GOODBYE STUDIO SCHOOL, HELLO NEW OPPORTUNITIES

So on Wednesday I had my last day at Scunthorpe Studio School, a 6 month opportunity with artist mentorship, and although it was an incredible experience and provided me with a structured routine that has been so beneficial, I was getting pretty sick of the same drive up and down the country every week, and I’m excited to put everything I’ve learnt into practice in the real world and hopefully land myself some paid opportunities!

Towards the end of the experience, we took part in a few interviews and podcasts, mostly created with the intention of advertising the opportunity to future applicants and cohorts, but also to just reflect on what we gained, so as those clips come out I’ll be sharing more of my perspective on the experience, but overall I couldn’t be happier with what I learnt and how it aided my growth as an artist re-entering my practice following a challenging episode of neurodivgent burnout.

Going right back to the beginning of the process, one of the very first tasks we did with our mentor, was writing an artist manifesto, something I’ve never considered before, and I can’t emphasise enough how beneficial this practice was for me. It’s something I regularly went back to (and I imagine will continuously go back to) in order to check-in with myself and to ask myself the question, does what I’m doing align with what I want? And I’d strongly encourage other artists to consider doing it too. Below is my artist manifesto:

Have fun.

Be present, go at your own pace.

Be boundaried.

Make work you care about.

Make money, but don’t burnout or sell-out.

Travel, explore, learn, and enlighten.

Take risks - Breath, and believe it will always work out.

Do what you can, not what you should.

I’ve been on a journey of re-establishing what being an artist means to me, and as you can probably tell, my values are largely centered around protecting my mental health, that’s my number one priority. I want to connect with people and learn, but also I want to make money from my art, and to do that without burning out or selling out, means making work that a truly care about.

Since starting the studio school, I’ve gotten a lot better at truly leaning into and embracing myself specifically as an artist, rather than an unemployed person that occasionally draws… My confidence and self worth has grown so much and believe with this will soon invite more well paid and exciting projects!

ANOTHER MURAL?!

Last week I partook in another huge vinyl wall art installation, but this time it was completely my choice in terms of what was being printed, which was way more exciting, but it still came with its challenges to overcome. At this point I’m feeling a bit like an expert in the field!

We hit a pretty worrying obstacle the week before the exhibition install as the provider of the prints we were originally going to use were no longer available, and due to this last minute realisation, we we’re at risk of blowing the budget to make sure it was printed in time. However, Michael saved the day with a stroke of genius as a vinyl wrapped lorry drove past, so he contacted a local provider of car wraps to see if they could help us out, and they did!

The vinyl arrived in two huge sheets which we had to collect and cut ourselves, but after 6 hours of cutting and sticking, (with the help of Michael and my amazing fellow studio school artists of course), it was done, and I couldn't be happier with it!!

I’ve shared a time-lapse progress video over on Instagram too if you want more visuals!

JOY IN THE JOURNEY

I've always preferred a collection rather than a one off piece, so it’s no surprise that I translated this same attitude towards my first animations too, and after collating my 4 animations all together, I’m SO pleased with them!

I had quite a few ideas in mind when developing this collection, it all started with the RV we rented for our American road trip. Which was the first animation of the collection that I made. I wanted the RV to remain the centre point but for the background to change, to encapsulate our journey through the very different environments we travelled through as we crossed states, which I still think would be really fun! But unfortunately I couldn’t make this fit into the expectations from the Scunthorpe Studio School opportunity, which was for our work to fit into the theme of ‘place’, specifically North Lincolnshire (as we were funded by North Lincolnshire Council). So I switched up my idea instead, to a story that guides the audience through all the vehicles that lead to me getting my van, and subsequently enabling me to facilitate travelling to Scunthorpe in order to take part in the studio opportunity! The idea then shifted once more to limit it to just 4 animations, and that each of these animations would represent one of the four seasons. This was partially down to time restraints, but also as I thought more about what it was that I was trying to say within my work, and how it would look as a final outcome.

I decided I wanted the collection to encapsulate my personal narrative of emotional recovery achieved through various road trips, as this also eventually lead to me taking the plunge and buying my van, which brought me to Scunthorpe where I was able to re-enter my artistic practice following an incredibly challenging year of adverse personal challenges and ADHD burnout.

Throughout my healing journey, I also reignited my love for reading, I read books in order to slow down, and got through a load of audio books on my long drives. I read both fiction and non-fiction books that I feel shaped me, which I hope to go into more detail about at some point, but one in particular was Wintering by Katharine May. A perspective-shifting memoir that teaches us to draw from the healing powers of the natural world and to embrace the winters of our own lives. This resignated with me a lot, so I decided I wanted each of the animations to represent one of the 4 seasons, hinting at the slow and cyclical nature of healing.

To try and embed this theme within my project, I decided to also make bookmarks of each of the scenes too, they aren’t the highest quality, but a free and engaging addition!

I’ve now made a page for this project on my portfolio, it still needs a little work, but it’s great to see it coming together, it also finally has a name… Joy in the Journey!