Part D...

White lie -noun a lie perceived as or intended not to harm, but told in order to avoid distress or embarrassment.

I chose to name my project 'little white liars' because my project is based around the concept of white lies, which come into everybody’s daily life but a lot of people don’t like to admit to telling them. I find it interesting how many people tell white lies subconsciously as though it is part of a routine, and how a white lie is an accepted lie in society. Just as people tell white lies there is a certain understanding that we encourage them so our feelings are not hurt.
I also wanted to highlight people’s perceptions and first impressions they have towards other people by mixing up who said what lie. From this I wanted people to become aware of the prejudices they have just from a picture and show how these judgments may not necessarily be true and hopefully cause them think about this in their everyday life. I also wanted to create a piece of work that everybody can relate to and reflect personally from, and show how similar human beings are.

To start my project I asked random members of the public on the street for the last white lie they had told. Or one they could remember. It was important to involve as many different types of people as possible to get a variety of lies and images. I then recorded their answer on an audio recorder, as a quick reliable source to go back to, rather than writing their lie down. Got I them to cover their face with it a piece of white card while I took a full body photograph of them. It was essential in the photograph to capture all of the body so you were still able, without seeing their face, to know certain things about the person such as sex, age, interests and other visual signifiers that cause us to make judgments and assumptions about people automatically.

I chose to cover up the persons face in the image, so you cannot see a facial expression, so the person reminds anonymous in admitting their lie (which some would not have done without). Once I had got enough photographs and audio recorded lies I spent time transcribing the comments and editing the photos in Photoshop for the web. I used Dreamweaver to create a final interactive web piece. I chose to make a roll over (photo image that swaps to another when the mouse rolls over). Some with the portrait first, some with a lie quote. This I think helps the project appear quite self explanatory at a glance and encourages the idea of the audience rolling over the image with their mouse.
The hardest thing I found in this project was getting the public to participate, as many people were reluctant to help. Luckily I had prepared myself for rejection and improved my people and persuasion skills while doing this project. It helped also that they weren’t going to be identifiable in the final work. I faced my fears and confidence issues and since this project, feel I’m now able to approach any member of the public, which I believe is a very useful skill to have.

I think my project came together really well and I’m proud of it. It think it can improve and have more impact the bigger it gets (sheer scale) and the more diverse the people and lies become. This is something I might come back to it the future so it may be an ongoing project.

Part B...

I chose to specifically to focus my event opportunity (part B of the Arts Award) on the Archipelago gallery. We went to a lot of galleries during my time at the gallery but I wanted somewhere I hadn’t been before and I was intrigued to know the running behind this small, mostly print-based gallery. I was particularly interested in the fact it has a studio that is dedicated purely to art editioning, producing hand-pulled silk screen prints (a very traditional craft) and posters for the art market.

The work that is sold and exhibited consists of limited edition prints, original artworks and photographs that are all contemporary. Archipelago produces silkscreen prints by artists such as Kid Acne and Phlegm - local graffiti-based artists whose work is scattered all around the streets of Sheffield. I like how the gallery develops this street art into accessible prints that people can buy as a way of bringing this art inside. The gallery will take a print and reproduce a limited edition silk screen (say 100 in total) that it then sells.

Although a good idea, I do feel that bringing street based art into the gallery, away from the street context, does reduce their impact from when you might see them in physical locations. Not all of the work is like this though. The work here consisted of designers, illustrators and graphic artists which overall creates very effective pieces of work.

Rupert Wood, the founder and manager of the gallery took me around the workrooms where the silkscreen printing is produced. I did not realise how complicated and time consuming it is to make one individual image and it has made me appreciate the amount of work that goes into each print.

My favourite group of images on display were the Club Pony posters, which were quite recently part of the ‘Too Many Parties’ exhibition that the gallery held. Each of these posters were specially designed by an artist named Robin Beck. These stood out to me, as I like how they are iconic posters from the past, which will have been previously decorating the streets of Sheffield. This is another form of art that has been brought inside when originally it was supposed to be outside capturing the publics’ eye.

The images on these posters immediately captured my attention as they are quite shocking and controversial cartoons with highlight the type of people that they will once have been targeting. I think the idea of creating images from past posters is intriguing and inspiring.

When I arrived at the gallery the first thing that struck me were the premises. The traditional 19th century industrial building consisting of complex rooms all around a central courtyard immediately added character to the gallery. During my visit I found out that the building previously housed an engraving works, penknife manufactures, recording studios and a building site office, which I think emphasizes the traditional charm of the building even more.

The images up for sale were displayed all around these complex rooms, which created the impression you were in a big terraced house, highlighted by the original feature of fireplaces and old windows. The quirky yet homely atmosphere of this gallery enabled you to visualise the screen prints in your own house.

There was no show in the changing exhibition gallery at Archipelago during my visit but there was still plenty to enjoy. I was interested to find out that Kid Acne curates all of the exhibitions at the gallery. It’s good to know that local artists are actively involved with the gallery.

Part C...

My interview with artist, Andrew hunt: http://www.radiowaves.co.uk/story/150478/title/AninterviewwithAndrewHuntbyHarrietWilliams

I organised an interview with a local artist called Andrew Hunt, who works from a studio at Yorkshire Art Space. I specifically chose Andrew because I love his work as he paints people in their everyday life with a kind of humanness everyone can relate to. These figures have a lot of character which makes his work very pleasing to look at.

Before the interview I researched him and the evolution of his work through his website and what I could find out about him online. I was curious to know why he did a group of work under the name 'Tobago' as these images were unlike his other work so I wanted to know what had inspired them. There were loads of questions that the research brought up and I looked forward it asking my own which it had triggered.

Andrew was born in Chester in 1973 and grew up in North Wales. He attended Bath Academy of Art in 1992 where he studied for a degree in graphic design and illustration. In 1996 he moved to Sheffield where he has now settled. I found his choice of degree very intriguing as he is now a figurative oil painter so I would have expecting him to have done a Fine Art degree. I was also curious about why he chose to move to Sheffield.

Armed with plenty of questions Vicky and I arrived outside his studio to be greeted by an extremely cute Terrier who ran out to greet us with a collar that read 'Hi, I’m Arthur'. Andrew’s studio was just how you would imagine an art studio to be. There was a half finished canvas set up in the middle of the room, plain canvas stacked up against a wall and a large collection of dirty tea mugs all around the room. There was an old arm chair and everything was covered in paint splodges.

I immediately liked the atmosphere of his studio, it was bursting with character (accentuated by Arthur causing havoc around the room) and very welcoming. I thought these two aspects came across in Andrew's personality during the interview as well. Andrew made the interview very enjoyable as he was very honest and down to earth with his answers so I got a genuine insight into his life, work and thoughts.

I admired how truthful Andrew was when he admitted that he actually didn't like all of the work he had produced. He highlighted that undeniably it's not your personal opinion that matters about a piece of work it's the customers. I had never thought of this concept before as I had always believed that the artist must always like the work they have created, but with commissions it is surely very true as you may be working to other people’s ideas.

Andrew seemed like he had been very persistent and determined to become an artist so it was really nice to see he had succeeded and he loved his job throughout the interview. He sees his job as more of a pleasure that he gets paid for rather than work. I was also interested to find out that the group of work 'Tobago' was a commission in which he got to travel to the Caribbean, which emphasised his success as an artist. I think the most important thing i found out was that after meeting Andrew I could tell that his personality is truly reflected in his work. I really enjoyed this piece of work. Here’s the final interview I edited together:
http://www.radiowaves.co.uk/story/150478/title/AninterviewwithAndrewHuntbyHarrietWilliams
Here are my interview questions…

This is Harriet Williams interviewing artist Andrew Hunt, as part of Site Young Apprentice Scheme.
1. How would you describe the art that you make?
2. When did you first realise that you wanted to do art as a career path?
3. Why did you choose to do a degree in graphic design and illustration?
4. You came from North Wales and you now are living and working in Sheffield, what does Sheffield have to offer you as an artist?
5. If you weren’t an artist, what do you think you would be doing?
6. When would you say you are most creative?
7. Which is your favourite piece of work you have done?
8. Out of all your exhibitions, which one has been your favourite and why?
9. Who and what inspires your work and why?
10. Why do you choose to use portraits of people in their everyday life as your subject matter?
11. You must have met some characters through your work, have you any funny stories from your experiences?
12. You did a group of paintings under the name Tobago, what inspired that work?
13. What process do you go through in your work to create your final pieces?
14. What types of art don’t you like and why?
15. What are the highs and lows of being an artist?
16. What advice for young artists?

Part A...

My challenge...
During my time at Site Gallery I wanted to learn to better understand the world of art in Sheffield. I chose this as my challenge as I felt quite naive as to what I know about my local art scene and was very intrigued to learn more about it, especially as I am thinking of studying Fine Art for a degree. To achieve this I made notes on everything I have experienced, like trips to galleries and talks and advice from artists and the staff at the gallery. At these galleries I asked questions to try and get an insight into the life of local artists and other related jobs. I also recorded the information that I learnt each day in my blog as a daily dairy.

After my two weeks of work experience I have learnt just how vast and v\aired the art scene is in Sheffield. During this time I counted ten exhibitions within the city all displaying a wide range of art forms. I visited four of these during the two weeks; the first exhibition I went round was by Haris Epaminonda, which is currently at the Site Gallery.

It was a surreal experience consisting of four different videos being played in one room with very subtle music in the background. It certainly wasn’t very self-explanatory and I wouldn’t say that I could relate to the artists’ thoughts behind this work but it was definitely an experience, which in itself highlights how her work had an effect on me. From this exhibition I learnt that you have to be very opened minded about different forms of art because even if you don’t think you understand it, it may still affect you in some way.

I then went to Emilie Taylor's ceramic exhibition in the Yorkshire Artspace (which also houses artist and maker studios). Her use of decorative patterns and line drawings give her work a very contemporary feel. I was interested to find out that her inspiration in her work was based around different aspects of the forms and functions of the places we live, particularly housing estates and their relationships with the British. She emphasised that in her work she felt that it was really important to start with a subject that you know, not a statement that you want to convey because by starting with something that you know it will subconsciously have a message behind it anyway. I was also intrigued to find out that after she had completed her Fine Art degree in fine art she had no idea what she wanted to do and ended up becoming a drugs worker. She then felt the need to learn a creative skill and started to attend a course in ceramics at a night school. Now she works on her ceramics for half the week but still has her day job. I thought it was really eye opening to learn that she has two completely different jobs but I have since found out that many arts survive like this. For example they may freelance across several jobs like Vicky and Ben do at the gallery. Emilie highlighted that this has a real positive aspect to it because she does not have to conform her ceramics to sell them.

The third gallery I visited was the Archipelago Gallery, which is what I chose to write about as my Part B section of my Arts Award. I didn’t realise there was a gallery in Sheffield that reproduces artists’ work in the exhibitions to sell via limited edition prints. And that they make and sell on it own premises. I was shown around the workshop used for the silkscreen prints and I learnt how they produce each individual print, which I found out was a very time consuming and skilled job. It made me realise how cheap the silkscreen prints were in relation to how much time was spent on each one.

The final gallery I visited was Bank Street Arts (which also houses artist and maker studios). I was interested to find out that Bank Street Arts runs a unique residency program for local artists and holds exhibitions. Currently Susannah Gent's work is being exhibited, which contains film, sculpture and taxidermy. I had never seen taxidermy in real life before and found it very fascinating but shocking at the same time. I'm not sure how I feel about taxidermy but I now appreciate the skill that is needed to preserve an animal and I agree with the concept that there is no point of throwing a dead animal away when you can make art out of it. I was interested to find out that Susannah in her work was exploring the craft of taxidermy whilst re-contextualizing the traditional focus of animals. Her work represents the dead rather than trying to preserve an essence of life in the animal, which creates a contemporary aspect to her work. She also looks at how we as humans personify animals in human ways.
All the galleries I visited operate in different ways so it’s good to know there is something for everyone. Both in the work and in what support and services they may be looking for in a gallery.

My interview with Andrew Hunt was also eye opening, as he emphasised how determined you need to be if you want a career as an artist because it is so competitive. I also thought it was interesting how Andrew chose to settle in Sheffield, as it’s not a place I would expect an artist to move to. However, where he lives is crucial in his artwork because he uses the people around him and their characteristics in his paintings and Sheffield is a friendly and down to earth place with lots of history and character. I found in fascinating just how much the area he lives in effects his artwork, highlighting that Sheffield could be a perfect place to become a successful artist.