finalmabookshow2010

last night saw the culmination of the years work for the ma book arts students at camberwell with the private view for the final show - as ever it was a busy, wonderful night that brought together many generations of book art students from both the past alongside prospective students – this was alongside people from all over the world who had come to look, celebrate and buy. it was a fitting testimony to the exciting year of research and work both on and off campus – the work explores the nature of the book and presents a wide approach to the discipline of the book.

honesttalking

after a week of assessing the masters at camberwell and then running seminars and organising for final shows at norwich it was good to see some work by others – the opening of the old art school space in ipswich (where i worked before it was closed down) http://www.ipswich.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=931 - showed work from the saatchi collection - it was well hung but the speeches stuck in the throat when the politicians talked about supporting a new renaissance for the arts in ipswich when the exhibition officers post was recently cut at the town hall galleries, the arts in schools advisor post terminated at the county council and the buildings schools for the future programme, where creativity highly valued within the designs, decimated – anyway a more honest experience was to be found at the museum of east anglian life with the gypsy roma traveller talent quest finals - http://www.gypsyartsfestival.co.uk/– some wonderful music from the polish roma community – the dance house in ipswich held big dance goes east - http://www.danceeast.co.uk/ – introduced by angela rippon – the academy kids were excellent and zoonation very professional but the highlight as ever was new art club - http://www.newartclub.org/ – if you ever see them advertised anywhere do yourself a favour and get to see them - i once saw them at lattitude where they created a dance piece mixing saturday night feaver with IRA kneecapping wearing with balaclavas you had to be there to believe it!

thestructureofinterrelationships

having spent some time running creative bookmaking courses i thought that it would be interesting to re explore the structure of the book for myself - working on a ‘family’ of book structures that will be one piece- looking at their interrelationships and individual characters – now considering the materials that i am going to work with and the surfaces i am going to make.

theexperieneofexperience

it’s interesting to consider the experience one has and how that experience informs one’s actions. I have spent the past three days hanging shows – all of which look good – this is an activity that I have been involved in for the past 20 years but the thrill of ‘finishing’ work and supporting its presence with appropriate hanging is something that I never tire of. The NUCA stand at the new designers show is bright and colourful showing off technique and saleability and the MA Book Art show at Camberwell will be cool and calm with space to see the research led work.

thepastthreedays

the past three days have seen me at the Royal College of Arts working with the printmaking MA students developing their experimental book making skills. the whole thing was a glorious experience - it was good to be treated professionally with courtesy and civility

the facilities are exceptional, the food in the senior dining room dangerously moorish (and the plates have the royal college crest on them) and the views from all the rooms, especially the 6th floor are outstanding – i am sure that every student must make work about it for the first term!

the room i worked in looked over the albert hall.

meanwhile back at NUCA there was the undergraduate private view on tuesday – the ba textile work looked very tight and knowing - comments from the public and past students were very positive – i think that we have finally moved from textiles with a small f as in fine art (it was a very large one) to textile design with a capital Dhttp://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=402134129501&share_id=118690811495999&comments=1#s118690811495999
tutorials with MA drawing students at NUCA tomorrow and then next week the run up to new designers building the show makes it another 2 days in London at the design centre http://www.newdesigners.com/and after that hanging the book art postgraduate show at Camberwell the rest of the week http://www.camberwell.arts.ac.uk/65242.htm

timeseemstobeflying

well time seems to be flying – the last week saw me working extensively on the Moulsham street project – writing, designing and laying out the detailed plans for 245 interventions into the paving.
work at NUCA was focused on the final marks for the BA textile students and working with the students on the layout for the MA Textile Culture exhibition.
meanwhile the evenings and weekend has been full - the aldburgh festival is on – the highlight so far was a promenade performance titled The Way to the Sea - a homage to Britten’s On This Island, which included newly commissioned film and installations at various locations in Thorpeness. it prompted me to youtube one particular song – the water is wide – the most haunting version i found was by joan baez.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4pDTSKREvU&feature=related

The Water is Wide

The water is wide, I can-not cross o'er.
I Neither have thywings to fly.
Build me a boat that can carry two,
And both shall row, my true love and I.

A ship there is and she sails the seas.
She's laden deep, as deep can be;
But not so deep as the love I'm in
And I know not if I sink or swim.

I leaned my back up against a young oak
Thinking he were a trusty tree
but first he bended and then he broke
Thus did my love prove false to me.

O love is handsome and love is kind
and loves a jewel while it is new
but when its old love
it growth cold and fades away like the morning dew.
And fades away like the morning dew.

managed to get into London at the weekend and saw the students shows at Chelsea and Central St Martins – as ever the energy and possibilities seem endless and there seems hope if all these young people are now out in the world – thinking and being.
My friend laurence edwards has a show at Messums http://www.laurenceedwardssculpture.com/ which we popped into see- a very professional operation in Cork st. also managed to see the gormley at white cube and the book art element of the royal academy summer show.
this week sees the private view at NUCA and me at the Royal College working with the printmaking students on a 2 day book course – looking forward to it already.

theweekend

a word on this weekend - we were invited to watch a performance by the poet dean parkin http://www.deanparkin.co.uk/ a work in progress that he is taking to edinburgh this year - an intriguing self portrait told through a mix of strange tales from his childhood and poetry.