MA Show and research

Bikeability in Sleaford

wooly bike at NCCD

 My visit to NCCD went well. I saw / smelt Meekyoung Shin's collection of soap paintings, vases and sculptures, and Mandy Bray's Up The Garden Path reminded me of the work I made for Fictions back in 2011.

Most impressive was that by filling out a questionnaire, I was offered a free tea - one way of #payingartists

Mandy Bray - Up The Garden Path at NCCD

Mandy Bray - Up The Garden Path at NCCD

Mandy Bray - Up The Garden Path at NCCD

Apparatjik house

I spent far too much time making this Apparatjik Cube house complete with fake Magne A, fake Jonas A with the materials available for visitors to create their own versions!

Later that week, I went to see the MA Shows at UoL ProjectSpacePlus.

I'm familiar with Larissa Brennen's work with taxidermy, and she has progressed her practice to create stories with found preserved animals combined with a sense of children's play. Resembling macabre Beatrix Potter stories, work is presented as found objects alongside printed text that tells the story, with a Jan Svankmajer / Bagpuss style animation showing the story inside the small shed.

Larissa Brennen "Untitled"

Larissa Brennen "Untitled"

Larissa Brennen "Untitled"

 The mouse riding a tiny bike

Larissa Brennen "Untitled"

Larissa Brennen "Untitled"

For the proposal I had started to imagine, this is something of a reversal of the intended work. As Larissa uses actual dead animals, but the taxidermy birds and animals in storage from the original collection are fragile, and preserved in things like formaldehyde, so therefore I would not be able to use the original birds in this way. However, an animation created using them as a starting point was my intention.
I was imagining something more like Rachel Heir's animation below.

Rachel Heir - Goldilocks And The Economy

Here is the set she made for the stop-motion animation Goldilocks And The Economy.

Rachel Heir

This was part of the MA Design show Upstairs, and is how I intend for my practice to progress towards illustration and animation, not fine art.

Rachel Heir

Here's an example of how her Jan Svankmajer inspired animation resembles scenes from Pushwagner's Soft City.

Rachel Heir

Rachel's animation was the only work in the show that addresses the very real issues out in the wider world, outside of the institution.
Along with the way that Jessica Rawlings used overheard conversations during trips to locations such as Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and other places, to create illustrated prints that don't follow a brief, and which she attempts to consider as fine art, made me feel that being a joint honours graduate gives my work a quality that others can only ever touch upon, and was where my concept to create sound work inspired by Oyvind Fahlstrom in response to Ayscoughfee, Lincolnshire dialect and the birds.

Back to school - and back to "work"

So, one son is back at school, the other has had Induction Day at college, and I can now get on with some work again.

I've been following the Paying Artists updates reluctantly. I fully support the campaign, but it's taking too long and isn't doing anything.

For instance, along with updates, such as the news that Jeremy Deller supports it, there'll be an event for artists to attend (currently this is at Metal, in Peterborough, a place I once considered applying for a residency, a city I'm very familiar with, as I have cousins living there; until I noticed  more conflicts of interest - mainly, no accommodation for the Time and Space residency) then there'll be a link shared to the Artists' Fees Toolkit, outlining artists' day rate fees, but yet, no fee will be offered to cover even basic costs for artists, such as travel - train tickets to Peterborough for me from Lincoln are neither hugely expensive, nor a long way to travel - it takes just over an hour - but if I was being paid for my time and expertise for the meeting, it would be covered.

"It's free" - yes, that's great, it's better than including some kind of "admin" fee or "application" fee, but train tickets aren't free. My tenancy renewal fee isn't free, and the fridge freezer has bust, and when I look at new ones, they're not free either.

And when I do cycle training, I get paid more than I do for anything to do with being an artist. On Monday, for example, I will be going to Sleaford for an instructor's meeting, for which expenses are paid. I will be using this as an opportunity to visit the NCCD. I wouldn't ordinarily go out of my way to go there otherwise. 

Here is a blog I came across that is of interest to me as I collate ideas for proposed new work at Ayscoughfee Hall Museum next year, for working with museums.

I'm interested in "seeing" Rob Flint's Flock Mnemonics at The Collection, as I intend to create something inspired by Öyvind Fahlström's Faglar i Sverige for Ayscoughfee.