May 30th.

The wedding in Ayr was lovely, it was windy and raining but they had a hog roast which everyone enjoyed with crispy crackling and apple sauce, lots to drink, no haggis (shame) and everyone had a great time. Sarah kept the bridegroom waiting 30 minutes which was a bit concerning, I began to wonder if we would be taking the giant set of cutlery home with us. I avoided the 'piece of artwork question' and hoped that the weight of the nicely wrapped cutlery set would feel a bit like a heavy piece of sculpture. Mr and Mrs are honeymooning in the Dominican Republic and will unwrap it on their return...it was a nice cutlery set and quite contemporary.

Next day we visited the Mackintosh House which was worth seeing; it is a reconstruction of the principal interiors of the home of Charles Rennie Mackintosh the Scottish architect/designer and the artist Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. It was very enjoyable and being allowed to take photographs was unusual.

On My Mind.

The bride and groom are expecting a piece of sculpture for a wedding present on Friday...by me...oh dear. Due to the recent workload I am going to disappoint them ( I wonder if a card and an iou would be okay for now) I am finding the change in my routine a bit difficult to get used to; I still wake early and am constantly thinking about the direction my work is taking. In fact, it is constantly on my mind.

Tuesday and No College.

Yesterday was packing up day; everything in my studio space packed away in boxes and piled up until the end of September. I have so much stuff that it took me ages. Some of the others were in too, all jointly agreeing to keep in touch over the summer break. It is hard to believe that my second year is over, time flew by. I shall be moving into a new space with hopefully lots of room and good light.

Today was therefore my first day without driving to college...I wake at the same time and it takes me a second to realise that no I can take my time, have a rest even. It is a strange feeling not thinking about modules, assessments etc for the first time for ages. I can now have my haircut, do clothes shopping and clean, clean, clean the house for visitors at the weekend. How exciting does that sound? The course is going to be over in just over a year, then who knows what will happen.

Saturday 21st May.

With a wedding to go to next Friday I have been frantically searching for an outfit today; 7 hours and nothing...absolutely nothing. By 3pm I gave up. I have been so busy with work for college I haven't had any time to get anything. There will be people there who I used to work with so I am really looking forward to it, and I really need a weekend away. By late afternoon yesterday I felt so tired; must have been the relief of handing in all my work and knowing I had managed to do it. The exhibition report was hard to do; it isn't the content, I rather enjoyed collating all that together...its the computer. If only I could use them like the other students can, it would make my life a lot easier. I am so much better now but I aim to practice during the summer break, oh the summer break what shall I do. At this precise moment I know I need a rest, recharge my batteries a bit and think about my work.
The Hepworth Gallery opened to the public today so I shall be there asap; it looked absolutely fantastic on TV last night. I have a few books about Barbara Hepworth and I really admire her work. It is fantastic for Wakefield; now we have the Yorkshire Sculpture Park which is fantastic and now an Art Gallery of great status in the country as well. It will attract visitors from all over the country and abroad so it can only be good for the area.

20th May 2011

I woke up this morning and it is the last day of submission deadlines; my exhibition report is sitting on the table downstairs ready to go. It has taken a lot of effort and as per usual I wanted it to look a lot better than it does; its okay but due to the time I took doing my submission for my workshop practice I was a bit rushed towards the end. When I was printing it out I ran out of paper... with one sheet to go, it was not a good moment. I had to use a sheet that had two words written on it; nothing to do with my report ( I must remember to tell Eve ) it is on the back of one of my pages. The mistake I made was to print out some of my appendices before my main report section; having always got lots of paper imagine my horror running out on the last lap. It was also submitted on a memory stick so it should be okay...hopefully.

Sunday

Very busy today so here are a few more photographs of the exhibition.

Feeling nervous about tomorrow; handing our work in for assessment so I am preparing sketchbooks, using the computer etc etc. I am 'up to my eyes' and I still have my submission sheets to complete yet. Not happy!

Monday and Tuesday.

Xaio's 'Murder of Crows'
Amanda's bear rug, wolves head and fire.

Elaine's exhibits re: The Brontes.

It is strange to think that our work is in the museum until the beginning of June, I wish now that we had left a comments book. The museum staff were very worried about the work; most of the museums exhibits are in display cases so I can understand them feeling a bit worried about our work. Rope barriers have been added to put people off touching the work. These photographs show both the rooms we used; the blue room downstairs and the cream one directly above. We were so lucky to have been able to exhibit there and the work just looks so 'at home'.

Sunday.

Photographs taken by Xiao Fei Wu Dyson of my sculpture who just happened to take these when the sun was shining. I have taken so many but the sun makes all the difference. I love the colours and the reflection in the glass. One is positioned on the ground floor and the other is directly above on the first floor. Nothing is glued; it is all free standing: wood, plaster and lead. They actually look better here than I had envisaged when I was told where they had to go. The stone wall is the old house that has had a new extension added to add a lift shaft and new toilet facilities.
Today, I feel a bit deflated...and yesterday it was a bit strange being at the venue on my own. Several visitors were looking at the work so I was only too happy to talk about the pieces whilst I was taking some more photographs for my file. The museum has different staff at weekends who were really friendly and offered some facts about the house that I didn't know. One of them has had several spooky moments; a ladies reflection in the glass display case, a misty apparition near the ceiling ... and ... feelings of someone or something touching her arm. Creepy !

The morning after.

I need to visit the museum this morning to pick up the rubbish and just check that everything is okay.

The exhibition went really well and everyone enjoyed it. Having a venue that was perfect for us as a group but, I was so impressed that at night it really came alive; the lighting showed our work off so well which could not have foreseen during the day and the opulence of the rooms added a real feeling of quality and prestige to the occasion.

It was something that the visitors who had never been to the museum before mentioned just how nice it was to be able to see the other rooms complete with their exhibits as well, whilst they enjoyed a drink and a piece of 'award winning pork pie'.

Thanks must go to the first year students who manned the bar for us [a tradition] which was appreciated.

The worse bit about a 'do' is all the empties next day; boxes and boxes of bottles [some still with beer in] to dispose of...not nice! It was raining too which added to my enjoyment whilst loading up the car and then standing pushing each one into the bottle bank. Happy days.

Its just a thought...what must I have looked like with all those empties?

Exhibition Day!!

It is here and I have a feeling of butterflies in my stomach which have been flying around for days. Due to living so far away I need to take my car tonight which puts a stop to me having a few drinks which I really would have enjoyed. Anyway, never mind I wouldn't have wanted to be a bit tipsy in charge of my pit props... health and safety!

All that needs doing today is to arrange the spotlights to show the work at its best. We are once again very lucky that these are already part of the interiors fittings. All the staff at the museum have been very helpful throughout, in fact we have been so fortunate with the venue that we have not had anything to worry about beyond the decision making about display.

We have all helped each other throughout without any problems; once again a real collaboration between the group.

The eve of the big night.

The Museum at Crow Nest Park and the cafe nest door.

A day of last minute preparations; buying the drinks: champagne, beer, glasses, napkins from the local supermarkets which vary in price so much we were dashing between them finding the best price. The room where my work is has a lovely atmosphere, cool and calm.It is finished but the upstairs room is hectic. While we have been there this last few days visitors to the museum have been walking in interested in what we were doing. It is a busy place with a wonderful cafe next door which serves very reasonably priced food and seems to be very popular. We sampled it for the first time today with a well needed break and were not disappointed [ I can highly recommend the pie and peas ].

Weds...2 days to go.

It all came together for me when the newly painted white plinths [ thanks to everyone who helped me] were carried into the room, it isn't until then that all your ideas and expectations can be fully realised. I was on my own, quietly trying out different arrangements, taking my time when I stood back and looked at them. It is an amazing feeling, seeing your work in a different surrounding...it was a special time. The atmosphere is really special; it is easy to imagine the house as a family home with the beautiful mullion windows and a fire crackling away in the hearth.

A hard day for everyone.

Just can't sleep! It's 12.45am.

Need to get up at 6am to load up the car for the exhibition so by my calculation I will only manage 5 hours and that is if I can get to sleep now...so off to count some sheep.

I have never seen so much bubble wrap; my plaster slabs for my sculpture are pristine and I dread the journey in the car. A chip will drive me insane after the work I have put in.

The rooms at the museum are immaculate in every way so we began to set up our first public exhibition without the need to do any preparation on the venue first. My major pieces [ 2 x pit props] will not be positioned up against the newly decorated walls in case of damage, totally understand; however careful I would have been I would have been a nervous wreck placing them.

All is well...hard work, but at least we have plenty of time to complete before Friday. I suppose I shall be nervous but excited also, it will be an enjoyable evening and a culmination of a lot of hard work by everyone.

Sunday

Sunny again! Had to go to famous DIY store that brags about employing 'oldies'[hope for me in the plaster department then] for some beeswax for my wood plinth. Then a couple of visits to see family and back...slight interruption from planned schedule due to long chat with Kathryn [chicken bone lady] who had to keep breaking off to scold her two boys. How she manages to cope with them and a degree is amazing; Elaine who is a second year with me has 4 kids! so I can't moan can I ? Anyway, on it went until I was getting so hot sat in the car I had to say 'Turrah, see you Tuesday'.

The images above show what I got up to, dressed all in white [too lazy to change] with a piece of cornicing and a bag of coal dust. The coal dust was literally poured on at the bottom, then blown around a bit, sprayed with car lacquer to adhere some of the dust, waited awhile drinking coffee and then let the loose dust drop off. After the lacquer dried I used a graphite stick to add a little interest.It was done fairly quickly and I like the result a lot; I also like how it looks on the photographs. The neighbours will be watching me from their landing window...she's mad, look what she's doing now...call that art!!!