I went to a life drawing class recently in the Nexus Art cafe in the Northern Quarter, oh I just love drawing so freely, the last time I did a class like that was on my foundation year and back then it was my favourite too. I found it exciting to be doing something which is different to what I’ve been practicing for the past year or so, I think it’s been quite important for me to get a bit of inspiration back too.

my dolls house!

We had tutorials again this past week, I missed my original one so I was in a group with a few others and we discussed our current work and upcoming ideas with Jon. My main idea at the moment is still creating a dollhouse; I’ve made a few characters recently which I imagine would fit with the theme of my house, I’ve sewn together a rabbits head made out of textured material and wiring for the ears, and placed it onto the body of a toy animal. I like the contradiction of two bodies coming together to create a new type of species, the idea isn’t for the characters to be scary and twisted, I’m aiming for a surreal element but relating closely to children’s fairytales. The house itself I want to create inside a piece of furniture, because a chest of drawers or an old cabinet has a real authentic feel to it, and I want each room to be inside a hidden drawer of some kind. The feedback I got from my group was all pretty positive, the main issue is that I need to produce more work, Jon has told me this before and I know he’s right, I’ve got so many ideas going on but not enough work to show for it. Also Jon spoke to us about networking too, volunteering more and perhaps looking for some sort of works experience.

I went to a friend’s exhibition a couple of days ago, he was showing some drawings and film in the basement of one of the little cafe bars in Northern Quarter. He draws very simply and I really enjoy that about his work, I wasn’t so keen on his film work, I think he has a better skill for drawing...it’s inspired me to do some life drawing classes!

Shelter project- 'Home Sweet Home'

My group project.

My group and I exhibited our shelter project last week, I've written a project report on it, so I won't go into the nitty gritty stuff, but basically it turned out great! Me and Felix spent the entire day right up untill 1am, trying to find the perfext interior for the bus shelter. By the next morning all the furniture had been stolen...but we knew smething would happen, and at the end of the day it's part of the fun, it's the unexpected which is exciting. Overall I'm happy with the outcome, it has gievn us ideas to further the project in different areas now.

The concept plays with the image of what a shelter is, a home is where you live, it's where you sleep and each home is personal. It's common knowledge that a bus shelter has the use of sheltering the people underneath it, so when combining the two ideas together we created this set-up displaying a scene from a house. I love the contradiction of the inside/outside scenario, and I think the project can be looked at from different perspectives, some might think the idea is simple in regards to 'shelter' but there's more depth than the visual aspect.

SLOW MOTION SHOES.

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My sister Hannah Merrick is in this new band and they are called Slow Motion Shoes. I suggest you get listening to them and come see them at Deaf Institute this thursday oct 28th. don't miss this treat!!!!

HEATHER BENNING!

I stumbled across this artist when researching for doll houses; I was fascinated by her life size ‘Dollhouse’. Benning found an old abandoned house in the middle of a Saskatchewan field, and decided to renovate the building into what would be seen as a typical dolls house. The back wall of the house was replaced with plexiglass which would give the same appearance as a dollhouse, and the interior was completely refurbished with furniture from the 1960’s. I wanted to discover why Benning chose to create this house, was it simply for the visual aspect? And is the piece site specific? I managed to find quote from her...

“We hold inside us the gathering of the places we have inhabited. Places shape our ideas and feelings; at the same time, our ideas and feelings animate places.

In my past works, I have explored issues of identity, rural displacement and/or reclamation, heritage and nostalgia. My site-specific installations rely on surrounding landscape and architecture to create a mise-en-scene for the viewer, thus making the works a multi-sensorial experience.

The goal with my practice is to make viewers question their relationship to their surroundings and their placement within these environments. However, everything changes all the time, as do I and my research...”

So there we go, I think it explains enough to me...though I still want to know more about the chosen theme and interior as appose to the surrounding landscape. I was attracted to the piece because I immediately thought it was a miniature dollhouse which had been focused in on, and when I discovered that in fact it was a life size house, I became really fascinated by the whole idea. So now I’ve got dollhouse ideas on mind constantly, I just need to focus on one!