Major Project

A collaborative community project. I'm going to be working with Tahra and George - it will be so much fun :) 


A the moment we're trying to narrow it down into a more specific project involving one cause/issue. Research so far has been pretty easy, there's so many examples of current projects going on to work from. At the moment it's steering towards the crafty side of things. April will be a month of making and baking.....I'm excited!

We will be baking cakes for the mad hatters tea party. It will be a good excuse to eat lots of lovely cakes and meet new people. Bakers get free entry to the club night later on so we can party too :) I think it would be cool to bake some alice in wonderland style cakes (maybe that's the theme anyways.......)

I'm hoping that we could start doing this regularly. There should be lots of little crafty stalls there too so we can get some inspiration for things to make. I'm really feeling the alice in wonderland thing at the moment. 

Joining the cyclist community

I just bought a bike!!

Now it decides to rain.........gutted!

I've ordered some spokeys for the wheels :) I always wanted some and never got any when I was little so I guess I'm gonna regress a little bit and indulge myself in childhood fantasies. Tempted to buy tassels for the handle bars too - how awesome would that be?

I had to put it together myself - harder than it looks and I'm quite proud of myself! I took all the crappy stickers off and now I'm thinking of getting some friends together to pimp it up. Wonder if I bring it down to the next Best Joined Up the guys would wanna work on it??

Worth a try :)

Sparklehorse feat. Nina Persson - Gold Day

RIP Mark Linkous......

bleurgh illness!!

I'm finally starting to feel not ill - so I'm trying to catch up with everything I've missed this week and last week. I really don't want to apply for an extension - I'd rather get everything done on time and then be able to concentrate on my major project.


I'm really pleased with my critical studies essay :) 68!! I've been given an extra blog task to make sure I get a 1st - I need to analyse a zine article in depth. Shouldn't be too much of a task. I wasn't too worried about essay writing as I quite enjoy writing as long as it's about something I'm interested in. Hopefully this means that my dissertation shouldn't be such a struggle. Time management is my problem. Maybe I should do a project on my weaknesses?

I found these notecards on the BUST website. I thought they were funny. I keep on meaning to buy some kalico (I think that's what it's called!!) but craftwise only has it for sale with patterns. Cross-stitch is dead easy, I could make some awesome presents for people (if I can bear to part with them!)

Upcoming events

I really need to check out this new night on at nation of shopkeepers. It looks interesting! 

I'm hoping to go down to the faversham for this event tomorrow after work. 

Thins to look forward to!

I'm so giddy now! There's two placements going for the I Love West Leeds Festival and I've put my name down for one. It would be so amazing to work on this, especially as my current project is on this and I was kind of hoping to carry this onto a major project.

Feels like a sign!!

There is a project with Shari Baker at Armley Mills which is just down the road from me too, I'd like to take part but I'm usually in a workshop/tutorial then. May have a word with Graham to see if I can maybe swap sessions or something so that I can attend. I don't want to be missing any tutored sessions!

Also will be stewarding the stall at the upcoming book fair *fingers crossed* with George. So we'll get to explore the books too :)

I hope things go my way as I've been feeling pretty fucking low lately and it's affecting everything. I just need to keep myself busy

Fabrication

Fabrication

There's a new craft space in Leeds that I want to check out - Fabrication. I need to make a visit and check it out. Maybe attend one of the workshops??

A good cause

I had a think about what I would do to make the world a better place. Well I have always been pro-choice and I think it is very important to support the clinics and services that are there to provide women with the facilities and information they need to make an informed decision.


I found a few organisations that I would be interested in working with/for:


Womens Health Matters



Marie Stopes



Leeds Sexual Health



BPAS

My attempt!!

Right, so I thought I would have a go at paper sculpture. Here's the end result. I'm pretty pleased with them. I got the idea from a craft blog I was reading, but now can't find!! There was a template pdf to download so it was really easy to follow and make. It took a long time to draw, cut and score all the circles but it was easy enough to put it all together. I've suspended them from my bedroom ceiling and they look better in mass so I'm going to make lots and lots more :)


I have been checking out some more crafty style artists:


Yulia Brodskaya

I have requested lots of coloured card for my birthday - So my next 'thing to do' is a little bit of paper craft with typography. My next college project is 'designing for audiences' so I would like to this about using craft to send a message. Can craft change the world?

Craftivism

Mother Bear Project

Care Wear

Rehumanise us Memorial Quilt

Knitivism

Julien Vallee

Julien vallee website



I took a book out of the library called Papercraft. One of the artists in it is Julien Vallee. I love his paper sculptures. 


I have always had a general dislike to sculpture. Mainly because I hate working with clay - it's messy and so me always looks unrefined and isn't asthetically pleasing at all to me. I still think this about clay. It's static and I guess I always hated being forced to do it at school. 


I think I've been a little bit close-minded to sculpture. I've only been able to contemplate it in one medium. So what I'm saying is, I still hate clay, but I don't hate sculpture. What a revelation! I was really impressed by Vallee's paper scultures. The bright paper being manipulated, it almost seems impossible to me.


I would like to try some paper sculpture. On a large scale. I have 2 weeks now of no college and only 1 shift at work. I think it's a perfect reason to start a mini personal project.

Johnny Kelly

The Seed from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

Colouring Outside the Lines

Here are some photos I took of the Colouring Outside the Lines exhibition in Bradford last summer. 

Helen Musselwhite - These pieces were amazing! So delicate and intricate. Her work has great form.

Morwenna Catt - Bradford local artist - I found these pieces slightly sinister. I love the loose threads from each one, it gives me the feeling that they're not quite refined/finished. Like a work in progress, quite poetic really.

Abigail Brown - really, really cute textile sculptures. I have a thing about buttons so I loved these :)

Naseem Darbey - I thought this was a lovely idea, to do a portrait using a sewing machine instead of drawing. Must have been quite a task! 

Mind fuck!

Spend, spend, spend! It's all I seem to do lately - capitalist consumerism or what? I "invested" in a new iMac and honestly I am in love :) 


I also have a bad case of amazon fever at the moment. I've bought so many DVDs and books that I need to stop buying and actually watch/read them first!


I'm a little worried that I'm buying things to make me happy or distract myself from current issues. Well I'm not happy. I have, however, been distracted. 


February will be a month of experiences, not purchases. A month of resolution.


I need to prioritise. 


In no particular order: 

1. Work - 2 days a week not 3! I can do 3 days but it means I'm tired and grouchy and I got really behind with my last project. That cannot happen again!
2. College - start assignments as soon as they're given to me. Have specified "project nights" where I don't make plans and crack on with my work.
3. Family - ring my mum at least once a week. I'm really bad at this and it's always reassuring to talk to her, she makes me see sense on a lot of things.
4. Social life - there's a few gigs coming up (Passion Pit, Shy Child.....), and my birthday is very soon so there's no getting away from going out. I just need to make sure that I'm not just out for the sake of it. I'm feeling very lucky at the moment to have such wonderful friends. To be honest, they're the one thing driving me forward at the moment.
5. Lovelife - a car crash......these things happen
6. Me-time - one night a week to myself. Read/watch a film/have a bubble bath/play guitar/go for a swim.........

It sounds like a lot to do but it's only little things. I just need to sort my life (and my head) out.

My god, how emo am I? Things will get better

Thumbs down!

I wasn't impressed with The Art Bowl. Arriving at 6pm (when it said it started!) there was nothing really going on. I did like the series of video art of close-ups of someone eating, it was pretty disgusting but it caught my attention! There was a live art piece which I didn't get at all.........a series of newspaper clippings about animals and a japanese woman spinning candy floss and putting it into bags of kitty litter??!? Maybe my knowledge and understanding on contemporary art is not up to speed, but it was just plain weird.


Not an event I will be attending again.

Handmade 2

I really want to go to handmade 2. I missed the first one, so I'm going to try and finish work early to make it down there. I have a few birthdays coming up so I'd like to pick up a few handmade presents.

The Art Bowl

I think I might go here tonight :) bowling and art - what more could I ask for?

I really want to go and help out - I'm going to email Sophie and find out. Could lead to more work with hifi and the fav etc :)

DIY - The Rise of Lo-fi Culture

Currently reading this amazing book. It covers everything I'm interested in; zines, craft, music.........I wish I had more time to read!!

Best Joined Up this Friday :) I haven't been before but I checked out the website and the artwork looks pretty good. Miss Led's illustrations are amazing - I wish I was that good!


Best Joined Up

My good friend, Mr. Richard Galloway (thesbian extraordinaire) has asked me to do a bit of set designing for his new theatre production company. Hopefully, it will fit in with my next uni brief "designing for audiences". Anyways half term is very soon, and my birthday >.< so I'll have some free time to spare. No idea what kind of sets he wants. All will be revealed very soon.

I'll been trying to get a little bit of illustration done in my spare time (even though my spare time has dramatically decreased in the last few weeks!). I'm going to have a mess around with them in Photoshop once my new mac arrives (yay!)

I chose the colour blue. It's one of my favourite colours and has always had a calming effect on me. After doing a little bit of research I found that the colour blue has many more connotations.

1. Stable and calming - can make time pass more quickly and help you sleep
2. Too much blue can dampen spirits (the blues) or cause sadness or depression
3. Brings peace or keeps bad spirits away in some cultures
4. Corporate when navy/dark - conservative business power suits and police uniforms
5. Royal blue/azure can show wealth
6. Slows human metabolism and suppresses appetite
7. Trusting and loyal
8. Confidence and intelligence

There's more information on these websites:

Blue Colour Meanings

Colour Theory