Last week at college (and elsewhere)

My plan to use the blog as part of my reflective journal for college seems to be falling by the wayside. To do so requires (a) keeping current and (b) recording the ruminations. After a busy week last week I hope - no, intend - to get back on track.

My college week started with the collaborative seminar - and after that, another look at the Evolving English exhibition at the British Library (and dinner at the nice little African restaurant in Drummond Street).

Wednesday started with a visit to the karaoke-and-costume exhibition at Peckham Space, which celebrates Peckham's heros. John Galliano and Michael Caine, for instance, both attended Wilson Road grammar school - where we have our book arts classes.

Boris Karloff "great master of horror" came from Peckham too; along with trying on wigs and other bits of costumes, some of us had to try the Frankenstein mask -
After the visit, a box-making workshop, and then the "research lecture" - given by Martin Newth, director of the photography course at Camberwell, putting his own projects into the context of the history of photography (or vice versa). Some names from my notes: Vilem Flusser, Frances Frith, Atget, John Stapp's deceleration project, Stuart Brisley's "dust" (an online photo that degrades every time it's looked at), Fox Talbot, Lucio Fontana, Dr John Murray in India, Paul Virilio's Bunker Archaeology (full text here), Muybridge's panoramas, David Bates. Newth's current project has to do with the pillboxes/bunkers, residue of threatened invasions - who knew there are so many dotted round the country! I'm very drawn to Newth's "8 Hours" series and to "Rush Hour" - which use long exposures to remove people from the scene.

(Writing that last sentence has given me much cause for reflection.)

On Thursday I managed to leave my camera at home and thus have no images of the textile printing session. I used two more screens of the roads-that-make-monsters and did some more printing on the deconstructed jacket and on some flat fabric - using neon colours and puff-binder.

This piece hasn't been ironed yet, so the puff isn't visible; the fabric is interfacing found on sale in the college shop. You can see from the faint print that the screen could be used only once before needing to be washed out - in a situation like that you need several screens on the go so that one can dry while the other is in use.

After class, to the RA to see the Art Fashion Identity show (excellently interesting; finishes 30 Jan) - via the exhibition of Cathie Pilkington's work at Marlborough

(love that horse - looks like something from Joseph Beuys's childhood...) - and then a film on Gerhard Richter at the National Portrait Gallery. Thus endeth the Tues-Thurs college "week" - Friday is at-work day; Saturday was the TVCQ meeting, of which more later, and Sunday we found ourselves looking around not one but two shows; more of those later too, I hope.