Maze Life

Twists and Turns in 2018

One time I attended an event in a hotel that had some amusing notices posted up by a witty attendee. These read ' YOU ARE IN A MAZE OF TWISTY LITTLE PASSAGES, ALL ALIKE'. This phrase, I later learnt, has its origins in a computer game developed for the PDP-10 * about which you can read more here.

My feeling about most of the first half of 2018 is also summed up by the above phrase, which is why I haven't written any updates until now. If I wanted to get more philosophical I might reference Plato's allegory of the cave but I think that can wait until another post.

In June - July I had my first exhibition of the year, for Arts For Health Milton Keynes, with MKDAD 2018-You See Me-moving forward. In this I was happy to show a bright, bold paper collage of mine that I'd made as part of an MK Gallery workshop with the English National Ballet. You can see more about the show on my Instagram feed here.

In July I also hooked up with Avant-Gardening and Lisa Cheung, who are artists running some art-linked outdoor play events this summer, as part of the MK Festival Fringe 2018. You can read more about their events here.

Anyway, things have started to pick up again now and so my next bit of news is that I made a new page of artwork using some of my urban sketches. This was put together specially for a new Milton Keynes literary zine called MinK, which is linked to the second MK Lit Fest literary festival. My page was selected and will be included in the zine but ...

.. if you'd like to make sure there is a print version (and bag yourself some rewards) then please support the MinK zine Kickstarter campaign by 4pm on the 8th August. They're most of the way to the target and just need a few more supporters to reach the goal but there's only 3 days left!



* many years ago I programmed a PDP-11, so I know the kind of kit they refer to

MK Fifty

Pathfinding

A quick post, in case you've wondered what else I've been up to in 2017, the year that Milton Keynes turned fifty years old.

Soon after the MK Calling exhibition at MK Galley, I had a solo exhibition at Stantonbury Gallery, Milton Keynes.

This exhibition at Stantonbury Campus explored the unpredictable nature of the urban landscape and the winding path of the emerging artist. These paths were represented by a series of works created during and after my Fine Art degree. The images look at the contemporary art world and the contemporary urban world, asking you to enquire about the usefulness of endeavour in the face of the temporary nature of success and the variety of ways achievements are absorbed by and re-purposed by the environment they exist in. These vignettes of decisive moments in the paths creative artists tread, mark the progress across unclear boundaries between achievement and failure, death and renewal.

Works on show included photographic prints from my degree final project. As my sketchbooks had been a popular item at MK Calling, I brought a few of those along to share at the private view.

Whilst this was a small event, it at least afforded me a sense of closure about my degree work, as I was able to show more of my final work to the public. This made up for the lack of a final university degree exhibition, a rite of passage which most fine art degree students expect as a matter of course. My final work had been displayed at the University of Northampton for grading by my tutors but unfortunately the university didn't permit me to share this with my friends and the general public at the time.

You can find a couple of photos about the Pathfinder exhibition on Instagram.

A post shared by Suzanna Raymond (@srfirehorseart) on Jul 9, 2017 at 2:56pm PDT

Image: Untitled (Path), a triptych of photographic prints, mounted on board.  Approx. (h. 430cm x w. 230 cm) x 3.

A post shared by Suzanna Raymond (@srfirehorseart) on Jul 11, 2017 at 2:46pm PDT

Installation view of Pathfinder at Stantonbury Gallery. The empty plinths were used to display some of my sketchbooks on the day of the private view but could equally be taken to represent the ephemeral nature of some artworks and artists' careers.

Tarting About

A post shared by Suzanna Raymond | (@srfirehorseart) on Oct 13, 2016 at 9:49am PDT

T'Art Zine

The T'Art show for International Women's Day 2017 has opened at Bones & Pearl Studios, in London. It's a group exhibition celebrating International Women’s Day with participatory zine making!

Following the Sweet 'Art group on Instagram led to me spotting an opportunity to contribute to the T'Art zine that forms part of this year's event. The page I submitted is the same one that has appeared in Girl Frenzy to Crone Frenzy but it will hopefully get a new audience at this event.

The T'Art show runs 7th - 9th March, with an opening event in the evening on the 8th March. See more about what they do at http://www.wearesweetart.com/

The CAS PostIt Exchange

Following up a link I saw on Facebook, I'm pleased to say I have been selected up to take part in the Chapel Arts Studios Post It Exchange. The CAS project, based in Andover, is about putting together artists to collaborate on items they post to each other. The results will be shared on Instagram with the #CASpostitexchange tag. My Instagram name is @srfirehorseart.

The project has just launched in pilot and they're still open to including more artists. More info on the project is on their website:  http://www.chapelartsstudios.co.uk/events/event/pilot-cas-postit/

Seventy Percent Admin

As has been observed elsewhere, an artist's life is only somewhat about creating wonderful things, the bulk of it is everything else. That means working to pay the bills, filing, submitting your tax return, DBS updates, insurance, networking and so on. After all that you may be able to squeeze the creativity into the last 30% of your time.

Likewise with my own life. So I've just updated my CV and artist's statement and have applied to another MK Calling exhibition at MK Gallery, this time with some of my urban sketches. Wish me luck!

Back to Sketching

A photo posted by Suzanna Raymond | Artist | (@srfirehorseart) on Aug 10, 2016 at 2:42pm PDT

A Return to the Drawing Board

My plans for 2016 were many and varied but tackling problems this year has turned out to like wrestling a many-tentacled octopus - as fast as you tackle one arm another appears. As such I have been short of time and energy, so I had to focus more on opportunities as they presented themselves rather than chasing more ambitious plans. Learning to be more focused and efficient with my time could be a good thing in the long run.

So, here's what has actually happened with my work in 2016:

I've spent a lot more time on Instagram - it's a quick way for visual artists to share their work on social media, if you don't need to edit your images much first. Although the site lends itself better to high-impact images rather than conceptual projects, if you can tick both boxes you're onto a winner for promoting your work. Whilst people can and do comment on pictures, if you want a longer discussion you may be better off on Facebook.

Instagram has inspired me to return to sketching and, as my interest is in the urban landscape, this has meant urban sketching. Urban sketching is quite a big thing it seems, with international groups (chapters), so I'm enjoying dipping my toe into this new world.

One of my urban sketches became the basis of a page of comics artwork for the GirlFrenzy to CroneFrenzy zine, which was published online and the artwork was printed for an exhibition with Rachael House's event at the Supernormal arts festival in Oxfordshire. Girl Frenzy editor Erica Smith created the event's online zine https://issuu.com/ericawordsmith/docs/gftocfissuu

The same page of artwork is now heading off to show in an open call exhibition at Winchester Gallery, Winchester School of Art as part of the Small Press : Independent Comics and Self Publishing event 24th - 28th October 2016.

My foray back into comics also led to a conversation with Milton Keynes Gallery about running another comics-based event. The last one, the MKomix event, was linked to their show of Pushwagner's comic book inspired work in 2012. The gallery agreed and the Thursday Scratch Nights MK Zine, Comic and Indie Publishers Meet up is happening on Thursday 13th October from 7pm.

Something Old Something New - 2016

A photo posted by Suzanna Raymond (@srfirehorseart) on Oct 9, 2015 at 10:00am PDT

Welcome to 2016 and congratulations on getting through January if you've just done your tax return (more on that in another post)!

As luck would have it, my art year started with a photography competition that was easy to enter. I just had to point the organisers to an image (see above) I'd shared on social media last year. Once the photo made it to the shortlist, all the finalists then went to a public vote, which you can still help me with ...

Please help me out by voting (until 5th February) for 'Car Park Drama' at the MKsmart photo competition public vote page. Many thanks!

It was interesting for me to note that my image, created with a smartphone camera and app, joined a shortlist of pictures taken on better equipment. The size of my image means that any prints would be relatively small but the fact that my picture made a shortlist proves to me that it's worth making the most of timing and a good viewpoint, regardless of what camera you use. It would more professional to use better quality camera kit but I find that a smartphone allows for more freedom when taking quick shots. It lets me get away with taking a lot of shots that might have never happened if I'd had to keep a D-SLR slung around my neck, or in the boot of my car. As smartphone cameras improve, I expect to see a lot more photography entries like mine in the future.

Part of my preference for using a smartphone for urban photography is that few people question anyone stopping to take a shot with a phone in a shopping centre or busy public space, as it is currently such a common activity. Also my cameraphone is always on hand, whereas a D-SLR might require more than one trip if I needed to plan the shot. Some locations that put restrictions on photography may require asking for permission to take a picture with an SLR or a decent pocket camera but smartphones don't seem to attract the same scrutiny, unless there's an over-zealous security guard around.

I'd be interested to know if you value image quality and print size over capturing the moment. What do you think is more important for your favourite images?

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Winners of the online vote will be announced at the exhibition and networking event at Gallery 200 in Milton Keynes College. Click here to book your place at the event on Friday 5th February.

Season's Greetings 2015!

Merry Christmas Fair! View from a #tatemodern balcony. #urban #urbanlife #citylife #lookdownlondon #urbanexploration #cityscapes #urbanlandscape #architecture #london #londonlife #londonist #tatemodernmuseum #igerslondon #ig_london

A photo posted by Suzanna Raymond (@srfirehorseart) on Dec 24, 2015 at 2:02pm PST

Here's hoping you're having a Merry Christmas, or at least good day or two to relax a bit and take stock of how your year has gone. If, like me, you're taking a day to do nothing much than eat, browse the internet and sleep, then good on you.

Last weekend I visited London and had a chance to drop into a one-day arts event in South London and The World Goes Pop exhibition (until 24th Jan 2016) at the Tate Modern. The latter did say a lot about how much exposure and recognition artists get when they are on the periphery of an art movement because of gender or geography. To put it another way, if you aren't in the spotlight or closely connected to the key players, at the time when the art you're making is fashionable, it appears that you may have to wait for revised editions of art history before you get the support you deserve.

This year I have had fun experimenting with using my camera-phone to photograph urban and social landscapes, such as 'new town' developments and arts events, and sharing these on Instagram. In this spirit I'm posting up one of my snaps (from a Tate Modern balcony) to send you festive greetings.

All the best!