My Interview at the end of the degree show.

SPRING'S AWAY

It has been a very busy winter period for myself and family what with a whole house refurbish, Spring gardening catch up and a new baby on the way, my daughter's baby not mine and season of catching up with friends, family and work.

Spring always makes me sit back and think how life starts anew, a new beginning, fresh leaves and buds forcing their way through the tired wintered wood on the bushes and trees. Animals foraging for scraps of food and birds making nests for their new recruits. The dormancy of Winter is waning and the sun is getting higher and warmer. This feeling invigorates my inner juices and thrives to make me at one with nature, a sense of insignificance compared to all that is happening around me but then realising that I too have changed over the Winter months and that I must grow this year too, hopefully creatively and not portly.

 What is on our doorstep that we take for granted.

New life forming from the frosts of Winter.

My sketches must grow like the seeds planted into fresh soil, I fertilize my sketches with ideas and surroundings and these too must be nurtured and fed enabling them to grow into pieces of work that I can connect with the outside world. I say the outside world because as an artist I feel that I see the world differently to others and that my eyes capture images in a light familiar only to myself . My family and friends have often say that I live in 'Baz's Bubble'; this bubble being my escape from the 'Normal World' and 'Society' that surrounds me and that I only allow certain people to experience my tranquil domain; in other words I am off with the fairies at the bottom of the garden. Whether or not this is a combination of autistic qualities, peace time and selective hearing that is left to the individual to decide, however I like to call it 'Artistic Temperament'.

 Reflective lights catching my eyes during a sunny spring morning.

I just thought this would be a nice way to start the Blog for this season and to capture the new beginnings, a new start, a new me. I also had a print selected in February for the Ferens Gallery Open Exhibition in Hull, it is one of my old prints from college during my first year, it seems to be doing the course on the gallery circuit so I will let it flow as this gets my name around. Some of my college mates had their work selected too which was great, nice to know we are still creating and exhibiting collectively again.

The Journey Continues 15th November 2013

Well my how time flies as they say... it has been 5 months again since my last blogging, I really must get on line more. So where have I been?? mmm now there is a question I need to think about... where shall I start. Well actually it is not that hard, I have been at home for most of the time, catching up with friends and family that I have neglected over the past 4-6 years whilst being at uni. I started my summer off by building a large run for my rabbits, once this was done then the addition of some guinea pigs was to follow. I have fenced the whole garden off too, made a pergola archway into a little relaxing garden that was never used until I made it private.

My little princess granddaughter came to stay with us for a week and it was a pleasure to have her, she was no trouble at all, she loved all the animals it was like her won little Petting zoo. Mum came over for a few days too and it was nice to feel human again.

I exhibited some of my past work in the 20-21 gallery in Scunthorpe from July- Sept and in the Ropewalk gallery at Barton. It was a nice feeling to have my work in a public place and have them under scrutiny by the general public. I did however miss the Abbey walk open due to deadline dates and such forth but will try for that exhibition next year.

As for creating, well I have jotted a few ideas down and experimented with different mediums whilst in the summer sun. I have made a larger fish pond for the fish as they were growing too large for the fountain pool; it was never meant to have fish in it, it was supposed to have been a water feature.. ooops! with this new pond I used my creativity to make fake stonework on the exterior walls and paint effects into the cement. I found it very arty and I am really pleased with the outcome.

Now the colder weather is here I am working indoors and putting my creative talents into dare I say it... designing my bedroom. But this being an old house the plaster and mortar dropped from the walls and what was to be a 3 day job is now a three week saga. but hey I am getting there.

Then it was the INSIGHT weekends at college. It was a good two weekends with plenty of footfall. along with my colleagues we set up the print room with past works and areas to demonstrate and let guest have a go at printing themselves. Brilliant enthusiastic people made the insight work great, there were plenty of other activities going on around the campus too and well done to all who made it a success again.

I did apply for a job at the college as a specialist practitioner in creative arts, I made it to the interview stage and alas that was the end... but I will not give up, I will keep my eyes peeled for another position in the future. shame really, that print room had my name all over it ahaha


And last but not least how could I forget..... Ta Daaaahhhh. The Graduation Ceremony.... WOW.. that was a day mixed with all emotions, a feeling of overwhelming excitement, fear, pride, sadness and did I say PRIDE! I felt like i could hold my head up and light up a thousand cities with the beam of pleasure on my face. It was like a well tuned production line of graduating students all there with their friends and families watching over them in their crowning glory, it was a day I will never forget. I was interviewed by the university centre, the Cleethorpes chronicle and the Grimsby telegraph. I was exhausted. I even had real tears of emotion and my legs nearly gave way whilst walking onto the stage to accept my First class degree, get in there.... brilliant day, up there with my best memories.

Well what now?? time for Christmas and shopping and some more overeating I guess... OHHH DEAR.. then sort out the house for my studio to be worked in once more. I really like the modern art and being different but I have a feeling that not all the galleries follow that yearning, in theory maybe... it seems that the more traditional art makes the forefront so my printing may have to come out of the closet once more... I feel that inside contacts may have to be made for the more contemporary art to make it in the galleries.. well around this area anyway, mmm perhaps there is a niche there somewhere...?. Well enough of my blabbing, no wonder I only update this every 5 months, it take me a full morning to type it up ahahhaha.

A Video of my recent installation at my degree show. 3rd-10th June 2013

The final entry as a degree student 6th June 2013

It has been over five months since the last catch up and as I wanted to keep my ideas a little closer to my chest this last semester.  My thoughts and concepts were to capture the audience in a segment of my thoughts and memories utilising the degree space as an installation.  I wanted to use sound and motion within my final piece along with sculpture and light and some of the ideas based around the last successful semester's work.

The dissertation took me on a journey and away from my work for a while which I knew it would, but regardless I carried on making, casting, cutting, painting and planning ready for the assembly when the degree show set up began.  I really loved researching and writing my dissertation, I found it challenging but enjoyed it all.  Research always bothered me and all I wanted to do was create, but I found I had to drag myself away from my books to get creative which is something I had never encountered before. However it all proved to be worth it in the end, and when the dissertation was handed in then a sigh of relief filled my whole being, only for a short fragment of time as now I realised it was time to get cracking with the installation ideas. 

The sounds I use are all my own doing as I like to experiment with my own voice rather than use anyone else. I did however use a colleagues voice on some background chanting (Sue Riemer). The sound piece that accompanies my installation is an important part of my work, it is a key fundamental foundation for the room to work. I wanted to narrate the written narrative around the subject of behaviour whilst at the same time capture and portray events that I remembered as a child in the background. By keeping these events and elements low key, implicit and ambiguously in the background it only hinted to the viewers that are paying attention. 

I created a new set of fret worked pieces that were to hang on the walls, these are far more complex than they first appear. they need careful planning and consideration as once the voids are cut away from the sheets of wood then the piece becomes really fragile and under extreme pressure to bend, warp and snap. I made four sections of these which incorporated some poetry I had written about myself and the possible impressions people had of me and why I was like that, or more to the point; what behaviour made me like that. Peoples behaviour when I was young is what made me who I am today and I would imagine more or less everyone is the same, we respond to our surroundings and how we are treated. From this point on I wanted to work with materials that were also responding to actions of others and see how they changed. By using plaster which is powder mixed with water to make a solid, resin which is two liquids resin and catalyst making a solid and black lighting and ultraviolet chroma in paints to make light. each one of these items started off as something else and they were changed due to the addition of something else, they are behaving to the introduction of another element, but this changes the natural state from which they started; ergo the metaphor for me.

By bringing all these elements together and also mixing some of the opposing elements this gave me some unusual results. I used the casts of my face to introduce myself into the piece, these pieces however are broken and have segments missing, none of the faces have ears as the words that were heard should never have been, the eyes are not whole as the happenings should never have been seen and the lips are all sealed as the deeds could not be spoken about and no one could know.

All in all the piece worked better that I had anticipated and seemed to draw attention on the opening of the degree exhibition. Visitors have been and come back just to have another look at all the work in there. We have also had some marvellous comments that just make it all worth it, the question is what happens next? ! well we will just have to wait and see....!

(The following images are from the degree show and have been taken by various people including Chris Lillywhite, Ben Hallett, Karen Weston and myself Barrie Hughes). 

 My work is the blue work by the way....