Postcard II – 16th June 2017

June 23, 2017August 24, 2017Posted in Beckie Mitchell, Rachel Orphan & Beckie Mitchell

I had spent the day in mumbles and decided to pop into the Welsh tourist shop. After spending a while I decided that this was the doll post card looked the most cute and least scary. Unfortunately when I came to write the postcard, it had been completely crumpled within my bag. Instead of wasting a lovely card, I decided to follow the folds with rips and tairs. Disregarding some pieces, I stuck the remaining onto a card which was covered in brown tape which avoided the clean and harsh white against the original postcard.

I felt this now replicated a broken or smashed doll. This has made me intrigued by the concept of fear involving dolls, often they are portrayed as being supernatural within movies like chucky.

As I have recently decided that my theme for my personal summer project will be terror and fears, this could be something interesting that I choose to explore.

Dear Rachel ~ love Beckie

My first postcard! 5th June 2017

June 23, 2017August 24, 2017Posted in Beckie Mitchell, Rachel Orphan & Beckie Mitchell

This postcard marks the beginning of my collaboration with Rachel. I wrote this the day after I worked as a poll clerk on the general elections in June. Throughout the day I continuously collected data involving three different elements that occurred.

The first piece of information was how often I was delayed whilst eating my meals and snacks. Due to the job, there is a continuous flow of voters which rarely stops for two minutes. Using coloured pencils I was able to visually represent this data as a cover to this postcard. I considered using a set of five flowers, each flower being the meal or snack and each petal being a disruption, however after a few attempts I decided against this. Instead I used a series of flowing lines and circles.

Each colour is a meal or snack. They were chosen to match a dominant colour within that food.

Brown = breakfast (5)

Red = dinner (16)

Green = Apple (8)

Yellow = tea (8)

Pink = crisps (9)

The second piece of data was how I marked each x number people entering the station. In keeping with the postcard theme, I folded a post card sized paper to represent each x amount of voters.

For example the first x was a basic fold in half width ways.

The final data collected was the number of dogs brought into the polling station. In total there were 32 dogs that entered. Each was a different breed bar two which were Labradors.

Dear Rachel ~ love Beckie

Labels

June 22, 2017June 22, 2017Posted 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.

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

When 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…

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.

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

June 21, 2017June 21, 2017Posted 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.

Where to begin?

June 19, 2017Posted in Beckie Mitchell

Hello, my name is Beckie Mitchell. I am so pleased to have received the opportunity to continue my practice throughout the summer and post regular updates. In order to use this residency to its full potential I will be working both individually and collaboratively with Rachel.

Recently, my deciplinary focus has been social art combined with textiles. Many projects this year, on Foundation, have included leaving my space and interacting with others then bringing my new knowledge into a textile based outcome to express my findings.

This summer I hope I can improve my hand-embroidery skills as well as learning how to machine stitch. Moreover, I would also like to revisit my passion for drawing. Drawing is such a necessary skill for an artist, one which I’d like to continue and improve.

The photos attached are of my exhibition piece last month. This has a number of themes running through it revolving mostly around secondary arts education and it’s effects on creative minds. As this piece revolves around people and began through a social experiment I named: “The Masking-tape Challenge”, I wanted the end piece something that viewers can interact with. Therefore creating a circular motion to the project.

And so it begins!

June 11, 2017June 13, 2017Posted 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

May 20, 2017June 23, 2018Posted 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.”