As I'm sure all third years are feeling, up and down the country, regardless of what course, I am feeling on the brink (not of mental break down thankfully), on the edge (but not of a cliff) and that also though this is the end, this is also a new beginning (very cliched I know). 

After a little online absence due to an incredibly busy couple of weeks I am in an odd state of calm. My panic in the last blog post has been lulled after organising and separating Semester One work from Semester Two work and taking the former away. I was pleased to find that I actually had more than I had thought and now begins Degree show prep!

Wilko's has got its moneys worth and now I am studioless for a week before I can get into Gallery North! So this week is being devoted to all those loose ends, the files which need ordering, the contents pages which need making, the artist statement which needs re-writing (argh!) and various other bits and bats which seem like small jobs but turn into marathons. 

My voting poster is up on all the noticeboards and an email reminder has been circulated twice so I hope students have had their say! 

I will also make another photo album so you can see what has been going on in my practice in the lead up to the show...

As is suggested by the title of my most recent image album I seem to have been incredibly busy but then don't seem to have much to show for it!

I have been away for a bit, however am now back to the studio for more fun times in the lead up to the Degree Show, I have also got another exhibition under my belt in the mean time, 'Self' at Whitley bay was on over the weekend and was great fun! It was a large group show and featured the prints from my series 'Sketches' and also paintings from fellow AA2A Student Rep Sandra Greenacre.

In AA2A news since the successes of Jenny Purrett and Rebecca Travis's workshops, David Lisser is holding a seminar this Thursday about the ever optimistic theme of 'Failure'! Of course, if you are from Northumbria you will already have received the email regarding VOTING, its that time of year again! The 'vote' will only take you a few seconds so please follow the link below...

http://aa2a.org/artistvote

(Part 1)

Just a quick blog in response to the Critical Writing Workshop (Part one) which took place yesterday.

This was the first blog to be run by any of the AA2A artists this year and was very exciting. Places on the workshop were limited and were very quickly filled, especially by Third Years fretting about their artist statements!

Part one was devoted to discussions about our artist statements and what a statement was and how it should operate with our work. We spent the first 30mins or so discussing statements and our own concerns as well as reading examples which Rebecca had provided. We then went round each others spaces and discussed what their statement could be and do in relation to their practice.

Rebecca has paired us up and over the next week we are each going to write a short statement about the others work. These will then be presented and discussed at the second part of the workshop on Friday 8th.

Also this Wednesday there will be an experimental drawing workshop with AA2A Artist Jenny Purrett! So all very busy and very excited!

(Part 2)

A little delayed response to last Fridays second part of the Critical Writing workshop with Rebecca Travis.

Again, it was a very helpful session and I have had really good feedback from the students involved.

In this session we presented and discussed the pieces of writing we had each done on another students work. It was really interesting to see how other people interpretted your work and in some cases people were happier with what other students had written about their work than their own statements! 

There was also a brief introduction to critical writing outside of the university or art gallery, reviews etc, we were given good and honest advice on how to best go about our critical writing and also the means in which we could see our work published for free. 

Again all students left with a lot to think about and I know I have been quite proactive since the session!

Just a couple of things which seem to have got a little more momentum since my last post, both in my own studio practice and with AA2A. I finally have a reasonable series of 8 drawings which I will soon be turning into screen-prints, hopefully as stand alone prints and a little artist book, which is exciting! 

Also, in AA2A news we have another Artist Run Workshop underway! AA2A Artist Jenny Purrett will be putting her expertise to good use, running 'Abandon Normal Instruments', an experiemental drawing workshop which will be available to students from all years! It will be a half-day workshop on Weds. 6th March where students will be able to explore drawing within their practice and hopefully have some exciting and useful conversations. 

Even more excitingly Jenny was one of the four winners of the 'One Drawing Open' 

http://www.onechurchstreet.com/index.php?/exhibits/-drawing-open-2012/ 

with whom she will be having an exhibition this September!

Photos of work to follow and in the not so distant future photos of the workshops with Jenny and Rebecca!

Just a brief summary of all our activities to date! So far it has been a very hectic and exciting academic year during which everyone has juggled various commitments alongside their studio practice and AA2A involvement. Alot has gone on since the first AA2A Lecture where all the artists were able to give students a rough idea of their practices and put names to faces. This was then followed up by two Q&A sessions held by Sandra and myself. All the artists have been making good use of the fantastic printmaking facilities and the expertise of Alfons Bytautas, our printmaking technician yoda. (http://www.edinburghprintmakers.co.uk/artist/alfons-bytautas).

Below are a couple of each artist's activities to date!

Rebecca Travis (artist)

• 'Temporary Worlds' Exhibition, Durham, Nov. 2012
• Hosting a two part 'Critical Writing Workshop' for students in March

As suggested by the title of this blog January seems to have flown by, or rather ran past me completely. Rather overshadowed of course by my dissertation which I finally titled 'Cut and Wit: Collage in the Work of Wangechi Mutu' and lovingly handed in a good five days before deadline (not to boast of course).

Pretty much straight after was assessment feedback which has led to a firm focus on the development of my performance works (both live and filmed). Perhaps indicative of my age/stage in 'life as an artist', the time appears to have come for the beginning of a pairing down of my work and focus, perhaps looking to more economical means. I think as a student we have all been guilty at one time or another for wanting to produce some giantic masterpiece, when perhaps a more subtle approach would have infact produced the best work. 

In more AA2A related news I have finalised dates for the Critical Writing Workshop with AA2A Artist Rebecca Travis; Part 1: 1st March 2013 Part 2: 8th March 2013, which I am looking forward to muchly!!!

Thought I might as well write another blog post, since its not like I have a dissertation to write...

It has been strange this Christmas holiday to have handed in all my work from last semester and know that its all sat there, waiting to be judged whilst my new focus is entirely on my dissertation. Most frustratingly I have been typically been coming up with new ideas for work at roughly exactly the moment this year when I don't realistically have time to be making them. 

The word count has been slowly inching forward as the deadline moves closer.

I have promised myself shopping if I have a first draft by the end of Monday.

Wish me luck!

This post really accompanies the identically titled photo album.

Semester 1 seems to have disappeared, however I was very pleased to have managed to fit in the AA2A Q&A before we broke up (see previous blog post and follow the links at the bottom to listen). 

Genuinely sad at the idea of being away from the studio for the following month or so, but am much more frightened of the impending dissertation deadline to worry too much. I am hoping that I do have sometime over Christmas to work on new collages alongside the development of my research for my dissertation which focuses on the use of collage by the artist Wangechi Mutu.

http://www.wangechimutu.com/

Hopefully in the new year AA2A artists Rebecca Travis and Sebastian Trend will be organising some workshops on critical writing and making fanzines so please get in touch if you are interested!

zara.worth@northumbria.ac.uk

Hello there,

Been a little while since I last blogged however it has been very hectic (as I'm sure it has been for most Fine Art students) as I have been getting work ready for the assessment deadline which was last Friday! I will put up some photos of the work I submitted soon.

Over the last week Sandra and myself also hosted a couple of informal AA2A Q&A sessions, hopefully the links below will make the sessions available for download. Unfortunately they are a little quiet and best listened to through head phones. There wasn't an overwhelming turn out from students however I think that hopefully people will listen to the recording. 

Very generally we discussed work, art work and life. Please feel free to have a listen (just copy and paste the link into your address bar) and let me know if the links don't work!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1bdxud0ttoxvec5/5.12.12%20AA2A%20Q%26A%20Rebecca%20Travis%2C%20David%20Lisser%20sebastian%20Trend.m4a

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gencg6457g2gogl/4.12.12%20AA2A%20Q%26A%20Jenny%20Purrett%20and%20Matthew%20Hearn.m4a

Actually still buzzing after last night's performance, just to go on about it a bit more I really, really enjoyed the whole evening and was very proud of the show (which is on until next Tuesday!).

As I commented on one of the photos the performance was oddly theraputic. At times it felt meditative and I would like to pursue the concept further, pushing it somehow, perhaps for much longer time periods. Last nights performance was only 45 minutes long, which whilst I had been planning it seemed like it would be a marathon but it sped by.

Interestingly I over heard one girl near by talking about the routine as she watched me, and she commented that she had not before considered the repetitive, OCD nature of her own morning rituals, and she began to reflect on the endless times she too put on her own make-up each day.

Obviously I was doing something right....