Saturday 25 June 2011

The Graduate....

Well i got my 2:1, second class honours degree. I was a tense evening waiting for the online results, friends from other faculties were reciving their results, yet my results were still unavable. The social network status updates were rapildly updated with cheers of joy and some tears of sadness. I was going out of my mind with worry. It was all running through my head, I've failed, I've failed, I,ve failed. I eventually went to bed in a sleepless panic, i woke up the next morning having read a new set of status' i eventually got through to my results. 

My waiting had paid off and the 2:1 came my way. i was worried throughout the time period between the last hand in for assesment and the last exhibition show in Brick Lane. i was not sure about my disserataion passing but now i have the 2:1 i think may have passed that module. I'm not really sure if i want to know what my dissertation grade was, all im grateful for is that  i passed it. My supervisor for the dissertation promised me however my dissertation ends up, she would not allow me to fail.

And here's to you Mrs Robinson Sam loves you more than you will know wo wo wo.

The Truman Show.....

 Brick lane is ram packed, full of art and photography, enjoying the week and the atmosphere very much.




Monday 20 June 2011

What is all the abundance about?....


Along with the portfolio's, i felt it also maybe a good idea to make electronic versions. I made a DVD portfolio for Marketing and Self Promo, and so now i was making some for real life. I  will only hand out to people that i want to possibly buy my work it contains a few extra PDF files of my work, an artist statement and visual CV. i will also place a few business cards and post cards for contacting me. I only made five as i can't see a high demand for my CD portfolio's. I have my print portfolio for people to look at, but if they want to take something home or to their place of work a simple CD is ideal.

On the road again....

The time has finally come, London is only a day away. I've been packing work up all week, wrapping sticking, and stuffing. collected my light boxes from the framers today, they were the last thing to pack. My father donated his wooden trunk, to haul the light boxes in a protected manner. I would rather  that, than leaving them to possibly break during the road trip to Brick Lane.




 Portfolio's are to head down with our exhibition work for later days after the opening night, it just gives interested parties the opportunity to look at more work for them to deliberate about purchasing a photographers work. the past seven days have seen me drown in bubble wrap and fragile tape. It's better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to expensive prints and and portfolio's full of prints.. Tomorrow i shall be traveling on the train to london, the work shall be taken to london in two van loads for all sorts of must needs at the free range show.

Monday 13 June 2011

From Junktion to Function......

I am staying in Swansea for one more year after University. As well as getting a job to pay for rent and living costs, i want to continue making work and submitting for exhibitions in Cardiff, Bristol and London. For me to continue making work i am going to need to find a working space. I was speaking about this with a good friend of mine and fellow artist, Phil Cheater. He mentioned that a space had been found by a second year Fine Art student. The student/Lauren, works for a working mans club in the town.




She enquired about a space upstairs from the club that wasn't being used. The space contains bits of rubble and rubbish and could be an ideal space for Art. I joined Phil at a meeting in the space with Lauren, an artistic fraternity has formed to make this dead space into a living breathing work space for artists. We are soon to enter the space and recycle as much of the junk as we can to help build a studio space. Plans are being put in place for fund raising to help with paint and other decorative utensils to participate in the construction of the studio. Phil is currently designing for logos and names for the studio space that we can promote for funding and awareness in Swansea.



You didn't think i was going to reveal much did you?





Sunday 12 June 2011

A Third Year Exhibitionist.....





It has been a few weeks now since the Third year exhibition opened. the work went up a few days before the show went live, but not without its hitches. At the very start of the exhibition week, My hopes for a quick and easy exhibition set up, were dashed. Two weeks had gone by since i ordered my Duratrans light box prints, in those two weeks i also ordered one 40x40 MDF mounted print. I later collected it from a Cardiff Print and Mounting company. I was so happy with the mounted print, that i couldn't wait to have all the work together and hung next to each other. My light box prints were being made in Brighton, all the work i had for the show was being constructed all over the country.




A violent ringing of the door bell, woke the house one morning. I twigged that it maybe my Duratrans i had ordered two weeks before. I rushed down the spiral staircase, but was beaten to it by a housemate who signed for a delivery. When i got down stairs i had a brief look at the parcel and thought nothing of it as it didn't look like what i had ordered. Alarm bells began to ring, when my house mate gestured the poster tube package to me. My heart rate dropped when from confusion, i ordered light box prints and so i thought that they would arrive in a flat package, i also thought that my photographs were printed on Perspex for the light box to glow through them. I thought they were supposed to be on Perspex and i knew that Perspex isn't thin enough to be rolled up into a poster tube,knowing i only had a few days before the show was opened to the public. 


I immediately went into a state of panic and anger. I rang my Father in my anxious state and explained to him this unbelievable mistake. I quickly phoned the Brighton based company to find out what has happened. According to them i did not specify that i wanted perspex prints and only asked for Duratrans prints. I had never worked with Duratrans before and so did not know what to expect. My father and i quickly came up with the solution of place these transparency prints in between to sheets of glass to hold them flat on the light boxes. At this point i hadn't even seen them, i went to Uni looking for a tutor to take a look at the Duratrans with me and make sure they are exhibition quality.


Off to Uni with the poster tube under one arm with a frustrated feeling inside me. I found a tutor wondering the campus and asked him for a moment of his time, he agreed to meet me and look at the prints. I used cotton gloves to carefully hold the Duratrans prints to avoid smudge marks or finger prints on the glossy surface. what was to be seen was so upsetting. I slowly placed the prints out of the tube and carefully unwrapped the tissue paper protecting them. I uploaded high res files on the companies website. the prints i received and paid for were not high res. I can only describe them to you as, areal shots of legoland or a contemporary cubist painting. It was a map of pixel city all over both the Duratrans prints. 


Angrily i knew i didn't have time to get reprints for the light boxes and come up with an alternative set of prints to put on the wall. I phoned up the company complaining, only to be bull sh***ed over the differences between screen prints and actual prints, ( if printed correctly there are no visible differences what so ever.)
In the end i had to settle for framed substitutes for the Swansea show, but promised for London i would have the light boxes up on the walls. Just recently in the past couple of days i got a new order of Duratrans from a better company, i paid out yet more money but in the end worth it. The new prints look absolutely stunning and i cannot wait to see them on the wall in the light boxes. London is getting close and i'm even more excited about it.




I have a few photographs of the Swansea show and will soon post the London photographs soon.


Roll on the Summer.....





My Father is amongst chaos at his house, getting his roof redone. He was told to clear his loft so that work can begin fixing a hole where the rain gets in. To my surprise My Father phones up to say that he has found a box of old film; containing, Polaroid, 5x4 Slide and Colour film, Black n' white 5x4, Slide 120 mm and Colour + Black n' white 120 mm, 35 mm Colour and Black n' White AND AND AND AND 10X 8 Black n' White Negatives. This summer is going to be an awesome one. I have an exhibition later on in the year in October, so over the holiday i shall be experimenting with the twenty year old dried up Polaroid and 10x8 Negatives, possibly pinhole Negs.

Sourcey Website, Photographic Review.....

Along with the rest of the photography gang at University, i joined the bandwagon and got a review page on Source Magazine photography website. My page will be on the site forever and can be viewed by anyone who is interested in my work. I thought that it would be a nice thing for me to have and to put into my Visual CV. I get a years subscription to Source magazine along with having my own page on the website.  



Marketing & Self Promography....

After the hand in of my portfolio, Visual Diary and External folders. I was also required to produce a promotional pack for an extra module. the pack consisted of business and postcards; a DVD slide show of work, a CD of images, an artist statement, a visual CV and a mock funding proposal for a grant from either Arts council of Wales or England. last year i made a set of Business cards and Postcards, for my portfolio and presentation module in the second year. i really enjoyed the designing of the cards and also my DVD. 


I always want my work to look slick and professional. i take time and effort with extra little details, to make the work that little more special. As a class we were shown examples of packages from previous third years. Some were good and some were bad, so i chose to spend some time thinking about how i wanted to package to look. i felt it was fitting to link to design to my final major project work, to give it a documented and archived look. It almost has a medical or evidential feel to it, in keeping with practice ethos.





Friday 10 June 2011

To sit on my own with the Fresh Prints.....

"It's the final countdown". My time at university is soon to end, all that is left to do is hand in my portfolio, visual diaries and external folders. I collated it all into a big black brief case my father gave me in the first year. He told me it was his old portfolio case, and always got a job using it when meeting clients. he said it would bring me luck. It's brought me luck for every hand in over the past three years of study. I always excite the tutors with the appearance of the Brief case, each time i go in for an assessment the tutors seem more interested in the case than my work. It's a nice topic of conversation during the assessment, the tutors always ask for one of their own.


The assessment went well, with a few laughs here and there, i think they liked the work that i submitted. I felt confident that i had worked hard over the year and produced a great portfolio. all that was left to do now was to put up the work for the final third year Exhibition.