Summer 2019 saw me graduate as a Contemporary Art Master. Over a 3 year part time course I was able to interrogate my own art practice. Using University facilities such as Print Rooms, The Library, Studio Spaces, Computers, & Office Spaces I was able to make work that I could never have done out of an institution. I was supported by amazing Artist Tutors, Technicians, Visiting Artists & my Cohort - all exactly why I went back into education after graduating Ba years before. Having time to mature as an artist was the goal that I have achieved & now it must continue.

So what do I do now?

One of the main themes that emerged in my work is a condensed practice which is achieved through the work that is made to expand & contract. Once the work is contracted it should pack down & take up a small amount of storage space. Not only is this a practical solution for storage & transportation, it is also a defining constraint that informs how my work uses materials & display space. There is little to no waste.

In order to keep momentum, now, at a time when I would normally be preparing to start a new project, I have taken a look back at an older work, one that takes up quite a lot of space. A work from 2 years ago, made for Art Week Exeter consisting of 200 printed boxes needed a review. The reworking of this project saw a reduction of its parts.

In an expanded form this installation fills a space roughly the size of a single garage. In a packed down form it fills roughly a quarter of a double sized shed. The shed unit of measurement is currently what I am working with so in order to maximise my storage this work has to shrink in size. The screen printed images on the card are still relevant to my practice & are useful for future work, so I decided to cut them all out.

The cut off parts of the boxes are destined for the recycling centre, but before that they are ratchet strapped together. The forms are a final solute to how they have contributed to the progress of my work, stacked & bound. The forms are reminiscent of miniature tower blocks. The very edges of the prints are visible on the card leaving a trace of the missing images with stained or scorched looking sides.

Once removed there is a neat stack of cardboard prints of Exeter Civic Centre’s structural cladding unit. They are ready for another day, aprox 400 of them.