Future Plans
My decision to do my MFA has truly been a huge turning point for my career as an artist and has affirmed my desire to continue developing my Practise as a professional artist.
Following the MFA course I am interested in pursuing a Practise based PhD. In order to be ready I feel I need more time and guidance, specifically in relation to theory and writing skills while still developing my practise. I have therefore applied to the MRes Theory and Philosophy course at Central St Martins to start this year September.
Should I be accepted and alongside developing my practise I plan to continue participating in as many exhibitions and competitions as I can. The next competition in the most recent future is the Sunday Times watercolour competition, of which I will hear if I made the shortlist in the next few weeks.
I am fortunate that I have enough space for a small studio/living space to continue my work from home and should I be accepted into the MRes I would still have access to workshops.
My future in London is also dependant on the renewal my student visa (should I be accepted into the MRes).
I am also currently developing a collective with other fellow artists Magda and Belinda. We are at the early stages planning the overall aims, objectives and proposal for the next exhibition and looking for studio space as well as potential exhibition spaces. This I would like to further develop and establish following the MFA graduation and alongside the MRes course(ideally).
MFA graduate show 2019
The MFA post graduate show is the final and most important part of the MFA course.
In preparation for the show we split up into teams to share the work load. The teams included design, curation, marketing, finance, invigilation etc.
Key Skills
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Time management - meeting deadlines and getting the work finished and installed in time.
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Marketing- I was on the marketing team where our role was to ; create online event through social media platforms, update events and advertise participating artists, send exhibition invitations and event reminders as well as an MFA website.
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Installation- setting up works and assisting with others
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Curation- assisting with curation where the works fit best in relation to other works and the dialogue they create.
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Collaboration- learning to with others
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Communication - good communication skills are needed to ensure a good foundation as a team, expressing ideas and intentions
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Heath and Safety - meeting the safety requirements that the work oil installed properly for public viewing.
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Events- creating events throughout the course of exhibition such as artist crits, panel discussions etc
Cabinet
I was delighted to be invited to participate in a group exhibition called Cabinet, curated my alumni Jenny Timmer.
The exhibition took place at Espacio Gallery in East London in April 2019.
Key skills
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Collaboration- A key skill to learn how to adapt to situations and to amicably work alongside other artists
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Marketing- I was responsible for creating an online event and presence using social media platforms. I also through the event page would every second day update the event by sharing information about the show and the artists participating.
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Curation- assisting with curation
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Installation- meeting the requirements and abiding to the gallery restrictions eg- no drilling the walls etc
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Presentation- this was an important turning point for me, as I work on paper I usually in the past have been experimenting with magnets. For this exhibition I realised that magnets was not an ideal way and would need to figure out a way to present works on paper in a way that would keep the paper absolutely flat.
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Communication- to develop good communication between artists participating, curator, gallery members and the public.
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Time management- this I found to be challenging as the exhibition took place in April, a very busy time for me as I was also preparing work for my graduate exhibition. I did however manage to meet all deadlines.
Review
Following the exhibition, I received an email from a journalist whom I had met at the exhibition (not knowing she was a journalist). The email stated that she thoroughly enjoyed the show and decided to write an article about the exhibition and a few of the other artists that participated in the show.
Review. l.php
Postopia
Postopia was an exhibition organised by the Uncovered Collective and took place at The Ugly Duck in central London.
We were given a specific brief based on the effects of technology within a contemporary framework.
I relation to the brief I created a work specifically fitted to the theme but still maintaining a close relationship to the research of my practise.
Key Skills
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Research- developing key research skills in relation to the brief
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Writing- developing a professional document proposing the idea and plan of your work
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Installation- abiding to the gallery restrictions and requirements (no drilling in walls etc), assisting others to install their work.
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Time management - meeting deadlines, completing the work on time, installing on time
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communication- good communication skills needed to converse between others artists, installation team, gallery and the public. It is also important to be able to speak about and describe your work and the context of the show.
'Who Will Provide'
'Who will provide' was a big group exhibition organised by the entire 2nd year MFA group and was held at the Crypt Gallery St Pancreas Church in Euston London.
In Preparation we split up into teams of administration, marketing, design, curation, installation, invigilation, the synopsis
I was part of the curating team where my first task was to write questions for the artists asking them to give a general overview of what their work was about, how it responded to the brief, specifying as well as an image of work or plan and how they would like it installed.
I went through each artists individual proposal and liased with the rest of the curating team how certain works communicated with each other as well as those that did not. We also had some issues with sizes of some of the proposed artworks and had to communicate with the artists our concerns etc.
I also got in touch with the gallery for a floor plan in order to start preparing where and how certain artworks would go as well as to allocate certain spaces for site specific works.
This floor plan was also needed for the handouts given to the public providing information about the exhibition and a map showing where each artists works were situated with in the gallery.
It was also the responsibility of the curating team to work a out a list of all the tools needed for the installation team to bring as well as discussing with them how the works were to be installed.
Once all the artworks were in the gallery space we had to work out and arrange which artworks worked where in relation to aesthetic, the space itself and how each artwork communicated in juxtaposition to one another.
I also assisted with installation and was also important to communicate with the public about the show and each artists work in response to the brief and the space.
Key Skills;
communication with fellow artists, the public and gallery manager, organization, collaboration, curating, installation
'Beyond The Pale'
'Beyond the Pale' was an eternal exhibition organised by several fellow artists from the MFA course and was held at the Loft Space in Croydon at the Whitgift shopping centre in August 2018.
The organisation of the show was a group effort consisting of various organisation skills that needed to be done to ensure the success of the show. This included administration in finding a space followed by emails of a proposal to various gallery spaces, a brief of what the show was about, curation, installation, marketing, design of poster, flyers, floor plan and hand outs.
As we were a small group many meetings were held to discuss our course of action.
One of my responsibilities was to write the synopsis stating the context of the show making sure it was cohesive to the practice of all the chosen artists exhibiting in the show.
Being a small group it was also a team effort to curate, install and It was a team effort in I also assisted in curation, installation and invigilation.
The show was open for one week.
Key Skills;
Writing a brief, curating, collaboration, administration, communication skills, installation, managing deadlines, getting the space ready(cleaning and painting the walls)
It was also important to be able to communicate with the public and viewers about each artists work in relation to the exhibition as well as each person's personal practice.
Group exhibition
‘Conflict ‘ at Chelsea College of Art
1st Feb 2018- 8 Feb 2018
A group exhibition curated and collaborated by the 1st year MFA February 2018
To organise this exhibition, we had group meetings discussing ideas, theme of exhibition and how it was going to work.
Narrowing down ideas we eventually voted on the final theme 'conflict', which I thought was a very fitting theme as collaborating an exhibition with 37 artists in a tiny space can have its challenges.
We decided to all work within the boundaries of a 12"x12" format.
Splitting into teams, we all shared the responsibilities, skills and tasks needed to successfully curate, install, promote and manage an exhibition.
I thought that the work held well together and was well executed.
It seemed like a great turn out at the private view however not many visitors thereafter (something to improve on in relation to promoting one's work as artists)
Key Skills
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Research- developing key research skills in relation to the brief
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format- working to a specific size
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Time management - meeting deadlines, completing the work on time.
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communication- good communication skills needed to converse between others
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invigilation - taking it in turns to invigilate form the duration of the exhibition