This week at college

The main event (for us part-timers) was our midpoint review. I was pleased with how my "newspaper" had turned out, so it was a surprise to feel really, really nervous when people started looking at it -Another surprise was to hear it compared to "a medieval document" - because of the paper being like vellum. Newsprint + wax = vellum, that's good (do the writing first though)! I need to find a nice context for displaying it - train station waiting room, or in a cafe ...

In the afternoon, a variety of things -- looking at the library display of books from NIVAL - the National Irish Visual Arts Library, which are part of an exchange - Camberwell students' books are on display in Dublin.
Talk turned to how difficult it was to display books - is this something we should be thinking of when making them?
Then to the South London Gallery to have a look at the plinths - the fulltimers are thinking about getting their show together - September will soon be here -
Some of us stayed in the gallery cafe and had another chance to see Karen's project. The bear is made out of a chapter of Winnicott's "The child, the family and the outside world" and was presented sitting on the book, with the cut-up pages loose among its pages. Perfect.
Wednesday's "lecture" turned out to be a workshop on "professional practice" - we got into small groups and discussed Ambitions and Obstacles. Interesting that some groups made mind maps, some made lists, and a couple didn't write anything down but either drew (a sheep, why?) or just talked.

I didn't take notes but the words confidence and courage (and cowardice) stick in my mind. So does the idea of "getting your work out there", taking chances and opportunities - and making challenging work ... though whether you want to challenge the viewer, or challenge yourself, is up to the individual.

Screen printing was busy as BA students prepare for their show.
I printed more "waste" sheets of newsprint - for another newspaper perhaps, or for some magazine supplements? - and also quite a bit of fabric to make into bags. The idea is obvious really - it just took a long time to arrive. What helped was happening to hear a talk on the radio which mentioned how theatre directors and composers and probably other artists as well see the people they are working "for" as, for example, "the people on our street". The eternal question of who is your audience ... it came to me that my audience, for this project, is people who use public transport in London. Another obvious insight - but clarifying this (along with the talk about ambitions and obstacles) is helping other things fall into place.

The little bits were used as resists - I have many of these now, and love to sort through them -
One of the first bags. The branding is "mc-lines" -