When you see a title like this, on the lecture timetable, and then when you check on moodle and see it carries a warning - well - you just HAVE to go, don't you?
It turned out to be not only an absolutely fascinating lecture, on several levels, but also an extremely useful and inspiring one.
Violet Fenn graduated from Glyndwr about 12 years ago, with a degree in Design Craft. She said, to this day, she isn't quite sure what that is - she mainly did jewellery making and metal crafting . She sub-titled this lecture as 'How I did everything wrong, but somehow managed to survive anyway, despite everyone's gloomy predictions' - there was something very comforting about that heading, because I suspect I manage to do a lot wrong!
On graduation, she had to work, and admitted that with a small child, options were a little limited - and she had no clear idea what she wanted to do, anyway.
Her first 'venture' came about almost by accident - she decided to make a plush toy for a friend, as a present - 'Electrokitty' - and this generated quite a response. So she fell into making plush toys - not, however the cutesy, cuddly plush variety - Violet's were just a tad different, tending towards the macabre . . .
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| Hedgehogonrocks - Violet Fenn Plush |
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| Santinolarge - Violet Fenn Plush |
I actually really like these - I think they are very witty and different :)
She created a small website on which to sell the plush creations, and through word of mouth and friends, began to make a living - at this point, Violet mentioned the importance of having a 'good image' to promote your website - she had a picture of Colin Murray posing with Englebert the Owl - one of her creations - and as she said, people remembered that picture.
However, this wasn't what Violet ultimately wanted to do - and this is where the intriguing title of her lecture came in.
She admits to being bored and surfing the net - and she came across this image
Perturbed by the appearance of this gentleman's eyes, and the extremely pinched in waist, she discovered that this is purported to be an example of Victorian Post Mortem Photography . Yep - Victorians had a habit of taking photographs of their deceased nearest and dearest, for private souvenirs, and for display purposes this is an example of an 'upright post mortem photograph'.
In this day and age, I'm pretty sure that a typical response to this practise would be of disgust and shock (although, lets be honest, most of us also harbour a fascination for things like this) - but as Violet explained, you need to consider the era and the reasons. Photography was in its infancy, and it was unusual for most people to actually have a photograph taken of themselves, or their loved ones. Particularly in an era of high infant mortality, the custom of having a photograph taken of a lost child provided grieving parents with a visual reminder of the child that had passed. The Victorians also had a far more open and accepting attitude to death, than we have today - it was customary to keep the deceased bodies at home after death, and to spend time with it to say your goodbyes. Violet commented that she found this attitude far 'healthier' than today's approach of sanitising death - its creates fear and mystery around a natural process that we all experience . For what its worth, as someone who has cared for the terminally ill, and been present during the last few hours and at the actual death of some souls, I happen to agree - I think openness creates a situation where its easier to accept grief and mourn properly, and it also allows discussion - which helps to dispel myths and fear.
Looking at some of the images both during the lecture and later, I also agree that some of the photographs are beautiful - albeit heartbreaking, especially where the images of children are concerned. As a parent, I can imagine how precious these photographs were to the heartbroken and bereaved Mothers and Fathers during the Victorian era - I have literally hundreds of photographs of my kids (thankfully, very much alive), and they mean such a lot to me.
Back to the lecture - Violet was so intrigued by this image, that she featured it on her blog - and that evening got so many hits that she started to 'seek out' this type of imagery, and set up a blog where she 'collected' and wrote about this type of photographic image. She did this, just for her own interest, but after putting a link on facebook, the blog generated 800 hits. So, obviously, there is an interest - over 12 months, she gradually developed her blog into a website, http://www.theskullillusion.com/ . She describes herself as a 'curator' of this collection - the images, being so old, copyright has lapsed, but where she can, she includes credits and information. She doesn't claim to be an expert - but what she is doing obviously intrigues and interests, as the site now generates around 1000 hits per day.
Violet explains that she pretty much learnt about developing a website, as she went along, and makes the point that you can learn to do anything - and that a web 'presence' is vital.
As the interest in her website grew, so did the amount of her time taken up on the site. So, she decided that she had to cut down on her work ratio - the plush business was very labour intensive, only generating her about £1.50 an hour - so, Violet decided to compromise by starting a jewellery business that she deliberately tied in with the web site. A lot of her designs are based around the style of Victorian Mourning jewellery, but she also features images from vintage anatomy or even Alice in Wonderland.
The Skull Illusion Jewellery shop
Some examples of Violet's jewellery . . .
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Alice in Wonderland 'Drink Me' pendant |
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Memento Mori - Victorian style choker necklace, vintage anatomy |
Violet explained that she uses what she calls 'cross pollination' - she uses a large array of social networking sites - Twitter, Tumbler, Flickr, blogs, Facebook - and each one links to all the rest - so, someone who looks at the Skull Illusion website for Post mortem photography, finds a link that takes them to her on line jewellery business - and invariably, this increases the potential for sales. The similar theme between the photography and the jewellery adds to the likelihood of sales too. Its a great example how you can make seemingly diverse things work together, one generating interest and awareness for the other. At this point in the lecture, she is throwing in a host of extremely useful information - she talked about buying in the components to make up the jewellery, and how it is cost and time effective - in other words, you don't have to do every part of the creation of your work, if the benefits of not doing so doesn't affect the quality of the product . She talked about marketing ploys like how she displays her jewellery to create images that are strong and remembered - Llewellyn the Skull, models some of her products, and she used a photograph of herself taken with Jarvis Cocker, of Pulp, which she posted on several sites - another strong image that's remembered, and again, looking at that can lead people back to her jewellery. She talked about the advantages about running a business from home - her business is run from an old coal shed, she explained - and gave information of how you can claim tax relief on your overheads - phone, heating and so on . She gave us info on using on line commercial outlets - introducing me to 'Big Cartel' - which is something I have personally never come across before.
She also talked about how this site led to her writing articles for another on line site - http://www.spookyisles.com/ - and that although she doesn't get paid for the articles she writes, this practise of 'cross pollination' works as it leads potential customers to her blog and jewellery sites. Its also led to the potential of a book deal, based on the photography web sites collection.
In conclusion, Violet offered some advice which - as a mature student - I found to be really encouraging and inspiring. She advised don't be boxed in, you can be successful doing 'whatever comes up next' - and points out that she has friends in their 50's that still don't know what they want to be when they grow up :) I'm heading towards 50 - that makes me feel so much more confident:)
As I said, this lecture was enjoyable on a whole host of levels - for a start it was well delivered and entertaining. The information on actually creating and running a business, and the resources and marketing ploys that you can use were incredibly useful and given in a no-nonsense fashion that made a lot of sense. As to the photography featured - well, I've already explained why I didn't find it morbid, but also, as a photography student it held appeal for me in the fact that she is part of preserving a form of photography that is an important part of its history. Obviously all these images are pre-digital, and existed only as prints - and the original prints have in many cases probably already been lost or destroyed - Violet's website is helping to ensure that all evidence of this form of photography isn't lost. I was also fascinated by the early attempts that they show at 'photoshopping' - several of these photographs were altered to make the dead person look alive - eyes painted onto closed lids, for example - and I found that some were incredibly well done (though by no means all! ) . I like images to tell me a 'story' and these provide evidence and information about the attitudes and history of a long gone era - which added another level of interest for me.
Like several of the other lectures I attended this week, this lecture gave me a lot of practical advice and information - but this one also entertained, and inspired me, probably more than any other I attended this week.
Staying Local After college - John Mainwaring.
John owns 'Jaffa Design' , a local design studio, based in Mold. He graduated in 1986, with a higher HND Diploma in Visual Communication and Illustration, and employs freelance workers on a shirt term basis.
He kicked off the lecture by showing a clip from one of the Naked Gun series of films - amidst chaos and explosions and scenes of devastation, Leslie Neilson tells a crowd of on-lookers that there is 'nothing to see' - when obviously, there very much was plenty to see! John said that actually - there is nearly always something to see, in all circumstances.
He went on to begin the lecture by telling us that you don't necessarily have to make tracks for big cities - that if you accept certain limitations, there is work to be had locally.
He explained that when he left further education , opportunities in Illustration were minimal - but he also had a flair fro graphic design, as another string to his bow. So, he spent 2 months in work experience for a graphic design firm in Bradford. Despite this experience, it was a time of high unemployment and jobs in graphic design were also hard to come by. He explained that there had been two major recessions since he left college - including the one we are currently experiencing.
He explained how he got married shortly after graduating, and that and the starting of a family kept him tied to the local area. Which meant the employment he was able to get was perhaps not that enjoyable, though he stressed that all work was valuable experience. In 1990, he decided to go freelance, which lasted for just over a year, as again it coincided with a short time of recession. As he said, he got through it - and during the last 6 months of it, he re-trained on computers -and he stressed the value of re-training, to open new doors and keep abreast of the industry, as you have to keep up to date on new technology.
After this he began work for Advanced Star publishing house, in Chester, an American based firm. He worked for this company for several years, before deciding the time was right to go freelance again, and thus began Jaffa Design.
The work he now handles includes some magazine work, work for a charity website, work for the NHS on stop smoking campaign, lots of work for schools and colleges - branding and prospectus , and stationary.
He described some of the 'features' of working locally - you just aren't going to make the sort of money you would make working in a big city.
He said that although you can make a good living for one, locally, you have to accept that providing for a family will be hard - however, you have to balance monetary value against job satisfaction. It took a while after he went self employed for his income levels to rise to a comfortable living - he said you may need to be prepared to accept help from the benefits system whilst getting a new business off the ground.
He gave a series of tips that he shared-
Don't put all your eggs in one basket, if you are going freelance - diversify, because otherwise, if you stick to just one genre or customer, if the work dries up, you have nothing to fall back on.
He mentioned that you need to take advantage of 'serendipity' - sheer chance - when it presents itself. He had at one stage just a basic page on the web - that led to someone from the firm Johnson and Johnson just walking through his door one day - and the work snowballed from there.
The lecture finished with a series of tips for staying local. These included -
Consider teaching, if you have the commitment and ability to work hard.
Realise that staying local doesn't mean you are tied to working for just local businesses - vis the web, you can accept and do work from all over.
Five top tips -
buy a decent mac and legal software - start as you mean to go on.
Do freelance work for friends whilst looking for full time employment.
If your young, free and single - move!
Network - with people in the industry.
Practise saying no to doing free freelance work.
Sadly, I found this lecture quite disjointed and with some conflicting advice - I was under the impression that this was all about how to stay local after further education - to be advised to 'move' away if you can, was not what I was expecting ! In delivering the lecture, he jumped back and forth between his background, tips and experience, which has made it quite difficult to put the notes I took into any sort of order that flows. That's a shame, because he was at times, very interesting to listen too, and had the delivery been better and easier to follow, I suspect I could have gleaned some useful information from it! In the end, however, there seemed a fair bit to indicate that whilst it is possible to stay local, its difficult and really, you would be better off moving - which, when I know my circumstances are such that re-locating will be pretty much impossible, is pretty dis-heartening.
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