Date: 25th April 2025

Tutor: Jonathan Kearney

Preparation notes:

I need help with –

1. The main help that I need is to decide on what to exhibit at the Graduate Show. I have prepared some ideas that I will present at the tutorial.

2. I want to find a way to make newsprint (my newspaper art work) archival. Who is the best person or department at CSM/UAL that can help me please?

3. For Unit 3 learning outcomes – ‘evidence of plans for showing your work’. Is the graduation show sufficient or do we need more?

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General progress update –

Since our last discussion, I have continued to make art in response to the current issues I feel strongly about. I have been making a series of new work called News Art.

It started with this initial exploration – we have already reviewed the paintings; I have since completed the reflections and learning sections for the blog:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2025/03/27/ma-u3-grief-is-the-thing-with-feathers-painting/

Then I completed these new works:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2025/04/20/ma-u3-newspaper-art-responding-to-headlines/

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2025/04/21/ma-u3-news-art-exploring-silhouettes/

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2025/04/21/ma-u3-news-art-installation-ideas-holding-up-to-the-light/

I have been reflecting on my reflective practice as my process:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2025/04/14/ma-u3-reflecting-on-my-reflective-practice/

I have also started to plan ‘life after MA’ – how I’ll develop my practice in the longer term and in a sustainable way. Here is my initial draft plan:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2025/04/21/ma-u3-building-my-sustainable-art-practice/

I have updated my study statement to include a few new objectives for my latest work since it is an exploration that I hadn’t planned to do at the beginning of the course. They are listed on the last two pages of the statement:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2024/02/03/ma-y1-study-statement-eliza-rawlings/

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Notes from the tutorial –

1. Graduate show – we discussed the different options I presented for the show. Key takeaways are:

– Cheongsam paintings and News Art are two different bodies of work and if we were to show both then they should be displayed separately. Think of them as two separate things.

– If we show the dresses then all will need to have identical mannequins. This I confirmed would be the case.

– News Art feels more urgent and remarkable. There is an energy and there is a voice (be it a quiet voice). Using non-dominant hand also adds to the work with a sense of risk and excitement. All the different layers together. My history in engineering working with newspaper printing presses also feature in this body of work.

– News Art – it feels like everything has been leading to this. A culmination of my commitment to interrogate.

– Practicalities – ceiling is 4m high. Same height throughout the site.

– If we go for a wall display, I could use a builder’s flood light to back-lit the newspapers. Can also have the newspaper coming out at an angle – anchored to the top of the wall but coming out a few feet from the wall at the bottom (like the side of a tent) – this also feels more confrontational. Can use the bottom of the newspapers to hide the flood light units.

– The pieces of newspapers can be stitched together.

– Do not go for an overall coordinated composition, leave it untidy and loose.

– Try flood lighting in day light to see how it looks when illuminated.

– Wall height is 2.4m, some can be 3m. Width can be 1.4m (2 x double page spread)

Other thoughts:

– Don’t rule out cylinder lights for future shows.

– LED light strips to go behind wall mount newspapers, looped around like a drawing.

2. Life after MA – ideas for how to show work:

– Group show.

– What’s going on in the city that might help other events, e.g. late opening of museums. Do a proposal for showing work alongside the event.

– Do not think about the audience, just focus on making work to a deadline, getting the work to a show quality and taking good photos.

– Propose to office spaces.

– Rent artists run spaces.

– Go outdoors! In my case, can go to The Downs where I go to see the crows. Can hang News Art from the trees, set up a table where I paint the crows. Take some crow food and maybe some human food for visitors, too.