Australia!

As I'm going to Australia in April, I decided to make a new blog to post about my travels.

http://www.helen-in-oz.blogspot.com

Happy New Year :)

I'm not doing very well at keeping this blog up to date!
Had a non eventful month or so leading up to Christmas. Though I had a good weekend in London visiting a friend. Went to see the new Harry Potter film in Leicester Square which was amazing! There's really something about being in a cinema full of people who are just as excited to see the film as you are. People laughed out loud, cried out loud, cheered and clapped! I've seen the film a couple more times at the cinema in Llandudno and the most it got from the audience was a quiet chuckle. But it is, in my opinion, the best film so far. It's as close to the book as I could have hoped for, with only a few bits missed out, and a couple of extra bits that I thought really added to the feel of the film, for example the dancing scene with Harry and Hermione.

Anyway, apart from seeing the HP film, we went to the V&A for a wonder round, and the children's section of the Science Museum (best bit I think)! It was a fun weekend!


Most of December was spent working and Christmas shopping which I managed to get done but with all the snow a couple of things arrived late which was very annoying! Although I always say I love snow, I got really fed up of it before Christmas. Had an awful experience driving home from work during a heavy snow shower which was probably my scariest driving experience to date!


Christmas itself was lovely. On Christmas Eve I went to the Christingle Service which always gets me in the Christmas spirit! It's so atmospheric when the whole congregation stand in a circle around the church, with the only light being from the candles of the Christingles.
Christmas day was the usual mix of seeing various family members, eating lots of tasty food, drinking wine and opening presents!

The day after Boxing Day we went on our usual family trip to Leeds to go to the theatre and shop in the sales! Had a day in Leeds and a day in York. Managed to not spend to much of my Christmas money which is good - more for Australia! We saw A Christmas Carol in the theatre which was amazing. It wasn't at all what I expected. From the very first scene it had a very Tim Burton like feel, with the quite wacky but creepy set design, costumes and acting. The songs were catchy and I was engaged the whole way through. A really good performance and highly recommended!

So I'm back home now and back to work. Only 107 days til I head off to Australia! So between now and then I think it's just going to be save save save, and not much else! So I doubt I'll be updating this regularly!

So much for not having much to blog about...

That was a bit of an essay I just posted! Oh well!
Just remembered an interesting article I read the other day about performance art being sellable.
It talks about different ways in which performance art can be sold, the two main ones being, as a video or some other form of documentation, the second being the buyer actually purchasing the idea behind the piece and receiving instructions on how to re-create the performance themselves. 
I admit I did scim through the article a little bit, but it was the fact that people do actually sell performance art that interested me. 
I wonder how much my 'Nuce Brauman' script would go for on eBay?!


Read the full article here.

Long time no post..

Can't believe I've not updated this since August!

To be honest I don't really have much to blog about. I started working in a shop two months ago, so I've been working most days trying to save up for my Australia trip. The job is fine and the people I work with are nice, but I just feel like my brain is slowly dying as I'm not having to think about much while I'm there. I want to be doing something that's making me think and that is something I really love doing and am passionate about, but unfortunately I don't have any idea what that is!

With blogs, Twitter and Facebook all keeping me updated with exciting things other people are doing, lots related to art, I almost feel guilty in a way for not making more of an effort to keep my performance practice going. I don't know why but I just can't bring myself to start making new work. I don't know whether it's the fact that now I'm not in university I have to work a lot harder to get my work seen so have less motivation to do something, or that I'm actually not interested enough in making artwork to carry on with it. Who knows...

I wish I could just have a few weeks of not having to work, just to think about what I actually want to do with my life... Yes, I'm going to Australia next year, but what about when I come back? I don't want to slip back into my current daily routine which at the moment consists of going to work, then at least three of the following: obsessively researching Australia, seeing my boyfriend, watching rubbish TV, reading about what other people have been up to on social networking sites, eating and sleeping... 

I suppose I just have to take one step at a time and not worry so much about what everyone else is doing, or what other people think I should be doing. At the moment I need to work to get money, so I can go to Australia next year, the one thing I am certain I want to do. It's a means to an end, as my mum keeps telling me! Maybe my travels will give me time to reflect and help me decide what I want to do next and see what life brings...

Australia!

So, I've been doing a lot of thinking recently, and I still have no idea what I want to do, so I've decided to go to Australia for a year! I went last summer briefly and loved it there, so I'm going to get a working holiday visa and spend a year picking fruit, working in hostels and doing lots of other backpacker jobs inbetween traveling around and hopefully having lots of fun!

I'm hoping to get there by around March 2011, once I've saved up enough money. I've managed to get myself a job but a minimum wage job isn't going to earn me a lot... and now I'm a proper grown up I have to actually pay tax now! Pfft.

So yes, hopefully if all goes to plan I'll be heading to the land of Kangaroos, Vegemite and Neighbours next March!

Officially a graduate of Fine Art at NTU...

Well, it's all over... doesn't feel real somehow.

I had an absolutely amazing graduation day. Managed not to fall over walking across the stage and managed to see lots of people who I might never see again, or at least not for a while anyway.

It feels so strange that I'll never be going back to uni for a lecture or show & listen seminar, and I have absolutely no idea what the future holds - it's scary! 

But for now, here's a photo of me in my graduation gear! It's been a great 3 years :)

Athens!

This isn't really art related but seeing as it's my blog I have decided I don't have to talk about art related stuff all the time!

Just got back from a lovely holiday in Athens. Was a nice break from sorting out my room - which still isn't finished!!

The hotel we stayed in was amazing, it had an outdoor pool and lots of bars! We also got an upgrade so we got a buffet breakfast, canapes and soft drinks from 12-4pm, and canapes and an open bar (my favourite part hehe) from 6-9pm!

Athens itself is such an interesting city, although a lot of parts seem quite run down, the architecture is amazing.

So seeing as I'm not great at describing things, here is a small selection of photos!