This was another busy day, although I again got chance to attend only one lecture - we had the Collective display running in the main foyer, and this gave us the chance to meet several people, and today through up the potential for a few new projects that we may well become involved with.
The one lecture I attended was towards the the end of the day - I was attracted to it, as during the week, we have been given lots of advice to network, network, network, and I felt it would be good to get as many tips and illustrations of its value as I could.
Whats Netwroking Ever Done for Us?
Antonia Dewhurst
Antonia - or Toni, as she prefers - graduated from Coleg Menai in 2010.
Toni started off by introducing herself and then described the three main aspects of her work - I apologise that my Welsh spelling isn't up to me being able to give the Welsh translations she used to describe these aspects, but basically 'Between' focus's on her identity which falls between Welsh and English heritage, Shelter is her work creating a series of structures, as a metaphor for the human condition, as was inspired by the Welsh tradition of 'A house in a night',. and the third, 'Strand' focused on the interior, rather than the exterior of buildings - she says a lot of this work is inspired by her mothers home, which is encapsulated in a 1950/60's bubble - and her fascination with abandoned domestic spaces.
Tonis talk revolved around how she had developed her career through her willingness to take advantage of every opportunity she got for experience and exposure, and how the contacts she made through doing this eventually presented her with further career opportunities. The general message delivered showed how the advice that had been prevalent throughout Creative Futures week, about the benefits of networking, were valid - but sadly, added nothing to the knowledge I'd gained through several other lectures, particularly as it revolved around some aspects that would only be of use to fine and applied arts students. Toni did say, early on in the lecture that she had wanted to call the talk ' What I've done since leaving College' - and had been advised to come up with something more 'snappy' - however, the first title was probably more accurate, and I did feel that this talk was more about her work, and how aspects and options relating specifically to that genre had come into play.
Toni's work is extremely interesting, and I was intrigued by some of the projects she has been involved with, particularly Ty un Nos - an old Welsh tradition whereby if you could erect a house during the hours of sunset and sunrise, that by morning had windows and smoking chimney, you gained the freehold of the land - the project where she actually built a Ty un Nos was one that I particularly liked. However, throughout, I found myself more than a little annoyed that I wasn't getting what I had expected - perhaps more detailed information about the lectures contents would be helpful?
An Overview of the week.
Creative Futures was very different for me this year. Although I attended far less lectures than I wanted too (despite being in everyday) I actually feel I got an awful lot of out of it - for the most part, those lectures I did attend presented networking opportunities - which is the whole point of Creative Futures, I guess - and have led to several potentially exciting future opportunities and projects, that will hopefully advance and enhance my career . The business advice I found particularly useful, as were the talks given by organisations that are specific to my own particular field, as I found a lot of what they said relevant in terms of useful advice and giving insights .
The timetabling was perhaps the most annoying feature - for students involved in creative lens media, to find that on the Wednesday afternoon, lectures in photography and documentary film making were scheduled to run at the same time, was incredibly annoying - particularly as a lecture that involved events work within the Creative Industries , an area I am particularly involved in at the moment - was also scheduled for then.
Sad to think this is my last Creative Futures week at Glyndwr - I'd like to thank those involved in organising it for the last 3 years - overall, its been an extremely useful and informative event .
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