The nature of the AA2A platform means my blog has been live since its inception in November 2019, at which point I was very apprehensive about its creation and content. Returning to education at 50, I undertook my degree to formalise a lifelong, but superficial, interest in the arts. With age I have come to appreciate the benefits of pushing... show more
As a result of Covid-19 our degree show will now take place in VR and hopefully, later in ‘real life’, to say I am disappointed about this would be something of an understatement.
Friends and family were coming from across the United Kingdom, to attend the show and to celebrate with me, even today some are struggling to get refunds... show more
I wade through countless magazines in search of images I can use to populate my work, recently, the five boards that combine to make, Cadavre Exquis. I enjoy cutting with surgical precision, (like Linder Sterling, whose work I have researched for inclusion in my dissertation and doubtless many other artists and designers), I use Swann Morton Surgical Scalpel Blades, size... show more
https://www.creativereview.co.uk/nationwide-degree-show/
https://www.instagram.com/_freshmeet/
Thanks to the timely genius of our technician/demonstrator, Chris Bebbington, I made my submission just in the nick of time, from the link in a recent email from deputy HOD, Tracy Piper-Wright .
I think this is an amazing way to rekindle some of the spark which has been lost as our Art and Design Degree Show is... show more
Students and Alumni are invited to submit work for a forthcoming exhibition at Contemporary Art Space Chester. Building on the recent success of the physical exhibition Nice to See You, To See You Nice, which attracted over 8000 visitors, Not Down, Not Out will be an on-line exhibtion and is a direct response to the Coronavirus.
My submission is a... show more
This is the third Microsoft teams lecture since lockdown and the last in this module. I am pleased to hear our resident AA2A artists talk about their fine art practice. As AA2A student rep I am familiar with the artists, nonetheless they introduce many interesting and salient issues, affecting not only fine art but all art and design third years.... show more
Scott gave the guest lecture via Microsoft teams, as we continue our studies under lockdown, and utilised the technology to allow us to plot the course of the lecture by giving the participants options at several junctures, inspired by his love of ‘choose your own adventure’ gamebooks. It was clear that covid-19 has affected Scott’s plans for the opening of... show more
I am a huge fan of podcasts, even before lockdown I listened to comedy, art history, and philosophy. Most recently I’ve been playing The BBC4 Reith Lectures, in particular, the 2013 series by Grayson Perry, entitled Playing to the Gallery (a book I have purchased and gifted more than once by the same name https://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-Gallery-Contemporary-Struggle-Understood/dp/184614857X). This four-part lecture discussing the... show more
Professional Practice Module resumes with the help of Microsoft Teams and we receive a PowerPoint presentation delivered by Jenni Greenwood, former single honours fine art student of the University of Chester and now a successful interior designer.
Jenni undertook her degree in fine art knowing that her passion and interests laid in interior design, supplementing her skills and knowledge by... show more
My appropriation and collage work led me to research Danish artist and founder of CoBrA, Asger Jorn. His modifications, in turn, introduced me to Guy Debord and the Situationist international, so for my dissertation I am exploring the influence of the SI on British artists including Jamie Reid and Linder Sterling. My research took me on a journey... show more
Leafy Chester by Steve Moon at Chester Art Centre
Earlier in the year I attended the private preview of this much anticipated exhibition.
Chester Art Centre employed me for my second-year experiential learning placement, and the team there works hard to maintain a vibrant presence in the city, (I have an exhibition planned there in November to bring... show more
University reconvenes by way of Microsoft Teams after the Easter break and we receive adapted assignments to reflect the need to submit even our practical work digitally [sigh – I am a technophobe and analogue artist].
However, I am fairly self-reliant as far as making my work is concerned, and I can adapt to manage without access to university facilities... show more
Ahhh the old, 'don't call us, we'll call you!'... a line I have heard as an ex-dancer after a few auditions. However, I succumbed to pressure and entered a painting in to the 2020 John Moores Painting Prize. I had already submitted when the initial deadline was extended due to covid-19.
I have no expectations of coming anywhere near a short-list,... show more
I certainly never expected to be finishing my studies in isolation and under lockdown during a flu pandemic. I had flu in 1999, not a nasty cold, but full-blown flu and I have never been so ill in my life, ending up on antibiotics and steroids to clear the pleurisy that ensued. My heart goes out to everyone... show more
I am greatly amused, pleased and not at all surprised to see that for the duration of Linderism at Kettle’s Yard every reference to Jim Ede is being replaced with his wife’s name Helen, to highlight the many other women erased from history and art history.
https://www.kettlesyard.co.uk
Suffice to say, Kettle’s Yard, the former home of Mr AND Mrs Jim... show more
On 13th March (Friday, but not unlucky this time!) I was fortunate to take a curator led tour of the New Hall Art Collection, the largest collection of women’s art in Europe.
Our guide, Harriett Loffler, was passionate and knowledgeable about the collection which includes over five hundred works by international artists - including Judy Chicago, Maggi Hambling CBE, Lubaina... show more
On 12th March I set off to Cambridge to attend Radical Materialities: Linder and Companion Histories which has been organised by Kettle’s Yard and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, on the occasion of the exhibition Linderism. A two-day conference reflecting upon Linder’s five decade career;
“Best known for her photomontages, Linder’s work is... show more
Walking hurriedly through The Metropolitan Museum in NYC, cutting through the Egyptian wing, I suddenly recognise a sculpture, which forces me to abruptly stop and turn around.
Behold! I am standing before the actual sculpture featured in my own artists book of collages. I appropriated the image from a 1980's Sotheby's Art at Auction catalogue and with the... show more
Presented to Jeremy Turner (Deputy Head of Department), Cian Quayle (Associate Professor) & Jack Welsh (Freelance researcher, writer and artist).
http://www.thedoublenegative.co.uk/little-black-book/jack-welsh/
As my practice is very diverse and my portfolio rather eclectic I opted to make a PowerPoint presentation. This, I hoped, would be the most effective method of presenting a broad overview of my interests and skills, and... show more
Denise is a graduate of Fine Art and English Literature from the University of Chester and currently Assistant Exhibitions Registrar at the Tate Gallery in Liverpool, she was introduced by module leader Jeremy Turner.
Denise outlined the steps in her studies and career that have led to her current position and the writing that she has undertaken for Double Negative and... show more
A really interesting lecture, whilst unrelated to my own practice, Al and Cal are both ex-students of the University of Chester. With lots of encouragement and great empathy for our third-year angst, they were keen to lower anxiety levels and career worries. They included some interesting statistics about the workplace; that over the course of a career one could expect... show more
Austin was introduced by Prof David Raffo, Senior Lecturer Product Design, and delivered a very entertaining lecture presenting his wide-ranging work across disciplines including design, sculpture and film making. Austin’s work takes a highly experimental approach, so it was little surprise to find his current position is as a researcher at The Royal College of Art, Design Interactions Department.
With... show more
I recently took myself off to Tate Liverpool to seek out work that helped contextualise my forthcoming Interim Exhibition. I was particularly interested in the Peter Blake painting “On the Balcony”, you can see more detail referencing this in my exhibitions album.
As a collage artist myself I often reference the work of Eduardo Paolozzi, and as part of my... show more
https://nickmunrostudio.com/about/
https://nickmunro.com
Lynne Bell, Senior Lecturer introduced Nick who went on to give a fascinating lecture on his journey from engineer to artist. Nick encouraged us to find our own heroes, in order to help define our path. He listed amongst his own, Gordon Murray, designer of Formula One racing cars, Richard Rogers, best known for his work on the... show more
www.craigeaston.com
Craig introduced himself as a documentary photographer who began his career in the early 90’s in newspapers, namely the Independent. He described learning his trade as being thrown in at the deep end, and I find it encouraging to hear professional, award winning artists talk openly about the early part of their careers. Likewise, Craig explained that documentary work... show more
For the eighth year the Deepbridge Chester Arts Fair took place at Chester Racecourse from 15 – 17 November. I obtained a discounted student ticket via Eventbrite; it is in my annual calendar.
Collections on display included paintings, sculpture, photography, ceramics and digital art, with works for sale ranging in price from £40 to £10,000. Alongside the exhibitors there was... show more
On 11th November Wendy delivered a very popular lecture during which she outlined her career, introduced the AA2A program and gave a detailed insight in to working as a self-employed creative. Originally trained as a silversmith and jeweller, and having been self-employed herself for 20 years, Wendy was passionate about the AA2A project and self-employment as a viable and beneficial... show more
Our own deputy head of department Jeremy came to the studio practice session on 24th October and delivered a fascinating insight into his own professional practice.
Jeremy began by describing his own passage through university, Fine Art Fellowship, residency and PhD and his exploration of sculpture in work that “defines its own limits.” Beginning with chipboard and progressing to more... show more
Former student of University of Chester, with Fine Art BA and MA, and top seller on Etsy, Adam generously gave us the benefit of his experience selling hand-made, rustic, bespoke furniture on the Etsy platform. https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MujuFurnitureUK
This is to be followed by a series of workshops helping to set up accounts and generate sales for current students with work... show more
First guest lecturer, Andrew Davey introduced the collaborative co-working space in Handbridge. Offering freelancers and mobile workers studio space, room hire and state of the art facilities, INDUSTRY has strong connections with the University especially through the venture team.
Describing the background to INDUSTRY's development, including Murmurations and Tortoise magazine, Andrew summarised the hub as "Community, Fast Wifi and... show more
Starting this blog might be the singularly most difficult thing about my university journey to date. I am required to consider my position as a Fine Artist, my accumulated experience over the course of my studies, and possible trajectories after my degree.
In some ways this is perhaps more difficult as a mature 50+ student, than as a young graduate... show more