Sarah Lucas Exhibition Glasgow

Sarah Lucas currently has an exhibition on at the Tramway in Glasgow. I'm hoping to go up before it ends. Here is a video of reactions to her work;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEijfBE86sw

I looked at Sarah Lucas in my Exploring and Extending Specialist Techniques units and I will be looking at her again in my FMP. I like that her work is quite crude and often refers to things about sex. I feel that sex is still quite a taboo subject in todays society. I have shown my moleskines to a few people in the class and whenever they come across a page referring to the subject, they quickly skip it. Also, one said (not about mine or Lucas' work) "I don't know, I just don't like her work. It's just too much about sex and stuff" and they added that they felt uncomfortable talking about it. I think it's fascinating that even though we are barraged with sexual images and messages from the media people aren't even slightly ok with talking about it. I can understand feeling uncomfortable if it was about your personal sex life or whatever, but even going to an exhibition like Sarah Lucas' is out of the question for some. 

I really hope I can get myself to Glasgow to see this exhibition. The only thing stopping me is the cost and the fact it would take a whole day to do it. 

On a side note, I can't open powerpoint documents on Moodle, but I can open word. It is telling me to buy the new version before I can open it. I don't think there is anything the college can do. Just saying it's mildly infuriating.

Today marks an anniversary

For the last week/ week and a bit, I've had crappy internet. It keeps disconnecting every few minutes which makes doing anything almost impossible. I haven't really been feeling "there" the last couple of weeks either. By that I mean that my episodes are changing. At least, I think they are. That is the difficult thing about this, I never know whether I'm up or down. I think it's probably just a blip in the episode to be honest. I don't feel all that comfortable to talk about my current situation on the internet, but I will write about it in my sketchbook. 

Today marks an anniversary;

From Moleskine book 5

This time last year I was in the worst depressive episode to date. It was also on this day last year that I broke up with my boyfriend (I should clarify that I was already in a depressive episode before we broke up). I began focusing my Exploring Specialist Techniques on the hell he gave me afterwards and it was then that I decided that expressing my thoughts/ feelings/ opinions/ etc was the way I worked best. There isn't anything overly special about this but as I was binning my old calendar I was looking through it and came across a few significant dates. So I cut them out and added them in. I still occasionally get messages from him threatening me over facebook, but I've learned to block and delete. 

I've thought about posting a few pages of each moleskine book in order to be less safe. Perhaps one a day and give some insight along with it. However, if you've seen my books, you know what they contain and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post that content on here. 

I've noticed that I haven't really been posting what is expected recently, but I think that is because I am currently still in the research stage for our new units. 

This blog will come alive again soon enough. 

Louise Bourgeois- Fruitsmarket Exhibition

 I went up with my friend (Edward) on Saturday to have a look at the second part of the exhibition. I was expecting something like Emin's 1000 drawings using lots of different media and obvious pictures relating to her point but I was slightly disappointed. It was basically a series of A4 lined paper/ sheet music/ graph paper with red biro/ crayon on it. The title of the series was "Insomnia Drawings 1994-1995" so the lined paper wan't as random as I first thought- when I am manic and have insomnia I grab any bit of paper and start doodling on it. After I read the description I had a walk round and tried to find one piece that I connected to or saw something in but it was mostly fields, places, river looking drawings which I wasn't overly bothered by.

However, As I got closer to the end I came across two pieces that stuck out. I didn't take any pictures as I wasn't sure if I was allowed to.

The first one that featured two door hangers. One said "Do Not Disturb" and the other said "May I Come In?". They were done with pink highlighter. I liked how one was asking to come in- like asking to enter your mind and see what is all going on inside. If I continue with that theory, the other would be asking to be left alone, not bothered (obviously) but I related it to when I was in my depressive episode. I just wanted to be left alone and not talk about my problems.

The second one I liked was of a clock. It was the face of a clock but had 24 hours on it instead of 12. There was only one hand which was at the 1. I felt I could really relate to this one as when you have insomnia, it's like time isn't even moving. Every time you look at the clock, it's still only 1 o'clock in the morning.

I spoke to Edward after I had finished walking around. Ed isn't really an art person but he said he quite liked it. I was surprised as personal work isn't really what I would think he would like. We then went upstairs to the larger work. I wasn't expecting them to be that big! When I had saw the picture on Artmatters, I thought it would be A4/ A3 size. I definitely like her larger work better. "I Give Everything Away 2010" 6 etchings and mixed media on paper-

Crappy image from Google. "I Am Packing My Bags"

"I Give Every Thing Away"

Taken from ArtMatters as I couldn't find it on Google Images. 

 "I Distance Myself From Myself"

The few I've selected were my favourites. I noticed when I got closer the the pieces they were on two separate bits of paper. One was quite thick and the other was like newsprint. The writing was in her own, and wasn't a specific typeface- that adds personality for me. All of them were signed "LB" some were signed more than once. The veins/ rivers which were featured work in the other exhibition appeared again in some of these pieces. 

I did like this part of the exhibition but it was a bit of a let down compared to the first one.

Getting back into x-stitching

I recently bought a book on Amazon called "X- Stitching" just to get some patterns for things that might relate to what I have to say in my next units. One of my friends asked me to make her something for her boyfriend for Valentines day and she'd give me some money. So basically it was my first commission, which is pretty cool. I thought it was a great way to get myself back into cross stitching again. Also, I've been pretty sick over the weekend and I still am, so in between college work I've been doing this when I have enough energy.

I started off by looking at what his interests were, decided upon Star Wars themed, and because it's for Valentines day, I thought it had to have a cute message too.

The start

Final product in a hoop! I really love hoop art. 

I showed her the pics and she said he will love it. 

I'm thinking about doing a range of these and selling them on Etsy or something. Just a little business idea for after college.

I've also thought about doing hoop art for part of my FMP. I bought £40 worth of embroidery stuff the other day to go towards my unit. I'm very excited, just need to tweak the brief and I should be started later this week.