Yesterday I was very fortunate to be invited to attend the South West Federation of Museums and Art Galleries skills day, where there were several speakers discussing the subject of 'Working with Artists'. Emma Ayling, Head Curator at The Priest's House, was discussing the variety of ways in which they collaborate with artists, including showing the first preview of the work I will be doing with them. This made it all very real in a very short space of time, especially having to verbalise it myself and discuss it with both curators and artists alike. I spent a good deal of time after the morning session, meeting with people to gain feedback on the initial ideas and the general consensus was positive but I was asked some very pointed questions regarding what I thought the audience's response would be to changing a very traditional display. It was good to hear the opinion of others (as it always is) and it has given me plenty to think about in the coming week. The remainder of this week will be spent starting to research the specifics of the objects held within the room and formulating a plan for my residency.

So, the long march towards the end of my degree begins. I am fortunate enough to be working towards my final major project with the assistance of The Priest's House Museum in Wimborne Minster but more on that in subsequent posts. The piece I have just completed has had it's first showing in the studios at university and was received very well. Entitled 'The Archive', the aim of the installation is to assist it's audience in considering their presence in a space, whether that be a gallery environment or a museum setting. I made the decision to show it in a white cube space first, both to test the logistics of its assembly and to gauge the reaction from my peers and tutors from a conceptual point of view. Without wishing to divulge too much about the piece as it will be installed in the Priest's House at the end of April, visitors to it were more than happy to participate and interact with it and I have had some very interesting results which I will contemplate later in the week.
Talking of this week, I have to now get very organised and I plan to blog here frequently to verbalise my thought processes leading up to the end of the project and of course, my degree. Tomorrow I have been asked by Emma Ayling, Head Curator at the museum to be available to talk to a symposium of curators who wish to include artists in their individual museums, which is a great honour to be included in and will hopefully lead to feedback and the possibility of future projects. I am looking forward to discussing my plans with the re-interpretation of one of the Priest's House collections and the inclusion of 'The Archive' in the museum space.

Catching up with myself

 











                                                                                             



So university has broken up for four weeks - do I get a nice relaxing holiday? No of course not, in fact I sometimes wonder if university is the thing I do to escape! For the last 3 months I have been saying to myself 'When I get a break I will........' and now the time has come to catch up with all the other things I have put on hold.
As you can see the biggest project to organise at the moment is the building of my new studio which is speeding along while we have a break in the weather. There is also a push to get the majority of the outside completed before Christmas. It is then that the hard work starts as we are completing the internal structure ourselves, so plumbing, plaster boarding and electrics are all on the horizon.
All of this is in preparation for my graduation and for me to be able to consolidate the majority of my projects into one location. 'Downend Studio' will be a centre for art and craft tuition, art materials, picture framing and a fully functioning workshop in the heart of North Dorset.
Alongside this and my work as Gallery Shop Manager at Walford Mill Crafts, the past few days has seen me writing all my classes and workshops for the 2013 spring term. I love writing classes and deciding what projects myself and my students will tackle in the coming months and the new year is going to see me re-visit some old favourites with new twists and techniques. The two monthly Thursday night groups will be looking at a very specific subject matter and introducing a new media to each. The Drawing Group will be considering 'Trees', particularly textures in both watercolour pencil and water soluble ink and The Painting Group will experiment with 'Flowers' in Acrylic paint.
The Saturday Workshops will continue once a month and are already booking fast. In January we will combine charcoal and ink to represent Rocks and Sea in an atmospheric and expressive way and in February, alongside the programme in the painting group, we will use Acrylics to record Vintage Vehicles. The term will conclude with a very popular subject - Farmyard Animals - but we will mix our media in order to exploit the best of watercolour and collage techniques.
If you would like any more information regarding my classes or view my work, please visit my website: alisoncboard-fineart.co.uk or email me: alisoncboard@gmail.com and I will be happy to help. In the meantime have a wonderful Christmas and see you all in the New Year.