Independent Leeds Feature

I'M SO EXCITED THAT MY WORK GOT PUBLISHED!!! 

To quote Mike Wazowski...

...Except it's not quite the cover. BUT I'M STILL IN A MAGAZINE!

The article 'hallowed footsteps' was written by Rebecca Levick and is based on the history of Leeds' oldest street, Kirkgate. In the past few years the street has been really run down and almost derelict, yet is slowly being regenerated and transformed back into the thriving street that it once was, filled with a variety of independent businesses. 

I enjoyed learning about the history of Kirkgate, and it has tied in well with my interest in the architecture in Leeds. I've also received a few compliments on the artwork via instagram, and gained more followers since. Hopefully this could lead to some more work in the future! As well, this will be a great piece in my portfolio to prove evidence that my work has been published.

NCS: Art Practitioner Role

Earlier this month I applied for an Art Practitioner Role with the National Citizens Service in a programme called 'the challenge'. The job role is for the summer, so will hopefully keep me tide over whilst I'm floating about trying to sort permanent jobs, as well as gaining more leadership experience.

I'm really pleased that they gave me an interview date! I have to prepare and lead a five minute art workshop, which should be fairly straight forward. Last year for my interview at the Bushcraft Company I lead a five-minute blind drawing exercise, which seemed to go down well; perhaps I could do something similar this year? The job structure is actually quite similar to being a bushcraft leader, except there won't be a need to sleep outdoors and skin rabbits. So I'm hoping that that experience will stand me in good stead to become an art practitioner, fingers crossed!

Creative Block

I have mentioned this on my SP blog, but I've really been struggling with creative block in the past few weeks. This is creating more stress because I can't afford to have no motivation OR ideas at such a crucial stage of my degree.

Why this might have happened:

• Feeling very lost after COP
• Fear of the unknown after graduation
• Lack of confidence in myself, my work and my decisions
• Putting too much pressure on myself to do well

Not feeling myself has a huge impact on my creative practice making small things such as picking up a pen and doing even 10 minutes of drawing seem like an impossible and overwhelming task. To add insult to injury, I've got myself into a state about worrying if this happens when I've actually got to make a living out of being creative. How am I supposed to pay rent if I can't work for a week because I feel so rubbish?!

Things I did to feel creative again:

-Read the Varoom issue about creativity and wellbeing

This issue has so many great articles about self sustainability and self care when practicing as a freelancer. Gemma Correll is one of the most successful contemporary illustrators today, and she mentioned in her article that when she is having a low mental phase, she draws through it, making light of her struggles. I really admire her ability to do this; the illustration on the right is literally me right now! As much as I love drawing, it is one of the things that I just don't want to do when I'm not feeling grand, but in situations like this, you just has to grab the nettles and keep persisting.

-Visited my inspirational shrine (Waterstones)

I blogged about these books on SP, but they helped me so much! There was something about them that took the pressure away from being judged or graded on the things that I was making. As well, I love the fact that the left hand page already had examples of marks and drawings, so I wasn't faced with a huge overwhelming blank page.

-Put myself first

This is something that I need to do more. If this means cancelling on plans, starting the day later to get enough sleep in etc then so be it. I am only a human being and I can only do so much.

-Address strengths I can capitalise on

Instead of focusing on negative things that I need to 'fix', it's a lot healthier to identify things that I am good at. I got this really helpful sheet from student advice, and it explains really well how much of a crazy perfectionist I am haha. But a lot of it is certainly true, especially fear of failure. So I need to start paying attention to the right hand column more.

- Don't isolate myself

Gemma Correll mentioned that she is the epitome of an introvert; she can sit in her studio all day and just draw. I, however am not an introvert, I'm definitely more of an extrovert as I love being around people and hate being on my own for long periods of time. Although sometimes I find this hard because I am constantly comparing myself to others.

-Yoga!

Yoga is great, people should do yoga more!


So there we have it, how I slowly but surely got myself out of a dismal and uninspiring black hole. I know that this will probably happen again at some point, but it IS possible to regain creativity even if it feels like you can never pick up a pencil again!

Careers Advice Session

Today I had a one-to-one careers advice session with Sue, the college's career coach. It was super handy, and made me feel a lot less stressed about life after graduation. I explained to her that I was thinking about having two sides to my practice; doing my own freelance work, and working with people. Here are some of the points/options we discussed:

• Teaching: Potentially a T/A part time, and I can do my PGDIP when I'm ready, realistically in a few years time
• Gallery work: I suggested that I'm interested in helping out with workshops in galleries and helping do tours with schools and things, although Sue said that the latter is usually something that qualified teachers do. I could still apply though!
• Artist residencies: This could be a good way to become involved with community projects that additionally contains some elements of teaching

Although I've typed up these notes really adhock, it has urged me to really get cracking and start making plans and contacting the right people to get to where I need to be.

Preparing for the Great Unknown

Right. So I have three months left at college. THREE. I've realised that I seriously need to start thinking about life after graduation and not just pretending that it doesn't exist, because it does, and the clock is ticking.

I've had a rough think about plans after graduation, but the thing with creative jobs is that things can be very spontaneous and last minute (something that stresses me out even more). Here are some of the things that I've thought about.

Where to live?

-Leeds: Top choice. I would absolutely love to stay here, Leeds feels like home now! I feel confident here, I have some good connections already that can help me thrive in my creative career. I feel if I were to move elsewhere I wouldn't have the confidence to push myself as much as I'm doing now.

-Nottingham: I could happily live in Nottingham? It's fairly close to home, I am familiar with it and the creative scene is pretty good and I have some connections there. But it's not quite on the same level as Leeds.

-Manchester: I've not really looked into Manchester that much; I've only been there a few times and it seems really big and scary! But there are loads of creative agencies and opportunities there, so if by magic if someone were to offer me a job there, I wouldn't say no...but I would be a tiny bit apprehensive.

-London: To be honest, I can't afford to live in London and wouldn't see myself settling there long term. But if I was offered a job there it would be a shame to turn it down. If worst comes to worst I could live back home and commute? (would rather not though)

-Grantham: Like I said latterly, I am avoiding moving home at all costs! I definitely don't want to get back into the small town mindset, take back my part time job at sainsburys and never leave.

What to do?

It could seem obvious that the first thing that springs to mind is be an illustrator. Although, since learning more about myself and the way that I work since being on the course, I have come to the conclusion that full time freelancing isn't for me. I would like to have a shot at freelancing of course, but I definitely need another job alongside for financial stability. Additionally, being an extrovert, it is important that I have a social element to my practice. If I isolate myself too much in my own practice I will not flourish to the best of my ability.
I have a few options in mind:

-Teaching: I am interested in the idea of teaching part time, but not in a fixed position like at a secondary school or something. I researched into teaching qualifications at the start of the academic year, but I don't feel ready to commit to one just yet with it being such an intense year of study. So the other alternative is that I could potentially visit schools and run workshops? Or even apply for a teaching assistant job part time?

-Full time job working at a creative agency: I'm not sure how likely this is to be honest as most illustrators tend to be freelance. However, this might be a good way of getting experience in a studio environment across other creative platforms too. So the kind of jobs here could be roles such as 'junior creative artwork' etc; not directly illustration but still something hands on that I can apply my skills to.

-Gallery work: When I visited the Hepworth last month there was a school trip on a visit there at the same time. I really admired how the staff encouraged the children (who were quite young) to understand and appreciate the artwork in a more interactive and stimulating way. Naomi actually turned and said to me that she could see me doing something like this! I am also aware that galleries run workshops for children in the school holidays and at weekends, so maybe this is something I could look into as well.

-Generic part time work: This would be alongside freelancing! Just to pay the bills, perhaps some bar/waitress/barista work to keep the ball rolling, meeting new people and having a break from freelancing. If this were the case I would want to work in an artsy independent place in Leeds who support local events and creativity, but beggars can't be choosers! 

Conclusion:

I am keeping my options open at this point in time, and I am feeling a lot calmer about the whole thing than I was a few months back. It is important to put myself first in this situation and not commit to anything that wouldn't throw me off too much and that I try my best to realise that I do have potential and the capacity to succeed! 

TED: Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Following my tutorial with Jamie, he suggested I look at a few references, one was Ken Robinson. His TED talk entitled, Do Schools Kill Creativity was the first thing to come up when I googled his name.

https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity#t-1149582

The talk, now 11 years old, is one of the most interesting in the TED series that I have seen. 

Main themes of the talk:

• Extraordinary level of human creativity 
• The future and the unknown
• Children's capacity for innovation

Relevant Points:

• Education is one of those things that goes deep with people like religion or money
• Creativity is as important as literacy- we should treat it with the same status
• STORY: School girl: 'I'm drawing a picture of God', Teacher: 'No-one knows what God looks like', School girl: 'They will do soon'
• Kids aren't scared of getting things wrong; if you're not prepared to go wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.
• The system is educating people out of their creativity
• Every education system has the same hierarchy.

Maths, Languages

Humanities

Arts

• There was no real public education system before the 1900s, very industry based, so the most useful subjects for work were at the top
• Many people who are highly intelligent are made to believe they're not because their subject isn't academic enough/stigmatised
• We need to radically change our perception of intelligence

Reflection

I am a huge advocate for promoting creativity in the learning environment, and feel really strongly about subjects within the arts being condemned as 'unintelligent'. Perhaps this could be a starting point for something to develop as a FMP???

Meeting Nick Sharratt

Following the teachers event a few weeks ago, Debbie Moodie who runs events through Leeds City Library invited us to attend a workshop being run by Nick Sharratt. She had initially hoped that we might be able to run a few of our sessions, but unfortunately there wasn't enough time to do so. BUT we got a half hour chat with Nick, which was so helpful! It was lovely too because I absolutely adored his books and collaborations with Jacqueline Wilson when I was younger.

Questions asked/advice he gave us

• Draw in a way that suits you rather than trying to be fashionable. Nick said that his style has never been particularly fashionable, yet it has worked in his favour
• Its good to meet face to face with the client, that way you establish a better relationship and have a higher chance of getting the details right
• Favourite thing to illustrate was Tracy Beaker, although he didn't read the script too accurately...Tracy was initially depicted to wear a red jumper and jeans, although Nick drew her in a skirt in about 100 images before he had realised. Luckily Jacqueline wasn't too strict about it and changed the script accordingly. Not many authors would do this, so it is important to read the book!!
• Best piece of advice would be to work to deadlines. When you graduate, new creatives usually tend to get editorial work which have really quick turnarounds
• When designing a book cover, always start with the title. The image will form around this. Decide where to put the text first- publishers are conservative and like it to be at the top usually

There was a whole load of other things that he spoke to us about but didn't get chance to jot down, but overall the meeting was so helpful and inspiring. Of course we had to get a cheesy picture too...