Hello everyone its good to be back after a long hard summer crazy event in which i am about to tell about surprisingly enough there is alot you can cram in during the month of May and as Janice from friends says âOH MY GODâ
Ill try an keep this short but theirs no counting on it so be warned Iâm a talker!!
So in the beginning perhaps during or towards the end of April when my Assessment was peaking I âcleverlyâ decided to do a Sketchbook project for TeaGreen Events donât get me wrong the experience was fantastic just not a good idea to run it along side your important main project but i managed to push through it (I got a B in the end!) So our aim was to create a sketchbook could be nature, patterns âmy dundeeâ geometric shapes and untitled so really the sky is the limit. Initially i did have a theme like it would be âmy dundeeâ and do the Tay but i got distracted by drawing animals like foxes and  gold fish (can you imagine gold fish in the Tay someone would be rich if you found such carp there!!!)
I also liked the idea of putting in an inspirational quote as well;
âI found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldnât say any other way things I had no words forâ â George O Keefe
I liked that quote as it does stand for a lot of what I believe, it stand for what art has done for me as a person who suffered from anxiety colour and shapes for me pulled alot of confidence from me and yeah it was something that I couldnât express through words. It had to be done through this art form you could say i poured my anxiety into this turning it into a therapy book!
Somewhere along the line it turned into a physical piece it was strange the thought o it turning into perhaps a neck piece but then this kind of turned into a lampshade as I Â felt it worked better so definitely took a developments!!!
Once this finished I exhibited in the Old Flour Mill in Dundee which was part of Dundeeâs Design festival  it was such a cool venue I loved the exposed brick and how it has this vintage shack feel to it a perfect venue to display art woks. So not just me did this sketchbook project a couple of 3rd  years did this project along with me some jewellers and some textiles and fine artists! was very eventful and worth doing if such an opportunity arises to display my stuff i would take it!!! Tea Green founded by Joanne McFadden does pop up events between Dundee and Glasgow so keep and eye out for her shes an amazing jeweller as well!
Next Project in the month of May I got involved in TED X and that was really good opportunity as my friend did interiors for this and asked me to help out as we are both art student we heavily took advantage of the General workshop by cutting foam boards and creating cardboard triangle things she actually got inspired by the exhibition I was in the women did product design then moved to set design and calls herself âWaste of Paint Productionsâ Â so safe to say the Ted X set was heavily inspired by her but in general yes it was hard work and to this day I am still amazed we produce alot of work in just one week to organise i was also on the committee to do some photography as well on the day of the event i think it tuned out good even though half the time when the lighting comes or composition of the picture is by accident! but speakers such as Lauren Currie who is a product designer and service designer an founder of Snook in Glasgow gave a really good motivational speech about not having any fear of public speaking she would have a couch and invite people to sit on it and the pint f it is to conquer stage fright and so if you are comfortable going up nd sitting in a couch on a stage then why cant you visualise yourself on the couch and then you would remember that memory which would then put you at ease.Dawn Walten stood out for me the most she wrote a book called âThe Cavemen Rules of Survivalâ I thought it was very interesting as she says dont over think things and once bad thoughts or unwanted thought set in dont let it stay create a visual doorway let it out and think of something else to push it out. As an over thinker i concur !
Lastly the design festival this was very long hours but i tried enjoy the most out of this as Isla Spawlding who is a local jeweller that i met in the Pop up Teagreen event she makes Kilt pins and was commissioned to make a broach for the Design Festival which then be auctioned off for charity. It was nice to see the process from start to finish just watching a her everyday (sounds creepy but trust me it was amazing and beneficial and plus sometimes you need to be creepy in the art world đ ) I was also looking at more jewellery and was able t touch most of them the exibiton had a twist as they manged to take a plaster cast of the makers hands which i thought was amazing and the pieces were displayed on them so the idea of diplaying the pieces an the hands that created them was such a nice touch ( pun not intended!) Moreover, they were Vanilla Inkers and past graduates from Glasgow School of art and some were from dundee I recognise the GSA ones as every year i try to attend the exhibition and the 2015 exibtion stood out the most with there vibrant colours and use of organic woods. Â Additionally, there were games that were teaching you to code I never understood it but seemed fun, there were also games like warefare games to teach you about drones used in the army thought this was very shocking as at the end of the game (after the town exploded) it would give you a shocking fact and then reset back to the start! (Abbertay and your shocking learning games!)
Overall if you are a person living in a new city for the first time studying or not i would defiantly seek opportunity in the town see whats out there GET YOURSELF OUT THERE as there defiantly is opportunity you just need to find it and once youâve found you have a hell of  time! Trust me đ
Till next time peeps đ
Kimmy xxxx