Oh Betty

Stephen Willats

Willats is an artist that was suggested to me by a tutor, as I am currently doing some documentary work on Liverpool youth gangs. Willats is a pioneer of conceptual art. Since the early 1960s he has created work concerned processes and theories in sociology, cybernetics, semiotics and philosophy. He has produced a number of extended projects working with residents of public housing estates across Europe. These images are from an exhibition he put on the the Victoria Miro gallery where he concentrated on 3 families that resided in a tower block in London. He displays the majority of his works as diagrams...

Matthew Williamson

Williamson is a graphic designer and uses an abundance of media and works with collage. I love his work as he uses photographs and blueprints of machinery, adds paint to the images and turns it into a piece of art. It reminds me of industrial landscapes, in an abstract kind of way. He has a signature colour scheme, which is a mixture of earthy tones, angry darks and a slight touch of bright blues and pinks.

Spring had sprung

I was walking to the train station this morning and decided to go through the park seeing as the sun was shining. The air was crisp and the wild spring flowers were out, what a blissful feeling. It's the first time in a long time that I've taken a deep breath and took it all in. I walked extra slow and enjoyed it (usually I'm getting battered by rain, wind or snow).

As the weather is getting better and the nights are gradually getting lighter, me and my mum have decided to build a little wildlife pond in the garden. We're not going to have fish, it causes too much heartbreak when the heron comes to visit, so we're going to have frogs instead. We've been getting clued up on how to attract all the frogs and newts from an old Charlie Dimmock book I got when I was younger. Apparently the trick is to get a few bottles of water from a really old natural pond and some rotting logs from the woods. I've always been infatuated by ponds, I really can't wait.

So it's March! It's quite the month for my family and I. My Nan and Granddad are Celebrating their Golden wedding anniversary! 50 solid years together and they're still so in love. They are the glue that holds my family together, we're going to celebrate this one big time!

My boyfriend and I are also celebrating our anniversary this month. Our first :) it's not exactly 50 years but it could be one day. I love him very much.

Anyway, I've finished my Contemporary Art and Globalisation essay, which doesn't have to be in til the 19th, so it gives me loads more time for my own art practise. Life is good..

Jean-Michel Basquiat & SAMO

SAMO© Graffiti appeared in New York City from 1977 to early 1980. They were short phrases painted on the streets of downtown Manhattan. The tag SAMO© has been primarily associated with the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, but was developed mainly as a collaboration between Basquiat and Al Diaz, with help from a few friends. Diaz had previously been part of the New York graffiti scene, using the tag “Bomb I”. Later Basquiat took on the tag himself, creating some non-graffiti work on paper and canvas using that tag, just before and after killing off the SAMO graffiti by painting “SAMO© IS DEAD” around the streets of downtown in early 1980.

Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks was an American photographer that dealt with issues of racism, bigotry and discrimination. He started his photography career in Washington D.C where these issues became very apparent to him. Parks was a trainee under Roy Stryker, an American economist, government official and photographer.

Gordon Parks is well known for his 1942 photograph, 'American Gothic in Washington D.C' - a parody of Grant Wood's painting 'American Gothic', 1930.

Here are some of my favourite pieces by Parks:

Paul Gonella

I first saw this guy's work when I was skimming through an independent art magazine called +1, in Manchester (on a night out - that's right, I'm a loser). Needless to say I stuffed the magazine into my bag, cut out his work and put on my bedroom wall. The photograph's I'm going to put up are literally but a few of what else he's done, these are just some favourites and what initially caught my eye.

Part of a multiple exposure set using the whole film with 10 click wind-on shot in one session in winter.

Click here for Paul Gonella's Flickr

My Sketchbook

A few scans of some old sketchbook pages by moi

Illegal Facebook Squat Rave!

How amazing is this. Yet again the power of Facebook has taken over England with an illegal rave in a £15million mansion! The rave took place in Mayfair, London and 2000 people turned up. The mansion was abandoned, so it's not as bad as the press and other people are making out. I wish I could have been there to witness the chaos - riot police stormed the house and the surrounding area to get rid of everyone but everywhere was trashed. I found some photographs of it on some news websites. This is going down in history I swear!

Sarah-Jayne Parsons

Sarah-Jayne Parsons is the Bluecoat (Liverpool) Gallery's curator. She came into Uni on Monday to tell us about her job, what it entails and how we, as young local artists, can get involved with the gallery. She gave us some really valuable information. My paper was on fire with the amount of notes I took. Here's a few useful things I picked up...

-What is a curator?

A curator is someone who organizes art exhibitions, designs the exhibition, selects the artists that will feature in the gallery and what work they will show. They're also in charge of caring for the objects and works and ensures they are displayed in the best possible way.

-How to become a curator:

Some people take the educational route and others take curating into their own hands. It's a good idea to curate or co-curate your own exhibitions and gain experience this way. There's nothing like the real thing I guess.

- Different types of curators:

It is possible to specialize in different areas of curating, such as photography, painting, sculpture, ancient artefacts, antiques and so on. You can cover all bases also.

- Why are curators relevant?

This can be a spiky subject for some curators, but it is an important question. Curators supply an element of critical thinking. They can respond to artists and ask questions others may not get the opportunity to ask. Most importantly of all, they are able to document and display some really important works of art and history.

- The core elements of practise:

1. Visualise and communicate

2. Research, scholarship and critical thinking

3. Advocate and network

4. Fund raise

5. Manage people (artists, audience and staff)

6. Manage objects and projects (selection of works, production, installation and interpretation)

7. Manage expectations and budgets