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Crafting by Committee; Review, Reflect, Reset

26/3/2014

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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.
Renate WendelRenate Wendel - Crafting by Committee
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.

James SharpJames Sharp - Crafting by Committee
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.

Christine Wilcox-BakerCoronation Gardens, Bollington
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. 

Christine Wilcox-BakerElworth Park Gateway
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! 

Annabeth OrtonTamana Lotus
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!
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Crafting by Committee 

30/10/2013

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Pumpkin
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
Treats
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!

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Christine Wilcox-Baker and Creative Whispers Response 3

27/3/2013

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Patternotion
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.

Rainbow Chard
Rainbow Chard
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.

Potato Couch
Potato Couch
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!

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June 2012

28/6/2012

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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.
James Pashley was invited to speak first as this is the last time he will be joining us before flying off to teach in Japan for up to four years! After taking to opportunity to subtly remind me that we haven’t got as far with our collaborative mapping project as we had hoped to do before he left (!), he showed the group his new website (www.instantpash.me). Designed to be a portal to a series of informal blogs which will chart different areas of his various adventures, I recognised that some recent developments had been effective in lending a sense of cohesion to the site, which I felt had been missing before. I also commented that while it did still feel a little fractured, I suspect that in the process of populating it with content it will find its own level and develop into something a bit more streamlined, with the possibility for sections to change or merge depending on James’ experiences.
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James Pashley demonstrates his new website

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.)
I then held my breath somewhat as I distributed the final published form of the brand new This Place Is project, which is replacing This Belongs To as the active participatory project in my practice and on my website. CRITgroup members have been central to the changes and developments that have shaped the final form of the booklet and recently completed mock versions for me to help assess the content and the experience of participating. It has, however, been a project which hasn’t always caused complete agreement and I have had the chance through this to pick and choose from sometimes conflicting feedback in order to try and ‘distil’ the project which best fulfils my intentions. The main criticism of the published document was the fact that I have not included a return address actually printed on it, which caused some members to question if I was making it harder for people to return their contributions. This was a factor I had already deliberated over and made a specific decision on so I was pleased there were no unpleasant surprises in any other areas of possible criticism I might not have thought of! I explained that I was reluctant to incur the costs of a P.O. Box (having already paid for printing) and didn’t want to use my home address for reasons of security as much as practicalities (such as in the insecurities of rented accommodation!) and as I was expecting most responses to be gathered through workshop sessions I had chosen to be a bit more discriminating in giving it out.  It was then suggested by Marcelle (our new guest who shall be introduced shortly) that it might be appropriate to ask an organisation or venue I already have links with if I could use their address.
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Final copies of This Place Is booklets

Some other issues raised included the age old question of how to facilitate good participant numbers and it was agreed that giving people a specific time-frame or environment in which to get involved would be a good way to approach this. I recognised that my main downfall with regards to This Belongs To was a lack of promotion and outlined arts websites I had thought to use to get the word out. It was also suggested that seeking to ‘attach’ the project to an existing relevant organisation, using peer-generated content to build momentum, and making the benefits of participating clear (such as inclusion of contributions in exhibitions) were all important factors.
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Marcelle, Annabeth and James discuss... something.

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James peruses the DIY Art School prospectus

After a brief verbal wrangle around what my expectations were for the specifics of visual or written entries on to the forms (I perhaps naively maintained I had none!) we moved on to hearing from Marcelle, our newest visitor to CRITgroup. Having recently graduated from the Interactive Arts degree at MMU she explained how her experiences of being asked to generate ‘gallery ready’ content for a degree show had led her to question the validity of certain aspects of this process and that she had eventually resolved her process into a research project which aims to found an independent fourth year to the IA degree. This experimental curatorial project aims to question the traditional teacher/student hierarchy and facilitate peer supported, user generated learning and assessment. Titled DIY Art School, the project sets out to tackle current issues such as rising tuition fees and investigate what happens to graduates in the years following matriculation. Though Marcelle did end up contributing a lot to the discussions, she explained that her original motive for attending had primarily been to research the format of the sessions and see how existing projects with similar features to her own operated and might become part of a wider network.

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!

Last but far from least, we heard an update from James Sharp who shared photos of his textile bunting for the Creative Recycling Gallery and brought along a developed form of his journal-based Stuff Stash. Some feedback James had received previously was that the paper pockets he had featured in the Stuff Stash might not withstand the rigours of daily use, so he has responded by including textiles pockets. It was agreed that this was an improvement not only for practical reasons but also because it extended the existing visual language of his textile work and allowed users to continue their experience of this element of his work.

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James Sharp's bunting at the Creative Recycling Gallery

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Juan uses the camera

That concludes my report for June as I had to leave pretty promptly (for once!) at nine, so I am just left to thank Juan Armellini for taking the photos and to remind everyone that we meet next month on the 25th of July when we look forward to a presentation from David Haley about his recent work in Hong Kong! Hopefully we will also have time to share and discuss the walk of the 22nd.

Finally, if you happen to be based in Manchester and actually reading this on the date of publication, I hope you can make it along to the Nexus Art Café later between 5 and 9! Maybe see you there!

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May 2012

24/5/2012

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Danbo is tempted by the fresh summery snacks...

It was quite a small group this month but no less varied for it. Tammy Leigh, James Sharp and I started off chatting informally about craft stalls before I’d even really noticed we were properly ‘in session’! We mostly discussed the reasons behind lower than expected sales at local art fairs and festivals and tried not to point the finger too exclusively at the recession without being more widely questioning. We all agreed that there was a tendency for such events to attract visitors who have no intention of buying anything at all, but while these may not be immediately lucrative opportunities they still present a useful method of raising interest in work. This interest can later manifest as online sales or interest in workshops. Additionally, we talked about the benefits of making whilst supervising a stall to be time efficient and more importantly provide talking points and interest for potential shoppers. This can also be an effective way of demonstrating that the work is genuinely hand made. The potential for selling and running workshops simultaneously raised both pros and cons; a problem if it makes you inaccessible to make a sale but of benefit if you can make sales relating to the workshop content (such as craft kits, etc.)

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!
The other work James brought along was the latest development in a project which we have started that references the writing of Mitsuri Senda who discusses ‘circulatory play systems’ when designing playgrounds in urban spaces. Senda summarises this in a series of 7 points, which our project looks at applying to Manchester City Centre by identifying existing environmental features with the potential to be used in such a play system.  Ultimately, we aim to design a route for use by visitors to Manchester, though we are still in the early stages of this.


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The group view the plans so far

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
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Danbo notes the next CRITgroup meeting while the others look at maps

To conclude the evening, I briefly shared the final draft of the proposed This Place Is booklet which has been developed in response to feedback from the group at several previous meetings. That is now ready to be printed and it would not have been half as robust an outcome if it had not been for the input and the suggestions from CRITgroup sessions so it was good to be able to share it one last time before sending it off.

Finally, I invited the group to the ‘opening’ event of a show I am hanging tomorrow at the Nexus Art Café in Manchester’s Northern Quarter; though the work will be up from Friday (25th of May), the actual Private View isn’t until the end of June which coincides with the opening of the Nexhibitionists show, in which I will also have some work. The show, titled I Hope To See presents the conclusion of a series of workshops with various community groups in Hulme.

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

26/4/2012

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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!
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Kevin Linnane - Castlefield 064

This month, Kevin Linnane brought along some photos he has taken for display as part of a project with MMU for the new childrens’ hospital being built in Manchester. Each of the floors in the new building will be themed and Kevin has responded to the ‘Manchester Explored’ areas from the starting point of linking Manchester to its extensive canal network. His photographs depict various areas around the canals in Manchester with the common element that they have all been taken reflected in the canal; many of the images have become abstract as a result. The group agreed that the textural effects of water as well as the unusual angles and subtle use of colour produce a series which not only respond well to the theme but perhaps more importantly demonstrate an awareness of audience. Comments included recognition of the calming nature of water and the suggestion that an abstract composition provided a greater opportunity for sick or bed-bound children to use their imaginations than more conventional imagery.
James Sharp brought along some of his textile journals for us to see and perhaps what is more important with his work, to hold, open and flick through! After a brief discussion of possible practical applications (James has also produced re-usable book covers and a way of making binders from plastic wallets) it was fairly unanimously agreed that the main value of the books is simply as art objects or, more accurately, artist’s books. Whilst James reported that his High Peak journals were selling well he also recognised that most of his work came in as commissions for a variety of objects from laptop covers to shopping bags. It was suggested that it would be worth pursuing display in Artist’s Book exhibitions as well as his current representations in Chapel En Le Frith and Bermondsey. James also offers tours of his garden and studio and expects to be involved in the RHS Tatton 2013 Flower Show with the Creative Recycling Gallery (there are a lot of green fingers in CRITgroup it seems!)
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James Sharp showcases his textile journals

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Glittermouse - Mmm... 2012 - 30 x 30cm Acrylic on Canvas

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Glittermouse - Mmm... 2010 - Digital image

I then attempted to wrap up quickly (so much for that!) and shared my latest painting. I explained to the group that the series had begun in 2009 with a set of digital images developed from photographs inspired by my new urban environment (having just moved from London to Manchester).  The images especially looked at graffiti and explored this as a method of ‘claiming’ or ‘marking’ urban spaces (an interest which can then be linked right through to my recent work in areas of a more social practice) and were combined digitally with scans of drawings I had made during a live installation. From these I then selected four compositions which I developed into painted canvases (well, number 2 is now complete). I initially showed the group the photos of the paintings but it soon became clear that it was necessary to show the digital versions too. This then raised some interesting questions and debate around the relationship between process and outcome, how important this is to the viewer and the perception of comparative levels of skill involved in traditional and digital media. I found this quite exciting as it seemed to be the first time in the group that we’d actually unearthed some differences in opinion (very civilly conducted, it goes without saying!).

I then shared the most recent (and final) photographs from the Hulme Workshops series and briefly discussed my hopes for the future of the project before finally gathering feedback from the group on their experiences completing mocks of the proposed This Place Is booklets (another project seeking to harness interactivity and sharing to positively impact on how people feel about their environments). 
The group agreed that whilst time may be a prohibitive factor in getting the booklets done, it had stimulated emotional responses, reflective thought and awareness of alternative perspectives on the chosen locations, all of which had made it a positive experience. It was also suggested that it would be a good idea to make a digital version available for greater flexibility in formatting the layout while some people would prefer a paper based approach. I’ve certainly come away with plenty to reflect on and respond to myself and while I hope to make steady progress on these projects I am also aware that it may take time to get right.

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This Place Is contributions from CRITgroup members

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.
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Second Meeting

25/1/2012

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I was particularly excited about the opportunity to meet at MadLab this month as I have attended events there before and know it as a very creatively nurturing space. It was unfortunate that not many people could make it along this evening for various (pretty good) reasons so I'm hoping that numbers pick up again soon and we can keep going. Not to start off on too much of a downer however, those of us who did attend, all left agreeing that it had been useful to meet so that's still pretty encouraging.

Tammy Leigh returned and briefly shared some developments in her range of knitted wire jewellery which involved the inclusion of semi precious stones threaded onto the wire. Following on from her presentation of some pieces made using recycled materials at the previous meeting, we spoke more about this aspect of the work. During that discussion, we arranged for her to visit my students at Tameside College next week to talk with them about using recycled materials in their own work.

I then asked people to look at some mock-ups I had made following suggestions at the previous meeting for the This Place Is book; a development from This Belongs To and a series of workshops run in Hulme. It was agreed that although I had probably done a reasonable job at being clear and concise in terms of the content, I probably hadn't allowed enough space for people to record more personal reflections. We then chatted a bit about possible tweaks to that and eventually came to the conclusion that I might in fact be looking at two projects, one formatted as booklet to hand out to people (probably locally) and eventually compiled into one volume and one printed more carefully to send further afield but to more specific locations. This seemed to make sense and I have since realised that the booklet format might also work really well in a workshop so there are more possibilities for developing those avenues too.

Juan Armellini also joined us for the first time and spoke about his experiences using blogging sites to build an online portfolio. We discussed the format of blogs as opposed to other kinds of web pages and I suggested that a blog might not be the most flexible format for his purposes. We also talked a bit about how the design of the site must 'agree' with or support the content. Having previously helped Tammy with her site, I suggested that at the next meeting I could spend a bit of time with the laptop showing people how I build mine (very simply) using a browser based system not dissimilar from many blogging sites. We agreed that might also help give the session a bit more structure so that has become the plan.

I have since spoken with the very supportive people at MadLab who have agreed we can use the space next month so we will next meet at 7pm on Wednesday February 22nd (2012) at Madlab, Manchester (36 - 40 Edge Street, Northern Quarter). We will begin with an informal sharing of practice and then for the last 30/45 minutes or so I will demonstrate how I build my website. If you fancy coming along but are not already on the mailing list, please drop me a note using the contact form on the main page and I can be sure we make time for everyone! Hope to see you there!
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    CRITgroup

    _Creative Reflection and Investigation Talk Group is an informal network for local artists and designers. The group meets every other month aiming to facilitate a pooling of professional skills and knowledge to provide motivation, support and social contact for those pursuing a creative (visual) practice in Manchester.

    CRITgroup is an initiative organised and managed by Glittermouse.

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