down by the water front

Lives of Artists Series Two : The Photographer Zoe Boundry

 

 

Zoe Boundry

 

 

Lives of Artists seems to be gathering a momentum as the more artists who join in seem to want to share and give ideas on solutions to the various dilemmas that recur when it comes to the tricky business of creating.

 

One of these artists is Zoe Boundry, whom I first visited in June during her final Photographers Degree Show for RAW 2010 held in a light and airy space in Nottingham’s city centre.

Her work is very contemplatory, the feel of her pieces which are very much in the present also have a sense of timelessness;  a personal view point and whilst sharing that being almost documentary.

So nuff said, again you know what I’m like with letting images speak for themselves. Here are photos of Zoë’s exhibition:

Zoe Boundry : The Summerfield Series

This is my personal feeling, (an area in which I think the photographs do encourage you to explore):

 

I recognised an era, a gender, and being acutely aware that the Second World War child/teen generation is in demise, also a sense of time moving on.

And, it wasn’t until later when Zoe informed me this was her Grandma’s home, in which she took the photographs after she had passed away, that I then recognised what I had been feeling about them – the personal view – which became part of the wider presence of a collective passage of time.

 

 

The Summerfield Series

 

 

 

 

 

One of the things that came to me was how, as with many of this generations’ surroundings. The items and objects on display in the home, were looked at daily for nearly an entire life. A sense of permanence, a homely aesthetic; a solidness in the furniture, an expression of self through things of individual appeal and personal meaning.

My mum also died recently and she as a teenager during the war, drove ambulances across Manchester during the blitz. Something I believe she was still contemplating years later – something that had affected how she saw the world and her surroundings and wanted to believe other.

My neighbour too (without wanting to dwell on the dying side of things too much) also passed away last month, she was 84. And although I knew she was from Estonia, I had no idea until going to her funeral that she had come to the UK escaping from the camps, arriving alone with nothing. Never was there a more cheery, independent, down to earth, intelligent and lovely woman.

 

I say all this, not to detract from Zoe’s work but because of :

A generation who had been through an awful lot.

And yet their lives, surroundings and attitudes tried to show a solid belief in human spirit despite all that.  

 

Zoe’s photos for me on a very personal level, speak of those contemplations after what must have been the shock and personal horrors of that war, of which so many of that generation had no choice but to come to terms with.

 

 

Things placed with meaning and order, adaptations over time, objects from previous times and people.    

An entire essence of a personal but generational history in the home.

The Summerfield Series

 

I asked Zoe how she saw the practicalities of continuing now the transition from degree to finding her own space creatively was on the horizon.

“I see myself progressing into galleries, curating and also exhibiting. I will have to see how my work progresses; my aim next is to go back to the space I photographed and capture it without the objects and furniture. Another project I hope to develop is English gardens.”

“Money – the day job – debt (especially student debt), like I said above, day job; curating and hopefully this will help with my student debt. I see this debt as something that had to be for me to progress at something I want to succeed in, if I did not go to university, I would not have gained the knowledge I own today. How to look at things critically (my own work critically), how to research a subject, how to give a relevant contribution to writing and finally the experience I had at university is something once in a life time which could never be changed”.

 

And as for compromise?

“I am unsure I will have to compromise much in my photography as I have no interest in becoming a freelance photographer, my photography will be on my terms, I want to create what I am interested in. But I am fully aware that with the career I wish to pursue I may have to compromise at some points”.

 

The reflective calm in the way the images were conceived, I found beautiful, totally absorbing and enlightening. Take some time to view these and the other images on Zoe Boundry’s site.

 

I already feel I've said too much, in trying to describe a not altogether describable feeling – but in some ways the personal does become part of the projected view of these images.

 

And by way of another personal view of Zoe's view visit Heather Steele's look at Summerfields and how Zoe approached something which she felt she needed and wanted to do, but with that also brought its own questions.

 

 

 

Back next Thursday with more art and related stuff ohhhhh! including things like food, theatre and the old chestnut of dumbing down the arts for the wider social good? and also some trains on the horizon ! the romantic type like the Orient Express - you will not find me posting from a station while listing engine numbers for your delight! This too has a destination of arty intent while travelling on the romantically named Francisco de Goya overnight train to Madrid.

And we will be returning very shortly with more Lives of Artists in a new series starting soon!  

 

 

 

 

 

Lives of Artists Series Two : The Designer Sarah Turner

 

 

Sarah Turner

 

 

I love all this new social media stuff, I keep stumbling across people and things that I probably never would have on an ordinary day, pre-social-internet-mingling, trolling through reams of web pdfs and word searches (urrrm what did I do exactly before twitter and the like ?)...... well you get the idea......

So it was with all this tweet and re-tweet stuff I came across Sarah Turner – literally in my backyard so to speak, she popped up in a competition she was entering under the Creative Nottingham Banner site for new designers.

 
One of Sarah's designs : Jasmine

What really intrigued me though were the images of Sarah’s work. On closer inspection I found out that her very sculptural and soft and clean line designs were in fact made from (I think) the most profuse and unacceptable side of the detritus of our daily lives; that of plastic packaging – or bottles to be precise. The stuff, that once produced takes aeon's to disintegrate and clogs and pollutes so many spaces. So much so it almost seems the norm for our landscapes to be this way (why is it I see so many people chuck stuff on the ground, out of cars, into rivers etc?). I do remember a purge by the council decades ago to *Keep Britain Tidy* - so much for *national pride* not that that should have anything to do with anything but even on that level there seems to be an apathy or disconnect with the result.

Still it takes big business and governments to influence by example sometimes and – well – times are tough, inconsequential things like excess packaging and what to do with it are quite frankly off the radar in terms of priority it seems.

Nothing really new there, if only for the fact that people who are involved or interested in what actually happens to waste and how it affects our environment and.... errrrr.... us !?! are not missing out on many great example-setters on that score.

Not sure how the funding of small start–ups are faring now either, especially with the direction of impending cuts but I can hazard a guess. I keep thinking about the Film Council closure and the precedent for an industry that is actually making a profit  £ for £, well £5 back for every £1 of funding, if that isn’t a good enough bet what is?. I know it’s not as simple as that and I have already delved into this in the first of these posts with Russell Noon who’s an independent film maker.

But the fact remains (aside from funding and we all know NHS and the like are far more crucial) that things are bound to be sidelined somewhat.

So even more reason to un-sideline!! 

 

Sarah with some of her designs!

 

I asked Sarah how she first got the bug;

“I have always designed and made things since I can remember.  So when it came to choosing a degree course at university it was clear to me that I should study design.  After I graduated I really wanted to continue designing and making my own work so I set up my own business selling handmade products from everyday waste materials.  I now have a website selling my products with sales enquiries from around the world.”

Part of the colourful Oasis range
 

And I'm sure Sarah would agree, It isn’t easy to start any pioneering design process without the well trodden dogma and the trial and tribulations of many before: The burgeoning ethical fashion industry coming out of Central St Martin’s and other UK Colleges will testify to that; five years ago if you wanted to design with certifiable organic and fair trade cotton – I believe - good luck!!!! was the general mantra. A tricky process that was convoluted and almost unmanageable from start to finish – all it took was someone to metaphorically sneeze un-organically over the product - and when detected by the certification process (and they would) it would be considered a void venture. Things are now, thanks to encouragement and more awareness within industry and education not so unattainable. And if you can’t make the 100% grade, recognition is given to the effort made rather than (as with the food industry) finding ways of saying what it actually isn’t.

Sarah believes that creating ethically sound products is a key motivator. “ I definitely am concerned about the environment and it is the main inspiration for my work.  The amount of rubbish that goes to landfill site is one of the most worrying things.  Here in the UK I think we are a bit behind some other countries with recycling but we have got a lot better in the past few years."

"I also find it a bit of a personal challenge, I think anyone could make something from new materials but it’s harder to make something from waste materials.  I love to make something from rubbish and people can’t tell it’s made from waste materials.  The novelty never wears out seeing peoples shock when they are told of the product’s origins.”

Lily table lamp
 

Although she went on to stress “It’s actually quite a difficult material to work with, you have to have a steady hand to cut the bottles up precisely and I have honed the skill over time.  You also need a lot of patience as some of the lights take a long time to make.”

  

Cola 30   (30 cola bottles used in the making)
 

 
Sarah has though by using a product already deemed to an extended life of rubbish after its short shelf life, by turning it into something else that is really usable, useful and beautiful,  taken the process one stage further than the recycle bin. Why though are we are still sadly lacking in the commitment compared to many other EU countries?. Sarah’s creations only serve to highlight even more, the possibilities of re-creating rather than *it* being some kind of alien technical recycling process which most of us probably imagine as a factory somewhere magically re-cycling into the great blue beyond. Reinforcing the idea of why can’t someone else pick all the bits out of the rubbish (thereby saving us from having to pick and un-mix in our busy and fast-food oriented lives). I know I’m being a bit sweeping here, and I'm probably one of the first who needs this fixing in my brain, but really unless encouraged, I think the message gets lost. Wasteful packaging and our denial of joining up the dots ie; someone else’s *job* or *responsibility* - is a mindset long past its wake-up call. And what better way than to actually show positively what can be done with that coca cola bottle that won’t squish down into the bin.

I asked Sarah what ultimately made her decide to design with used packaging and products?.

“I first started when I was at university when I wrote my dissertation about recycling in design.  I decided I wanted to make a product from everyday waste materials.  So I set about collecting all of mine and my housemates rubbish and I was shocked at the amount of plastic bottles we used.  Plastic is such a damaging material to the environment as well so I did a little research into how much was recycled and found that only 5.5% of plastic bottles are recycled in the UK.  So I decided that I would save a few of these bottles from the landfill sites and make something useful out of them.”

 

 
Daisy table lamp

Daisy ceiling adaptation

 

A wow factor here, not least because Sarah has done this as an entrepreneur, she has also honed her skill.  This is a can-do-able thing and, when contrasted with big corporate’s new ventures the ability for the small start-up-would-be designer, or I-have-an-idea-would-be designer, have been in the past invariably put off by the capital outlay. Usually because plastic based moulded products or similar would require minimum runs of 500 or so with denaro’s $$$ to match and a guaranteed market to recoup your investment.  Not really the thing of small *lets test the market* start-ups.

Sarah’s work shows in so many ways that it is possible to un-do, if you like, some of the potential damage, re-do it by yourself, design with beauty and durability in mind, and with an eye for your business. A positive, and in one fell swoop reachable idea that encourages thoughts like, if she can do that – maybe I can do this ; no mean feat in these times of not much on the horizon for many.

 

So stuff make do and mend bring on the re-do and create!! 

In Sarah’s words; “The Cola lighting range is the best, with my signature piece being the Cola 10, named as it reused 10 Coca Cola bottles.  The bottles are attached to a base made from recycled card and are secured using their own bottle top.  It was one of the first products I made from plastic bottles so it’s definitely the favourite. But I do have a few other products still on the drawing board.  I would love to design a make-it-yourself kit which would enable people to recycle their own waste at home and make their own creative recycled product.”

Cola 10

Cola 30 by day!

 

As we speak Sarah has just returned from exhibiting at the Maison et Objet show in Paris this week. The exhibition is, with the presence of Philippe Starck amongst its organisers, rapidly becoming one of the most innovative design forums for new designers. Giving a well deserved heads up to new and relevant design for the 21st century.

 
Sarah’s lighting collections have also been exhibited at the Ideal Home Show in London, coming second place in their Innovation Nation competition.

And more recently a selection of her products were shown in Milan during this year’s Furniture Fair.  Her products were selected by not for profit organisation H20 along with a hand full of other designers from around the globe.

 

Eco blog, Inhabitat spotted her designs and Sarah's lights won their annual ‘Spring Greening’ competition.  The final designs were up against 22 other designers from around the globe and the winner was decided by a public vote.  Inhabitat then exhibited a selection of Sarah’s lamps at the ‘Dwell on Design’ exhibition in LA.

 

Such a great achievement for this young business!!.

 


Green Sprite table lamp

and by day!

 

Sarah describes how she approaches each individual design:

   


"Coca Cola and Sprite bottles are reused in this decorative lighting range. The bottles are sandblasted then cut and formed into beautiful shapes.  Each piece is then attached to a recycled card base and secured using their own bottle top."

 
 

Bluebell

"A variety of two litre drinks bottles are recycled to create this gorgeous lighting range above. Water bottles, standard fizzy drinks bottles and green Sprite bottles are all used which leads to some very different looks. After the bottles are collected and cleaned they are sandblasted to give an opaque look. They are then formed around lampshade rings in beautiful patterns."

Oasis Colours

"These little table lamps are made from a single 500ml Oasis plastic drinks bottle.  They are a simple yet stylish miniature version of their Cola cousins." 
 

 

All available on-line at www.sarahturner.com with shipment worldwide, and Sarah can be contacted at info@sarahturner.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 Back next Thursday 16th with my favourite Nottingham Gallery owner George Thornton of Cuadros and his thoughts on Art, the business of selling and critical direction.

Plus George happens to be hosting a new show starting on the 24th of this month by another artist mentioned in the very first of the series ; Matt Jordan (who I happened to meet a few months ago at Louise Starkey's group exhibition Stop Robbing The Rich  - when he very kindly gave me a packet of smarties! )  see relevant art below! 

 

Matt Jordan's : Dyeing of Hirst

Lives of Artists Series Two : The Artist Jennifer Dalton

 

Jennifer Dalton

 

Jennifer Dalton along with William Powhida first arrived on my metaphorical radar a few months ago when I noticed a blurb in an ArtNet tweet mentioning a project being launched called #class to be held at Ed Winkleman's Gallery in New York; the brief being all about artists and the chasm of social, and economic divides which could alienate or excluded large groups of artists outside art-centric cities such as the one Jennifer lives in, New York. The project was a huge success (as mentioned in previous posts!) in its ability to cut through those areas of gender, class, location and gatekeeper style exclusivity, through informed, positive and lively debates.

Jen and William amongst others put a lot of impassioned effort into making that project happen which is why I went straight to her when I initially started thinking of doing these posts about artists and how the reality of their lives impacted on creating their work and vice-versa.

These are Jen’s thoughts;

“I don't know exactly how it started but ever since I was pretty young I've always been on the lookout for famous women achievers and as a kid in the 1970s I was surprised and depressed by how hard they were to find. I remember an argument with my brother's evil friends on our driveway about if it was better to be a boy or a girl and I was challenged to name any women composers or artists and I couldn't. It was humiliating. After that I made it my business to learn about women who were famous for discovering or inventing or creating something but was crushed at how few I could find in my family's Encyclopedia Britannica. When I watched Hanna Barbera cartoons or the Love Boat I scoured the production credits for women's names and I don't remember ever seeing one. I think that was my original inspiration to count things.

I've always been most interested in chronicling my immediate environment. In the late '90s I started making paintings of my computer, and then of the computer screen icons and screenviews of AOL or WordPerfect or Microsoft Word, which I figured was basically my contemporary equivalent of the view out my window that painters had been inspired by for centuries. I was first obsessed by the forms that a computer interface could take to make data visually clear and compelling, and I painted hundreds of small charts or graphs that signified no actual data, only referred to its existence. That gradually led to an obsession with the information represented, rather than its container. I began to notice how easy it was for humans (especially me) to delude themselves, and I thought one way to figure out what was real was to count things up and look at them all together and make comparisons and discern patterns. Then I search for the perfect visual way to represent each of those findings. I spend a lot of my time wondering if it's just me or if the world is really like this or that. If I wonder enough then I try to make a piece about it to figure it out.

 

Computer paintings :

 
Point (A) 1998

 

"Free, but only for a moment" 1999

When I went to art school for both undergrad in LA (graduated in '90) and grad school in NYC (graduated in '97), both communities were so anti-commercial that I was never prepared for the possibility that I would find myself represented by a commercial gallery or selling a single work of art. We were told that we would always have a day job (okay, I still have a day job 13 years out of grad school so score one for them so far) and that we were deluded to ever think that anyone but a small group of our friends and family would ever care about our work. What I took away from school, and the early 90's slacker/grunge attitude in general (it's too much to call it a movement or a philosophy, isn't it?) is that if you could communicate with an audience of people you didn't actually know it was a sign of your failure to be true to yourself. There was no such thing as being successful outside your own little clique without also being a sellout. So there was really no point in working too hard for anything because if you got it you would have lost the respect of everyone you care about. I (mostly) don't believe this anymore, but it took a long time. 

Exhibition Views and Video Stills from

Jennifer Dalton is A Scientist - Not! 2008, Smack Melon Gallery NY

 

After grad school there were a crucial several years where the most important aspect of my art life was an evolving critique group with former classmates and other artist friends. It gave us a reason to finish artworks even if no one else cared and it made us all work harder to impress one another with our own work and our passionate arguments about other people's work. I also began writing art criticism, most regularly for Review Magazine, a free bi-weekly that was published from 1996-2000. The critical thinking I had to do in these two arenas was one of the most formative experiences in my development as an artist.

I am now leading a relatively peaceful life with a husband and a mortgage and PTA meetings, and I used to think that meant I couldn't be an artist also because artists were supposed to be always unstable. But I find that my younger self was quite wrong, and I'm much better able to get more and better work done from a position of semi-stability. I will try to avoid cloying clichés but the dual roles of mother/artist means there is always guilt hovering, since the hours in a day are a zero sum game and if I am to get work done I must sometimes steal time from my child. (My cold comfort is that he may be better off for that reprieve!) I am grateful to be able to say my son is a happy kid. He is now 6 and he has no interest in art and doesn't even like to draw. I couldn't help but be touched the other day when he told me that he likes my work, but he still professes to hate most art, which he thinks is boring. I think this may be my fault for trying to take him to too many art shows as a toddler, when all he wanted to do was run around and lick things and my job was to physically restrain him. Along those lines, I am pretty sure the only reason he likes my work is because I one time made a piece where there were chocolate coins inside a gumball machine.

Are Times of Recession Good for Art?

Part of the Jennifer Dalton is A Scientist - Not! exhibition above

I have now achieved more than I ever imagined just by showing my work and hearing from the occasional person who has felt something from seeing it. I'm incredibly lucky to have the support of some pretty awesome people, among them the brilliant and honorable gallerist Ed Winkleman. And I'm not just saying that.”

Images from The Reappraisal Exhibition at Winkleman Gallery, 2009

Reviewed by Jane Harris in Time Out New York :

"The Reappraisal, revisits a 10-year-old work, The Appraisal, in which Christie’s auction house assessed the monetary value of the artist’s "estate." After Dalton tirelessly photographed and cataloged every object in her home, from pencils and cleaning supplies to family heirlooms, Christie’s assigned a sum total of a mere $11,290 in 1999. The artist’s estimate? $42,607. More humbling still is the fact that most of the discrepancy lay in the value of Dalton’s art."

and Critics Pick by Jerry Saltz in New York Magazine

And to take a quote from Ed Winkleman's website as he introduced the imminent take over of his gallery for the duration of #class “Winkleman Gallery is slightly nervous pleased to present #class, a month-long series of events organized by Jennifer Dalton and William Powhida.”

Even in, or even in-spite of being in such an art-rich therefore artist-rich-city, to be able to say that you have the support of fellow artists and people connected with and passionate about art; those who mean something to you as an artist and as a person, is probably one of the most valuable environments an artist can be in.   

 

Jennifer is currently exhibiting Making Sense at Flag Art Foundation until September 10^th reviewed recently in the NY Times

 

Making Sense : Exhibition and Detail views

 

Also, with a special reading taking place this Tuesday via Twitter and in person, Jennifer wanted to extend an invitation to :

"Reading Making Sense"
Starting at Noon on Tuesday, September 7th
FLAG Art Foundation, 545 West 25th Street, 9th Floor, NYC

Please join us for "Reading Making Sense," a reading by Kianga Ellis
followed by a closing reception for my exhibition "Making Sense."


The idea for this event started on Twitter. In response to a suggestion
that lazy viewers of my show would be well served by a reader to help
them with inconveniently placed or too-small handwritten text, Kianga
Ellis generously and bravely rose to the challenge.

Beginning when FLAG Art Foundation opens at noon, Kianga Ellis will
read aloud every word displayed in my exhibition "Making Sense" and
occasionally share excerpts of the text on Twitter using the hashtag
#makingsense. Join us anytime during the day for as long as you like.
The reading will continue until every word has been read aloud or until
7pm, whichever comes first.

The closing reception will follow (or possibly partially coincide
with!) the reading, from 6:00-8:00pm.

The exhibition "Making Sense" continues through Friday, September 10th.
FLAG is open Tues-Fri 12-5pm
www.flagartfoundation.org

 

 

And William Powhida and Jennifer are collaborating on a new #class-related project in Miami taking place during the art fairs (December 2-5), in conjunction with Winkleman Gallery. Details to come!

 

 

Lives of Artists will be here again this Thursday 9th Sept with Eco-designer Sarah Turner fresh from her exhibition at Maison et Objet held in Paris this week starting 3rd Sept and running until the 7th....well worth a visit not only for Sarah's creative and well-lauded designs, but the exhibition is, with the presence of Philippe Starck amongst its organisers, rapidly becoming one of the most innovative design forums for new designers today.  

 

 

Lives of Artists Series Two : The Independent Film Maker

 

 

The Independent Film Maker

 

Russell Noon

 

I‘ve spoken with Russell quite a few times recently about film and all things related.  The first time I met him he was also very much enthusing about a new practically self funded film project he was joining, in Sheffield with a friend David Frederickson, called The Wizard and The Werewolf. This was back in Ohhhh October November time last year, and as I remember, he was very keen to get started and extra-keen to make the whole thing happen.

Lighthouse Scene from The Wizard and The Werewolf : Ian Attfield and Sam Jarvis (Actors)

This project, as with all films of this type are beset from the start with production costs; not least finding locations that are accessible (and appropriate) without having to stump up or hire (a super money-spinning technique that I think many councils have acquired of late!)  - maybe in the hopeful event of bigger production enterprises stumbling upon super-fantastic locations with their no doubt massive expense budgets aka Hollywood-style (I am being a bit facetious here).

But I believe, for example if you wanted to film on the London Underground your hire-a-carriage/station-rate would be practically the same whether from Hollywood or Borhamwood. If you could afford it, you would more than likely hire for a cost-minimising five minutes and do in one take; not 35 re-takes!.
(Ok, obviously some people are happy to get involved and to have their location/business or whatever *on screen*, so it’s not all pay-pay).

And, although I think I caught Russell in moment of, well, shock really (or concern) for want of better words; as this post has a back drop of the Film Council Cut. His reflections could not help but be dominated by this even though his positive-drive is so very much on the get-on-with-it, get-it-done tip.



The point being, Russell’s enthusiasm for what he does is very indicative of film making and the people who become involved in general. The get up and go, the make it happen. Something all creative’s feel; the passion and energy to create.

And so, when the goal posts were altered quite considerably a couple of weeks ago by the proposed Film Council Cut. He and many others in film (and arts in general) were aware of this being more than a game changer, and a precedent for all other areas, whether arts related or not.
I’ll take the time to mention here as it is so much of a lynch-pin issue. Even though no doubt many are divided about its worthiness and workableness.
But the intended axing of the Film Council is not just a blow in itself but I also believe a below the belt blow for arts decision making generally.

Arts Councils, can be very ummm well full of artists which can render them biased towards certain issues and topics – so the argument that I heard on R4 news about them (the Film Council) being *a total waste of space*, including their massive salaries and apparently ego’s to boot, as they are too into box ticking and too into their *own agendas* and so leaving out perfectly worthy films.
Hmmmm ...Improve the base of decision makers and their decisions perhaps? not rid entirely? is fairly obvious no? that however *biased* the decisions for funding - I know who I would prefer, over a bunch of government ministers (of any political bias) taking them instead, even with their carefully chosen industry advisers.

It is, in my view very dodgy ground, Arts Councils have been a much needed buffer zone between the policy makers and creative’s.

One question; Do we really need politicians to be one tick box away from yey-or-nay-saying certain film projects?.
I’m not going to get overly Stalinesque here but it doesn’t sound good. If only from the point that ministers are not usually creative types, let alone have in depth knowledge of different arts practices.

So I totally got what Russell was saying when he wanted to tell me about his route through the past couple of years and the sudden impact, of the cut.

He pointed out that it wasn’t the fact that the money was needed for other, rightfully, more urgent areas such as the NHS.
But (and I think I understood this right) the fact that dis-enabling of small film fund projects (like the FC enables) regardless of the vagaries promised to the British Film Institute of elastoplast *powers*, would create creative black holes. Being filled by those only able to convince that they would make (extra) good return on private investment backing. Usually the bums on seats method which, however popular, does little to encourage the new:

Russell described how he saw his own work and the creative side of film making in the current climate;

“I guess one of the reasons I find this so difficult to articulate is because I don't see myself as an artist. At least not an artist who is solely responsible for his work. The making of a film is a collaborative process and though it might be a single person’s vision and script, it takes the time of a large creative collective to make the film you see on the screen.

And therein lies the problem...

It is easy to become disillusioned when trying to create your little piece of cinema:
Because unfortunately all 'films' come hand in hand with the 'film industry' and this is one of the most difficult industries to navigate and become known in. In fact so many people with stronger ideas than myself have fallen by the wayside, it is often a surprise to me that we make cinema in this country at all.

I feel that I should mention the closure of the UK Film Council at this point; it is people like myself who will suffer most from this. Their investment in short films and first time features will be sorely missed by many new film makers. It has become increasingly difficult to raise funds for any film that won’t make its money back and this decision will not make it any easier. I hope this is giving an idea of the uphill struggle we all face...

So I guess the question is why do it at all?

The answer, for me at least, is easy.  The chance to create the essence and character of human life and place it in a world of pure imagination and pit it against impossible odds. And then to sit amongst an audience who experiences their hardships and joys along with them, that's a thing that very few people can say they've done.

If only it were that easy...”

Wizard and Werewolf Scene: Russell Noon (Writer Director) David Frederickson, Kia Pegg, Riley Newbold (Actors)

I guess expression will always find a way, though the possibility of an unbiased and experienced organisation aiding a body of work like a film with its very real coordination and collaborative production costs (whether a short or full length) and the difference of being able to enter into a burgeoning (UK) industry on the back of that film, a cv if you like, is palpable in the absence of anything coherently replacing it.
Film as a creative practice is not encouraged as much as say art and design or even music in basic education – yet it is the bread and butter of all visual media and deeply ingrained in storytelling culture:
A beginning, a middle and an end, all things in between – get your audience’s attention within the first few moments/minutes etc., and chances are you’ve got them for the duration.
Technology has also gone some way to bring down the expense of materials with software and technique-know-how and the possibility of *editing in the bedroom* and or *on the hoof*, and yes! still the expensive DVD cameras and lighting. But it’s not in the realms of fantasy finance as was.

Night time street view : The Wizard and The Werewolf

Outside of BA & MA’s, basic education in film has been largely left to people with Film Council funding, and organisations like the Broadway Cinema, Leicester’s Phoenix and Sheffield’s Showroom, for example, typically connected with locally funded film education centres. My guess here is that the shock waves are going to go much deeper. And this as a medium will be prone toward an exclusive who-can-afford-it creative style.

But......

The film industry is tough, script and screenwriting is tough (in conception and then convincing people). Any funding available is also tough to reach. The film establishment – much like the art market- with its gatekeepers of critics, collectors and buyers – is tough.
To get your project from the writers hand into DVD and on screen takes a monumental effort in collaboration, requiring negotiation of all of the above.
You can see why the writers’ strike a couple of years ago worked in principle; without the (creative) writers in the first place you have nothing; the whole industry in would-be collapse.
This industry is well used to dealing, right from the get-go with the *sharks* and *cigar toting* big-wigs. I believe also that the people involved in the industry in the wider sense will find ways of keeping the newness coming; from a purely practical stance, as an industry it surely has to.

Beach Scene : The Wizard and The Werewolf

Just because the Council is disbanded does not mean the people involved and those down the line are too, it just makes their jobs or rather passions more difficult. But as Russell said; “The chance to create an essence and character of human life and place it in a world of pure imagination and pit it against impossible odds. And then to sit amongst an audience who experiences their hardships and joys along with them, that's a thing that very few people can say they've done.”
This is why it will happen


And currently Russell is doubly or is this triple-y? Involved with another project Tyrannosaur;
“This is a film that I'm working on at the moment for a company called Warp, but I'm a Production Assistant doing it for the money.”
(Russell’s bar work helps give the continuity)

But, and I think he would agree here; Russell is still involved within the industry itself, even if doing for the money. The day job of Production Assistant, as with a lot of creative’s trying to enable or facilitate their less-saleable works, is definitely one way of keeping in touch while working on newer ideas.

And I’d hazard a guess that Russell is never one to be easily compromised cos, enthusiasm brimming, he totally caught that creative will-do-buzz talking about his future plans;

“I'm hoping to have The Wizard and the Werewolf finished by October and will be holding a screening locally as well as entering it into various film fests. I'm also hoping to make my first short available online."

So watch this space!



Yes indeed! And so much more creative power to you and your crew!

I will be pre-posting the film short aswell as the screening news and venues for The Wizard and The Werewolf.

And I will also be returning to this area, to see how small start film projects and the people who are passionate and help facilitate are resolving (or not) issues brought about by the sudden change.

More on this later!

 

 

And! back with more once-a-week look at Lives of Artists on Thursday 2nd September with Jennifer Dalton who gives some very interesting insights into being an artist who lives and works in New York.

 

 

Lives of Artists Series Two

 

 

So after a rainy/sunny/sunny/rainy hiatus I’m leaving my brolly in the porch (for now!) and I'm back with a brand new series of Lives of Artists.

I have been hugely impressed and inspired by the tenacity and enthusiasm from the artists on board so far. And this next series proves no-less impassioned.

And so first up with his timely and positive contribution is from Independent film maker Russell Noon.

Part of Russells latest film : Lighthouse Scene from The Wizard and The Werewolf ; Ian Attfield and Sam Jarvis (Actors)

I say timely because while he was typing away on his keyboard joining in this series, the news broke about the closure of the UK Film Council. Without going into too much detail here about monies, funding and necessities like the NHS (very true). I am more than a wee bit gob-smacked at the thinking behind any council’s closure especially the arts, so this can’t help but create a woah!!!-stop-and-take-stock moment.

To hear more on this and Russell's thoughts along with his new independent film venture The Wizard and The Werewolf, which was filmed in the North of England and based in Sheffield; tune into the first in the series starting this Thursday 26th in a once-a-week-look at Lives of Artists.

Amongst the other artists who will be sharing their views and ideas on how they keep their own creative processes going with the impact of day jobs (please note; I'm saying the word job with tentative reassurance here), location, the different types of creative-business opportunities already in place or inspired by the artists themselves  -  and there are some pretty novel ideas! - there are some varied and interesting insights emerging. All of them tuned into what its like to be a creative today:  

Also included is Jennifer Dalton who first arrived on my metaphorical radar a few months ago when I noticed a blurb in an ArtNet tweet mentioning a project being launched called #class to be held at Ed Winklemans gallery in New York; the brief being all about artists and the chasm of social, and economic divides which could alienate or excluded large groups of artists outside art-centric cities such as the one Jennifer lives in, New York. The project was a huge success (as mentioned in previous posts!) in its ability to cut through those areas of gender, class, location and gatekeeper style exclusivity, through informed, positive and lively debates.

Are Times of Recession Good for Art? part of Jennifer Dalton is a Scientist - Not!

Smack Melon Gallery NY, March-April 2008

Jen and William (Powhida) amongst others put a lot of impassioned effort into the making of that project which is why I went straight to her when I initially started thinking of doing these posts about artists and how the reality of their lives impacted on creating their work.

So, Russell and Jen (who's latest here called Making Sense is at Flag Art Foundation) will be joined by;

Beyond the Valley the entrepreneurial St Martin’s Graduate’s fashion outlet-come-gallery-space in London’s Soho, 5 years on from inception.

Beyond The Valley's Newburgh Street, W1 (Soho) shop and gallery space

 

Fresh from degree photographer Zoe Boundry who is enthusiastic but at the same time anticipatory and pragmatic about her future.

Zoe Boundry's Summerfield's series

 

Sarah Turner’s innovative start-up in Nottingham recycling plastic bottles; an eco artist & designer making beautiful products from waste materials.  Her latest creations are decorative lighting products made from waste plastic drinks bottles. The bottles are collected from cafes and households then they are cleaned and sandblasted.  With some clever cutting they are then transformed into decorative forms, totally unrecognisable from their original state.

One of Sarah Turners lighting designs

And a new gallery owner also in Nottingham at Cuadros who has, after being involved in London's commercial art scene for 10 years started his own small outlet with a view to nurturing the artists he finds; having a direction which is artist driven rather than market led.

George Thornton's Cuadros Gallery in Hockley Nottingham

 

Along with these are more artists, including Errol, a Nottingham musician who has recently changed his music style and set up his own business selling insurance so he can work his studio time around that. An artist who designs theatre-sets as his day job. And Norwegian sculptor Gunnar Fretheim, who lectures at Trondheim's Art and Media Studies to keep family and art/work in balance along with the ideas he generates with his students. These and many more artists in the mix.......

 

 

Starting this Thursday 26th August with Russell Noon, Independent Film Maker