I’m just heading into week 4 of the 2nd term of my Masters Degree in Fine Art at Cambridge School of Art, and thought it was time to check in with you guys and share what I’ve been up to.

After a much needed break over Christmas I started the year feeling quite nervous about going back to college. I guess it’s quite normal feeling daunted at the start of a 2nd term, when the adrenalin and newness of being a beginner gets replaced with an awareness of the work and challenges that lie ahead - I’m much happier when I’m busy ‘doing’, rather than contemplating something from a distance.

I have decided to fully embrace milking this opportunity for all it’s worth, and for me that means I’m seeking to make full use of the facilities and expertise, rather than sticking with what I know. Of course this makes things more scary and is a risky strategy when at the end of each 12 week block I have to hand in a ‘final piece’ at postgrad level, when working in a medium I’ve never tried, but it means I’m learning a lot! I spent my 1st term printmaking for the 1st time, this term I’m diving into sculpture, ceramics and maybe textiles!

Module 2 is called ‘Acts and discourses’ - I have to admit I have no idea what that means! But the brief I've been given is to “develop a body of work intended for a place/site in particular of your own choosing.” Basically to create any work for a specific space, anywhere (as long as it’s not a gallery) - so extremely open ended again! Site-specific is the buzz word - work that relates to a space by theme and also physically to it’s locality.

I’ve just completed my written proposal - here’s a link (3rd one down) if you fancy a read, including my reading list, for those who like that sort of thing!

Let me try to summarise - my work will be a celebration of what makes us who we are (the physical & psychological etc that makes up each unique individual). I've called it 'More than the sum of our parts - you matter'. I’m going to focus on body matter for inspiration for the pattern element of my work and contrast that with an expressive gestural part representing our personality. I’ve decided to choose a site for display, where people need their sense of worth and identity boosting, and am hoping to link with ‘Women in Prison’ charity and particularly their women’s centre in Lambeth, London, to share my work.

My bibliography is centred on things like human genetics, art & science, rehabilitation, site-specific art, sculpture, ceramics and textiles. For someone with dyslexia, who hates books and reading, I’m actually quite excited about the reading list I’ve created for myself!

I plan to create 3D versions of body cells in clay (on the potters wheel and by hand), in screen printed fabric and in plastic, to explore which materials work best. I then intend to represent fingerprints and DNA with stripes on one side of the piece and splash the other half with something (?) to provide the pattern and gestural elements.
It feels like quite a bit of this project is beyond my control. The kiln is only fired when there is enough work to fill it, and  each piece needs 2 firings. Also I can contact places I'm interested in as sites for displaying my work, but how they respond and how soon they respond is out of my hands.

Another part of this module is that we are given the task of organising our own group exhibition, and altering our work to fit with the group and this alternative site! I'm actually really looking forward to this as it will give more chance for overlap with others on my course.


So there you have it. My hand in day is 7th May, although there is no timetabled lectures, we’re expected to work through Easter). My plan is to continue a monthly update for you, so you can follow my MA journey with me. Click here to see my past blogs about it, or on the 3 images below.

By the way, I got my results for my last module, a couple of weeks ago, and got 65% (equivalent to 2:1, with ‘good’ written in each box) - not bad for a medium I’ve not tried before, and to hear that my research and writing were matching up to post grad level, despite my dyslexia, was a real encouragement!
Thank you for your interest and support!

On Tuesday I handed in my portfolio, sketchbook, final piece and summary essay for my first module: Critical Practice in Fine Art, at Cambridge School of Art. This was meant to be the product of 300 hours of research but I managed to tot up 510 hours (with 158 of those being work in the studio)!
I thought you’d like to take a little look at what I’ve produced. I’ll also seek to answer your questions of why I’m doing a Masters Degree at all, and whether it’s living up to expectations!

Read back through my previous 2 blogs (month 1 & month 2) to see the outline of what my course entails and what my project has been about. But basically I’ve been seeking to transfer what I do with paint as an artist into printmaking, aiming to produce prints with impact that feel alive.

The theme I’ve worked towards is ‘What Matters’ and is concerned with giving our attention to the things that matter in the midst of a busy life full of distraction and demands. I’ve looked to use vibrant pattern to symbolise busyness and detail, and expressive gesture to represent focus and attention to the moment.

To conclude my body of work I first created a triptych, each piece on 70x100cm paper and tissue, collaged screen print & lithography.

My final piece was A0 (84 × 119cm) - paper, drafting film and plastic, collaged screen print & lithography.

Here is the summary report of my project, for those of you who like all the details!

To finish I handed in a portfolio of my body of work, showing all that has led up to my concluding pieces. Here’s a little video to take you through it.

Seeing as this is my first module I feel rather clueless as to what type of grade and feedback I will receive. I know I’ve worked hard and I’ve handed in a lot. But whether it ticks the right boxes for the examiners still waits to be seen! I’ve not had a massive amount of feedback but think I’ve got the general feeling that they would say if I wasn’t heading in the right direction!

I have reached a stage in my fledgling art business and career where I feel, before I go any further, I want to go deeper. The entrepreneurial side of being an artist can overwhelm and I was finding the admin of the business was consuming the creating side, with me spending less and less time in my studio. Some areas of my career have snowballed, especially the live art side, and I felt I needed time to catch up a little, realising I was painting more in front of an audience, than I was in private where I could experiment and develop. I was hungry to learn and hungry to play and desperate to set some clearer boundaries to my life. I see this as a rest of my life thing and want to establish some good patterns of behaviour.
I had originally looked at doing an art degree but because I’ve done a teaching degree I wouldn’t receive any funding. I’d never considered an MA as I thought it would be too academic, although I didn’t officially know I had dyslexia back then, I knew I found it hard to read and write and hated that side of education, but after investigation I discovered that the course at Cambridge School of Art was practice based and that the leader thought my work of the appropriate standard, the government were ‘happy’ to fund a postgraduate degree and it actually would fit much better with family life.

I would like to receive good grades that reflect all the work I’ve put in this term BUT actually I already feel that this MA has ticked all the boxes for me and as long as I’m allowed to keep going for the full 2 years, then that’s what really matters.
I started the term with practically no experience of printmaking or collage and, although I’m just getting started, I have learnt and grown so much in these areas, and in a way that compliments and enhances my current art practice.
My past experience of art history had completely put me off any type of proper research but being forced to consider theories within the art world and artists relevant to my practice has expanded my mind and developed in me a new passion to learn.
I’ve established some boundaries to studio, research, business and family life that feel a lot healthier and much more fulfilling. To be honest I feel like I’ve finally burst out of the housewife/‘stay at home mum’ bubble I’ve uneasily inhabited for the past 18 years and I’m feeling more alive than I’ve felt in a long time!!
As an aside I’ve been diagnosed with dyslexia (discovered I share a super power with some seriously impressive individuals!) - which is providing me with support and technology and insight into myself that can only serve to enhance my life.


I’m happy to have reached the Christmas holidays, I’ve been working really hard and need a break. But I’m already looking forward to starting the next module and scheming of what things I can get my teeth into next!

Wow, it feels like much longer than 2 months, I’m packing SO much in and learning SO much! Would you like to hear what I’ve been up to at Cambridge School of Art this month?

My 1st month was full of inductions, demonstrations, generally finding my way round (not an easy task!), getting to know my lovely fellow course members a little and finding out what was expected of me. Pop back and see my last blog if you’ve not done so already (for a little tour and more).

My second month has been all about getting really stuck in! My work is pretty much all self directed, so I’ve set myself the challenge of seeing how well my art translates into printmaking (a brand new medium for me). Aiming to create ‘prints with impact, that feel alive’.

I’ve dabbled a little in mono print and risograph but have now honed in mostly on screen print and lithography.
With screen I love the variety of colour I can use (basically any acrylic paint mixed with screenprinting medium), the precision possible, that I can reproduce messy marks as well as neat ones and that I can work big. What I don’t like is that I have to clean up thoroughly every time I want to change colour (I’ve done more cleaning than printing!) And I keep finding new ways of messing up my screen preparation. I over cleaned one screen last week until it split, in addition to blowing all the electrical equipment in the studio due to the excess moisture I’d created!

With lithography I love that it picks up tonal qualities of an image and the more subtle details, and it’s fun to use the equipment! What I don’t enjoy is that it uses oil based ink - 1. It limits my colour choices (unless I mix and it’s really hard getting the right turquoise, although there is a fluorescent pink!) 2. It takes more than a day to dry between layers 3. It’s horrible to clean up (which again has to be done between every colour)

I’m really enjoying printmaking but it’s definitely utilising the more organised side of my personality! It’s the opposite experience to how I paint, being anything but immediate and needing intricate planning and preparation.

This month included some tutorials and a mid point ‘silent crit’ where we displayed our work so far, for our tutor and peers to critique while we stood in silence, not allowed to make comment, response or explanation! Here is a little video of my display:

I actually found it a really helpful opportunity to stop and reflect on things and consider where to take things next. It was a little daunting to realise that my 2nd ever go at printmaking would need to be my ‘final piece’ to hand in at Christmas, due to time constraints. It certainly helps to bring focus and pushes you to aim further than you might otherwise go. I’m learning (I think I’m right in this!) that they are more interested in you experimenting and taking risks and learning through error and changing your plans, than they are in you having a good idea at the start that you complete with perfection and ease. This is pretty releasing really, as long as I leave behind my perfectionism and my need to see things through to completion. I’m needing to make a mental note every so often of things I would like to have more of a play with when I have more time once my MA has finished!

Dyslexia - I have an official diagnosis now and have been granted a disabled student allowance. This feels a really positive thing on so many levels after all these years of academic struggle.

Charlotte Cornish - I had the amazing privilege of interviewing my artist hero last week. She was so generous in sharing her story, process and studio with me, and I came away feeling really encouraged and inspired. Check out her work it is utterly stunning: www.CharlotteCornish.co.uk

Let me finish by sharing some of my most recent pieces. I’m now taking my current prints into a collage direction, which is fun, and a stepping stone towards my plans to take them proper 3 dimensional after Christmas! Click on them to see them properly.

As many of you know, a month ago I started a Master degree in Fine Art at Anglia Ruskin University, here in Cambridge. Well it’s already been over a month and I thought you’d like to know how it’s going.

Firstly let me give you a little look round!

I am doing the part time option over 2 years, not planning to actually do it part time (!) but to allow myself access to all the benefits of the place for 2 years rather than 1, and to space my assignments out a bit more than they would be! Most people do the course part time unless they are from overseas.
I purposefully chose this particular course because there is an emphasis on the practical stuff. Things are pretty much self directed, with a slight emphasis each module/trimester to work towards, we work according to where we want out art to develop.

My first module is called ‘Critical Practice’ and (as far as I understand it!) is just about relating what we are working on to the wider art world, developing a body of work with a purpose and evaluating/adapting as you go. We are expected to give 300 hours to research (academic and studio based), with a 1000 word proposal to say what we’re aiming at (which I handed in last week) and 1000 word summary to say where you’ve got to. You also hand in a sketchbook showing your research and a portfolio of work created.
Timetabled teaching is on Wednesdays which includes seminars, crits, talks, visits, tutoring etc, plus optional demonstrations, workshops and talks on other days.
We have a 6000 word dissertation to hand in at the end of year 1 and we work towards an exhibition at the end of year 2.

Click here to read my full proposal for this module
My art, in a nutshell, is aimed at doing people good through the use of colour, gesture and pattern. Thus far in my career I’ve focussed on painting but with all the teaching and equipment available I’ve decided to start my course by embracing printmaking and to explore how to translate the essence of my artwork into this new medium.
So far I have done inductions and demonstrations in monoprint, screen print, lithography, relief print, risograph and laser cutting. I feel like I’m learning lots of new things, not only the art processes but my artistic vocabulary now includes words like gestural, painterly, autographic, rastoring, registration tabs and proofs (all new to me) not to mention from last week’s essay - exigency, philologist, anachronism, privative, caesura, primordial, contiguousness and dishomogeneity! I think I might use the 1st list more than the 2nd!

One of the things I’ve been wondering about is how much do I just enjoy the chance to try lots of the new things and use the facilities available now and how much do I let myself be steered by what is translatable into working in my studio beyond these 2 years - what if I fall in love with screen printing?!
I’m also trying to work out how much to just play and let myself learn, when I have to try and produce something of quality in a medium I’ve never used by the end of December! I was reminded the other day by an artists friend that actually focussing on quantity rather than quality tends to produce better results, as there is less pressure on the individual piece - so I’m going to let that lead me for a bit.

I’m learning loads and thoroughly enjoying myself! The people in my group are so lovely, with a wide range of ages, experience and nationalities, I already feel like I’ve made some brilliant friends.
I’m taking advantage of everything that’s on offer, including the study skills support - which I’m really impressed with. I’ve always struggled academically, I find reading and writing a massive challenge - I promised myself that I would never have to go back to school or write another essay - and yet here I am! I’ve actually been screened for dyslexia and am told it looks very likely - I have a 3 hour formal assessment this week. I now have a lovely blue overlay to help the letters on a page to be less uncomfortable to look at.
Although this is a ‘part time’ course I have decided to go into college every day and treat this as a job. The separation from the demands and distractions of family life is really helping me to work more efficiently and to set clearer boundaries of when work ends and family fits in. I’m working on MA work 4 days a week and giving 1 day to my art business. I’m busy but am really happy with how things are working and actually feel less stressed than usual.

I aim to do a monthly update blog, sharing with you what’s happening. If you want to make sure you don’t miss my blogs why not subscribe here.