Work is down

Took a time lapse of me taking it down - http://youtu.be/k3WY62B6Y7w

10 year old Giraffes

Seen on an Edinburgh Facebook page which has information about events and photos from around about, that the giraffe statues I have seen many times outside the Omni Centre are 10 years old 

Clearer photographs

Went up after work today to take clearer photographs of the set-up before I have to take it down.

Third year complete

I got confirmation yesterday that I have passed both Research Methods (B grade) and Creative Practice 4 ( A grade!!)  Thus, concluding third year and can seamlessly move into fourth year in 2 weeks... Not getting much of a break between the two! I haven't received my final grades yet, that will be after the exam board meeting next week. It's such a relief, as a few months ago it didn't look like I would be finishing my second semester but after a lot of determination and countless folk urging me on I did it! 

Reacting

I've not been up to the college since I left on Thursday evening when I was finished my creative practice 4 set up. 

I got a message the other day from a fellow college student who had been up at the college and sent me this pic...

The silicone handprint has reacted with the black paint. The paint is actually a waterproof outdoor use black sealant paint. So it's quite interesting to see this. I never anticipated this to happen! But it's actually an addition to the handprint. The two pieces: handprint and the boxes, are merging to bridge the gap between having two seperate, distinct pieces. 

Dismaland

Looks to be quite a bizarre and intriguing set-up

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/08/dismaland/

Final set-up

These recent artworks have been deeply motivated by my mothers recent breast cancer diagnosis as well as reflecting on the past 10 years of battling the disease. The motivation for expressing a turning point in my life into art, led to the box installation. 

The black boxes are representative of bad days and white of the good. In using boxes in a cramped, enclosed environment I wanted to create the sense of being overwhelmed, encased and almost trapped - with the box on the top of the largest stack leaning downwards with the appearance that it could fall over at any moment, being the date we were told the cancer was inoperable. The stark contrast is the first box 4 9 05, when the cancer began. The 10 years that ensued have shaped my identity, so with the addition of my handprint on the top of that particular box I wanted to show I am the person I am today because of the life experiences since. The general dates are a means of documentation: marking an event, preserving the memory, making a lasting legacy. Which is unique to myself, the viewer would have alternative black and white boxes associated with a particular date- that is what life is. 

With investigating genealogy, a family member is documented with 3 dates: birth, marriage and death. However, this does not reveal any of an individual's identity; those 3 dates are the culmination of a life. The idea of preserving identity and exploring the notion of live being a concept of a fading presence and just the very fragility of life, developed into the handprint pieces. Handprints can be highly emotive as a symbolic gesture of reaching out to others and in using fading handprints it takes on a sense of present absence with just mere traces of an identity left. 

All stacked up

Maybe one of the longest period of silence I have ever had on this blog! I have however, been keeping up with my sketchbook just not been doubling up the updates for here, which I will now amend.

Been quite a busy past 3 weeks, and not just solely anchored around college work but in a way perhaps it is... making memories for dates I will document further down the line? But just perhaps that is me justifying some time off with family and friends!!

Firstly was a trip to Hoy with my parents and Granny all in the aim of getting to the Old Man of Hoy to cross it off the bucket list. Which we succeeded in doing with a celebratory glass of fizz to toast the Old Man.

Then I took on the role of tour guide to show Mainland Orkney to a friend of mine I met 2 years ago on holiday, who was on his travels from Australia. I was seeing Orkney from a fresh perspective - selecting it's best bits and cramming it into a busy 3 days and visiting places like Skara Brae I haven't been to since primary school or Tomb of the Eagles which had never been to. And the weather did us Orcadians proud, to show Orkney off at her best. 

Then it's just been the shows which has been a hectic long weekend. So now having deadline week straight on the back of it is just keeping the adrenaline going. 

Also kindly Norna and Jenny gave up some of their spare time to come into the college to offer a group crit of my work, to provide feedback on what they thought of it all. Was benefical to me as been so engrossed being myself just creating and not having to explain or justify the thought process that I did have to think about whats going on!

The boxes needed an environement to enhance the sense of being overwhelmed, trapped, things piling up. So they helped make a long narrow 'tunnel' to draw the viewer into the space but not to feel comfortable.

Stacked up. Meh.

Yes its tall and looks quite wobbly and could just collapse on top of you but doesn't feel that much of an immediacy. Needed to get a lean on the top boxes. Up the ladder I go.... 

... will get a telling off for doing this, as some equiptment I wasn't allowed to use in case the whole building caught fire so climbing a really tall ladder, yourself, to stack boxes won't be acceptable either! But it needed to be done. And I'm still here to tell the tale but won't be doing it again!

Anyway, got a lean on the top boxes using string and masking tape 

                                                

Have mutliple stacks within the 'tunnel' to add the difficulty to the viewer to try and negotiate the boxes without knocking them over. 

Perhaps without really realising it the last box on the tallest stack is the date that found out Mum's cancer was secondary and the 4/9/05 box where I couldn't decide looked best, is the date I found out she had it for the first time. So I will keep that just as a single box right at the enterance. 

Also trying out different layouts for the other works had done. Will mount the handprint photographs, always prefer mounts.