Newby Hall: I had
a very busy summer with my first solo show at Newby Hall (here)
and (here).
I was referring to myself as a ‘maker’ and a ‘storyteller’, the beginning of my
identity and branding as ‘Jay Stelling: Storyteller & Model Maker’; I was
starting to understand what it was I enjoyed doing and how that could be used
in a job but I was still overwhelmed at this point, avoiding thinking about the
future and just making as much as I could. It was after this exhibition that I
realised I was more interested in entertainment than products: ‘I'd rather charge
people for coming into a space, to experience the art and have a good time than
to make things for them to buy.’ Selling my art and dolls brings income but it
was the opportunity to curate and have my work exhibited within a space, a ‘world’,
that was exciting to me.
Far From the Shire:
I was invited to participate in a collective Tolkien exhibition with my friend Guy
Brady and local illustrator John Cockshaw (here).
It was great to be involved in a bigger collective project, especially as it
involved international, published illustrators. Guy and I are just students but
the rest of the group were all professionals so it was great to get this boost
from our friends in the field. John took us under his wing and mentored us for
this exhibition. This was my first experience of collaboration, not in the
sense of working hand-in-hand on a project but in helping to promote and learn
from each other, which informed the rest of this module in which I contacted,
networked and asked for advice from other practitioners.
October:
Manifesto: In my
initial statement manifesto (here)
I declared my ambitions to ‘continue constructing worlds and telling stories’
which is definitely what I did in Extended Practice this year and I also said
that I wanted ‘to be recognised and respected for being a creator’ which is
what I have explored in the planning of my future and career through PP3.
November:
Task 2 Websites:
Task 2 was all about investigating websites (here,
here,
here
and here)
and how they can be used to present and promote artwork, this was integral to
my understanding of how to capture interest on a web page and how I could make
mine more engaging.
Task 3 Descriptions
of my Work: ‘Magical, characterful, with storytelling and narrative at its
core. It’s all about creating worlds in which these dolls and figures exist. Everything
has a handmade feel.’ Recognising how other people see my work (here)
and what my strengths are was a real confidence boost that helped me to think
of myself as a professional.
January
Hanbury Symposium:
I researched and prepared questions for the visitors (here),
made dolls to give away to relevant professionals ‘I decided that giving away
one of my dolls would be a nice gesture - something physical with a FACE that
you would feel guilty putting in a bin... however, these can't be printed and
made in mass, they take time and that's the beauty of handmade objects. They're
one of a kind. The professionals should know that these took a while for me to
make’ (here)
and prepared a goodbye speech for the event (here).
I took notes at the symposium, then spoke to some of the professionals
afterwards and reflected on the advice they gave me (here,
here
and here).
It was when a representative from BlinkInk mentioned that they need makers for animation that I started looking
into jobs like this one (here)
and then found and applied for the BBC Children’s Design work experience (here).
Website: In my
website, I wanted to do something different (here)
‘As you scroll down the page, I wanted my characters to 'pop out' and meet the
visitor. Although this website would probably be visited mostly by clients, I
wanted to make it suitable for a child audience and suited to the charming
children's book tone of voice that recurs in my work. The pop-out characters make
the site really engaging and friendly, something different to the sea of
conventional sites of portfolios out there.’
March
Workshops: The CV
workshop (here)
and the Interview workshop (here)
were useful sessions that helped me to apply for work experience at the BBC and
will help me again when I apply for future jobs.
Chatting with Ben
about the future: ‘Collaboration will be important - keep making
connections and use these people! Make puppets for someone else to animate? Get
involved with bigger projects.’ This was
great advice that I took very seriously and went on to collaborate with Stacy
Straub for Extended Practice, then to work with the design team at the BBC. I
kept making connections, using LinkedIn to connect with everyone I met at the
BBC and I interviewed Maggie Rudy (here)
and Sadie Brown (here).
May:
BBC: I did a lot
of research before going to the BBC, finding out about the different roles and
responsibilities involved (here
and here).
I had an incredible time which I talk at length about HERE.
‘There was no comparing or feeling inadequate as I sometimes do in the uni
studio because we were all working together and the results are the shared work
of us all.’ ‘I enjoyed working in a busy studio. Not a noisy studio because
there was only ever 5 people in the room at once, but surrounded by creativity,
a bit of mess and everything you could ever need for making props with. I felt
really comfortable working in this environment and being able to ask 'what
would you use to make this?' or 'would you do it like this or this?' when I
wasn't sure about something.’
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