jacktaylorart

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Practice in Progress Talks - Sinae Park

Studied at Norwich University.

Born in South Korea.

Very interested in food.

Was commissioned to do some work for White Cube.

Studied English Literature in Portsmouth however she dropped out s she felt disconnected rom the course and lonely.

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Practice in Progress Talks - Arzu Saglam

Between Brackets (2018) - Film in which she created the sound effects.

Originally studied Anthropologie and Art History in Zurich.

Then went on to study Animation.

Further Fifth Phase of De-Knowing

Ego Echo - Similar to printing?

’No film can exist without sound.’

Collaborative work is her favourite.

Worran Sound Collective - Five of them all living in different countries. Work with experimental music.

Those Who - An experimentation of sounds.

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Practice in Progress Talks - Jade Duncan Knight

Worked on an environmental animation using the same software that’s used to create Peppa Pig.

Would recommend working a 2D animation project.

Currently working for BAFA (Black Association for Arts). She helped to co-found the company.

It is officially government certified as a non-profit organisation.

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Practice in Progress Talks - Nathan Ward

His first project he had to block out his windows with black paper. This meant he lost track of night and day.

Having something to focus on during lockdown helped it move much faster.

Won a bronze prize for his paper stop motion film. The judge reached out to him and has been mentoring him ever since.

Approached by Clare Selby from studio K21. He created 7 animations, each being 3 minutes long.

Keep in touch with people and build connections.

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Practice in Progress Talks - Amelia Fowler + Leeyeonju

They came up with an idea for a stop motion animation called Sperm Market. Unfortunately they were unable to work on it as Kingston University closed. They ended up going ahead with it and worked on half each (despite being in different countries).

They made some of the products from paper and some from clay.

Leeyeonju travelled back to Kingston so that they could put together the animation. They did it in the corner of Amelia’s room. They were limited on what they could do but they produced something they were pleased with.

Since graduating, they have continued to work together.

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Practice in Progress Talks - Eilis Searson

She mentions Willy Russel, who left school with one GCSE and became a hairdresser. He started sneaking into the back of the shop to become a writer and wrote a play.

In the play ‘Educating Rita’, Rita has a working class upbringing. She is bubbly and up for everything.

Eilis is interested in the theory side of things when it comes to art.

She studied illustration at Camberwell Art School however she didn’t feel she fitted the course and was able to explore what she was truly interested in afterwards.

She has a very unique way of displaying gathered text, images and information.

Mentioned: ‘Educating Rita’ by Willy Russel (1980), ‘The Ignorant School Master’ by Jacques Rancière (1987), ‘The Medium is the Massage’ by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore (1967)

postcard from [peckhamplex] cinema

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mothers of peckham

let your kids go to peckhamplex!

get them out of the house

so they won’t know what you’re up to

it’s true that fresh air is good

for the body

but what about the soul,

or the air on rye lane,

that grows in darkness,

embossed by silvery images

of gratuitous bags of popcorn

frank, where are you?

i’m sorry for the copy

but, here, i am

under the moonlike lamplight, now,

thinking about how precious litter is.

(shame about this rubbish.)

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Practice in Progress Talks - James Papper

Director, illustrator, animator and live director is how he describes himself.

‘Always jot down your ideas, notes and thoughts. Try to beat your own drawing time limit.’

‘Always keep a sketchbook on you.’

‘Every morning for about an hour, I like to dump out all my stupid ideas.’

Tree’s Company (James’ ‘dumb’ idea for a sitcom/talkshow where people go and talk to a tree).

He suggests setting a deadline for each project as otherwise you will begin to hate the idea.

‘Idle ideas are useless. Just make it.’

‘Failure is not a bad thing. Never be afraid to fail.’

James described how he goes from loving his ideas to absolutely hating them.

At university he started out by drawing all the time. His style was constantly changing however he is more settled nowadays.

He describes his old drawings as ‘depressing’ despite his attempts to capture humour. He was trying to incorporate the jokes him and his friends made although instead it came across as incredibly dark and confusing.

His teacher at the time said to him ‘you are all missionary and no foreplay’.

It was a constant battle between illustrating and film-making. He decided he wanted to create films having fallen in love with being on set with his friends. He created a funny little show called ‘The *Smile* Show’ as well as a host of other small projects.

He says that one of the best things he ever made was a film called ’Sebastion’.

He worked in advertising for a while but found that it wasn’t for him so decided to ‘leave the comfort of a financially secure future’.

He sent his film to Blinkink who never watched it. After going to a talk presented by Blinkink they finally decided to watch his movie and kept him around as a freelancer for a year.

Started a Kickstarter to try and put billboards up asking out Joanna Lumley. He hired a lookalike to go on a date with him for £20. James’ described this entire idea as a failure but stresses the importance of doing things like this.

His first bit of commercial work was for VOXI. He finally got to make some money out of his cartoons.

He did some work for Karma Drinks which he really enjoyed.

Did some work for Dua Lipa. It was the first time he was given a budget and was able to work with some of his favourite artists.

James does not like what he draws and his taste is always changing. He doesn’t feel he has one style, instead he is always trying new things and new techniques.

When Blinkink offered him some money to keep producing work similar to his previous projects, he became intensely stressed and started smoking, having breakdowns and obsessing over small imperfections within in his work.

‘I don’t care anymore. Work isn’t life. I have fun now. I try to look after my body and mind baby.’

‘If you make something that’s shit. All that’s gonna happen is it will get ignored.’

‘Make shit. Put it out there. Forget about it.’

'DO WHAT YOU LOVE. YOU CAN ACHIEVE IT.'

Mentioned: Arthur Kioko, Blinkink, VOXI, Karma Drinks, Dua Lipa

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Practice in Progress Talks - Peony Gent

Illustrator, artist and poet.

She found that at University she didn’t really embrace one particular area however now she accepts that.

She self publishes books, builds installations and has recently taken up quilt making.

‘I love making work about mundane things and human nature.’

She began doing very traditional drawings and comics however as she progressed she began to explore new methods and techniques.

‘Sketchbooks are a no pressure place to write things down and record things. It is a no stress environment.’

Used to work solely in black and white however later she began incorporating colour having played around with it in sketchbooks.

She creates ‘diary’ entries in the form of small illustrations and occasional text.

Did some work for mutualaid.wiki.

‘I really encourage you to go out and capture as many different scenarios as you can. Try and capture people doing a job instead of just standing still.’

Began to work on observational drawings however they were very static. She explains that as she began to care less, her drawings had much more character and felt more lifelike.

‘Somehow by ignoring style, I was making a style I was much, much happier with.’

Comics as catharsis, as poetry and as documentation.

The first comic she ever made was in 2014 and it was for a competition hosted by The Guardian. It was based on the loss of a family member. Since then Gent has self published a variety of comics and zines.

Had quite a few bits of work published in anthologies.

Her ‘scruffy’ style is something I want to carry over into my own illustrations. They feel more natural and full of emotion compared to perfectly accurate life drawings.

Her teacher told her that her work wasn’t relevant to her practice so she created a comic called ‘then not today’ which helped her figure out that they were important and valid.

‘For me illustration and poetry are two sides of the same coin.’

Pia Bramley - Very delicate and unique illustrations. She makes ordinary things very special.

Eleanor Davis - Captures normal moments and makes them very poignant and artistic.

Gent likes to record a lot of notes on her phone. This can be anything from thoughts to strangers conversations and although they may not amount to anything they are very useful to have.

She creates a lot of work which could be classed as visual poetry.

‘How you place words on a page can completely change the way in which you read it.’

Enjoyed working over time with different book forms. In 2019 she created a book called ‘Welcome to Dungeonland’ which was inspired by her childhood as her parents used to be interested in Dungeons and Dragons and left a lot of old manuals lying around the house.

Setsuko - Create different books about random things which they love. They are collections of strange and wonderful things.

Aidan Koch - American based cartoonist and illustrator. Her work is quite abstract however she is really good at tapping into emotion. Even if you aren’t sure what’s going on you can feel the emotion shining through.

Gent created a book called ‘park bench’ and it portrays a conversation she had with a man from Bangladesh. She wrote down everything she could remember him saying as soon as they separated. At the time she wasn’t sure whether to make a book about it. She decided to do so but felt it was crucial to leave his words unchanged. She didn’t want to ‘exploit’ him or their conversation but recording it was important to her. At first she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to share the book with others.

Simon Moreton - He draws exactly how you remember things. Each drawing has a sense of memory to them.

She created a series of posters which were relevant to specific locations. By pasting them up she hoped it would change the way viewers see places.

Her installations are very unique in the way they are presented. She has clearly spent a lot of time planning.

She doesn’t like telling people what to think. Instead she prefers that they come to their own conclusions.

House of Illustration Residency - She was lucky enough to be chosen for the scheme. Her proposal was to create a load of work based around Kings Cross (the area surrounding). She didn’t know much about the area so decided the project would be how she explores it as an outsider. Her process involved documenting everything (taking photos, making notes, doing sketches). She eventually decided to let the place lead her through the project. The project is still ongoing and they are discussing the possibility of displaying her final outcomes in Kings Cross where they will have the most impact.

She is currently collaborating with a poet to create a book which will be posted to Kickstarter.

Comics are so important to her as they treat illustration and text equally.

Most of her comics are available for free on Instagram and via her website.

Mentioned: Mutual Aid, ‘For Sarah’ by Peony Gent, Pia Bramley, Eleanor Davis, Setsuko, Aidan Koch, Simon Moreton

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Practice in Progress Talks - Serena Katt

Studied at RCA.

Works with narrative images.

She did some film poster commissions.

She transitioned from the work she originally produced to a new style.

Her projects often begin with an enquiry and are research driven.

She started working on a picture book when at RCA. It took a child’s perspective of what life in Nazi Germany was like. Her Grandpa was part of the Hitler Youth Scheme so she drew inspiration from his experiences.

Began to view drawing as a metaphor for how we react with history and memory.

She would develop images and then redraw them multiple times, changing the emphasis and giving them new purpose.

She is aways adding in a new level of distortion to her images.

She did a short project working with photographic archives taken by Edward Kurtis. The pictures don’t fully delve into the true relationship between native Americans.

Sourced her images online and through public archives. Created images and then overlaid her new and improved image creating a direct relation.

The images were intended not to necessarily fit together but to act as visual documentation.

She eventually compiled the images into a book however it quickly became less important to her.

Using cutouts in her work is something Serena finds interesting.

She gathered up some notes and information about her Grandpa after his death. She was aware that she would never fully experience his emotions and how he felt.

By interviewing her Grandpa’s Sister, she was able to compare there opinions although she apparently new less than him. It was a time of great uncertainty and no one new where people were being sent.

‘They were all a bit mental.’ - Serena’s Grandma’s opinion on those involved in the Hitler Youth Scheme.

The people in her images are based on ACTUAL people and most of the locations and based on images she found in archives.

The initial picture book was solely based around the Hitler Youth Scheme.

In 1936 it became mandatory to join and so when he was 8 years old, her Grandpa was forced to join.

She experimented using eerie colour palettes.

No one wanted to publish or sell her book as it didn’t fit a category and she was convinced it was finished. Having given it some time she completely changed the layout and spent a year further developing the story. She also began to incorporate posters from the time. She repurposed some of the images and text and translated it into English.

As she expanded on the story she felt it was necessary to begin doing further research. The story is now chronological and tells the story from the start of her Grandpa’s journey up until the end of the war.

Serena visited rally sights and other places of relevance helping her to build imagery and knowledge.

When she finds images, she has to draw them using lines. This then helps her to decide if they will work as a fully produced piece or not. She ended up testing out hundreds of images to the point where she had built a good storyline.

Her drawings were layered together digitally.

She wanted to capture her Grandpa’s emotions and emissions in the book and feels she achieved that through expressions.

Although the book is based around her Grandpa’s accounts she also incorporates her own voice as if they are conversing.

She didn’t incorporate the famous red colour in order to bypass some of her readers expectations. Not only that but she chose colours which were on the opposite end of the colour wheel.

Something which can be seen throughout the book is Serena’s research into Nazi Propaganda.

Mentioned: Edward Kurtis, ‘Kill the Indian, Save the Man’ by Ward Churchill (2004), ‘Sunday’s Child’ by Serena Katt (2019)

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Practice in Progress Talks - Olivia Twist

Located at Camberwell.

She identifies as Black/British.

Line based work.

She has two brothers.

She finds that the most interesting conversations occur in front of the mirror.

Food brings her family together.

She uses drawing as a conversation tool and to bring people together.

Research is her favourite part of illustration.

She loves talking to people, taking notes, watching documentaries and studying archives.

The conversations that come from the images she creates are the most important things to her.

She comes from East London and loves it!

Her Grandparents came to the UK when they were 18 and 22 in the 1950’s.

Strong value for community.

'When breaking bread there is always space for someone else.'

Through the ‘Who Are We?’ project she paid homage to Caribbean interior design.

Project bled into all her future work.

She put on a Black/British Girlhood exhibition to which 700 people attended.

Made a small publication based on interviews she conducted on store-owners.

She believes that her work belongs with the people who have inspired it.

The use of a minimal colour palette works well with the bold line work.

She enjoys listening to people on the bus and has conducted lots of interviews which inspire her work.

She won the Quentin Blake narrative drawing prize.

Started to get into theatre.

Did a residency in South Africa.

Combines interesting textures and mediums.

Does lots of communal workshops with previous offenders or those not in school.

Converted old disused baths into miniature herb and flower gardens.

Mentioned: Michael McMillan, Kerry James Marshall, KANO, Quentin Blake, The Handsworth Portraits