After the initial curation team meeting we then split into groups according to our allocated space. I was initially in the group for the space SG44a as I was initially looking to do an installation type piece using office equipment as well as my work fleeces embroidered with text relating to my feelings while working in the workplace.
I originally was going to work on this piece and the space I was given worked well as I had enough floor space and the pieces around me such as Jiji's mannequins and clothing pieces and Louisa's textile and painting piece worked well in materiality. The main points I took away from this meeting is that I needed to really consider the type of furniture I wanted to use, and to experiment with different ways of displaying my work, and what accessories I want to use to show that this is an office space.
These meetings were also a good opportunity to see what those who didn't send in a proposal by the first deadline are doing, and to get more of an idea of scale and medium for these pieces. We did have some discussions with regards to Emily Gardiner's piece as she was originally placed by a wall with no natural light really hitting it, and the space wasn't entirely suitable for the scale and concept of the piece. We did end up compromising with the bay window space, as the architecture of the building worked really well with the victorian aspects of her bath that she is proposing to use. This was initially a temporary decision as we weren't sure if Maisie was going to change her piece or not. However, come the second curation meeting, it was confirmed that Maisie was to only show her photographs and not her costume pieces, which meant that Emily was able to use the bay window. Emily had also mentioned that she was to change her piece slightly and instead of having a hung curtain from above, she will have a large piece of fabric draped around the base of the bath. This will be less intrusive on the space and would work well alongside the other pieces.
In terms of my own piece, after this initial group meeting, I then made some screen prints inspired by my text embroidery pieces, and I had really liked these pieces. I felt that these pieces really captured my aims and concepts of my practice in terms of highlighting workplace stress and bullying. I felt that my choice of font, colour and imagery all work together and it was an effective final outcome from all of my initial pieces. I then thought that these would be amazing to display across a large section of wall and started to rethink what I wanted to display in degree show. My tutors had also agreed that these prints were a lot more successful and that my fleeces, even though they were successful they lacked what my prints managed to capture. So I decided to email Craig and see if I could have a wall space and potentially show my prints alongside my fleece or just show my prints.
After discussion in the second curation meeting, we agreed that I would need a wall space for my prints as placing them on office equipment as an alternative would over complicate the themes and concepts of the piece, as well as the overall look of the piece. I also felt that I should display one or the other, as having both might be too much. I was finally found a more suitable space in PS2 which is a large wall, big enough for multiple prints, as well as potentially hanging my fleeces if I wanted to, which is something that I'm considering but not 100% sure if I want to. I need to see what the prints would look like first, and I think I might also try and do some more screen prints.
Overall I'm happy with my final space, and I can now really start to develop my degree show piece in terms of display and really research further into the themes of workplace harassment and bullying, and even try to have the display of the prints to reflect how I felt working at this place. I think having this wall space will also help me to really develop how I want to display my pieces, and potentially further the reading of my work.
