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
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
Carol Ramsey - Artist - Facebook
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.
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.
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.
The above is a quote Ray said:
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"
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"
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