This module, is one that I have perhaps felt the most comfortable with despite never having properly exhibited my work. I say this because, throughout the course, I have always enjoyed the sense of accomplishment you get when coming to the end of a project and when you have that physical object or piece of work to show that is an accumulation of all of your effort.
For me, I hope this will be the book of Sahin I am creating along with the original paintings and prints that will be featured in the book or have contributed towards it. I aim to demonstrate some insight into the key themes and debates Carter chooses to explore such as femininity and its meaning in our daily lives. I have done this throughout the consideration of the representation of my female characters. I hope that this will be seen in the context of the exhibition. I have also chosen to question race and culture in this book as I feel it is an important factor of the folk tale genre. My illustrations set the story in no particular place or time and I have tried to make this particularly evident in my portrayal of the metaphorical brothers. They are shown as ‘brothers of the world’. This mysterious setting is also notable in the coin illustration where old and ancient coins are illustrated from all over the world from many different eras. You can see a PDF of the book here: Sahin PDF for Blog
Setting up the degree show has been an incredible experience. It has been very hard work and worrying but so far (11.05.17) the space is looking really professional and exciting. I have chosen to have my work displayed on the midnight blue wall as I hope it will make my work stand out best as I use a lot of bright colours as well as a similar blue to the one on the wall. I debated having my work hang with golden bulldog clips and golden string as I felt it would bring out the opulent themes within the story of Sahin. It was decided by me and Amelia however, that the gold distracted too much from the paintings and the images work stronger when flush to the wall and simply hung. Although I was disappointed that I couldn’t use the royal gold elements, the final decision definitely looks better. Below is an image of me and the other students preparing the exhibition space.
(In case you missed my post about professional practice previously, here are the links again to my website, my CV and my Artist Statement):
Website: http://www.rosewilkinsonillustration.com
CV: Art CV (1)
Artist Statement: http://www.rosewilkinsonillustration.com/about
Buisness Cards:
I had been working on the professional practice aspects of my career for a while, slowly building up my portfolio website and my artist statement so it was important to really dedicate some time to perfecting it all and getting advice from the tutors. I also needed a portfolio for my interview at Camberwell for the MA, however this required a different selection of work, work that would show my potential. This included a lot of sketchbook and development examples.
I will also be re-contextualising some of my work into the exhibition titled Spectacular Spectacular organised by colleague Sophie Keen. The brief for the show asked for work that demonstrated something under the theme of a spectacle or spectacular. I decided my embroidery hoops would work well in this context, with embroidery being a highly aesthetic craft and therefore created solely as a spectacle rather than anything functional. I think these pieces work particularly well in this professional context due to the high levels of details and the fact that they already present themselves as an exhibition piece being “framed” in hoop.
Going forward, I have spent the last year of this course preparing myself well for the outside world. I have sent invitations to several illustration agencies and and publishing companies inviting them to the degree show in the hope that this may lead to freelancing jobs in the future. I have also got a project lined up with the Philosophy Magazine to do some illustrations for one of their articles and a commission for a lifestyle blog. I hope to being doing plenty of small commissioned work as soon as I finish in order to continue building up my portfolio.
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