Monthly Archive for September, 2011
Just when you thought your fillings and bridge work were secure, McCowan’s Highland Toffee has been saved from closure. Further research has revealed the fizzy Wham bar and Pan Drops sweets have also been preserved.
I’ve added a page to the blog which lists talks this term. So… er… lots of mystery guests, but should soon be fully confirmed… watch this (that) space.
Dates and times subject to change and wild variance. Speak to staff.
Like a Phoenix from the flames, Book and Web of the Week resume usual service, with the first website — the Café Society — suggested by Alex Lunn (thankyou), and the first book being Studio X NY.
Found this interesting take on writers block on Seth Godin’s blog. Just substitute writers block for creative or drawing block and its perfect!
Talker’s block
No one ever gets talker’s block. No one wakes up in the morning, discovers he has nothing to say and sits quietly, for days or weeks, until the muse hits, until the moment is right, until all the craziness in his life has died down.
Why then, is writer’s block endemic?
The reason we don’t get talker’s block is that we’re in the habit of talking without a lot of concern for whether or not our inane blather will come back to haunt us. Talk is cheap. Talk is ephemeral. Talk can be easily denied.
We talk poorly and then, eventually (or sometimes), we talk smart. We get better at talking precisely because we talk. We see what works and what doesn’t, and if we’re insightful, do more of what works. How can one get talker’s block after all this practice?
Writer’s block isn’t hard to cure.
Just write poorly. Continue to write poorly, in public, until you can write better.
I believe that everyone should write in public. Get a blog. Or use Squidoo or Tumblr or a microblogging site. Use an alias if you like. Turn off comments, certainly–you don’t need more criticism, you need more writing.
Do it every day. Every single day. Not a diary, not fiction, but analysis. Clear, crisp, honest writing about what you see in the world. Or want to see. Or teach (in writing). Tell us how to do something.
If you know you have to write something every single day, even a paragraph, you will improve your writing. If you’re concerned with quality, of course, then not writing is not a problem, because zero is perfect and without defects. Shipping nothing is safe.
The second best thing to zero is something better than bad. So if you know you have write tomorrow, your brain will start working on something better than bad. And then you’ll inevitably redefine bad and tomorrow will be better than that. And on and on.
Write like you talk. Often.
A drawing resource space bringing together a number of natural history artefacts from some of Glasgow’s finest public resources into a single location. Designed and facilitated by Anna Tanner and Simon Harlow, the Lab offers a meditative space to study, develop and improve your drawing skills. There will be a series of free drawing classes and lectures available for children, young adults and adults.
For more information visit: www.marketgallery.org.uk
1 October — 30 October 2011
Preview: Friday 30 September 6–9pm
Special Gallery Opening Hours:
Wednesday 11–8pm
Thursday 11–8pm
Friday 11–5pm
Saturday 11–5pm
Sunday 11–5pm
334 Duke Street | Glasgow | G31 1QZ
Tel: 0141 556 7276 | Email: market@marketgallery.org.uk
Metahaven co-edit Print’s October 2011 Issue;
‘For designers dissatisfied with the present conditions, the discourse around design is stagnant. Why are design institutions still wheeling out Ken Garland and Milton Glaser every time we want to talk about our collective conscience? If we make “critical design” what is it criticising? And of what relevance in an ethical appeal of selective client-rejection and humane capitalist social relations when most of us can’t get paid work in the first place? We all know professional institutions such as AIGA and D&AD exist for a conception of the designer – subject as a free agent, in a position of autonomy in relation to clients and coworkers, and with full control over the direction and content of a given job: a conception which is at best rooted in select circumstances and at worst in pure fantasy. We suspect this discourse of ethics and selective refusal of work will, in the face of austerity, be replaced with TOTAL REFUSAL.’ —DSG
Thanks to TtLA,TtR for the tip-off.
News that Glasgow School of Art has set UK fees at £27,000 prompts me to dig out a couple of other recent references to funding, art schools and education, that I’d been meaning to post up for a while.
The first is a detailed interrogation of the recent White Paper for Higher Education in England, on Afterall: Ten things everyone working in or studying art should know about the White Paper for Higher Education in England. The second is a recent edition of the recently relaunched Grafik magazine (no 190) which carries a (less detailed) education special — a large portion of which is dedicated to enquiring about whether a design degree is worth £27,000, and asking designers who aren’t (design) degree educated what their view of design higher education is. There are a range of opinions, but in that annoying way, I’ve chosen to ignore the quotes that go against what I think, and picked out one from Joost Grootens, that I think sums things up nicely (and cosily reinforces my world-view):
“Students seem to be worried about the near-future … My advice always is: study for as long as you can afford, there is plenty of time for work later. If you worry too much about the near future you want assignments that make sense, that are practical, down-to-earth, and ‘real’. But this is so stupid. A school is an artificial environment, outside, but next to, reality … It should be unreal in order to be good.”
That’s a slightly truncated version of the quote, but good starting point for a discussion.
On 911, identity and architecture. Also, an interesting take on this from the perspective of the pervasive influence of the vivid visual image.
Mrs Tsk (aka ….. ) on the bookishness, resolutely sensual rather than conservative, of French books. Interested in this as recently created a homage of (copied) a Gallimard book for someone.
Oliver Pitt (Vis Com Person) is one of a group of alumni representing Glasgow School of Art at this weekends Vault Art event. I might be missing something but the main vault website seems a bit thin on information, but there are various talks and events and things happening too.
If there’s one thing about the internet, there’s plenty to look at. To assist, using some widget-type rss aggregators, I’ve made myself ATN Reader, to visually and textually sort interesting feeds from sites that I like. If you have exactly the same interests as me, then you may like it too.
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