plaster forms

Just popping in to say that i'm busy busy busy this week and have no time to read blogs, or reply to comments, or post new posts. Hopefully i'll get some time to catch up over the weekend maybe. The reason i'm so busy? We're coming to the end of the semester and i've got a lot of loose ends to tie up before we start the next one. In the meantime here's two photos of my latest creations- plaster forms made using vintage textiles. I'm feeling a bit in love with them so far...we'll see how that pans out shall we?

ps- I am managing to keep up with Project 365 so far, and you can see all the photos here, or here.

A rare sunny day

I had planned to spend today making badges for Tom Bugs, but i'm afraid those got put to one side when I woke up and saw that it was actually sunny for once. This summer has been pretty wet and windy, so to wake up to sunshine is a nice change. Lucy and me headed for the beach, stopping en route to take a look at the new building that will house the University campus, and our new studio, come September.

It looks pretty brutal in these photos, and not a patch on our old college buildings, which were tumbling down Victorian houses with a seaview:

But to be honest I think it will be great to be in the new building, which has been purpose built for art and will be full of sparkly new equipment (at least I hope it will be). No more freezing during winter and boiling during summer, no more lumps of plaster falling off the walls!

After our little diversion we headed to the beach, stopped to buy ice cream and then couldn't resist a paddle. The beach at Weston-super-Mare is not exactly known for it's bathing properties, and as the tide goes out such a long way it's actually a bit hit and miss as to if there will actually be any sea to paddle in when you visit. Today we were in luck and we both had a paddle before we headed to a car boot sale where I somehow managed to catch the sun and finally headed home with pink shoulders and sandy toes.

almost finished...

almost finished
Originally uploaded by crunchcandy.

A little look into the room I have called 'the room of doom' for the last few weeks. It's almost finished, well it's as finished as time and deadlines will allow, and i'm almost happy with it. Of course I couldn't possibly be totally happy with it- what kind of person do you think I am!? All I can say about it at the moment is:

I have really gone off photocopying things
I have really gone off cutting and sticking
making things gold still rules ok
I can't wait to get the cakes to go on the doileys

Less is more?
Not in my world it isn't!

Still no time to stop and chat

wallpapered wall
Originally uploaded by crunchcandy.

Here's a little bit of what i've been working on over the last few weeks. Today I think I finished papering the shelving, got the ornaments out of the boxes and wrote down a list of things still to do. It's a pretty long list considering the deadline is 4.30 on Tuesday.

This weekend I shall be making a bird box, a wormery, and a collection of peg dolls, all with the help of two lovely children. I'm behind on my projects for the new book, behind on my contribution to the periodic table print project, and i'm not even going to start to tell you how behind I am on things like cleaning and feeding myself properly. My poor allotment has been left to fend for itself and all I can do is hope that on Wednesday i'll be able to drag myself down there and rescue it from weeks of neglect.

Worn Out

My deadline for college is in just under 2 weeks, and as a result I have been spending my every waking moment* thinking about my work, and wondering why I still don't like it. I guess I just always want things to turn out better than they do- i'm pretty clumsy so working with porcelain and print is probably not the best idea ever- I should be making huge splodgy paintings, but instead I am creating porcelain doileys and wondering why it's never good enough.

My friends have told me to just sit back and enjoy the ride- I don't need this qualification, I already have a degree, and 4 years of curating behind me, but for some reason this course is more important to me than that degree. I know my work is good enough, but it's not the amazing wonderful genius work it is in my head. I know that largely this is down to the fact I just don't have the technical skills yet, but oooooh how frustrating that is for a perfectionist like me.

This post is just to say i'm probably not going to have time to read blogs, look at websites or wash my feet for the next two weeks. I'd love to be able to keep up with what you are all doing, but it seems I am about to take my first blogging break. Although knowing me and my penchant for procrastination I imagine i'll be updating like crazy and filling your inbox with comments.

* a bit of an exaggeration

The cutest collector

My friend, the very lovely and talented musician and artist, Frànçois has just sent me these answers to my questions about collecting:



1) who are you?
Frànçois

2) do you collect anything?
kind of

3) what do you collect?
kisses

4) Does you collection have a value?
no it's free

5) If so is it an emotional, financial or aesthetic value?
it is very emotional

6) could you send me a picture of your collection/s?
not really but I can show you one sometimes

Francois makes amazing animations, beautiful music and wears women's knitwear with panache. His website is Kid Francois and here he is on Myspace: Francois in Bristol

Berlin

lines
Originally uploaded by crunchcandy.

Next week I am going back to Berlin!

I'm going along with a group of students from the college, and meeting up with my friend Kate when I get there. For complicated reasons me Kate and I will be staying in totally different places, and that's filling me with fear at the moment. I know we are both sensible women in our 30s, but I'm terrified we are going to spend a week narrowly missing each other as we try and arrange to meet up!

This photo is also the inspiration for a screen printed skirt I have just finished making ( photos as soon as I can borrow a camera).

So, if you have any suggestions or recommendations for places to go, people to see, in Berlin then let me know in the comments.

Here are the recommendations i've gathered so far:

From Nicole:
For veggie food there's Yellow Sunshine
For shopping there's Supalife
For Stitch n Bitch Linkle


From Jodie:

There’s also an old cinema set in a tiled courtyard, which becomes about 10 courtyards all linked together, and a cool little gallery in there too!(sorry, I cant remember the name, but its old and a landmark type place that'll be in a timeout guide!)


From Gunilla:
a drawing exhibition where everyone may sent his drawing. It is worth a visit!


From Bugs:
For music-y stuff do check the Goldmund people -He's been well into the Bristol music so has visited a few times and had a load of Bristols over at his festival last year..

From Francois:
There's a place a bit like the Here shop called SupaLife on Raumur Strasse.

From Ellen:
I really liked 8MM, in Prenzlauer Berg,
177B Schönhauser Allee, Prenzlauer Berg.
Tel. 030 4050 0624
The DJ there is amazing...the only person I've met in Europe who likes the Shaggs!

From Lucy:
I spent a lot of time around senfelder platz, schwedter strasse, kastanien allee, helmholtz platz - that area. lots of nice bars, cafes and a couple of great record shops.

From Kate herself:
for food

And from April (who spent the last few years living in Berlin):
Feed vegans/vegetarians-Around Weinmeister Strasse U-bahn.. Kuchi (sushi), Kashba ( Morrocan) on GippStrasse- Loads of Falafel and Pizza for cheap around Hackescher Markt,
great ice cream and cake on Kastienallee (prenzl'berg) and bar upon bar upon bar.
Zionkirchstrasse for a lovely mediterannian place where you pay
1euro for your glass, and then drink and order what you would like, and pay what you think it is worth at the end. Local secret and great atmosphere.
FANTASTIC place for Breakfast on Oranienburger Strasse. Look for an over grown balcony, dark bar you go down steps into. Humourous menu full of fruit, pastries, cheeses, musili, bowls of coffee, sausages, stews and soups, single cigarettes and you can sit for hours with your overflowing plates.

interesting shopping/galleries- Sparvasser on Tor Strasse, Auguststrasse for restaurant, bar gallery one after the other (home of the Bienalle) and for
KunstWerk, (berlin's ICA), Isabella Bortolozzi near Schilling Strasse,
Karl-MarxAllee, big museums are free on Thursday afternoons,
(Kulturforum and museum island for those), Reichtstag, and TV tower for great views. Big food hall and Dept store west in KaDeWe, nice designer shops in Hackescher markt and up into Prenzlauerberg. Flea markets are FAB and mainly on Sunday.

Project Spectrum: Yes Thankyou

Yes Thankyou
Originally uploaded by crunchcandy.

Finally something that I made myself, rather than just photos of bits of my house or my collection of buttons!

This is a test piece that I made for a project I am working on at the moment. It's a ceramic slab that I have decorated using stencil (the lettering) and screen print (the floral design) in oxide on white slip. After the biscuit firing it looked pale and interesting, but for some reason I decided to glaze it with a turquoise glaze over the top. I had many sleepless nights after I made this choice and it was only when I saw the fired piece today that I could relax again- I hadn't totally ruined it after all!

The image is based on a photo of my grandma holding a puppy when she was a young girl (not that you can tell) The words 'Yes Thankyou' were written on the back of the photo, and in this finished test piece it's only the 'thankyou' that still stands out.

Today I glazed another three test pieces and started working on four finished pieces. Fingers crossed they all do exactly what I want them to do, but as anyone who works with glaze will know, sometimes it's the accidents that happen that make the work, work.

Studio Friday: Portfolio

This week's topic for Friday February 2nd suggested by Jo: PORTFOLIO!

"I've never put one together. I would be very interested to see and hear what everyone else has as a portfolio and what makes up one"

~ Jo


This is a timely topic as at the moment most of my friends at college are getting all stressed out about getting their portfolios together. I probably should be getting stressed out, but as I don't have any interviews to go to i'm not worrying too much at the moment.

For interviews we are expected to put together an A1 portfolio with about 20 sleeves, in addition to that a whole bunch of sketchbooks and supporting work are needed, not to mention picking out the right outfit for the interview! (Yesterday my tutor said that red or pink hair is pretty much a 'must have' when applying to art school, and I had to remember that when I went off to do my degree I did in fact have pink and red hair...)

My portfolio looks a lot like this:



And is a beast to lug around to interviews etc- I think it's designed specially so that it's uncomfortable to carry under the arm, or using the shoulder strap- either way it's not long before you start cursing and wishing you did all your work in minature, or digitally and could just take along a disc.

Thinking about it, it's probably high time I updated the work that's in my portfolio- the last time I did that was nearly two years ago, and as my work has progressed a lot in those two years, my portfolio should be representing that. It's tempting to keep old favourites in your portfolio- pieces of work that you were pleased with at the time, but if they are 10 years old and you can't show any evidence of any more recent work then it's not really going to matter how good they were originally.

Here are some links to sites that can explain far better than me what makes a good portfolio:

Art-Support.com- what makes a good portfolio

A-N magazine has loads of resources, but you do need to subscrube to get the most benefit

ArtQuest has a whole bunch of resources and guides to promoting yourself

and it would be well worth you keeping your eyes on Meg Hunt's new Trade Secrets blog where she is posting some of her trade secrets for success in the field of illustration, which are easy to adapt to whatever art form you favour.