along these kind of lines 🙂
i’m *really* happy with these images. i’ve achieved exactly the aesthetic i was after (see rochester cloak) , a pleasing sense of movement and incorporated the original sextant mirrors.
in common with some of my previous work the images are disorienting, subtly misdirecting the viewer. what am i looking at?
but most of all? i bent a laser beam 😀 with satisfying – and uncharacteristic – simplicity 😉
next up: hi res images for wall-mounted prints.
note to self: design boom open submission.
anthony mccall :thumbs:
the main thing i took from the conference was: don’t just put an led on it. decent advice to live by 🙂
that and cnc milling machines – where have they been all my life?
a couple to start off. tristan perich machine drawings. i love the organic quality of the finished drawings, and that each is unique.
there’s a lot i can learn from craig newswanger’s approach to design for his drawing machine. a deceptively simple yet powerful machine that has endless multiple configurations and a pleasing guiloche output with some surprisingly fluid, organic results.
it was an absolute treat to visit becky at her fireworks studio.
i knew of the studios through natasha mayo and their craft in the bay show last year. i’m still totally in love with natalia dias‘s rose/bramble thorns. it was zoe’s suggestion to contact becky to seek advice on pricing my work. i was still kicking myself that i hadn’t been aware of the recent book arts show that becky curated at craft in the bay until it was finished.
some parallels between my work and becky’s really jumped out at me. i think we share a similar background and approach to hand work and materials. i was mighty envious of her whole studio, and in particular her typewriter 😀
she gave me some really positive feedback on my work as well as invaluable suggestions for avenues i hadn’t ever considered. it was absolutely her encouragement that pulled me through my first fair, which put me a *long* way out of my comfort zone on occasions. it was a real boost to hear her response to my work and it helped me be a little more confident when discussing it with other artists. it was also on her suggestion that i approached the book arts bookshop.
i think it’s reasonable to say that footfall at the fair was… limited. i staffed my shelf for 4 hours on the saturday and in that time the only two visitors who weren’t exhibiting artists were both people i’d arranged to meet. the friday night opening turnout was promising and i know that some artists achieved sales in that time, unfortunately i wasn’t one of them. turns out that (what i was banking on) *london* in itself does not necessarily make for a successful fair.
i think that several factors contributed to the lack of visitors. the venue was on the “wrong” side of the station – the side away from the town centre – and hidden along a side street. while the venue was signposted, the fair itself wasn’t, reducing the opportunities for passing trade. to be fair to the organisers they are a relatively new enterprise (since may 2013) and as such probably don’t have access to the extensive mailing lists of a more established venue.
everyone from the studio was incredibly welcoming to a somewhat lost out-of-towner and the opportunity to view and discuss others’ work as well as my own made the enterprise totally worth my while. i had a positive response to my one-off works, in particular i am safe generated a lot of interest and discussion.
i managed a single sale (from one of my contacts) that covered the cost of the shelf, but not my travel costs. i was hoping to be able to draw conclusions about how i’ve pitched my pricing from the weekend, but the limited audience made that impossible.
i took the opportunity on the sunday to visit the book art bookshop and was lucky enough to catch tanya who kindly made time to look at my work. my impression is that she was looking for a more complex structure than my current editions, but she took a copy of each on sale or return. just waiting for those calls to come pouring in for extra copies 😉
but overall the whole weekend was a learning experience i couldn’t have replicated without just doing it 🙂
maker soph 