Feedback Point 8

Submit your mock-up and introductory text on the Major Project forum for peer feedback.
Write a reflective commentary that summarises the cohort’s response and your implementation of the feedback. Also include a self-reflection of how you will undertake your final adjustments.

Once complete, share a link to your learning log via the Photography 3.3: Major Project Forum and the Feedback Point 8 thread, available via the Photography Department. Whilst there, feel free to access and provide feedback on fellow students’ posts.

Upon completion of this activity, you may continue onto the next project and this assignment will be retrospectively marked as complete shortly afterwards.

I note that I didn’t have access to all of the units forums and had to ash the Tech Team to make some changes to my permissions. My post showing a PDF document of my Iamge Sequence along with peer feedback appears on the PH6MPT Unit Forum . For completeness, I also posted the PDF document onto the Feedback Point 8 although this post has no feedback because I suspect that like me, nobody on the unit has access to this forum.

My mock-up of my major project works in parallel with the continuation of my creation and editing process alongside thinking hard about the titles of my works and how the titles sit within my project as a tool to direct the flow of my work and to explain things which aren’t immediately obvious in my visual work.

Write a reflective commentary that summarises the cohort’s response and your implementation of the feedback. Also include a self-reflection of how you will undertake your final adjustments.

I presented a mockup with my images to date in order an introduction, with titles for my work and text explaining the work. I ended with a section I called what else. I show the text elements of this document below:

Mock up

My post to the 3.3 forum is at the following link:

https://learn.oca.ac.uk/mod/hsuforum/discuss.php?d=6875

For completeness I also show the PDF document that I shared with my peer group for this month’s project.

Image sequencing at Project 8 Download

I show below the text which accompanies my images bot the image titles and additional text

Initial work to introduce my project, “Hospital time runs very slowly”

This image is obviously of a hospital corridor. I took this photograph in the long evenings when I walked these corridors when my children being treated.

“My view from my daughter’s hospital room”

It is interesting how perspective changes if I provide this information.

“My daughter’s view”

The previous image showed the view from the hospital window. It was my view. Rebecca was often bed-bound because of the pain so her perspective of her hospital room was a very different sense from mine. It is interesting how perspective changes.

“I have Never Taken the Lid Off Rebecca’s Memory Box”

A shot of the memory box Rebecca filled with objects precious to her when she knew she was dying.

“The Precipice”

This work shows the mixture of discomfort expressed through fear of heights yet at the same time shows a happy child with arms spread unafraid of the drop.

“The Precipice”

This work shows the mixture of discomfort expressed through fear of heights yet at the same time shows a happy child with arms spread unafraid of the drop.

“Scatter”

My video shows ash falling. This work re-creates the spreading of Rebecca’s ashes. The stones are river pebbles collected from the same location. I continue to refine and test variations of this work. As I want to shoot it outdoors, my work is subject to things outwith my control such as rain and especially the wind. I like this element that is outside my control but it makes the work difficult to make. I have been looking to change the backdrop and remove the pebbles so that we just see the ash falling. I have also experimented with different materials other than ash to change how the ‘ash’ appears to fall. I have to be careful as I make these changes. I question whether my aim is something more aesthetically ‘pleasing’ or whether my work should retain a sense of ‘strangeness’?

“The abruptness of death”

The photograph has been corrupted to simulate the passage of time both deliberately and accidentally. contrast and accidentally. The red section was a glitch and expresses the idea that death for many of us is sudden and out of our control.

“Looking Back at Life”

“The Significance of Death”

We might imagine ourselves to be individuals but death is a universal constant. Each person looks towards the liminal threshold as if they have a single mind.

“Letting Go”

My see-saw is a simple installation but is one which has been a total pain in the neck trying to get this over the line. I have a metal balance on hold from East Lothian Council but it looks nothing like a traditional see-saw. I have approached another supplier who is going to post me a hinge although our conversation is taking forever. My current plan is to build my own see-saw. I have the wood to do this and just need to construct some kind of balance. I have experimented with decoration, looking at cyanotypes on wood and at laminated of some slab gravestones to place on the wood. These tests for me seemed to muddle the concept of the see-saw representing children and balance so I plan to leave this as bare wood with the metal bracing which was part of plank when used as scaffold board. Am interested in how this object will look in a gallery setting. I thought of Tracy Emin’s bed when shifted from the bedroom to a sterile white gallery space. Similarly, Marcel Duchamp’s famous Fountain, moved from realm of

Introduction

“My art has grown from a place of sorrow and the trauma of grief following the death of my daughter. I struggle with this theme of loss, creating visual works based around the media of photography which allow me to externalise my feelings and to speak not just of my own personal experiences but also look to the wider universal constant. The richness of my memory of my daughter, my engagement with her death and my gradual acceptance and understanding of grief means that my work is emotionally charged but with a palette which has relevance for the wider society. I begin with the straightforward depiction of place and time before shifting to more conceptual works which attempt to describe loss and ask questions about mortality. “

functional porcelain into the art gallery with the simplest date and signature on the side.

What else?

I am at the stage now where if I were a painter, I might wonder if I go any further, might I overwork my idea? Is less more? I have other ideas, but I wonder whether my project needs anything else to tell its story. My tutor suggested the possibility of a companion project separate from this main one. I have been thinking about this and whether this might complement my main project and whether this could act as a counterbalance to tell a slightly different story. I have contacted my chosen gallery to find a suitable date and will be interested if there is any space for me to bring some of my works to the space to test them in situ and for me to get a sense of scale. This exercise might determine what I do with this second project. I would also like to try a selection of different ways to show my work, whether using some form of basic frame and mount or a basic surface mount, whether just taping my work to the wall or using a hidden method of attaching the works to the wall. I am drawn to artwork mounted on wood which is trimmed to the same size as the print. I have wondered about using wood or different colours of Perspex or other materials.

I have also investigated samples from The Newspaper Club in Glasgow and think that a simple 55gsm broadsheet or tabloid publication to accompany my exhibition would sit well. I saw another artist who had printed up business cards and had a selection of prints for sale in a rack as well as a price list for the works on the wall. I would have to think about each of these elements to see if I wanted to go down this route.

Peer Feedback

The first comment was from Caroline Black. She though that my initial 4 pictures of the corridor, view from the hospital window, Rebecca’s bedside and the memory box sent the viewer on a journey without knowing what the specific outcome might be. Some of the story could be inferred by hospital location. Some seemed to tell a story visually and some needed the prick of the title. Image 4 of the memory box was thought to be especially poignant with comment about the heartache, “the inclusion of the titles gives a very clear understanding to the viewer. It places this work as a heartbreaking personal experience.” (Black, 2024). There was a comment made on my use of black and white for the memory box image, which was thought to separate it from the first 3 images: the first 3 in colour when Rebecca was alive and image 4 after she was dead. I hadn’t considered this point of life and death, before and after, in these pieces, so that was an interesting revelation for me. My work then shifts gear to become more conceptual. Caroline considered that my ‘straight’ images lay the foundation for my later works. The titles for these conceptual works were of more importance to guide the viewer through the sequence.

The next review from Barry touched on the introductory text. He thought that my text was “honest, personal and somehow engaging.” (Rourke, 2024) There was very interesting thought on my titles, which were said to widen my work to let others in. I worry about how much I said in my supplementary text and if this has guided my audience too much. In my final exhibition I wouldn’t have any supplementary text other than project introduction and titles for my works. There was a very strong, almost visceral response to my question on whether I introduce some of my album images and objects related to loss as a supplemental exhibition next to my main work. “PLEASE do not then dilute my engagement by offering other, different pictures. If they add to your narrative fine, but this an exhibition, not a retrospective.” (Rourke, 2024) This a very important point. My narrative and the story I tell is key and is the function of this work. Anything which detracts from that clarity must be rejected.

We are a small group on 3.3 and the third and final piece of feedback was from Giorgio Colonna. Giorgio thought my titles were very powerful and offered an entry point to my work, “emotional entry point and contextualize the images in a way that deepens their meaning. The titles enhance your visual narrative, making it more personal and specific. I think your titles elevate the emotional depth of your project, helping to anchor each piece within the larger context of loss, memory, and mortality.” (Colonna, 2024) Again I worried I had said too much and given too much away with my text. Giorgio agreed with Barry on the dangers of overworking or diluting the emotional impact which at the same time thought there might be an interesting counterpoint here.

Reflective Summary

This was nice feedback from a privileged group who are familiar with my work as it has developed and with my back story. After I received the feedback and reviewed the comments made, I had regrets about providing additional text to explain my work and choices. However, in saying this, my peer group are not strangers to my work and so already have a vantage point over my work which the general public would not have. I think I have tried to make my work ‘easier’ in terms of understanding what I am communication but also with respect top the emotional impact. This is the first adjustment I will make. Trying to refine any text, including my titles, which accompany my creative works. I agree with the strength of the comment about not compromising my work and my narrative by adding too much. As with the text, less is more. I was pleased with the comments on the change in pace between straight works and my conceptual pieces. This was confirmation that my concept was viable. I was surprised that there was no comment on the content of my selection, whether my peers thought there were gaps or if any works said too much or repeated a message and so were surplus to requirements. This is something I am actively considering.

My peers are a privilidged group and quite different from the wider public who have no background experience of my project nor do they know anything about me. I worried about the public for a long time and how they might respond to my work. It is important to consider that whatever I want the public to know before they see my work, I will have to tell them. The rest is information they can work out for themselves from my work and the titles I give to each work.

Exercise 2: Exhibition Introduction

Produce a concise text that introduces your work to the public, as you test ways of presenting work and sharing final outcomes with audiences, outside the art school environment, as you step towards graduate status.

Provisional Introduction

Continue to use the follow resources to help you:

Review the Enterprise Hub resources Promoting yourself and Showcasing your work:

Networks, audiences, and collaborations – provides guidance and links to connect with others.
Writing CVs, Bios, Statements, and Manifestos – has guidance on writing about you and your work.
Review your artist statement and/or project statement.

Exercise 1: Mock-up

Produce a mock-up of your current work in progress.

Interpret this within the context and aims of your own project. It may involve some sort of test or dummy version. It may involve a physical space, or interaction with test audiences. You are tasked to respond with your own version of dress rehearsal, as close as you can to a final outcome situation but keeping some elements back whilst you continue to experiment, refine, test and gather responses. This will include aspects of presenting work and sharing final outcomes with audiences.

I show my mockup as an embedded PDF file in the feedback section of this month’s submission. I feel I should comment on where my chosen works come from, my inspiration and doubts. Some of these works go back to the time when Rebecca was in hospital. These images sat on my computer and I didn’t know what to do with them. The photographs were a sign of my sense of grief. It wasn’t understood and was something that became a part of my while my life drifted on seemingly without direction. The photographs of Rebecca when she was ill signposted this part of my life lying in dark corner of a hard drive on my computer. Only when my level 3 study began and I tried to understand loss and to expand my knowledge of this subject, did it occur to me that I could bring these photographs into the light, look at them, remember (although as my studies have shown memory when attached to the photograph does not find what we expect.) Re-purposing these works for my project gave them new life. I shot a new image in this early sequence of Rebecca’s memory box which I felt filled a gap in my narrative, expressing that although she was dead, the grief and emotion lives on. My conceptual works were mostly new pieces, shot in different locations and at different times to try and express a different sense of loss, that which asks more of my audience and which, creatively, asked different things from me as the creator. One image in these conceptual pieces for this mock-iup comes from experimentation into glitches which seems to be a good match for the sudden and unexpected nature of most deaths. Another shows a cliff with a small child perched at the top. I need to reshoot this image as the cliff is a shot taken by someone else. When my eyes recover and I can see again, I will do this. Another shot in here shows a child I found in some images bought online. The child looks over her shoulder at us. Although we don’t know who this is, conceptually this child takes the place of Rebecca. Another shot imagines the shore of the River Styx, using overexposure to create a sense of things we can’t quite comprehend. My final shot uses a crowd scene from a gig I went to. I imagine the people there who all face the front as queuing for their space and time in death. My final piece is not a photograph but an installation of a see-saw to represent balance between life and death and of movement between these states. This piece been a real struggle to get ready, having issues with a pivot and whether to make this myself or to try and source one. It has taken many months of effort and annoys me that I cannot yet show this work as part of mock-up.

Feedback Point 1

Submit a short reflective commentary that summarises the work you have done, and articulates the rationales for the choices within your Plan via the assignment activity to obtain feedback from your tutor.

My dissertation dealt with the reasons why people reach for the camera or photographs when death is near. This had a huge personal element as thoughts of my dead daughter were never far away and my own sense of grief was key. My tutor described my thesis as an extended Memento Mori which is a nice way to think about it. I started the process of my research for my dissertation dealing with a broad subject range and slowly narrowed this down to my submitted work. I wonder if I should have gone further to allow me to go into my subject area in even more depth. Although I continued developing creative works from 3.1 and producing new creative works alongside my dissertation in 3.2, I found that the written work tended to take over and used up a large part of my time. One aspect of the heavy focus on the dissertation was how it impacted the critique and feedback I received for creative works. It is only now I have reached my final 3.3 Major Project unit that I can truly focus on my creative works, how these fit together and how I will present these. The research I conducted and the range of my learning slowly changed how I think of my creative work. Initially, my project featured my daughter in a clear way, looking at the archive of images she left behind on her mobile phone, at the photographs I took when she was dying and using the medical scan. My work slowly changed to be more conceptual and more about the universality of death rather than the specifics of my own experiences. Having said this, there must be a blurring of the lines here as without Rebecca, I would never have started this project or researched death studies as I have.

I think that these elements of my research, the things I have learned, my interests and what I want to learn next all have an impact of my creative practice and on how I will grow and develop after I finish my studies with the OCA.

Reflective Commentary

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.

Promotion of Work

Submit a document that traces the evidence of the promotion of your work so far, as well as how you intend to develop this in the subsequent stages of the unit.

I often feel that the promotion of myself and of my work with regards to my exhibition is something I don’t need to focus too heavily on at this stage. My exhibition isn’t finalised yet, I need to source a blackboard and see-saw, I am still wondering about whether to have an exhibition in a non-tradition space and I will need to consider if my work is for sale and if so at what price, I not yet chosen a date for exhibition as my work for exhibition not ready yet. I expect this to be in 2025. I have to decide if I want to pay more for exhibition at a busier time of year where I will get more footfall or if I want a cheaper price when Edinburgh is quieter. Once it is ready I will look at options for print and framing as well as printed materials to accompany my exhibition. Lots of things then which still need to be finalised. The ask here is to show the evidence of promotion of my work so far and how this self-promotion will continue. There are things I have done such as build a personal website. This is at https://www.richarddalgleish.com/

I have also re-activated my Instagram page. This is at https://www.instagram.com/dalgleish.richard/

Much of my other thoughts on promotion will be delivered closer to my final submission. This includes engaging with gallery in Leith to see what publicity they offer. I have seen similar posts on Instagram and on the Leith Makers website and posters on window of gallery for other projects displayed there. I have mentioned printed matter, I have seen other artists who produce bookmarks, business cards and also smaller copies of their works mounted and ready for sale. To this list I am looking at zines as well as a small booklet to accompany my exhibition. All things to consider.

I can easily self-promote on my website and Instagram page.

I also want to look at Graduate Photography Showcases hosted by the OCA. I will engage with this process next year.

I have been looking at some charities which engage with loss and bereavement. When my project is more advanced I want to engage with some of these and offer them space for some promotional literature, badges etc in exchange for them promoting my exhibition. I have already asked Pfizer about sponsorship but they tell me they don’t offer individual sponsorship but instead focus on registered charities.

I wrote previously about promotion in my blog

Exercise 4: Your Promotional Strategy

Exercise 2: Project Plan / Promotional Strategy

I realise that this is more of a to-do list rather than an evidenced view of my promotion, however, I do not feel my project is at an advanced enough point to do many of the steps I list above.

Reflective Commentary

The course notes asks the student to produce a short reflective commentary outlining the development of my ideas during my work on this part of the course.

My major project is developing in concept and in execution. The developement of my project is a fluid process which uses repeated cyclical iterations of inspiration, research, feedback, reflection. As I work through this process time and time again, I sometimes experience doubt in my work and in my own sense of worth. This seems to be a cyclical feeling which comes and goes with my mood, whatever going on day to day, with notable anniversaries and with the progress of my project. I approached one of my peers to discuss this as loved her expression of a project which addresses death, loss and grief yet also conveys the sense of hope. This mental struggle maybe does not sit well with question asking the student to think of the development of ideas yet, for me these feelings exist at the core of my work. It is helpful to discuss these thoughts and to bring them into the open.

It is difficult to produce a logical equation for how my ideas emerge and come to fruition. An example of using feedback will change depending on what the feedback says and what my reaction to this feedback might be. The research and looking at the works of others is a valuable part of this process for me. I will attempt to pull this commentary back from the abstract to the nitty gritty of my project as it develops. I had wondered if by project 7 everything would be settled but this turns out to be incorrect. Yet I do not feel I am behind in my work. I am happy with most of my project including the idea of using physical objects to end my exhibition even though I have had to overcome challenges and don’t yet hold these objects in my hands. There are still challenges to overcome as I am undecided about the end of the photographic element of my project. As I have already said earlier in this post, I recognise that I might not be able to resolve this to my satisfaction. I have been continuing to create works and to ask for feedback although I do not always see these as fitting into my major project. This creativity, I feel, is a necessary part of my process and keeps me thinking about different choices and the reasoning behind these and behind the works I have picked already. One interesting thing as my undfergraduate study comes to an end, is where I receive feedback in the future outside of the OCA. There is an alumni group which I am part of and the current senior students have already spoken about posibility of keeping in touch and in continuing some of the sense of fellowship we have within the OCA.

Exercise 3: Image Sequence

Create a tightly edited, sequenced series of images with attention to use of text. This will form the basis for your Project 7 assignment and tutorial. You may have continued to shoot and/or make images; you may have changed direction since your last feedback report. However your project has developed, make the development clear in the image selection.

Pay particular attention to how you will use words alongside your images (captions, titles or additional ‘relay’ type text) and re-frame your images accordingly.

I have spent quite some time trying to refine my creative work so as to create a cohesive sense of flow and narrative. While I am happy with the beginning of my project and how I shift from more literal pieces to more conceptual works, I have been finding it very difficult to find a satisfactory way to close my project. I still don’t have an answer to how this project should end and have started to wonder if the sense of closure I am looking for will remain elusive. The feeling of my work being incomplete reminds me of my own experience of grief and attitudes towards loss revealed in my research. Jane Littlewood writes about the death of children, “Parents tend to remember their dead child at certain times during their lives because of the developmental milestones the child would have passed if s/he had survived. In this sense parents of either sex rarely, if ever, fully come to terms with the death of their child.” (Littlewood, 1993, p. 147)

When I last compiled this sequence, I added some new pieces to my selection. I am still creating works and coming up with new ideas, both individually and as collaborative works. My tutor provided me with a framework and reasons for what I should seek to achieve through a careful selection of works and the sequencing of that work. She said that the purpose of producing a coherent order for my major project is to identify repetition, connections and flow of my work and importantly, to see if there are any gaps. To aid me in my search for my ‘perfect’ sequence, I have printed my works so I can take them from my computer screen and place them around the house and see what they look like in analogue form. In addition to the order of my work and what to include, I have been looking at printed materials to accompany my exhibition. The exhibition might just last a few weeks and then be packed up and vanish. I wanted some printed brochures whether a booklet or zine to outlast my exhibition and provide proof that once upon a time, I held an exhibition.

Title

Working titles “Epitaph” or maybe “Memento Mori” or an off-the-wall choice might be “The Present is Also Valid as a Thankyou” (this is a translation from a poster I found in Italy to celebrate the life of the dead).

Introductory text

The photograph is a medium frequently used by those who are exposed to loss yet where the motives and understanding of why photography is used at such times is less than clear. In [title] artist Richard Dalgleish depicts the liminal threshold at the boundary between life and death, exploring how we experience loss and grief and how our memory functions during these most traumatic times.

Creative works in sequence

I show my chose works below. To these I have added a simple title. Am never sure beyond such simple labelling what to call my works. I also add in some text to go with each creative piece.

Initial work to introduce my project

“Hospital Time Runs Very Slowly”

“View from my daughter’s hospital room”

“Bed Bound”

“Radiotherapy”

“Hope”

“Never Take the Lid Off the Memory Box”

“The Abyss”

“The Banks of the River Styx”

“Sudden Death”

“A Gift for Baby”

At this point I feel pressured as I am unsure about the end of my project. I worry that I cannot provide a “Hollywood” style ending where everything “turns out right in the end”. To build such an ending would conflict with my own lack of closure. I have consciously introduced a sense of balance in my project by choosing six images based on the real, a further six which are more conptual in nature and finally two phyical objects. The images above stop at point ten, so I am missing my final two images from this selection. I will show some of my potential choices and some reasoning as to why I have doubts.

A photograph of a memorial locket with hair, a photograph of mother and baby. I originally had a sequence in my project where I used found photographs with this locket as a way to think about loss. I question whether this piece fits with other parts of my sequence and my sense of Rebecca. I discussed this with my peers and they were fairly united in their response that this piece should remain in my project as the locket has a clear link with the liminal space. Am undecided.

This is an old Christmas card with a baby. It is packed with meaning and lost memory and is an image I had thought of using with locket. I worry if both of these works relate more to the sense of lost memory than to the liminal sense I am reaching for.

This image is from a small project I made in homage to Jo Spence. I used her photographs featuring Spence floating in water and applied my own edits to her works. I have not sought permission. I like this image and feel it relates to my sense of the liminal but I still worry over how it would fit with my narrative and whether I should introduce this image for my major project or keep it for a project in it’s own right. The seven works I produced for this Jo Spence Homage can be seen here https://richarddalgleish.net/liminal-test-pieces-as-a-homage-to-jo-spence/

I like this work and think this will be the next image I choose. It speaks of memory of those we have forgotten just like the person the memorial bench recalls. The textures of the grass, the leaves and the path give a stong sense of the liminal and of crossing to the other side. I am conscious that just because I like a piece is no reason, in of itself, to select it.

This is another potential choice. It shows a crowd of people all facing the same end and shows the iniversality of death. I worry about this piece and how it fits into my sequence.

This final still image is a piece I have worked with for several years. I am unsure, perhaps because of my familiarity with this work, how it fits with my narrative. I found the child in old album photographs. The child stares back at us. I have placed the child on a black background and put some kind of light source coming from the child’s head. This idea is from the work “The Three Oncologists” by Ken Currie

This piece replicated the concept of the see-saw in a photograph with the transparency I have created balanced in the spine of a folder. I am unconvined if I need this work if I am able to deliver my concept of the actual see-saw.

I end my doubts over the final images in my project by showing a video clip I have been working on. For this work I visited the bridge where Rebecca’s ashes were scattered from.. I climbed down to the riiverside and collected some stones. I then used the stones as backdrop to sprinkle ash, experimenting with wood ash, black sand and crushed walnut shells as each fell in a different way and had a different feel. The falling of the ash on one levele is about the disposal of Rebecca’s body. On another level it speaks of emptiness and of my own anguish and my experience of grief. From my major project, I think this an interesting direction to go. Is it too literal though? It would complicate my exhibition as I would then have a video piece with need for projector, still images and the physical objects which I will speak about next.

The final element of my major project uses real objects. Firstly a see-saw and secondly, a blackboard. These objects have presented me with various challenges. I approached local council to ask what they did with any old see-saws in the parks they manage. They offered me a see-saw as long as I didn’t use it for child’s play. Just yesterday they contacted me to say the see-saw is ready for collection.

In image above, I show one of these ‘bounce’ see-saws in my local park. I also show the see-saw I have been offered free from local council. I show the main sping on which the see-saw bounces. As shown, this piece on offer is incomplete. I am left with choice of whether to accept or reject this. I don’t want to seem ungrateful but I don’t think it is suitable for my project. Even if I fix the balance, find a way to make that large spring safe and find something to replace the central column, taken out of the context of a playpark into a gallery, would everyone understand that this is a kind of see-saw and a child’s toy? I been in contact with another supplier in Nottingham to ask if they can supply a hinge and other parts to allow me to make my own see-saw.

Because the process of trying to source a see-saw from local council has taken many months and I wasn’t convinced anything would come out of it, I started to plan for an alternative. I thought of Roland Barthes and his memory of a school teacher who wrote the names of “students’ relatives who had fallen on the field of honor, Barthes notes both how he was the exception in being the only one who could claim a father and how at the moment when the blackboard was erased, nothing was left of this proclaimed mourning.” (Barthes, 2018, p. xi). At the start of my project, I had wondered about how to engage with audience in a way which would bring them to the heart of my work. I am influenced by conceptual and participatory works by Candy Chang and her 2011 piece “Before I Die” and by Motoi Yamamoto and his 2012 work, “Return to the Sea: Saltworks“. Chang paints her work on abandoned buildings stencilled with the question, “Before I die I want to…”. This helps the audience think about mortality. Yamamoto makes sculptures from salt as a memorial to his sister who died from brain cancer. On the final day of exhibition, he invites people to gather up the salt to carry it to the sea where it is deposited. I wanted in some way to replicate the involvement of my audience in my art. I remembered the words of Barthes and the solution appeared to me. A school blackboard where my audience are invited to write the names of those who have died or been lost or some thoughts about this person or how they feel. This brings thoughts of loved ones into current memory. The chalk will get on the hands and clothes of my audience as they write on the blackboard. This carrying of chalk particles with them is a sybol of carrying the memory of their loved ones with them as they go about their lives. At the end of my exhibition, I could wipe the blackboard clean yet even as I do so the chalk does not vanish so the memory isn’t completely lost. I have to source a blackboard for this idea.

References

Barthes, R. (2018) Album: Unpublished Correspondence and Texts. New York: Columbia University Press.

Chang, C. (2011) Candy Chang » Before I Die. Available at: https://candychang.com/work/before-i-die-in-nola/ (Accessed: 29 August 2024).

Littlewood, J. (1993) No Aspects of Grief: Bereavement in Adult Life. London: Routledge.

Yamamoto, M. (2012) Return to the Sea: Saltworks by Motoi Yamamoto – YouTube, Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzBS43QZZys (Accessed: 29 August 2024).

Exercise 2: Project Plan / Promotional Strategy

Redraft you Project Plan according to the final refinement stages and promotional strategies you still need to undertake. Revist your project plan and update as necessary.

I will show both of my planning documents. The first details the steps listed in coursework. The second is has more tasks related to the skills which I thought I would need to complete my Major Project. I didn’t know how helpful this would be when I started it but now I find this is more helpful to me than the more basic plan based on the coursework. To my basic plan I have added in additional notes to highlight these refinement steps and promotional strategies.

Promotional Strategy, the Design of my Exhibition and Response to Feedback

My planning above, especially the skills plan has started to shape itself around what I need to be in place to present my work. I wanted to use this space to expand on last month’s post in exercise 4 – promotional strategy which can be seen at the following link: https://richarddalgleish.net/2024/08/04/exercise-4-your-promotional-strategy/

The idea of the things I would count under promotional strategy started to merge with the trial, error and ongoing design of my work so I have expanded this post and include these elements below.

I spoke last month of my initial conversation with people working at the arts and craft tents at Fringe by the Sea. Since then, I have visited the gallery, taken time to explore and photograph the space, looking inside and outside, looking at space with the current exhibition by Callum Russell and speaking to artist who will have their own exhibition in September.

Traditional Gallery Space

The gallery space at Leith Makers is on the first floor up some wooden stairs. Therefore, it is not an accessible space. The walls are made from lime plaster and bare sandstone while the ceiling is stainless steel from days when a bridge to Leith Central Railway station went about the property. According to the gallery website there is 95CRI LED gallery-spec lighting with adjustment for power, angle and position. There is a toilet and small kitchen space. There are two windows and a fireplace with wood-burning stove. The cost of this space is £200 per week up to £600 a month rising to £300/£900 from mid-July to the end of August and over Xmas. They also charge a 15% commission on sales and with respect to this, it was interesting to see the price list of the current artist and what he had for sale in the current exhibition. As well as the gallery space, Leith Makers also hosts artist’s studios.

I have a drawing of the floor plan and intend to use this with a digital exhibition tool.

I initially chose Artsteps as my virtual exhibition space. The platform was free and allowed me to design a gallery space, place artworks and 3d objects into this space. I received feedback on digital exhibition spaces from a peer who uses Kunstmatrix so will also investigate this product. Whichever tool I choose, I hope it will allow me to create a mock-up of the Leith Makers space. I also wonder if the template I create might be of interest to the gallery for subsequent exhibitors. The gallery offers catering and receptions and provide advertising for exhibitions, events and classes.

© Richard Dalgleish, 2024, Leith Makers 01

© Richard Dalgleish, 2024, Leith Makers 02

© Richard Dalgleish, 2024, Leith Makers 03

© Richard Dalgleish, 2024, Leith Makers 04

I was impressed by the space. As one of my peers commented, this isn’t a white cube. It has character with textured floors and walls and interesting architectural detailing and feels part of the community in which it sits. It has history. As I say this I have to try and judge how much the flooring, the walls and ceiling and the windows with their views either compliment or distract from the art. It is also not a free space so I have to build this cost into my planning along with the costs of printing and framing. I hadn’t considered the sale of my works but maybe this is no bad thing. How would I approach this? Would my works be limited editions, signed and numbered? How many in an edition? What to charge? Lots to consider. On the other hand, once my exhibition is built, I can use it again in different spaces. This brings me to a very different exhibition space. One other thing I took from my visit was the self promotion by the artist in residence, Callum Russel. He had business cards printed, a description of his project, prints in various sizes, a catalogue with prices and more. It had all been thought through very well and is something for me to think about.

Non-Traditional Exhibition Space

When on my artist’s residency in Italy, I gave a presentation of my work to other attendees and to the curator. One piece of feedback I received from the curator was why not consider holding my exhibition in an abandoned house there in Abruzzo. This idea echoed a thought from my tutor in trying to find a non-traditional exhibition space as I was worried about how far some traditional gallery spaces can be booked up in advance. So, the suggestion from the curator was building on something which had been mentioned before. Abruzzo in Italy is a poor part of the country and there are many abandoned properties. In fact, local councils have various schemes to try and attract people to repopulate their regions. At the time I didn’t say much about this idea as I immediately thought Italy was so distant from my home and would present challenges transporting my exhibition there. It might be more straightforward to find an empty property closer to home. When I got home, I presented my work to my OCA peer group and comments received were very supportive of this idea. “Don’t think about who will or won’t come to see your exhibition; don’t think academically. Think about what you want to tell and express.” (Colonna, 2024) “Your idea of staging the exhibition in an abandoned location is intriguing; the desolate setting would underscore the sense of emptiness experienced after a loss. There is a poetic beauty to abandoned spaces” (Lorek, 2024), “It would be easy to let self-recognition become an end in itself, but sharing, displaying and exhibiting are as much about enhancing our own cognition as they are about anyone else.”, “I am not sure your location or the presence of visitors matters at all.”, (Rourke, 2024), “As I read through your PDF, I really began to admire the idea of an abandoned building that attracts little footfall as a very unique approach. Especially when you consider this body of work is a response to your grief i.e. something you have dealt with (and will continue to) on your own. There is something rather poetic about the symbolism this brings to the general narrative of your work.” (Black, 2024)

I have looked at abandoned crofthouses in the Highlands and in the Hebrides of Scotland. I have seen many of these. I joined a Facebook Group and approached administrators to explain my purpose in looking for a space in which to display my work which dealt with memory, loss, grief and death. This didn’t receive a favourable response. Interestingly this was in part because the families and loves ones who often still own these properties or at the very least have an emotional connection felt my work might clash with their own emotions and memories. I show the response below. I marked this down to experience.

“thanks for your message to the Abandoned Crofthouses page, which I (co) admin. I have given it some thought, but decided against the concept. There is, as you already gathered, a lot of emotion involved in the (seemingly) abandoned properties here, which might clash with your concept. I have a lot of respect for it, but don’t think it would be appropriate. Sorry if this is a disappointment.” (Blokland, 2024)

I have not completely abandoned this idea but am more wary now. I could approach the local council or look for property owners myself but am wary in case I come up against same reluctance expressed in this message.

I then decided to look at a local property as there is a local church, St Andrews, Kirk Ports which has no roof. I have booked in a meeting with local archaeologist who will know about who owns the property and the graveyard in which the church sits. I will sound out the archaeologist on my idea and if positive could then approach whoever is responsible for this space. This meeting is due to take place on Wednesday 4^th September.

I have attached some preliminary photographs I shot of this location.

© Richard Dalgleish, 2024, St Andrew’s, Kirk Ports 01

© Richard Dalgleish, 2024, St Andrew’s, Kirk Ports 02

© Richard Dalgleish, 2024, St Andrew’s, Kirk Ports 03

© Richard Dalgleish, 2024, St Andrew’s, Kirk Ports 04

© Richard Dalgleish, 2024, St Andrew’s, Kirk Ports 05

The differences between traditional and non-traditional spaces are many. The different feel and mood, the difference in footfall and perhaps in not being located in a populous place. There are concerns over how viable abandoned properties are, how to find owners and get permission and whether properties are safe with sound floors and access. There are differences in how works could be displayed. If outdoors, traditional materials would need to be replaced with thinks such as vinyl and I would need to approach other students and alumni who have worked with such media. Maybe the suggestion to use properties in Italy wasn’t as far out as it first seemed. Where someone who spoke Italian would act on my behalf might have simplified this search.

Exercise 1: Learning Outcomes

Last month I began seriously thinking about how my work fitted around the learning outcomes and how to evidence what I have done.This month the course notes asks the student to summarise your progress to date against each of the unit Learning Outcomes.

My work on this is not published online but I will make this available to my tutor for formative feedback.