Madrid/ Milan / Madeira (anywhere starting with M)

My oh my, how we struggled to determine where we were. The women in my family are not renowned for their elocution and mastery of words so it comes as no surprise that in the space of two nights me and mum managed to travel around all European cities starting with M, when in fact we simply had a lovely time in Madrid, Spain.
Plaza Major (or in the delightful Yorkshire tones of my mother Play-o May-o) provided our first tapas meal of our stay, after which we embarked on a very long walk through the palace gardens and encountered our spanish counterparts (mother and daugther on holiday) on various occasions around the city. Our first evening was spent unknowingly in the red light district, where when finally seated in a restaurant that served other than burger and chips, and without the view of sex workers propositioning men.
We visited the Reine Sofia which is HUGGGEEEE! We only saw a fraction of it before tiring and having to eat tea and truffle cake, yummo. We also went to the Botanical Gardens and the Museo Del Prado which was beautiful.

The Reader's Room

Today i joined the John Rylands library and gained entry to the special collections reading room, I got very excited by the formality and beurocracy of it all. After requesting the title on a little slip, someone behind the desks goes and consults the trolls and goblins toiling away in the archives to retrieve your book, which are then presented on some foam supports and a chain of weighted beads to keep the pages flat. Amazing!

My geekiness aside i did have a great time immersed in this little historical literature world. The books smelt so old, it was lovely! I could have stayed for hours, I only made it halfway through my first story, a work by Elizabeth Gaskell called the Grey Woman. This story will form the basis of one of my pieces for the Tales of the Unexpected show. The second piece will be based upon Lewis Carroll's 'The hunting of The Snark'.

Ciao for Now.

Pop Up

Like a Jack in the box, up pops a lovely temporary art gallery to brighten up the Centenary Square in Bradford, this is where the BF's exhibition is being held, he is lucky enough to have space for a month (3rd Sept - 1st Oct) so we've been doing a bit of volunteering to help out and try increase the old CV a bit (objective number 4, i salute you) and its very much enjoyable!

There is some really interesting work and obviously Simon James is going to steal the show with his ever-evolving pieces.

Hopefully I will be displaying some of my own work here in the future, it's a lovely big open space just down the tootles from the Impressions Gallery. Go in!

A trip down Memoir Lane

Oh Manchester, how i love to walk your streets in the summer by myself and fool everyone around me that I still live there. Alas, i do not, but it is lovely that it still feels like home.

A trip to the Manchester Gallery after Graduation showed me that the pesky little be-masked creatures that formulate the basis of my entire degree project had fallen down. Poor things, so armed with my portfolio and glue-gun i headed for a day out. Figures re-glued, I went to find the John Rylands Library. And what a feast for my eyes! and sore shoulders (heavy bags). A beautiful gothic building plonked in the middle of boring any-city anywhere architecture. It really is a stunning building, it is like a slice of pure history just sat there.

So in i went to get inspired, i sat in the historic reading room with my little pad and sketchbook and starting doodling. A few ideas had been floated around so i set to them with my own brain leading the way. After a meet with Ellie, the founder of the theatre company we have finalised some ideas for how i can contribute to the visual art and set design of the show and i most certainly am a wee bit excited.
Eeek. 28th Aug ain't far away. I'll be a busy bee! Now lets just not procrastinate guys... I am not allowed to clean the bathroom.

One for the CV...

Manchester Art Gallery
Craft and Design (2nd Floor)

Only gone and got myself a little bit of exposure in the M.A.G haven't I?!

My work got selected in response to the collection of Mary Greg, and it gets shown for 10 Weeks in the Object Memories Cabinet. The Mary Greg collection features hundreds of everyday items, which is currently being excavated by Sharon Blakey and Hazel Jones, amongst others.

Here is a link to the site which documents the whole process and journey of unearthing this collection: http://www.marymaryquitecontrary.org.uk/

I couldn't be there to install my work due to flitting around Madrid with my ma. So i took photographs of how potentially it should be laid out, and the end result. My work sits alongside the objects which helped to inspire my initial ideas for my final year, so it is a very nice ending indeed.

And So It Begins.......

My post-uni life is now officially underway, with a hopeless scrap of jumbled letters affectionately known as my cv, and no job or money under my belt, i'm inviting you to join in and laugh with me as i try figure this 'i have to earn money?' bit of my life out.

This could be an interesting ride....

So long to student loans and the tenuous notion that it is acceptable to depend heavily on my squandering, long-suffering parents. God Love them, it's time to start giving back (BTW, i am dying inside as i write this out) So here goes:

Objective number One:

Try and not annoy my dad too much with my inability to get a job.

Objective Number Two:

Try raise some funds with an ebay sale of my meager belongings which i can no longer justify owning (my unbelievable accumulation of 'stuff' is the bane of Papa M's Life.)

Objective Number Three:

Rediscover my dormant socialising abilities. They are long suffering from my unneccesary obsession with doing work (which incidentally has not paid off so i shall not repeat this work ideology again) One tick for the 'lessons learned' section. This may appear as a separate blog as time goes by.

Objective Number Four:

CV!!!!! My pitiful excuse of a Curriculum Vitae is lacking in any real substance. This is essentially the main aim of the game, I will beg, borrow and help wherever I can.

Objective Number Five:

BLOG!!!

I have a few things in the pipeline, but this is where i exercise my alluring self-control as if i write about it all now; my blogging tendencies will nosedive straight out of the window, of which i'm already teetering on the edge.

Ta-rah for now.

I take it all Back

Well apparently good things come to those who wait, as an ancient proverb once said, he was bang on the mark!
Immediate interest at degree show = very little.
Post- Degree show interest = Belting.

The Hen's teeth Theatre company approached me to design some bits and bobs for the upcoming 'Tales of the unexpected' at John Rylands Library.

A design meeting later, things are hotting up. Watch this space, details to come.