Freerange, London | “What’s Next?”

It’s curtain-down time for my degree, which culminated in a week-long exhibition at Freerange, London.

The FREERANGE brochure, which included a completely incorrect spelling of my name (in fact, an entirely new name). Thanks Freerange!

I’m not going to try and sum up the experience of the past five years, but lets just say it’s been challenging and rewarding in equal measure. I got a First, which I am immensely proud of, and in true artist imposter syndrome style, have tried to mentally devalue since finding out.

‘Balancing|Projecting’ on show at Freerange, the Truman Brewery, London.

Whilst invigilating during the day time, it was interesting to see how people engaged with my installation. I was pleased that it seemed to draw the majority of people in, so that they were involved for the full two minutes. My diary was also read by many people, and as a few people asked if it was available, I am considering making it into a small, self-published book to sell online.

Here are some works by other students on show that I particularly liked, when I had the chance to explore:

Over the past week or so, the question I have been most asked is:

“What’s next..?”

I think after any long period of study, people expect you have Big Plans. Well, I do have plans that are mostly around Continuing To Make Art.

In October, I have a small, solo exhibition which I am very excited about (I’ll be blogging about that v soon). In the meantime, I’m getting involved in a few things, including some performance/life drawing work as part of Fabrica Lates, and a couple of other things too.

I have started doing a tinyletter which I really recommend signing up for.

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London degree show + Working on something new…

In a couple of weeks I have my final degree show in London, as well as my final degree results.

Despite being a working artist before beginning my degree, I have found the END of this 5 year course a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, on an emotional level. For a week or two, I felt exhausted, and somewhat depressed. Studying part-time, you always have something in the back of your mind- something you should be getting on with, organising and/or finishing. Now it’s over, I had a period of feeling empty.

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of the loss of an old friend. I try to remember her birthday collectively with friends, as a more positive response to grief, but when June rolls round, I feel very dark. My friend was always so supportive of my decision to move away from London and focus on my art. I looked forward to finishing my studies, and being able more physically and mentally available to see my old friends. I know that if she were still here, she would be at my degree show, laughing and being mischievous, like we were back in college.  This thought makes me smile, but is also so sad it hurts.

Now I’ve had time to rest, and reflect, I’ve thrown myself in at the deep end, and have applied to do some queer, feminist live art workshops based around dance and performance. I want to continue using my body in my work where possible, but certainly need some outside influence.

In October, I have an exhibition in a small, experimental art space in Brighton. The piece I am working on is entirely without my body, and will be using digital techniques. I think after making such personal work in my degree, I wanted to create something pleasurable, that is an escape. The working title is LOOP.

I’ve also started a TinyLetter, for anyone who wants to join, and get the occasional email about what I’m up to creatively.

First degree show, June 2019

 

On July 5th-8th, we take part in Free Range- a huge exhibition in London of degree work. Click here to join the event.

Graduate show countdown + studio

Next week we begin installing our degree show. It will be open from 6th-9th June, with the PV on Weds 5th.

 

I’ve more or less gotten everything ready for it, which feels good and am hoping the install goes smoothly. This 5 year part-time degree has been such a huge challenge for me, and I can’t believe I’ve finally reached the end. Managing my uni work, as well as my professional life has been so difficult, and has taken a real toll on my physical and mental health. So it feels right that my final piece- ‘Balancing|Projecting’ is a direct response to this particular subject.

Meanwhile, I’ve moved back into the studio (after a recent refurb) and I can’t believe that after 10 years of living in Brighton, I finally have managed to find a small, affordable space to work in. It’s an ex-boiler room, and I’m sharing with two other artists until the end of the year at least. Fingers crossed we can stay on post-2019.

A plinth lighting test, ready for installation of my Tightrope Diary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final show prep

| Upcoming exhibitions |

This year, I reach the end of my five year journey and will be showing my work at two graduate art shows, followed by a solo exhibition in Brighton during Brighton Digital Festival.

| June 2019 graduate show at Northbrook MET |

| 3rd – 9th July graduate show at Freerange, Truman Brewery, London |

|12th – 25th October 2019 at Gallery Lock In |

 

Balancing|Projecting

I’ve almost finished editing the final version of my film, to be projected as part of my final degree show installation. Take a look:

The final countdown

Last weekend, videographer Sharon came along to practice with me to shoot the final footage for my final degree show.

I’m really happy with the footage and have been editing all week to get it ready for projection tests.

Looking back over this project, I’m actually really pleased by what I have achieved- learning, within 6 months to tightrope walk and use projection mapping has been more than I thought I could do. I now have just under two months to get the pieces in place for the final installation.

Not long now!

I’ll be uploading the film soon, but in the meantime, visit my instagram for a silly video of me falling off, repeatedly.

 

New displays

As part of my course, I’m encouraged to display my work at college as much as possible.

Since I am creating digital work, this creates a creative challenge for me, since I cannot display projections or film easily in the corridor exhibition spaces. I chose to display stills of tightwire projections in the glass towers area, and documentation of learning tightwire in the display case.

 

New projections…

I’ve been experimenting with projecting on different materials, such as this long curtain (the iPhone camera is not great at photographing projections!) I really like this effect within an installation, and it’s certainly something I can look into for my final piece.

Shoe balance projections- I’ve also been returning to projecting into shoes (using some of my shoe balance clips). However, I need to find a way to get enough lighting in the space so that the objects being projected on can be seen, but not so much light that the projections aren’t visible. I’ve picked up some led strips that I can try out around the plinth or floor…

My next step will be getting some proper footage of a tightrope walk- I have a friend who has offered to do this for me, and this will really step things up a bit!

Balancing Projections!

I put together a smaller-scale version of my projections at uni on Monday for a group crit. The feedback was good, although when I brought the group into the room, my projector had stopped working- I’m not 100% sure why, but I’m going to have to do some trouble shooting in preparation for the end of year show. I’ll need to be confident that I can leave the films running without being in the room…

Projection test with boxes on a metal shelving unit.

New tightwire walking angle