Thursday 20 November 2014

Louise Wilson Interview

Hello Everyone! 

I thought I'd share this interview of the recently deceased Louise Wilson (1962-2014) who was the Professor of Fashion Design at St. Martins. 
Louise talks about her own MA experiences and how education has changed. 
For people that are thinking about studying for an MA in the Arts, I'd suggest to give it a quick watch. 

Hope everyone's having a lovely Thursday afternoon 

Bye for now



Wednesday 19 November 2014

Lincoln Illustration Lecture

Hello Fellow Bloggers!

I thought I'd share with you what I've been up too recently. November has already been a busy month, which I have loved every minute of and there's still more to come!

A few weeks ago I was asked by the Illustration Department at  Lincoln University whether I would be willing to talk to some of the third year students about my work and how the MA Design Programme had informed my practice and I of course excitedly said yes!

So on Monday 17th November I spent a full day lecturing to the 2nd Year and 3rd Year Illustration students. I firstly introduced myself and explained how a lot of their visiting speakers probably talk about their working experiences- to give them an insight into the industry their going in too. But my presentation was going to be slightly different, I was more focused on showing them my work and what to expect after uni.

I wanted to speak quite honestly and open about my journey through Illustration, including the highs and the lows. I think a lot of illustrators suffer from creative block from time and time and it can get very frustrating and disheartening when a project isn't turning out exactly how you planned.
I reassured the students that this perfectly normal and problem solving is why creative people love what they do so much.

I know if I found the creative process easy then I would get very boring very quickly; but I think taking risks, challenging yourself and making mistakes are all part of the creative process and need to be practiced, whatever stage in your professional career.

All the students in 2nd and 3rd year were really engaged and came up to me afterwards to talk individually. They all had different thoughts on where their practice might be heading and I know a few of them were considering continuing in education towards a Masters. I hope some of the advice I gave them was taken as food for thought , as everyone's experiences and opinions are different.

Here's a few images of my Portfolio that I took in to show the students, they all seemed to really like the stock I had printed on, which is 300 gsm Somerset Printmaking Paper. We all agreed that printing on nice stock gives the work a richer quality.
A3 Box Portfolio
The box portfolio is effective when prints need extra attention and need to be handled.
A3 Box Portfolio
Left- Boxing Cows, Giclee Print.
Right - Run Rabbit Run, Giclee Print
A3 Box Portfolio
Left-  MA Dissertation 'Stepping Beyond the Familiar'
 Right- Giclee print called 'Have you got any Polos?' 

Thanks to the Lincoln Illustration Department for inviting me to talk to the students and the students themselves for being engaged and enthusiastic throughout my time there

If students would like any advice or the notes from the slides them please contact me via email at jessicarawlings1990@hotmail.co.uk

Keep your eyes peeled for my next blog post about working with my old college on a Chatsworth House commission.

Thanks for looking
Bye for now