8 GREEK STREET, SOHO.

The Outsiders have a gallery in Soho, that I was lucky enough to visit with my Mum around this time last year to see Stanley Donwood's exhibition: "Far away is close at hand in images of elsewhere". It ran from the 19th September to the 19th October 2013, but (luckily for me and due to high demand) was extended to the 26th of October.

Now, the title itself comes from graffiti that was once on a wall on the way into Paddington station, apparently only visible from incoming trains. Sadly, the walls have since been demolished. However, we can credit two drunk men, the first words from a Robert Graves poem:

"FAR AWAY IS CLOSE AT HAND

CLOSE JOINED IS FAR AWAY 

LOVE WILL COME AT YOUR COMMAND

YET WILL NOT STAY"

*Song of Contrariety*

Paired with a misquoted title of a paper by Ruth Padel:

'Imagery of the Elsewhere' Two Choral Odes of Euripides.

*Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles*

The reason our friend Stanley decided to name his exhibition after this (if I remember correctly) was because he saw it every day on his way to work, and because it was somewhat thought provoking. 

-Wise.

* Friday Woods*

And on that note, these are in order of appearance- 

from front-to-back-to-downstairs of the gallery, enjoy!

Please be aware that as we move through, it was harder to get hold of the names of the pieces... my bad.

These are mostly my photos, apart from the If you lived here you'd be home by now Screen Prints. 

(But I can't remember where I actually acquired these ones)

*Hurt Hill*
(Spray paints and oils at a guess)

*Winterfolio*

(I think)

*Soken Fen*

*Poor End*

*Nether*
(Personal favourite)

 *Salary Man*

(Screen Print)

These are from the series If you lived here you'd be home by now

Which I suppose, again explores a phrase that has been seen around on travels, and applied to work to give it a purpose. The phrase seems like an advertisement, enticing and persuading, almost mocking people who work in these industrial buildings.

*Cleft Mall*

(Screen Print)
It's described as "another distraught meditation on the hopelessness of the 'suburban experiment'. Go to work in the dark, come home in the dark, company car, traffic jam, nervous headache.'

*The Eraser*

(Wood/Lino Cut?)

*February #4*

(I think) 

(Screen Print)

*No Name atm*

*5th Avenue*

Everything in the exhibition was framed in Ash wood.

*2nd Avenue*

"The Ash tree is currently under dire threat from a disease, called, imaginatively enough, Ash die back"

*1st Avenue*

The Holloways in the drawings no longer exist, and have now been cut down.

(How could the council of Dorset or the owners of such beautiful things and pieces of history do such a thing?!)

*4th Avenue*

Holloways are created by travellers; horse and cart through the fields or along boundaries, and rainwater, and are sometimes 

16-18ft. deep where the stone under the soil is so soft.

*3rd Avenue*

(From powers of deduction)

This Holloway was in Dorset, and the studies were made from memory, which I think has exaggerated their features and the qualities of the trees quite a lot.

All of the above are pencil studies on what looked like very thick; expensive, handmade, ripped edge, A2 size paper, again framed in beautiful, dying wood.

I like the depth in them, It's Hypnotic, like you're subconsciously being pulled into and walking between the trees.

This text was confusing. Printed, and then edited and annotated by hand. It may have been something to do with the HOLLOWAYS book.

*no name atm*

This little collection was delicate, pretty, and complete. Nicely arranged.

*no name atm*

*no name atm*

*no name atm*

*no name atm*

*North*

(Lino/Woodcut... can't be sure)

*no name atm*

*no name atm*

*Blackdown Cloud*

*no name atm*

(laser-etched print?) 

*no name atm*

*Wait here we will come for you*

*no name atm*

*no name atm*

*Vaporised Wait*

*no name atm*

I like that I can call this skilful, yet conceptual art.

This was a long post, and I don't have any intentions of ripping the art or artist off, hence have used low quality photos taken with my smartphone.

I enjoyed this exhibition a lot, and hope to share more things like this with you in the future. This one's currently still a work in progress.

You can find Stanley's blog here:

SLOWLY DOWNWARD

-all for you.

ART AND DESIGN FOUNDATION OPEN DAYS

*THESE ARE NOT MY PHOTOS*

*they come from the leaflet I was given by Kingston, and I edited them on "a beautiful mess" for iOs*

I just came back from the Foundation (Diploma in Art and Design) open day at Kingston University, and happy to share my findings.

This is not the first Art and Design orientated Open Day I've attended, I've also been to UAL Camberwell's MA Illustration, Goldsmiths' Fine Art, and Camberwell's Foundation event. I'm going to UCA Farnham's Foundation day on Saturday.

I've also been to an English subject masterclass at Cambridge, which was... interesting.

In case you're wondering what a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design actually entails, I'll briefly explain it.

It's one year of intense A&D, and is labelled further education by the government, not higher like other university courses that tend to last longer than a year- which means several things:

1. You pay no fees if you're under 19

2. You can't get a student loan

3. You're more likely to be working full days

4. You're expected to be IN THE STUDIO.

This has been a learning curve for me, as everyone I'm at [grammar] school with, are going to university to be Doctors, Dentists, Opticians or generally 'academic. It's pretty rare to find someone studying three Arts subjects, and be going "off to art school".

Anyways, I'm discovering that the more Universities I visit, Art in particular, the more I'm being exposed to the way art students dress. It's like there's this entire dress code you need to adhere to before they accept you as a student there.

'Uniform' seems to consist of Trench Coats, Dc. Martens, Scrunchies and Denim.

The atmosphere around the places seems really competitive, but maybe  that's just because I'm trying to work out the system.

 Goldsmith's Fine Art course didn't seem too bothered about what Foundation course you came from, which is probably a good thing considering they take 750 people's portfolios, 150 for interviews, and then 75 places. It means you'll only be stressed out once when climbing the portfolio application ladder to get there.

Camberwell Fdn. takes 1500(?)ish applicants, and offers 650 places.

Students are expected to be in three days a week, and in the studio for independent working time outside of this.

Kingston Fdn. takes around the same (1,453) but only have 170 places. Students are expected to be in 5 (sometimes 7!) days a week, and overall it seems like a more structured course, where more guidance and discipline is provided, but that's just my opinion. 

Being a smaller course, students are guaranteed to get tutor and feedback time more than just once a month. However, the downside to this is that you don't get automatic feed into UAL when you're finished like you would going to Camberwell/CSM-

-BUT, Kingston did claim a 100% success rate in "getting students into the best university right for them."

Overall, it seems like I'll be applying to all of the courses I physically can, as then it'll give me the most options for choosing where I want to study. 

Because it appears that students applying for any course are advised to "find the one right for them", I'll have to find which is right for me, and go with it.

If you are looking to apply for a foundation, and you're like me, you would have found it difficult to find a list of places that offer this all in one place. 

(My careers advisor was highly helpful).

*tadaa*

*ART AND DESIGN FOUNDATION COURSES 2014-1015*

The note at the bottom was reminding me to look at the specialisms and facilities at each of the places, so I hope it's helpful!

-all for you.

SCREEN PRINTING

So, this happened today:

I spent about six hours prepping this screen using some System 3 drawing fluid, and because I couldn't get it all done in one sitting, it took longer than I intended. It's about A2 in size, which means the prints should fit nicely in my sketchbook.

 The design is based on the idea of geometrics, and the tessellating triangles look amazing en masse, especially when you vary their shapes and sizes.

The next step was to squeegee the screen block through the screen, in order that the fluid be washed away and ink be pressed through to create screen prints.

When we were moving the screen to allow it to dry, we realised that the translucency of the drawing fluid created a nice effect, and quickly whipped out the camera in order to capture the moment before the fluid was washed away in the next step of the process.

I spent about an hour editing these photos, and felt the need to share them with someone, hence, this blog of beautiful things has been born.

I can't help but think this looks like countries, and horrifically man made islands in between. Probably in this state of global advancement, it's possible, and the land from other planets will be harvested in order to accommodate for our ever-growing population.

The stark contrast between the white and red is cool, and below, I think that it looks a little like an Iris.

One word: RAINBOW.

This one came out glowing...

When we turned my screen over to check the block had gone all the way through, I didn't realise that I had created these teeny tiny mounds of it, and that it looked so cool.

Again, those lovely man-made islands in somewhere like the Coral Reef.

This one close up is fun to look at.

Just a slight colour edit to enhance the 'glow' this one exhibits.

All in all I learnt a lot, and it was bought to the front of my mind, for not the first time, that you can have many happy accidents in the world of art and design- Which I may as well mention, is the main reason for starting the blog. 

That's all for now, but I hope to post some more interesting things about what I get up to very soon indeed.

-all for you.