Repeats: Artist Research

Since developing my lino prints I have become increasingly interested in repeats. This is something has has always been in the background of my practice, as I have often talked about collections, multiples and originals. The use of a print plays into this notion perfectly.

As is increasingly so with my artist-teacher practice, the development has been informed by my art teaching. As I began to put together an 'Intro to Pop Art' course I was reminded of the classic repeats of Warhol and of other that I had come across over the years.

My practice feels as if it is playing into notions of Pop Art, accidentally, as until I started writing a course on it I cannot say that I had given it much thought within or outside of my practice. However, if Pop Art relies upon the use of popular or everyday objects*, then my use of road signs fits that characteristic. The movement also gives a nod to mass produced items, thinks cans of soup...but again this is a parallel I can make with the road signs (and something that I have talked about in previous blog posts).

*On reflection I am surprised that I had not looked into Pop Art before in relation to my own art practice, given that it has always drawn on the everyday.

Abbie Cairns, 2020

One of the things that draws me into the repeats is the intention of them. The process and the decision making behind deciding to make many, rather than one. What does there being more than one add to the piece? And what does it take away? Is it part of the story telling? Or done to fill a page?

This is something that initially drew me to Andy Warhol's Marilyn Diptych, as the repeats are used clearly to depict the narrative of Marilyn herself. While the repeats may not all be identical the subject matter is clearly one of the same.

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962

Looking at the effect that this has on text is interesting as the text used is drawn from shared public language  (Wittgenstein in Kripke, 1984) and the instructions given fall into social contracts that we know to follow (Rousseau, 1998). However, by repeating those words they are then read differently - it is unexpected and gives them a different context. Repeated words can become order like, or mantra like, depending on the tone used and how they are interpreted by the reader. Word choice too will play a part. With the repeat of 'end' for example, the quantitation to that word are already quite negative and so seeing them over and over can make it feel quite daunting. In the print itself there is little context or reference to what it is ending, however the arrows suggest that it could be a certain direction. However, this direction could be real, or imagined, or conceptual. 


The text originally comes from The Road Sign Collection and while already part of a 'popular' culture item, taking the text and repeating it gives it a propaganda edge - like when the circus comes to town and you find whole walls plastered with the same poster promoting the same event, over and over.

Abbie Cairns, 2020

These outcomes reminded me of an artist that I had come across previously, Scott Myles. This print highlights a lit of the characteristics that I have been exploring and enjoying. The use of the repeat, but with each still as an original. 

The use of recognisable text from 'real life' and a colour scheme which nods to the gestures and conventions of signs (Judovitz, 1998), but created as an art object, rather than a fictional sign - and should never be exhibited above a door (Tate, 2020b). I find this playful and enjoy how it elevates the text into the art world, this is what I am doing with The Road Sign Collection. My signs will never make it onto a path or motorway. but they should not anyway, they should be viewed in an art setting away from their original context to allow new readings of them to be undertaken by the audience. 

Scott Myles, Double Exit, 2004

The use of multiple can mean that the reproductions produced lack something that the original has (Benjamin, 2015), however these prints (and hopefully my own too) seem to eschew this as each print is slightly different and original. 

References

Benjamin, W. (2015) Illuminations. London: Penguin. 

Judovitz, D. (1998) Unpacking Duchamp: Art in Transit. University of California Press. 

Kripke, S. (1984) Wittgenstein Rules and Private Language. John Wiley & Sons; New Ed edition.

Rousseau, J. J. (1998) The Social Contract. Wordsworth Editions.

Tate. (2020a) Andy Warhol: Marilyn Diptych, 1962. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-marilyn-diptych-t03093. [accessed 14/04/20].

Tate. (2020b) Scott Myles: Double Exit, 2004. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/myles-double-exit-t11902. [accessed 28/04/20].

Kim Anno: The Juxtaposition of ‘Nature Studies’ (2018)

Within this review I will be questioning Anno’s want to create community centred work in a world full of power structures, and undertones of simulacra. These are the themes that this review will examine; community, power and the use of simulation.

Anno is an environmental activist and so her intentions are almost didactic, to raise awareness of issues surrounding this. However, people don’t like being told things they already know. We know the sea levels are rising, it is well documented. Her angle differs slightly … The driving force is environmental change and ‘Nature Studies’ allows Anno to look at these issues more deeply. She is implicated by her own desires within the system. Inspired by Racheal Carson, Anno echo’s her “call for humans to act responsibly, carefully, and as stewards of the living earth”. Her work also draws on that of Robert Longo, namely his, Men in Cities. Anno’s video work mirrors this clearly in the titling, Men and Women in Water Cities.

The Waterfront Building, University of Suffolk, Thursday 22nd March 2018. Enter through University of Suffolk’s ‘Cargo café’, which has been taken over for the evening by waitresses circulating canapés. Fresh from Anno’s lecture on her work, held within the same building it is difficult to see the work with a clear mind.

The hanging of the work is varied from; large format photography, works on paper – some framed, some not, a concertina book – creating a strong visual narrative and a projected video.

The exhibition descriptor, penned by Anno talks of Darwin’s, ‘survival of the fittest’ and is aptly placed next to two framed works on paper of animals; ‘Family’ and ‘Amphibians’ rather than the photographs of the Men and Women – perhaps of telling clue of what is to follow.
Jakobson, Jespersen, and Reference. Semiotica.
and Hughes.

The clearest development, highlighted in both the lecture and the exhibition is her partial departure from abstract paintings – which she had been creating for the last 27 years. Anno subsequently development video and photography works, est 2009. The most notable ‘Men and Women of Water Cities’ – that is why she is here, after all – Ipswich is a water city. Well almost, the intention is there, but Ipswich is a town, not a city. The intention is there. Tenuous at best.

One of the main themes identified within this exhibition is community and Anno’s interests lie in nation states. The want to communicate is evident and ‘nothing is more powerful to unite minds than the community of language’ (Moryson, 1903, p.191). Within ‘Nature Studies’ she used English to unite these water cities as a common language. She is trying to say something about these environments and these men and women.

She examines how the citizens of the nation states are bound together by several factors; arguably the most important of these being a common language, based upon collective understandings and standardised conventions (Murrill, 2015). However, there is also a feeling that the men and women in these water cities are also bound by the rising water levels and how they have, as a community, ‘begun to train themselves to adapt’ to this situation (Ngcobo, 2011, p.76).

True to her environmental stance, within these works Anno is not only examining the relationship of the community, but also the relationship with the environment and animals. Anno was inspired by a trip to the zoo and has also visited and filmed the training of a lion in a reserve. The power structure here is what we may expect; humans asserting their dominance over the animal kingdom – we circle back to Darwin, in reality our chances of surviving head-to-head with a lion are slim. Zoo’s and nature reserves are surely, at best, a watered-down simulation of the wild. Within her wider practice her film, ‘Pieceable Kingdom’ celebrates the animal as the emblem of power. However, what we see is a trained animal and the human with the power.

The photographs of ‘Water Cities, Berkeley, Finale’ and ‘Alamada Kids’ which hang in this exhibition document the coming together of people. A staged narrative. Anno wants to bring celebration to her art work, in the same way that sports is celebrated (Anno, 2014) and appears to be doing this by building a relationship between sports and arts – by including them within her practice.

There is a notion to simulation within the work, with the use of actors within her film to aid the story telling. It must be questioned if this is just a simulation of water cities or the real thing – or perhaps in the era of the post-truth it does not matter either way. The objective fact, less important than our emotional response to these images (Ball, 2017). The use of simulacra is acknowledged within other areas of Anno’s art practice too, ‘Erasing Las Vegas’ sees her explore Paris, from her hotel room in Las Vegas.

Use of editing within the readings is evident, often many words are omitted from the original texts. Interestingly, Anno wants to bring together communities, but then creates spoken word piece such as, ‘The Mirror of Simple Souls’, which removes all religious quantitation’s from the text, changing the intent of the text and possibly isolating the intended audience – the intended community.

To conclude there are a couple of power struggles throughout ‘Nature Studies’ – nature versus humans, humans versus animals. It is not clear who wins, the fight may wager on until one of the elements does. However, Anno is the ringmaster here; narrating, editing and directing the story she wants to tell. Anno is documenting history and interrupting it in her own way, wanting to change how we think about nature. Decoding the mystery within texts and their multiple meanings, to convey her individual interpretations (Barthes, 1977, p.19).

Much like language the environmental issues highlighted by Anno continue to be a contemporary issue that we continue to try and understand. While the system of language remains unchanged, languages do evolve through time (Miller, 2001, p.299) and so will our understanding of these issues and how we communicate about them. For Anno, this is by moving into television – allowing her to address a mainstream audience, other than the exhibition go-er, further adding to her prowess.

We may be able to tame the animals, but the raising water levels may not be so easy to beat.

Bibliography

Anno, K. (2014) Statement. [online] Available at: http://www.kimanno.com/statement-2/ [accessed 20/04/18].

Ball, J. (2017) Post Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World. Biteback Publishing

Barthes, R. (1977) Image, Music, Text. Hill and Wang.

Carson, R. (1962) Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin Company.

Fludernik, M. (1991) Shifters and Deixis: Some Reflections on

Miller, J. R. (2001) The Handbook of Linguistics. Wiley-Blackwell; New Ed edition.

Moryson, F. (1903) Shakespeare’s Europe. In C. Hughes (ed) unpublished chapters of Fynes Moryson’s Itinerary. London: Sherratt

Murrill, R. (2015) Akademie X: Lessons in art and life. London: Phaidon.

Ngcobo, G. (2011) Don’t Panic. Jacana Media

Porete, M. (1993) The Mirror of Simple Souls. Paulist Press.

Orginally Publisher: https://www.a-n.co.uk/reviews/kim-anno-the-juxtaposition-of-nature-studies/

Developing a Peer Support Programme: Part One: Colchester Crit Collective

My plans to start a peer support programme started in 2018 while completing my MA Fine Art. The Professional Development module prompted me into action.

The rationale behind this decision was that after completing my BA Fine Art in 2016 I felt something of a creative isolation. Suddenly there was no-one to talk to about my practice and I felt as a result my work stopped progressing. In creating a creative support network, I hoped to develop my own art world (Tilley and Davis, 2016), of like-mined creatives. 

My focus was on the ‘art world’ rather than the ‘art market’ as I am more interested in the exchange of thoughts and ideas, than brute wealth (Thornton, 2009), as I felt that this would be more beneficial to my art practice and continued development - albeit, not as beneficial to my livelihood. However, the art world is larger than just the art market (Thornton, 2012).

I felt that there was a gap in the market for this kind of set-up based on my own lived experience. While Colchester plays host to many art groups, I had not found anything locally which put sharing ideas and feedback at its centre. 

Initially I started to develop Colchester Crit Collective, which brought together peer feedback and tea and cake. These sessions where hosted in a number of different cafes, as finding a free venue proved impossible. As the sessions where free to attend, there was no money to pay for venue hire. At this stage my lack of interest in money was doing the development of the sessions a disservice, as while I am interested in an meeting of minds, businesses are very much interested in the exchange for services for money. 

However, I felt that the groups being free was important and was also a common theme within my research (Thorne, 2012 and Madoff, 2009), just think, The Copenhagen Free Art School (Madoff, 2009).

The intention of Colchester Crit Collective was to create a group which would run regularly and give creatives a sense of stability and at its heart would focus on providing a supportive platform  for artists to show work, test ideas and receive critical feedback from their peers (Day, 2012), outside of an educational context.  Allowing creatives to develop their practices (Percy, 2004) and receive feedback opening the opportunity for development of work and possible collaborations and events (Davis and Tilley, 2016).

The Format 

·       Artists will be invited to join the monthly Colchester Crit Collective sessions–there is no commitment to attend all sessions (but it is encouraged!)

·       Sessions will take the form of an informal table discussion

·       Artists not showing works are encouraged to join and offer critique

Running Order

1. Start-Welcome and Introductions
2. Artists invited to layout work/documentation/ideas on the table
3. Group Discussion
4. End–Networking Opportunity

Showing Work

·       Artist are invited to bring work or work in progress to be critiqued and it is strongly recommended that artist have an aim for the session, such as questions they want answers to (in relation to how their work is developing, intent, content, use of materials, exhibiting etc.

As my Professional Development module came to an end the wheels started to come off Colchester Crit Collective, it had been successful in terms of creating a small community of creatives, attendees were encouraged to bring along their creative friends to expand the network (Bhandari and Melber, 2009). However, it was clear that expansion was needed to create something viable. 

Coming Soon

Developing a Peer Support Programme: Part Two: Creative Practitioner Support Programme

References

Bhandari, H. D. and Melber, J. (2009) ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career. FreePress; Original ed.

Davis, R. and Tilley, A. (2016) What they didn’t teach you in art school: What you need to know to survive as an artist. Ilex.

Day. P. (2012) The Are Group Crit: How do you make a firing squad less scary? [online] Available at: arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/networks/issue-18-july-2012/the-art-group-crit-how-do-you-make-a-firing-squad-less-scary. [accessed 30/01/20].

Madoff, S. H. (2009) Art School: Propositions for the 21st century. MIT Press.

Thornton, S. (2012) Seven Days in the Arts World. GrantaBooks.

Tilley, A. and Davis, R. (2016) What They Didn't Teach You in Art School: How to Survive as an Artist in the Real World. Ilex Press; 01 Edition.

Reflecting on the Firstsite Collectors Group Bursary Application Process

My application writing processes involves many editing stages. I will look at what the application is asking for specifically and in the first instance will just write. The first editing stage focuses on refining the information and ensuring that I have not gone off on a tangent. I will then look at the word count and edit accordingly, removing anything that is not directly relevant. As an artist I find that I apply for opportunities regularly and like to keep a word document with text about my art for future reference, as part of my art practice I also try to write about and contextualise my artwork which I also store digitally.

Past Experiences 

Completing the application also gave me room to reflect on relevant past experiences, as an artist who find public outcomes central to their practice, I found this activity insightful as I do tend to exhibit widely. However, I was able to pinpoint the experience which have been more beneficial to the development of my art practice and what it was each consisted of. Below are the five past experiences that I chose to include. I made the conscious decision to look back over all past experience, picking the most relevant, rather than the most recent ones. 

2019 Fold, Lewisham Project Space: For this exhibition I have created a set of paku-paku’s which contain randomised wording, these have been designed to allow audience members to pick up and play with these to create nonsensical text patterns.

2019 CAS at the Beecroft, The Beecroft: As part of this I exhibited a collection of plaster playing cubes – styled after children’s playing blocks, each with a letter etched into each side of each cube. These can then be interacted with by the audience to create their own text.

2019 Unfamilaiars: WONDER, The Minories: For this pop-up I installed a floor-based string installation. The installation was designed to be fleeting and by interacting with the artwork the audiences also start to destroy the installation.

2018 Art, War and Reconciliation, The Minories: In direct response to the theme of the exhibition I was able to reposition pre-existing war time text to the modern day. This allowed the audience to experience the text in a completely different context and to view how this changes the reading of the text.

2017 Float: Identity, Firstsite: Work for this exhibition was made up of screwed-up pieces of A4 paper, each with a drawing concealed inside relating to an aspect of my identity. These pieces were discarded onto the floor and could be interacted with the

Examples of Work

The application also asked for three example of work. I chose to include two images of previous work and one image which was the basis of my bursary proposal. I felt that the images I included visually summed up my art practice well and showed how it has developed. It is always at the point in application that you are reminded of the importance of ensuring that you document work effectively and with high quality images - especially if, like me your work is ephemeral.

it’s all over

2018. Wooden Board. 32x194x0.5cm. Installation View.

It’s All Over is part of a larger collection called The Initial Wooden Lettering Collection.

Works in this collection were made at the end of my MA Fine Art degree, which I completed at University of Suffolk, Graduating in 2018 with Distinction. The work is commenting on the context of the MA exhibition and the MA coming to its conclusion with the opening of the exhibition.

The text is direct and to the point. It is self-descriptive to the situation. While the text used is neutral, it can be read as negative or positive depending on the viewers outlook. The intention is to provide closure to the situation. However, by not expanding on what it is that is all over, the work is left open to be interpreted by the audience. There is an air of story-telling within the works, the notion of stories draws me in. What is the story behind the work or the meaning of the work? It’s All Over, the work says, but what is all over? Asks the audience.

The curation of the wooden letters is not fixed, they are easily moved and repositioned within the gallery space; this chose was made to ensure that the physicality of the work echoed that of the context of the work; relating to both the mutability and breakability of language.

These letters have been used subsequently in a Colchester Art Society Exhibition at The Minories. However, the lettering was used to create a new series of words, based upon the limitations of the few letters that I had previously created. Further playing on the notion of mutability of language. By reusing these letters, I felt that they were able to keep their authenticity and aura of being originals.

KEEP GOING
2018. Vinyl. 132x17cm. Installation View

Keep Going was created as a moment of personal reflection for Cairns, made public. It is open to interpretation and will resonate differently to each reader, with the meaning possibly changing on each viewing depending on personal mood. The only limitation to the number of interpretations of the work, is the number of people who view it.

Keep Going: Continue to move forward.

The repetitive nature of Keep Going is reaffirming the definition of the text and becomes mantra-like.

The Road Sign Collection
2019. Digital Drawings. Size Variable.

The Road Sign Collection started by chance after an art walk during an art tutor CPD day run by NEAAT (Network of East Anglian Art Teachers). As a group we were instructed to walk around the Fine City of Norwich and document the walk with; photos, drawings, rubbings. During this walk, I photographed road signs. I was drawn to these due to the nature of my art practice, which is concerned with the relationship between text and site. During this time, I was teaching a short course titled, ‘Exploring Drawing and Illustration’, with one of the weeks focusing on line drawing techniques - something that I am usually guilty of neglecting within my practice. However, covering this topic and seeing my learners’ outcomes – particularly their continuous line drawings, made me want to give it ago within my art practice. 

The intention is that each road sign drawing will be an original, with each only drawn once, in one continuous movement. The use of colour in the signs felt important to their ability to carry out their function successfully. I had to start to consider the readability of the sign and our temporal relationship with them. Without the colouring, there is a sense of unfamiliarity to them.

The more time that I spend with the road signs the more I start to consider placing them into a new context. The text is direct and to the point when it is within the original context. Within my practice, I look to have public-facing outcomes and these signs lend themselves to be repositioned into a new context, away from the road. I look to explore what this does to our relationship with these signs that we encounter every day once they are put into an art context. This starts with turning them into drawings and will perhaps end in a gallery context, allowing this new cultural framework to change the context of the road signs.

Artist Statement 

Within the proposal we also needed to provide a 200 word artist statement. As you will have seen in my previous blog post, my artist statement is lengthy, around 550. This process of condensing text makes you consider every aspect of what you do and what is most central to your artistic process.

This version conveys my artistic practice, but does lack the depth of my current artist statement.

My art practice explores the use of text and site. I often use found text within my work and will draw upon the texts original meaning to guide my practice. The use of our shared public language is essential to the works success.

Within my practice I create site specific installations and work with the concept of text/context to create works which resonate with the site. One of the aims of my art practice is to create situations in which dialectical relationships can take place between; the art and the audience/the art and the site.

My practice takes a DIY approach and I strive to use materials that are inexpensive and readily available; such as electrical tape and ready mixed paint and processes which are easily accessible. I feel that this also links into my interests surrounding things that are ‘everyday’ – such as my use of language.

My current research interests surround my dual role of artist and teacher and how these two roles inform each other. I would like to explore further the benefits of being an art tutor who also has an active art practice, both for myself and for my learners.

Artist Research: Everyday Things

When developing new work, it is probably a good idea to examine what has come before. Artist research is one of those areas of my practice which is probably neglected too often. With tight time constraints I often pick playing in the studio over artist research. However, this is when my duel role of artist/teaching is beneficial, as when planning sessions, I will always include artist reference to learners to draw upon. This aspect of planning directly feeds into my own art practice, as I will inevitably be inspired by, or see connection to my own practice in some of the artists I present to my learners.

Recently I was looking for examples of artists who created several outcomes based on the same object for a session which focused on still life drawing. I had not noticed at the time, but by searching within these terms I was already drawing parallels to my own practice, as I am essentially look at artists who are creating collections of the same type of thing – for me that thing is road signs. For the artists I researched that type of thing varies. However, what does stay the same is that the artists are often looking at things that fall into the notion of the everyday.

This pull of the everyday as inspiration within art may come from the lure of having the power to help it escape the commonplace, by manipulating the subject matter, controlling it within an art context or simply letting it surrender to the free-play of our subjectivity (Vaneigem, 1983). Whatever it is, the everyday is as popular now as an art subject as it ever has been.

The first artist falls into the latter category, as I have enjoyed the work of Michael Craig-Martin for as long as I can remember. Initially this was due to An Oak Tree, 1973 which as an artwork holds conceptual thinking processes at its centre (Manchester, 2002), conceptual art plays a huge part in my practice.

Craig-Martin, An Oak Tree, 1973

However, more recently I looked to Craig-Martin in reference to his drawing and sculptures. Within my art teaching we look at his works in relation to line drawing techniques, to illustrate how drawings do not have to exist on the page but can also exist sculpturally.

His recent exhibition, The Shape of Things (2019b), echoes my linguistic preference – this is in preference to the word ‘object’ mostly, as object/art objects/everyday objects come with a lot of baggage. Thing feels relatively baggage free. The exhibition sees six steel sculptures installed outside around the Kinder Lake in Houston (Craig-Martin, 2019b). What is evident in these works and the others like them is firstly the simplicity and the power of a strong line to convey information about things. But also, the use of increased scale. The work perhaps slips into notions of the uncanny, by taking these familiar things and changing them in such a way that they start to feel strange (Freud, 1919).

Craig-Martin, Sculpture, 2019a

His things of choice; paperclips, scissors, bottle openers, umbrellas are usually overlooked, very everyday and probably unchoice (O’Doherty, 1986) as subject matter to most. These three categories, I feel are shared with The Road Sign Collection. They are both over looked in the same way, as we use paperclips and road signs functionally, but they are overlooked in other ways. They are very much a means to an end. By using these and increasing the scale Craig-Martin can make the viewer look again (Sedation, 2019). Not only at these supersized versions, but also at the originals, helping to emphasis the significance of these things in our everyday lives. Playing with scale is still on my to-do list and is something that I very much want to explore. Particularly, when seeing how successful the outcomes can be when done well.

The move into sculpture is possibly where the similarities end between me and Craig-Martin. It is not something that I have considered playing with, my main worry is that they would become copies of the original signs, which are in themselves (functional) sculptures. The change in scale would have to be significant to make my outcomes different enough, original enough.

Patrick Caulfield’s work was new to me, (and they actually reminded me of Craig-Martins painting when I first saw them – though his clearly have come before Craig-Martin, you do not always discover things in chronological order).

Craig-Martin, Untitled, 2016 / Caulfield, Wine Glasses, 1969

A quick search of Caulfield and you will see many outcomes which focus on ordinary everyday things, such as wine glasses. Looking at his work I felt that familiar parallel to my own practice, again we both working with collections of everyday items. His style draws on paring down what is in front of him resulting in simplistic but effective still life images. This is something that I want to bring across into The Road Sign Collection. When I first started to draw each of the road signs, I was concerned with capturing every scratch and dent and following them though with the continuous line, however going forward my intention is to pare this back to the most essential lines only. The use of block colour is something I want to explore and having every detail traced stands in the way of this aesthetic.

The print-like nature of his paintings manages to make even the most three-dimensional shape appear flat and I think that, in essence this is what I want to do. As mentioned, before I intend to eschew the sculptural and I guess the opposite of that is to make everything at two-dimensional as possible. It feels just as effective as a means to get the audience to consider these things in a new way.

In relation to my own practice this research has given me a few things to consider;

• I need to do something with scale and not just say I am going to
• I am also intrigued to explore the uncanny a little more, as surrealism usually finds its way into my practice this route of enquiry could be fitting
• As I continue to develop my digital skills, I will explore making the road signs more two-dimensional

References

Adams, T. (2015) Interview: Michael Craig-Martin: ‘I have always thought everything important is right in front of you. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/apr/26/michael-craig-martin-interview-everything-important-is-in-front-of-you--guru. [accessed 23/01/20].

Freud, S. (1919) The Uncanny. Imago, Bd. V., 1919 [Translated by Alix Strachey.]

M, Craig-Martin. (2019a) Sculpture. [Online] Available at: https://www.michaelcraigmartin.co.uk/exhibitions/2019/5/31/sculpture. [accessed 23/01/20].

M, Craig-Martin. (2019b) The Shape of Things. [Online] Available at: https://www.michaelcraigmartin.co.uk/exhibitions/2019/8/1/the-shape-of-things. [accessed 23/01/20].

M, Craig-Martin. (2015) Paintings: Untitled. [Online] Available at: https://www.michaelcraigmartin.co.uk/painting. [accessed 23/01/20].

Manchester, E. (2002) Summary: Michael Craig-Martin: An Oak Tree, 1973. [Online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/craig-martin-an-oak-tree-l02262. [accessed 23/01/20].

O’Doherty, B. (1986) Inside the White Cube. University of California Press. 

Sedation. (2019) Michael Craig-Martin: Sculpture. [Online] Available at: https://www.seditionart.com/magazine/michael-craig-martin-sculpture. [accessed 23/01/20].

Tate. (2020) Caulfield: Wine Glass. [Online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/caulfield-wine-glasses-p04092. [accessed 23/01/20].

Vaneigem, R. (1983) The Revolution of Everyday Life. London: Rebel Press.

The Firstsite Collectors Group Annual Party

Friday night (7^th February 2020), I attended the Firstsite Collectors Group Annual Party, hosted at Firstsite to celebrate the 2019 bursary winners. The event was attended by members of the Firstsite Collectors Group, bursary winners and members of the Firstsite team, including director Sally Shaw.

The evening was a great networking opportunity and to meet others involved. There was chance for the bursary winner to display something of their art practices. For this I decided to show my three artist books and my current sketchbook. I presented the artist books as they fully document the last two years of my art practice, with images and short art essays. While my sketchbook documents my current ideas and the start point for what it is that I will be using my bursary for.

Each bursary winner had the opportunity to speak about their art practice and what it is they are planning on doing with their bursary. It was really insightful to listen to the other creatives talk about their artistic processes and ideas; from artists drawing and painting from across rivers, on trains and from Instagram to artists print making and attending research trips.

Within my speech I spoke of my general art practice being based around text and site and how historically I have utilised very DIY, hands on methods and materials, such as; wood, plaster, string and paper. I went onto to discuss how with the bursary I would explore digital outputs to develop The Road Sign Collection. The end goal being to create an artist book, or artist colouring book, wanting to have an outcome which could be interacted with by an audience.

Within this time, I also explored some of the aspects of The Road Sign Collection that compel me to continue with this project. Touching on their everyday nature and our individual experiences with them and how they exist both as mass produced objects, as well as originals, with each having their own history which is documented in their visage.

The opportunity to talk about my art practice in an environment such as Firstsite, is unique and a valuable learning experience. There are few other situations in which to flex and develop this skill set.

Attending the Firstsite Collectors Group Annual Party prompted me to reflect on my experience of the process of applying for and receiving the bursary.

I found the process of applying for the Firstsite Collectors Group bursary useful in that it made me articulate myself and my ideas in a more coherent way – having to write within word counts also helped. I was conscious that those reading the application may not have encountered my practice before and wanted to ensure that I did not overlook any aspect of my practice.

Receiving the bursary is a great vote of confidence and goes someway to externally validating what it is you are doing. From a practical point of view, it offers much needed funding to allow artists to continue to develop – from a personal viewpoint I would not be able to justify investing in software such as Photoshop without the bursary. However, it also comes with some pressure as there is a slight feeling of being accountable to others with reference to what it is you are creating. Something that I have mot felt since leaving university. This is an exciting position to be in and I look forward to seeing what it is i create and develop by December 2020.

You can read more about the Firstsite Collectors Group and the 2019 bursary winners here.

Setting Aims: Art Practice Development

Setting aims/goals/deadlines is useful for everyone and there are what seems like an infinite amount of different strategies to help us reach them (I should know, I spend a lot of my time encouraging students to set them). I think this tool set is often overlooked and neglected - certainly by me, anyway. when in education it was so easy to make time to stick to as it was an expectation, however since leaving education this is the first time I have decided to set some goals for myself and my artistic practice.

I decided to do this as I wanted to see if it would help me achieve the aim, would having them written down motivate me - or simply remind me what it is I am suppose to be doing? I guess only time will tell.

SMART action plans (Doran, 1981) are widely peddled and while I see their value and use them with students often, as they allow us to really break things down, I have streamlined my aims and also added personal refection on why it is I am doing/planning on doing these things - back to the motivation. other than being specific, the most useful part of SMART is being accountable to a deadline, a time restraint. again this is something that feels simpler when in education, they give you a deadline. In the remit of being a practising artist, juggling a portfolio career, this seems harder as the deadlines become arbitrary. however it is shown that by setting realistic milestones you are more likely to be able to chart your progress and stay motivated (Cottrell, 2010), so I have given this ago. While I have called them deadline they are really more review dates as this development will be ongoing. 

#1

Aim:
I would like to develop my digital skills, this would help me to significantly develop my practice. Currently I only use basic digital software, however I feel that by developing in this area my practice will move forward. 

Action:
To achieve this, I would undertake a Photoshop course and invest in relevant software.

Outcome:
Once I gain these skills I hope to create and develop body of digital works which are of a higher quality. I have worked digitally for several years; however, I rarely exhibit these works as I am not pleased with the end aesthetic of these works. I would like to explore projection of these digital images into sites as a means of putting text into different sites.

Deadline:
By June 2020 I would like to have completed a digital-based course to give me the basic knowledge and understanding of what it is I am trying to develop. 

#2

Aim:
Going forward I plan to develop my work with The Road Sign Collection. With these I want to develop more site-specific installations to take place in and around Colchester. 

Action:
To achieve this i will explore through praxis the best materials to use and the scale in which to work with. Experimentation will also take place regarding the most suitable sites for installation; gallery space, public spaces. As the relationship between text and site is paramount to my practice, I want to explore how putting each sign in several different sites effects the reading of the sign.

Outcome:
A body of work will be created and showcased in a number of locations. These will be documented with video and photos.

Deadline:
There is an opportunity that I want to apply to which would allow me to display work in a public setting in March, so that is a good external deadline to aim for. I would also like to try to install and document art in public places at least once a month.

Regarding gallery space my next opportunity will be in the Secret Art Sale taking place at the end of February, which I have already donated to and then following that the Colchester Art Society Summer Exhibitions, which will be in June. 

#3

Aim:
To create a book-based outcome for The Road Sign Collection, which allows for audience participation in some way. 

Action:
I need to achieve, or at least part achieve aim #1 and #2 before I can fully invest in this and so this is a much more longer term goal. 

Outcome:
Existing and new road signs will be captured and digitally rendered. These will be sorted in some way; either into series or when they where captured, or possibly types of sign. They will be rendered in continuous line drawing. 

Deadline:
By July 2020 I would like to have re-drawn The Road Sign Collection (existing) with my newly acquired digital skills, to increase the DPI of the images and thus improve the print quality. 

I intend to take some time over this to ensure that it is successful, I will reevaluate in August, so much of this idea comes down to the notion of collections and as such I need time to build those collections. 

*I will confess that I did not decided to write these aims completely independent, aim #1 has been taken and edited from my success application to the Firstsite Collectors Group Bursary Application. As such this aim will need to be met, as there are now external expectations as well as my own regarding it. However, in writing this aim the other followed.


References

Cottrell, S. (2010) Skills for success: personal development and employability. 2nd edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (Palgrave Study Skills). 

Doran, G. T. (1981) There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives. Management Review. 70 (11): 35–36.