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In December I was commissioned to celebrating Christmas with colour! Creating a painting and a video, to be broadcast as part of my church Christmas carol service - and I thought you might like to see it too!
Our majestic, powerful, glorious Jesus, left heaven & entered our world. Entered history at a specific time, a specific place & for a specific purpose. This painting is called 'A moment in time'.
Set to the beautiful harp and voice of my talented friend Lucy Bunce, a track called ‘In Dulci Jubilo’ from her Christmas Album.

Well this term is certainly one I will never forget!
This current module was always rather complicated with many elements to juggle all at the same time. I was branching out into 3 dimensions, working with clay and the potters wheel for the first time, and with this project being a site-specific focussed piece, I’ve also needed to consider which site would be suitable for sharing my art and how this would work in their space.
Yes things were complicated enough before Corona Virus reared it’s ugly head, meaning that art facilities, equipment and materials couldn’t be accessed, potential sites for sharing my art couldn’t be visited, teaching moved onto Zoom (not a great platform for group discussion amongst 20 people) and of course homeschooling began!
BUT I’ve adjusted and adapted and somehow managed to keep making progress.

Would you like to see what I’ve been up to this month?!

With this module being about site specificity my aim is to show it in a women’s centre for either those who’ve been in prison or those with a history of domestic abuse. It’s a piece about being more than the sum of our parts ‘celebrating the value and awesomeness of each unique individual. From the cellular building blocks and genetic makeup we’re made from to outside influence shaping us. There is only one wonderful you.’ I wanted to share it with those maybe struggling with their sense of self worth.

Inspired by the responses of my group in the crit, I have designed an installation space as my final piece, which I think could work well in a community space, and I’ve been making their dream of huge body cells a reality!

I started by creating a large fingerprint screen, which I used to print several sheets of material as well as various paper for collaging

Then I cut the shapes ready for sewing and had a lot of fun with my very old sewing machine.

I think it helped having a medic in the family as I could see how fast things were about to change with the Corona Virus and I prioritised accordingly - I knew I needed to get together what I needed before limitations struck. I crammed as many hours into my last few days of access as I could, and created 30+ prints in the print room. I was also thrilled to collect my ceramic pieces fresh from the kiln to bring home.

Sadly our college have decided we have to continue ‘as normal’, although we have been given a 2 week extension and everything has to be handed in digitally - which creates a lot more work (videos, photos, editing etc). However this does mean that once I have my completed work in a digital format it will be available to share with you guys.

(There's a little glitch on this 3rd image - if you click on it, you'll see the right picture!)

Once my fabric pieces were sewn, I collected large ball lights from my friend, I created a projection (using a projector I’d managed to borrow from my church before lockdown) and I found lots of soft stuff from around the house to bulk out the comfort of the space.
My intention had been to add a splash somehow to my ceramic tile to represent the personality and uniqueness - the ‘more’ bit of the phrase ‘more than the sum of our parts’. After playing with ideas in Photoshop I decided not to splat the actual ceramic piece as it would look too busy, but instead to make it look like it’s created a splash, by painting the wall behind it (this would be created from sticky vinyl sheet when I share the work in a gallery or one of the sites I’ve been researching).
I added a shelf of 5 separate pots each with different intricate things inside, as an interactive element. I used fishing wire to hang the smaller cells from the ceiling.
Here are some pictures.

It’s been quite a month but I won’t get much of a break until I get to my deadline in May. In my next monthly MA update I should be able to show you the conclusion to my work this term including a video of the installation.

Have a very happy Easter and stay safe.

I'm just finishing my 9th week of this term of my Masters Degree in Fine Art at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, so it’s time for an update. 

This was mainly a month of me jumping feet first into the medium of clay for the first time - now that conjures up an interesting mental image! It began on the potters wheel, not the easiest place to start!

I spent over 20 hours on the wheel in my first week, with 23 attempts at throwing a pot.  Day 1: one survived out of 8; day 2: four out of 8 survived (but I killed 3 of these the following day ‘turning’ the base!), day 3 I only killed 2 of the 7 and was able to go larger, round and taller. By the end of the 2nd week I had enough pieces to play with but was aware I was beginning to get sucked into the perfectionist’s need in me to master this - when I didn’t actually need to and had to force myself to “step away from the wheel”! I felt like the pieces I’d made were more about me stopping just before they collapsed, rather than being in control of what I was doing but they will do. I had thought I’d really enjoy this, I like getting messy and learning new things but I found the process a bit stressful, feeling on the brink of disaster all the time and the intensity is rather exhausting! Saying all that, I’m really glad I’ve given it a try, feel a great sense of achievement and am pleased with what I’ve made.
Here's a little movie of me in action.

My next job was building pieces by hand, which I’ve not done for 30 years since I was at school and all I remember was “do it properly otherwise it will blow up in the kiln and may destroy other peoples work as well as your own”! However, I found this much more relaxing and therapeutic as an activity and it suited the results that I wanted.
I decided to make 2 main pieces - the original plan being a square plaque with the body cells arranged in an orderly way to represent the amazing order and design inside of us, with the other I wanted to try something more organic looking, so created a bowl in which I could group them more randomly. I also had a handful of slightly larger pots from the wheel to experiment with later.

I knew that there was going to be a kiln firing while I was away in Madrid for the week (see previous blog post about my trip) and I used this as a helpful deadline to bring my pieces to a conclusion ready for their first bisque firing. On my return from Spain I was utterly thrilled that nothing had indeed blown up in the kiln, so I then set to work to prepare them for their earthenware firing the following week. I used an underglaze to add colour before dipping them in a transparent glaze which I used as a glue to stick them all together.

I worked out that up until this point I have spent over 100 hours on these pieces of ceramics. On Tuesday I got to collect them from the kiln room and the technician was really excited to show them to me - which was lovely!

They are still not completely done. I want to add some yellow to them, as I feel that’s needed - I’ve been told enamel (airfix) paint would be good for this. Then I want to experiment with adding a large ‘splat’ to some of the work to represent our uniqueness/personality/spirit - I will explore using plaster and paint for this. Katy the technician was really reluctant to sell me the bag of plaster as she doesn’t want me to mess up what I’ve done! But I have a concept to deliver!

If you want to hear more about the module I'm working on and my inspiration or if you haven’t seen my other monthly MA updates since I started in September and would like to find out more about what I've been doing, follow this link and you can scroll back through them.

The world has turned upside down with Corona virus and this week has been escalating for us here in the UK, which of course impacts everyone and everything, my MA included. But let me save that story for next time - then I can tell you about what actually happens rather than pondering on what might be around the corner!

It's nearly week 4 of the 2nd term of my Masters Degree in Fine Art at Cambridge School of Art, and I thought it was time to check in with you guys and share what I’ve been up to.

After a much needed break over Christmas I started the year feeling quite nervous about going back to college. I guess it’s quite normal feeling daunted at the start of a 2nd term, when the adrenalin and newness of being a beginner gets replaced with an awareness of the work and challenges that lie ahead - I’m much happier when I’m busy ‘doing’, rather than contemplating something from a distance.

I have decided to fully embrace milking this opportunity for all it’s worth, and for me that means I’m seeking to make full use of the facilities and expertise, rather than sticking with what I know. Of course this makes things more scary and is a risky strategy when at the end of each 12 week block I have to hand in a ‘final piece’ at postgrad level, when working in a medium I’ve never tried, but it means I’m learning a lot! I spent my 1st term printmaking for the 1st time, this term I’m diving into sculpture, ceramics and maybe textiles!

Module 2 is called ‘Acts and discourses’ - I have to admit I have no idea what that means! But the brief I've been given is to “develop a body of work intended for a place/site in particular of your own choosing.” Basically to create any work for a specific space, anywhere (as long as it’s not a gallery) - so extremely open ended again! Site-specific is the buzz word - work that relates to a space by theme and also physically to it’s locality.

I’ve just completed my written proposal - here’s a link (3rd one down) if you fancy a read, including my reading list, for those who like that sort of thing!

Let me try to summarise - my work will be a celebration of what makes us who we are (the physical & psychological etc that makes up each unique individual). I've called it 'More than the sum of our parts - you matter'. I’m going to focus on body matter for inspiration for the pattern element of my work and contrast that with an expressive gestural part representing our personality. I’ve decided to choose a site for display, where people need their sense of worth and identity boosting, and am hoping to link with ‘Women in Prison’ charity and particularly their women’s centre in Lambeth, London, to share my work.

My bibliography is centred on things like human genetics, art & science, rehabilitation, site-specific art, sculpture, ceramics and textiles. For someone with dyslexia, who hates books and reading, I’m actually quite excited about the reading list I’ve created for myself!

I plan to create 3D versions of body cells in clay (on the potters wheel and by hand), in screen printed fabric and in plastic, to explore which materials work best. I then intend to represent fingerprints and DNA with stripes on one side of the piece and splash the other half with something (?) to provide the pattern and gestural elements.
It feels like quite a bit of this project is beyond my control. The kiln is only fired when there is enough work to fill it, and  each piece needs 2 firings. Also I can contact places I'm interested in as sites for displaying my work, but how they respond and how soon they respond is out of my hands.

Another part of this module is that we are given the task of organising our own group exhibition, and altering our work to fit with the group and this alternative site! I'm actually really looking forward to this as it will give more chance for overlap with others on my course.


So there you have it. My hand in day is 7th May, although there is no timetabled lectures, we’re expected to work through Easter). My plan is to continue a monthly update for you, so you can follow my MA journey with me. Click here to see my past blogs about it, or on the 3 images below.

By the way, I got my results for my last module, a couple of weeks ago, and got 65% (equivalent to 2:1, with ‘good’ written in each box) - not bad for a medium I’ve not tried before, and to hear that my research and writing were matching up to post grad level, despite my dyslexia, was a real encouragement!
Thank you for your interest and support!