold and the less excited I became. But, this book was definitely an exception. Shashi writes in a very structured, simplistic way which allowed me to consume the information without loosing interest/ becoming bored. This book really opened up a different realm of thinking for me and I have brought forward a lot of the practices she writes about within. So all in all, I would totally recommend the read. This was the first Donna tart I had ever read and was excited to see what all the hype was about. This book i did really enjoy. The characters were so well depicted and the scene was set so vividly that I was encapsulated in their world. Still now I often think about the mannerisms described and scenes that took place. After reading this i could definitely relate to the hype around Donna tart and her gift for writing amazing novels. I would even go as far to say that it’s up there with one of my top 5 favourite books So after the success with the secret history, I had to move straight on to another Donna tart called “the goldfinch” This book is massive, so initially I was excited but also apprehensive about how I was going to find it- and I can honestly say that although the book has periods of fairly mundane activities, all in all it seemed to fly by. Again, the character development was a key aspect to my investment in the book and also the waves the plot went in. This book seems to not say a lot but also at the same time speak volumes. I think that’s what makes tart so successful. Is her depiction and devotion to the mundane within a fairly dramatic, turbulent plot. It gives the book so much character and depth. Anyway- I’ve said enough already but as you can probably imagine, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. After the second lengthy Tart novel, I decided to spruse things up abit and take a break from fiction- with this knowledge- full, information packed non- fiction book. This book was very interesting to me as I studied this topic for my last project. I found this book would have been almost a bible to me if I’d read it 3 months ago. It contained all the information I wanted/ struggled to find and informed me so well about the history of female art. Specifically; the nude. In terms of the month, I’d say this book was my least favourite. It’s a short memoir that depicts the life of a middle aged writer, just post divorce, who is trying to navigate her career, motherhood, enjoyment and life in general. I found the book very easy to read- but at the end felt like I’d just been drifting along while reading it. I don’t think it managed to pull off the description of the mundane that other authors I’ve read had done quite so well. So for me, it was harmless. It was neither good nor bad. If I was muddled and finding it difficult to concentrate, the book would have been perfect for me. However I was not. So it just felt a little too mundane.
This is the second to last book of the month so far, and a book Id been keen to read for well over a year. I’ve heard so many good things about the book and seen it quoted all over the place by lots of people I respect and love. So I had big expectations for this read and it certainly delivered. I thought the points made and concepts drawn upon were gorgeous. Bell hooks is a multi- faceted, incredibly intelligent woman and after reading the book I felt moved. Finally, the last book I have just finished today was this one. This is a fictional novel about a woman who, after a fairly traumatic experience of loosing both parents, decides she wants to hibernate and sleep for a year. So between intense intakes of downers and fleeting interactions with other humans, the main chatter takes us through her year. How she feels and what goes on. I really enjoyed this book. It felt like I was a fly on the wall. It also left a lot of anticipation for what was going to happen throughout. Which is fairly hard to do I think with such a simple plot. But I enjoyed it thoroughly and would definitely recommend.
After my last peer assessment, we identified that something that was a weakness within the project was my lack of connecting the dots. I have so many ideas and tend to jump from one to one- which is especially hard without a studio- or resources to create a visual board of my progress. As without a visual time-line I can tend to get lost in what I am doing and forget what I aimed to do.
So, I was encouraged to create a Mind map of my project so far. Connecting all of the different elements. So I could get a vague visual image of what the project was currently in it entirety, and aim to identify what I can carry forward with me and develop further upon.
This activity was so useful. It was very interesting and fun to do. I think it’s helped me clear my mind and transfer all of that onto paper. Which has created space for me to step back and really evaluate.
After my meeting last week with my class and tutor- I know that one of my issues has been having to many stringy ideas all on the go at the same time and this could definitely be classed as one- which isn’t great. However, for me, this is just a small project at the start of my working week that got me excited and motivated to create with my very limited resources.
So yesterday I set the task for myself of making a little book of all the different marks I could make. So on Monday night- after work, I went on a walk down the meadows to collect some bits to print with. I decided upon a few leaves and the rest was pretty soggy. So I had to be resourceful.
I decided that I would created various shapes out of the cardboard from a random parcel I’d received, using my craft knife and a very loose sketch. However, half way through this process, my craft knife snapped *which was devastating* as it’s the thing I use most in my practical work. But I decided that I wouldn’t be too sad about it because there was nothing I could do after the fact.
So, I spent a few hours printing with various shapes and just experimenting a lot with different angles and takes on the shape.
Overall I am very happy with the result of such a small low key activity and am planning on working into a lot of the pieces and taking them further on with me in the project.
All these little pieces are a continuous project which eventually I will bind into a little book of marks I’ve made !
On Monday after I’d got home from work- I felt like I was in a little bit of a daze. Just because it is difficult to get into the work mindset after so many hours in harsh lighting and absolute mindless boredom. So after a few hours of milling about- I decided to just pick up my “pattern and shape” book that I got free at the library a couple of months ago.
It has some lovely images and I thought it would be a nicer way to get back into the creative flow.
It definitely was- and sparked a few ideas/ interests in me which was amazing. Even though this didn’t directly link to my project- for the time being I am just focusing mainly on creative outlets I can utilise instead of the practicality of relating to FMP and my project. Just because I find that that mindset isn’t very conducive to enjoyment and fulfilment. Both of which are my primary aims when spending my time creating during quarantine.
All these images really inspired me to re visit making marks. Which is quite ironic because for the first few months of this academic year we were constantly doing that (and I absolutely despised it) Hahahaha. But coming back to it in my own time and in my own way has been so interesting and engaging for me.
The start of my college work plan today Watching a YouTube video about an American anarchist I’m very interested in- and taking notes
All of my notes and a little reflective piece about what I got from the video Some more planning and drafting ideas for some practical work tomorrow I started collecting some old resources to begin making my small book tomorrow about “routine and ritual”Some more old resources which I am very happy to be making use of in my current project.
The everyday ritual of routine has been aiding the process of quarantine so much for me. Without my daily practices I would definitely be far more depressed and not half as productive. So for that I am very grateful.
Recently I posted on Instagram a series of images within my day- so I thought I’d share on this platform in relation to my project. As a lot of my days look pretty similar (with a few varying factors)
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