Camberwell final MA Show

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It's that time of the year again, when some students finish their arts degrees and proudly display their fantastic and not so very fantastic work for the scrutiny of the public.

I went in to see our MA show today and - well - there was some truly sensitive and beautiful work.

First, I saw Designer Maker. I have a soft spot for them, because that was the course, which had also offered me a place and I chose not to take it. I have never stopped wondering, if I did the right thing.



Julia Bailey had a totally surreal dreamworld. She does ceramics and she combined that with a video projection, resulting in a very poetic and dreamlike experience.
It was really good to talk to Julia. I saw her presentation during Symposium 2 and I got curious about her work. She is part-time, like me, and she seemed to have gone through the same kind of experience: from being all over the place to narrowing down her range. Seeing her final pieces was a great encouragement, that my work might end up somewhere good too :-)







Jessica Zoller had a multitude of china cups, illuminated from behind or with tiny led lights. A bit like Bodo Sperlein fairy lights, only more grown up, more sophisticated.


They also had another room for the designer-makers: the one with a table and some other stuff. There was something by somebody that I liked, however, as I pulled out the camera, they were very quick to warn me, that photography was not allowed in that room. Totally bizzare, I thought! I assumed they were there to promote themselves!



Anyway, fine art had some interesting and clever pieces. My favorite was Naiomi Uchida. I loved her scroll. Maybe it is the possibility of beautifully produced simple narrative that I liked so much. Oh - and it is in the New Contemporaries!



Jim Threapleton - I did not take a photo of his work, because my camera was discharging. So this is from the Camberwell website.

Paul Gale's and Alexander Daniel's work was left unphotographed too, because of the flat battery (since I had my camera fixed, it's battery discharges very quickly!)

Paul Gale used to work with deterioration and degradation of materials, before he moved onto deterioration of mind, mental illness.


Daniel Alexander used to make extraordinary vegetable prints. Now he takes photos with a pinhole camera and makes etching out of them.They are so much more complex and sophisticated. You can really spend time looking at them and into them.




Here are some illustrators I liked.

Luca Pizzari

I-Ying Yeh

Petra Kneile

And finally - last but not least - here is our Book Arts table! People have been saying how strong our show was!

Erin's (Erin K. Schmidt does not have a website) table wins 10 out of 10 for display. There is also a stunning boa made of feathers, printed with diary - to complete the setting (how could I not take a picture of that!). I like Erin's work for it's bravery and shameless honesty, wrapped up in this very sensitive design. Well done, Erin!

Roland (Roland Brauchli) had this heavy ball on autocopy paper. A visitor would pull the paper and the ball would roll, leaving a mark on the next sheet. Very clever interpretation of chance.





And this is Michelle Mulherton's miniscule life fragments.

I will put a separate blog for the Book Arts MA show a bit later...

Moving paper dolls

When assembling those dolls, what do they put into the joints to let them move?

Hina Aoyama cuts with scissors

Hina Aoyama cuts these with scissors.

Toilet paper masks by Fritz Junior Jacquet

I have been looking at all sorts of stuff, trying to get some ideas for my monomyth hero.

These are really cool! They are made from toilet paper by Fritz Junior Jacquet.

More lepidopterophobia

And now,
here's some REALY beautiful things about butterflies:

Alex Earl lampshade

Butterfly Ball by Diffuse Studio

Oh and this incredibly gorgeous chandelier, which - in fact - is made out of... fairies :-)

designed by bodo sperlein as part of the re-cyclos collection for lladro, the niagara chandeliers feature porcelain butterflies suspended on sideglow optic fibers. ceiling rose is fireproof black lacquer. 150W halide projector.

my work: Lepidopterophobia - fear of butterflies (1)

I do not have a fear of butterlies. However, I have a friend who does. I can really see where she is coming from: butterflies look careless and colourful as they flutter aimlessly, but one close look reveals their hairy heads and alien eyes.
Horrible creatures.
Well.
For some.

Affected by all this (above) I tried to make a book. Oooh, dear! Because of the nature of the course I am on, I am so conscious about making specifically artist's books. And it is really not good to be conscious about it - I tend to produce rubbish when I am.
Anyway, I made a book, trying to deal with the restrictive power of fear: how it paralyses our senses and our ability to think clearly. Pages do not fully open for the butterflies: the text inside is very hard to read.






I don't think much of this book (or most of the others I have made). It could be an interim stage to somewhere else. I like the simple quality of it and the structure, but I find it lacking substance. The stuff I said about Charlotte Cory. I should find ways to dig deeper, but still look like fun.