Creative Futures week (Pt 2) March 2014

Life as a professional artist after University

Bex Raven

"Bex completed her MA in Fine Art in 2011 in Engaging the Public with Art and uses this as the foundation of the ethos for the Art Centres she has created. With a background in management and teaching she has a broad range of skills and experience and as a  practising Artist she understands both sides of the profession."

Bex has had various jobs after graduating from university 12 years ago. She left thecountry,rana kite surfing school for 7 years and went into night club management.After re-evaluating her path in life she followed her dream of becoming a teacher and went on to gain her qualifications forthis in Bangor.Teaching jobs in Art and Design were hard to find which then brought her to Glyndwr University where she studied her M.A.

The idea for Funky Ardvark came from Bex realizing that for professional artists there are not many opportunities unless you make them yourself.The drive was also to help students to help not to fall into the situation of having spent years at university studying and then feel stuck because of not knowing where to go next.

We were then told about things students should be thinking about while studying. There are 4 options when completed studies.

1. Come back and study some more 

2. Go on to a degree Management scheme

3. Do some kind of work that is unrelated to what you have spent time studying

4. Go professional in your own field

Motivation plays a large part when getting you where you want to be -  working at getting your name and work reconsidered, having exhibitions, "Self employed means self motivated" -deadlines are now  those that you create yourself.

What can you can do to make a start.

1. Create links by networking
2.  Exhibitions of your work, helps to create opportunities 
3.  Find ways to sell your work 
4.  Having a creative space to suit your discipline also helps, Think about what equipment you need and cost, research what is available as equipment can be expensive.
5.  Decide if you want to work on your own or with others, both have pros and cons.Creative   input can be a great way to be able to have input and ideas and it may even lead to collaboration.      
6.  Marketing yourself - have a profesional online presence, a website so that others can view your work (There are free sites out there). Email address,name of yourself or buisness - be aware of what name you use as others may have the same name or  other areas you may not want to be associated with. 

http://www.funkyaardvark.co.uk/

http://www.funkyaardvark.co.uk/AtticArtists/BexRaven.htm

Summary :  10 /10

This was a great talk and very informative  with lots of advice for us to take away and think about. It was good to hear about how the Funky Aardvark had  first came about. I have visited the shop in Chester and was really impressed to see so much merchandise on display that had been produced by many current and ex students from Glyndwr. Funky Aardvark has so many opportunities within its environment and is a great way to network, rebound ideas off others and have a starting block to get your name out in the public domain.     

 A life as a media photographer

Melissa Cross

"Melissa has been a freelance and media Photographer for 7 years. She works at NWM Media Ltd"

Mel is a senor photographer for the Leader and started there full time in 2008 previous to that she worked in Northwich  for another paper.Within the Leader there is 3 additions Flintshire,Cheshire and Wrexham where there is a photographer in each area.Images are placed on to an i-pad and then sent to the office,an on line diary is used to check what jobs they have.

We were introduced to a slideshow to accompany the talk,Some areas covered are schools and within that many category's such as Eisteddfods, Award ceremonies, fun days. GCSE and A Level results are very busy days as 4 have to be covered in an hour. In September every year all new reception starters are photographed, every class is done and  can amount to 65 schools, some schools have 2 or 3 classes having to be done.These are popular with the parents to buy and are a big seller.Other areas that Mel has covered is Gigs such as Delamere Forrest and Chester Rocks,Funerals if family's have given permission.Mel can also have call out jobs such as Going to an area that there may of been a fire of a road traffic accident and even emergency.As long as you are on a public road it is also allowed but not going to say anybody's garden as this can be trespassing.

Features and business pages can be a double page spread and 4 or 5 images maybe needed more time can be had in this area to take images.Many action shots are taken for this category Training of Police sniffer dogs, a new climbing school, Kellogs cornflakes celebrating its 35 years. Sport pages consist of Chester and Wrexham F.C which also have there own photographers such as  Les Evans. Kids football is covered every weekend the photograph editor also gets involved in some areas of this.Cricket and charity sport are also covered.

Sometimes Melissa can find herself feeling quite vulnerable in places and situations, sometimes she has been accompanied by a reporter but at the moment there is only 5 and rarely get a chance to get out of the office except for emergencies.One good aspect of the job is that it supplies a camera which will will be repaired and equipment replaced if breaks.

Summary :  10 /10

Unfortunately I had a prior arrangement when this talk was being held but despite this I was able to leave my Dictaphone and hear the talk. I really enjoyed the talk but had missed out on the slide show aspect. Mel gave me a great insight into her job with The Leader and what aspects are covered within her work. I had originally  no idea as to what was expected of a media photographer and hadn't released that there can be such emotions attached to gaining images for the public. Areas such as attending funerals, road traffic accidents and sometimes fundraising for sick children.  

Melissa Cross Photography - Photography Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/melissacrossphotography

Creative Futures week (Pt 1)

Community Engagement and Installation Art 

Carol Ramsey

"Carol is an Illustrator turned Installation and Site Specific Artist, responding to site and working with recycled and found objects. She is Director at Arena Studios and Gallery Liverpool and owner at Jackdaw and Jay, Craft and Arts." 

Carol started the talk of by explaining that she now classes and calls herself an "Installation and Community Artist", primarily.Starting out as an graphic Illustrator, as time passed art had always featured somewhere in the background and she sold some of her work at times to support herself. 

In the early years after university Carol moved back to Liverpool and followed the Enterprise Allowance scheme and as fate has it she now finds her self back on the scheme. She has taken a studio at the Arena Gallery and has worked as a self-employed Illustrator for 2 years.

As Carol continued her talk she took us  through her colourful past which was, she reminds the students, in the 90's - a time of no Facebook, internet etc. Some of her jobs along the way were as a receptionist, producing greetings cards,holding caricature parties and also selling portraits of people who asked for them. Her reputation for these has made her popular and most of her jobs are subsidised by the  portraits.

At 38 and now a mother Carol went to night school in Wirral and whilst there a tutor persuaded her to do a degree.Some of her works have included a parquet  flooring which she converted  back to a dance floor that was fixed to a board and suspended from the ceiling, and which then swung in time to the music.Due to the size of the art work when it had to be dismantled storage was a problem, Carol then decided to convert the floor into another piece of art work and make it into a musical chair which had speakers that you could plug your i-pod into. 

The image below is of an installation of an old radiogram  which she exploded into pieces and  then hung up each piece.  Cornelia Parkhurst was a great inspiration for this piece at the time.

Another installation that was on display  in Southend-on-Sea for a book art exhibition, shows the journey from Liverpool to Sheffield which was created out of old maps. 3-D objects were also featured as things Carol had seen on the journey down -  such as Liverpool Cathedral.    

"Squaremile" exhibition in  Liverpool shows the Everton Tower that is featured on their crest. It can now be seen in a park in Everton but it was originally close to the docks before it was moved.The tower (also known as a "lock up")  was actually used as a lock up when people would come off the docks,  get drunk and then resulted in a night being spent in "The tower/ round house".The house was constructed out of old, out dated  law books.

Carol studied for her M.A degree in Preston but was advised that one of her projects could be completed nearer home.This led her to New Ferry Butterfly Park where she became an artist in residence. A bench was constructed from old railway sleepers and the back was incorporated into a butterfly wing.Through a talk given to a local school the children became involved  in the project and produced an allotment, which the children learnt so much from. As a final M.A project things developed and Carol brought a caravan on to the site which became their visitors centre. 

"As part of her on-going residency at New Ferry Butterfly Park, she has been curating a successful art trail with work by over 15 artists. Carol is engaged with community via workshops both on site, as part of an empty shop initiative and in schools. She personally has created the ‘Imago’ Butterfly Hut, illustrated visitor signage, butterfly bench, a caravan visitor centre and Mobile Butterfly attracting Allotment for the community to engage with."

The image above is one of approx 25 signs that was incorporated into the park.

Please view the video below to see more on the project

New Ferry Butterfly Park: Art Trail 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7r9OHFbmU4

http://www.newferrybutterflypark.co.uk/2.html

Other links to Carol Ramsey  

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/carol-ramsay/22/421/a39

http://www.artinliverpool.com/?p=14113

Carol Ramsey - Artist - Facebook

                                https://www.facebook.com/cazramsay

Summary :  10 /10

I really enjoyed this talk. It was nice to hear that many items within her work are recycled projects. I'd learnt about the Everton Tower and hadn't realised that it was actually linked to an existing round house. I have recently been photographing one of these roundhouses myself. It is in Ruabon, which is local to me and on further research I have discovered that around the UK there are many of these old buildings still in existence today.
The New Ferry Butterfly Park on The Wirral, sounded like a great project to have been a part of. It's presence in the community has allowed people to experience a more creative environment and has encouraged parents and their children to understand the different ways that they can improve their lives, in particular the use of more organic foods.

The Accidental Photographer

Ray Worsnop

"Ray left school at 15 with no formal education or qualifications. Having done various job roles, working for himself, he retired early at 47. Ray then started own Social Enterprise company teaching underprivileged and unemployed people to become self-employed. Ray has published a book with regards to his photos and now working on his second book."

Ray began by telling us that he is a role model and mentor for Welsh Assembly Government scheme.  "Big Ideas" is a group of people that are all self employed. Described in the local paper as an entrepreneur we explored what it means .In Ray's case,he went on to say that he is "a photographer that knows nothing at all about photography. I am a photographer that sells my work over the world. I am a photographer that does weddings, portraits and photographs dogs and cats". In respect he tells us that he shouldn't be calling himself a photographer as he sees himself as a person that just takes pictures because he has had no training. 

As fate had it, in  2007 he broke his leg while on holiday in Turkey and this left him in a wheelchair for 3 and a half months. Due to boredom he started to take notice of sunsets and storms which he could see from his window at home and began photographing them. Around this time he was also a volunteer for the Citizen's Advice Bureau and they were looking to raise money. Ray was prompted by a co-worker to sell some of his images and this was done by having an exhibition in Rhyl library and the profits were donated to the CAB. He also continues to do this today and still donates his profits. Eventually he began his own business and keeps the title from his humble beginnings - The Accidental Photographer.

Ray  proceeds to share his childhood with us and about him being a role model. Having being ill as a child he left school with no qualifications, due to not being able to go to school he still has difficulty reading and writing.This fact didn't stop him as he eventually ran his own financial brokerage.Ray now mentors for Princes Trust,Business Wales and Big Ideas.He shares that it was his dedication and discipline in his early years that brought him forward and helped him gain his achievements.

The above is a quote Ray said:

http://www.helfagelf.co.uk/en/artists/ray-worsnop

http://www.photoboxgallery.com/sunraypictures

https://www.facebook.com/Rayworsnop1

Summary :  8 /10

Ray's talk brought many great points to our attention. One main aspect for me is in his life story no matter what life had thrown at him there was always an opportunity to turn things around and be able to make a positive out of it. 
He has certainly made that journey in life and has achieved this by will power and determination and  not being afraid to try things that  have not been tried before. It was great to hear Ray's life story  and how he now works to help others to achieve their goals. I hadn't realized until he made the point that we actually learn to network from the day we start school at a very young age.

 "Always work with people that know more than you do"

 "Surround yourself with positive people" 

Under Milk wood by Dylan Thomas at Theatre Clwyd Mold 17.2.2014

I had first come across this play when I was at school and at first I didn't fully understand what it was about until my mother explained some of its content to me .The film version with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton I hadn't liked but later came across an animated version which I can't find to add a link to it as yet but he animated version I had much preferred . 

I had noticed that the play was on at Theatre Clwyd  and wanted to go and see  a dramatic version  which I hadn't come across before. On entering the theatre, I  noticed that there was hung on a wall, a great piece of artwork which  set the scene for me. This can be seen on one of the images I have included of the cast on stage. It looked exactly how I had visualised  the fishing village of LLareggub to be with its harbour .It was also lit up for a night time effect and this I thought was great as it gave the set more atmosphere. 

I hadn't released who the cast in the play were and  to my great surprise, I  became aware of myself staring star struck  being in close proximity to some actors that I had only seen on TV. These actors were Owen Teal who, although he has acted in many things, I had only seen him in "Belonging", Huw Dafydd who also has acted in " Belonging" and "Con Passionate" and finally, Steven Meo who I had wanted to see for a while as  he is a favourite of mine and  has always made me laugh at the characters he has played. Steven seems to me to be a likable cheeky chappy, who has acted in "High Hopes", "Belonging", "Gavin and Stacey" and "The Baker Boys".

Owen Teal as Dai in "Stella"

Steven Meo

Huw Dafydd as Nessa's father in "Gavin and Stacey"

The Cast were excellent in every way and many played multiple characters. There was a great atmosphere between each cast member. From the start I felt that was taken on a journey from start to finish. There were the sounds from the street that Captain Cat could hear which I felt made me connect more to the fact of him being a blind person. I also liked the way that the characters came across with their different voices. This for me made it easier to visualise the differing, multiple characters that each actor played. 

The cast acting the part of  boys queueing up to" pay Gwenny a penny for a kiss"

Ifan Huw Dafydd and another cast member, Sara Harris Davies 

Dylan Thomas 

The production marks the centenary of Thomas' birth in 1914 and also the 60th anniversary of the play's British premiere.  Its sad to think that Thomas didn't get to hear its celebrated  broadcast  in 1954 with Richard Burton in the lead role, as Thomas had died two months before at the young age of 39 . Although the play covers a 24 hour period of the village LLareggub( which in actual fact spells buggerall  backwards), "Under Milk Wood" in actual fact took six years to write and the last draft was only completed a month before his death.  

For more about Theater Clwyd see below

http://www.clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk/en/whats_on/event/15881

Images Taken from Various websites

 links to Under Milk wood 

Full film link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UtHPT3QRts

Read by Dylan Thomas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUgF-i9l4xg