22.02.2019
Having heard back from Glen at AirSpace Gallery, my proposal has been accepted so I need to start finishing works off and getting fully prepped for the week. My 'In The Window' exhibition will run from installing on Sunday 24th March through to de-installing on the following Friday 29th March. My Proposal for the space is as follows:

PolluShine– Is It Worth It?

100% from the ocean 

My practice – 

I am currently a Level 5 Fine Art BA (Hons) student at Staffordshire University. Recently I have opened up my practice by experimenting with sculpture and have attained a love and appreciation for the three-dimensional world of art. Having gained some experience in prop making and scenic art within theatre, I was able to experience installation in a different context compared to a gallery setting. This has inspired me to create my own displays and scenes. Being a vegetarian and a conscious recycler I spend a lot of my time worrying about the waste in products I use, instead of being proactive and being part of the change. Producing work that could make a difference has always been an aim of mine, to leave a mark on someone and alter their perception, even if in the slightest way. I haven’t had an opportunity yet to reach a wider audience, and AirSpace would give me that chance. The more we see about how our lifestyles are damaging the world around us, the more likely we are to adjust. 

Aims –

I will create a luxurious staged shop window of a jewellery/clothing store ‘PolluShine – Is it worth it?’ to highlight how barbaric and damaging we are being to marine life and surrounding species. By featuring the animals we are neglecting through pollution debris we are leaving behind, I want to create a confrontational display in hopes of provoking change. By using recycled items and a plastic base clay I want to keep the materials a true reflection of the context. Including play on words like Pollution and PolluShine, Garnier’s ‘because you’re worth it’ slogan and other hidden gems. 

Proposal – 

I propose to have in one half of the window a large table covered entirely with a silver fabric and a three-part mirror, along with polymer clay sculptures of the animals/heads made in the fashion of mannequins. These animals will be promoting our pollution as fashion accessories or jewellery. The table will be eyelevel to those walking past so they can see the animals and themselves in the reflection. The jewellery and accessories featured will be a Penguin cape (beer plastic around neck), a Turtle nose stud (straw in nostril), a white stork rain coat (clear plastic bag) along with a few others. In the adjacent window, I will continue the theme and have a silver clothes rail featuring a few ‘one size fits all’ clothing items (also relating to images sourced) e.g. a fishnet dress suitable for any specie. From the ceiling I will hang the stork along with sun catchers fashioned from melted plastic beads and have a plinth displaying the seal head. 

My hopes for this project is to make a believable shop window that’s glamourous and enticing as viewers walk by, but they soon realise it’s a shop of horrors. I would love to be able touse AirSpace as a platform to reach more people than I ever have before, including a wider collection of people.  As the window is located in a busy pedestrian area in town, it opens up the possibility to an audience who may not normally access galleries or enter the world of art. 

Logistics – 

For technical requirement’s I would need access to a plug where I can use an upcycled plastic straw and water barrel lighting lit by an eco-bulb, and hang some elements from the ceiling with transparent fishing line. I would also use a tulle fabric hung by a thin curtain wire against the back wall. Along with the display in the window I will be handing out leaflets promoting a ‘sale’ to create awareness, also having brochure of the items. Using images the pieces were based on, instead of the price in a money sense it will be the price the animals pay each day. If possible I would like a leaflet holder outside holding this brochure. 

21.02.2019
Antonio Roberts was next on our visiting artist programme and he is actually a past student/graduate from our university. Now being a digital artist, art made with error and coding, a very unique form of artwork. Coding to me feels very matter of fact and restricting. Each formula or sequence will work in a specific way and nothing else, emotionless and predictable. But Antonio proved that it doesn't have to be predictable at all. As he showed us a few one minute clips of the videos he has produced (a mere snippet of the full length videos), they were anything but.
Antonio explained a fascination with copyright and how it's almost been lost in this digital age. Reposting photos or videos on facebook, sending them in text messages or adding captions to create 'MEMEs' are just some ways you could be in violation of the copyright laws. For example if Youtube channels/videos use another video clip, they tend to add "no copyright infringement intended" thinking it allows them use of the video/clip, when actually you're still acting against the law. Copyright laws are dated and in some ways no longer relevant because of these reasons, so does copyright still exist? The answer seems to be only when someone with enough money and/or lawyers chooses to enforce their rights to said image/video etc. Antonio agrees that there needs to be an appropriation of using other peoples work (or image) but should not be ruled out completely. Adaptations and versions of past work happens constantly. It would be very rare if not impossible to come up with an idea completely new which hasn't already been done in some way. We should instead be using and encouraging each other in our creativity inquest. Antonio explained he believes real creativity is taking something that's been done and making it your own. He encouraged us to ask ourself in the future, why am I using this image and is it appropriate/ethical to be used? But also question who is allowed to appropriate culture? Who decides one thing is okay compared to another?
It was really inspiring to see a past student of my university established in his practice, and has opened my eyes to the world of glitch art.

https://www.hellocatfood.com

14.02.2019
Rosalie Schweiker came to our university for the visiting artist programme this semester and gave a really interesting twist on a lecture. She explained she used to have a copy of  'The Little Red School Book' and how it used to educate teenagers on topics you might not have found in school, such as sex and drugs. In the 1970's you didn't have the internet, a go to place for answers to questions that might've been too uncomfortable to ask aloud. So some people were getting themselves into situations they weren't prepared for, or could in some cases, become dangerous. The book at the time was seen as outrageous, but as Rosalie explained, was a safety net for many of its readers. This idea of having a backup plan and a point of call for information right inside your pocket was a comforting precaution. Which lead Rosalie to develop this idea into something we could use in the present. As sex and drugs aren't that much of a hot topic anymore and we're able to find answers to our questions on search engines such as google, the path of her book lead down another direction. Rosalie explained that she rarely sells her work but still earns as a working artist. She spends a lot of her time presenting lectures or talks, or with workshops and lessons in schools. Which the idea then became a book by Rosalie and Mirjam Bayerdorfer 'Teaching   for people who prefer not to teach'.
A magic 8 ball of learning, each page reveals a different answer, an activity or discussion to be had. This can be chosen by the teacher or as Rosalie said is intended, by the class themselves. This is a fun and exciting way to teach and learn as the power of the classroom is disrupted and handed back to the students.
As the books were handed out for us to have a read it was clear this was the direction of the lecture today also. Our lecture was to be exploring Rosalie's calendar for this month (as she picked from the book) and we spent the hour finding out what it's really like to be a working artist. As she spoke about her month of current projects to yoga class I found it a very useful incite into how you need to stay organised and network yourself all the time. There are opportunities everywhere and creating this publication was just one that allows Rosalie's work to travel, and reach a wider audience.

http://rosalieschweiker.info/come-along/

21.02.2019
As Easter is fast approaching and the piece for the university needs to be complete by then, myself and the students union need to get press releases and posters around campus as soon as possible. Spreading information about workshops and drop off points for bottle tops is essential as I will be relying totally on students and staff coming together for materials for the work. Coming up with a photo for these posters was at first a difficult task, as the work wouldn't be complete or even started until after said workshops and campaigns, getting a photo that relates and connects with the end result took a while. After going through ideas about drawings or having a collection of bottle tops laid out in a certain way and photographed, I wanted to create an image that was more of a completed outcome itself. I brainstormed a few ideas sticking with the theme of a wave and thought about creating a wave that looked to be from the ocean but instead was formed entirely of plastic waste. This later developed into using Hokusai's original print but replacing the white with plastic waste instead. I found an image with 4 water bottles on it in different usage conditions from filled and new to screwed up and crushed. In Photoshop I then manipulated them to look as though they were naturally apart of the original piece and the wave.
Using water bottles within the image instead of bottle tops (which will be the material used in the artwork), will remind everyone that there is even more plastic being thrown away than they can see when the work is complete, and that one water bottle consists of two separate pieces of plastic.
I am happy with how the image has turned out as the movement is still captured of the wave and on a quick glance you wouldn't notice the bottles within the print. I am excited to share this with the University at our next meeting.

20.02.2019
During 'Green Week' at my university there were discussions about having a piece of work produced for the courtyard reflecting the urgency of taking action against plastic pollution. After putting myself forward to be apart of the work, I have now become the artist behind the design.
This morning I had a meeting with some of the University's student's union staff relaying my proposed idea and to discuss logistics and dates, negotiating what we want to come from this work as a whole.
My proposal is to do our own interpretation of Hokusai's 'The great wave off Kanagawa'. Hokusai's print is quite a well known and recognisable artwork reflecting the natural disaster of tsunami's. We are at a point of crisis where an estimated 18 billion lbs of plastic enters the ocean every year, we are drowning in plastic similar to the effects of a tsunami itself. The ocean is vital to the survival of hundreds of thousands of species, including us.
We had agreed on the work being 2metres x 2metres to be placed on the wall next to the Cadman Gallery, front facing the entrance to the courtyard. Using a weather proofed hard board hoarding to be installed, I will use plastic bottle tops/caps with resin to seal the work reducing the risk of weathering. I will use bottle tops flat for the background and use them on their side for within the wave. This will create a sense of calculated chaos, up close you will see the movement and drama reflecting the life of a wave itself, and from a distance it will paint a picture of the ocean.
As well as producing a finished outcome to be mounted on the wall, a vital part of this work is bringing the community together to make a difference. Creating awareness about action that needs to be taken and how the students and staff can help. We will be organising workshops with the University's nursery, students and staff where they will be given a chance to get involved by bringing in the material for the work (bottle tops), but also to learn about what they can do to help whilst producing some work together as a group, using similar or the same materials. This installation is about encouraging everyone to get involved together and make a real difference. We are the future and we need to work together to create change.