This has been a busy month for me. On one side I have spent lots of time reviewing my work, seeking feedback from others and more importantly and stopping to consider how I think of my work and progress. Such questions while interesting in the OCA degree space provide insight into future challenges I will face in the outside world. I have found the exercises in the course notes very helpful this month asking me to test the timing, tempo and pace of my planning, thinking of obstacles to progress and of plans to overcome such blocks and thinking about working with others, showcasing my work and other opportunities.
Engagement with others is a fluid task. I have no direct control over how others work and their own tempo or timelines so having reached out, there are often periods where nothing appears to be happening. Then, if responses come back, I am left with a surge of work I need to do. An example of this is the artist’s residency I applied for in Italy. The acceptance came back a few days ago and this triggers new tasks and planning. I need to book flights and bus or rail travel and look at how to get from the airport to the site of residency. I need to consider the language barrier of being in residence at small Italian village so have signed up for online Italian course which I hope will provide me with some basics. I have started to research previous artists who have been in residence at this location and to learn from their experiences.  I also need to apply for funding for the residency with the OCA and Creative Scotland. My request to these funding bodies will be good skills to develop going forwards as an artist and I can imagine is something I will utilise again. All of this needs to be documented into my learning log.
There are new skills to learn from my creative test pieces too such as how to transfer my work onto the wood of a see-saw whether using laser transfers, wraps or cyanotypes. I need to find time for this within my work load.
On a personal level, my father is now aged 94 and his health is deteriorating and as he approaches the end of his life this presents challenges for me in terms of emotional and time. My own health been suffering over past few months with challenges over a slipped disc in my neck, with being put on statins for early heart disease and with my diabetes has been needing more monitoring and careful nurturing. At the back of these things, my project and how this interrelates with other things in my life comes with the potential for mental health challenges. Interesting to consider where all of these things fit with me as a person and with my art practice.

Review these Enterprise Hub resources:

• Opportunities
• Showcasing your work
• Working with others

Articulate your progress clearly and concisely against each of these headings. Reflect on any challenges and action areas.

Record your findings in your learning log.

This aspect of my final project has been one of most challenging for me and there is much still to be done in this area.

On the positive side

• I have looked at external opportunities such as joining a professional organisation based in the field of death studies and have engaged with them regarding my dissertation and a potential interview.
• I have applied and been accepted for an artist’s residency.
• I am investigating funding with Creative Scotland and will also look at the OCA Enterprise funding.

On the negative side

• I have not submitted any work for Open Calls or competitions.
• I have not yet engaged with gallery spaces.
• I realise that I need more engagement with others to help build my practice. I need to engage with the wider world to help build my experience and confidence and to help build networks.

Some of the interaction I am looking for will come from my artist’s residency and with engaging with curators and other participants. The same applies to me joining the Association for the Study of Death and Society but there is more I can do.

I have started to investigate digital exhibition spaces such as Kunstmatrix, Artsteps and Artplacer. I will use these tools to develop an online exhibition test space where I can explore how an exhibition will look and feel and which will offer some public shop window for my work.

My biggest challenge is with physical exhibition spaces. Initially I wondered about gallery space in local hospitals having seen other artworks displayed in the corridors. I had some feedback that my work represents a challenging sense of life and death and that hospitals might not be the best place to display such work. Should my audience be able to stumble across my work by accident as they are sick or are visiting their sick relatives or friends? It also might be the case that hospitals would be reluctant to have such work on show. As I thought about this, I pushed my own thoughts of where to display my work onto a back burner requiring more thought. I am conscious that gallery space is booked up, sometimes a year or more in advance, so it is possible that I won’t be able to display my work in a real gallery setting within the confines of my 3.3 unit. I will give this aspect of my exhibition much more thought and will try and search out suitable spaces, perhaps not for my whole concept but instead for smaller aspects of my work. This might also tie in with submissions for open calls or competitions.

Review material and spatial aspects of your working practices. Are your working conditions supporting you as best as they can be? Do you have the resources, access to time, materials, peer support and external engagement that you and your projects need to creatively progress? 

Articulate your progress clearly and concisely including any obstacles, areas needing action and strategies to help overcome these. 

Record your findings in your learning log.

This exercise poses interesting questions thinking of any obstacles, areas which need actions and strategies I might use to overcome these areas of concern. It is something I will return to in the coming weeks and months.

My working conditions seem to me to be fine although of course time is always an issue. I am building a collection of artworks which are meaningful to me and which could be used in my final submission. There is more work to be done especially as regards the see-saw which imagine at the centre of my exhibition and I need to consider which materials and processes to use for the wooden board. I bought this piece of scaffold to use to test my ideas. I had hoped to start my tests in the past few weeks but there has been a succession of yellow warnings for heavy rain and so I have yet to start my tests.

At the start of this unit, I marked down in my list of new skills to develop, sound and video production. As my work in 3.3 has been progressing I have not added either of these aspects to my practice, not because I am not interested in these areas, but because this didn’t feel right for me at this time and for this iteration of my project. However, having said that, I have been investigating applying for a grant for my artist’s residency in Italy to help cover my travel, accommodation and time costs. I have made contact with Creative Scotland who have provided very helpful advice and have confirmed that as a part-time student, I am eligible to apply for funding provided the proposed activity is unrelated to my academic studies. It might be that when I put in a funding request that sound comes back to the fore to introduce some separation between my academic studies and my major project and with my continues interest in death studies and in the investigation of memorial and attitudes towards death in another country.

The title of this month’s project 4 of First Edit, initially had me worried. My work is progressing but am I ready to produce an initial edit at point 4 of 10? My answer was initially  no although after some thought and reflection I changed this to yes, I can produce an ‘initial’ edit. In summary then I can say that my planning is progressing well but not without challenges. The tempo and pace of my Major Project is much more dependent on external factors than I initially envisioned at the start of the 3.3 unit. I have been working on making and refining my images so that when I come to a final selection, I will have a good number of quality images which mean something to me and yet will not immediately or obviously show my audience a final intention or design. I have been utilising peer feedback to help me refine these images. This part of my project feels under control. To act as a fulcrum for my images I have been thinking of an installation of a see-saw at the heart of my project. This will act as a centrepiece around which my images will be shown. I asked for some initial feedback on this idea from peers and from my tutor just to test my thinking about this and to see if I am barking up the wrong tree as regards a final project for a photography degree. I have to be careful as the installation is not designed to be a greater part of my project than my images but I see it as another way to explore the liminal threshold. The see-saw will provide a link to children and will show the balance at the liminal threshold of death. I have purchased some old scaffold board which is 2.5m long.

I have some photographs I took in Skye on St Columba’s Island which is burial site for the Bishops of the Isles. I mention this site as it contains some interesting effigies carved onto slabs which lie on the ground. The effigies show warriors in armour and helmet with sword. I was drawn to these slabs and the pictures I took popped into my mind as I thought of decoration for the see-saw. A more detailed description of this site can be found on the Journal of the Clan MacNicol of North America. (Nickelson, 2015, pp. 14–16)  I can experiment with maybe using cyanotype impressions onto the wood or perhaps laser transfers or wraps. The feedback on this idea from my tutor was that while idea is very interesting this came with a warning about not forcing my ideas. With this in mind, I have also approached my local council to see if they have any old see-saws which have been removed from play parks. Using such a piece of play equipment might be more effective in representing my ideas rather than building something new. I was able to speak with someone on local council and they happy to supply such equipment as long as I agree not to raise health and safety concerns by actually using this as a piece of play equipment. When I said this would be for an art exhibition this seemed to settle any nerves. While there is nothing currently in stock, they expect to have some equipment later in the summer.

I have also been looking at two pieces of work to support my own project which again need external input. I joined the Association for the Study of Death and Society as a way of growing my network on contacts with an interest in death studies. I was discussing my work and one aspect of discussion was in how many people are drawn into this field having experienced loss. I have been asked to submit my dissertation with a view to possible inclusion in their journal called Mortality. I have also been asked if I would like to be interviewed for a podcast. I mentioned this in my last feedback session with my tutor. An interesting thought is that such an interview walks a tightrope between my personal experience of why I started work in this field, namely the death of my daughter and the work which has grown from this starting point. Such an interview needs to keep in mind that Rebecca was my starting point and not the whole of my experience with my research and creative works which dissect the loss I have experienced and present a wider body of work.

Finally, I found a place which shares many similarities with my own work and experiences which offers residencies. The Museum of Loss and Renewal has a site in Orkney and in Italy and in their own words, “provide space and contexts for making and sharing, nurtured by artists and curators Tracy Mackenna and Edwin Janssen.  I have applied for a 2-week residency during which I want to explore how my experiences influenced by the loss of my daughter feels in another land with different attitudes to death and memorial. While death itself is a universal constant, such a residency would give scope to explore this topic from a different angle.  I have made early contact with Creative Scotland about the potential for a grant so when I hear back on my application, I can then pursue this financial aspect.

Post script – as I write this an email arrived and I have been accepted for this residency for the first two weeks in July. Some interesting feedback given from the curator Tracy Mackenna who is also Professor Emerita at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design; “Your work is highly engaging, as is the way that you describe it. Your motivation for wishing to undertake a period in residence is compelling and relevant, and I thank you for sharing your personal experience of loss.” An exciting development which I will need to think of in regards to my plan. For example, as the residency is in rural Italy, should I attempt to learn some basic Italian so I can interact with locals? Should I approach this residency with an open page and mind and with no preconceptions as I immerse myself in a new location and experience? Or should I form looser detailed plans on how to spend my time? I think I will do some research on other artists and their approach to residencies. I will also look at whether there is a local teacher of Italian or if I can do this online. An interesting, if unrelated aside is that before Alzheimer’s my mother was learning Italian.

References

Nickelson, J. (2015) ‘A Brief History and Archaeology of St. Columba’s Isle at Skeabost’, Scorrybreac: The Journal of Clan MacNicol of North America, 31(1), pp. 14–17.