Narrative

It all started on North Fredrick Street and I was already late for school.

This was the sentence I got and we were told to make a short narrative. Very simple instructions but I found that I put doing the task off until the last minute because creating my own narrative seemed like such a huge thing. When in actual fact it wasn't. I think sometimes I worry that I don't have an imagination and I can only draw from life and produce work based around real life experiences but I found this task really helped me to stop thinking like that. In the end I accepted it as a light hearted task and surprised myself in how much I enjoyed it. I also think it really helped me with the narrative project I am working on in the studio and gave me confidence in my ability to write and adapt stories.

At the moment my narrative is just an idea and I haven't yet wrote it. The idea behind it came from googling North Fredrick Street and seeing lots of pictures of a pub called 'The Old Printworks'. At the same time as thinking about this task I was having an induction into using metal type in the caseroom. I was really glad I found this building because it meant I was able to tie the two projects together. I thought about the building when it was a Printworks and imagined a letterpress studio. The main character in my narrative is a little boy, around ten, he doesn't yet have a name but Andy suggested Ed. My character goes to work every morning with his dad who works as a printer and becomes obsessed by the type and what he sees there, so much so that every morning he gets carried away and is late for school. He manages to redeem himself with his teachers by making these little cards with different made up reasons to explain why he is late.

I found the discussion on the Wednesday really interesting and although my idea was quite simple and not yet fully formed I got a lot of helpful and positive feedback. Maybe in the end the narrative could take the form of a book where the different cards act as the illustrations. I like the idea of as the boy becomes more competent in the printworks his designs become much more elaborate and professional. The cards could have more than one colour, more than one typeface, much more complicated borders and no messy fingerprints. We discussed the lies getting more elaborate too but I think that would take something away from the character, it isn't the lying that he loves it is the letterpress. 

I also liked how as my character was learning so was I. It was the first time I had printed metal type and as you can see the 'T' in 'LATE' ended up upside down. I felt I could relate to the idea of the boy trying to rush to get to school just as I was rushing to get my print done before the 1pm meeting! I would like to make more of these cards to complete the story and also as I loved using the caseroom and getting to know the equipment and possibilities in there.

Dry Swimming Gala organised by students from the Royal Conservatoire. Such a fun idea.

Communtiy, Action and Inclusivity

Unfortunately I couldn't be there in person for the talk but I asked Cliff to record it for me and I have just listened to it. I found it very interesting. My first project this year was about swimming pools and I spent a lot of time researching edwardian/victorian pools and it is true that hardly any of them survive. It seems that in recent years with government cutbacks important public facilities and resources such as swimming pools, libraries and community centres have been the first things to go. I find all of this so depressing but this talk by Andrew Johnston was inspiring! The community of Govanhill stood up to the council and they won, and now the baths is in their rightful hands. When you see how much of a success the baths have become it is shocking to think that Glasgow Council decided to close it to build a block of luxury residential flats. I have never been to Govanhill before but I cannot believe there is much of a market for luxury flats. Perhaps the councillors who made the decision had never been to Govanhill either and were obviously so far removed from the needs of the people who live there. 

It is the members of the community who are at the forefront of this project and this is where its success must ultimately lie. Their passion and commitment is evidently strong as this ‘wellbeing centre’ is adding to lives of not just themselves, but their family, friends and neighbours. If the project was run by commuters from outside of Govanhill I doubt the commitment would be the same. However at the same time it is this mixture of the Govanhill community and outsider groups such as the National Theatre for Scotland and the Royal Conservatoire which makes the project so exciting. I like the idea of art reaching areas it wouldn’t normally reach. I found it shocking that the life expectancy in Govanhill was 62, and therefore lower than some third world countries. It is impossible to understand how a supposedly left wing council would chose to close such an essential community resource in one of the most deprived areas in Scotland.

It is quite clear that these deprived areas benefits from the arts.  I also think that the arts benefit from these projects. At the moment I feel so caught up in my studio work that I barely have time to speak to people or read newspapers or interact in any way with my community. I feel this is really negative and like I mentioned in my previous post I find art, especially whilst studying can be very self obsessed. When I think about my future I would love to be involved in community projects and making art accessible to all kinds of people. I am aware that there is a lot of poverty in Glasgow but living in the West End/City Centre I feel completely removed from it, as this is a very middle class area. The students from the Conservatoire who put on the ‘dry swimming gala’ were probably quite similar to me before the project but they must have come away with such a better understanding of what a place like Govanhill is like and how their creative practice can inject life and positivity into a community. Maybe the Com Des tutors could think about setting a similar project for us?

People

I found the talk interesting, it was the first time I have been introduced to the concept of service design on this course and probably in my artistic education. Gail described service design as being about “looking at the process of service delivery with service users and providers, identifying where and when people come into contact and how those interactions could be improved to meet people’s needs and expectations.” Both my parents are social workers, my mum works with children and their families and my dad works with elderly people. I feel guilty as I don’t really know much about their jobs and what it involves day to day. It is obvious that it is a very stressful job and I suppose this is why when they are at home they leave the stress at the office and don’t really talk about it. My mum is very interested in art therapy and using drawing a lot in her job. She uses mind and body maps to help children talk about themselves, their relationships and life goals. The talk has inspired me to go home and really find out what they do!

I found it interesting that service design is a topic Gail has always been fascinated by, starting when she was studying for her degree. Her interest was sparked in reaction to the briefs she was being given and their lack of involvement with people and the general public. Most of the work we are producing at art school is probably subconsciously intended for relatively small and defined groups of people; people who attend exhibitions, people who buy books and collect zines, people who use the internet and read blogs, our fellow peers and tutors. It was obviously brave of Gail to move away from what most of the people in her class and field were doing and what was perceived as ‘current’ and ‘on trend’. She has an inherent interest in people, in particular vulnerable people whose needs are maybe unrepresented and require support.

As an illustrator I find I too have an inherent interest in people and this is where a lot of my inspiration for my work comes from. However I found my practice didn’t really relate to Gail’s. My work differs because with a lot of it there is no obvious problem being solved and therefore nobody’s life is being obviously bettered. Most of my work is centered around exploring my interests, experiences and personality and sometimes I do worry that being an artist is too self indulgent. I suppose I am creating visuals to stimulate emotions and memories. I would like my work to benefit people by making them happy and to bring enjoyment to everyday life, in the same way that many other artists work effects me.

Art that makes me happy

David Hockney- Salts Mill Saltaire Yorkshire

Reminds me of home and the hills and my house

 Tracey Emin- Birds

I like the text, it makes me think of all the people I love and why I love them.

However coincidently I have recently become involved in a project in which I think my work could be described as service design. Working in a small group with other students from the art school, we have been asked by a local care home to paint a mural of a sweet shop. The sweet shop is the manager of the care homes idea, and the idea behind it is to help and allow the patients to reminisce. Through the smells and the sounds of lids coming of jars, sweets rattling and being weighed in scales, maybe the patients will be taken back to their childhoods. When you are in a new or alien place and perhaps have problems with your memory, being able to remember your history, who you are and stories from your past would be an important and comforting thing. I am really excited about getting started with the painting and spending time in the care home and hopefully getting to know the patients.