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I’m off back to Friockheim Primary School to work with primary 3/4. They are looking at the Olympics so I’m researching some olympic related things tonight. Olympic medals may be something I can work with. I like the winter olympics 1988 & 1964 best I think.
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I devised the above project to explore the pattern and texture of architecture with primary 1-4s. I split the class into 3 different stations, where they would each create a page of pattern or texture that would become collage papers to create buildings.
The class looked forward to drawing into their pictures. I’m going back to the school soon so I’m looking forward to seeing how they finished them off.
Brilliant fun for all of us! What a day!
Things have been somewhat quiet here since I graduated but that doesn’t mean I’ve not been a busy bee.
Last year, I was selected by the Angus Artist in Schools Network to join their diverse group of artists and designers involved in delivering creative outcomes in schools across Angus.
The network has kept me in touch with people from across my own year and I’ve met a few lots of new interesting and lovely people too.
Through the network I’ve had the chance do lots of brilliant things that I don’t know if I would have done had it not been for the support of the network.
These include: a chance to assist in working in the Meffan Gallery in Forfar, a day experimenting in the woods at Crombie Park with the Ranger Service, a day delivering a CPD about my own design process to high school Art and Design teachers, a few days shadowing an experienced arts specialist in a number of primary schools, a day delivering my own workshop and regular networking events at the Hannah Maclure Center.
I’m looking forward to what opportunities come up soon……
Spent a few hours down at the DJCAD library today getting some research together. Here is some stuff I liked today…
Stefan Zwicky uses concrete to interpret a design classic by Le Corbusier using industrial materials.
Nura Petrov’s sculpture ‘assemblage’ made me smile today. When spending hours gluing strips of plywood together you begin to see something beautiful and sculptural in the process itself. The repetition of the process creates interesting patterns shapes and spaces.
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This is my first day back in the studio post New Designers. The show was definitely worth while on my part as I have come away with bunch of good contacts and a spring in my step. My snap happy sister, Lynsey, took all the shots above. She has lots of fab photos on her flikr page so go have a nosy.
I mean business from now on….I have a wee studio, a pile of business cards to chase up and some interesting prospects ahead. It’s certainly going to be hard work but what hasn’t been so far? Maybe I’ll keep this two stone off my hips after all?!
Thank goodness for multiple colour coded google callenders that’s all I can say…..ballancing a creative love with the boring bits of paying the bills is the bane all creative people, be they an artist, designer, actor, singer, comedians, dancer and so on.
I watched a hugely inspiring documentary about Eddie Izzard last night on BBC4. Not only is he one on my favourite people in the world, but the relentless ambition and self belief he held in his early career just reaffirmed that, yeah starting out can be hard but if you are relentless in self promotion, put yourself out there and work intelligently at improving your craft, every day you take a step closer to your goal. He emphasised that in order to do it, you have to believe it. If you doubt your ability to succeed then you are less likely to succeed. I like that way of thinking. He took 10 years of bad reviews and a lot of changes to his performance before he got his break. A lesson to us all I think.
Last night I was featured on STV News in the Dundee region. I was a little nervous but I think I did OK!
Please follow this link to view video. You will find the piece about my work 11 minutes in
Off cuts of wood and other materials salvaged from building sites in the Dundee area have been transformed into furniture by a graduating student from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.
Lorri Smyth (23), who has just completed a degree in Textile Design at DJCAD, part of the University of Dundee, used family contacts in the construction industry to explore how building materials could be used in a decorative way.
Using laser-etching, sanding, spray-paint and resins on chip board, plywood and other materials, Lorri has created a number of surfaces which can be used in interior design schemes. These include a chair made from oriented strand board (OSB), and a number of panels which could be used as doors, tabletops and various other items.
She has also constructed screens to act as an exhibition space for her drawings, and the entire project will go on display at this year’s Dundee Degree Show.
Lorri’s father is an architectural technician whilst other members of her family are employed as joiners, electricians, and plasterers. She interviewed them about their working processes and materials, as well as asking them to keep diaries and take photos.
Using the understanding of the various aspects of the building trades that she gained, Lorri began the process of using waste materials to create eye-catching and unique pieces of furniture and to shape interior design schemes.
As well as receiving sponsorship from Bentleys, a Dundee shop-fitting company, who provided Lorri with off cuts and other services, she also spent time persuading workers at building sites to donate any waste pieces to her.
“Its perhaps unusual that someone who studies textile design should end up being pretty handy with a jigsaw and other power tools, but that’s what happened to me,” she explained. “Bentleys were great, but I also acquired a lot of materials off my own back, going out to the workies any time I saw a building site and asking for off cuts. I think it helped that I was female!
“I never felt a total affinity with fabric, but I see the fact I’m using wood instead as part of the wider surface design area as we’re still dealing with colour, texture and pattern. In a sense, that’s strange because my Grandmother was a seamstress. She must’ve had amazing skills to pass on, but because I was never that interested in fabrics I never pushed her about this.
“After she died I started thinking about what other skills were in the family and the building trades stood out. I spoke to my dad, uncles, cousins and members of my partner’s family who work in the construction industry and took inspiration from the materials and processes they used by looking at them from a surface designers perspective.
“I learned a lot about their work, how they worked with each other, what it involved and how they saw their work. I stepped back and looked at the materials they used in an aesthetic rather than structural way, and explored how these could be used.”
Furniture design is an area that Lorri would like to explore after graduation, and she will be looking to land placements that provide her with experience of that field. She will also be attending upcoming trade shows in London in an effort to make contacts and create more interest in her work.
Lorri will also continue developing the project she has spent the past year immersed in, and thanked her sponsors for all the assistance they have given her.
She continued, “I definitely think there’s a market for these simple structures. My research showed that many people really liked them and indicated they would be interested in a statement design. Creating one-off pieces using these materials is perhaps something that could be done in collaboration with furniture makers.
“I really can’t thank Bentleys enough for everything. They had supported students in the past and my tutor recommended I get in touch with them when he heard about the nature of my project. From day one they were absolutely fantastic and not only provided me with wood whenever I needed it but came out and delivered it that day.
“They recognised that this was a good way to re-use building materials, which are sourced in the most sustainable methods anyway, and helped by putting the matt finish on some of the items and giving them a more professional look. If nothing else, I can say I went to design school and learned how to work a jigsaw!”
Source : DUSA
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