Graduation!

So this is it - the day it's all come down to. 

I've waited 10 long years for it and you know what - it paid off:

  I GOT A FIRST CLASS HONOURS!!

 I'm so glad to have shared the experience with so many amazing people

: congrats Creo - we did it!

Welcome to the show

Our degree show is up and we're open for business: Welcome to the Creo Degree Show!

I've had two great pieces of news this week: firstly, prior to opening I received notice that I was going to be awarded The Chartered Society of Designers Student Award, for all the work I had done on the course during the last year. This was nominated by the tutors - wow! what a shock! The awards ceremony took place on the preview night of the show and I presented with the 'already on my wishlist for the library' book the art of looking sideways (how chuffed was I!?)

I also found out that I've been selected to exhibit at New Designers (which is very exciting) and will be making the most of these last few weeks at NTU before I do :)

My family made it down to the show, which was great, so I gave them a tour of all the work - I'm so very proud to be part of such a talented bunch of people!

So that's it - up for a week then a speedy take down, before prepping ourselves again for exhibiting in LONDON!!!

Setting up the show

The last few weeks have been stupid busy with degree show set up and realising that this is the....end of the degree :(

Mike has been helping with the bases to our display stands

(shhhh, he's been a bit like our secret technician ;)

We've been prepping the boards ready for display

and erecting them in place ready for hanging up the show!

I tried out various arrangements for my space...

...after getting moved a couple of times...

I'm glad I was convinced to include my drawings however

They really helped tie the whole thing together!

The studio was laid out with all our back up work

It's just a real shame that it couldn't be out with the public show.

Brochure Preview

It's been a busy few weeks with our lead up to degree show...the brochure is getting ready at the printers, but because I can't wait to share it - here's a preview!

Our dates for the show:

Not Long Now...

....it really isn't!? With Easter break only a week away, time is a ticking.... 

I'm excited about these next few months though, and feel very honoured to be working alongside such talented people. It has been so great watching the skill level shoot sky high in recent months and there is such a buzz of activity in the studio, it's great going in everyday :) In terms of my own work, I don't want to disclose too much on here before the finish now, as there is still a level of mystique required before seeing the end product(s)! There has been a lot of talk this week regards degree show set up and about how we might be wanting to display our work. Having the showcase just recently has been great for that, looking at how and what people have been putting on show. 

My work for the show was this: 

There was a breakage in the right hand vessel before putting it up, and in a way, I actually quite like it! Learning to embrace the 'happy accidents' is half the fun of the creative journey... 

On that topic, the work of late has taken a bit of a turn...frustrated by the nature of the objects becoming 'just vessels' (due to the nature of their slip-cast process), I cut the bases off and started re-addressing their purpose, or non-purpose as it were: 

Altering them in this way began offering up new opportunities:

and with the successes of some recent glaze testing:

and considerations over where the process stops and the product/object begins:

there has been plenty of scope for a range of new objects:

Thinking about it, I might just leave that one there - as a final image before the completed collection...! There's lots to be getting on with in the meantime; business cards and a website to design, the more finalized pieces of the collection to make, glazing to do, pictures to take (with my new DSLR - well I had to treat myself to something after 8000 words didn't I!?) more drawing to do, paperwork to get in order... etc etc etc etc etc etc....

Here's to the next few months - what will be going up in my space....?

Creō

Each year on Decorative Arts, the 3rd year of the course brand themselves for their final year exhibition. We have called ourselves Creō (the latin of create) and since the end of last year we have been fundraising for the production of our end of year brochure. 

Remember the Before I Die... event? That kicked us off raising over £400! Since then, we have held an auction: 

where I secured these wins:

We also held a Christmas Fair:

selling drawings from the sketchcrawl:

plus other items from everyone on the course:

And after creating our brand logo, we hosted a really exciting showcase

Instigated by the lovely Melody

We held a one day pop up show with everyone from the course contributing some work. It was a great success, and secured some more funds for the brochure too - yippee!

You can follow Creō on facebook, twitter and instagram where we will be uploading exciting news and events

It's all about the Making...

After treating myself to the wonderful book Making and Drawing I feel inspired to update on some of my recent making.

Making for me in very much a part of the drawing process, in fact, it could be seen as an exploration of line and mark itself. 

Surface, texture, form and conversations.

Let's have a look at what's been going on...

Exploring the relationship between size, weight, line and clay body 

these two objects have an interesting dialogue:

I have taken a cast of the inside and reverse of the same mould here 

and the surface quality is again interesting..

The way it picks up the stitch is magical:

And the depth of the line draws you in further still:

I then stopped to think about what has been happening during the whole process of the making....

> During slip-casting you are always left with waste slip. 

> Reusing the flexible moulds pushes them to their limits. 

They begin to disintegrate and become unusable, but surely this is not the end of their use?

I started to consider how I could utilise all of this....

and through a process of composing with the waste cloth:

...using the excess slip to take a cast or in this case 'print':

I have been presented with some interesting results:

Taking this further into the positioning of stitch, line and altered surface - 

 you are offered a whole new line of enquiry still!

I'm quite excited by this process and see lots of potential in its capabilities longer term.... 

I wonder how this might work in to my current degree show set up however, 

could this become part of / a canopy in itself?

and what about these forms:

They are starting to take shape a bit more too...

It's not that long away now, when this work will be up on show

I can't wait to see it!!!

But for now, it's on with the making...