Ruth Out And About

Rationale

2010-05-09T20:26:00.002+01:00

During this project of putting this exhibition on I have learnt allot. We put ourselves into four groups marketing, fundraising, curators and logistics. Each group had their own job to do to put the exhibition on. Across all the groups I think that we have had a problem with attendance and getting the whole group to help put the exhibition on. Money has been a bit of an issue getting enough for everything we need for the show. Each group had to deal with their chosen group then also coincide that with communicating with the other groups which can be difficult.

The marketing group which I am in have worked very hard. We have overcome many obstacles such as finding a company to sponsor us and give us posters, which we managed. Also getting the flyer's prepared by screen printing them, which we got one person to do them all as they had got a momentum going the rest of us mixed inks and removed the wet flyer's and replaced with a new flyer. Our group mainly worked well as a whole but found it hard to get in touch with some members.

Logistics and curators worked well together in getting the floor plans and a theme together to then place peoples work in certain spaces so they would fit. They created a theme that would enable us to split the group up into each room with it flowing.

Fundraising held several events including raffles, games and stalls to help pay for the things we needed for the show. A few people covered the cost for some of the stuff they ordered like I paid for the website and Laura paid for some of the luggage tags. Fundraising went off into little groups to organise a few events.

Me and Laura have worked in collaboration for the piece we are putting into the show. We have had to deeply consider packing and transporting the piece into the van. We have made carriers to help carry them and are wrapping them in bubble wrap and cardboard. We cut down our final piece to fit in the space we have and have negotiated with people around us about lighting, so all is ready to install.

Overall this project has been very difficult but a great experience. It is very hard to work with 44people all with different views, personalities and work, but I feel we have managed it. We have the wine, the work, the people the promotion to put this show on and it is all in place, ready for the show now. Obviously problems may occur but we have arranged between us invigilators to watch the space.

The blog process has been long. I'm not sure whether a blog is for me, I prefer a note book I don't always use the Internet so a note book is more practical for me. Websites always have some faults with them this website is no exception, so a note book is a more consistent way to think through my thought processes and put down shows I have been to.The good thing about putting my thoughts on here is that my spelling isn't great which means I can check it on here section by section so when I go back I can still remember what I've put.

Packaging

2010-05-09T20:20:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow we are packing are pieces up to go to the space.

We will be filling the negative space with cardboard and bubble wrap. The wrapping the

whole thing in bubble wrap then wrapping cardboard round.

Then putting them on the wooden carriers and then tieing them on with rope to the board,

to make it secure to carry into the van.

4 people can now carry our pieces because of the 4 handles.

Name of Work

2010-05-09T20:14:00.002+01:00

Me and Laura have been thinking about what to call our piece.

It took us a long time but finally came up with Not Quite.

We came up with this because when ever we try to describe our pieces we always start

with well there not quite...

So we thought why no call the final piece Not Quite we think it fits quite well with the piece

as we don't want to give away too much what our piece is about, and that they are not

quite here they are in between reality and the dream world.

Final Piece

Cat Support

2010-05-09T20:06:00.003+01:00

The cats due to all the moving about we have had to do with them the bottom of them had started to crumble away. A repair job was needed.

We had to lay them on a cushion and and rip the cracked plaster off.And use plaster mixed with glue and water and soak the plaster with a glue and water solution. And pack the bottom with mod rock to support it. We did this then a week later we stood them up to see if they would be ok for the show. The bottom is now very strong but the cats slightly lean back unfortunately but there isn't allot we can do about that but they will be fine in the show they are allot safer now.

Questions we asked our selves during the project

2010-05-09T19:38:00.004+01:00

Materials?
Me and Laura ended up using plaster with a support structure underneath. We chose plaster because after using wax, home made paper, clay and plaster we decided that the plaster had more of a raw quality to it. And could be manipulated wet or dry it gave us freedom to achieve what we wanted but still give us that rawness like they had been pulled out of our heads.

Paint them?
Everyone who saw our pieces asked are you going to paint them? That started us thinking shall we paint them. The main reason we was thinking about it was that plaster tarnishes so they wont be perfectly white anymore. But we decided that will change them painting them, they won't be plaster anymore with that rawness they will be painted plaster.

Carriers?
We decided to make carriers to help carry our pieces and enable 4 to carry them to distribute the weight. We had to use 18mm MDF for the carriers any thinner and it would snap. But this pushed the cost up but it had to be one me and Laura split everything in half.

Cost?
The cost of the project has been expensive. The 5 sculptures has cost me and Laura £42 for materials. Then it cost £22 for the MDF so all in all £64 plus lights etc on top. Luckily we split it otherwise I couldn't have afforded it by my self.

How many sculptures to make?
We originally wanted to make 8 sculptures. But due to cost and the amount of space in the exhibition we were unable to make 8. We thought 3 wasn't enough but 6 was too many so we agreed on 5. Looking at the 5 we made we really didn't like one of them and decided it wasn't going to be in the show so now we are having 4 which after going to lighting studio we really like.

Lights?
We knew we didn't want normal electric lighting. So we brought touch lights and spot lights. We didn't like the touch lights they had a blue tinge to them which we didn't like. So we went with the spot lights with a clear bulb. One in front of each sculpture was too much but one in the middle was perfect.

Size?
We wanted our pieces to have a real impact when you enter the room. We wanted them to be quite big. Which we managed to achieve. They are mainly waist height which will make the viewer quite uncomfortable.

Gallery Of Final Piece

2010-05-09T19:32:00.000+01:00

This is three of our pieces we need to think about moving. We are thinking a structure type thing made out of MDF. Me and Laura drew up plans for the stretches and took them to the wood workshop Matt helped us and we got them cut out on the laser cutter. We now can tie our work to the stretcher so 4 people can carry them out using the handles.

Lighting in very important with out piece and how we display it. We are not putting them on plinths it changes how they look and what they represent. We want the lighting to be quite dim with spot lights highlighting the bits we want so they look like they are coming out of the dark. We had 2 sessions in the lighting studio to plan how we want the lights.

We felt this was too much light focused on the front of the piece.

We felt this was allot better looks creepy like it's coming out of the dark which is what we wanted.

Same with this one perfect light.

Perfect lighting just what we wanted.

This is what we ended up doing instead of having one light in front of each sculpture we put one in the middle it gives off enough light for what we want. We like that you can see the wire fits with the piece and the space we are in with bare walls and wires. But we will be taping the wire to the floor and putting tape round the edges of the sculptures for the audiences safety.

This was when we had one in front of each sculpture it was too much and we didn't like the colour of the extension lead so we are now using a white one to match the colour of the sculptures.

We liked how this looked with the wires but not the colour of the extension lead we want a white one.

We like the tone of the photograph dark and mysterious, like there stepping into reality.

We tried them in a line before the circle but we thought a circle might work better as we want sure about the line and we do prefer the circle. Makes you feel uncomfortable like dreams so and fits more with what we want to achieve.

Now and Then and April Fools

2010-05-09T18:16:00.003+01:00

Opening night was on the same night as the April Fools event in the neighbouring shop units.

We are using the white pen on the wall after seeing this. It works very well and stands out and is easy to read. It draws your eye in.

During the event this lady drew on the window. But after going back now she finished it doesn't stand out like the white pen because of the glare on the window. This was just a window display so no health and safety issues.

While the opening was happening this man was doing a sand sculpture in the window we couldn't go in as it wouldn't have been safe with water everywhere and tools. But it was so interesting watching him. The only problem with all these pieces in the window was the glare because of the lights in the shopping centre.

They had written the April fools sign on the corner panel of the shop uni as there the only bits you can see walking down towards the show.

The white text stands out very well. Very eye catching.

All of these pieces were A3 poster size. Mounted in the far shopping unit. They all followed the theme of April fools. I love these images they both have a humour about them. You viewed these images from the window.

Could see all the wires through the window. For the video's on the TV. The whole exhibition works well as a whole.

LCAD Residency

2010-05-09T17:49:00.002+01:00

Lorna Campbell did a life size fish tank. I got to see her make all of this in the workshop. It was very impressive to look at to had recreated gravel with screwed up paper and made fish tank ornaments. I love this piece where it is is kind of like a fish tank. When I went I could go in it. There was no health and safety issues as it was self contained.

This piece was in the back of the cafe. It had sounds coming out of it. And a space man sat at the back the wires and the socket was at the back of it tucked in so people wouldn't trip over it. I loved this piece it was quite odd to look at.

This piece was a ti pi but unfortunately it collapsed on the day of the show. The willow inside wasn't strong enough. But this piece was still really interesting to look at. I couldn't see any tape on the floor but i really couldn't see anyone tripping over it. but at least it collapsed before the show rather than during the show as it wouldn't have been very safe.

This was a trolley full of bricks. I don't particularly like this piece. The colour of the brick works well with the red trolley. As long as the brakes are on the trolley I can't see any problems health and safety wise.

This piece was on a table with a glass cube inlaid into the top. Filled with little ceramic pots. This piece was very delicate looking. It needed to be presented like this. The glass cube protected the pottery.

Floppelgangers

2010-05-09T17:13:00.004+01:00

Square of light.

You could walk into the piece to see the rectangle of light in the middle. The light slowly changed colour. It looked like LCD lights laid under a metal grid. The flooring was very unsecured. I didn't particularly like this piece I just didn't feel engaged looking at this piece.

This film was on a very large scale. This was a silent film with subtitles and it was of a funny nature. The wires were showing, the plug extension could be seen. The film wasn't to my taste but was very well done. I loved the size of the video. The wires were taped to the floor for health and safety reasons.

This piece had a light in the middle of it which shone through the gaps in the sculpture to create shapes on the floor around it. I really like this piece. I love the size of it. I like how you can see the extension cord inside it to stop people tripping up over it. From the other side the piece looks perfect like an illusion but from the back you see how its done.

This piece was on a very large scale that dominated the space. It appeared to be made out of a frame and mod rock painted white. Looks like an Egyptian God statue. The box at the back had a very load base sound coming out of it that really hurt your ears. The wires were taped to the floor and the light was very dim behind it so you couldn't really see the wires.

This cloud was very good it's the first thing your eyes were drawn to when you go into the space. It appears to be made of cotton wool with lights in the middle. Stood on a stand. As you can see it's a metal rod with round metal discs to support. Sat on squares with hazard tape on the edges to warn the public not to go too close to it. there were no wires it was lit from the inside so it looks like it is floating.

Review of Wakefield Art Walk 2

2010-05-09T16:26:00.007+01:00

Wakefield Museum

This was in Wakefield museum, it was looking at art from the 30's and 40's to do with food and drink. This piece was set into the table and then the glass case was set into the rim cut into the top. The glass had a glare on it though making it hard to see what was in it properly they could have used glass that didn't have a glare on it. The background on the walls gave a background to the piece and I think looks allot better than a plain white background.

West Gate studio's

Needed to peep inside. It was a small wardrobe that you looked into through the eyes of the girl and the clown.

When you walk in the cupboard doors are shut it tells you to open them then the image of a girl and a clowns face are there. You look through the eyes and you can see little bits of creepy faces and eyes. The piece was in the perfect place right in front of you when you walk in so you are engaged as soon as you step into the building. the lighting inside the box was very bright and daring which fitted in the the piece inside the fact the faces were there meant the natural light was blocked out meaning it didn't ruin the piece.

In the last Wakefield Art Walk this is where the paper birds was. This time you get to the bottom of the stairs and a dog is sat there with birds chirping and a dog covered in salt. As you get to the top of the stairs you see a bucket with a hole in it attached to ceiling with fishing wire slowing dropping salt on the dog. When walking up the stairs and for the rest of the night all you can taste is salt and your mouth feels dry. at the top of the stairs you can here a dog wining and when you look down you can see the dog covered in salt. It was a funny piece. I looked everywhere for something supplying the sound but couldn't see anything which nicely finished the illusion of the piece.

Further along there was a machine like the ones that you get a toy out of when your a child giving out small pieces of art that people in the studio's have made. The sign says treat your self. It costs a Pound to take home a small piece of art that someone has made. I thought what a bargain. I got a small paper sculpture of a sphere, it's by a man called Richard Sweeney. Thin this is a very clever idea to give visitors something to take home.

This was in an isolated room, which people who aren't based in the studio's can use for one month and it changes every month. He plays with light and shadow as you can see the two colours make it look like shadows have fallen on the figure. I didn't really like this piece I think he should have used something else than a manikin. Think it looks very rushed and sterile. I feel a real person would have been better or something that looked more realistic. The boards the light was shining through were very wobbly and was full of wires at the back which he didn't hide which sort of ruined the illusion.

Wakefield Theatre Royal

The work at Wakefield Theatre Royal was very traditional. It was images of still life's. All in the same frame nothing to tell each of them apart. I found the whole thing very boring. The had kids colouring pages on the tables for us to do which didn't really go with the work. The frames were put up with just normal picture hooks.

Leeds Art Gallery Kismet and Karma

2010-05-09T14:56:00.002+01:00

I love this piece, it's made out of little pieces of rubber tied together dyed red. The piece in the middle is supported by a metal support. Then it's spread out and tied to the walls with pins.
The support looked very strong. No tape was put round the edge to indicate to the viewer where the boundaries are. But i don't feel it needs it as the colours are so bright and as you walk along the room you can't miss where the boundaries are. The white backgrounds of the walls really set off the brightness of the red. The placement of the piece being at the other side of the room so when you walk in you get the full impact of the piece works well.

Thoughts and feelings of the whole exhibtion experience

2010-05-09T14:48:00.002+01:00

The exhibition process has been very stressful. Working in a large group of 44 with different needs, thoughts and feelings has been challenging.
The website I have been doing for the show has been quite difficult.
Each group trying to work as a whole and keeping in contact with each other with whats going on has been challenging.
We are now less than a week from the show and all groups are starting to come together well.
The jobs that need to be are done and now we are near the finishing post.

Lost Property the last few days

2010-05-09T14:37:00.002+01:00

The exhibition is in a couple of days time. Very excited now.
Posters are done and nearly handed out.
Flyer's are done and nearly handed out.
We have booze.
We no roughly where most people are going in the space at the minute.
We have the luggage tags for the displays.
We have cups for the booze.

We don't have a white pen.
We don't have the table to put our selves in the slots for invigilating.

Tomorrow

We are packing, wrapping, and putting near the lift to move Tuesday.
Handing out the last of the promo material.

Tuesday

We are moving all of the work down there in the van and placing in the spaces and hanging.
Also doing the luggage tag display and writing on the walls with the white pen.

Wednesday

Finish setting all the work out tidy up ready for Thursday.

Thursday

Take booze and set up ready for opening at 5pm- 7pm.

Curators problems throughout

2010-05-09T14:28:00.002+01:00

Trying to get everything done as they have allot of jobs back and forth from different groups. But they have coped very well.

They have tried very hard to keep everyone updated but allot of people haven't gave any feed back as they couldn't get in touch with them but they have tried very hard throughout.

Logistical Issues Throughout

2010-05-09T14:21:00.004+01:00

Space Issues

Allot of people have created large pieces of work to put into the show. We have 4rooms. The problem there having is placing it all. But they can't resolve this until they see it all in the show space on Tuesday. They have gotten people to fill out proposal forms recently to see what there up to date plans are to see whats possible.

Gaining floor plans

It was difficult to get detailed plans of the units to plan where people could go.
But Emily and Beth went and measured the space and drew up the floor plans.

Fundraising issues throughout

2010-05-09T13:58:00.004+01:00

Throughout finding alcohol for free or cheap has been a problem. Many of us have tried and failed.

Me Lani and Beth emailed Teri the exhibitions officer to see if he had any budget to buy us some alcohol but sadly he didn't. But when Lucy got the money from the blood donation she said she could get cheap wine from the wine shop that she goes to allot where she lives so Lucy took that. Geri rang round some brewers about cider and got a good price so she took the money from the guess how sweets in jar competition to buy the cider and juice. Luckily now we have drinks for the show.

Blood Donation

Allot of people were unable to do the blood donation like me because we had had tattoo's and piercings in the past year and other people are anaemic so were unable to do it. I didn't raise any money I decided to buy the website. But still the people who could do it raised allot of money.

Issues Marketing have encountered throughout

2010-05-09T13:21:00.003+01:00

Promoting the event.

We had some trouble in getting a flyering licence from Leeds City council. It would cost £75 for one person to distribute the posters and leaflets.
Instead we are having to give the posters to shop keepers to put them in the window, and to ask them to put the leaflets on the counters for people to take them at there leisure. We decided at the meeting that £75 was too expensive for one person to be left with distributing by them selves.

Attendance.

As a group we have had problems with members of marketing turning up to meetings and contributing. We have tried getting in touch but have had no luck.
So to get things done on schedule we had to make the important decisions without them.

Lino cutting.

We wanted to create a lino cut to make a stamp onto the flyer's we collected but the laser cutter had a 2week cue to use it. Unable to do the stamp Amy created a silk screen as she had done it before.

Laser cutting

As the laser cutter was busy for 2weeks we were unable to cut into the flyer's which was another plan we had so they looked like stencils. So because of these problems we screen printed all of them.

Website

While i was making the website Mr Site went down for a couple of days so this was quite a problem as I couldn't keep completely up to date with it. Also it's been difficult collecting people's URLs but I'm getting there but it doesn't look very professional that everyone doesn't have at least one page with there images on it.

Facebook.
I also set up a marketing facebook page so if any information was needed at a certain point while not at college then this was ideal for an initial answer until you can see everyone else.
Problem with this was that some people didn't have it but everything I put on there I put on the board and on my blog and I told them too when I saw them so they could still have there say.

Printing Leaflets

2010-05-09T12:42:00.004+01:00

A small group of us including me went to go use the screen that Amy made in print making.
We had the luggage tags and the flyer's we had painted.
The ink didn't really sit well on the paint I think that it had nothing to cling to so kept coming out quite smudged and not very clear.

We decided to give up on them and print the luggage tags these were allot more successful and look very good, We used red paint to experiment with but the red looked really good on the brown luggage tag so we kept that colour it also matches in with the red on the logo on the poster.

We had some problems with some of the designs on the screen for example it was hard to get them to print as bits of the screen weren't quite right but none of us could understand why so we were slightly restricted with the patterns we had.

The process was quite repetitive but worth while we had some that didn't print very well but that happens with screen printing it's very unpredictable.

Meeting at the space

2010-05-09T12:27:00.004+01:00

We met Yvonne at 3.30pm to talk through the show. One member of the group needs to pick up the keys for the event 15Min's before we are due to open.
We now have an extra room to use as a store room to keep rapping and tools in so we don't have to carry them back down again when we pack up.
Everyone didn't turn up again. But the people who were there we went through with Yvonne what we were planning on putting in the space.

Me and Laura looked where we intend to put our work and there is a sufficient amount of sockets and we are surrounded by people who want a dimmer atmosphere which is good for us.

We looked in each unit and discussed what we could do, the meeting seemed to be drawing to a close so I left to travel back home to vote.

After I left there was some disagreements about whether to use the new room or not. Personally I think we shouldn't it will throw the whole theme off using the slippery, prickly and jittery which we have followed throughout.

Everyone was told to put there name on the floor plans where they would like to go and I think it's too late to add another room.

I feel really bad for leaving to vote now as this really needs resolving.

Last Meeting

2010-05-09T11:10:00.011+01:00

There was a fair few more people that turned up today to the meeting.
Me and Laura and Beth have screen printed the luggage tags using the screen that Amy prepared. Laura has got the 1000 luggage tags that she ordered for the window displays.
We have received the posters they are better than expected they are A3 not A4 and they are glossy. We can now distribute them. But a flyering licence from the council is £75 for one person to hand out flyer's and put up posters we decided to put them out in shops and ask them to put a poster in the window and put a stack of flyer's on the desk. We have posters in the Smoothie Company, Leeds Art Gallery and Henry Moore institute.

Laura has posted a html code for the poster for people to attach it to an email to send to there contacts and she emailed important people for example people from East street Arts, PSL and Leeds Uni and Leeds Met.

Emily's emailed the poster, website and blurb to Yvonne Carmichael to put on the Art in Unusual Space website.

Lucy from fundraising took £65 from the blood donation money to get some wine for the event. Geri took £50 to get some cider and juice for the opening.

Me creating the website

2010-05-09T10:08:00.011+01:00

This is the finished poster off Jonny he's added the logo's from the sponsors and polished it so it looks complete. I can now add this to the website.

For the website i chose i notice board design to fit in with the lost property aspect. I then placed the poster on there for the private view on the website and then after the private view I will change it to the poster for the rest of the days we are open.I then added the logo's from company's that sponsored us. Beth managed to get Studentartcards to Sponsor us to give us 100free posters. Niomi managed to get Cineworld to sponsor us for the raffle and give us some free tickets as a raffle prize. And lastly Art in Unusual Spaces for getting us the space and Leeds City Council as Art in Unusual spaces is funded by them.

I added Emily's blurb to give the viewer an overview of the exhibition. I also added every ones names and made them into hyperlinks to take the viewer to there blog or website. I've had allot of trouble with this as people have not been giving me there URLs even though I put a notice on the board at uni and sent messages on face book and on my blog but still I don't have every ones and there no other way to get in touch with everyone else if they won't answer. So I still don't have them all but it's not with the lack of trying.

On the second page of the website i called it directions and put the address of the Plaza and how to get there from the train station and a map that takes them to google maps to get a closer look of how to get there.

The front page

Second page

I like the website I feel it looks very professional. I decided to cover the cost of the website myself as my contribution to the fundraisers as now they don't have to cover the costs of the website.

Mettings

2010-05-09T08:27:00.007+01:00

Logistics have managed to get floor plans for the shop units with measurements to then put onto it a rough idea of where everyone should be in each unit. Emily came up with a great theme to split the rooms up and to still keep them connected and to split the group up depending on there work using Flusty's theories on the way public space is designed to control, intercept, filter or repel.
Groups:
Slippery which Mayne and Laura's work are part of will contain work that are about dreams, the subconscious and memory.
Prickly which is an anxious space where structure is corroded and it's difficult to find a spot where you feel comfortable.
Jittery which is a personal space but you may feel like your being watched.
At the meeting we agreed that this was a very good idea it divides the work up and fits in with lost property.

Emily has written a blurb for the show which she put on the board for people to look at and give feed back.

Lost Property Blurb
A Collection of Fine
Art from Leeds Art College
Art In Unusual Spaces
Leeds Shopping Plaza
Private View 13Th May 2010 17:00-19:00
Open daily 14Th-16Th
May 2010
Ever get that feeling you've lost something and not quite sure what it is? Get that vague
feeling that there's something not quite where it used to be? Need a
spare moment to think what it is?
Take some time out to visit our Lost Property show and check out our three spaces to see if
you can find what you're looking for in the work of 44 fine art students from Leeds College of Art, in a show based on urban critic Steven
Flusty's theories on the way public space is designed to control,
intercept, filter or repel.
See if you can grasp
your lost property in our Slippery room, where dreams,
the subconscious and memory are lost and found among missing and
confused pathways.
Your missing item
might be in the Prickly room, an anxious
space where structure is corroded and it's difficult to find a spot
where you feel comfortable for too long amongst the ruin.
Or perhaps you'll
find what you're searching for in our Jittery room, a personal
space, but one where you might feel you have to look over your shoulder, as bodies and actions feel like they're constantly being watched.
COME ALONG AND RECLAIM YOUR LOST PROPERTY!

Everyone really liked it at the meeting so Emily sent it to Yvonne Carmichael to be read over.

Meetings

2010-05-09T07:44:00.011+01:00

During this meeting we talked about getting a website together. I suggested that we buy a Mr site, which is a .co.uk or .com for a year. Its £12 for Mr Site beginner. Dream hosting does bandwidth but we wont need that much. Lostproperty.co.uk & .com are taken so we need to take about that. lostproperty-unusual.co.uk & .com, lostpropertyart.co.uk, lostpropertyleeds.co.uk &.com are free.

I said i didn't mind doing the website as I already had a Mr Site. So I said I would order one as it takes about a week to arrive.
Everyone seemed happy with this who was at the meeting.

Now we had an exhibition name Amy had been working on a logo for the show that fitted in with the name.

Amy show both of these and some others all with slight variations from one another but this was the one that we all felt fitted in more and looked really good. We like both the colours so we were just going to use either one depending on which fitted with what we were intending it for.

We had decided for the flyer's instead of buying some that we would collect flyer's that people had given us and then paint and screen print on top with our poster or logo.We felt this would fit as they start off as someones Else's property and when they give them to us they then become our property. Laura ordered some luggage tags for us to print on as flyer's. Some really nice little brown ones. We also had an idea of making a display out of luggage tags in the windows of the units. But we are going to order 250 first to print on then order more if they are what we want for the window.

Meetings

2010-05-06T20:18:00.011+01:00

We had a rough design for posters by this time done by Jonny no detail just the text and general feel but it was very good. Everyone really liked the look of it. Still needed on the poster were sponsors, logos, website, dates and times but all these can be added later when we have them.

Beth had gotten a company called Student Art Card to sponsor us and give us 100 free posters in exchange for us putting there logo on our website and on the posters.

Mel also was arranging a stall at the HiFi Club to sell pieces of art work, in the beginning it was somewhere Else that was free in. But the venue she had to move to due to it being cancelled they were charging £4 in and it turned out to be the hottest day of the year so unfortunately not many people came and she didn't manage to make ant money. But she really tried and members of the course made works to sell.

Meetings

2010-05-06T20:07:00.006+01:00

During the week we put a sign up for ideas for the exhibition names to be brought forward ready for the meeting. Names such as follow the white rabbit, cash for gold and 2010 were some of the suggestions. At the meeting all these were brought forward and a vote was taken on each the one we eventually decided on was Lost Property we felt it fitted our group as a whole better than the others.

Beth had found a company that she thought may be able to give us some free posters for the show we all agreed that would be good as it would limit our costs for the show.

Fundraising had some ideas for raising money such as bake sales, raffles and band nights.

Proposal forms were going to be made up before the next meeting to find out what everyone plans to do for there piece in the exhibition to see if it would be possible with every ones ideas together.

Plans for next time was to collect info on what everyone is dong on there work. Get a general idea of a poster together, collect sponsors, collect floor plans to the rooms we have in the Plaza.

The begining

2010-05-06T19:44:00.009+01:00

Meetings

At the beginning of this project setting up the exhibition a set of agreements were set up as a group. Such as:

Groups such as logistics, marketing, curators and fundraising.

Within these groups a rep was chosen to represent that group and to attend all meetings and to spread the word what happened to everyone in there group what happened at meetings.

All agreed on a meeting to be held each Thursday.

Everyone should have fair input.

List of things we need to do to run an exhibition:

Moving van
Need to move the work
Need floor plans
Fixtures and fittings
Tool kit
Raise money
Collect sponsors
Think of the exhibition name
Layout of the art works
Write blurb and press release
Overall theme
Posters
Leaflets
Website
Invitations
Logo
General promotion

Once that written up, starting thinking about names for the show and what logo we could have and themes, how could get posters and what we could do to raise some money. We all went away in our groups for a week to make a start ready for meeting 2.

The meeting went well very lively and exciting.

We then all went down to the space where we will be exhibiting to have a look.

Lost property Everyone look please

2010-04-06T16:54:00.001+01:00

Hello could everyone please send me there blog or website urls please so I can put them on the website? Thank you

Art in Unusual Spaces Lost Property question

2010-03-30T17:24:00.003+01:00

Do we have to put the Art in Unusual Spaces logo on the website and posters etc? Looked on website but doesn't say.

Slice Land and Leeds Met Exhibitions

2010-03-30T16:40:00.028+01:00

I attended the opening night of these two exhibitions.
Slice Land and The playground by Leeds Met.
I found Slice amazing, i loved how they used materials that they could get for free such as old newspapers and cardboard to decorate the exhibition space. As you came to the entrance of Slice there was a large board saying slice and as you went in there were programs on the floor for you to collect. Nothing fancy just folded up and when opened gave you routes to follow round the exhibition to make sure you saw everything as it is a large space. Following through there was a table with promo material on such a badges sticky note so you could write what institution you are from on. Also a map and stickers to stick on where you live in Leeds. To the left following the space round there was 3 very large robots that nearly reached the ceiling. The robots were made from cardboard and looked to be reinforced with metal paneling. But these robots were not just normal robots they were robots that you could stand in and pull leavers inside to turn lights on that was on the robots or to move its arms and you walked to push them round so you and Friends could chase each other. The space did have newspaper flag steamers going across the ceiling which market out where you could go up to with the robots so you didn't go too far with them into another stage of the exhibition.

The Playground Leeds Met

Leeds Met Selling Exhibition

Light night

2010-03-30T16:18:00.004+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Light night meeting presented by James Hill at the carriage works for the 2010 Leeds Light Night.
The meeting was around a hour and a half long. There were many influential people from the art scene in Leeds there and useful contacts to no for example Eleanor Barrett who runs Bradford Playhouse. The talk was quite informal but in a formal location as James pointed out but said it would be a waste of the space if we didn't use it. The talk was very informative about Light Night for this year giving a break down of the budget they have and how much people may get to help put there pieces on. Also he informed us all that they are trying to make Light Night smaller as it has gotten too big for the public to get to see everything. But he seemed unsure how he could do this as he also said they don't like to turn any ideas down whether they are polished final ideas or works in progress. He said the only way they could do it is just to not put everything in the program and to create walks that people can follow to get a range of what it happening during the night. James was very nervous and he admitted that which I completely understood as I am a nervous speaker too, but this made the meeting run slightly late. To try and get some of there £10,000 budget you apply and then if they like your idea you go to show them your pitch then they go through a strict marking criteria which depending on how many points you get determines how much money they give you. I am thinking of applying in a collaboration with The Skeleton Project we work well together and will be able to be more ambitious with our ideas. Overall James Hill's talk was very well put together in a good location, but the time of it was not suitable for all as it was at 2pm when allot of people still have work. But there still was a large turn out of about 50-100 people.

Lost Property

2010-03-30T16:09:00.004+01:00

Hi all the website address is lostpropertyleeds.com i haven't properly started the website yet I have chosen a notice board style background for the website as i thought it fitted in well with the theme this can change though. I have put on the website the name of the exhibition and the dates. And put a sign saying under construction just so people no it isn't finished. I am just waiting to here from Garry for a list of every ones URLs to there blogs to put on the sites before I do anything else thanks x

Dali

2010-02-20T12:06:00.006Z

The image above is a still from Dreams designed by Dali Spellbound.
Dali's work deals with dreams like Mayne and Laura's work is doing. I really like the large eyes in this still, very surreal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzxlbgPkxHE

The link above is to the video of Dreams designed by Dali in Spellbound 1945.

Review of the Leeds Art Walk

2010-02-07T12:56:00.005Z

I attended the Leeds Art Walk which started at 5.30pm at the Audrey Burton Gallery, A Discipline of the Mind: The drawings of Wilheimina Barns- Graham.

The exhibition was curated by Mel Gooding for The Pier Art Centre in collaboration with The Barns- Graham Charitable Trust. The mood here was really quiet people were arriving late because of the snow so it wasn't a very settled atmosphere.

The show was a series of drawings from Wilheimina's early work. The drawings and paintings were hung in different ways depending on the size and weight of the images. Some of the images were in normal black frames and were hung with simple picture hooks. Others, the more larger ones were hung from two long wires running up the wall. And others in frames were hung using two screws and hooks on the frames then painted over in white. There were two plinths both had glass boxes on top that were not lit and was just normal glass but were slotted into a lip on the plinth so the plinth framed the glass. They plinths were just lit up by the electric lights that were already in there and there was no natural light in there. The paintings and drawings were a mix of drawings of Lanzarote's volcanic landscape and drawings of the British countryside. The drawings were very simple kind of childlike some of them. I can appreciate that she recorded what was around her but these images were not to my taste. The talk Leeds University gave us was very academic and formal which I didn't expect. Also you could hardly hear the lady speak as she was really quiet.

The Art Walk at 6.15pm then moved on to Leeds Art Gallery with the woman running the art walk leaving most of us behind when she set off without telling us meaning we missed the talk at Leeds Art Gallery. The woman taking us round was not very organised at all. Leeds Art Gallery had a very unexciting feel as there was only our group there, there was no real energy in the room. At Leeds Art Gallery we saw the Northern art Prize which was a vast range of different works ranging from video, drawings, paintings and sculpture. Foe some of the video pieces boards had been put up and TVs had been mounted on them with no wires to be seen. The larger piece which was of a gig filled a whole room to give the experience of being at a gig. This piece you could see no wires as far as i could tell. It was very dark in there from what i could see the wires were hidden behind the wall. I loved this piece was amazing. In another room there was a range of plinths which had been lit up by the lights above it having stronger bulbs put it to really light them up. I didn't particularly like the pieces in this room, the work was a bit pretentious for my liking with the pieces such as two pencils shaved right down another piece was of an ash tray with a diamond in it. These pieces just didn't feel like allot of effort had gone into them in my opinion. The drawings and paintings that were hung up were hung with screws and and painted over to match the walls.

We then went on to the Howard Assembly Rooms: Janet Cardiff: Voices: The forty part Motet.

Here it was really over crowded and the lady giving us the talk was really quiet and I couldn't here what she was saying. But because it was so busy and because it was a Private view then it was really buzzing everyone was very excited. We walked in the and the room was lovely, polished wood that shone in the soft lit room. There was a circle of 40 speakers at head height. It was quiet, then slowly different instruments and voices started coming through the speakers working it's way round the room. It was beautiful the room really fitted the piece. The piece was designed so you could listen to an individual speaker and listen to one person as if a conversations was happening. The atmosphere was amazing people sharing the same experience in the same space. The speakers were all connected by wires on the floors, and all round the room in certain sections the wires were covered in black rubber so no one would trip on them. And black tape was placed round the speakers feet to show people where they were. But i did see someone nearly knock over a speaker taking the rest with it.

I loved this piece it was really relaxing and had a very good atmosphere.

Overall the Art Walk was poorly run, the organisation was not good and I don't feel that they showed the best of what was going on in Leeds now. 3 locations didn't really cover it. But the final stop at the private view was amazing I really enjoyed it.

Review of Wakefield Art Walk

2010-01-31T19:40:00.006Z

The walk was 5pm-9pm. We arrived at 5pm at the Cathedral but it wasn't set up yet. There was no times of the events on the leaflet. So we moved onto the next venue which was Mocca Moocho who told us they weren't doing the art walk tonight. We moved onto the Wakefield Museum which had an exhibition on and free wine. There was an interactive setup with household objects that we could re-arrange and take pictures.

This was very good the pictures you took you gave them it then it became part of the work as they were show on a TV next to this piece. The wall indented and laced with velvet with the fruit sat on it. It gave you instructions on what to do to get your picture in the work. The gold frame made it look like an old fashioned painting of fruit (still life).

As the map wasn't very accurate we asked for directions to Art of Oak which is an art shop with an exhibition space downstairs. We met the manager who explained to us that he doesn't really own the exhibition space to make a profit but uses it to bring more customers to the art shop. We were the first ones to visit this space, so he showed us round the exhibition space downstairs and gave us some free wine.

We then moved on to West Gate studios which is studio spaces where you could meet a number of artists in there studio space, exchange business cards and buy there work if you wanted to all with free wine. (But unfortunately my businesses cards I ordered hadn't come yet for this event, but will hand them out next time).

Makes neon signs. She was asked by Saga to make the sonic the hedgehog sign. Everything was hung up with pins and wires hanging down going to the sockets to have them all lit up for the art walk. Her space was amazing. Everything looked quite dangerous with wires everywhere. But it is her space but maybe taping some of the wires might have made it a bit safer with people coming round.

This piece was beautiful paper birds going down over several floors with the light hitting it it was lovely. They were hung with wire and tied at the top and bottom. The place it was put was perfect because as people was walking the staircase to see the studios they can see this all the way up and down.

We then moved to Interval Cafe at Wakefield Theatre, thankfully we knew where this was as the map was very inaccurate. There, there was free wine at the bar and painting all around and you could talk to the artists about there work, in this venue they were asking us to fill out feed back forms for this haven't.

We then went to the art house which again was a studio space we met a number of artists there was also a craft stall and free wine.

Our final stop was at the Cathedral and there was a band playing.

Overall there was a number of spaces we didn't get to and i think that the art walk may benefit from an optional tour so people can find all the venues. As the event runs from 5-9 there was too much for us to see in that time particularly with the map not been very accurate. However it is a really good night but would have benefited from more organising as the artists showing there work don't even know who organises the event or who runs the website. And maybe a should have taken a note book to jot everything down. Overall this event is good for making contacts and finding new venues.

Contacts:

Wakefield Theatre Royal - Janine Heseltine (engagement officer) (contact if your looking for an exhibition space)
01924 334 115
janine.heseltine@theatre royalwakefield.co.uk

Laura Slater (textiles designer/ maker)

www.lauraslater.co.uk
laura@lauraslater.co.uk
07929599215

Abu Jafar (visual Artist)
www.abujafar.com
01924312056

Kat Hall (visual artist)
07947 158978
k.hall@wakefield.ac.uk

Julia Peta Bickerstaff
Newworkshops.com
01924387999
info@neonworkshops.com

Glenis MA Fergus (visual artist)
07870885379
glenferdy49@blueyonder.co.uk

Rosemary Firth
firthrosemary@hotmail.com
01302 738377
www.gallery12a.com

If you want to find out more about Wakefield art walk go to www.artwalk.org.uk
(be warned the dates and day are slightly out but you can work them out )

Third Angel Alex Kelly art talk

2010-01-31T19:03:00.003Z

He talked about the relationship between art and science.
At this talk I met Paul Digby - Hybrid Co-worker and Alex Kelly Co - Worker of Third Angel.
Alex Kelly works with Rachel who is the other co - worker of Third Angel and they work together within a small network of people with different talents. Alex and Rachel nearly always work together and have a selection of people that they work with a rotate depending on what project they are working on. Alex sees his practice as a multi stranded practice where each section of it intertwines with each other.

Alex Kelly is obsessed with the Voyager Satellite program from the 1990's. He loves how samples from earth have been sent into space from our civilisation to hopefully show other forms of life how we live. The satellite contains 53 languages that we speak on earth and contains a drawing of a circle.

Book about this mission - 'Members of Earth' Reference only

In 1999 Dry Vulcan (a German company) collaborated with Third angel.

Show - Hang Up - He uses telephone boxes in this show as it fascinates him when sometimes you see someone in a phone box but when you walk by another time there could be no-one in it.

In 2001 Alex was invited by Tarisa Brayshaw to do a show with her students called "Of course it's a journey" For this show they all read a passage about the Voyager Satellite.

Book- Faster by James Gleick there's a section Alex calls the hurry sickness section

Alex Kelly and Rachel worked with scientists (Institute of Work Psychology Sheffield) to do a show called Keroshi. Alex said that artists and scientists get on well.
Alex said "We make shows the way they make experiments."
Keroshi means 'Death from over work' in Japanese.

In 2005 Third Angel aimed to slow a space down in Sheffield. The show was called standing alone standing together. A group of people wearing similar clothes occupying a space. It consisted of 3 1hr cycles.

To see there work visit thirdangel.co.uk

In 2006 he did a show called Presumption for this project the worked with Chris Thorpe and Rachel.

Book - 'Clock of the long now' It's a bout a clock built in the Arizona Desert that only ticks once a year.

He's also worked with Chris Hall film maker.

Alex said,
"I describe myself as a serial collaborator".

Group called Forced Entertainment video group.

The talk was very informative about the work and people he has been involved with. I learnt that it is better to work within a small community rather than by your self as then you can use different people talents depending on the project. The only downfall for me was he didn't mention how he got funding for these projects. I would have like to know that as i could have brought that information into my own practice. Overall a very interesting talk.

picasso

2010-01-27T08:58:00.003Z

A girl on a school trip fell into a £80million Picasso painting ripping a 6inch hole in it. The painting i think was called the anchor, and she had ripped the bottom of it so it didn't ruin the focal point of the piece.

Walks

2010-01-26T09:09:00.002Z

There is a Wakefield art walk tomorrow starting at 5pm finishing at 9pm.

Then next week on the 3rd of February there's the Leeds art walk.

Alex Kelly

2010-01-23T20:57:00.001Z

I'm off to see Alex Kelly's talk next Thursday if anyone fancies going?
Then I'm off to project space Leeds after for there opening night of a new exhibition i think.
I will re-read the details for that and let people know.

Native Americans

2010-01-22T09:09:00.001Z

Last night i also researched Native Americans and there beliefs about dreams. They believe that hanging a dream catcher above our beds will stop you having nightmares by the dream catcher blowing in the air and catching dreams. The good dreams know there way and pass through and slide down the feathers, the nightmares don't know there way and get tangled in the web of the dream catcher. Traditional dream catchers should be no bigger than the side of an adult hand, and is traditionally made from willow and owl feathers.

How dream catchers accrued is from a old story told by Native Americans many generations ago of a woman who had a spider in her bedroom who had been spinner her web for days. The old woman's son came in the room saw the spider and was going to kill it. the old woman stopped him. The spider said to the old woman thank you for stopping him and in return i will give you a gift. The spider span its web across her window to let in the good drama and stop the nightmares and that was his Giffy that she would be able to sleep and only have good dreams. The tale is where the dream catcher came from. People now hang them above there beds and have small ones above there children's beds to they only have good dreams.
The link for this story in full is below.

www.allsands.com/religous/nativeamerican_zed_gn.htm

Dreams

2010-01-22T09:00:00.001Z

Today more research on dreams needed. Last night i started researching about the science of dreams and found that we don't sleep to save or store energy for the next day because during a night we only save about 50calories which is like a slice of toast. Scientists don't really know why we sleep. But they know that without sleep we cant eat, drink, think or talk properly. But they don't really no why that is. Below is the link i got my info from.

www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/articles/whatissleep.shtml

Also if you want to do the sleep pro filer questionnaire to see if your getting enough sleep go to the link below.

www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/profiler/

Call For Artists

2010-01-21T19:50:00.003Z

Saw this today call for artists on LVAF for Grassington Festival in North Yorkshire the link is below.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lvaf/message/5853

New

2010-01-21T19:01:00.000Z

This is all very new to me. Im not quite sure what im doing on here yet. Today iv started researching dreams, looking at Freud and other artists in a booked called Dreams, science art and the uncounscious mind. Iv also started looking at Ernst and how these artist have recorded there feelings about dreams.

Today i read about a photographer called Palestinian Mahmoud Hamdan took a photograph of a bolt of lightning hitting the tallest sky scarper in the world as he watched a storm in Dubai. The photograph looks amazing as you can see each individual line going towards the peak of the skyscraper.
(Source Metro)

Also The Tete De Femme painted in 1963 has been hidden from the public for nearly 40years and goes on sale at Christies in London next month and may go for up to 4million.
(Source Metro)

New project

2010-01-20T16:27:00.000Z

New project will be based arouns dreams. Me and Laura are collaborating on this project. If anyone can suggest any films or books to look at that would be greats thanks.