On Saturday I went to a craft fair in the Caird Hall, run by Craft Fairs Scotland. The last one I went to was really good, so I was looking forward to its return. Again it didn’t disappoint, although my bank balance didn’t allow me to spend what I would have liked to.

Anyhow, I did manage to buy a present from Eilidh Borland’s stall, who graduated last year from DOJ in illustration, whose show I remember. Her stuff is all lovely and I would have had the owl cushion if, again, my bank balance was a little more stable. Anyhow, visit her blog and Folksy shop for a visual treat!

Group set up on Facebook which is highlighting Duncan of Jordanstone’s decision to stop offering Weave as a subject within the Textiles programme. The current third year will be the last to be taught it. Read more about it on the groups info section.

My page is below. You can see the front cover and whatnot over here at the FA/APCP website.

Updating here is still sparse due to my brain being too tired to write anything coherent when I get home. I think I am on top of everything degree show wise. My sculptures have finally dried out (phew!), which means my new one will have no problems with that. Framing is mostly finished, once the workshop gets more wood in I will get the last few made and the rest finished. The rest is just little things that need to be done sooner rather than later, but overall it is all on course (I hope!).

We also got our catalogue this week. They look great, really professional and a nice showcase of the variety within our year. So that was quite exciting!

There has been quite a lot of exhibitions opening the last few weeks, the highlight of a week past Friday being Pockets of Landscape in the Lower Foyer Gallery at DOJ which included fellow classmate Hayley Mathersin it. All the work in it was lovely, sharing a quite, subtle, contemplative feel, focusing on objects and drawing.

After that there was the Alex Frost opening at the DCA which I did enjoy. His portraits are stunning and the methods he uses to produce his “2d” work is quite stunning. The noses were interesting although I fear lost a little charm out of their original residence of a water reservoir outside Glenfiddich distillery. It was hard not to enjoy the exhibition, especially with a whisky cocktail in hand!

The DCA was followed by a mysterious event at Tayside Recyclers entitled Miscellaneous Enquiries, featuring 8 female Dundee artists. There was a bit of secrecy around this event, but sharing a studio with half of them did result in bits of jigsaw coming together in my head to make it not such a mystery as to those involved ;) It was an excellent night! We were all handed a lab coat when we went in, making us, the viewer, feel part of the event itself and thus engaging their audience automatically. They had a mock job interview we could take part in, film projections of the artists themselves and the Tayside Recyclers staff, the dissection of Jelly Beans, and a sound performance utilising, mainly, exercise machines of sorts. I have a few photos uploaded over in the gallery at dundeefineart2010.co.uk.

This last Friday also saw a few exhibition opening. The first was Moving Images At The Attic Archive at the Cooper Gallery at DOJ. I got through a couple of the film pieces and plan to visit again in the following weeks. There is a good amount of things to keep you occupied. The Attic Archive itself is related to Peter Haining, who we had an artist talk from in 3rd year and who was at the last Cupar Arts Festival, with part of his archive. The stuff at Cupar was mainly literature that was a highlight and included quite a few publications I wouldn’t mind in my own collection. More info on The Attic Archive is here.

After that there was Billow Bellow, an exhibition of Deilia Baillie and Lee O’Connor, both of whom were 1st year tutors of mine. It was rather good, mainly paintings with a few photographs by Delia. I loved the paintings, there is a quality to Lee’s that make me instantly connect to them, and Delia’s have always impressed me. Also could not help noticing the flat they were exhibiting in had an amazing ceiling and entranceway, which joined with a couple of musicians in the background made it a good evening.

This was all then topped of with a visit to the union metal night \m/ The next Distorted is the last one of the (academic) year, which is a sobering though since it is on May 7th, effectively degree show time, technically the last one ever for me (I doubt I’ll venture back outwith studentdom) and possible summer weather will be occurring. Better get on with that to-do list!

I have been working on a website for my year though. Just a little showcase for us prior to, and then to follow through after the Degree Show – DundeeFineArt2010.co.uk.

Hopefully I will get into a routine of updating this in the next few weeks, after uni has started again. For now some recent purchases.

Claire Harkess : St Kilda

Vera Naessens

Richard Long : Walking and Marking

Eva Hesse at The Fruitmarket Gallery ♥