4th Year Madness

It's been a busy ol' week for me despite term being finished. On Monday I was helping a friend in fourth year paint his space for degree show. I'm amazed at the busy and excited buzz throughout all the studios, and seeing the school turn from messy studios into a clean, crisp gallery space. It's a lot of hard work and I certainly don't envy the fourth years for the stress levels.

In other news, I'm currently in the middle of painting the flat I'm due to move into very soon. It's going to look gorgeous when it's all done but it's a massive job. And the cheap white paint we used on the bathroom walls totally stinks! Lesson learned: never buy the cheapest white emulsion ever again. Hopefully the smell will calm down soon!

Also, still not heard back from the big cheeses at Glasgow City Council regarding the studio/gallery space project for the summer so thinking Im going to need to phone them tomorrow to pester them about my enquiries.

Lastly, SERIOUSLY need to get back on my healthy eating regime, can feel myself slipping into the depths of indulgence again and I'm not doing enough to burn it all off. I think I'm just eating out of the stress of moving flats and stuff. Oh well, need to get back to gym to sort that out!

Summer Ambitions

Now that terms over and summer is just around the corner I've been thinking about what I can do with myself over the 3 month holiday to continue my practice. So what myself and my friend and fellow 2nd year painter, Gillian Anderson are doing is trying to secure a commercial space (174 Saltmarket would be nice) where we could work as artists in residence under the Ironbbratz gallery. Our 3 months spent in studio time there will hopefully culminate in a big exhibition.

Also, I'd love to try and get a series of portfolio building workshops set up maybe 1 or 2 days a week in which I could give people applying in the next session advice of the general compilation of their portfolio. It'd be nice to get some kids in from disadvantaged schools in the east end, especially since I know how daunting the application process is from that standpoint and how daunting the school itself is when your from the east end.

So right now, I'm just e-mailing and trying to get my name down with the City Council for a space and funding to pay for it. Here's hoping it all goes well.

Gutted Once Again

Yet again, I haven't manage to break free from the C grade. So annoyed! Although the feedback my tutors gave to me was really positive and encouraging, its still disappointing to walk away with a piece of paper that only says C1.

*sigh*

Summer holidays

Finally summerholidays is really getting closed. I have spent the last couple of days stuffing envelopes with invites for the degree show. The fourth years are running around like crazy commanding their students helpers to the most absurd tasks. Its very busy around the school, yet for most of us the year is over, we have had our assessments, and now its all about the degree show opening in a couple of weeks.
Soon I will be going home to Norway to spend the summer holidays working (hopefully) and saving up money for next year.

Busy Week

Well, All last week I spent most of my time preparing for assessment on the Friday. It's the last assessment of this term and I was really looking forward to having it all done. My work took a new direction a week before the assessment though making my work seem kinda patchy but I think my Research and reflective journals explain the change well enough.

I'm actually really excited about the direction of my practice now. My work is now looking at hand gestures and their meanings and interpretations and the language of sign. The work itself is still addressing the dialogue/not really a dialogue situation with my ex. It is also about mannerisms, behaviour and saying something that can be read in many different ways. So right now I'm developing drawings of key gestures with relevant meanings.

For example, crossing your fingers. The meaning behind this is so interesting! It was originially used way back when as a symbol for the cross - most importantly, a cryptic one which was easy to conceal from unwanted eyes. As it developed, it became the action used when someone was acting in an immoral way (telling a lie etc) as a protection symbol from the retribution of their evil actions. Nowadays it is also used by children in this way. It has interesting meanings both of hope and fear and this is highly relevant to my situation with the ex. I was thinking of doing a MASSIVE drawing of the crossed fingers (probably an ink drawing) and making its title: "I love you". This will help address the complexities of gestures and readings.

In other news, my friends at the Ironbbratz gallery had an opening last night at 174 Trongate with some 4th year students work in it. It was a really good night and a great success story for their first public/commercial space. Well done to them! Tonight is the MFA show from 6pm-8pm, which I might go to. See how I feel. I'm a little hungover from last night! Woops!

Finally done

Yesterday I delivered everything for assessment, and spent the rest of the day outside my flat in the sun. The weather has finally turned again, and it feels like summer.

Friday I also passed the theory test for cars and now I have booked my practical test. I am getting nervous already. I hope it works out. Soon time to book flighttickets back to Norway.

As the term is reaching an end, my money is running out, and contrary to what it has been like previous years, I don`t have a job on the horizon. I hope something works out. I really really need to get a job for the summer, if not I'll have to travel between various familymembers and eat whatever they have in the fridge :-)

Oh weel, no need to worry before I get there. It always looks worse than it will be. Hopefully the weather will be nice, and at least I get the really long summer holiday I wanted.

Exhibition and Assessment

So last week was my exhibition. The opening went really well, was very busy, and all the beer was gone in 13 minutes hehe. Here's a photo of the work I showed. I called it Black & White (Really?)

Apart from the craziness of exhibition, assessment is coming up on friday. This was only a 3 week term! How short is that?! So I've been frantically sketchbooking and drawing today and yesterday. Thursday I need to clean out my space, paint my walls and floor and get all my stuff labelled, ready for presentation. I'm kind of nervous this time round because my H&C mark probably wont boost up my overall mark (only scored at B2 this time round). Hopefully, I'll make it into the B category at least.

After the term finishes I'm off flat-hunting with my friend. Hoping to get a nice flat in Dennistoun as its really close to all my family and pretty cheap. So all these new things on the horizon. Here's hoping it all goes well!

Assessment

I have started to go through all my stuff.
Yesterday I cleard my studio and tried to make sense of all the stuff that is there, sorting it into piles - one for each term. Today I have been going through all the stuff on my computer and the blog I used as a sketchbook last term.
Now that I have sort of an overview its about time to try and make a system and a presentation out of it all.
Its always really hard to understand and systemize all my stuff for someone else to have access to it - obviously I already have some sort of system - although faulty - to find my own way around it. Also I don't think my sketchbooks are strong enough for this term. They don't have much reflection and thinking in them. Not because I haven't been doing any, but probably because I haven't prioritzed writing it all down. I wonder how badly this is going to make it all. In addition I am hungering for a typewriter to make labels and little markers in things. I hope I can get my hands on one. It all started when Will left his typewriter on my desk, and I tried it out. It was absolutely brilliant!! It would be so useful!! I do hope I can get my hands on one for myself. Or maybe I can borrow Will's if I by my own ink... hm..
Anyway I'll try and put up some photos when everything is organized and ready for assessment.

everything is over

almost...

Opening on Friday went well and the crits were good. Really felt like had managed to pin something down that I could be happy with. After the afterparty to the show, which Pia and I hosted in our flat. Saturday was spent cleaning up the mess before going to the studio, documenting the work and taking it down to make it ready to go up in Nice N Sleazy.
Dave, a friend of mine, has this record label together with another guy and they hosted a concert in NiceNSleazy. I was invited to make work for it. I put up the drawings there, and they worked quite well, but I am not entirely happy about how it turned out. I wasn't focused enough when putting them up, and I should have thought more about what kind of audience there would be there. However I think it was a good experience that I can build somehting on, so I sent Dave an email today about how I could have done things differently and telling him I would be interested in settign up work again if they set up a similar event.

So seemingly everything is over... Assessement is looming in the beginning of next week. Everything I have done this past year has to be done and presented by Monday in seven days... It should be fine. As long as I get started. At the moment it feels like it never ends..