Semester 2 Week 9 : Review

This week it is time for the review of our projects as we are at week 9 and almost ready for my classmates to select their pieces of work for use in the degree show exhibition.

My work this year is not going to be involved in the degree show as I am a part time student and should complete the second half of the year, which includes the degree show exhibition, next year alongside the current level 5s.

My chosen image

My selected piece of work is the photograph of the blind that I made in Shirehall is being printed and framed by Jim and Tom in the print and support hub and the wood shop.

Presenting Time

With my slides all sorted and ready to go it was time to take a seat and prepare. Then Euripides came in and suggested that we should make a change by heading up to MK202 where we would be less disturbed and cause fewer disturbances to a school group who were at the uni for a visit.

Up in 202 we took our seats and the session began.

Jo Ashford

• Can I Ask? (Confusing Portraiture)
• Curatorial Plan, TV surrounded by five portraits
• Video stills showing people’s reactions.
• List of questions that are designed to catch subjects off guard
• Some indecision about which photo works out of a couple.

Euripides said that if you have a screen in the show, the prints should be at least twice the size because of the light that is emanating from the screen

Long Hin Cheung (Angus)

• Photos of people and architecture using a lot of dark shadows and highlights
• Silhouettes of people make it seem interactive.
• Chopping images into a couple of pieces

Joel Chambers

• Photos of the texture of walls.
• Printing 9 images splitting into 11×11 photo prints made in the darkroom
• Discussions about exposing all 9 pieces of paper at the same time on the wall using a devere enlarger

Callum Cotterill

• Automotive: Blurred Lines
• Photos of abstaract parts of cars.
• Photos on car panels and suspended by wires
• Three images in total
• On window, car boot and car bonnet, with other props
• Needs a seam in the image

Courtney Duncan

• One off still ife shots on black backgrounds
• Batteries, gas masks, coal and rubber marbles
• 9 photos in a checkerboard patterm
• Needs to get a piece of Anthracite coal for the 9th photo

Bryannah

• Frame The Beat
• Music photography
• Photos of musicians in b&w and colour, the black and white are more successful
• Production of a book to accompany the exhibition too.

Brian Ellett

• Microscope images
• Ideas for presenting, smaller print to get in close?
• Tall plinth with a hole in the top and look down into the lit image
• Maybe a screen for a video of the microscope focussing and changing.
• Image 7, 11,13,19,22,23
• Could use a lightbox

Evie Mae Foster

• The Unknown
• Photos of places and then be imagined as the future
• Photos of scenes around the environment and urban
• Experiments with AI
• A group of photos that talks to each other is fine but these are all worthy of a space for themselves in one sequence

Nikki

• Eggstatic
• Small figures in miniatrure
• Rowing a an egg
• Different angles
• Conversations about the scales and the composition

Lilly Jaspar

• Handed out cardboard models showing the plans
• Influenced by Paul Graham
• Photos of Tipton and the Black Country

Gemma Leary

• Condition
• Influenced by Stacey Greene, Irving Penn
• Repeated typology snd the series of things that have been used over time.
• Lipstick projects
•  Three photos being printed

Grace Robson-Traynor

• Portraits of people against walls
• Printing layouts presented and removing of images that are not as strong
• Influenced by Kat Wood and John Myers and Tomas Ruff
• Portraits of Simon the bassist from the Verve and Mark her neighbour

Louise Storey

• Theme of identity, around gender, LGBTQ and Drag Queens
• One shoot at the Gifford Arms, four drag queens performing
• Photos of the drag performers but all are shot from one location and facing the same direction

Danii Williams

• Essence Of Absence
• Hardly any people In the images
• Photos of buildings and urban scenes
• Influence by Rishard Billngham and Samuel Ryde
• Using Lightboxes, do not need a dark room

Shellie Williams

• Containment, Ritual and Release
• Portraits in the environment
• Inlfuence JW Waterhouse and Casper Friedrich
• Questions about the presentation of the images and the floor to ceiling print vs smaller prints
• Selection of Two images rather than trying to fit in more

Jude Stevens

• Pictures of Yeomans Vintage Motorcycles
• Low light using small LED constant light
• Photos in the shop
• Then changing to portraiture of his brother

Clare Fletcher

• Print of a disused building with person in the fornt of the image
• Influenced by Francesca Woodman
• Female Empowerment
• Reclaiming forgotten spaces

Eliza Gough

• Images of abstracts of flowers and scenes through glass or windows
• Used Metasteps or Artsteps to prduce a simulation
• Remove some prints that don’t need to be there
• Some great work

Sophie Fisher

• Escaping Reality
• Pictures in the dark of artifical light
• One set of threee were banging
• Maybe on the black wall in the corridor and a couple inside the main room.

Meg Coyne

• Behind The Veil
• Pictures of self portrait and dolls, masks
• Photos of masks for Megs and Masks for dolls

Me

Issues with getting it on the screen used the little camera on a stick connection from the lecterns available technology..

My slides have changed from the previous reviews that were all black backgrounds, with structured text explanations of the requirements for the assignment. In the last review, Euripides suggested that we treat the slides as more of a marketing tool, and present the images more clearly.

The photo of the blind was a favourite and also the orange canvas wall along with the exterior shot of the window reflecting the column in scaffolding.

Euripides suggested I get in touch with Tom Hicks about the new gallery space he’s developing there. He mentioned that my work should be exhibited somewhere like this and if not there , there are plenty of other places where they have contacts with curators etc to help me get an in.

If there are other galleries or exhibition spaces in Shrewsbury then I should be attempting to go and get some exhibitions with them and get this important work out there.

During the progress through my cleaner set of slides I discussed the links to my dissertation and the grief aspect, showing the tired nature of the building. The photo of a reflection in the window of the scaffolded column and then the reflection showing the investment in the Lord Hill column as contradicting the decision to demolish the Shirehall.

Once the viewers had finished asking questions I asked the remaining people what they thought of the brown/orange noticeboard image, as Dan and Euripides made some appreciative noises when it popped up on the screen. After having looked at it regularly, I began thinking it might be a boring image, but they stated it showed the traces of people, the fingerprints of humans that had inhabited the building over the years.

Actions

My actions to sort out after the review were to chase down how I could get my work into some exhibitions, pick up my print and then continue documenting my works.

After everyone split up up and returned to the basement, I went to see Jim for the print that is now complete. I’ve worked with Andy to get it tucked safely away in the ground floor art store until I can get back with a few bags and tape to then get it home without any damage.

Then it was time to head back to the basement and there I received an email from Hat Trick productions about a video audition for my application to the Mastermind TV Series. Booked a slot for Friday and then we’ll see how that goes. My youngest brother filmed Countdown a couple of months ago and that is on mid-April so it’ll be interesting to see if I can also get back on the telly.

Reflection

Throughout the seemingly endless presentations, one theme became clear. there were some of my coursemates who had an idea about the images they wanted to use, and the layout that they might use, but did not superimpose the images onto the placeholders in their plans. This was considered a large oversight by the staff as it means it is difficult to fully understand what fits in with other works around the exhibition.

There were some presenters who haven’t reduced their images to a smaller selection and worryingly some who want the staff to make a choice of which images they should use. One person was a bit put out at some of the comments provided, (no malice intended), and I reminded them of the photos bein gtheir choice. It’s in their control, and I photograph for myself not for a pat on the back or likes on a social network page. If I don’t like it I won’t photograph it.

There were some images on display that I thought could have been improved a little by making some changes, but there were also others that took my breath away. One of the pages Sophie presented had a triptych of images from a nighttime scene that was simply outstanding. Others in the room instantly drew breath and it highlighted the set as a wonderful piece of work for the exhibition.

Some presenters were confused and appeared to have not given the subject much structured thought, this might be down to some non-neurotypical people, but I don’t know (and neither should I need to) who might be affected by these conditions. Some were erratic and others just lacking a direction.

One of my coursemates who also had some great images was Angus, whose first language isn’t English but he did a great job of getting through his slides. Some of the explanations for selection might have been made clearer but he can speak English a million times better than I can converse in Mandarin.

I’m not a lecturer or teacher, but after the session I did tell some of the group that I was chuffed for them and how impressed I was with their work. Even some of the presenters who have previously struggled with standing up and presenting had done a grand job so I like to give some encouragement that they’ve done a super job. I am proud of them as a group and whilst there are still a couple of people who I think aren’t taking it 100% seriously the majority have really switched on over the last two years. So much so that I had to question them why they were all being so bloody quiet.