Back to Uni

After a year of traveling and settling myself down in Devon I am back on my part time Fine Art degree course - I have transferred from Leeds College of Art and Design to Plymouth University and today was the first induction day and welcome! I am impressed with the library and resources available to students - it's huge compared to where I was before and will take a while to find my way around! I can't wait to start the course next week although the thesis is a bit daunting and will certainly be challenging! I have 2 years more to complete the degree equivalent to the 3rd and final year of a full time course.

Last year before taking a year off I was working with a family archive of transparences and using projection - I am keen to see if I can deepen this process - work with them in a different way - these are a couple of the images which were projected in a pair (side by side). The transparences were quite damaged but this was exactly what made them so exciting for me - memories of deceased family (this is my mother who died 30 years ago) are often fragmented and faded!

I'll be using this blog now as a way of exploring my practice over the next couple of years - using it as a kind of sketchbook/journal of the work I am doing for my degree although I will also be using a tactile sketchbook too!

Drawn to the valley - artist's open studios

The last few days I have been visiting artists studios - 'Drawn to the valley' is an artist led collective of around 100 members who all live and work in the Tamar Valley, designated 'an area of outstanding natural beauty' - it's a great way to meet other artists and also get to know the area I've recently moved to better! I love visiting artist's homes and studios too! The river Tamar runs through the valley and divides Devon and Cornwall, from Launceston in the north down to the sea at Plymouth - so the artists are working in border lands - on the edge of 2 very different counties!

I started off on Friday evening by going along to a Private View at the Tamar Valley Centre in Gunnislake - the 4 artists exhibiting belong to the printmaking studio I have been attending during the last few months and Mary Gillett, the tutor was one of the exhibitors. It was so lovely to know people and to chat over a glass of wine- something I have missed being new to the area!! It was a great space and all the work was of high quality.

On Saturday I visited 4 artists based in Millbrook on the Rame Peninsula - I particularly liked the ceramics of Jill Holland and the work of Helen Round a painter and printmaker.

it was a beautiful sunny day and I took the Cremyl ferry and walked a circular route of around 8 miles stopping for a coffee at my favorite cafe The Honey Room at Widdicombe's In Millbrook and then lunch on this hilltop - overlooking the twin villages of Cawsand and Kingsand

what a view!

I love visiting this area - it's not far, as the crow flys, from where I am at the moment but it requires a ferry ride or a longish drive around the estuary - Millbrook is where I would like to live when I get around to buying a property next year. I am renting at the moment to give me a chance to find the ' ideal spot' - then of course I need the ideal house at the ideal price to appear! this is where I need to TRUST! so watch this space and see if I find my dream home!

I returned to Plymouth on the Cawsand ferry and finally a bus arriving home tired, inspired and happy and ready for my supper!