Student Academic Partner programme talks

Since October 2013 I have already become involved in the Student Academic Partnership programme. We have been working in partnership with Eastside Projects – an artist led gallery in Digbeth with Elinor Morgan. 

Myself and two other students organised the SAP talks in which we selected and contacted a variety of artists to visit Eastside projects to deliver talks to students about how they got to where they are and discussions and explanations of their work. We initially drew up our own lists of artists who we were interested in. We met to discuss our initial thoughts and Ellie gave us information of Speakers who were involved last year to give us an idea of the people that were invited.  We initially had approximately 20 suggestions and narrowed these down to 6 with who we thought the students would most enjoy and the best variety of speakers.

My responsibilities included helping to create an email to invite our chosen speakers. I helped provide information to the speakers regarding costs and times of most convenient travel. I introduced two of the speakers and gave a brief outline in front of students about the background of each speaker. I was also responsible for recording the talks using video and sound and editing them for pod-casting. Between the 3 of us we wrote a short bio for each speaker and Megan used Moodle to publish these weekly to allow students to research into the speakers in advance to their talks.

We have had great feedback from students and staff who have attended these talks and each student has found at least one of them helpful in relation to the development of their own practice and ideas of where they can work in the future. The talks will be podcasted and available for student use. 

(30 hours)

Speakers included:

• Kellenberger White

They are a graphic design consultancy specialising in art direction, the design of typefaces, identities, books and exhibitions, as well as campaigns, information graphics and websites for individuals, businesses and cultural institutions. Recent commissions include work for Design Museum, Frieze Foundation, Glasgow International, MIT Press, Royal College of Art, Turner Contemporary, Wellcome Trust and White Cube.

• Paul Purgas

Paul is a London based Curator and Musician. Paul Purgas trained as an architect and graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2004. He has since been based in the curatorial department at Arnolfini and curated contemporary art and performance projects for Tate Britain, the De La Warr Pavilion, Spike Island, Frieze Art Fair and Bold Tendencies.

• Samara Scott

Samara is a a London-based artist. Slipping between infusions of nature and artificial imitation, antiquity and plasticity, synthetic import and organic craft class, the materiality mish mashes a trickled down Art History into an interior language of disposable nostalgia and melancholy. There’s a certain slippiness. An uncomfortable eroticism and mastication between textures, products, fashion and style. An associative membrane, a dense scenery or mood board of shapes, smells, forms and materials.

• Isobel whitelegg

Isobel is the Head of Public Programmes being run at the Nottingham Contemporary, which is one of the largest contemporary art centres in the UK.

The Public Programme at Nottingham Contemporary is a platform for the research and critical debate of ideas and practices that are relevant to the Exhibitions that take place here and to contemporary art and its institutions more broadly. It includes lectures, debates, symposia and screening programmes, seminars, reading groups and workshops.

• Stuart Wood (random International)

Stuart Wood, part of the collaborative rAndom International, directs the artistic implementation of technology into Random’s work. The collaborative group compromises of fellow founders,  Flo Ortkrass and Hannes Koch who help in the creative direction of the company. Wood’s background in electronics, engineering and software is fused with an on-going interest in people – their actions and reactions in connection with Random International’s work.

Stuart was the speaker I was most looking forward to. In my first year I visited the Barbican to see Random Internationals 'Rain Room' as research into my project. I was truly inspired and very surprised when he accepted our invitation.

Outline of emails

Below are images of the events and details of where to find the podcasts.

At present the talks can be found at - www.cargocollective/professionalpracticeartanddesign

We were invited to Parkside where we provided a presentation to other Student partners and tutors about how we had used the funding and what we had produced and also what we felt the students had gained from the programme. We explained the organisation and execution of the talks and made a short video to present. We also talked about ways in which the talks could develop further to possibly bigger venues and incorporate other courses.

We did come across problems along the way such as speakers being late, lack of reply to emails, Uninterested students and some speakers arrived unorganised but these we overcame and have taught us good practice for future events. Something I found very difficult was maintaining students attendance especially from our Level 5 Colleagues.This opened our eyes to the difficulties faced by tutors and lack of interest of some students.

Hopefully the talks will continue next year with another rich variety of speakers. It definitely helps to broaden the range of ideas for students wanting to work within creative industries and gives them numerous options of opportunities to think about after University.
I particularly gained experience in filming and voice recording as I used my SLR camera every week becoming more and more confident, this is something I have found difficult in the last 18 months as filming hasn't been a strength of mine however this has thoroughly helped towards me feeling able to do it in the future.
My favourite talk was from Kellenberger-White who really inspired me to think deeper into graphic design and various ways of creating typefaces which I would never have thought of.
 My least favourite was Stuart Wood. Random Internationals work is inspiring but unfortunately to general verdict was that he unfortunately came across as very arrogant.

Sir Robert Peel Hospital

I approached Sir Robert Peel Hospitals Arts for Health department. The hospital looks after inpatients with acute mental health problems such as depression and schizophrenia and use the arts for health department to run workshops and therapy sessions using art to develop peoples participation, interaction and confidence. I thought this would be perfect in gaining more teaching experience in a totally new environment.

They invited me to help observe and deliver some sessions with them.

Initially I observed and helped run a simple pottery session with clear instruction. To begin with we handed out clay to each of the patients, we didn't give any instruction and this became very unorganised and many patients struggled with lack of direction and lost interest very quickly.
We had a break where I used some images off the internet to make a short video tutorial of how to make a simple coil pot for patients to follow. This did help a couple of patients who repeatedly watched the video and tried to follow instructions. Others became very frustrated as they struggled to follow instruction and became more frustrated with others who were able to follow instruction.

 It was so much more challenging than I first anticipated and it was really difficult initially to get the attention of the patient and then to maintain their concentration and keep them engaged. People wandered in and out, ruined other peoples work, would only sit for a minute and some would just stand and observe.

Unfortunately due to the nature of the hospital I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of the patients enjoying the sessions.

Pottery Session - 19/03/2014 (3 hours)

On discussing my feedback of the workshop with the Occupational Therapist and expressing the difficulties I found I was invited to an open day for MoCa (The Model Of Creative ability) which is being implemented into the NHS and  is designed to create more of a structure on delivering workshops and therapy sessions. It is about assessing patients and their level of creative ability. This way once these levels have been assessed workshops will be specific to patients needs and different activities created for different abilities so that nobody will feel inferior or superior.

09/04/2104 (7 hours)

We visited the centre of excellence in Northampton. I took some photographs of examples of activities they were already using.

The day contained all of the information regarding the patient assessments and implementation of the model. The Occupational Therapists delivering the course explained that activities needed to be simple with clear step-by-step instructions for assessment so that the way in which they followed the steps could be analysed. Other activities have to be simple but not childlike as some patients can feel patronised and can become aggravated if they feel like they're being treated like children even if the activity is still too complicated for them.

I did feel that some activities shown were still fairly childlike and definitely found that this was the hardest thing to think about and create the right balance.

Today I gained a lot more information to help me understand the model that the NHS are aiming to implement into Occupational Therapy Units. I felt priviliged to attend the MoCa open day as it gave me an enormous insight into how the NHS works and the creative opportunities within that.
Having already done one session without this model I understand even more how much this is necessary and with more direction hopefully more success. I am going to help put some similar workshops together and create some step-by-step activities which will be used as assessment and workshop activities.
During the open day I was told about the opportunity of being an Activity Coordinator within the NHS which I didn't realise was a job that existed. It consists of helping implement models such as MoCa, creating and organising the activities that take place in various different sessions, organising trips and contacting external companies who provide specialist workshops such as pottery, sports days, musicians  etc. This is something that I will research into further as it definitely sounds like a career path that I would like to go down. 

First workshop using MoCa (4 hours)

To be able to implement the model we first of all had to create some assessment activities. We were told at the open day that these should be activities that the patients are unlikely to have done before.

We scoured the internet for different ideas...

Crochet

Newspaper weaving

Salt dough

We then found these paper beads. I was told that jewellery making is already very successful at the hospital however at present they use bought beads and thread these onto strings to create bracelets and necklaces.

The OT's thought that if they could make the beads as well this would be a success.

I researched online how to make them and was asked to create some simple step-by-step instructions so that this could be used as the first activity for assessment.

After the success of the coil pot video I made a short video with instructions.

We have used this once so far, the patient being assessed was 22 years old. She had suffered abuse, self harm, brain damage and had learning difficulties. The experience was amazingly rewarding. I was allowed to be involved in the assessment and guided her through the instructions of how to make the bracelet. First of all I took with me the example that I had made which she really liked. Initially she was very shy and just wanted to go back to her room. I made a cup of tea and sat with her while she began to make. Due to an unsteady hand she just made the beads using a straight strip of paper to create a circular bead. She began to get frustrated at the glueing stage as this is quite fiddly but with some guidance she created some really successful beads. She began to make conversation even leading to asking me to be her friend. Altogether she successfully made 5 beads in a couple of hours. She would compare them to mine and say they weren't very good but for her it was a real achievement. Her assessment results showed her being at active participation level meaning that with some guidance we were able to involve her and maintain her interest and she could follow instruction well. As a reward afterwards she spent a little while with a pat dog who visits the patients in hospital. She was so happy.

This experience for me was actually quite difficult, it opened my eyes to difficulties that people face but also was really rewarding as I felt that she has really achieved something and that I had been a part of that. I am going to continue to volunteer there throughout the summer and definitely going to look into activity coordinating and being able to work with more people like her.

Craftspace

As my main interests are based around craft and making I contacted Deirdre Figueiredo at Craftspace Birmingham.

Deirde got back to me with a fantastic opportunity to be involved in a project they were about to start with young people based around upcycling and improving interiors and furniture that they can't afford to replace. 

24/02/2014 - Initial Meeting (1.5 hours)

Deirdre invited me to an initial meeting to discuss the aims and objectives of what the programme wanted to achieve. The young people that this project is aimed at live in accommodation such as Conybere House in Birmingham which is secure accomodation for young vulnerable people where they are given apprenticeships, guidance and support to find their own homes. The project is based around young people preparing to leave care who have little or no personal possessions. We will aim to help them source furniture for their new homes or choose pieces they already own that are tired or have been gifted to them which they don't like. We will even create totally new pieces from old ones and express the importance of reusing and recycling.

Deirdre explained that she would like me to work as a mentor during the programme, to support and encourage the young people and help in any other ways I can. 

I was invited to be involved in the interview process for the artist that would lead the project.

16/04/2014 - leading artist interviews (7hours)

Initially we spoke to Daniel Beckford an artist and recent graduate who has his own textile printing and fashion business. He will be involved in the process as a mentor and support artist as will I.
Involved in the interviews was also Gemma, a support worker from St Basil's who will publicise the programme and entice young people, Nicola who will make arts awards available to enable young people to receive a qualification and Kelsey who is a young person who lives at Conybere house as we felt we would like an opinion of a young person who the programme is aimed towards.

We then interviewed 4 prospective artists, the artist had to bring along an initial 15 minute practical activity to assess how they communicate and encourage participation.

1. Gemma taught us simple weaving with old tshirt yarn
2. Lea forgot to bring an activity
3. Nessa had us make sheep keyrings from recycled materials
4. Jane taught us to make origami lanterns

I really enjoyed the interview process, it was a great experience to be involved in. It also gave me an insight into what to expect if I was to apply for a similar job in the future.

The artist that we have chosen is really inspiring to me personally and will be great for me to gain experience and advice from.

We chose Nessa Doran a furniture designer and business owner, you can find her work at - Furniture Magpies

We all favoured Nessa when discussing feedback from the interview. I felt that she could relate the most with young people and that they would her own practice the most exciting. Kelsey who was the young person sitting in on the interviews also favoured Nessa which cemented our decision.

 

07/05/2014 Planning meeting (5 hours)

Today we set up a meeting to put everything that we need in place before the first workshop next Monday. 
We discussed...

• Social Media
• Safeguarding (Risk assessments)
• Recruitment of young people
• Catering
• Project Plan
• Materials
• Working day
• Data Collection
• Recording/Illustrating
• Off site visits
• Final artists word

During the meeting we discussed various responsibilities. Deirdre asked if I would create the first post for the blog that they have created for this project, giving my opinion on the project from a students perspective and what I aim to achieve from being involved. There will also be a facebook and twitter account which will help all of us network and discuss the project.

I will be using a Dictaphone at the end of each workshop day to record young peoples evaluation of the day, we will use these as feedback. 

We have also organised 2 offsite visits. We will be visiting Upcycle Birmingham and also Birmingham Back to Backs to help the young people gain information and inspiration. 
Finally we will have an illustrator documenting the process.

Other decisions made during the planning meeting were...

• To give each young person a simple took kit to take away with them at the end of the project.
• To give out sketch books to enable them to document the process and sketch ideas throughout.

We put together a risk assessment outlining methods and materials we will be using and possible dangers to be aware of.

We discussed what we thought would be suitable for an initial workshop. We decided to introduce the project slowly and between us collate magazines such as 'homes and antiques' and 'house beautiful' so that the young people could look through them and take inspiration. We also decided we would maintain the theme of interior projects and create bunting and pom poms as a simple introductory workshop. We decided this, as previous projects that Deirdre had been involved in through craftspace had been mainly attended by females.

I was to collate magazines and various furniture shop brochures and Nessa (leading artist) was to bring examples of her work to show how the workshops would progress and the types of things they may want to start to think about.

12/05/2014 First workshop (6 hours)

Prior to the first day we had no idea of the group of young people who would attend. I was surprised to see so many males interested and straight away we knew that pom poms weren't going to be the activity that enticed them to come back.

We improvised and gave a small introduction of the programme and who we each were and how we were involved. We gave out the magazines and let them look through for inspiration. Each young person was given a sketch books and asked to sketch ideas of idealised pieces they would like to walk away with by the end and also to think about things they needed that they didn't already have in their accommodation. Lunch was provided and we had an hour chatting and just trying to get to know the young people and their interests. We made it clear what the next weeks would involve including external trips, hands on making, tool kits to eventually take away and free lunch and travel. We finished the first day early and made sure at least one of us spoke 1-2-1 with every person to make them feel comfortable and welcome back. The majority of young people gave positive feedback and were excited to have the opportunity to be involved, others admitted that they just turned up to receive their daysaver bus ticket so we had no idea of the amount of people who would be involved going forward.

During the planning meeting we looked through Nessa's website and she suggested some of her more simple pieces that we could make in the second workshop. We decided upon coat hooks. These are made out of old chair legs and spindles. She brought examples along on the first day which really helped to explain the concept of the programme.

Nessa also brought along with her a dresser which she had made out of discarded chair legs and an old drawer which she deep buttoned and upholstered.

She brought along this lamp made of chair sides and an old angle poise lamp. I love this piece!

 

I didn't record any feedback from the young people at the end of the first day as they had already been asked to fill in forms and gained a lot of information, we didn't want to overwhelm them.

Following the first workshop we discussed where to get materials from for the coat hooks for the next session. We had 18 young people on the first day and wanted to cater for at least this many people as we went on. 

Nessa already had some resources but not enough for everyone. Deirdre asked if I could source some more materials to ensure we had plenty. I sourced these chairs, frames and spindles from a charity shop who were throwing them away due to them needing too much time to be spent on them to be fixed. The wood needed sanding and painting but these were perfect for what we wanted to make with them. I gave the charity shop £10 and explained what the workshops were aiming to do and what the young people would gain from them. They were also a great start to inspire young people to realise that you can give almost anything a new use.

14/05/2014 Second workshop (6 hours)

With our materials in hand it was a beautiful day for the second workshop. We had 13 young people for the day which was just the right amount. With 6 of us working on the project this meant that the young people had lots of guidance between us.

The atmosphere was great and lots of new friends and conversations were made. The sunshine just added to a really nice day.

 We updated on twitter and facebook all day and everyone managed to make something. Some of the care leavers I spoke to had barely any possessions at all and were enormously grateful to have something of their own.

In the planning meeting we discussed in length the dangers and worries of the use of so many tools. We were pleasantly surprised to find we had no problems at all and the day ran really smoothly.

I was really happy to help Martin complete his coat hook. At the beginning of the day he was very shy but we managed to entice him out of his shell.

Deirdre wanted to in some way document feedback from the workshops and discover whether they improved young peoples wellbeing. She used this form to try and determine the success of the project.

19/05/2014 Third workshop (6hours)

Another beautiful day for upcycling 

The beginning of the day was spent putting the finishing touches to the coat hooks, sanding, painting, varnishing and waxing.

Maeves amazing illustrations

Everyone completed a coat hook to take home and they looked great!

Charlotte who made a coat hook to hold her 2 year old coats said
 'I'm so happy we can come here and just make things, i've never done anything like this before and my son will love mummy making him something.'

Next on the agenda were storage boxes made of old drawers.

The drawers were initially sanded and painted.

                                                                  We helped attach castors so that they could easily                                                            be moved and stored under beds. The young people painted them, added glitter, put their childrens names on and were generally really excited to making something else to take home with them.

 After being really shy on the first day Martin took everything in his stride and completed his storage box first and then even began to help everyone else.

I spent the majority of the afternoon with Charlotte. She was really nervous and her support worker informed me that she needed some guidance and 1-2-1 support. Charlotte lives at Trentham which is supported mother and baby accommodation. Charlotte is 12 weeks pregnant and wanted to make something for her baby. 

With the resources we had we decided to make a mobile. We used old wood from chairs to make the frame and made pom poms out of tissue paper and an old newspaper to hang from it. Nessa had brought some sheeps wool which we made little sheep out of too using plastic spoons for the head and legs. Charlotte was so happy at the end of the day and couldn't thank me more. I really got a lot out of helping her.

21/05/2014 Fourth workshop (6hours)

Today Nessa was unable to attend the workshop due to other commitments so Daniel planned the day. As his work is print based we decided to screen print onto fabric which we could later upholster with. We used the computers at Conybere house for young people to print off an image of their choice. We printed on a small scale due to not having the screen printing facilities. Using small screens and being able to expose them we used cut outs of paper to block the ink. It was far more successful than we first anticipated. I stayed in the computer room for most of the day helping print off images and cutting them out successfully with craft knives to give clean edges. 

This Bonnie and Clyde design was my favourite of the day, I had never done screen printing in this way before and it was great and really easy.

 This project won't come to an end before we complete this module however I am going to continue to volunteer until it finishes in 6 weeks time. The next few weeks include 2 trips and more making, including making tables and chairs. There will be a final exhibition of the works created hopefully these will be displayed in a well known shop window in Birmingham.
I am thoroughly enjoying the process and having got to know Deirdre have realised that there may be many more opportunities to work with craftspace. I have enjoyed working with the young people and definitely feel it has been a rewarding process for both myself and them. The idea of this project is something I feel was needed for these young people especially as I have gotten to know them. It has also been very relevant to our other professional practice module and has inspired my thinking further.
 Some of the young people have very little self confidence but are beginning to come out of their shell the more we show interest in them and encourage them. The most successful things have been enabling them to make something that they then own and can take away, they are socialising with new people and making new friends which is what the project is all about.