Everyday new poster

This time I have played with creating posters just for fun, to explore the feeling of a bad or good design. Comment, critique.

Please comment and critique.

Poster idea. From the lady gaga song liryc

Natural Talent

 

The concept of talent is firmly engraved in our culture, we often see those great people archiving great things and we wish we could do what they do if only we were that talented.

But what if the people we idealise weren’t actually more talented than us. What if we were just as talented as them? I think an interesting person to look at is Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Because he is generally described as  the most talented street photographer we have ever had but he famously quoted  saying “your first 10.000 photographs are your worst” and that doesn’t seem like the words of someone that was born with a  natural talent, but rather someone that dedicates thousands and thousands of hours to master a discipline.  In 2007 a study was initiated,  which looked at there’s actually no such thing as a natural talent,  just hard work and dedication and making sure your effort is focused on the right areas.  Basically  intelligence  and skill are things we aren’t born with  but things we develop through practice and this is true across the board.

Apart from a few athletic examples where something like weight might be an advantage.

But it’s not what I’m talking about here so what does this mean? Well, firstly it means that you can achieve the same level of skill as the people you idealise,  all those film makers, artists, photographers, you can be as skilled as all those, as good as them. Secondly it means that everything you have already achieved is not by innate talent but through your own hard work and dedication. So well done you, don’t ever give up because you don’t think your talented enough.

We now know it’s not how ability works, embrace mistakes  because mistakes are discovering  gaps in your knowledge that you need to overcome  and you need to find the right resources  in order to help you overcome this. Traditionally  that would be teachers, lecturers and libraries but today we have the internet, we have the greatest resource that humanity ever had at our fingertips, we have phones in our pockets. So stop worrying about what you can’t do

 and just do it .

Beware of feeling comfortable, as soon as you start to feel comfortable, challenge yourself, change something,  try something new, learn to let go of old work, we all have our best work that we feel that is our best but try to better them,  try to forget about them.

And move forward, if you keep coming to old work  it means that you are not progressing.

Try to push yourself, build on what you have already done. Ask yourself questions, ask for feedback and critique on a regular basis, it can be difficult because it’s hard to hear it.

And it’s the critique that’s really gets you  but it’s probably the most important  because you know they are right,

take the temporary pain for the long term benefit.

You need to know what you’re doing wrong,  ignore haters and trolls on line. 

Learn to not be precious your work.

Learn to embrace the criticism and move forward.

always keep learning,  you have never learnt everything

because the world moves forward.

Looking for inspiration

Sometimes it’s a struggle, the hardest thing is to get up and do your stuff . You know what to do but you just want to do too many things at once, and have a great idea. But doing something is completely separate, I always have more important work to do than let my soul flow.

This image I created whilst thinking about blending some textures with iconic places in Swansea in a doible exposure . So I took a bunch and went for brunch to edit them on a mobile app while eating.

Flyer for exhibition. In Alex. Art 🏫 school created on a mobile using double exposure

Collaborating.

Blending a portrait I’ve shot of one talented Student with a coloured painting of another one.

Here are some practice pieces with another beautiful student willing to pose.
Shot on 35mm film nikon d80 double exposure. Edited in snapseed

 

Intentional Camera Movement

It’s a great privilage to be one of the digital residency recipients for the Jane Phillips Award.

During these 3 months I will try new techniques in photography and explore Swansea . My first project will explore a technique called ICM – a technique and an artistic way of expression. Something I have enjoyed exploring recently .

The Mystery of an image. It forces my imagination to work.

A painting with a natural light and I love this.

I am inspired by Claud Monet, french painter .

I have focused on textures and colours seen within the landscape, creating one of a kind impressions of a forest in a longer exposed time frame.

Time is key here, as time is the only thing that is constant. You can’t stretch or squeeze it, only the perspective can change. So this is my perspective of a time, represented in a ICM photography style.

 

Graduate Showcase 2019

Exhibition at Mission Gallery, Swansea

17 August – 07 September 2019

Our picks of the 2019 graduate exhibitions; from degree shows across South Wales and New Designers. The Graduate Showcase is part of the Jane Phillips Award.

 

The selected artists are:

Alex Baitup, Carmarthen School of Art

Daisy Fay Ray, Carmarthen School of Art

Elin Hughes, Cardiff School of Art

Jacqs Scourfield, Swansea College of Art UWTSD

Katalina Caliendo, University of Hertfordshire

Kaya Cohen, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham

Keeley Shay, Swansea College of Art UWTSD

Lillemor Latham, Cardiff School of Art

Mark Dutton, Carmarthen School of Art

Niamh Duddy, University for the Creative Arts, Rochester

Rhiannon Gwyn, Cardiff School of Art

Siwan Medi Davies, Carmarthen School of Art

Selected artists for the […] space:

Ibrahim Maadani, Swansea College of Art UWTSD

Gabriel East, Plymouth College of Art

Chelsea Waites, Manchester School of Art

Jane Phillips Award Graduate Showcase 2019, Exhibiting Artists Images

 

Jane Phillips Award Graduate Showcase 2019, Exhibiting Artists Images

 

Jane Phillips Award Graduate Showcase 2019, Exhibiting Artists Images

Raising the Bar Residency 2019

For Raising the Bar participants at Mission Gallery | Based at Jane Phillips Award Studio in Orchard Street, Swansea | In partnership with Elysium Gallery

A fantastic opportunity to gain valuable experience in how to manage a studio for 4 weeks this summer, before moving onto University or preparing for  final year in College or Sixth Form. A chance to experience having an independent workspace away from home which can be used for a variety of purposes, such as: 

  1. Reading Lists & Summer Projects 
  2. Space to work
  3. Build Portfolio
  4. Exhibition 
  5. Curating 
  6. Networking
  7. Collaboration 

We are pleased to announce the winners as Joseff Rowlands and Gemma Yeomans – congratulations both!

Graduate Showcase 2019

We’re bringing you our picks of the 2019 graduate exhibitions; we’ll be searching degree shows across South Wales and New Designers to discover fresh talent. Part of the Jane Phillips Award.

Artists will be announced in July 2019.

Thibault Brunet: Public Lecture

Thibault Brunet will be giving a public lecture about his practice on Monday 18 March, 1pm – 2pm.

Brunet is currently undertaking a month-long artist in residency within the Photography Department at SCA, UWTSD as part of the Jane Philips Award International Residency Programme. Brunet’s work addresses the relationship between photography and the virtual, in a society that is increasingly on its way to being fully digitalised.

1pm – 2pm, Monday 18 March 2019
Reading Room, ALEX Design Exchange, UWTSD
Free Entry

 

The residency is being kindly supported by Swansea College of Art, UWTSD.

 

Image: Untitled by Thibault Brunet, part of the “Territoires Circonscrits” project

International Residency: Thibault Brunet

March 2019

Following a month long International Artist Residency, this exhibition will showcase the work developed by Paris based artist Thibault Brunet. French artist Thibault Brunet was born in 1982. He is represented by Galerie Binome in Paris and Galerie Heinzer Reszler in Lausanne.

His work plays with photography’s coded genres and questions the relationship with virtuality in a society where the world is on its way to being fully digitalised.

A graduate of the ENSBA Nîmes, Thibault has travelled through virtual worlds with his camera in pursuit of images, exhibiting at reGeneration2 (2011), Mois de la photo in Paris, Berlin and Vienna (2012) and at Talents Foam (2013). Thibault is part of the group project, France (s) Territoires Liquides the work of which was exhibited at the Biennale de Lyon in 2015 and at the BnF in 2017. His last project Territoires Circonscrits has been shown at the Centre Pompidou in 2017 and has been recently exhibited at the MBAL in Switzerland.

Image: Untitled, part of the “Territoires Circonscrits” project

Jane Phillips Award International Residency: Administered by Mission Gallery in partnership with Swansea College of Art, UWTSD & Elysium Gallery

For more information on Thibault Brunet’s practice, please click here

Ragnarok initial concept notes

sb1This is the opening shot to the episode, setting the location and mystery the episode will follow.

  1. Ext shot, hill with trees, panning down hill
  2. Follows straight from one, shot up river with buildings in the background, camera pans down into 3
  3. Camera pans down into final position
  4. Camera onto body lying on slab stones/concrete, hold for a few seconds, let music well up and smash cut into next frame

 

sb2

*All p/in/p videos fade in and out*

Half profile shots of the two leads of the episode (a police investigator and the leader/ sub-boss of the biker gang suspected of the murder. Beside each are small videos showing actions of the upcoming episode to give a brief insight to the characters.)

  1. Shot of character getting out of car and talking to colleague
  2. Shot of character arresting/interviewing someone
  3. Shot of character room clearing/searching for clues
  4. Shot of character in a bar with drink (maybe a smoke too)
  5. Shot of character preparing chain/knife/knuckle duster
  6. Shot of character flexing with leather/denim vest on

 

sb3

Main title card for the episode, pic 1 is independent, while 2 and 3 are together.

  1. Black background, title fades in, followed shortly by episode title
  2. Series title fades in as a snowstorm starts to pick up (going from upper left to lower right), flows into pic 3.
  3. White background with vignette around border, episode title fades in black letters (possibly with episode count underneath)

Winter is coming- project notes

I have a new project to complete for my university course, called ‘Winter is Coming.’

The aim of this project is to create an opening title for a fictional anthology series called ‘Winter is Coming,’  with each of us creating a basic outline for an episode and constructing the opening title sequence around that.

Below you will find some preliminary notes I made about the project.

Winter is Coming opening credits

  • Nordic/Gaelic/Welsh noir inspired
  • Typically from the perspective of the police (most commonly dealing with murder)
  • Sometimes deal with corruption of government
  • Slow burn tension and drama
  • Opening title to be 60-90 seconds long
  • Can either be an opening scene with credits or more traditional opening credits (like a montage)
  • Winter is Coming- anthology series style

 

Episode style/story notes-

  • Cops vs bikers (Ragnarök, name for Biker Gang)
  • Corrupt local government official funding bikers (either through drugs or weapons)
  • Police pick up the trail after a body is found, suspected be a gang killing
  • Bikers preparing for a war with other gangs

 

Opening credits content notes-

  • Opening shot of dead body central to plot
  • Majority of credits are a close up of the two leads (separately) faces, half on show, over a black background while short clips from the episode fade in and out beside them
  • Leads= lead investigator and biker gang leader
  • Clips showcase the characters personalities through actions (such as arrests for the cop and beating someone for the gang leader)
  • End of credits feature the series title (Winter is Coming) and the episode title (Ragnarök) as a subtitle.
  • Alternative: Main title comes up, a “snowstorm” covers it over in white and replaces it with Ragnarök.

Wendigo shoot BTS

Here’s a selection of behind the scenes shots from a photoshoot I organised today (Sunday, 14/10/18) at Afan Argoed forest park, for my university project, taking influence from the Wendigo legend.

Concept portfolio

This is a brief portfolio tracking my research and development of my first university project, which is to create six images to form a story revolving around the concept and theme of dreams.

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The first slide gives a brief summary of Jung’s study of dreams and his concept of the Shadow archetype.

The second slide is a series of pictures that I produced as part of exercises in my university lessons that I have found to be fairly inspirational towards the development of this project.

My third slide is simply just a small collection of films that explore a similar theme of an “inner monster/animal” to myself and that have inspired me in some way on this project.

Slide four is rather self explaining in that it describes my main inspiration (the Wendigo) for the project.

Slides five and six are also very self explaining as they are the storyboard for my proposed pictures.

Digital Residency | Nathan Mason

Digital Residencies 2018

The Jane Phillips Award Digital Residency offers support and promotion for artists, providing online space through its website to develop work, ideas and display new artwork.

It can feature images/documentation of objects, photographs, textiles, art, creative writing, sculpture, oral history, and archival materials. Artists whose practices include performance, sculpture, film, video, new media, video, sonic art, live works and cross-disciplinary practices.

This residency presents an opportunity to an artist/s working with exclusively online practices or who make work using digital processes, wishing to exploring the boundaries of art and technology and the interactions between digital, online spaces and/or their physical materiality.

Nathan Mason: 01 October – 31 December 2018

As an artist, I prefer to make the type of art I would like to see, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t take the time to experiment with different styles and mediums.

Typically,I’m a filmmaker (currently taking a university course for this), focussing on horror and action films, though I do tend to try and stay away from the regular trapping of the two genres. What I expect this residency to showcase, for me, is the processes that I go through when making films.