You Could Tell It Was Telford....

The realisation that I am to be the last resident artist on the AIRetc programme at Telford college in its current guise before merging with Stevenson and Jewel and Esk on Monday 1^st of October to become part of Edinburgh College has added gravitas to the position I currently occupy as artist in residence here at Telford College. This programme of inviting former students to take up residence within the college, producing work, and engaging with the students is extremely important for the artists, the students, and the college as a whole. It helps to build upon the professional practice of the artists selected, allowing them the opportunity and time to pursue various lines of artistic enquiry in their own work and builds connections with staff and students.

Having previously studied at Telford and then returning here to start this residency I can honestly say I feel a connection with the identity of the college as a whole, an Identity that I feel proud to have been a part of despite its change of address and use of fairly odd tag lines for marketing the college, one of which very much becoming a by-phrase for shit (You Can Tell Its Telford…). But I guess that’s it, you could tell it was Telford, somehow “the south campus of Edinburgh College” doesn’t strike me full of inspiration or doesn’t hint at the history behind the college itself. With this in mind I hope that the homogenisation of these three colleges does not negatively impact upon the output of the students or the staff in their abilities to impart their own knowledge and skills. Having studied in several institutions that have merged over the years I am always wary of mergers which seem to be ostensibly and solely done to cut costs and the first things to get cut always seems to be staff and equipment.

I don’t know what the future of the programme will be after the merger but I would hope that the AIRetc residency will continue to exist, it would be a shame in these cutting times to lose something that costs very little if anything but is of great benefit to those that are involved be it the students, the lecturers the invited artists or the institution itself.    

meant to say I like doors..

updates on work live from the studio (let the chips fly)

So...... was going to post all of this in my last post but decided that it would end up too long a post with too many images thrown in so here we go.

Now have been working on another carved piece for the past three weeks, this isn't perhaps a brand new piece but one that I had put away at the end of my masters degree with the intention to continue to work on it after, and now having finally been given the facilities and opportunity to do so I have once again dusted off my carving tools, set square and graphite stick and started work on the piece. This piece comes out of the previous door carving I did for the degree show, but it is part of something bigger its part of an installation idea that I have had stuck in my head for almost a year now and one that I'm only about a third of the way through getting out.

 Anyway the past three weeks I have been writing out the words on the object then finding they don't fit and having to re-scale them and balance them etc etc which has been extremely frustrating at times. Anyway finally finished the laying out last week and began carving the the design onto the piece, which is by far my favourite part as you get to witness the object coming to life, seeing the character of the piece emerge from what was previously line after line of faint pencil marks on a piece of wood. Have again been using my flexicut hand carving tools which are taking a huge amount of punishment but get the job done slowly. Trying to speed up the carving process I borrowed a power carver/ chisel from a good friend of mine and that has sped up the whole process which is excellent but I cant help but feel it has come at the cost of something else. By using the power tool it introduces the machine into the process, which hadnt been there before, when using the hand tools it was a labour, a trial perhaps, which maybe allowed me to appreciate the finished article in a greater depth knowing that it has taken time and effort to bring the piece to a resolved point. I dont know, this bares more thinking about on my part and seems to boil down to what I think is more important the act of doing and making the finished object or the finished object itself and right now I have no idea. Anyway some pics of the work in progress.

Updates from the studio (finally got WIFI access)

So three weeks into my residency at Telford and its going well. Have finally ticked all the box's required for getting my staff card/ Library access and internet access (hence the new post from the studio) so expect more regular updates from the AIRetc studio.

Have met some of the students briefly having been asked to join the other lecturers during one of the taster classes for the new national diploma class which was great, got to walk around and chat with the students helping where asked/ needed. Have to say I was impressed by the work produced by the students and snapped a couple images to post up here. My apologies but for the most part cant remember any of the names of the students these belong to...... anyway here are some of my favourites. In other news I will be posting on another blog directly connected to my residency at Telford so feel free to check it out here:

http://airetc.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/say-hello-wave-goodbye/

AIRetc Residency

Ok so Its been more than a few days since my last post and things have moved on quite quickly in a relatively short period of time.

So a couple months ago I heard about an opportunity to take part in a residency programme at Edinburgh's Telford College (AIRetc) which in a brilliantly circular fashion is where I first embarked upon my "career" as an artist. The residency is open to former students at Telford who have completed one of the various art and design courses available, and provides studio space and facilities to those accepted onto the programme.

 So with this in mind I spent a week completing the application and proposal to take part and posted it off, having not had much luck previously in applying for residencies I didnt give it another thought until a week or so later I was bowled over to receive an email from Alan Holligan one of the lecturers at Telford offering me the residency for the first half of the year (Sep 2012 - Jan 2013).

Needless to say have jumped at the chance and have now moved into the studio with box's of assorted art materials in tow.

This residency programme is a really good opportunity to provide former students new and old with a platform to start off life after college and helping to build up your professional practice. Really looking forward to my time here.