Meeting with Alison & Cliff Grainger- Job offer

I had a meeting arranged with photographers Alison and Cliff Grainger, this afternoon to borrow a pull up and photo album to help with my presentation and also discuss a future job opportunity with them...it went extremely well!

They offered me a job with promoting the google tour work, to begin with and then introducing me to the website software in order to create website design/layouts for clients involved with the virtual tours. This will work around my current part-time job and will be able to work from home. It would be payed work and i would eventually work on a commision basis.

They also offered me the opportunity to join them to do the actual tours, whereever the clients businesses are- be it London, Manchester...and also mentioned putting me on an apprenticeship etc

We only spoke for an hour or so but will be in touch soon to discuss when I'm free during the week, working around my part time shifts..we plan to set up a google calendar to make it easier to see available dates and when google shoots are scheduled.

I'm really enthusiastic about this opportunity and can't wait to get started!!

Future Placements

I have some placements lined up for the upcoming weeks and over the summer, that i hope to gain a lot more experience, skills and knowledge from.

I met up with Alison today and she offered to take me along to her scheduled wedding shoots over the summer, and hope to join Cliff on a google tour photoshoot at the next opportunity. I also plan to join Alison when she's canvasing in her studio.

Ive been in touch with the graphic design company Purpleeight aswell- i gave them another call last week and unfortunately they wont be able to provide me with a desk to work on untill after my hand in date. But i still intend to spend a few days with them, i feel getting some experience in the graphic design area would be vital for me as its something i've always thought of getting involved in.

Alison also mentioned seeing Paul from the 'Purpleeight' design agency (as it was the Graingers who introduced me to Paul at the business focus event) and said he hadn't forgotten me, but is still struggling to accomadate me as he hasn't got a desk free at the moment. He still wants to  provide me with a few days work placement within the design agency, so will be in touch eventually.

Hours spent on work placement...

21/12 Studio hrs with Wildlife artist Kim Robinson= 6hrs
18/02 Interview, Paul Pickard = 1 hr
24/02 Wedding Fayre, Cliff Grainger- Hanley Moat House Hotel = 6 hrs
28/02 Business Fayre, Alison & Cliff- Hanley M Club = 4hrs

08/04 Gallery at 12, Wayne Tomlinson- Eccleshall = 7hrs
11/04 Gallery at 12, Angela Smith- Eccleshall = 7 hrs
20/04 Creative Village Studio, collection of artists= 5 hrs
 
Total- 36

Future placement experience-
Wedding shoot- May/June
Google tour shoot- May/June
Canvasing with Alison Grainger
Design agency- a week over the summer

Evaluation of Gallery placement

After spending a few days at the gallery with a collection of very different artists- painter/ jeweller/ textile artist i found i learnt an awful lot about the gallery, individual practises and gained some great experience.

I found it really interesting to spend time with independant artists within different fields and each from various backgrounds but also within the gallery environment rather than a studio space. I learnt how the general running of the place functioned and each artists attitude to selling their work in their own gallery. Being able to talk to visitors about their own work and actually meet the person buying their pieces is quite a unique process and works well.

I collected as much documentation as i could and tried to soak in all the knowledge and advice given to me, the days went quite quickly but i enjoyed working with the artists at the gallery.

 

 

Displaying the installation

Finishing touches and fiddling with the layout

 

 

 

 

First attempt at putting up the brackets!! ...i eventually aligned them evenly and arranged them high enough to ensure the fabric hung just above the floor.

I was happy with the way the screens hung, it worked out just as id intended- the shadows also stayed in place and werent flush to the fabric, purposefully to give movement to the images.

 

 I arranged the lighting behind the screens, on the shelf half way up the fabric and focused them on different aspects of the design, so as to light up certain areas and dim others. My choice of lighting could have been better as the bulbs are clearly scene behind. However spot lights, i found were quite harsh, a lightbox would have been more effective to create softer light but would have only provided one source of light. Considering the lightness of the room and difficulty displaying the piece well enough due to the location of plugs etc i think it worked well and am satisfied it worked as i invisaged.

My first arrangement, but wasnt satisfied with the zoetrope being displayed on the floor and the shade wouldnt reach to the plug so had to shuffle things around to ensure the birds were still reflected clearly on the wall..the second arrangement didnt do this-

 

Also looked much too close together and cluttered- wanted the screen to stand alone and have more dominance over the space, the birds were too far from the wall..

 

So then moved the podium with shade and zoetrope to the other end of the wall in order to access the plug and space out the pieces to benefit them both and enable them to thrive in more space.

 

 

 

I also messed around with the lighting positions a few times to create the appearance i was satisfied with.

 

The finished installation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kate Bush music video

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQz-dJSGECs

Came across this music video, which uses a shadow puppet animation...it doesn't really relate to what I want to create but works well... Kate Bush- Lake Tahoe. Using music alongside the animation is effective and purposeful, it would help my static installation create more of an atmosphere but haven't been able to think of an appropriate track, so would seem unnecessary and take the focus from the installation. The silence is equally effective and creates a more mysterious feel to the shadows formed.

Puppet Evaluation

Im happy with my finished Shadow puppet installation and all its linking elements. It took me quite a while to get on track with this project as i struggled to finalise an idea- with so many popping up in my head. However i feel its worked well and is as i invisaged this particular piece to look, the surroundings its set in could be better but the feel i wanted to create is evedent.

There are several things i would alter though...stepping back and looking at the shadows hung up allowed me to see things i could have added. If hung highter the lights on the shelf beneath could have been higher and focusing directly behind the main shadow scene. But the subtleness also is something i wanted to create, the lights would be more effective if softer.


I tacked the card loosely to the fabric in order for the imnage to move with the light beneath and draft of the room creating movement in the fabric. The images then appear mysterious and warped, which looks mcuh more affective than solid shadows, as they arent in a performance. The letters arer intended to hang like string puppets but perhaps should have included string to emphasise this and maybe a stick coming in for the Shadows of the City sign to link with the method of moving shadow puppets in performance.

Instructions for Assessment.

1. All lights plugged in and turned on at switches- for both the 'bird cut out' lamp shade and fabric screen pieces.
2. The zoetrope is intended to be held at eye-level and spun anti-clockwise to reveal the moving image viewed through the slits made.
3. The lamp shade, when switched on- shines light through the cut out shapes, creating negatives of the images which are then reflected onto the wall behind. This also can be gently turned to reveal each flight stage.
4. Once viewed all lights must be turned off and unplugged- as they get quite hot!


Thankyou!

Gallery at 12- Dragons choice

 

 

 Dragons Den star Theo Paphitis has chosen Gallery@12 as one of his select 'Small business Sunday' twitter destinations.

As winners of #sbs (Small business Sunday) on twitter in October 2011, Gallery at 12 had an invitation to attend the #sbs inaugural meeting at Edgbaston Stadium on March 30th, along with the other winners over the last 18 months.

It was a wonderful day hosted by Rymans Stationery, we enjoyed the day immensely, meeting fellow sbs winners. Theo Paphitis hosted a question and answer session, after which we were presented with our winners certificates.

 

 

 

Source- http://www.galleryat12.co.uk/News.html

Tree scene

 

Using positive and negative space to create different effects when light is shone beneath.

Shadow screens- making

 

Spread out the fabric to begin arranging the shadows and tacking into position.

 

 

I experimented quite a lot with the layout before i was happy with it..

 

 

 ...like the letters set out in a jumbled fashion, to link with string puppets

The finished Cathedral.

Arranging layout and moving the whole piece up and down the fabric, id decided on the centre scenes positions but also needed to judge where the lighting would be in relation to the shelf etc

 

 I was satisfied with the above layout, so then slid them under the fabric and began tacking the card shilhouettes to the fabric- this proved quite fiddly and difficult due to the voile like fabric warping and not keeping its shape, the process was very time consuming but couldnt see another method that didnt involve sticky dots, that were visbale when light was shone.

Creative Village

I spent today with a different set of artists and practioners, all recent graduates with their individual practises, working independantly in a shared creative environment. Its a really nice way of producing work, private yet holds a arty community to bounce ideas off and discuss various practise related issues.

The space is divided into different areas for artists to work- their personal studio space and then a communal kitchen, meeting area for clients and board room is also available.

I met a few of the artists who rent studio space there, one of them being Nicola Blaize a Ceramisist, who specialises in bespoke pottery. Her work is really beautiful- some of it handmade, others printed upon with her designs..

 I particularly love her sketchy drawings on the pottery and the exquisite marble affect created on this teapot and sugar bowl.
 

http://blaizeceramics.co.uk/

 

 I spent most of the day helping out Kim in her studio and discussing her work and others in the studio but wasnt able to meet any other of the artists as the few that were their were busy in the spaces. Instead i learnt how she runs her business and the general process of getting orders out to customers when they buy from her online shop.
Its set up using paypal, when someone makes a sale- the cutomer makes the payment to paypal and Kim then recieves and email confirming the order. The money is put into her paypal account, she is informed of the products bought, packages and posts the product and lets paypal do the rest. They inform the customer when the products dispatched and inform the artist of when payment is recieved into her account.

Ive learnt a lot from spending time with Kim at her studio and enjoyed meeting other practiotioners in the same situation.

 

 

Displaying the Installation

Today i created the brackets for displaying my fabric screens- as yesterday i realised the screens werent able to be suspended from the ceiling, due to the height of the room. So instead brackets of some sort would have to be made, protruding from the wall in order to hang the fabric from.

I found the perfect spot with a plug nearby for lighting, shelf to pop the lamps on and a podium arranged beside the screens to display the zoetrope and pigeon flight lamp.

 

The finished light shade- intended to reflect shadows of the pigeon in flight.

 

I also spread out the fabric screen to finalise and arrange the layout of the shadows..the scenes work well but im yet to add some more elements.