Vessel

The second and third years on my course (for those of you that don't know, I'm studying Illustration & Animation at Kingston University) have been working on a student led exhibition project on the theme of vessel. We had a show and a flash print sale at university last week, and our London show opens this Wednesday at Crate Brewery in Hackney Wick.

Poster design by Michael Parkin

If you're in the London area, come along and admire our hardwork, purchase some prints and browse our zine collection. Crate Brewery, Hackney Wick. 5pm-10.30pm week nights, 12pm-10.30pm Saturday and Sunday.

A ♥

So far, so second year.

Second year is proving to be tough. Long days and little time.

So far this term has been group project, after group project, which is something I find difficult. I've been feeling all the same insecurities as last year - but I'm trying. It hasn't been all bad - I spent two days in the print rooms last week, working on my first screen prints - which was really fun. I haven't really had much time to myself however, which is why content has been thin on the ground here. Too many late night library nights.

I am okay. I turned twenty-three last weekend which is pretty scary.

I'm going to try to update here more often, but I can't make any promises. At the moment just finding time to cook proper dinners and wash my hair is hard enough.

A ♥

A Drawing A Day

Part of my university summer project is to do a drawing a day. They have to be observational and we're to experiment with our media choices. 

A lot of my drawings are of patterns I've seen and I've stitched them all together into a concertina journal.

They're not my best drawings, but I think they make an interesting collection.

I have a love / hate relationship with drawing, which is almost amusing considering I'm studying an Illustration degree. I view it as a necessary evil, a means-to-an-end, and while I don't find it easy, it's a challenge that's useful. Practice, practice, practice!
A ♥

A few thoughts on first year…

I can't really believe that I've finished my first year of art school. On one hand, it's flown by, on the other, it's been slow going and a lot of hard work. I wanted to share a few photos of my Final Major Project - you can see a few more here - and a couple of thoughts, now that first year is over.

It's been a fun year, amongst the hard work, the late nights and early mornings, juggling schoolwork with paid work and moving house and trying to socialise. I've met some lovely people and thrown a few dinner parties and now and again, I've managed to surprise myself. There were a fair few moments where I wanted to give up and some days where I did just stay in bed, but that's okay. I handed all my work in, on time, even though three weeks before my final first year deadline I really just wanted to crawl into bed and stay there until it was over. 

 

I'm glad it's over. I'm going to work harder next year and prioritise things differently. But for now, it's done and I'm on summer break until the end of September. I haven't had this much time to myself for a long time, I'm going to keep very busy with knitting projects and catching up with old friends.

A ♥

University Living:: Staying Close(ish) to Home

This is the first in a little "Things To Think About When Applying To University" feature. 

The first time I applied to university, one of my main goals was to get as far away from home as possible - no offence to my parents, although minor offence meant to my hometown! All of my friends had moved away the previous September and I was very jealous, so when I didn't get the places I'd hoped for, I was gutted. Not only would I be two years behind my school friends, I'd be living at home for another year.

Well circumstances changed, as they have a habit of doing, and I ended up being at home for another two years (l'll talk about taking a year (or more!) out, in a future post).

The second time around, I wanted to stay closer to home. Not necessarily at home, but I knew I wanted to go to a London university. I'd made some of the first proper like-minded friends of my life, and I had a job that most I the time, I loved. I knew I wanted to keep working part time - living anywhere in London is expensive, even with student loans - and i'm not the biggest fan of change, so I liked the idea of keeping my job and just cutting down my hours. 

I knew that I didn't want to commute from home.

Lots of people thought this was ridiculous - why pay rent and bills when I could live with my parents and just pay travel? I commuted to Wimbledon when I did my foundation, on a good day, it took an hour and a half, on a bad day two or more. It meant I left the house at 8am, and got home just before 7pm. There wasn't time to socialise after college because we all had to get home, so we could get back. Long story short, I didn't really enjoy my foundation all that much and I didn't want to have the same attitude to my degree and I thought moving away would help.

It's been very stressful - I don't live far away enough from my university campus to qualify for halls of residence (even though it would take me two hours to get there on public transport from my parents house), so I had to find private accommodation. It wasn't easy - mainly because I'm really shy and awkward, rather than there not being anywhere to live, but I did it. And hopefully, soon, I'll be doing it again. 

It's not easy, I'm very grateful to live with someone so thoughtful and understanding (it makes all the other stuff bearable). When I first started house hunting, I was determined I wanted to live alone, but finances wouldn't allow for that, London, even Zone 6 is expensive. While I did it in a pretty unorthodox way, it happened sort of by accident, it's much easier to have someone to laugh with when you do something ridiculous like leave plastic on top of the electric hob. Or to squeal to when you find yet another snail in your room. Or to complain about your flatmate's thoughtlessness with!

It's actually pretty comforting to be living somewhere where you know exactly how the public transport system runs and some of the tutors turn out to live not-very-far-away from the street you grew up in. It's nice to have your friends living not-too-far-away, so that they can pop by for dinner, or you can ring them in a crisis! 

Things happen for a reason, two years ago, I wouldn't have coped very well at all living on my own. Now, I can cook to a pretty decent standard, make phonecalls if it's really necessary and all sorts of other things! As students go, Harriet and I are far from typical, but we're enjoying ourselves, we joke about getting 'adult points' for cleaning and washing, and 'student points' for staying up till stupid hours in the morning watching films. 

It's not perfect for a number of reasons, but it is pretty good.

A ♥

ps. all the photos were taken in the print room at uni, the week before last.

Things I Have Learnt Since Becoming A University Student

photo by Kim Smith

I've been at university a month. In this month I have done two presentations, a group project, cooked a lot of meals, been to exhibitions, been to the student bar, made a lot of phonecalls, made some friends, learnt how to etch, not slept all that much. Here are some of the things I've learnt...

1. Having a planner is essential - especially if you're as scatter brained as I am.
2. Working part-time is handy - being a student is very expensive.
3. Working part-time is also exhausting. Be prepared to be very tired most of the time.
4. Sitting in your comfort zone is not acceptable.
5. Sometimes being an honest and good person doesn't get you anywhere.
6. Enamel pans may be beautiful, but they're a nightmare to clean.
7. There really isn't much time for socialising.
8. Not everyone works as hard as I do.
9. White vinegar is great for mildewy washing machines.
10. The general public hate students.
11. Printmaking is amazing.
12. Life drawing is exhausting.
13. Although pumpkin soup is nice, it takes ages to make.
14. Microwaves are stupid.

I still have a lot to learn, I think 'stress less' needs to go on the next learning-list! A ♥

Busyness

Art school is a lot of work. I knew it would be and I'm really excited about it, but I am also pretty exhausted! I watched my friends all go through university and although I try not to be judgemental, there seemed to be a lot of drinking, partying and sleeping until lunchtime going on! This year, students are paying £9,000 per year for their university fees - which is almost triple what the current 2nd and 3rd years are paying, so I'm glad I'm not only in lectures 12hrs a week as that would feel like an enormous waste of money. We spend 5 days a week in the studios, for around 7-8hrs a day and I'm currently working on five different projects. I'm often found in the library, or frantically writing up notes, or scrawling lists in my planner. 

I love being busy, although I'm feeling a little like Hermione towards the end of Prisoner of Azkaban and it's only the third week of term! If it wasn't for Harriet who diligently says "You're not asleep are you Amy? Amy?" at around half past ten every evening, I'd never make it from the sofa to my bed! 

So while I might not be in the clubs of Kingston town every night (jeez guys, how do you manage it?! Where do you find the energy?!), I'm cheerily enjoying the little things about student life. Cooking foods I like, baking jam tarts and drinking hot chocolate with excessive amounts of marshmallows every evening. Things are good here at studio Amy, busy, but good.

A ♥

Art School: In the studio

It has been a long time since I've been in a studio space - it feels good to be back. I like the white walls and the windows and the view. I like the drawings you can tape up and the stacks of paper everywhere and the plan chests lining the walls. 

This week we've been drawing everyday and it's been lovely to see how other people are working, that's one thing you don't get, drawing for hours on end at home. 

These are all drawings made whilst watching films in slow motion, which was really interesting - my list of Films to Watch is growing rapidly - but it's nowhere near as long as the Books to Read list, which we won't mention!

I'm going to the pop-up night market in town this evening, which some of the second years have been involved in, before a long day of life drawing tomorrow.

A ♥

Into The Treasure Box

It's been a long time coming, two years in the making and it's official. I have gone back to art school. Getting into University, without tutorial backing, is one of my biggest achievements to date (alongside learning to crochet and the sewing of the patchwork quilt, naturally). Today was my first day at Kingston University, where I'll be studying Illustration and Animation for the next three years. Exciting and terrifying stuff! We're just learning the ropes this week and I think it's going to take a while for me to adjust from work-paid-work to work-art-work being a priority. But we have 12hr access to the studios and 7 days a week library access, which for a total Hermione Granger like me, is a serious plus.

To celebrate this (and the fact I have access to university wi-fi, goodbye horrible mobile broadband!) I would like to introduce you to my summer project…

into the treasure box is my new design blog, created especially for my degree course and featuring some of my artwork and inspirations. This is not replacing Happy Daisy - as I'm going to need somewhere for all the university stress and overexcitement and knitting adventures to go, but will run simultaneously as a side project - meaning I can blog without the guilt of procrastination! Haha.

The new adventure is beginning!

A ♥

Art School Applications:: LCC Open Day

Today I went to an open day at the London College of Communication (LCC). It's a college in the University of the Arts London (UAL), like my previous art school (Wimbledon College of Art). Now, I don't really like open days, students terrify me - they're so confident and individual, which makes me feel even more shy and awkward than I am normally! But this one wasn't really like that. I'd been to LCC once before, for a student night back when I started Foundation (it was a first and last attempt at University lifestyle! I am so not a party girl!), and it's big and white and modern. Unlike the part of London it's situated in, which, at best, can be described as 'full of character'. (Honesty moment - I applied to my previous universities primarily on their location - I wanted to be by the sea, and I wanted to get as far away from home as I could, as quickly as possible! So this is a complete U-turn for me)

I'm going to be applying for BA (Hons) Illustration and Visual Media and after listening to the subject talk, it looks like the perfect course for me. It's very ideas and development based, with messy sketchbooks and lots of experimentation, unlike some of the more graphic courses, where all the work is very polished and complete. Another good thing is the college is well known for it's typography based work, which is fabulous - I'm falling more in love with text everyday! The course director said students needed to be self motivated and have a strong work ethic, which I think applies to me... -mental note, must work harder, just in case- 

We went on a student-lead tour, and the facilities are amazing! Enormous screen printing and letterpress studios, photography studios and a darkroom... Our guide said hardly anyone made use of them(?!?!) which is crazy in my opinion, if I get in, they're going to have to try to keep me away! It was so nice to be back in an art-school environment, I had both good and bad experiences at Wimbledon, but I'm longing to back in education, sorry working-adult-world, you're just not for me! It'll be nice to have the chance to do printmaking again, and to be surrounded by likeminded and inspirational arty people. 

Also - fun fact about LCC, Rob Ryan and Alexander Mcqueen both studied there! 

It's been a good day, I think we must have spent nearly four hours on buses though, and I'm feeling pretty tired now! I'm excited to see Camberwell College of Arts (where two of my close friends go, so it's already been highly recommended!) and Winchester School of Art, in December! 


Right, I'm going to get cracking on my portfolio, while I'm still feeling inspired! And maybe my personal statement, just maybe... ;)