Last month, with only a couple of Crafting by Committee participants able to attend, we had deferred our reflection on the project to March. Though it was still a small group, as everyone who came along tonight had actually worked on the project it was much easier to have a chat about how we felt it had gone. The general consensus was that it didn’t seem to have had a conclusion like our last project and hadn’t gone so far in allowing us to address our aim of questioning the difference between our respective practices, especially those of ‘Artists’ and ‘Craftspeople’. It was also agreed that having had a couple of participants drop out, though unavoidable, had affected the group and played a role in some lost momentum. Finally, we felt that ‘committee’ feedback had been taken quite a lot more personally than in Creative Whispers, possibly a little too much so in some cases, though some did say this had been personally useful in providing an arena to push work forward on an individual basis. Despite this being the case, it still hadn’t really performed the role we had hoped for.

The next question to address was in deciding what to do with regards to our proposed third and final project in the series of collaborations. As this would be largely a performance based investigation, we have agreed to pop it on a back burner for now until we have had a bit of time to reconfirm ourselves as a critical reflection group as our discussion of the Crafting by Committee project had led us on to question other issues, including recent low turnout. It was suggested that one cause of this is that some people were now finding Wednesdays difficult as it seems to be a favourite night for a variety of groups to meet, including other arts groups in Manchester, such as the Castlefield Gallery Associates Scheme. I asked if it was possible that the group had simply ‘had its day’ and that whilst we had got a lot individually and as a group from the sessions in the first eighteen months, that people had moved on with their practices and no longer found the sessions to be as relevant. Of course, this was part of why we had initiated the collaborative project in the first place, to keep things fresh and encourage enquiry in to a range of issues, however we agreed this may have eventually become a bit too rigid, rendering the meetings less useful to some regular members and off putting to those new faces who had come along and found us half way through a group project.

One potential solution was the suggestion to begin having bi-monthly sessions instead, though we will of course be looking forward to the next two meetings in April and May when we have guest speakers. We have agreed to revise where we want the group to go at the June meeting. Especially considering the very low turnout last summer, this may be a good time to reduce the number of scheduled meetings. Without wanting to sound too negative however, we did look forward with the intention to continue the group in some format and agreed it may not need wrapping up entirely, as long as we can devise a way of making it useful to members and possibly attract new contributors. We are quite keen on looking into organising another group show for October or November, though we would not link this to a specific project and actually just invite people to show work from their own practice. If we do go ahead with this, we agreed that an alternative venue might be more appropriate than MadLab for this sort of show. Though MadLab was excellent for the culmination of Creative Whispers, which became very much an interactive and workshop based event, it’s not really set up as a gallery space, or for the particularly successful display of work. We’ll discuss this further in June too.

Following this open and honest review of our current status, for which I was very grateful, we spent the second half sharing recent work. When Christine Wilcox-Baker arrived at the start of the evening, I had strong suspicions that this was going to be an interesting discussion courtesy of a busy and dynamic artist and was certainly not disappointed! First, she shared with us her most recent completed projects; work for Bollington Town and Cheshire East Councils. Christine designed and managed the construction of an ornamental arch for the entrance to Coronation Gardens, Bollington, Cheshire; a park with children's play equipment, storytelling and picnic areas. The park was opened in 1953 and re-designed in 2013 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth 2nd. She also designed and produced pencil illustrations for a story board in the park that tell a short history of Bollington and the site of the children's play park. 

From this work followed the opportunity to collaborate further with Cheshire East Council to produce an entrance gateway for Elworth Park. Christine enjoyed close dialogues with a blacksmith and his team to produce the work, with imagery and symbolism informed by intensive research into the parks' history including the original benefactors and local environment. This included reference to wheels of steam and truck engines and musical notation from a piece titled Alpine Echoes, which was played at opening of the park by Foden’s brass band. The work also makes visual references to the local cricket club’s fox emblem, salt crystal images inspired by local business and depictions of birds that inhabit the local marshes.

As if this wasn’t enough, she is now working on a sculptural bench for another country park and looking at ways of presenting information in an alternative format for a touring exhibition about village life affected by World War One in Holmes Chapel. This project involves working with local school and MMU media students to make a film investigating personal rather than political stories and she has been looking into the history of the local area, including why there seem to have been so many Belgian refugees! 

To wrap up, I briefly shared the completed canvas that I had shown as a ’work in progress’ in February. I reflected that I still wasn’t too sure of where this new tangent was taking me, continuing to encounter some issues with whether or not the work is bit self-indulgent and whether that matters anyway! It was noted that it’s refreshing to a practice to have time to be a bit experimental and work on things that you really want to do for personal reasons rather than feel driven to do for reasons of maintaining or developing your practice. I acknowledged that the new work came at a time when I had been experiencing some frustrations with a lack of opportunity to drive other work forward but also recognised that perhaps I hadn’t been pushing these areas as much as I might once have done partly because I felt drawn to produce some newer work. I have now started a second canvas inspired by the Peaceful Places photographs and have given this new thread the working title of The Serenity Series.

My questions about this work led then into a discussion on our intentions for our work, be that a show, representation by an agent or direct sales, and how this might affect outcomes when we begin to question where we ‘fit’ in the current art world. Those here these evening felt that attitudes may be changing as increasing financial pressures are placed on artists and institutions and that Conceptual art is not really going anywhere as a result. Maybe, it was suggested, the role of craft and skills in successfully realising the conceptual, as well as the onus being on the artist to produce work that can generate an income for itself (such as through sales of paintings and drawings) is coming back into focus. We also noted the role arts education has to play in this and that teaching practical skills may become increasingly important again in contrast to conceptually focused courses which lend themselves to a system of a conveyor belt get ‘em in, get ‘em out format.

Well, that’s your lot for March! We are looking forward to welcoming back Dave Wilkinson in April who will be sharing his work in astrophotography with us! Hope to see you then!

After warmly welcoming two new faces to the group this month, we set about kicking off our second collaborative project; Crafting by Committee. There were six initial proposals submitted (two remote) and whilst I personally found it quite straight forward to dictate procedures for carrying out projects that would challenge the artist (must be that teaching instinct kicking in!) I felt one of the hardest things was listening to the discussion about my proposal without asking questions or feeling the need to clarify intentions that I thought may have been misunderstood. Surprisingly, I didn't find it difficult at all to accept the conditions applied to my proposal but I did find I wanted to ask for more clarification than might have been appropriate. I actually thought that everyone who was present for the committee discussion of their proposals did very well in biting their tongues and taking the feedback without query as the process could easily have caused some debate. Thankfully, that wasn't the purpose of the session tonight, though I am sure there will be plenty of time for that in future meetings! The committee’s decisions and feedback on the proposals can now be found on the second project page.

By the time we had discussed all the proposals and decided on feedback (as well as agreeing the format for the next stage; progress to be presented in November with final outcomes submitted at the Christmas Meeting on December 18th), We enjoyed some time to chat about the creative projects of some of those attending. Christine asked for some thoughts on how best to go about selling prints and drawings that she has stored at home. Suggestions from the group included online sales, running an open house event, attending craft fairs and even initiating a ‘lucky dip’ project (probably online). This last suggestion was inspired by conversation around the fact that there was not one single style or process represented in the work and that it might be more appropriate to categorise or selectively ‘brand’ differently grouped pieces in order to target different audiences more effectively. The ‘lucky dip’ suggestion centred on the idea that people on a budget would still like to own a piece of original art and that they could submit a budgeted amount, receiving a corresponding piece of work at random. We also talked briefly about different websites that might be utilised including Ebay and Etsy, as well as debating how useful a social media presence really is in increasing online sales.

Without wanting to put them too much on the spot, we then heard from our guests Melanie and Matt, who had both popped along on the off chance that they might find something interesting! Melanie joined us primarily in a research mission as a creative project manager who is involved in a new business incubation project in Inverness. The project aims to get creative and non-creative businesses and freelancers interacting to encourage innovation and ideas based cross pollination. Matt then introduced himself as a freelance illustrator who has recently moved to Manchester. He shared his portfolio with us and talked about recent projects he has completed for the Royal Navy and a London based brewery. Having sometimes struggled to make time for illustration alongside paying the bills (though a recent job painting Disney princesses onto bouncy castles fired a few CRITgroup imaginations!), He described his new routine in which he sets aside 4 hours a day for illustration. Group members suggested places he may find opportunities and support in Manchester including Creative Industries Trafford, Castlefield Gallery, Islington Mill and some smaller local galleries and venues.

We also had remote updates to share from a couple of absent friends;  James could not be in Manchester as he told us he is busy preparing for the Fall Fair at the Robert Crown Center, Evanston in Chicago on Saturday! Renate, though a bit more local, has been equally busy with preparations for the opening of Oldham Symphony Orchestra's Golden Jubilee Exhibition at Gallery Oldham. The exhibition celebrates the orchestra's history and place in the community and reflects on the work of the orchestra's late leader Anne Heeks. Renate will be exhibiting the portrait In Memoriam Anne Heeks as a personal contribution. The exhibition runs until 4th January 2014

After stuffing ourselves on the promised pre-hallow e’en treats (and mercifully avoiding too many tricks), we melted off into the Northern Quarter night to begin brewing up our responses to the Crafting by Committee feedback. 

Check back or join us at MadLab next month to find out  what we’ve pulled from the CRITgroup Cauldron!

There were lots of things to get through this month so we started off by looking through some copies of Patternotion; the book published as part of a project by Alban Low which looked at different systems for facilitating creativity. As we felt that the current Creative Whispers project fitted this theme pretty neatly, we submitted some work at the start of the year. Everyone agreed that our contribution worked well in the book and we look forward to involving it somehow in the CRITshow event on the 25th of May.

Our main ‘feature’ this month was a talk by Christine Wilcox-Baker, who has been a regular attendee at CRITsessions since early on. Christine has some upcoming talks to give at various events and was eager to not only share her work with us but also get some feedback on the content and pace of her presentation.

I have shared details of Christine’s work before, especially last August, following her involvement in a show garden for the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park. Her practice is largely inspired by plants, especially those that provide us with food and she is interested in exploring issues of man’s interaction with, reliance on and increasing disconnection from the natural world and the sources of our sustenance. Her practical outcomes cover a broad range of different disciplines and the work she shared included installations, paintings, illustrations, metal work, exterior 3D design, textile design and environmental interventions involving plant growth. It is perhaps no surprise to learn that her equally broad industrial background includes graphic and interior design as well as work for TV. Following her involvement in Cow Parade, Manchester in 2004 however, she discovered a love for public art and it was following this personal creative revelation that she embarked upon (almost!) a decade of work committed to the natural world, including the completion of an MA in Art as Environment.

One of the key things that came from Christine’s talk (aside from a shared appreciation of her accomplished and varied work) was again the question of how one describes a practice and whether or not it should be considered a strength or weakness in an artist to be simultaneously engaging in a range of disciplines. One question posed to us at the start of the talk seemed to almost ask for help defining the body of work presented but it was a unanimous response that the work defined itself and that in this case it was the concept that was the key uniting element rather than the method of expressing it. As Christine had already mentioned that she was viewing the talk as a ‘dry run’ for various professional commitments, the conversation naturally led on to issues surrounding how best to approach applications for a variety of opportunities and whether or not things should be left out of a portfolio presentation if they did not obviously ‘fit in’ with what might be perceived as a main body of work. It was agreed that much like in any industry, it would be appropriate to ‘tweak’ or review this with relevance to each application and that sometimes it would indeed be better to present a more focused series of work but that this fact did not undermine the validity of engaging in a variety of disciplines as part of a justifiably consolidated practice. Christine’s talk was an inspiring demonstration of how one opportunity can grow into another in a very organic fashion and there seemed to be much about her approach that mirrored her subject matter; by ending on an outline of her upcoming projects it was certainly clear that this fertile practice is not only blossoming but definitely bearing fruit!

Though we missed Shirley and David this month, they had still managed to get their Creative Whispers contributions in to us and so reluctantly moving on, we spent the next half hour sharing the third round of responses. These can be found on the Response 3 page. We have one more swap, at next month’s meeting, before concluding the project with the CRITshow event. We also spent some time discussing how we are going to approach this and it was agreed that the day will take the form of further research into our original question, rather than attempting to realise a ‘polished’ show. The focus of the work displayed will very definitely be on the process of the Creative Whispers project and will hopefully enable us to effectively reflect on the findings of this an equally dynamic and creative fashion.

As mentioned, next month is our final swap and we will also spend a bit more time working out how we will tackle displaying the work. We all felt that making the concept explicit was critical and there are a variety of ways that we could approach this so it will require some further discussion.

On another note, I hope to be confirming new dates for the rest of 2013 soon and I shall publish these on the home page as soon as I have them!

I normally arrive at MadLab a good twenty minutes before everyone else, so this month it was a pleasant surprise to be greeted on the stairs by a member of staff who excitedly informed me that there were already people waiting. I was then pleased to discover a few familiar faces and to welcome a new contributor.

Comments from other members centred (unsurprisingly!) around the featuring of Danbo in the photographic visualisation which head up each section. If you’re a regular reader of CRITblog you’ll remember that Danbo paid us a visit last month; an impressively designed cut-out-and-make cardboard ‘robot’ with moving parts. Asked if Danbo would be featuring in all James’ Japanese photos, he explained he is keeping an open mind about his expectations for the workload whilst out there and wasn’t sure how practical that would really be. This then led on to an interesting discussion about the relationship of photographic documentation to actual experience and the potential for falling into the trap of unintentionally focusing so much on taking photos that you remain one step removed from fully enjoying the experience of being somewhere. James wrapped up by impressing us with his Japanese, demonstrating the most important word he’s learnt so far… 'Bīru'. Yes, it means ‘beer’.

Following James, I shared my latest steps on some existing projects, including work currently on display at the Nexus Art Café in Manchester. I also took the opportunity for one last bout of shameless self-promotion by reminding the group about the next evening’s Private View of the Nexhibitionists show at which I will be showing some photographs of two recent workshops, one with Rolls Crescent Primary School and one with Nexus staff and contributors (though the Rolls Crescent work has been up since May and will be coming out in a week to move to the school itself.)

Kevin Linnane took over and showed us some video work related to the 53 Views project. Interested in issues of psychogeography, especially around notions of ‘resonance’ and the qualities of places which mean people are attracted (or in some cases it may seem repelled!) to particular locations, Kevin organises and undertakes walks in areas which can be located in the wide view from his flat. These then generate responses to the environment, primarily in photographic form. Some discussion took place around ideas of pilgrimage and how the act of travelling can dislocate the walker from ordinary experience. Most of Kevin’s recent work has included imagery of water around the Manchester canal network and Salford Quays/Media City. This also generated conversations around the religious connotations of water and contrasts between concepts of desecration and libation as applied to urban environments.  Kevin then made the suggestion that CRITgroup members meet to join him on a walk round the Mancunian Way. This was arranged for Sunday July 22nd and we will be meeting at Oxford Road Station at midday. Kevin will ask participants to carry out specific activities at points along the route and we will also be using it as an opportunity to air the new This Place Is booklets. I’m delighted Kevin suggested this and really looking forward to the first creative collaboration for CRITgroup! If you would like to join us, drop me an email ([email protected]) and I’ll look forward to seeing you there!

James Sharp shared three new journals with us today, a Cook Book (with pages for notes and recipes), a Stuff Stash (a book-based format of an existing textile product; for keeping notes and loose pages together) and a Lazy Journal (for those who enjoy the aesthetics of his work but are not inspired to generate their own content!). James will be giving a live painting demonstration at the Creative Recycling Gallery this Saturday (26th of May) as part of the Chorlton Arts Festival and will have a stall at Much Wenlock in Shropshire on the following Saturday (2nd of June).

James Pashley then introduced us to the newest member of the group in the form of Danbo (see above!); a card model robot who will be helping us keep up to date with James’ imminent adventures in Japan by posing for a series of photographs for section headings on the new (and rapidly improving) instantpash site (link soon). I then spent the next 10 minutes working with Dambo on a series of glamour shots and completely failed to support James in explaining our recent collaboration to the others!

One key consideration raised was the need to be aware of health and safety restrictions, though it was also recognised that this was being deliberately set to one side temporarily in order to avoid prematurely capping the creative stages. It was also argued that allowing children exposure to supervised and calculated risk is an important part of facilitating healthy development and that opportunities to encourage outdoor play could be seen as especially responsive to recent news items regarding a lack of exercise and over use of screen based media. The next big challenge facing us in this project is the actual design of the map as we have a proposed route and a suggest list of features, all of which tie in with the source reference to Senda

The next meeting is June 27th and you can find details of months up to October including guest speakers on the home page.

Six months since the seminal meeting, MadLab felt very much like ‘home’ for the fourth group meeting. Five of us came along this month and there were plenty of varied projects to cover with some interesting debates being generated in many cases.

James Pashley started by sharing the exciting news that he has now confirmed an offer of employment working as a teaching assistant in Japan! He will be working as part of a cultural exchange programme to support English teaching beginning in late July or early August. While his insights and contributions will be missed in meetings, we are all looking forward to seeing his new website, which we briefly discussed, and to hearing updates on his experiences via his new blog. Meanwhile I am wondering if this means we can now label CRITgroup as an international art collective…!

Christine Wilcox-Baker who joined us for the first time last month to tease us with a hint of her work in the areas of art and gardening then shared details of what sounds like a very exciting and potentially high profile project working with the Cheshire Gardens Trust. The Caldwell’s Nurseries Project will be creating a garden at the RHS Tatton Flower Show in July for which Christine has designed a 3.3m by 4.5m sculptural stainless steel gazebo and a mosaic. The garden will reference the King Canute legend about how Knutsford came to be named as well as raising awareness of the Trust’s project to record written and oral histories relating to the historic Caldwell’s Nurseries. The conversation turned to a discussion of the benefits of voluntary projects, which whilst being carried out ‘for the love of it’ can still be very demanding. It was agreed that the networking opportunities and CV building potential of such projects was very valuable, however, there are also times where paid employment becomes a priority! We also talked about the onerous task of seeking sponsorship (easier if linked to a charity),  ways of promoting events and ideas for getting national press coverage (including the pros and cons of inviting a range of celebrities to your opening!). The RHS Tatton Flower Show is open to the public from the 18th to the 22nd of July and I look forward to both a visit and to sharing photos of Christine’s gazebo!

The next CRITgroup meeting will be on May 23rd (continuing at MadLab) and I hope soon to confirm and publish the subsequent dates running up to the end of the summer. We also agreed that it would be a good idea to plan a series of topics or themes for discussion as well as potentially inviting some guest speakers so I hope to have some more news on those proposals next month.