Meeting Lez Brotherston

After recent college tasks requiring us to find work experience, I contacted Lez Brotherston in the hope that I may be able to spend some time with him to gain knowledge on what it is like to be a set and costume designer for large productions. I also wanted to find out how he got to the position he is in today, and if he had any advice for young aspiring designers. Lez kindly agreed to meet me for a chat before the Swan Lake matinee that I would be attending that day, in preparation I did some research in order to put together a compilation of questions to ask him. I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be repeating questions he's answered many times before in interviews, so I made notes from what has already been asked;

• He has Tony awards for Swan Lake and Oliver awards
• Applied to Cenral school of speech and drama to be a stage manager, but after speaking to the stage manager of the youth theatre he helped at, then turned the place down
• He took A Levels and O Levels at the same time after deciding to be a designer
• Went to Central School of Art and Design
• Worked with Christopher Gable of Northern ballet- turned to dance theatre, working on narrative work, as theatre, opera, character and production designer
• First collaboration with Matthew Bourne in Highland Fling in 1994
• Matt and Lez believe "I don't think there are any new ideas; there are only new interpretations of old ideas" "I just think there are ideas floating out there and somehow we all latch onto them"
• Enjoys working on narrative story based work, whether it's ballet, opera or dance
• Costume/prop work at school on The Last Emperor, Highlander
• Would like to do film costume if it could be designed and made by him
• Worked with Adam Cooper
• He claims there is no secret to designing for ballet, there's about 4 things to know
• The most important thing is the idea
• Prefer designing both costume and set, opposed to working with just one or the other

On Saturday 7th we travelled over to Sadlers Wells theatre in London from Shepherds Bush, to see Swan Lake and meet Lez Brotherston. When we arrived I found my way to the stage door cafe to find Lez sitting with Etta Murfitt, Associte Director of New Adventures. Both Etta and Lez were very friendly and welcoming, which was nice as I was feeling a bit nervous about the meeting, unfortunately Etta had to be somewhere so couldn't stick around, but it meant we could crack on with the interview.

Preprepared Questions:

• What made you realise you wanted to be a designer?
• Where did your interest in theatre come from?
• Which A Levels/O Levels did you choose? Did they impact you career?
• Favourite Bourne production you've worked on?
• How do you work past mental blocks, trying to think of something new and original?
• Do you have any regrets, about career choices?
• Do you have any advice for young aspiring designers?

Responses:

•  Lez attended Youth Theatre from a young age into his late teens, this is where his interest in theatre came from, as he got older he was less interested in being on stage, but more interested in the back stage areas of the production, often assisting the stage manager, and creating sets and props.
• After realising he wanted to be a designer he took his A Levels and O Levels at the same time, do a mix of sciences and arts
• At the Central School Of Art he had a small class of 19 people, including the current designer of the west end production of War Horse, and the designer for Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time in the year below
• On his course they learnt about the cut of women's clothes opposed to just period wear, this is so it can be applied to any design.
• The next new production is always the most exciting as new designs can be created
• If you get stuck for an idea, always return to the source and reread briefs, as the answer will be there
• The idea of vampire fairies in the recent production of Sleeping Beauty came by referring back to the story and considering how it could work. The prince just appears at the end, but where does he come from? How does he know about the princess? They wanted to make the prince be around at the beginning too, so there is a connection, but then how would he survive for 100 years? Perhaps if he was bitten by a vampire, one of the fairy vampires could keep an eye out for the princess, so keeps the prince alive to save them both for a happy ending.. These were the kind of ideas Lez and Matt brainstorm at the start of a new production.
• When making models or prototypes, use as much detail as possible so that it is easily interpreted by everyone
• Lez has worked on designing and directing lord of the flies, however it is not a New Adventures production it is a Rebourne project, an educational programme to encourage young boys to dance
• When working on large productions, you get to know the dancers and performers through things such as costume fittings, this becomes quite important, in order to know about different dancers needs, e.g heel height
• Many people work on the production and on the design aspects as a team: Production manager, Props Supervisor  and Costume Supervisor, among various makers. Colin Falconer has worked closely with Lez on sets, it's useful to work with people you have worked with before as you can refer back to previous projects for aspects of design or production that you may want to repeat
• Lez no longer makes the costumes or sets, only designs, however earlier in your career you're more likely to do both
• After graduation when looking for a job, it's important to focus on your main skill, as employers will look for specialities.
• It's your own responsibility to make things happen, it's not your teachers, tutors or bosses, take the opportunities and get things done to achieve what you want to
• Employers in the industry hire on ability, not on grades, take a strong portfolio, with proof of your skills

Peace live at Shepherds Bush

On Friday the 5th of December after a long day of work experience at the V&A, I went to meet my mum for the rest of the duration in London at the South Kensington Hilton. We got checked in and went straight up to our room to relax before attempting anything else for the evening. After carefully inspecting the minibar we decided to go down to the bar for a cocktail and nachos before the gig, the drinks were amazing, and the nachos were perfect.

Batteries recharged we headed out into shepherds bush to the O2 empire to see Peace, I had planned to use this opportunity to take some good photos of the performance, however due to the detachable lens on my camera, it was classed as professional, so not allowed in. This was such a disappointment after sending relentless emails to both the venue and band agency, in order to get a photography pass on behalf of a magazine. We handed the camera in for the evening and tried not to let it ruin the atmosphere, I decided to use the opportunity to experiment with smartphone photography instead. 

I've seen Peace before, so I knew they'd be good, but it's always interesting to see how their performance is adapted to different venues. Drenge were supporting, a guitar and drum duo, they were really good, but alot heavier live compared to on their records.

We chose a standing position near the bar on a balcony area by the stairs, we had a fairly good view for when Peace came on, so I took some photos here to start with.

Looking down over the crowd we could see they were getting a bit crazy, but it looked so much fun down there, so we decided to squeeze our way into the dancing mass.

Everyone was singing along and dancing to the flawless music, the band have an amazing presence on stage, it's as if they excert all their energy out through their music into the audience. I hadn't realised how much bigger the auditorium looked from down on the floor, it was so much bigger than I had thought! The band finished on a cover of a Christmas classic, Last Christmas by Wham, absolutely everyone was joining in by this point, and Christmas cheer spread over the audience, a perfect moment that will stick in my mind for a long time.

When the band finished, the hoards left the auditorium feeling Christmassy and pumped, after collecting my camera, we set off on the cold 10 minute walk back to the hotel, after a pit stop at McDonald's for some hot fries. All in all a great day in London. 

http://peaceforeverever.co.uk/

Club to catwalk

During my work experience visit to the V&A I had the opportunity to see the Club to Catwalk Exhibition, photography wasn't permitted, so I spent over an hour looking at the pieces and taking notes.

Katherine Hamnett slogan Tshirts, in response to politics

Worker unform inspired

John Galliano- looking at different tailoring, "Fallen Angel" above right

Vivienne Westwood- electric, pagan, hobo

Westwood + Malcolm Mclaren- Nostalgia Of Mud, punk art motifs, classic drapery

Blitz magazine and Levi denim jackets, customised by 7 designers including Leigh Bowery and Westwood

Evening wear: beads, tailored, classic Jasper Conran, Anthony Price 'Birds Wing'

English Eccentrics- Helen David, large prints

Betty Jackson "Brave new face of Fashion" - large screen prints so no piece was ever exactly the same

Knitwear- punk jumpers in clubs, Sarah Dallas

Catwalks like a whole performance, very dancey

Wendy Dagworthy- Irish tweeds, liberty prints

John Richmond crucifix jacket, skull shirt "Destroy, Disorientate, Disorder"

Paul Smith- "to sell a plain white shirt, it had to have a point of view" "a coloured button or button hole, or piece of liberty print under the cuff. That's really how the Paul Smith style came along"

Zoot suit - Galliano, Betty Jackson

New Romantic and Westwood + Mclaren 'Pirate' 

Blitz club and Taboo- Leigh Bowery- Steve Strange- famous fashions seen here with famous faces

Body Map- monochrome, stretch fabric

Goth- punk, fetish, dressing up

Glam Fetish- Westwood Mclaren- Fetish and Bondage

Customised- punk leather jackets, biker, women's battle wear

Johnsons the Modern Outfitter

Ripped and torn, Darla Jane Gilroy- sexy

Rave - Rosemary Moore- tube knitted seamless fabric, Pam Hogg

Rifat Ozbek- slogans, customised adidas

I absolutely loved this exhibition, it reawakened my love for fashion, I found it fascinating, especially understanding where the fashions had come from. I only wish I was around in the 80's to witness the crazy time. 


http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-from-club-to-catwalk-london-fashion-in-the-80s/about-the-exhibition/

Work Experience at The Victoria & Albert Museum

On Thursday the 5th I travelled up to London on the train after college, heavy bag and gifts in tow, I made the tube journey from Victoria to Mile End to meet my cousin. We headed back to her house to put our feet up and chat over a glass of wine whilst waiting for Alex, her boyfriend, to come home from work at the V&A. When Alex arrived home we decided to venture out into the cold of Shoreditch, we got off the warm bus to go in search of Vietnamese food and a nice bar. Having never been to that particular area of London before I found it really interesting to see, it had a really good atmosphere through the streets, with a variety of  individual shops open exhibiting their stock/work , all vastly crowded with young people with drinks in hand. We came across a restaurant they had visited before and thought was good, so with a few beers to share (bring your own alcohol) we sat down and ordered summer rolls and rice noodles with chilli chicken and lemon grass.

Unable to finish the meal, we took the leftovers in a box and decided a mulled cider would be a good end to the night, after a mini tour of Shoreditch we found a small bar packed with people enjoying their friday night. Generally I would choose mulled wine over mulled cider, however I was pleasantly surprised, it was like a warm cinnamony apple pie in a cup, very seasonally appropriate! Glasses emptied we made our way home for a decaf tea and chocolate, in preparation for the early start and long day ahead on Friday.

The day begun at 7am with tea and cereal, we left for the tube at 8.30am to get to the museum by 9.30, rush hour tube take 2 was interesting, again with my heavy overnight bag. On arrival at the V&A I got signed  in, with a brief tour of the Learning department on the way to Alex's office on the 3rd floor. Alex took me to the staff canteen to grab a tea ready to explore the museum, we started at the exhibition 'Tomorrow: Elmgreen & Dragset' created by the Scandinavian design duo, based on the elderly architect Norman Swann, it was a site specific exhibition, shown as his luxury South Kensington apartment.

Walking through the building Alex pointed out various rooms, such as the textiles and sculpture conservation studios, Tapestry halls, and special areas only staff have access to. Walking around it is easy to notice how the building changes dramatically, each section different but as beautiful as the one before, this is becasue the building was built over 80 years, so the architecture of the building from the inside changes throughout. Another interesting point Alex made was whilst walking through one of the larger rooms with columns from coliseums in Rome, he explained that architects and historians travelled the world taking plaster casts of monuments which were then rebuilt inside the museum, however today many of the original monuments have been destroyed or decayed, meaning the V&A holds many of the best versions of the monuments.

I made notes on some interesting points of the museum, these are written below:

•  Lots of courses and events 
• Many studios for workshops and courses
• Resident artists hold courses
• 700 employees, 400 on main site
• Departments and archives are scattered around London
• Many different departments on main site, such as conservation, digital learning, cleaning, exhibitions

Digital Learning Department 

• 40 employees
• Many free events e.g digital design weekend, digital kids, digital futures, digital design drop in
• Courses to create income: soft circuits, toy hacking, fashion photography, iPad and smartphone photography

Events happening on the Friday included a workshop on how to use a Rasberry Pi, a small simple computer designed to work with a tv and keyboard on electronic projects. Whilst discovering the Rasberry Pi, Kickstarter entered the conversation, I'd never heard of Kickstarter before then, but I found the idea really interesting. Kickstarter is a website set up to help fund creative projects, anyone can start a project and apply for funding on the site. It works by creators asking for backers to pledge money to enable their project to succeed, a funding goal is set which must be reached for the project to receive any money. Kickstarter would be something to consider for unemployed artists or creative entrepreneurs. 

Other events I had the chance to experience were the amazing Club To Catwalk exhibition of 80's fashion, and Fashion in Motion: Meadham Kirchhoff fashion show. I hadn't expected to see either of these events, so I was thrilled when Alex offered me the opportunity, knowing that I have a large interest in fashion.

Overall my day at the V&A was incredibly eye opening, I felt I learnt alot about how things work behind the scenes of large organisations, also gaining an insight into what it's like to work at a prestigious museum and to have a managerial role.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/

http://www.vam.ac.uk/contentapi/search/?q=digital+learning&search-submit=Go#?q=digital%2Blearning&search-submit=Go
http://www.kickstarter.com

The Quince Tree Sun

Screened last week, The Quince Tree Sun is a film made in 1992 about a Spanish artist who aims to paint a quince tree in his garden every year. The film is incredibly slow paced, by the end you feel yourself yearning for the artist to finish his work, but he never quite makes it. This film requires alot of patience, which is reflected through the anxiety caused in trying to achive precision and perfection, the artist struggles with this in waiting for the exact light and angles over and over again. Throughout the film, the artist marks the fruit and background walls to record how much the fruit has dropped each time he returns to paint the quince tree. Also featured in the film are a group of builders who are working on the house next door, the builders are very contrasting to the artist, where they work quickly and efficently, focusing less on the precision and detail in the work, where the artist query's over every aspect.
This wouldn't be my first choice of film, and very different to what I may usually watch but it was interesting none the less, however I don't think I'll be queueing up to watch it again any time soon.

Southampton Solent

On Saturday 30th of November was Southampton Solent University open day, I travelled up with my mum to look at the Fashion, Graphics and accommodation. We attended the open day last year, but after completing ALevels, I decided to do a Foundation course, so couldn't remember much about the Solent courses and thought it best to look again. I really like Southampton, visiting my brother and friends there more recently whilst they study at Warsash, the city has become more familiar and homely to me. The university itself is nice, situated opposite a large park right in the centre of the city close to the Guildhall, shops and restaurants. We managed to see one accommodation of 6 different buildings, I would have like to have seen another, as they are all different, with varying lay outs. For each course I attended talks and tours, notes I made are written below:

University and city:

• Main campus in city centre
• Good high street and West Quay shopping centre
• Good night life
• Not too far from home, or friends and family in Southampton
• Okay accommodation
• Most places within walking distance
• Parks
• Lots of music venues

Graphics:

• Final major project is a book
• 1 day a week technical computer training
• 14 hours contact time
• 27 hours suggested home work - 9-5 everyday
• 4 days a week
• Encouraged everyday make 3 mistakes, to learn
• Buildings open until 9
• Portfolio: creative, evidence of hard work, range of work
• 400 applicants for 50 places
• Encouraged to read about graphic design, to answer, why? what? questions
• Links with Industry
• Course leader: susie.smith@solent.ac.uk
• 3rd year profession context unit for entering competitions
• No holiday projects, but encouraged to keep working/creative thinking
• Really nice open studio
• Good equipment
• 10 minute walk from main campus

Fashion Design:

• Head of fashion - Pascal Mathias
• Focusing on how to communicate
• Yr 1: - Illustration, mood/trend boards, CAD, pattern cutting, garment construction, creative process
• Yr2: - deconstruction project-anatomy, live project for industry-high profile brands, menswear, childrenswear, work experience-Topman TedBaker FatFace, dissertation research
• Yr3: - final major project- either made or 2D, professional portfolio
• Lots of trips to London- every 6 weeks
• Collaborations
• Trips abroad
• Good facilities, workshops and machines
• Framework given for long holidays, not marked projects
• 12-15 hours contact time
• 1:1 tutorials
• Macs available, studios open late
• Library open until 12, 24 hours over exam period
• 50 places, 200 applicants

After each talk I had a little chat with the course leaders, with the opportunity to ask extra questions and find out a bit extra about the courses and university, both teachers were extremely helpful and really approachable. In particular after the fashion talk, Pascal took mum and I on a mini tour to the fashion department, as we hadn't had a chance earlier in the day. We were shown where you could rent out equipment such as professional DSLR and film cameras, on the way to fashion, here we looked at the studio space and students work. Talking to Pascal we discussed various elements of fashion and further education, which I found very insightful, he asked me a few questions such as, "why do you like fashion?" I'd never really considered this before, but since then I have been thinking about it a lot and await answering the question properly if I get an interview. I hope to apply to both courses.

The Matrix

On Wednesday we were shown The Matrix, a famous 1999 action sci-fi movie looking at reality and simulated realities. The story follows a computer hacker named Neo, who is found by a group of rebels who jump between reality and the simulated world, which created by machines to feed off humans energy, known as "The Matrix". The rebel group aim to free the minds of the human race, however they are in search of "the One" the only person capable of overthrowing the machines and agents within the false reality, they believe this to be Neo.
The interesting part of this film was in the confusion of reality and dreams, never quite knowing, until your mind is awoken to the true reality. I found the dream aspect of the film similar to Waking Life by Richard Linklater, an animated film about lucid dreaming, both films struggled to differenciate between dreams and realities, searching for answers about life and reality.
How do we know that we are not dreaming, and how do we know when we are? If you have as much control in your dreams as you do in reality how do you tell the difference? If you have a memory, how do you know whether it was real life or just a vivid dream?
My dreams are often very realistic, so I find myself asking these questions occasionally, especially when trying to differenciate between memories of dreams and memories of life.
The film was quite different to recent films screened, but quite enjoyable, I'd seen half the movie before, so I had a vague idea what it was about, however this time I followed the film more successfully and gained an understanding for the concept being portrayed.

Koyaanisqatsi

Recently Koyaanisqatsi was screened at college, an art house film documentary made in 1983 by Godfrey Reggio. Koyaanisqatsi translates as "crazy life" "life in turmoil" and "life out of balance", the film looks at the serenity of nature in comparison to man made places, such as factories and cities. Using different speeds of filming, and time lapses, it enabled us to see so much more movement than the human eye would normally capture, which revealed many repeat patterns in clouds, water, rocks and sand. 

The scenes of nature were accompanied by calm, light music, whereas the scenes involving humans or man made structures were accompanied by frantic, heavy music, reflecting the speed and level of movements shown. In the film, human life was represented as being destructive, with no happiness, only showing the world working as a machine with no character. Hopi prophesies were shown at the end of the film, which reflected on the scenes shown throughout, it made me consider the destruction and the mess we have created, in a world that can be so beautiful.

Nottingham Trent University

To visit Nottingham Trent University, we travelled up on Friday the 8th of November on a mammoth 5 hour journey ready for the open day on Saturday. We met up with my aunt, who was visiting her daughter who studies at the university, on friday evening where my cousin showed us around Nottingham city center. We had dinner at Jamie's Italian, followed by a cocktail at Coco Tang, a lovely cocktail bar in the town across the road from Jamie's. At the end of the night I went back to stay at my cousins accomodation in the Gill Street Halls in her flat for the night, this gave me the opportunity to look at this accomodation, and get a taste of what it's like to stay in University halls. The following day we were up early for breakfast and the 10am registration for the open day, we attended talks and looked around various buildings, my notes are below.

University and city:

• Lovely city
• Good high street
• University cituated in city center
• Beautiful old buildings mixed with new buildings 
• Gill street accommodation is perfect but £126-148 per week
• Other accommodation not so good
• 3 hours from home
• New large library
• Good student union

Graphic Design:

• 57% foundation students 35% A Level students
• Live briefs
• High profile collaborations
• High employment rate
• Competitions
• 3 days a week studio contact time 
• 5000 word dissertation and creative portfolio 
• 145 students I'm course, broken down for workshops
• Transferable skills
• Really nice studio
• Macs in studio

Portfolio:

Show creative thinking: ideas, experimentation, problem solving process- visually

Digital portfolio

Fashion Design:

• Focused on teaching traditional garment construction
• Visiting specialist lecturers
• International study exchange, 6 months in second year, have to have 7k in bank at time
• Top 3 applicants for fashion design- 12-1400 applicants for a 75 intake
• Yr1- 2 major projects, weekly tutorials, weekly drawing and CAD
• Project 1- uses white, produce a garment, life, paper, 3D manufacturing
• Project 2- sustainable live project, photoshop, illustrator
• Yr 2- 2x 2week electives e.g forecasting, journalism, visual presentations
• Team project industry menswear tailoring e.g ted baker, topman
• 2nd project individual work, portfolio to garment
• Competitions- old navy, A&F- 3 paid internships $800 per week
• 3rd year- dissertation draft by Xmas
• Collection 4-6 gramsnts or product (min 3 garments) magazine, brands, graphic
• Tokyo, Paris and London fashion week
• 93% in employment
• 280 Ucas points or foundation
• Well equipped with specific machines
• Time for part time work
• No macs in fashion area
• Specialist workshop rooms, some shown on the sign below

As I felt quite unwell on this particular weekend I found it difficult to concentrate during the talks and didn't engage with them as much as I would have liked to. However I found the fashion talk and course more inspirational than the graphics and really interesting in terms of course content. and the opportunity to do product for the 3rd year final is really appealing. I'm considering applying for the Fashion course for 2014.

National Open Art Exhibition

On Friday 15th I visited the National Open Art Exhibition in chichester with my mum and grandma, at the Minerva theatre where we met up with my aunt, who was volunteering as a receptionist. As she'd seen the exhibition many times whilst working she kindly showed us around, talking through each piece of art work with with us and sharing extra background information. There were some very interesting pieces, with a variety of disciplines such as painting, textiles and photography. Some works were very inspiring, I particularly liked some of the print work, one where the artist had printed owls and images onto feathers creating a very interesting effect, another was a very intricate etching which had enormous detail. Some of the photography used really good editing skills, experimenting with the techniques they used, to create similar effects, would be a good exercise to practise photo editing.

A selection artists that interested me ,and their work, are shown below with links to their websites.

Kara Chin

http://www.thenationalopenartcompetition.com/gallery2.php?as=1&Order-6187
http://karachin.wix.com/myart




Michael Vogt

http://www.thenationalopenartcompetition.com/gallery2.php?as=1&H43-Hubert-Robert-5974
http://www.michaelvogt.co.uk




Joe Liam Reddy

http://www.thenationalopenartcompetition.com/gallery2.php?as=1&Hand-I-8479
https://mobile.twitter.com/joeliamreddy




Rogan Brown

http://www.thenationalopenartcompetition.com/gallery2.php?as=1&Kernel-7079
http://roganbrown.com/home.html




Rebecca Jewell

http://www.thenationalopenartcompetition.com/gallery2.php?as=1&Cape-of-Pacific-Voyages-6674
http://www.rebeccajewell.com


http://www.thenationalopenartcompetition.com

Arts University Bournemouth

We visited Arts University Bournemouth on Saturday 16th to look at the fashion and graphics courses, we attended the subject talks and looked around the campus. It would have been nice to visit the accommodation but on this particular day we decided not too as I was feeling quite unwell. Notes I made throughout the day have been written below.

Campus and accomodation:

• Nice campus
• Mostly shared housing for accommodation
• New accommodation being built
• By the beach
• Close to BU
• Easy bus travel
• All creative courses on campus
• Large refrectory with good food
• Large open well stocked library

Graphics:

• High level ofnwork
• Mostly digital based
• 1 day a week digital training
• Lots ofmawards won (D&AD)
• Screen print and manual work not encouraged, but can be done
• Focused more on the prospect and idea than making
• 1:4 ratio of people accepted to applied
• 100% employment over the last 2 years

Fashion:

• Different routes- web design, fashion film
• 2 week work placement - year 1 summer term
• Specialism chosen year 2 spring term
• 5000 word research project
• Showmat graduate fashion week
• 80 first years, of 300/400 applicant, split into 4 groups
• Childrenswear
• Collaborations
• Lookbooks
• Internship also in 2nd year, 3 months e.g live project
• Live projects/internships with companies such as Next, Jimmy Choo, McQueen
• Employed graduates have jobs at: Abercrombie and Fitch, Harrods, Erdem, Hollister
• 3-4 days a week in college
• Possibility to do erasmus
• Everyone who qualifies gets interviewed
• Quick response after interview

What they look for in interview:

• Range of work
• Individual work- different to standard foundation work
• Something made
• Sketchbook
• Want to know about you
• 280 ucas points or foundation  

Fireworks

I missed the first display at Thomas A Becket so I went with my mum to Worthing Seafront for the pier display and market on Wednesday the 5th. We wandered down through the town that had become alive with music and bustling people. lit up with strings of lights and fair ground rides. The market was mostly food stalls with exotic and traditional cuisine from around the world, having already eaten, mulled wine in mind we went off in search of a warming beverage to take down to the beach. Majority of the stalls didn't have a license for alcohol, just about to give up we noticed a stall run by a restaurant selling soup, mulled wine and mulled cider, perfect for this wintry evening!
Hot drinks in hand we headed down to the beach to find a good spot to view the fireworks and plant the tripod in preparation for some night photography. We ended up in a sheltered spot almost under the lido, to avoid the glare of the lights from the fair and ready for the long exposure for the firework photography. All set up we eagerly awaited the start of the display among hundreds of others who'd travelled especially for the occasion.
The display was magnificent, with fireworks bigger and better than previous years looking magical in the unusual surrounding, explosions from the end of the pier reminiscent of the ending to a Disney film, we watched in awe. As the last firework faded into the night sky, the crowds began to drift back towards the glowing lights of the town, this was our opportunity to recreate scenes from artcamp in lodgehill practicing night time photography techniques. 

I mainly experimented with long exposures and using a flash gun in the dark, the outcomes were interesting with some successful images created. The fireworks was a great photographic opportunity and I really enjoyed the traditional autumnal bonfire night, photos to follow. 

Winchester School of Art

Winchester school of art is part of Southampton University which is included in the Russell's group of Universities, a selection of the most prestigious universities over the country, due to it's high level of research and teaching. Winchester is a lovely city and not too far from home or Southampton (where I have close friends and family), the Campus itself is quite new and very light with most studios including north facing light. The courses I went to look at were Fashion and Textile Design and Graphic Arts, both of which have similar course formats, I have summarised my notes from the talks and open days below:

University and city:

• Beautiful city
• Close to Southampton (15 minute train journey)
• Halls 15 minute walk to campus
• Really nice campus and building (lots of windows and naturals light)
• Large studio space
• Cars allowed in halls but not without valid reason e.g medical
• Flats in halls had no sofa area, just kitchen/dining area
• All rooms in halls ensuite
• Lots of pubs
• Good night life in Southampton with bus home 2am

Both courses:

• Impressive back log of job placements after graduation
• ABB/foundation pass
• £9000 per year
• Opportunity to do what you want to do
• Time for part time job in first and second year if required
• No set holiday projects but encouraged to keep working
• Course leaders have large background in industry
• All teachers are practitioners
• Looking for creative journeys in sketchbooks at interview
• Opportunities for exchange trips
• Lots of media suites with Lynda.com for online support
• First semester is a range of workshops for every pathway
• Pathways chosen in second semester
• Focused on employability
• Range of printers- mimaki, 3D, wallpaper
• Screen print room
• Library has one of the largest artist book collection
• Enter a range of competitions

Fashion and Textile Design:

• Research centres at the Tate and the V&A
• Reflective journals in year 2 and 3, 3000 and 4000 words
• Workshops open 8am-8pm Monday-Saturday
• Flexibility on which workshops to attend
• Range of knitting and weave machines

Pathways:

• - fashion design
• - knitwear for fashion 
• - printed textiles
• - woven textiles

Graphic Arts:

• Very self directed and flexible
• Links to studios in Berlin
• Students often take on extra projects
• Learn transferable skills
• Interview all applicants 1:1
• 90/95 intake of 300/400 applicants

Pathways:

• Graphic design
• Illustration
• Photography
• Motion Graphics

Both courses looked really interesting, I liked the amount of freedom there is, especially on the graphics course where you can do anything you like, merging the pathways if that's where you're journey takes you.The college is also really well equipped with a large range of new and old machines, and large working spaces to suit all different needs.

Northbrook College Review

On Wednesday afternoon we had the opportunity to look at BA courses that also take place at the college, the event started with a brief summary talk on what the college has to offer after our Foundation course. Below are some of the key points made in the talk,

Why go on to Higher Education:

• Personal Factors - new ways of thinking and seeing, opportunities, social elements
• Career Factors - employment, earnings, qualifications
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Better employment rate
• Higher pay
• Professional subject knowledge

Why choose Northbrook:

• High contact hours
• High student satisfaction
• High achievement
• High value
• Progression to employment

After the talk I went to look at the Costume Design, Photographic Arts, Fashion Media and Promotion and the Fashion Design courses. I was slightly pushed for time so didn't get to look around as much as I might have liked too, however we got a long guided tour of the costume design course and classroom. For the other courses, I have spent time looking at the appropriate leaflets and booklets to get ideas about which may interest me. I really liked the look of the fashion media and promotion course because it incorporates so many different subjects, such as fashion, graphics, and business work. The fashion design course also looked good, but I'm still unsure if I want to go specifically into fashion, I have the same issue with photography as I'm not sure where the degree will take me. Costume design was really interesting, and the classroom had a lovely vibe, talking to the teachers, who were very friendly, made it sound as though the workshop is always an open place for students, and quite relaxed. My only issue with costume is how much time they spend on period costumes,  I am interested in making these types of garments but not for a large amount of time as this course suggests. I will be considering Northbrook in my applications, however I had hoped to move away from Worthing for University as I have lived here all my life, the idea of moving away to gain independance is in someways more appealing to me.

Bath Spa University

This is a short review on Bath Spa University after visiting on their open day on Saturday 19th. I went mainly to look at the Fashion Design course, accommodation and the university itself, however whilst there we stumbled upon the Graphic Communication course which I found really interesting. I'd never been to Bath so we spent time over lunch looking around and exploring the city centre. I've summed up the 3 categories in bullet points below,

University and the city:

• Beautiful place
• Nice accommodation
• No cars in halls
• Lots of hills
• Not too far - 2.5/3 hours
• Good high street
• Good bus service
• Lots of green park areas
• Not too far from friends and family
• Each course is allowed to use other equipment in different areas of the college 

Fashion design course:

• 9-5 everyday, possibly more
• Summer, Christmas and Easter projects
• Very committed, have to know what you want
• Well informed course leader
• Industry links
• Close connections with the Bath Fashion Museum
• No time for part time job
• Rarely time to see friends/family

Graphic communication

• Course looks good
• Really nice course leader
• Industry links
• Students work looks really interesting
• Potential to do what I want to do
• Well informed course leader

I have decided that the Fashion Design course isn't for me, as I am not yet decided that I'd like to be a fashion designer, so the commitment is too much. During University I would like the opportunity to have a part time job, this is another reason I'm not keen on the fashion course, but need to enquire further with the Graphic Communication course whether this is possible along side college commitments.  

Portsmouth University

My review on Portsmouth University after attending the open day on Saturday 5th October. I looked at 3 main areas, the Fashion and Textiles course, the accommodation, and the SU and student bar. 

Fashion and Textiles course:

• Industry links
• Focused on employment after graduation
• Course looks good
• Learn useful techniques 
• Good work space
• Sketchbooks without writing
• Options for dissertation

University and city:

• Good place to be
• Nice accommodation- but bad social area in flat
• Good high street
• Lots of gigs
• Not far from home
• New building looks good
• SU and bar looks nice
• Good night life
• Possibly no car in halls
• Easy train journey to Southampton or Worthing 

Volunteering/Work Experience Ideas

Task for Thursday 17th:

You are to research and develop a proposal for a voluntary position/work experience activity to engage with by 1st January 2014. Try to be bold in your selection and do not be put off by thinking it won't happen (three years ago one student spent time with Rankin; so be bold and determined).

Develop a letter/application and a rationale for why you consider it appropriate.

Volunteering and work experience ideas:

• Amberly museum printing workshop
• Charity shop window dressing
• Work experience with Lez Brotherston, stage, set and costume designer
• Marks and Spencer promotional design team
• Work with local graphic designer

For my work experience I have decided to write to Lez Brotherston in the hope to gain a day or two work experience with him. The chances of this happening are very slim, but it can't hurt to try, especially as I will be seeing his work at the upcoming performances of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. Lez Brotherston is an award winning British set and costume designer, working extensively on film, operas, dance, theatres and musicals.

I first came across Lez when my godmother sent me a DVD for my birthday of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, her favourite ballet, she'd already told me a lot about, knowing how interested in dance I was. My mum and I sat down to watch the film production and were instantly engaged by the familiar Tchaikovsky accompaniment to the not so familiar choreography. As the performance progressed we began to notice the interesting costume and sets, showing thought out designs, with the sets focusing on perspective and the costumes on original creativity.

The first live performance I'd seen using Lez's designs was Edward Scissor Hands by Matthew Bourne at Sadlers Wells in London. I remember being in awe at the set in particular, and how the dancers incorporated the constructions and props into the performance working with it and around it.

Lez's work is inspirational to me, to be able to spend any amount of time with him, talking about his work and how he got to where he is now would be wonderful. If this doesn't work out I have plenty of other ideas, but if you never try, you never know, I think this quote from Lez sums this up quite nicely,

"You have to feel comfortable enough to say "Here's an idea, it may be terrible" because out of something terrible, something great may happen."

Tony Warner Seminar

Wednesday 16th seminar was held by Tony Warner on the subject of black history month. Tony is an activist/historian passionate about educating people and sharing his knowledge of the heritage of African people in Britain. The talk began by Tony asking a series of questions about black saints and noblemen, looking at how we perceive them nowadays in comparison to how they were perceived 500 years ago. In the 16th and 17th centuries Africans in portraits and paintings had a royal portrayal, one of the first changes was noticed in 1863 in the painting "The Secret of England's Greatness" by Thomas Jones Barker. The painting shows an African king kneeling to queen Victoria as she hands him a bible, in the original sketch they are both standing on the same level, but for some reason the artist later changed the scene to as it is now.

Another question I found puzzling, was that when asked if there were black people in world war 2, no one had any knowledge of their presence in helping Britain in the war, why we weren't taught this in school is questionable. Men from the Caribbean in Trinidad and Jamaica assisted Englishmen alongside 2.5 million Indian men, whom without we may not have achieved the same outcome to the war.

Tony was very interactive with the audience, encouraging us to be vocal about our views, opinions and perceptions. The following main point to be made, was in recognising positive and negative images of black people, then considering which type we see most commonly. We revealed that the media, in particular the television and music industries, predominantly promote the negative images such as violent gangster hip hop music and provocative dancing, opposed to images of happy families, or traditional African culture being passed through generations.

The result of the largely negative representation of black people is reflecting on children of the next generation, tests have been carried out from the fifties on children to analyse their reaction and understand how they feel about the subject. A common test is one using two dolls, one black, one white, the child is then asked a series of questions such as, which is their favourite doll, then select the good doll, then the bad doll and then the doll that looks most like them. The results show that in general most children chose the white dolls as their favourite and the 'good' doll, with the black doll as the 'bad' doll, one young girl even said she didn't like herself because she was black, which is heartbreaking. It's astounding that children so young can have such clear views on peoples appearance reflecting who they may be, or may not be in many cases.

I went into the lecture with a fairly closed mind not knowing what we were about to witness, but expecting to be half asleep by the end, however I was pleasantly surprised. Tony's talk was eye opening and very interesting, he explained his points clearly for everyone to understand, backing them up with photos and the occasional amusing video, I can genuinely say I learnt a lot and am glad I attended.

Tony's Warners website: www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk

Community Project Task

Task for Wednesday morning and afternoon:

You are to work as a small collective and together research and develop a proposal for a community based activity to be delivered by 1st January 2014. Try to be adventurous in your selection and move beyond the expected. Be considerate of practicalities. There will be limited if any funds available to support the activity; inventive problem solving is critical.

Group brainstorm community projects ideas:

• Buy charity shop clothes to alter and restyle to sell at a profit for charity
• Have a stall at a market
• Hold a stall at a Christmas market
• Decorate poppies to sell for remembrance day
• Secret sculpture making in town
• Pumpkin carving installations
• Bonfire night activities and food

As a group we discussed the potential and practicality of each of our ideas, looking more in depth at each individually. The group was split over a few ideas, with some being agreed as really good but were thought to be a little too complicated or expensive, in the end we settled with the idea of creating a sculpture or installation in the town.

Through research we discovered an opportunity to create our work on a main roundabout in the town centre alongside a sculpture of a winged horse by Alan Tobias-Williams.

Another idea we thought may be interesting, is to put our sculpture in place during the night/evening when there will be less people around, the idea behind this plan is in an effort to bring an element of surprise and wonder to local workers, shoppers and visitors of the town the following day.

Expanding Contextual Horizons

Task for Tuesday 15th
A proposal to expand your contextual horizon: Research 5 activities to engage with/attend by 1st January 2014. Try to be adventurous in your selection and move beyond the expected. Suggest how each could inform the development of your practice.
Remember eg it is really important that you do not simply go ONLY to ‘photography exhibitions’ if you are a photographer.
One of the activities needs to be local ie Sussex based. One of the activities needs to be a group activity discussed and agreed with your peers.

Ideas for 5 activities:

• Illuminated Palace at Brighton Pavilion- Friday 1 November 6-10
• South Of England Christmas Show- 14th-17th November
• Country Living Christmas Fair- 30th October-5th November
• Thomas A Becket Middle School Fireworks Display- 4th November
• Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake- 7th December
• Work experience at the V&A- 6th December
• Peace concert- 6th December
• Tulley's Farm halloween activities
• The National Open Art Exhibition- 14th-30th November
• Crystal Fighters concert- Thursday 21st November

In our group we have agreed to go to the Thomas A Becket firework display, we will use this opportunity to work on night photography techniques and may use it to influence our artwork after the event.

For my sussex based activity I have chosen to attend the National Open Art Exhibition at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester. The National Open Art Exhibition is a registered charity that aims to provide a fair and open platform for artists to exhibit, sell and promote their work annually at one of the venues across the UK. In attending this exhibition I hope to see and experience new and exciting artistic work forms, which may inspire or influence my own work.

The idea of seeing Matthew Bourne's performance of Swan Lake is to look at the costume and set design aspects. Matthew Bournes productions never fail to astound me, the choreography is breathtaking and Lez Brotherston's design work on the production is unbelievable.

Also the first weekend in December one of my admired bands 'Peace' are playing at the O2 Shepherds bush empire, where I'd seen 'Alt J' almost a year previously. The Alt J gig was inspiring in so many ways, with the scene and atmosphere dream like, I hope to have a similar experience at the Peace gig. My aim is to capture the event and atmosphere in photographs to then use in my work, encapsulating the essence of the night to reach out to all the senses.

On Thursday the 5th of December I will be travelling up to London to complete a day of work experience at the V&A on Friday 6th. Showing me the ropes and giving me tasks will be Alex Flowers, a family friend. Alex contributes to setting up many of the exhibitions, and works prodomininantly on the digital media and displays within the exhibition and visual learning. From this experience I hope to gain knowledge on how large museums organise exhibitions, and how the digital media may be created, and the impact on modern technologies to the exhibitions.