Lisa Richards - AD7904 - Professional Development - Assignment 001: 80% Coursework: Individual, portfolio Brief: Students commencing AD7904: Professional Development bring with them a diverse range of knowledge and experience to potentially contribute to the module. The module acknowledges the breadth within the cohort in terms of students’ specialist academic disciplines, individual practices and career aims. This will offer rich opportunities to share knowledge and evolve ideas. The module assignments for AD7904 support the exploration of multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary working practices as an important element of professional development. Whether through formally structured module sessions or facilitated informal learning opportunities, discussions around ideas, processes, strategies and challenges in relation to developing practice will contribute to students’ professional development. The module asks students to engage with theory in relation to exploring, questioning and developing their perspective on potential professional career path/s within the creative industries. The module schedule is composed of a balanced mix of lectures, seminars (student-led discussions), critiques, presentations, group tutorials and personal tutorials. Independent learning is central to students’ development at postgraduate level and there is an expectation that students will undertake their own reading and visual research using the module indicative resource list as the starting point. Students are also encouraged to undertake primary research through activities such as independent visits to galleries, museums, conferences, symposia, etc. Students are required and expected to prepare for classes in advance by undertaking the relevant reading or planning, and considering their research actively throughout the module. Students should reflect upon their own and colleagues’ practice throughout the module in a critical and constructive manner. This module requires two assessment outcomes: 001: 80% Coursework: Individual, portfolio Utilizing your creative practice, produce an outcome which clearly embraces collaboration and addresses an identified audience. For clarity, the work should in some way be dependent upon a collaborative relationship for its success, however it is up to the practitioner to deliberate upon what form/s collaboration might take in relation to most effectively furthering their own creative practice and/or career ambitions. An accompanying contextual statement and evaluation is required which reflects upon the work in relation to elements of the module learning outcomes. You should explicitly reflect upon the collaborative aspect of the work and identify what you will take forward to progress your career. In a collaborative project it is inevitable that others will contribute to your submission; the names of the collaborators, together with details of their contribution, should be clearly identified. All students will be assessed as individuals, so submissions should be complete entities since they will be marked without reference to other students’ submissions. Due care should be taken in preparing the submission portfolio for assessment to ensure that it effectively represents the work undertaken. 002: 20% Coursework: Individual, standard written: 1500 words You are required to analyze the practice of an established and noteworthy contemporary creative practitioner who is relevant to your individual aspirations. The practitioner must work in one of the following creative disciplines: Fine Art, Illustration, Photography, Visual
Communication, Graphic Design, including directly associated professions such as curators, gallery owners, publishers, etc. Your choice of subject must be agreed with the module tutor by the 1st of March. Your essay must consider how your selected practitioner is positioned or positions themselves within the creative industries and society, the marketing of their work, key collaborative relationships and the challenges and opportunities that they may need to address within the contemporary marketplace in order to maintain a viable practice. Within your analysis, reference to theoretical perspectives on the role and/or position of art/design production within society, and the relationship of this in relation to the practitioner would be desirable (refer to grading grid, page 8 in the module guide). Please do remember to state why you consider your chosen practitioner to be noteworthy, and include supporting evidence in your appendices. Clearly identify how their work is validated, marketed, and their creative practice sustained.
Initial ideas - 001 My initial ideas for this project was to get involved with a different type of practitioner working with similar themes as me. After discussing this idea with a course mate with a similar practice to mine, we decided to team up and try and work with somebody from landscape architecture to either input on their existing practice or create a project. We sent this email to David Buck and various people we were hoping to get a response from. After trying to visit David in office and failing and getting no response, we decided it was time to consider other ideas.
We began by looking at collaborative art opportunities on Artist Newsletter but couldn’t find any to get involved with that suited us and this type of project, but then we found the Plymouth Take Back Control Art Submission 2017.
https://www.a-n.co.uk/jobs/listings/exhibiting https://www.a-n.co.uk/jobs/take-back-control-callout-for-artists https://takebackrealcontrol.com/home https://takebackrealcontrol.com/plymouth https://takebackrealcontrol.com/news/2017/3/10/take-back-control-and-how-we-aim-totackle-division-around-britain https://youtu.be/iZ_24x8WTO8 https://takebackrealcontrol.com/sunderland/ May Why your city? open to submissions
Proposal 001: Through collaboration with current MA Photography and past Photojournalism and Documentary Photography students Becky Thorp and Chris Wiltowski, we are proposing to curate an event based on the brief for the already existing ‘Take Back Control’ event. We were inquiring about whether it would be possible to organize an event in Cheltenham as there are few locations nearby however have received a response to say that this will not be possible but we are welcome to discuss with the event organizer ideas for our own event. Our current idea is to curate a photographic exhibition surrounding the notions of Brexit remain and leave, our aim would be to bring communities together enabling everyone to see different points of view. We would be opening submission from any age group and social class to primarily students but also the Cheltenham artist community. This would be a collaboration between ourselves and other people involved, including photographers submitting work, guest speakers, the venue and the public. Doing this would challenge our existing skills and develop us as professionals, and hopefully leaving us with the outcome of being able to successfully work as a team and with others to organize a successful event. My role in the team would be to jointly scout locations for the event, organize submissions, advertise, organize speakers and the exhibition, as well as the possibility of submitting work. 002: The practitioner i have chosen to research is Patrick Keiller. I believe looking at how Keiller uses different mediums to convey geopolitical themes and how he presents his work to a wider audience will aid my own practice and give me ideas on how to get work out there and use different ways of showing and using work. Within this assignment his work relates to the type of submissions we are anticipating and the type of photographs we will submit ourselves, exploring a broader theme through a much narrower subject (i.e 'Take Back Control’ through images of Britain after brexit, and Keiller’s themes of politics through his character’s musings). I believe through examining the work of Keiller it will allow my
current practice to develop into a more distinct style and have a platform to be seen on.
Contact (response)
New theme home pop up exhibition? pasting pictures/ open submission
Research
Open call for submissions
Updates
Patrick Keiller
Research
New idea
Open call for submissions (again)
Circulating the open call (much better than before) Personal tumblr blog with large art following:
Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Facebook page:
Professional tumblr blog:
Overheard at Gloucestershire:
University of Gloucestershire Photography course reps Facebook page:
Photojournalism and Documentary Photography’s other Facebook page:
MA Collaborations Facebook Page:
MA Photography Facebook page:
Email to Christine Mcintyre (Hardwick Gallery):
Email to Julia Peck :
Post on old course page (PJD 2013):
And last but not least, flyers. I printed off the call for submissions and left them in places I thought relevant student might see them, such as outside of the darkroom, hardwick cafĂŠ, outside hardwick gallery, and on a notice boards at FCH. I also posted the call for submissions on my personal Facebook page, and send a copy to some previous people who I have worked with on photographic projects.
Responses to open call (the REAL collaboration begins) First Submission: Jamie Schofield
Second & third Submission – negatives Shot by Glenmark Adams These got given to me as negative so these are the ones I’ve scanned so far, I’ve also been given more transparencies and print photos by his granddaughter Teresa Adams, of which I haven’t scanned yet
Some interest and positive responses to the open calls
Fourth Submission: Dora Williams
Fifth Submission: Jasmine Kate
Sixth Submission: Tracy Spiers
Another potential submission
More submissions from Dora Williams!
A bit of a hiccup …but I really want all the contributors to be happy with the outcome, so on the hunt for a new name! What’s the first rule of collaboration? Compromise?
New Name! https://nameberry.com/babyname/Mavis Behind the Name: Meaning, origin and history of the name Mavis. From the name of the type of bird, also called the song thrush, ultimately derived from Old French. It was first used as a given name by the British author Marie Corelli, who used it for a character in her novel ‘The Sorrows of Satan’ (1895). Mavis, another word for the song thrush, is also a relative of the Welsh word for strawberries, mefus. Mavis has something of a British World War II feel, a friend of Beryl and Doris, but it was quite popular in the U.S. a couple of decades earlier, peaking in the Roaring Twenties. With the renewed interest in names ending in ’s’–and in bird names– Mavis could make a return, especially with the new interest in Maeve.
Seventh Submission: Yasmin Carter
Research: New Wave http://hardwickgallery.org/exhibition/new-wave/
Updates 4 days in, 9 days to go! I already have 6 submissions and some found images, I have a box of negatives and some more found negatives yet to scan, and I’m expecting 2 more submissions soon. Hopefully, in the next 9 days I can get some more submissions but it’s becoming harder to push as I’ve already circulated the open call everywhere I can think of. I am going to make a mockup of the book so far and send it to the contributors today, I’m hoping to get some feedback and input from them as they are a vital part of the making of this book. Maybe they will even have more submissions. Book Mock up The book is going to be hand bound, either perfect bound, Japanese stitched, or a more scrapbook style like loosely sewn at the edges or even just bulldog clipped like a document. I think the presentation of this is going to be key to how it’s perceived and I’m going to include on my email to the contributors my idea of how it will be presented to see if they have any better ideas. I’ve gone with a plain, dark red cover for now but as this is going to be handmade I may go with just a colored piece of card or a colored book cloth to cover it with. I’ve decided to keep it simple, as I think Mavis would, and keep all the content to the right side pages, keep the images and text aligned similarly, and the text to short sentences. I think it’s best to just start writing based on my notes and rearrange to pages as more submissions come. I’ve decided to use Jasmine’s image as the first image as I think it makes a great introductory image and gives a sense of place. The narrative is going to follow Mavis’s day roughly but digress to recount stories, so I’ve began by telling how Mavis would start her day. I think the text alignment on the second page needs to be altered, or the image, as the white gap is a bit too large but I need to find a way to do this so that it still matches up with the first page. I am considering adding more text or scaling down the image on the first page.
Submissions/found images so far I’ve been going through some negatives I was given and scanning/editing them, as well as quickly looking for public domain images and collating the submissions so far. I’m not sure yet if I want to use public domain images as they don’t belong to anybody, I first thought of them as they don’t belong to me which is my main aim with this book, however I feel a bit uneasy about using them. I’ve also attached names to the scanned images of who gave them to me, updates later.
Public domain images
Scans of negatives from Glenmark Adams
Teresa Adams (3rd submission) scans from transparencies
New Submission! (8th Submission found in paris) From Adriano Ribiero
New found image (9th submission?): found on old memory stick dated 2009
Patrick Keiller (again)
9th submission: Jonathan Sparkman
Book updates I’ve added quite a few pages and done a rough draft of the text and images, at the moment the text is all aligned to end at the same point on each page and the images are aligned to all have the same center on each page. I want this book to look as simple as possible and with the varying image sizes I thought this was the best way to do it, however this is subject to change. I’m trying to put together a draft which includes at least one image from each person at the moment so that I can send it round to everyone and get their input. At the back is the list of contributors, and on this I want to add to it either small thumbnails of their
images or the page numbers they appear on. Currently, the narrative follows Mavis on a rather mundane day, often deviating to recount stories of her life. It starts with Mavis in a café eating breakfast, wandering down to a duck pond and feeding the ducks, and trails onto her feeling about birds and the seaside. It the deviates as Mavis recounts her first husband, a marriage and her youth, all along discovering small details about Mavis’s life like that she likes birds and the seaside but doesn’t like dogs, children, or Paris yet all have a central role in her life. The story interrupts to go back to Mavis’s day, where she is off to watch sail boats. I plan to add to this section. Then, Mavis recounts about her experiences holidaying in Paris and her love of Embassy cigarettes. Another main character is Thomas, her husband. This story is entirely fictional and made up by me based on writing styles that I like and a few small details borrowed and edited, sometimes opposed, to how my great grandmother used to recount things. Before continuing, I am going to check my spelling grammar and use of words as I am not a writer and don’t claim to be, I have just read a lot and have played about with narrative in the past so think this is how I should write. I am going to consult the internet. When Mavis recounts about her former husband and relationship to children, the images turn to black and white. This was merely coincidental as the majority of the images I wanted to use were submitted as black and white, although admittitly I did turn one of them into black and white to fit the theme. I do think this works well however, I usually don’t like clichés like this but I think in the case of found images in this style narrative, having a block of black and white image in the middle of the book sandwiched by colour images kind of works.
Checking all the text This is all of the text so far, in red are words I’m not sure about using and explaination of such which I am going to ask everyone their opinions on: Mavis started her day in the most ordinary of fashions. Peering through the high windows of the cafe which she frequented, Mavis observed as the tide washed out. On any given day, around 09.56am, you could find a plump (meaning group of ducks. I chose this word as I wanted to label it as a word Mavis would use but I’m worried the audience won’t understand) of ducks swarmed around one solitary piece of toast (toast to imply Mavis had taken it from the café, and also that she though the ducks might prefer toast to bread), floating near the river bank. Mavis enjoyed the stroll from the cafe to the river, and thought to herself that, ‘if ducks should eat bread’(not sure if correct use of grammar), as they most certainly did, but should not (Included this to imply that Mavis does not know that ducks should not eat bread but the narrator does, and that ducks do enjoy bread to be the premise of mavis’s thinking), ‘then perhaps they would delight at the idea of toast: what a treat.’ Mavis was fond of Gulls (I think Mavis would call them gulls, not seagulls. Not sure if capitalization is right), despite their tendencies to snatch away whatever seaside fancy she
had indulged upon that day. Their favourites, she had noted, were chips. The kind which would be saturated in salt and dripping with sauces. These, they would approach with the audacity of a vulture upon the sight of a rotting corpse. (I like the implication that Mavis uses dark comparisons regularly and casually. Not sure if audience would agree) It was strange, Mavis pondered, to compare the likeness of one bird to another. Mavis always had chips to spare. Thomas preferred to keep a safe distance. (First introduction to Thomas… think this works? Would rather not outwardly say that Mavis is married to Thomas but want to make it apparent) Mavis had been married once before the meeting of Thomas. Of course, in her youth Mavis wasn’t quite the ideal wife. She preferred not to associate with people of her own gender. The majority of which had lives orientated around child rearing. Mavis grimaced at the idea, and the practicality, of a crying child. Until the departure (not sure is right word) of Mavis’s first husband, of whom doesn’t merit naming, Mavis couldn’t stomach the idea of what dismal a child could bring to her life. Mavis’s mother had been ecstatic upon hearing the news, not that anybody could tell. She was a woman of stern expression, which in no way reflected upon her compassion. She had been the kind of mother to Mavis which Mavis herself never expected to be. It was often during her pregnancy that Mavis wondered what her mother had been like in her youth. Thomas liked children, and with almost the same spirit he liked dogs. Mavis, upon the arrival of Charles (might change name), began to wonder if he would grow to enjoy the seaside such as she did. Mavis wondered if living in a seaside town would skew his impression upon it. Charles did not like seagulls, nor did he like many kinds of winged animal. By the eleventh hour, Mavis could see no point in further tending to the appetites of ducks. It was a short walk today to the canal, and approximately the time when the sail boats (don’t know if right kind of boat) would compete. (NEEDS MORE PAGES ADDED HERE TO LEAD ONTO PARIS)
Some years ago, Mavis recounted, Thomas had persuaded a good friend of his to lend them his summer home for a considerable amount of time. Paris, however, belonged to the city man, and the city dog. Mavis adored pink, that was somewhat redeeming. She would have much preferred the Parisian suburbs (is this a thing?). Paris, Mavis thought, hadn’t quite enough beaches. Mavis and Thomas returned year after year, reveling in the good nature of the homeowner. It was a Thomas’s suggestion that it would be an awful shame to enjoy such fortune without the company of a child to delight in. It was from then on that the grandchildren should summer in Paris. ‘Then’ being 1974 to be precise, as Mavis always was. Visiting the sites, one of Thomas’s favourite pastimes, become quite tiresome when repeated. ‘It would be absurd’, thought Mavis, ‘To expect one to admire such nonpareils without the company of an Embassy.’
Text updated: Mavis started her day in the most ordinary of fashions. Peering through the high windows of the cafe which she frequented, Mavis observed as the tide washed out. On any given day, around 09.56am, you could find a plump of ducks swarmed around one solitary piece of toast, floating near the river bank. Mavis enjoyed the stroll from the cafe to the river, and thought to herself that, “if ducks should eat bread”, as they most certainly did, but should not, “then perhaps they would delight at the idea of toast: what a treat.” Mavis was fond of Gulls, despite their tendencies to snatch away whatever seaside fancy she had indulged upon that day. Their favourites, she had noted, were chips. The kind which would be saturated in salt and dripping with sauces. These, they would approach with the audacity of a vulture upon the sight of a rotting corpse. “It is strange”, Mavis pondered, “to compare the likeness of one bird to another”. Mavis always had chips to spare. Thomas preferred to keep a safe distance. Mavis had been married once before the meeting of Thomas. Of course, in her youth Mavis wasn’t quite the ideal wife. She preferred not to associate with people of her own gender. The majority of which had lives orientated around child rearing.
Mavis grimaced at the idea, and the practicality, of a crying child. Until the vanishing of Mavis’s first husband, of whom doesn’t merit naming, Mavis couldn’t stomach the idea of what dismal a child could bring to her life. Mavis’s mother had been ecstatic upon hearing the news, not that anybody could tell. She was a woman of stern expression, which in no way reflected upon her compassion. She had been the kind of mother to Mavis which Mavis herself never expected to be. It was often during her pregnancy that Mavis wondered what her mother had been like in her youth. Thomas liked children, and with almost the same spirit he liked dogs. Mavis, upon the arrival of Patrick, Mavis began to wonder if he would grow to enjoy the seaside such as she did. Mavis wondered if living in a seaside town would skew his impression upon it. Patrick did not like Seagulls, nor did he like many kinds of winged creatures. By the eleventh hour, Mavis could see no point in further tending to the appetites of ducks. It was a short walk today to the canal, and approximately the time when the tourist boats would sail past. (NEEDS MORE PAGES ADDED HERE TO LEAD ONTO PARIS) Some years ago, Mavis recounted, Thomas had persuaded a good friend of his to lend them his summer home for a considerable amount of time. Paris, however, belonged to the city man, and the city dog. Mavis adored pink, that was somewhat redeeming. She would have much preferred Southern France. Paris, Mavis thought, hadn’t quite enough beaches. Mavis and Thomas returned year after year, reveling in the good nature of the homeowner. It was a Thomas’s suggestion that it would be an awful shame to enjoy such fortune without the company of a child to delight in. It was from then on that the grandchildren should summer in Paris. ‘Then’ being 1974 to be precise, as Mavis always was. Visiting the sites, one of Thomas’s favourite pastimes, become quite tiresome when repeated. “It would be absurd”, thought Mavis, “To expect one to admire such nonpareils without the company of an Embassy.”
SENDING DRAFT OUT TO CONTRIBUTERS
Book Design Research
Updates I’ve decided that I don’t want to use public domain images or found images as it feel unauthentic and like cheating. If there’s nobody to credit, and it’s not about that fact, I don’t think it belongs in this book. This takes my 10 submissions down to 9, with 6 days to go before submissions close. This should give me 5 days to finish the edit and print the book.
10th Submission: Emma Yorke
(ADD KODACHROME IMAGES)
Circulation
Scans of prints previously submitted by Teresa Adams (3rd Submission)
11th Submission: Simon Hargreaves
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capoeira 12th Submission – unscanned negs and scrap prints Today I got handed a pile of found negatives and darkroom test prints at uni, by somebody who wished not to be credited. I am going to try and scan the negs along with a few from previous submissions that I still haven’t been able to but as the Degree show hanging is taking place the negative scanners have been taken away and I may not be able to. I will use a flatbed scanner to scan the darkroom test prints but I have made quite a lot of progress in the book and I’m not sure if I will need them, especially without a named contributor.
Submissions Closed! Submissions are now closed and I am going to spend the week making new edits of the book and planning how to make the physical book Feedback! Book update This draft tin corporates at least one image from each person and has updated text, credits page, and page numbering. For the next draft I need to finish scanning submissions and refine the text, come up with an ending, edit the cover page, and check text size/alignment. I am going to be emailing the next draft to all contributors hopefully for more feedback. New book draft: https://issuu.com/snappography/docs/mavis_s_grand_day_out_2
How could this collaboration be taken into a professional marketplace?