Monday 8 June 2020

End of the Degree




Artist’s Statement
Tristram Ellam-Bell
Unit 9
I situate my practice within the wider context of landscape painting as a genre and describe it as socially aware romanticism. My work celebrates the history of England and other European nations but also attempts to impart some unease about that history.
These historical themes continue to inform my work and in order to take them further in September last year I rented a bungalow on the south coast and spent my time walking through the landscape, taking photos and doing in situ sketches. This, and a visit to the Netherlands in August to carry out similar research there, provided the impetus for the paintings I produced during this final stage of my Degree.
Continuing a materials theme, that I established in Stage 1 I used second hand canvases and painting boards to pursue experimenting with homemade innovative grounds, settling on a mixture of crushed chalk from the cliffs on the south coast where I went in September, mixed with acrylic primer and while I enjoyed working on surfaces that involved an element of struggle and presented a few practical difficulties, I decided to use pre-stretched new canvases for my final pieces.
  
Below are the paintings and drawings that will make up my Degree.












These works were all produced in the last 9 months and represent the bulk of my studio practice for this stage. Measurements and medium and titles of these pieces can be found in both my Visual proposal and at my Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/154694225@N07/ 

Thursday 4 June 2020

Spring break and Summer Term PPD

The weekend after the end of term offered me an opportunity to attend a Get into Teaching event at Saint Mary's University in Twickenham, where I took the handouts below.

In addition I took some shots of the lecture:




The lecture was useful and given by a former secondary school teacher with years of experience in the state sector.

19th March I sold one of my paintings at The People Hive below is a copy of the text of the confirmation email.

Hello Tristram,
Just confirming our conversation of a few minutes ago that you agreed to reduce the selling price of this picture from £100 to £60, that being an offer made by one of our customers.

The new price will still attract our normal 30% commission.

Best Regards G.

Hello G.
Yes I can confirm that I agree to sell the painting for £60.
Regards Tristram
The painting was a small canvas that I had produced in 2010
Richmond Bridge, oil on canvas

UCAS PGCE APPLICATION and alternatives to teaching in secondary school.


I have already started my application UCAS application to start a PGCE course in September.
However I have been looking at other options, including teaching in Further education, taking a qualification in teaching in a museum setting or teaching adults for leisure. I looked into this  last option before Lockdown and sat an English exam at the  college during an open day and picked up an application form, please see below.
The chit is the pass certificate for the English test.

PPD Spring term

PPD Spring term

The Interim show February 21


I was displaying my work in the lecture theatre with Oscar Holmes and Chagla Memet, unfortunately I did not fully appreciate the requirements of the brief and only arrived to hang my work at 1pm, when we were due to have the work assessed at 1:30pm. This was a major failure on my part and if the interim had been part of Unit 9's assessment would have had serious consequences.

The Penultimatum show at the Copeland Gallery.
The name of the show was arrived at by an online debate and voting process, I voted for the name Penultimatum as a second choice, but was not unhappy with the outcome.
I along with the majority of the students on my Stage helped set up the show. Please see pictures below.



I also helped invigilate the show on saturday afternoon when one of my responsibilities was to keep a tally of visitor numbers. In total I recorded 145 visitors and several queries about who to contact about commissions, I referred these visitors to the show's catalogue, please see scans below.






After helping with taking down the work and wrapping and packing art works and helping load up the van I briefly helped with repairing any damage to the Copeland Gallery's walls. I then returned to Wimbledon to help unload the van.

Bad Painting Prize
On the afternoon of the 12th of March I helped set up the Bad Painting prize in the Lecture Theatre, this was a sort of knockabout version of the Copeland. That said the evenings auction raised a fair amount of money for the Degree show.

My contribution to the Prize!

Covid 19 Pandemic
Three days later on the 16th of March 2020, the UK government introduced the first formal social Distancing measures, this policy had immediate consequences for my PPD because I was scheduled to do two full days classroom observation at Waldegrave School, but in line with Government guidelines the school emailed me to cancel my visit.
In addition my Friday afternoon art club for RB MIND was suspended until further notice and an exhibition that I was helping the charity(RB MIND) prepare with the local authority and some local schools that was supposed to be opening in late March at the Orleans House Gallery was also cancelled. However, I continued to work with RBMIND to plan and deliver remote support to the service users who attended the art group. I developed self directed briefs for those clients who were having difficulty developing ideas, please see the document below.
Hello K.
Here are some easy Pandemic art activities:
1 Draw or paint from a photo, find a well lit area in your home set up a drawing board or something to serve as one and get a print of the picture and set it up so that you can see both the drawing board and the photo.
2 A still life, we did this in group and for an artist this is a very good exercise in observational drawing
3 The view from your window, look at this as making the best of an unpleasant situation.
All of these can be either drawings or if space and facilities allow paintings, remember that oil paints use solvents that create fumes. Therefore if you use oil paint open a window.
4) Portrait or self portrait
5) Continuing with existing pieces of work

I hope everyone stays safe and I look forward to seeing all of you when this thing passes.
Regards Tristram


Planned Exhibition at The Stables Gallery/ Riverside Gallery March-May 2020
I also advised them on a planned exhibition that I was initially invited to curate, however its planned opening in March would have clashed with both the Copeland show and the set up would have clashed with the interim so I had to decline. I did look over the initial proposal and give them feedback. The first document is the original proposal, the second is my response to it. The proposal cites May as being the month of the exhibition but the Gallery and local authority offered the charity the space from the end of February to the end of May

Proposal to curate an Art and Mental Health Awareness Exhibition at Riverside Gallery and/or The Stables Gallery
                                            

Background

Richmond Borough Mind is celebrating 60 years as the local mental health charity offering a broad range of help and support for people who experience mental health issues.  To coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week 2020, RB Mind would like to host a special celebratory exhibition in Riverside Gallery (and/or The Stables Gallery) from the 18th – 24th May.

Our History

RBMind was borne out of the original Twickenham Association for Mental Health founded in 1959.  This service was run purely on a voluntary basis but, as ‘Care in the Community’ became the approach for those no longer needing continuing care in a hospital environment, it established and ran group homes for people in mental distress. 

Twickenham Mind continued to grow and flourish and by 1971, Richmond and Barnes Mind was established running three group homes, a nearly new shop and funding the Vineyard Project Drop-in Centre offering therapies and activities for the vulnerable and homeless.  In 1988 a Counselling Service was established and remains an important part of the portfolio of services offered by RB Mind.

Today, RBMind offers a range of accessible services from supporting people with long term mental health issues and their carers, to running our Wellbeing Centre, Counselling Service and Peer Support Network.  In addition, RBMind also serves the wider community including workshops in schools, seminars and training for businesses and general mental wellbeing awareness in the community.  With over 100 volunteers supporting our work, RBMind plays a significant role in the Borough of Richmond.

Mental Health and Art

As part of our services caring for the vulnerable, our clients are encouraged to use artistic means of expression as part of their therapy.  We run active art and craft groups across a range of our services.  Our Wellbeing Centre at 32 Hampton Road runs a popular art group and holds the occasional exhibition and displays our client’s artwork at the centre.  Our Positive Living Group runs a weekly art and craft group and every Friday we also have an art group for all the carers RB Mind supports in the borough.

In addition, we have a poetry group and a new anthology is to be published next year.

Exhibition Proposal

RB Mind plan on curating an exhibition to include art, video, written and spoken word which will provide a forum for people to learn about mental health and share experiences. The exhibition will aim to demonstrate the connection and benefits of art in mental wellbeing, not just as a therapeutic tool but also as a way of understanding mental health issues.

Unlike previous exhibitions Orleans House has supported around mental health (Oi Neun Sprunt in 2017, Madge Gill and Art and Soul 2018) this exhibition will be framed around the Richmond Community and will attempt to embrace the wider public in increasing awareness of mental health.  Last year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week was Body Image.  The them for 2020 has not been announced yet however, when it is, the exhibition will link to this theme where possible.


The exhibition will include:

Static works:
·       Artwork and crafts produced by service users of RBMind and other support charities in Richmond
·       Poems and extracts will also be displayed
·       A brief history of RBMind and the concept of ‘care in the community’

Video:
·       From our youth projects we propose to run videos of young people talking about mental health issues
·       Videos of clients reading their poetry

Photography:
·       We are currently seeking funding to run a school’s photography competition, aimed at challenging the current photographic images of mental health.  With or without the funding, this is something we are considering and should we be successful in gaining space then we would hope to include a photographic section

Interactive space:
·       As we propose to include video produced by local youths we would look at ways that we can introduce an interactive element for children and young people


Artwork and the poetry books will be available for sale.



A small selection of artwork produced by clients current and past:
Responses and recommendations for RB Mind Mental Health Awareness Week Art Exhibition.
Tristram Ellam-Bell
First as we discussed I would open the exhibition up to local schools.
Mental health is a huge issue in secondary schools and I think from the point of view of community engagement, engaging with local secondary schools and sixth forms in addition to the work RB Mind are doing with local Primary Schools, would promote local awareness of RBMIND. I would as discussed divide applications into key stages. This could include all the mentioned categories, painting, drawing, film and poetry.
In terms of the communities involvement, interactive element of the exhibition I would run drawing/ art workshops, that would include led activities that dealt specifically with issues around mental health and wellbeing, again these would be divided along key stage lines. For example one of these could be a workshop that would introduce participants to the tree of life idea that I experienced in a MIND carers workshop I attended. I think repurposed as a tool for keeping exam anxiety under control it could be very useful. With the older children it will be possible to have much more in depth discussions about what support they need and what they would like to gain from attending the workshops.
Other ideas for community sessions could include’ Painting What’s in your head’. This brief is open ended enough so that it will allow those who don’t feel ready to expose themselves to draw any idea or fantasy they might have and for those who are more emotionally literate there is the room to delve more deeply into the unconscious 
The other aspect we discussed was involving parent governors and from local schools as judges, I would also reach out to both the Mayor of London and Richmond’s Mayor, while it is unlikely that Mr. Khan will accept, if you don’t ask you don’t get. Even if he refuses you are on his radar and that will be no bad thing in the future. I would also advocate contacting some of the larger more reputable private art galleries in central London, baring in mind that outsider art and mental health are of national media interest and as such could be thought of as having zeitgeist,  this is of course where personal connections come in to play, staff and volunteers at RBMIND could make use of any prior contact with the art world.
Orleans House has a good group of experienced teaching professionals who could run the workshops. I would also suggest that volunteers from RBMIND be asked to involve themselves.


Below is the text from the email from the school, I have redacted most of the schools details in line with data protection this email was sent on Friday 13th March.
Subject: FW: pre PGCE observation


Unfortunately due to the current health situation with COVID-19 the school has taken the decision to postpone any external observers coming into school for the time being.  It will therefore not be possible for you to come in and observe next week.
I am sorry to disappoint you but hope you understand the reasons why this is necessary.

Kind regards

K.



Wednesday 3 June 2020

PPD Autumn Term and Summer 2019

          


July 2019:
Three of my Paintings are exhibited in the The People Hive on Heath Road in Twickenham. The People Hive is a shop with a gallery space in the shop for local artists and producers of Object 'd'Arte.
Here is a link to their website: https://www.rhlt.org.uk/
Fig: 1 A picture of me with my work in the background.

Ongoing monthly Volunteer commitment facilitating an art group at Richmond Borough MIND for Adult carers of people with mental health issues. This group was originally my Stage 2 PPD project and I gave a powerpoint presentation on it. I continued to run this group every first friday of the month until March this year. When the Covid 19  outbreak forced R. B. MIND to suspend all their face to face support groups.

Stage 3: Professional Practice Lecture series  Autumn Term 2019


Friday 27 September
PPD 1: An introduction to professional practice and postgraduate study
– with FA staff and artists Ben McDonnell and Tahmina Negmat
NOTES:
I lost my notes for this lecture, but I do remember that I did not see the relevance to my practice although I did find Tahmina's personal story interesting at a human level.


Friday 8 November
PPD 4: On how to organise, plan and fundraise for your degree show
NOTES:
A useful lecture, both in terms of the information given out and the opportunity it gave to meet 3rd year students from different pathways.
The Degree show, what matters:
1)Fundraising, for example The Bad Painting Prize, 2) The Private View, 3) Sales of work, 4) Marketing and publicity. We were split into groups and discussed these topics.
Many people, (including myself ) felt postcards of works were a good idea both as a way of allowing potential buyers to contact an artist and as a way of promoting our work.
In terms of promoting both the private view and subsequent exhibition most favoured an online approach, for example a WCA website.

Friday 15 November
PPD 5: On funded projects for artists in the heritage sector
With Judith King, Creative Director of Arts & Heritage and artist and Reader in
Painting, Mark Fairnington
NOTES:
I enjoyed this lecture and it motivated me to approach Pevensey Castle and the National Trust after I complete my Degree. I found Mark's part of the lecture particularly useful on this regard because he talked about how he  involved himself in the area where the residency was based.


Friday 29 November
PPD 6: On art and copyright
With artist, Andrew Grassie and intellectual property specialist, Roxanne Peters
NOTES:
I found this lecture useful because it covered information that I had learned about on an Adult Education college illustration course in 2010 regarding copyright.
The most useful points of this lecture for me were that if an Artist is dead for more than 70 years their work enters the public Domain.
That one should always ask permission before reproducing another artists work.
Intellectual Property rights, or IP 
4 Areas of Copyright, 1) Creative Works, for example a painting, 2) Trademarks, for example McDonalds.  3) A process, for example a way of manufacturing a given product, this is more Patent law than copyright as it is usually thought of in terms of art. 4) The appearance of a product or object.
Photography, the photo taken by an individual is that persons property EVEN IF the picture is of another artist's work.
Documentation, keeping records of my work is the best way of insuring that it wont be plagiarized.

PPD LECTURE
Residences:
Advice about open calls and not being shy, it is important to ask. A good list of potential contacts, Skowhegan, Maine, USA, The Delfina Foundation in London, Berwick on Tweed 6 or 3 month residences. e. art has a list of residences, worth remembering that even residences that fail are worth the experience.
Finally it is worth approaching a given institution and trying to create your own custom residences.

Visit to Waldegrave School, Pre PGCE Observation
Wednesday 27th November 2019
The first part of the day was spent with the other attendees discussing, availability of places, routes into teaching, funding, the relationship between schools and Universities, managing the workload during the PGCE year. We also had an informal chat with newly qualified teachers over lunch.
After lunch we spent the afternoon in lessons observing in our chosen area.

Above is the timetable for the day's observations.
  





Tuesday 2 June 2020

Bibliography

Bibliography
Featured Artists

Andrew, Jonathan,
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/515451119831842700/ (Accessed on 02/06/20)


Constable, John
 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/john-constable-the-hay-wain (Accessed on 02/06/20)


Kennard, Peter
 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kennard-haywain-with-cruise-missiles-t12484 (Accessed on 02/06/20)


 Nash, Paul
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Nash_(artist) (Accessed on 02/06/20)


Quinn, Ged
 https://www.artlyst.com/news/ged-quinn-solo-exhibition-at-2012-frieze-art-fair/
(Accessed on 02/06/20)


Ravillious, Eric
 https://leoframes.com/shop/style/contemporary/cuckmere-haven-by-eric-ravilious/
(Accessed on 02/06/20)

Turner, J. M. W.
 https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-snow-storm-steam-boat-off-a-harbours-mouth-n00530
(Accessed on 02/06/20)

Woodrow, Bill
 ://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bunker-Mule_(1995)_by_Bill_Woodrow,_Bl%C3%A5vand-Oksby,_Denmark_-_20020429.jpg
(Accessed on 02/06/20)

Galleries Visited

Orleans House Gallery Riverside, Twickenham TW1 3DJ
Visited on 03/01/20

Tate Britain,  Millbank, Westminster, London SW1P 4RG
Visited on 22/01/20


Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam The Netherlands
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/rijksmuseum

Books

Beevor, Anthony, (2012) The Second World War, Weidenfeld & Nicolson London

Fleming, Peter, (1975) Operation Sea lion, Pan Macmillan Ltd, Oxford

Schama, Simon, (1995) Landscape and Memory, Fontana Press, Harper Collins, London

Snyder, Tim, (2017) On Tyranny, twenty lessons from the twentieth century, The Bodley Head, London

Surtees, John, Shelia, (2008) East Dean and Friston, The story of two Downland Villages, SB Publications, Seaford


Wednesday 27 May 2020

Exhibitions visited before and after lockdown

In January I visited the William Blake exhibition at Tate Britain. Which I enjoyed because of his amazing penmanship. Below are some photos I took in addition to buying the book of the exhibition.



I particularity enjoyed the sense of dread and discord in Blake's work. The image above illustrates that element in his work well.
The other exhibition that I went to in February this year could not have been more different in terms of both scale, attendance and public awareness it took place in Orleans House Gallery: please see link for details. https://www.orleanshousegallery.org/
This exhibition was a collection of self taught and so called outsider art, a term I get abit irriated by because I am on the Autistic spectrum myself.
The gallery produced no catalogue for the event and very little in the way of publicity, I literally walked in off the street and found a really diverse collection of works including a bizarre yet well executed landscape. In addition to a finely detailed made up cityscape. See below, and apologies for the poor quality of the shots.

I also made use of Google Arts and Culture tool to look at the collection at the RijksMuseum in Amsterdam. Covid 19 allowing I plan to visit the museum in person in the next year or two.
Here is the link to the collection. https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/rijksmuseum
I had some difficulty navigating through the museum, however that had more to do with the limitations of my laptop than the museum's site.

Preparing the Exhibition Proposal

The following represents my thought processes that led me to the idea of siting my Degree show in a fictitious World War 2 bunker.
My practice over the past three years has to a greater or lesser extent been dominated by three themes, primarily landscape with history, both personal and national being a major contributor and finally conflict or discord. Therefore it seemed right to set my final exhibition in a bunker and one of the Atlantic Wall fortifications seemed appropriate because the Atlantic Wall was constructed by the Nazis using slave labour to stop any attempt by the Allies at liberating Europe.
The first group of pictures below are a  mixture of my own photos and Google search results.

This picture is of a 'Verdun ' Type bunker. There is an online community of Bunker explorers and spotters that is very well developed and because of the web very international
Below is an sculpture called called Bunker/mule that I found while researching the Atlantic Wall and typifies what I want to do with my fictitious exhibition that is to repurposed a structure that was intend to ensure the power and dominion of Nazi Germany over Europe to something creative and even humorous or kind, I think Bill Woodrow's 1995 work, Bunker Mule,  located at Blavand beach that added Mules heads and tails to Atlantic wall bunkers on the coast of Denmark,  achieves this very effectively.



 By Bill Woodrow - Own work; photographed by Matthias Süßen on 22 July 2012, 10:11:43 (according to Exif data)., CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20676136

Ged Quinn also successfully carries this subversion out by creating bunkers from cakes, and painting them almost as still lifes. I would like to thank Zoe Mendelson for bringing Quinn's work in this area to my attention.


This picture and the one below were both taken by me on the Island of Schiemonikoog off the Dutch coast and these bunkers were part of a large network of bunkers and other structures that supported two powerful Radar antenna sited on the Island.

Some of these images shaped what I did in Stage 2, pictured below.
When we were asked to produce an exhibition proposal that suited our work, but could be based in our imagination I settled on the idea of an exhibition in a beach side bunker and decided to build a diorama. See below for pictures of the process.




The completed work will be in my submitted proposal.