Easter Sunday

HAPPY EASTER

Look at  these wonderful eggs that I brought in the Cheese Box in Harbour Street.

The last day of college before the Easter break was pretty hectic. We have uncertain access to the workshops before our studio hand in date, so I decided to construct a reusable stretcher so that I could mount and demount my canvas's when necessary. The latest blue painting I feel needs to be stretched onto a frame and once done would certainly not fit into my car.
There was a problem. The wood workshop was out of the 2 x 2 lengths of wood needed to do this. Luck would have it that at the early hour of 9.00am (that is early for student life!) I got chatting to a third year who on hearing of my predicament said that he had a couple of lengths in his studio that he was not using. I already had one up on my studio wall so triumphantly I went with the wood to the machine shop. I just needed to go to buy one length which I did and was able to return to college on foot with it. Simon showed me how to measure up a lap joint and kindly used a complex piece of machinery to complete the task. I now have a portable stretcher which I can take to Crate incase the blue canvas fits in better with the installation. I just have to sand down the edges so that they do not mark the canvas's.

So I have some practical tasks to do before our exhibition..... but not today its is a holiday!!

Yesterday I went to Margate. I had three things to do. 

1. To go to Scotts to find a large key for part of an installation. Might be for Crate. This depends on the others. I found one that would do just fine and while I was there picked up an inspiring object that gave me another idea....again it depends on the others if it will fit into our central space.
2. I then went to Turner Contemporary to drop of a DVD of our Cragg film showing at college for Margherita  who had kindly said that she would like to see them. (work by Issy,Nadja,Sonja and myself Jennie).
3. And finally I wanted to see Tom and Barbie's show at Limbo. It was the last day of the show and I was glad that I made it. I liked Tom's idea of taking the studio to the gallery. More mess was needed if it had been mine!!

Well the plan is to do the painting of the plinth and rails for the canvas's. Also do the sanding of the stretcher and find the right screws etc. Then I must focus on research and reading. This part of the course has been sadly neglected recently. 

Ah yes, and then there are local issues like single yellow lines, parking in my street, and refuse collection that are creating a storm. I have been rather blinkered by college work this term and need to wake up to what is going on around me!!

Enjoy the celebrations!

Jennie

PS. I looked up those two web sites Nadja. I liked the web designs; both were so different. Very interesting  approaches and I could see why you chose them.

Hi!

This has been a day of focusing on studiowork. I have just sent off the last invitation and otherwise I have done nothing for our project. So I'll just leave you with some inspiring artists:

http://www.liubolinart.com/

http://www.shauntan.net/

And for some interesting quotes by Michael Foucault:

http://www.michel-foucault.com/

Happy Easter everyone!

Nadja

Hi and peaceful Good Friday to all!

Today I have decided not to work on the project at all! Yesterday I got the boxes the boxes finished-wrapped up-transported-left at Rachael's house. Once again thank you for all your help Rachael and Jennie!! And I have sent off invitations to various people. Got an answer from artist Craig Barnes who cannot come but wrote really nicely and positively back and said it seems like a really good show. He also wondered how I had found his details. I felt a bit like a stalker, in a fun way though.

Nadja

Thursday 28th March

The last day at uni was intense!              

I was so focused on getting my painting finished that I was basically glued to my easel for 10 hours (with a few breaks for food and coffee from cafe nero to keep me going!) I started painting just after 8am and left uni at 7, but I can finally say my painting is finished! (Although I did get kicked out the studio before I had time to sign it, but that can wait.) 

We also transported Nadjas paintings to my house, so they are now sitting here in my room ready for the next stage- the actual exhibition. Thank you Jennie for transporting them in your car, it was a bit of a manic job because of the rush hour traffic and the fact that there is not really any where to park outside my house so I ended up directing you down a one way street, the wrong way! Oppps sorry about that!

Jennie showed me the zine, I think it looks great! I love the finishing touches of the stamp and the red thread which ties it together.

I have only got one more painting left of the Dane John Garden series so it feels like I am actually completing things now. I will hopefully finish it sometime tomorrow before I go home for the Easter break on Saturday.

I have also just sent two more emails to tutors inviting them to the private view. Let’s hope they will come!

Rachael

wednesday 27th March

Oooooops, I nearly forgot that it was my day to blog!

College is hectic at the moment as I am counting down the days, and ticking off tasks on a long list of things to finish off and do before the end of term, which is on Thursday. (tomorrow!) Today was a good day thank goodness.

• I've finished silk screening a few more zine's, and have also printed out some smaller versions A4 size that fold into a tiny zine. The front image was slightly off centre so I have found a rubber stamp that I have at home and have used it to the edge of the print. I like it a lot as it now reminds me of a stamp that has been through the post. Displacement !!
• I also made a plinth for the TV monitor that I hope to show my film on. I will paint it at home.
• While I was in the machine work shop I brought and cut three lengths of 2x4 strips of wood for my canvas's as I want to suspend them like banners. (don't be alarmed this is nothing different from how we had discussed before!) and I will also paint those at home.
• Also I have borrowed the monitor and DVD player, and when I finish writing this I will have a test run to make sure that I have the correct leads.
• Rachael and myself managed to send off a press release to the Canterbury Gazette. We don't know if anything will come of it but it is satisfying to have had a go! Our posters are now around college and the publicity is nearly done. A few more invitations have to be send off but that is all apart from perhaps printing out a few posters for Margate the week before our show.

You can image what my little car looked like as I drove home! I also started to clear my studio in preparation for the oncoming assessment and so jam packed!

In-between doing these jobs I have been working in Mikes painting workshop. Experimenting with different ways of using paint and also egg tempura following on from our workshops last week and the week before. I hope to finish off the paintings after Easter. I do like being in that space away from the bustle of the Red studio. (my space is at the bottom of the steps that lead into the studio so a lot of traffic).

The third years are setting up the auction that they are doing tomorrow to raise money for their degree show catalogue. I have donated 4 prints. I went last year and it was good fun so I will go tomorrow. It starts at 6.00pm. Unfortunatly I will not be able to stay to the end as I want to go to the Maundy Thursday service at 8.00pm, and am on the night watch at the church across the road from where I live. It is always a very peaceful and reflective thing to do. A friend will join me.

Well I must now test the monitor and write a list for tomorrow. France already seems far away.

I think that I next will be writing on Easter Sunday.. Chocolate!!

x Jennie

So, yesterday was above all my expectations!

The bus left at 7am from uni and we arrived in Calais sometime after 10 local time (GMT+1). First we visited the lace museum(and I learnt a new french word! Lace=dentelle)
The museum was actually more interesting than I had expected, all the large machines used for making lace through history, changes in fashion and just the beauty of such finely detailed textile-craft.

Then we travelled to Dunkerque where we had some time off to explore the city and have a coffee. Jennie, a girl from third year and me went to a cosy little café where we had a coffee each, did some drawing and got into a discussion with the people working at the place. I was very impressed with Jennies french-skills! Myself I struggled with remembering the words and phrases but it was so fun!
Then we met up with the rest at the art university of Dunkerque where we were shown around. They had  some amazing working spaces, did not seem to be as strict with health and safety and they had old fashioned book printing machines and carved letters for making books. I got really quite excited and did feel I wanted to take all those letters home with me...I managed to not steal anything though.
Later, with some encouraging help from Jennie, I told some contact people from there about my Social Sleeve project and they got excited and talked me into asking some of their students to participate. And 9 students wanted to do it! So unfortunately one guy was left out since I only had 8 sleeves. But he was really helpful and assisted everyone with getting their sleeves on. Then they did a short and INTENSE performance! Jennie was filming, I took photos. It was great to have the performance done somewhere else and in a completely different way. Much faster and more aggressive.
After that I talked some more with the contacts of the university and I am seriously concidering applying there for my masters! Then we ran to the bus and went to the seaside where we saw two porpoises!! And then home, tired and cold and really really happy I had a cup of tea and went to bed.

Today I finished painting my boxes! Tomorrow I'll write the texts on the inside of their doors and then Jennie will drive them to Rachael's house(thank you!!) from where Rachael's parents will drive them to Crate later(thank you!!!)

Now let me leave you with the word PORPOISE in different languages(jus because I think porpoises are magical creatures):

porpoise(eng)
marsouin(fr)
tumlare(sve)
pyöriäiset(fin)
nise(no)

<3

Monday 25th March

Hi! It’s Rachael.

Today I went to the studio early and spent most of the time painting. I like the days when I can sit down and concentrate on something for ages. The studio deadline is the day we get back from Easter break so I have to try and finish this painting before we break up. That means I only have 3 days left!

The three of us have been corresponding by email over the weekend, sorting out the admin and promotion side of things. As Jennie mentioned I put together a short press release which we should send off soon. I have invited my friends to the Red Thread Trail private view event that Nadja created on facebook.  A few have replied and said they are going which is good. I also emailed a selection of tutors with an invitation to our event. We are all trying to promote it in as many ways possible to as many people as we can. The next thing I have on my to do list is the personal statement which people can read whilst looking around the exhibition.

Yesterday the last 3 paintings were found. The search is over. I have kept my blog updated so visit hidden-art-in-the-park.blogspot.co.uk

Overall I think the hidden art in Westgate was successful, and I know people who didn’t get chance to look are disappointed that it is over. That is why I am doing it again in the Dane John Gardens, which is going to be even better!

I liked the way the search panned out. The first day I hid the paintings, small groups of people came dispersed throughout the day to search whilst I gave out flyers. It was like a event although the paintings we not all discovered so it then turned into a prolonged happening. It lasted a week. The paintings were left and subjected to the conditions of nature and the British weather: cold, rain, snow. When found, they became a point of victory, excitement and discovery. I know from the emails I received and the searches I witnessed that people had fun, and that is what matters the most.

"We love them!"

"Thank you so much for the amazing paintings"

"I had so much fun and I really wanted to find another one"

Rachael

Sunday 24th March

Well not much project work done. Just a few emails written. Rachael has been working on a short press release that we will try and send to local newspapers. We had discussed this when we had our meeting together on Friday, so we have pooled our ideas already. I liked the draft that she emailed us on Saturday and replied. There will be plenty of time to discuss it if Nadja doesn't like it as we both are going on a coach trip to France tomorrow. I am interested to see a French Art college as I nearly joined the exchange scheme at the end of last year.  The main reason of the trip is to explore ways that we can use Skype to build up a creative relationship with the French students. I think that Nadja will have a role using her social sleeves!! I have taken out a video camera and will do some filming.....also sketching.

On Friday I went down to Margate to see Joan's exhibition in Crate. It was interesting to see how her group had used the space. It was a good show. We would have been exhibiting in her slot if we had got our original dates. Personally I am glad that we have had this extra time to work through some of our  ideas and to take them further. I must say that it was very cold in Crate and we will have to make warm cloths a priority! I then also attended a Potluck event on Saturday. It is essentially a performance arts organisation. I thoroughly recommend that you keep yours eyes open for any of their programs.    http://www.accidentalcollective.co.uk/pot-luck/

I have included this so that Nadja can show Sonja our friend. It was a puppet performance. The puppet was the puppeteers other self. In order to get used to the idea he had lived connected to the puppet for a month!

I have heard back from Margherita who wants me to send her a copy of the showing of our films. I will burn a copy on Tuesday if Matthew can help me. They are now on a separate hard drive as the computer is full!

A bientôt!

Jennie

Saturday 23rd March

Today has been a day of catching up on 'out of college' tasks! It all has to be done!
Friday was a race against time to finish the zine. Printing proved to be more complicated that I had imagined even though the new bright pink masking tape really helped the registering of the paper. I discovered that the finer the paper the more problematic it all is especially when working with three screens. It is finished and ready for folding. Here is the text:
.

RED THREAD TRAIL is a collaborative exchange of practises using the Greek Myth of slaying the Minotaur in the Labyrinth as a metaphor for the realisation process of this group exhibition. ‘The red thread’ is the blog; redthreadtrail.blogspot.com, and this blog is the route to Crate (our Minotaur) and back. This exhibition is a result of three different journeys.
The story of the Minotaur is rich and complex which touches on psychology, philosophy, fantasy, passion and the power struggles of the gods and the sexes. To understand the layers, and references of this story you have to follow the life of Queen Pasiphae of Crete, and her relationship with her all-powerful husband King Minos. The Minotaur was born of Pasiphae and a handsome Prince Bull. This half bull and half man creature was kept locked away in a cave only reached by navigating a complex labyrinth. It was the custom to satisfy the needs of the hungry and savage beast by offering him an annual sacrifice of seven maidens and seven young men. One year the king of Athens decided that instead of sending weak men and women as was done before, he would send his own son Theseus whose difficult job was to slay the Minotaur. There was a problem! Once in the labyrinth it was almost impossible to find the way out again. The Cretan Princess Ariadne devised a cunning plan to save her love from a certain death. This involved a simple length of thread which Theseus could unravel as he navigated the labyrinth. By following the thread after having slain the Minotaur he could find his way back into his world.
no gap here on the zine!
Rachael Murray’s paintings have a focus on the natural and urban landscape. Her works displayed engage the theme of location and dislocation, showing the contrast between two different Cities.
Nadja Andersson has focused on approaching the theme of mystical inner landscapes through painting and performance.
Jennifer Wright explores the use of narrative using a variety of media, and is at present concerned with discourse surrounding Christianity.

On Friday I also had to re burn my film onto DVD as by default a minute of blank film was added to the end. It was some sort of inbuilt error that Matthew managed to unravel. Apparently it happens from time to time.  Now it will play continuously on a loop without the blank which is how I had visualised it. It amazes me how many things can go wrong sometimes!
The closer that we get to the exhibiton the clearer it is becomming that my piece will feature disorination and displacement. My painting will be part of an instalation with my film being shown on a monotor and there will be cross references with Rachaels work within the space that we are sharing. The video was custom made for the exhibiton and is part of linking our work.
Crate is a project space and we certainly will be using this concept while we are working on site.

Time to get on with Saturday things.

You will hear from me again tomorrow.

Jennie

Hi!

Friday again, and another week of hard work has come to an end.
Today I focused on finishing one of the boxes completely, the other three will still need a last layer of white on some parts. We also had a group meeting discussing what still needs to be done and who's going to do what. Will be nice to have a couple of days off for easter before the final big bang evening.
Next monday both Jennie and I will be in France since we were invited to join a group of students who are going to spend the day there. I've been in France only once before and that was three years ago so I'm looking forward to it! I will also bring my sleeves and a videocamera and try to arrange a performance there which I feel quite excited about.
Now I have started to send off invitations to the private view, and just received an answer from the artist Triona Palmer who wrote that she would like to come but unfortunately she will have a private view on the same day, and she sent me the invitation to hers. Was a nice surprise to get an answer though!!!

Have a nice evening and weekend!

Nadja

Thursday 21st March

Hello again...

I am feeling really tired! The constant thinking and planning, unending demands and pressure from work seems to be catching up with me. I know we are all feeling the same.

Can’t wait for a bit of a break and time to relax over the Easter holiday. It will be good to celebrate the true meaning of Easter: Jesus death on the cross and resurrection, and eat chocolate aswell! 

Anyway before the break we have to make sure we make full use of the university’s  facilities and resources and make sure we get everything we need done for the exhibition. Nadja has finished the poster/invitation so it is ready to send out which looks bold and professional and will catch people’s attention. Another thing done, we are making slow and positive progress.

In my rare spare time I have been painting on found objects for the Dane John Gardens series. I have completed 8 so far, and am planning on doing 12 like before. The Westgate Gardens was a test series as I have learnt a few things from it:

1)      Decide the date in advance and let people know before hand. Make it into a facebook event and specifically invite people.

2)      Posters and flyers were necessary. Put them up around uni a few days before the event on noticeboards, hand out my blog address to more people and email the poster out to a wider audience.

3)       I should also promote the event more outside the uni so the general public are aware of it. Put posters up in the street, in shops/art related organisations and personally hand out flyers. Someone also suggested trying to get a press release with the council which I am definitely considering.

4)      Weather affects participation however I can’t predict it will be dry! Sundays/ weekends are good day.

5)      Hide paintings with a mixture of difficulties like before- some easy ones that will certainly be found encourages more people to look. The difficult ones may take a few days/ weeks to stumble upon so prolongs the event, adding anticipation.

Once the events are over I am planning to form a book from all the photos and documentation I have. Unless I run out of time before I hop on the plane to Cyprus...

Rachael