Chelsea Swan

Things I liked at the exhibition and Ideas I want to steal/ things I already see myself doing in my work and was cool to see someone else doing:

• 3D sculptures but I don’t have a kiln or the money to go use one or easy access to one and everything I make cracks. I could try polymer clay again as there are more tutorials on TikTok now.
• Alan Measles. I like how clear Grayson makes it that all artist are doing is trying to deal with the things that hurt and upset them as a child and teenager. Alan is always there as a symbol of protection but also as an anchor holding the artist in the past. He is the dialogue personified.

• Maps, maps, maps!!! I love the maps. I have not seen them before. I love how instead of trying to think of an image to represent the everything of it all he has laid it all out there to see, clearly. I love the idea of the journey and of all these parts being present, left behind, traveled through. I imagine they were very therapeutic to make.

• Hyper feminine, girlie, embroidery, childlike, dress with frills makes me happy especially as it has little pretty cocks in bows on it. I love the juxtaposition of these elements. Dresses are also a lived in item, they make a statement about who you are, gender,your personality, where you fit into society.

• The ideas of the self explored through pottery, a very tactile process. Its functional and non functional. It distorts and makes you interact with the image. It makes a decorative item of the trauma endured. I really like his openness and bravery.

• My favorite things were the super large scale tapestries. They were floor to ceiling and wall to wall. I would love to create something this big, especially as he only had to sketch it out on an Ipad, small, which is how I like to work, and then send it of to be make into something much larder. Time and effort and my natural tendency to work small work against me making really bit impactful pieces but I would like to. I also love using colour.