femadlib K

Alex Brew contacted me through the Exposures archive project at Goldsmiths. She is a member of a group of women artists who describe themselves as 'feminist activists'. Check out the links to some fabulous artists' work on their blog http://femadlibkolektiv.blogspot.com/ I recently screened two of my mid-90s films for their fundraising cafe and party. Unfortunately I couldn't get up to London for either of these events, but hope they were successful.

so much to blog about...

I don't know where to start...

First - the job - all fine with my 0.5 on DFSA but everything around me is changing. KR has become a Professor, LW has had her full time post reduced to 0.6 and SL, the course leader, has to have a second interview for his own job. The animation team have gone on management courses! So goodness knows where or when we will have some clue about how the course will shape up in the future.

Secondly - the school project. I will be finishing printing with Y5 tomorrow. They have made some lovely images that don't seem to duplicate those made by Y6 too much. There will be plenty of variety in the outcome. I have put together some A0 grids of 16 images and I am getting quotes to print and mount eight of these to construct the final image wall. Work with Y4 begins after Easter, but I may have to ask Luke to deliver the introductory presentation as I will be in Florida...

Which brings me on to the final bloggable item. Holiday. Yippee! We just booked a cheap fly/drive to Orlando. Disney World here we come. I swore I wouldn't go again after visiting the Paris one a couple of years ago. I hate the artificial, consumer driven, tackiness of the whole experience. But the kids (and Mark?) love it. I look forward to chilling by the beach for the second week.

And one more thing to add... Google found our old friend Alexis S for us! She owns a cafe that sounds incredibly cool, hip and trendy in Miami http://www.lunastarcafe.com/ Hope we get to visit or meet up with her.

will I still have a job?

I had an email yesterday to say that Digital Film and Screen Arts will be grouped with Animation under one Course Leader who will be appointed on Monday 16th March and that we will all have meetings to discuss the new course structure. Today I found out my meeting will be the following day. It therefore seems likely that there must already be a decision about who will be doing what and it seems quite possible that some jobs will go. I have heard unofficially that I am 'at risk' but no one has officially notified me in those terms yet. We are left to 'read between the lines.'  This is very upsetting and stressful for everyone and the UCA hierarchy do not seem to show much concern for the academic workforce by letting the speculation continue for more than a week after this announcement.

On a more positive note, I can't imagine why I would have been awarded a Teaching Fellowship if the plan was to get rid of me. Also I am multi skilled and therefore adaptable. Perhaps I could be redeployed to another course if the worse does come to the worse. It would be such a shame because DFSA is a damn good course and I would be so sad to see it close or leave it - but I must keep my job somehow. I moved here to do it and can't imagine life here without being part of the university.

working with Y5

Last week we presented to Y5 using the same Powerpoint that we used for Y6 although I took out a few of the more complex slides about resolution. The children were very enthusiastic - hands waving to make comments about small details, various interpretations of the images, even comments about the sequencing of the images within the presentation. It was very interesting hear what they had to say and sometimes they were quite a long way off what I was trying to get them to consider but approaching the project with a refreshing naivety (if that's the right way to describe it?). I wish I could have recorded the session to remember the exact details. I know there were comments about the price ticket on the bucket, some marks on some stones that may be fossils, a pattern or shape that had repeated through a number of images and so on. When they split into groups to brainstorm image ideas, it was obvious that some children were better at teamwork than others.

In the main, they listened to the info about resolution, but I'm not sure how much they understood. They were eager to pass around the cameras and hopefully this was a useful introduction for the first groups who have taken their images today.

Many of the Y5 children seem a lot more 'snap happy' than those in Y6. One child took over 60 images despite repeated advice to slow down and consider what to shoot with care. Other children obsessed about the number they were allowed to shoot and this seemed to restrict creativity so it was quite difficult to find a balance. The instructions not to shoot people also seemed lost to some who were keen to take pictures of their friends and teachers. I think there will be a lot more glimpses of uniform and people that were almost completely absent from the Y6 work - so this will hopefully provide a new level of interest to the image wall.

One girl took off her shoes and photographed the hole in her sock. We found the picture was out of focus so got her out of class to take it again as we thought it was so original and such a strong image. Now we have to hope she can be encouraged to print it...

half term break - for school anyway!

As usual I had to work during half term but did manage to get a few days of fun with the kids. On Wednesday I took A to see The Sound Of Music, Thursday we had a lazy day and Friday we went for a walk with friends in the forest in the lovely sunshine. I found out that Monday 23rd was an inset day - shock horror! Great to have such good friends that helped out with the children as again, I had to work.

Saturday was a gardening day. We dug the vegetable patch and started to plan what we will grow this year. Tried to get the kids interested in it but with no luck. So much for family fun with the Farnham Food Initiative... I would love to join but only if the whole family was up for it. Can't seem to persuade them in the pleasures of growing our own... if it was cocoa beans to make chocolate - that would be another matter!

On Sunday we went to London - skateboarding on Portabello Rd, farmers' market at Salusbury School, Queens Park and Camden Market. A has a t-shirt from cyperpunk shop - Dog Save The Queen.

teaching fellowship award

I finally had official notification of the award from UCA earlier this week. I was quite surprised that I am to receive all the funding I requested and rather daunted by the prospect of providing a break down of all the costs on a month to month basis through to December. I have researched some costs, tried to anticipate when they may occur and have hopefully put together a reasonable projection.

I have been assigned a mentor, to make sure I clarify and achieve the aims and objectives of the project. KP is UCA's Learning and Teaching Researcher and we met earlier today. I think she will be able to offer me some guidance about measuring the impact and success of the project. She has already suggested that I interview the headmaster and the school children and possibly make an audio recording of their responses to questions about the impact of the project. This has led me to yet another creative idea - cutting audio over the digital grid of images that I hope to make at the end of the project. I need to look into the ethical implications of this - such as the need for releases from my interviewees.

KP also mentioned the governments Aim Higher Scheme and I need to research this to see how my project may meet it's aims and objectives of raising children's aspirations at an early age. 

http://www.aimhigher.ac.uk/programme/home/

In the past I have given plenty of talks in conference-like situations but have usually been invited by the organisers. I have never had to write an abstract and I have never delivered a formal conference paper, so I have asked for guidance on this too.

a few more Y6 photos