MAJOR STUDIO PROJECT PART 1

Practice Journal

MSP 1: About Us

WEEK 1

We started this week with an introduction to each of the tutors and their practices. I wish more subjects would introduce their staff's external practices like this. It helps me understand where they are coming from as artists. I am in Justene's tutorial group. She's such a bundle of energy.
For the tutorial exercise, neither of the other members of my group had laptops and seemed disinterested in the in class exercise. I think it would have been interesting to go to the library to utilize the printed resources there.I chose Marcel Duchamp to work on as I find his body of work interesting and knew there would be a lot of resources on him.
Julie came and showed us to our assigned studio spaces. I'm very excited to have a space of my own on campus. I have prepared some decorations but am not entirely sure how I will use the space in these early stages yet. These first weeks will be research heavy.
For a previous body of work I drew inspiration from Janine Antoni and I have found more of her work relevant to my intended project for MSP. I have also received a couple of names of artists to follow up on.
We were told that finding key words for our concepts help with research and writing. For this project, I believe one of mine will be "memory" or more specifically "inaccessible memory". Looking at the traces of memory that are no longer accessible. Ghosts of Memory?

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 2

This week we were meant to be going to the Garden's Point botanic gardens but that was cancelled due to the rainy weather. Instead we spent the three hour contact period in the lecture theater on a journey of self discovery.
We started with a meditation exercise. Unexpectedly, this caused the opposite of relaxation for me. Something inside me was screaming and I had to escape. I jogged around the campus and waited for the meditation session to be over.
We had to write about ourselves after that. Thinking about who we are and why we make art. I will share my writing from the day below.

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 3

This week we had a guest speaker. While his career has clearly been an exciting, international one, I found it hard to relate to. He skimmed over questions about how he afforded to create his extravagant installations installations while living in the heart of New York city. He mentioned repeatedly that elements of his work were as they were because it was 'what everyone was doing'. As if that is a valid artistic reason... He also held some problematic opinions.

In tutorials we discussed our work in groups. The out of class task was to write about ourselves in the manner we wrote about the famous artist in the exercise from week 1.

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 4

This week's class was held online due to a snap covid lockdown. This week we presented an initial draw of our project proposals. I presented "Ghost Memories" and "Deepsqueak" though I'd prefer to work on the later as an honours project. I received good feedback and several leads on artists to research. Looking forward to getting stuck into reading over the mid-trimester break.

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 5

This week we had a guest speaker- Leonard Brown.

His work is a mix of established elements, Belgian linen, natural oil paints etc and non-figurative abstraction and pattern. His other body of work is byzantine tempura paintings. He has a long history working with Russian and Greek orthodox iconography.

I took note when he spoke about having to reduce the scale of his work because of his physical limitations due to age. As someone who deals with a lot of pain and fatigue, I took solace in an artist accepting their limitations.

In the tutorial we went over the assessment next week. It was a bit confusing what was required.

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 6

We presented our proposal this week. I went first and feel I happy with how I presented the work. I specifically asked for more readings as I want to study deeply so I can articulate my concept well. I am excited to see what others produce for MSP.

I will be contacting Karen Stone and Ana Paula Estrada about their works in paper to gain their insight into how the material interacts with memory.

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 7

This week's guest speaker was Raphaela (Rosie) Rosella. She is a long form photographer documenting the lives of her friends and family living in a low socioeconomic area of Nimbin. Her work offers a counter-archive to the institutions many of these women find themselves in. Her work is built on real, honest empathy with people in her life. It's very powerful work that has also benefited the people depicted. It makes me think about who my own work is helping and how I can do more for my community.

I didn't book an interview with a tutor this week as I am focusing on my research and don't think I have a lot more to say about the project as yet.

I have spoken to Tim Mosely and Natalya Hughes about further reading material as they have a wealth of knowledge in areas I wish to explore.

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 8

This week we had no lecture and were working in the studio for the duration of 'class time' this week. I spent most of my time reading as I feel behind with my research.

I had a group meeting with Justene. She thinks I should spend more time experimenting, which is also fair. I will endevor to have something material to show next week.

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 9

We received our marks back for the mid-semester crit on Monday and I am quite disappointed with my mark. I am a bit confused as to the marking criteria but will speak to Justene to get as much information as I can. I want to do the best work I can and make the best project I can.

I had pulped my first lot of fabric for the trimester and made some test sheets. I am working on a pulp pouring technique that can be scaled up to the size I want to make the final works. I have tested small (A3) sheets on a doll, my arm and my face. I have determined that one is unable to breath under the wet paper and will need air holes.

Having spoken to Justene we dug down a bit to find what she wants from my project- more 'me'. I'm doing my best to work through how to integrate her feedback in a way I feel adds to the work without jeopardizing the concept.

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 10

In the morning we had a talk outlining the Viva assessment in detail. Julie had us speak in groups about what we've learned about ourselves and our practice in the course so far. She overheard me mention the trouble I've been having in knowing what feedback to take on board and what to take with a grain of salt.

I went on to Martin's paper work framing workshop. While this information doesn't directly correlate to my current project I do produce many works in my larger practice on paper and the information will be invaluable.

I had been thinking about Justene's suggestions for interventions on top of the work and how I could reconcile that without diminishing the core of the work. Eventually I came upon the idea of sewing thread between the holes torn in the paper during the moulding process. The holes would stay open with black thread strung over the hole. An impotent attempt at repair.

I spoke to both Simon and Camila about my project. It was pretty intense trying to go over my whole project and how it's evolved in the short amount of time they had with me. Both gave me some artists to look at.

Camila thought I may be interested in 'psychic leakage' and I will look into that as I hadn't considered anything like that before.

Simon had some suggestions for the technical production of the work that I will be considering. Though it has give me an idea for a separate work using similar techniques but exploring a parallel theme. Good for another time.

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 11

I have been quite unwell this week and quite unable to work on my Viva entirely. I would have greatly appreciated the opportunity to discuss my project with Martin and Julie. I am now compiling my notes from the trimester in an effort to build a cohesive rational for my project.

MSP 1: Text

WEEK 12

Everyone else is presenting their Vivas today. I am still quite unwell but am able to work for an hour or two on my project.
I've been busily gathering my sources into a single document and have started fitting my speech draft, which at the moment looks more like an essay, to the slides I've done up.

MSP 1: Text