Artist Statment

Penelope Davies

COMING HOME (2013)

 Dream Rain

                                                  

Music in the Wind

           

As a landscape photographic artist, I use nature to create work that conveys a sense of the spiritual, and is a silent instrument I use to listen to nature’s heartbeat. My work has developed into an abstract expressionistic style of photography, influenced by painters from the Renaissance to the post-modern periods, and by contemporary photographers such as Uta Barth and Sally Mann. My aim is to encourage the viewer to use their imagination to see what lies hidden.

“Coming Home” is a series of images relating to my connection with the land of my ancestral home of Wales. It is a quest to find the emotive beauty of the landscape I see and feel, as I explore my relationship with it.  For this series, I am relinquishing control of the picture making process using a Diana F plastic camera to allow my intuition to capture the spirit of the land. I have chosen to use Black and White film as I feel it conveys a sense of the land’s ancient history.

It is important to me that my images are beautiful, because it is beauty that I see everywhere, and it is the beauty that helps me to convey my love of the land, and of nature. Nature constantly surprises me, and is an infinite source of inspiration.  

Professional Practice led by Holly Davey

Today's session was the creation of a Professional Portfolio and how it should look and feel. It should be a visual delight, simple, easy to read, clear and professional. Some examples were brought in to show us. The best ones in my opinion were the most simple examples. A thick card cover, a business card with only essential information, a CD of images and a short but concise Artist Statement. Some of the examples were too wordy, did not have a visual impact on the receiver, had too much information, or was not professional to look at.

We had been set a task last week to write our Artists Statements. I had written a short summary of my current work, but it was suggested that I should be more confident in my approach, be more bold with my font use, and write about my photographic background  and style. The best examples were artist statements that had good quality images, and explain in a concise manner what you and your work are about. Background information is useful for someone who is looking at your work, the concept is important, the development is also important, as is the way your portfolio looks to a curator of a gallery ,or a business client. Simple and concise was the message I think.

We were set into groups of 4 or 5 students, the artist statements were handed to the groups to give feedback. I felt this was a very useful exercise. We all knew after Holly had spoken to us about how an artist statement should look, that our own efforts could be improved. I had not typed my website on my artist statement, and to my dismay I realised after emailing Holly my amended and completed artist statement, that I had indeed forgotten once again to type my website at the top of the page.

The exercise was for the purpose of sending to the Curator of Mission Gallery in Swansea, and a spokesperson for Millennium Images who will be visiting the University on the 23rd Feb and 1st March 2013. They will lead seminars with groups of students and discuss their work and their ambitions.

I am scheduled to meet a visiting curator on March 1st. For this I need to get my Visual Journal up do date, choose and print 15 images for my portfolio to show the curator, and be ready to answer any questions about my work that are asked of me.

http://creativecardiff.org.uk/whats-on/diffusion-cardiff-international-festival-of-photography/

Diffusion Photographic Festival, Cardiff, May 1st to 31st 2013.

I have completed the form to Volunteer to work with Diffusion in May. However, they have now sent me an email to ask me to send them my CV. I need to update mine, and fortunately we have a workshop on Friday to give us some useful information and tips on how to write a professional CV. I need the help!

I'm not sure I will be able to volunteer to work with them as I may just visit the Festival in May ... but it would be another tick in the box for my External Project. But I will think about the practicalities of travelling etc.

London Exhibition Meeting

Today the whole cohort met for the first time to discuss the preparations for the BA London Exhibition. The meeting was not well organised today, and the lecturers suggested that in future the Chair Person should have more control of the meeting, and that it should feel more professional.

Matters discussed were

• fund raising activities
• Finding Sponsorship and who from the group was going to take responsibility for this
• car boot sales were discussed as an option to raise funds
• an equipment sale had taken place raising £300 
• quiz nghts
• Valentine Photo Shoot at a venue in Swansea on Feb15th
• various other matters 
• A Facebook Event page creation was allocated to a student

The meeting went on quite a long time, and it was obvious that the group were losing concentration. It was a little frustrating.

I had made a decision not to take part in the London exhibition due to financial constraints, but I am still in two minds about it. It would be a good experience to exhibit my work in London, it would look good on my CV, and one never knows if some offer or opportunity may be forthcoming. But I am still unsure. When I spoke to Paul, the Financial Representative, he said that I should be part of  the group exhibit in London, and that I might regret it if I decided not to attend. I will consider carefully again,  but I must admit that I am not overawed by the prospect of setting up a big exhibition far away from home. Am I being unwise?

External Project - Group Meeting re Exhibition at Oriel Bach

Thursday 14th Feb 2013

We had a meeting today to discuss the contract Oriel Bach had given Abbie on her visit on Tuesday. It is quite straight forward and we all signed it. There was a page that we were not able to complete, that was the titles and prices of the work we will be exhibiting. None of us have yet decided on our images or the sizes we will be printing. I have an idea of the two images I will use, but as yet I am not a 100% certain.

We paid £7.00 each towards the cost of the venue. A very reasonable amount for a two week period. Our other expenses will be the cost of posters, flyers, postcards, food and drink for the Opening Night on the 13th March and other sundries not yet accounted for.

Tessa and I are arranging the ordering of the postcards. We will have 50 each with one image. These will be put in packs of 15 and sold at the Gallery. I am not sure if we intend to sell any small prints or other items, We have yet to decide.

Some members of the group have been allocated certain tasks to carry out. Lee and James are making a website, Marie is designing the posters, Abbie is our project leader as she set up and organised the group. I am not sure of other roles the group members are playing, there has not yet been an official role given to each person. I think that it would be a good idea to delegate roles to each member of the group as then it would be more clear who was doing what.

But at the moment we seem to be pulling together to make the event a successful one.

Feedback for Presentation and External Project

I was completely taken aback today when I discovered that the tutorials were feedback for our presentations, and thrilled to discover that I had been given positive comments, and a 2:1 grade. I'm so pleased. I really wasn't expecting that. Presentations are so stressful but although I am shaking inside, I seem to have the ability to appear confident! Isn't it strange how that happens, but good for my self esteem!

As for the External Project, my folder hardly has anything in it and so my feedback reflected that. I need to enter competitions, find some voluntary work, exhibit somewhere other than with our Group be(longing), and contact various people about opportunities. I have contacted Origin Co - Operative to apply for a place with them, but have not heard back from them yet. There is also a place in Haverfordwest called The Spirit of Enterprise whom I intend to visit in the next week or so when I have time. They help people start businesses and may be able to give me some contacts for my work. Another avenue I could try would be to contact magazines who may be interested in my style of work. I need to research this, find a list of magazines who cover landscape and other environmental, cultural or even gardening issues and stories. It is something to think about. I need to time manage my work so that I can do all the things I need to do. There is so much work to do for Uni now but I have to stay motivated and get it done.

Origin Gallery

I visited a couple of galleries in Carmarthen, I want to find places where I can exhibit my work in the future. I called in at the Origin Gallery, a Co-Operative of Artists and Craft Makers ...to my delight they have a space available. So I've just emailed Amanda whom I was told was the person to get in touch with. I've sent her some of my work and an artist statement so hopefully I will hear from her soon.

I received an email back from Amanda, she has forwarded my email and images to the Board to discuss whether my work is suitable to join their Co-Operative.