As I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve been left a little depleted by all the end of uni/degree show nonsense, but . . . within the last VERY up-and-down week, there have been some lovely things. A few of which I wanted to share -
First is this ridiculous picture I found on Bass Face’s camera, of me playing Guitar Hero II after a night in Harrow with the boys:
I look so worried! And why did no one ever point out that my head is MASSIVE? Maybe they were sparing my feelings but yeesh, that can’t be normal. And the roses that a very insistent lady managed to sell Tommy in a dodgy Harrow public house named after a bossy Thomas the Tank Engine character:
this is what happens when you venture amongst the chavs . . . but roses in the kitchen are never a bad thing, so it’s all good.
And second is the wonderful Fathers’ Day that Lizzi, Dad and I spent wandering along the South Bank to the Dali and Film exhibition at Tate Modern. Here’s Lizzi by the river:
Isn’t she lovely? I still think of her as The Baby, and seeing her all pretty, grown-up and tattooed makes me so proud to be a big sister.
Don’t you think this shot makes the Millenium Bridge look like a dinosaur’s neck - or more specifically, ‘Dippie’ the lovely diplodocus cast who lives in the Natural History Museum lobby - reaching across the Thames and nosing around the Salvation Army building for a really tasty looking tree:
Edit/update: two more pics, courtesy of Dad and Liz - spot the resemblance, I can’t ever see it, but I like to think that it’s there!
It was such a neat, relaxed way to spend Fathers’ Day: it was delightfully sunny; I hadn’t seen Dad in a while; the exhibition was simultaneously beautiful, unnerving and awe-inspiring- the chance to see Destino [Dali's long awaited collaboration with Disney] was not lost on Liz and I, nor to be in the same room as some of my favourite works - and the day was rounded off with the trad Cafe Rouge dessert, which was of course eaten in the proper Thomasson fashion.
I couldn’t tell you why, but somehow Dad, Lizzi and I have developed a habit of eating all desserts with forks - much to the amusement of Mother and the annoyance of waitresses the world over. It’s long been an odd family in-joke, but restaurants’ insistence on spoon-use has turned a mere utensil preference into some sort of mildly-obsessive cultery challenge, in which the three of us roll our eyes at restaurant staff as if they are part of an International Spoon Association conspiracy designed to denigrate and oust the honest fork. To say it makes Mum feel like The Normal One is probably an understament. I also treated myself to full-on art book and a million postcards, which will be finding homes all over our walls.
Ooh, and, just to prove that good design makes everything better, I couldn’t resist snapping this cute retro street-bollardy thing in Blackfriars:
Next came the set-up of Pixel Shake and the private view - a night that both depressed me awfully and moved me to happy tears. The former was mostly due the feeling of anti-climax, but compounded by the obvious disdain for my work shown by certain tutors - although a massive thank you to the tutors and staff that did believe in me, TVU really does have some Good Eggs amongst the snakes.
But the latter made it all worth it - to have Bass Face and my family come all the way across London to see my work, for Mum to tear up and Dad to hug me and tell me that he was proud of me. I’ve had a couple of false starts at university and to be able to finally finish, show my parents and validate their unwavering love and support just meant the world. I am so grateful to be their daughter. Here’s Possible Illustrated Self all hung like proper art:
Most of the work there was amazing, including Russell’s meticulously aligned projection of his animation Alice Jones:
The photo doesn’t do it justice, but essentially each scene was projected onto the appropriate location on the 3D model set - so here, the action is taking place in the top left doctor’s surgery. The wonderful part was that whilst any given location was being animated the other locations continued quietly in the back ground, with cars driving down the street in the middle and customers fidgeting in the doctor’s surgery and the cafe [top right I think]. Definitely one of those to watch.
I also snapped Natalja’s pixelated sculpture:
It’s a pixelated black and white self-portrait constructed entirely out of matches - with the heads being the black pixels and the wooden ends being white pixels. The concentration of putting it together is mind-boggling . . .
Also snapped was Lukas’s CCTV-style installation Learn to Breathe. It is an interactive dance film set-up as if one were watching it live over closed-circuit television:
Again, the picture doesn’t do it justice, but I’m sure that there are better images on his own site. Lukas then hopped off to meet with a potential publisher for his Kafkanistan photography project . . . another one to watch . . .
In between this I constructed the subject of the previous post - whilst invigiliating and Very Hungover from an awful lot of birthday intoxication in honor of Drummerboy - which has been gratefully received, I’m sure you’ll be glad to know.
It’s also been raining like a motherbitch. And I mean RAINING, as in “I think I’ll stay in today”, drain-bursting, “Look how green everything is!” torrential. The garden is very happy about this:
but I was dissapointed to discover that unless you’ve got a double-bubble SLR fantastico Hasselblad extraordinaire, rain looks a bit pants in photos. Regard:
As I said, a bit pants - considering that mere inches away, a small lake was making itself comfortable and practically picking out curtains in our back garden.
All the dreary weather made me quite envious of those inhabiting the same land mass as the Renegade Craft Fairs, but then I saw these gems peeking out at me in Watford, making me think of the Black Apple and all goodies I’d love to get my mitts on.
Cute, non? The red is from New Look, the green from Toppenshoppen. I also made a significantly larger purchase . . . here’s a clue:
Can you guess? Oh, it can’t be an actual machine that sews, can it?
Oh yes it can. I can’t describe how happy it makes me to finally have one of these babies. I can make things without being restricted by my shoddy hand-sewing, all my clothes will fit again, we can have proper curtains at last . . .
The old girl is a Janome Model 7025, a step up from the basic one, with a whole bunch of neat features that definitely weren’t on the ancient machines housed in my school’s textile room. It looks really user-friendly, plus the lovely lady in John Lewis sat with me for a whole twenty minutes showing me how it all worked and assuring me that she would be there every other weekend if I need any advice or get stuck - talk about service!
What with My New Purchase, the prospect of long awaited tattooing - more on that later me hearties - and much movie-watching and wonderfulness with Bass Face, I have to say that I’m really quite looking forward to this week . . .
Nautical
Rebirth
Flight
Mind
