Category: Blog Post

Collaboration 

Posted in Beckie Mitchell, Blog Post, Digital Residencies, Rachel Orphan, Rachel Orphan & Beckie Mitchell, Tegan James

On the 15th July there will be an Open Studios event at Elysium Studios to coincide with the Troublemakers High St Festival that weekend. 

Tegan, Beckie and I have been invited to join Ben (winner of the studio residency) to produce work for his space. We will be displaying our own work as well as certain collaborative projects we have devised. 

We have set ourselves the following collaborative tasks: 

Inspired by a mini project we were given when we travelled to Amsterdam with our foundation course, we will all be taking a photo on disposable/film cameras every day at 3pm. We will then write/draw/document something on a post it note to accompany each image. This will be a fun way to see what we are all up to from now until the exhibition. 

We will be using the final few shots on our cameras to take 4 images that represent the following 4 concepts: 

Line 

Mundane 

Label 

Loss 

We will also be undertaking a challenge on one day to write a list of everything we touch. This will become a study of the objects we come into contact with. The 4 most interesting things will be photographed on our cameras. 

Below is an image of the space where we will be exhibiting. We hope you can all join us ! 

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I am going on holiday!

Posted in Blog Post, Rachel Orphan

 

Tomorrow I start my journey to Budapest, Hungary. I am hoping to document this trip for my residency in a variety of ways.

Firstly, I am going to take inspiration from the a book I recently purchased called “From Here to There: A Curious Collection from the Hand Drawn Map Association”. This book is, as the title suggests, a collection of hand drawn maps. I have included some of my favourites below. I hope to produce some hand drawn maps that show various places I visit while on my travels.

 

Secondly , I plan to continue to take inspiration from the work of Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec and their Dear Data project. Beckie outlined the project in a previous post. I will use inforgraphics to record what I see and experience while I am away. I will take inspiration from some of the categories that Lupi and Posavec used such as clocks, laughter and indecision.

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Also, I am hoping to work on drawing techniques that I have been introduced to this year on my foundation. These include continuous line and blind drawing. Below are some images I have found for inspiration of architectural continuous line drawings.

 

As well as these individual challenges I will be working on several collaborative projects with my fellow recipients of the Jane Phillips Award Ben, Beckie and Tegan. More to follow on this !

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Jane Phillips Residency – An Introduction to my Investigation and Initial Thoughts

Posted in Blog Post

 Hello, my name is Tegan James.

I am extremely grateful to have the opportunity to work in an online creative environment where I can learn, communicate and network with fellow artists. The experience described by current residents sounds engaging and diverse, something I am excited to experience first-hand and become a part of. I hope this opportunity will allow me to develop my artistic skills and I am eager to begin my investigation which I hope will benefit my artistic learning as well as continue to contribute to my local and artistic community. I am keen to record my findings online as it will allow the opportunity to develop my work through an alternative therefore, accessing a wider audience. I am also interested to see the results found from the relationship of social media and my investigation and how these technologies alter and enhance any findings.

As an aspiring Production Designer I have a passion for creating experiences for viewers as well as working with alternative and unique concepts. I use themes for my work as a base and often create alterative interpretations. My passion is creating statements and for my work to have multipurpose, engaging to the eye but with a political, social or historic underlying tone. My work is used to educate my viewers about a certain message as well as myself.

 Moving to a new environment whilst studying my foundation with ‘UWTSD’ has been beneficial and encouraging on both an educational and personal level. Thus, meaning I believe I have grown as an artist and a young adult and am hugely appreciative to have been awarded this residency enabling me to continue widening and building upon that experience. Relocating to Swansea to study for the previous academic year was stimulating as I was able to discover a wonderful city and artistic community. What the foundation has allowed me to appreciate is how to ‘open my eyes’ to everything from the smallest to the largest aspects of the environment. My concept of art has developed and matured as I have been able to approach tasks using all my senses and appreciate art is no longer confined within preconceived ideologies. I have gained the confidence to make errors but to see these as positives and learn from these and even incorporate them to improve my work. I have found there are no mistakes, these obstacles just further my awareness. Since returning to my home, within the Brecon Beacons, this experience has provided me with an altered appreciation of what I grew up amongst but did not recognise fully. I now better appreciate the diversity, community and strong opportunity for artistic and historic awareness and development.

  ‘Light on Brecon’ – Capturing the community!


When researching initial ideas for this residency I became aware of a local project advertised through ‘F.Y.I Brecon’, which stated that the local community are running a project to encourage Breconians to engage with town activities and record these events through various mediums. “The concept of Light on Brecon is to have local people and volunteers take a range of pictures and art work of Brecon town throughout the year up to April 2018,… to show off Brecon at its best and show the great buildings, people, businesses, and events that this town has” (Sourced from advertisement flyer).


As explained above I have become more appreciative of my surroundings and this project I believe will provide an opportunity for me to discover more about my town using an artistic approach.

I will be loosely following these three themes to capture the spirit of Brecon whilst also educating myself and hopefully any viewers in local history and the area.  

          Aims for my Investigation:

To investigate into the town history and community through research and local resources (e.g. museums, library and people) in order to extend my knowledge and to seek inspiration through my findings.

To experience the town through the eyes of another citizen – what does Brecon mean to others? – ‘A Day in the life? … Social Art.

Learn how the town could improve and develop.

Showcase what the area has to offer.

Capture Reality – Heavily influenced by old photos of pastimes (By attempting to experience and get involved with all town events).

Encourage all demographics to engage with my project and create artworks incorporating Breconians – capturing reality and encouraging art participation within the town.

Work with various mediums, especially photography and social media (as an educating tool, advertisement which can reach wider demographic).

Create work which has the potential to encourage tourism.

Incorporate local community groups and artists.

Begin by experimenting with various ideas in order to help develop my works purpose. 

I hope this opportunity pursuing further creativity, through this digital experience, will allow me further opportunity to use the skills I will discover to enhance my independent learning which I will be able to incorporate in my next educational venture. 

 

Labels

Posted in Blog Post, Rachel Orphan

Before I begin to work on anything new, I want to examine my practice. The tools I regularly use give an insight into this. Today I am looking at….

LABELS.

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I like to begin with looking at the definitions of words at the beginning of a project.

Screen Shot 2017-06-20 at 19.55.10When looking at the word “label” I found the synonyms most interesting: 

STAMP

TICKET

MARKER

TAB

STICKER

All of these objects are ephemera. They are only meant to be used for/are only useful for short amount of time. Stamps/tickets/labels etc. can be both very mundane in design and can be beautifully crafted. Perhaps the latter is in order for print based objects to compete with the digital sphere. This is where my interest lies.

I collect ephemera. Tickets from journeys I have been on and experience I have had, stamps from all over the world, leaflets and catalogues with a design aesthetic I like and postcards etc. Often the ephemera I keep has a sentimental value. This has made me wonder …Does the fact we can touch it mean it has a greater affect on us ? Taking boarding cards for planes as an example. I would definitely keep the official traditional card tickets and probably keep the flimsy paper version you print at home. But would I save and store the digital variety that are becoming ever more popular? What will the effect be on our society as we begin to digitalise everything? Will we lead less cluttered and more environmentally friendly lives ? Or will we create an unsentimental generation who are only capable of communicating in the digital sphere? (Funny writing that on a blog) Something to think about…

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Anyway, back to my love affair with the label…

The label is so important that I included my label maker  (a very exciting recent purchase) on a list of 40 things that inspire me most. My ephemeral exhibition project looked at collecting and organisation. From the beginning of the project I was looking at how people arrange their collections and in order to make links between the 40/40 (objects that inspire my work) I designed a label asking certain questions of the pieces. Once all the objects had been labelled I was able to create infographics to determine certain questions I had about my collection.

 

The labels I added brought my sketchbook work from the 2D into the 3D and introduced an element of interactivity. The idea of synthesising the dimmensions became an important element in the final outcome. As this year has progressed, I have realised despite having graphic elements to my work I do not want to reject the 3D for traditional 2D graphic design. The label has become a symbol of where my practice currently lies.

On a recent trip to the Oxford Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum the curation drew my attention more than the pieces themselves. The various handwritten labels used to document pieces enhanced the work. They connected the viewer with the curators and the collector. The labels dated from 1880 to 1980 and were each unique and seem to be purpose made for the pieces. I bought a postcard showing the variety of labels and documented several of them in my sketchbook.

 

After this, I began to think about how artists and galleries label works in an unobtrusive manner. Perhaps it is time we ventured from the the black and white printed cards. I found the way that this was done at the UWTSD Artist in Residence Exhibition especially interesting. C190E583-B786-4A6F-8915-457CBE920D85

The label, the old fashioned hashtag, connects objects/images/art work and relays vital information. A label is a design challenge. It must deliver information clearly but also be aesthetically pleasing and not detract from what it is labelling.

Some ideas for the future…

  • challenge myself to redesign the mundane ephemera
  • look at how the “non-art” parts of an exhibition are curated
  • Leave a label trail around places I visit
  • Collect some beautiful ephemera and create an Instagram feed to appreciate it
  • Design and make labels for next year’s work
  • Research how touch affects feeling of sentimentality and nostalgia

 

 

 

Our Project

Posted in Beckie Mitchell, Blog Post, Rachel Orphan & Beckie Mitchell

Inspired by artists Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec, Rachel and I will be communicating through postcards as well as relevant objects or inventive ways in which we can share. These will be a mixture of recording ourselves, as well as the space and culture around us.

“Dear Data” (http://www.dear-data.com/) is a year long project in which Lupi and Posavec collected weekly data and represented this in a hand-drawn post-card. As the post-cards would travel between America and Britain, they described this process as being: “a type of ‘slow data’ transmission”. They learned from collecting weekly data to live in the present, to be more aware of their surroundings and their behaviours.

Unlike ‘Dear Data’ Rachel and I will be choosing our own topics to write and document instead of having a weekly subject. This will cause us both to learn more about each other however personal or distant.

As Rachel will be travelling throughout the Summer, her postcards will be focusing on the settings surrounding the different places and people. However, this Summer I will be at home working and spending time with family and friends which may result in some local day trips. Due to this, I would like to look at myself personally and look at my every day lifestyle. By recording mundane tasks I will hopefully learn traits and quirks about myself. These can then be depicted in a variety of visual formats, I would like to include my passion for both tonal drawing and sewing if possible throughout this project.

The attached photo are some examples of Lupi and Posavec’s postcards from their Dear Data project. Both would present the hand drawn representation of their collected data on one side, with an explanation and a key to understanding the diagram on the other. 

And so it begins!

Posted in Blog Post, Rachel Orphan, Rachel Orphan & Beckie Mitchell

 

Hello!

I am Rachel, one of the recipients of the Jane Phillips Digital Residency. This summer I will be working on a number of art and design projects and sharing them here. As well as working individually, I will be working in collaboration with Beckie Mitchell. To begin I am sharing my application with you. This outlines some of the projects I intent to work on. I sent my application in the form of a giant postcard. The above image was on the front. This is a photocopy of some of the tools Beckie and I like to use in our work. On the reverse was the written explanation. This can be read below:

 

Beckie and I were both intending to apply for this award. In order to utilise the space to its full potential, we are proposing that we work both individually and collaboratively.

I am a designer and maker who works in a range of mediums such as textiles and photography. I have a graphic approach to my work but do not want to be defined as just a graphic designer. Much of my work is about combining images, text and various materials for interesting effect.

I would like to use this opportunity for the following:

My work is often in response to the social and political landscape. I would love to use this opportunity to contact local charities and organisations to see if I can perhaps create an infographic or a piece of social design.

I would love to develop my own personal practise as an art and design professional.  I would like to refine my personal  blog and develop an instagram account to present my work digitally.

Next year, I will begin studying a BA in Design at Goldsmiths, University of London. I want to make a good start on the reading list and work with new materials such as wood and metal. Also, practice skills such as book binding. 

Moreover, as my collection of art materials and odd bits and bobs has been depleted over this year, I would like to start an inspiration hoard that I can take to university with me. I will be collecting magazines, leaflets, textiles, photographs, buttons, packaging and various other ephemera.

I have always loved post. I recently started recreating some of the challenges found in the book “The Englishman who Posted himself and Other Curious Objects”. This is an ongoing project and I would love to create more postal work and display it all.

For a while I have wanted to start a fashion infographic magazine. This opportunity would give me the time and space to launch and complete this project.

Beckie and I are both moving away from Swansea to study our degrees. We would love a community based outcome to be our legacy. Our individual practises have both similarities and differences. We found while working on a International Women’s Day project that we work well together and have a passion for our community.

Inspired by the designers Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec who constructed a way of conversing visually in the “Dear Data” project (http://www.dear-data.com), we intend to devise a similar method to share and communicate our ideas. This will include sending and leaving postcards, drawings, objects and any other relevant paraphernalia in the space.

We would love to meet artists and use the expertise of other creatives to help us as we start our creative journey and our projects.  

 

 

 

 

Residencies & Opportunities for Swansea College of Art Students

Posted in Blog Post, Digital Residencies, Foundation Art & Design Residency, Rachel Orphan & Beckie Mitchell, Tegan James

Mission Gallery is pleased to announce the 2017 recipients of the Jane Phillips Award Residencies for Art & Design Students at Swansea College of Art, UWTSD. We are proud to be working with our partners at Swansea College of Art, UWTSD and keen to shine a light on the high standard of work being produced by students across all disciplines and courses.

Art & Design Foundation Residencies Summer 2017.

The proposals submitted by Foundation students were of a typically high standard and three residencies have been awarded throughout Summer 2017. It was open to everyone studying on the Foundation Course at Swansea College of Art. This is the only Award & Residency that we are aware of, which offers a bridge and continuity between Foundation/Degree courses and we look forward to continuing with the residency into the future. The 2017 Recipients are;

Studio Residency: Ben Dawson
Based at Elysium Studios, at Orchard Street Studios, Swansea, this is fantastic opportunity to gain valuable experience in managing a studio for 6 weeks, before moving onto University or other study/work related focus. This unique opportunity provides complete freedom for a Foundation Student to produce, develop, explore, research, display their practice with complete freedom and support.

Collaborative Digital Residency: Rachael Orphan & Rebecca Mitchell

Digital Residency: Tegan James

These residencies will provide an online space within the Jane Phillips Award website to display and develop work, ideas and research, while offering support and promotion through our networks. Residencies will take place online between June-August 2017, with each selected artist(s) having 6 week residency.

Other Opportunities & Exhibitions in 2017

Mission Gallery and the Jane Phillips Award, will be offering other opportunities to Art & Design Students at UWTSD at all levels in 2017 including selection in our Graduate Showcase at Mission Gallery in August 2017; an offsite exhibition of student work across all disciplines at National Waterfront Museum curated by UWTSD Alumni Jason & Becky and a Graduate Residency in Autumn 2017, responding to our international region wide project, Ephemeral Coast.

Jane Phillips Award

The Jane Phillips Award was set up in memory of the late Jane Phillips (1957 – 2011) Mission Gallery’s first Director. Launched at Mission Gallery in 2011, the award is intended as a legacy to Jane’s passion for mentoring and nurturing talent, consistently supporting the professional artistic growth of emerging and early career artists across the Visual and Applied Arts in Wales and beyond in a variety of different ways. We have developed and broadened the scope of the award recently by introducing more initiatives to assist artists at all stages of their careers. This includes a yearlong programme of Residencies which support students and graduates of UWTSD as well as emerging/early – mid career artists. These exist alongside and complement, the Jane Phillips Exhibition Award; a Curatorial Award and an International Residency

Past winners of the Jane Phillips Award Art & Design Foundation Residencies were; Madeline Tomalin Reeves (2015); Molly Pickering and Keely Hohmann (2016).

“I was thrilled to accept the residency. I had just finished my art foundation and was starting my Degree in Fine Art and History of Art in September, in the summer break it is hard to keep being creative and productive so the opportunity to have a studio was fantastic. The residency has been the perfect opportunity for me to explore myself and my art further, I am very thankful to Mission Gallery for supporting me in my progression as an artist.  I think my time at the studio has been vital for learning and being surrounded by creative people in a creative space, I couldn’t ask for a better environment. I have enjoyed working in the space, meeting people and having the time to really be productive over my summer. It has been a brilliant opportunity that has helped me grow and progress.”

Madeline Tomalin-Reeves, Foundation Student 2014-15

Jane Phillips Award Artist in Residence June 2015

Quote from Foundation residency winners 2017:

Ben Dawson:

“ I am looking forward to having a physical space to continue my practice in painting large scale. The space will allow me to push the boundaries of my art in a new direction. It will give me an understanding of how to run my own studio in preparation for next year. The opportunity to work with the gallery and professional artists as mentors will be incredibly insightful and allow me to reflect on the future of my practice and career.”

Rachel Orphan:

“ I am looking forward to having a chance to continue experimenting and creating work alongside my fellow students. This exciting opportunity will allow me to leave a legacy in my home city before I continue on to University degree. We are one step closer to becoming professional artists and designers!”

Tegan James:

“ This will allow me to maintain a working link with the artistic community in Swansea. It is exciting to be able to create art through a new platform and allow you to potentially show work to a wider demographic.”

Rebecca Mitchell:

“ I am excited for the opportunity to work beyond an educational environment and grow my portfolio over the summer ready for University life”.

Quotes from Foundation team:

“As a team we are thrilled to be working with Mission Gallery again as part of our on-going collaborative relationship with the faculty. This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to embark on their artistic careers before they embrace life at degree level. We look forward to seeing the work that develops from this and would like to take this opportunity to thank staff at Mission Gallery for selecting us to be part of this brilliant award.”