The Pop-up exhibition is on!

                          

 Mixed media studies of Dolly on display with timeline narrative. 

Yesterday was really busy!

 I was a little anxious that I'd got so much to do, within what felt like small timeframes, but it went better than anticipated.  I'd wanted to get my exhibtion prep done over the weekend but I have a family and balance tipped in the favour of spending time with them - so on Monday, I had a bit of a "wwaaaaaaaargh, so much to dooooo" moment.  Moment acknowledged;  I cracked on with my artist statment, compiled some social media content for the PMAG platforms,  and set to thinking about how to set out the exhibition. Then on Tuesday I hit the uni printers!  They were SO kind to me ( Yes.. at this point - I'm grateful to inanimate objects when they behave)  The paper draws in the studios IT room let you load up your own paper so my artist statement, Dolly / Henry timeline and Currie references were all printed onto cartridge paper, and then I shot off to the Gallery to do the install. 

Artist statement.

I was pleasently suprised to find comments in my feedback book - ranging from some quirky art doodles,  to positive feedback about my work in the pop-up studio, I love the " Dolly, keep slaying, you're amazing" comment.  I feel "my work here is done" in that people are identifying with the muse; and the old narrative is not the dominant one.

There was a random comment that the Doll would haunt me forever.. but I am sharing space with this traditional welsh doll and "Ghost" by Kim Somonsson so I'm not sure which "doll" its in reference too.. but it made me think i should make it clearer on my comments book.  (..additional instruction added to book )

 

    Welsh doll                                                    Ghost        

 

    Ur Dolly looks swag                                   Slay Queen Dolly x x x x

    Keep slaying....

 

    Paris anyone?                                           Liking this 3D portrait...

Oddly, I thought that the exhibition would go up quite quickly, after taking down the pop-up studio,  because its dependent on white tac rather than screws or nails.  It actually took a bit longer as you have to see how it looks in situ -  in reality, which is different than on paper sketches, and I still needed measuring tape and a spirit level to get it set out well.

 

    Me with the freshly installed pop-up exhibit.

 

    Artist statement and Curries works

 

    Exhibition 

 

    Dolly studies and timeline narrative

Once installed, the curator came up to take a look and gave it her approval.. phew. Then she asked if the Dolly studies were the originals.  I never considered exhibiting reporductions to protect the originals, but she explained how they display all original art behind glass because there have been incidents where visitors have taken to adding their own "marks" to the work ...luckily, they're exhibited above "small child with pencil" height so I'm taking the risk and leaving them in situ. 

Then I had some more store tours which were amazing! 

This is from the "Ivory and Glass" store.  I love these rats - Sadly, they're carved into Ivory but the curator explained about how thorough ivory legislation is now.  These are historic pieces but there are people that forge antiques using new ivory which is absolutley not acceptable, so the rules about aquisitions are really stringent.

    I've never held ivory. I was suprised by the weight.

 

    Hand embroidery by a 6 year old puts my sewing skills to shame!

 

The PMAG inherited the Staffordshire Police Museum Collection (hence the horse sporting police issue horse gear ) - this is in the social history store.

    Sooo many sculptures in the sculpture store!

                    

                                Historical information about ceramic making processes in the Potteries

        

Archeological stores hold hyena remains found in the area, when the environment was completely different - there's bones going back to the ice age in the stores which are just amazing!

Seeing the stores really makes it clearer what the PMAG look for in an artefact.  There are so many historical narratives and connections between people and places in Staffordshire; we talked about donated items and inherited items that would be better fitted elsewhere and the processes for aquiring and transferring or editing collections. I can only imagine the conversations staff must have - it's beyond interesting, I was just in awe.  It also made me feel really old as some 80's clothes and Barbie dolls have made it into the PMAG collection.  My childhood is literally historic.

   I couldn't leave out this "interesting" mongoose, mid installation for the new commonwealth exhibition.

I shared information to my social media from PMAG's Facebook and Instagram platforms to promote the exhibition.  I'm really hoping for some more feedback from this for my Studio Practice and Context module.

My focus in now totally on finishing my evidence pack for the assessment. I've had a recap over the ethics form and I've updated my risk assessment form.  

My placement has changed quite considerably since the start -so I've made sure that my tutor has my disclaimer form and risk assessement ahead of marking. Pointer: Definately do these before your placement, even if you don't think you need them - Once you have them, you can update them if you need to, but it'll be something ticked off the"to -do" list.  In fact, these forms and the full ethics form, are worth doing, just for the learning and can be included in your evidence to reflect that.