I took part in the annual The Kiln Rooms Christmas sale, where I had a selection of my ceramic pieces for sale and for display. The chocolate bar sculptures where displayed with labels stating that I am available for commission for similar pieces, as I made the chocolate bars as part of a larger project and didn’t wish to sell them. For sale I had a selection of earrings that I made with the intention to sell at the previous Christmas sale which were not finished in time to be included, a newer selection of Christmas tree ornaments made for the sale (the gingerbread men, Christmas tree, and snowflake ornaments pictured) and more of my Anti-love heart and rude star pins, which I made to sell at the Pure Class exhibition and this sale.
The pins sold very well, and the chocolate bars got a lot of interest, so I am pleased that I took part! Unfortunately I didn’t sell any of the earrings- I think they could do well at a general arts and crafts market, or at a Valentines themed event, but they just didn’t stand up well next to the artsier ceramic jewellery made by members and my peers in the show, which were also packaged better and more expensive. My Christmas ornaments also didn’t sell well, again due to being surrounded by other, higher quality pieces by more experienced makers. I also had to settle with twine that wasn’t visually very appealing for them, which I had since replaced with a more festive and better looking thread, so hopefully if I try to sell them again next year they will do better. I also think displaying them in a more aesthetically pleasing way will help them to sell better next time. I think this was definitely a learning curve for me, and has inspired me to up my game and keep practicing and exploring new ideas. I am still fairly new to this medium and hopeful that with practice I can get better over time!
Unfortunately this is the only image I have of my work in the exhibition PEOPLE IN A ROOM, at Holdrons Arcade, Peckham. The exhibition is running 6th – 17th October and brings together works by artists living and working in Peckham, with events running during the exhibition within the space. The poster for the event and further information can be found here.
These two sculptures are titled Self Portrait 1 and Self Portrait 2 and they are both sculpted from white stoneware clay, and glazed in brilliant white and gloss white, respectively.
A little virtual tour of the online exhibition THIS IS NOT A SHOW, showcasing the work of over 50 working class artists and creatives from the Working Class Creatives Database at Pineapple Black Arts, with a brief look at my work included in the show. ‘𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔦𝔰 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔞 𝔰𝔥𝔬𝔴. 𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔦𝔰 𝔞 𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔬𝔣 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔫𝔱.’ With workingclasscreativesdatabase.co.uk/ ⚡️launched on pineappleblack.co.uk/index.php/pbvarts/⚡️
�The Working Class Creatives Database is a platform highlighting the work of people who are working class, giving a supporting structure to people that are involved in the arts.
�As of 2020, only 16% of the workforce in creative industries identify as being from working-class backgrounds. By creating a platform for working-class creatives this begins to readdress these issues within the sector through creating a voice for those that are otherwise outsiders.
Special thanks to @pineappleblackarts for giving us a virtual space and @highbrowart for the poster design.
Some screenshots of my work in the show- “In The River: Digital Fragments”, the five 3D scanned bones made during my MA using Einscan and Meshmixer.
The Working Class Artist Network (Wank Collective) put up an open call on Instagram for working class artists to submit work for an exhibition taking place across two abandoned houses in Peckham (Safehouse 1 and 2, ran by Maverick Projects). I submitted a proposal to include the 3 zines I have made this year- BPD & Me, the Brexit zine and FAT. I finished FAT specifically so that I could include it in this exhibition, which was actually a really helpful kick to finish the zine as I had got a bit stuck with it for a few weeks.
I was a bit anxious to be in an exhibition full of people I didn’t know, but everyone was really friendly and it ended up being quite healing to be surrounded by other working class artists- the art world can feel really intimidating and alienating to working class people so this was refreshing! I was also concerned that because there wasn’t a theme to the exhibition that it might feel a bit disjointed, however a lot of us were working with similar themes by virtue of all being working class, so the show actually felt well put together- Wank Collective did a brilliant job of curating the work so it flowed well.
I had a bit of trouble sorting out how to display my zines and got to the venue later than I planned on the day, because of this- luckily there was a fold up table not being used so I was able to use that. I originally planned to use a shelf but we could only use pre-existing holes and as I didn’t know the space I decided against that in case they weren’t the right height or width apart for a shelf. Then I planned to borrow a table from a friend but it was too low for what I needed. I then tossed around the idea of making a shelf out of white foam board and adhering it to the wall with sticky tabs before deciding it would look tacky, and finally planned to grab some cardboard boxes from Rye Lane and stack them (you can always find colourful fruit and veg boxes from the stalls) before the organizer told me there was a spare table in the venue.
It wasn’t ideal, but I think it fit in with the aesthetic of the venue well. I need to come up with something better looking for next time though! We set up the exhibition during the day then held the private view all evening, after which we then had to de-install and clean up the space. I think this worked for the space and I liked the ephemeral nature of the show as i felt it suited my work- zines are often very temporary, made on photocopiers, distributed and then forgotten about. In terms of how I think it went I am super pleased- from what I saw lots of people stopped to read my zines and I got a lot of positive feedback, particularly in regards to how I dealt with sensitive topics like my experiences with BPD and my experiences as a person inhabiting a fat body. The exhibition as a whole was incredibly busy, to the point where it was hard to move, and received an overall positive response which was incredibly gratifying.
Big shout out to the Wank Collective Team, who did an amazing job organizing and curating the whole thing!
The exhibition poster
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A selection of the other works included in the show
(I took this photo before I swapped out the keyboard and mouse for the cleaner ones)
Overall I am surprisingly really happy with how my installation turned out- the room is a really good, well lit space, with large windows, and it looks much better since I painted it, and swept and mopped it. I am also really pleased I was able to make the table top for free from scrap wood, as that saved me a lot of money, and I think it looks much better than the Ikea table tops do anyway. I decided to keep the trestle legs I got from the BA student black, as I liked the contrast (and also I’m lazy and painting over black paint with white would have been a nightmare) and I think it helps to break up all the white in the room. I had to ask my classmates to tell me the river Thames I painted into the table top looked fine, because otherwise I never would have stopped trying to touch it up and make it “perfect”. Considering I didn’t use masking tape or anything except the pencil outline and paint I think it came out well, and is fairly recognizable for what it is, without any need for labels or a more literal representation.
In terms of curating the objects for the exhibition I feel that I have chosen the right amount, and the right selection of materials- I was not able to get the aluminum pieces to a high enough standard, so they have been omitted, the other lot of glass wax pieces I made came out much less transparent and much milkier looking (due to the touch of blue wax I added to offset the yellowing that had happened from the glass wax being overheated) so I left those out and put in the first lot I made, which are much clearer and more transparent. I also left out the herculite casts as they were not up to standard, and are also still fairly fragile compared to the other materials, and I left out the iPad 3D prints, as the Einscan ones were of much higher quality.
In terms of the digital work on screen I am very happy with how it looks- I have chosen one of the larger bones that has a particularly interesting form for the audience to play with, and I feel that Meshmixer was a good choice of programme for the audience to use, as it is fairly simple programme to mess around on- hopefully people will use it and enjoy playing around! I made a 2 minute video, which is on one of my earlier posts, which shows how to move around the 3D model, how to zoom in and out, and some of the basic tools they can use on Meshmixer, in case anyone gets stuck, and this is on the Mac desktop, titled “How to Use”.
I have discussed this previously, but I chose the five bones that I did as the jaw bone pieces proved difficult to cast in some of the methods, so much so that I could not get a good cast of them in the herculite, or glass wax, so I decided not to include them at all. Also they are a bit less ambiguous than the other bones, so I felt it best to leave them out, as I like the ambiguity of the shapes of the other bones. Also I left out the brick, despite having cast it in herculite, glass wax, bronze, and aluminum, as I felt it looks odd to have 5 bones and then the brick by itself. This is a shame, as the casts of it are quite beautiful, but it would have stood out too much, so it was necessary.
when I think back I thought I would have recreated the rope, brick, plastic bottle, and driftwood in different materials like I did originally with the vacuum forming, for the final show. Unfortunately the rope and bottle became unusable after the vacuum forming, and the driftwood turned out to be quite complex to cast, so I never ended up doing it. The bones became my focal point quite by accident, as I found myself drawn to the shapes and textures of them when I first started experimenting with the macro lens back in the first term. I don’t regret this, because I feel like I have made a strong body of work, that I am very proud of.
As part of the exhibition World Capital at Arebyte Gallery I was asked to come in and run a workshop for the local children, inspired by the exhibition. World Capital explores how cities and city planning has become homogenized due to capitalism and globalization- with newer parts of cities being impossible to distinguish from other cities across the world. The artist, Felicity Hammond, explores this topic through digital collage, and the gallery space was turned into a collaged city, complete with water ways which mirrored the installation and created an almost ethereal space in the gallery.
Globalisation and capitalism are bit much to explain to young children, and we weren’t sure what kind of age range we would attract for the workshop so I decided to focus on the ideas of collage and building a “world capital”. Rather than asking the children to simply sit and do a collage themselves I wanted to push it into 3D, much like the artist herself had created a 3D collage in the space. With this in mind I researched free downloadable nets of famous landmarks, and also some more simple buildings like schools/ect. I designed a file of the river Thames on Illustrator, which I had printed 150cm x 50cm, which we spread out over the tables in the gallery space, and we asked the children to join us in putting together the famous landmarks and buildings with glue and scissors. When they had made a variety of landmarks (with our help) we then asked them to “build their own world capital” by placing the landmarks they had made around the river, to create their own ideal city- complete with pyramids, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the statue of Liberty, and lots of other international buildings!
Rebecca, the curator at Arebyte, helped me to run the workshop and we both had lots of fun, as did the children who came along! They liked it so much that they asked to take the huge river print and all of the buildings they made home with them. I felt that it was super successful, and it is important that art galleries offer fun, free, accessible activities to children- especially children who otherwise would not get the chance (i.e. children from low income backgrounds, children with special needs, act).
The “BPD and Me” zine I made was made specifically for the exhibition I organized and put together for my society, The Mentally Chill Society.
As part of this I had to:
find out if there was interest from members of the society
find out what spaces were available at UAL for student exhibitions, then apply for the space (a very long application form was involved)
I had to attend a meeting to learn the do’s and don’ts of the space we were allotted- including the health and safety stuff
I then got a committee of society members together, they helped me to write the open call brief asking society members to submit work dealing with the topic of mental health, and more specifically their own experiences of it
Shridula put together the poster which I emailed out to society members and also posted and shared on social media
we then went through the submissions as a committee and contacted everyone who was successful
I then had to fill out a risk assessment
One of the members, Carmella, designed the poster, which I then took elements from to design the sheet with everyone’s names, courses, and descriptions of their work on for the exhibition
I also filled in an application form for additional funding from the Student Union to cover printing costs, costs of nails/tape/ect, alcohol and other drinks for the private view, ect
It was a real struggle to get everyone into the space to put their work over the two days we had to install but I managed, and we got everyone’s work hung!
There was a lot of problem solving involved- for example we realized too late that the labels were going to be too expensive, so we got number stickers for everyone’s work, and then had the sheet with all the info on it for people to take
the private view went really well and I got lots of positive feedback on the curation and for putting it together!
this was my first time organizing an exhibition completely from scratch, and my first time curating an exhibition- I learnt a lot about working with larger groups of people, giving up control to delegate tasks, and how to hang work that is vastly different in a way that works and shows everyone’s work in the best way
As part of an exhibition I organised for my society, The Mentally Chill Society, I decided to make a short zine exploring my experiences with Borderline Personality Disorder, which I was diagnosed with around two years ago.
I started by writing down the NHS definition, the causes, and the four main criteria for diagnosis, and began thinking about how they affected me, personally. I then made some notes, shown below, of objects/imagery I might want to use. It was at this point I decided I wanted to create the initial imagery for the zine on the photocopier, as I wanted it to look and feel handmade and erratic.
I spent about a day in the learning zone, playing around with the various objects I collected from my room on the photocopier, including- fast food packaging, smoking apparatus, my old Barbie doll, condoms, anti depressant packaging, coloured paper, patterned paper bags, doll parts, and photos of myself. These were all things I felt represented different aspects of both myself and more specifically my personality disorder. Once I had the imagery I then used various pens and crayons to create the text and some other parts (such as the mood wheel) which I then added. The original double page spreads were A3 (so once folded it would have been A4) as I prefer to work larger then scale down my work in the next stage, for better quality. The finished zine was printed on A4 paper and folded down to A5.
The next stage was to scan the pages so that I could edit them digitally on Indesign for printing, as shown below.
I printed a proof in black and white first to check that everything was in the right place, before moving on to printing in colour.
I then hand bound the book, using waxed thread for book binding, a bone folder, needle and awl, to make the holes.
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The photos above are of the Zine in the MENTAL exhibition that I organised, and set up, which I will post about shortly.
Low Res Project- Projection Mapping from Kat Outten on Vimeo.
Edgelands Definition: ” Edgelands are the transitional, liminal areas of space to be found on the boundaries of country and town—with the spread of urbanisation, an increasingly important facet of the twenty-first century world ” –wikipedia
Projection Mapping:
” Projection mapping, similar to video mapping and spatial augmented reality, is a projection technology used to turn objects, often irregularly shaped, into a display surface for video projection. These objects may be complex industrial landscapes, such as buildings, small indoor objects or theatrical stages. ” –wikipedia
When we came in on the first day and were told it would be a group project I was very vocally against it. However I actually ended up really enjoying the project and the work we made. We were told the project was to be about “edgelands” and that the final outcome needed to use the technique of projection mapping, but that was all we had to go on.
I think my reservations came from the fact that most of the group projects I have done in the past have gone badly, because I have ended up in groups that haven’t clicked well. In this case though we all got on well- I kind of naturally took on a leadership role without meaning too, as I suggested we could experiment with the weird little Lomax camera I have that has no view finder and 4 lens that go off one after the other, leaving you with an image in four strips. I went back to mine to collect it, and we spent the first day running around Peckham sharing the camera. We were limited by the 3 rolls of expired color film that I had and the fact that it was only the one camera, but we all got on well and shared the camera quite easily, pointing things of interest out to each other and consulting each other before taking the photos. We also all took videos and photos on our mobile phones, just in case the photos on the Lomax camera didn’t work. At the end of the first day we took the rolls of film to Snappy Snaps to get them developed and ready to pick up the next day on a disk.It was actually a really fun, collaborative day, and we also all collected objects from some of the weird shops and market stalls in Peckham which we decided we may or may not use in the piece of work we needed to create.
Day two was mostly spent making the different parts of our installation- Dwa made a painting of Peckhamplex (the cinema) so we took all the photos we took inside the cinema and made that into a film to be projected onto the blank white space on the painting, and meanwhile someone else worked on the clips of the market stalls we collected, and someone else put together the photos from the Lomax camera together, and others played with the composition of the installation, and made the video of the fake fruit and veg to project onto the empty crates we picked up on the streets. It all ended up coming together really well- it looked really dynamic and was an interesting reflection of Peckham Rye Lane. I also really enjoyed seeing the other groups installations as well, I was really glad that I got to take part!
Process photos from screen-printing my illustration and poem piece “An Ode to My Vagina”. So far I only have the one finished print which I put into the Human Manifesto exhibition at CSM, ran jointly by the ArtsFem and LGBTQ societies at UAL, but I intend to print a limited run of this colour scheme, and others, to sell as prints. The illustration was drawn in pencil then gone over in pen, and scanned then cleaned up on Photoshop before I took it to the printmaking studios, and the poem (originally written on my phone) was also handwritten, scanned, and edited on Photoshop before printing.
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These photos show the piece being put up in the exhibition, and a few shots of the piece surrounded by other works in the show. Overall I am very happy with the presentation of my work, and of the response I got from attendees, so I would consider this a success, even though the text is slightly off centre on the illustration (something I will correct when I print more copies in print making).
This piece is deeply personal to me- as a non binary person I have always struggled with accepting my body, and in particular my vagina. For most of my life I hated it and wished it didn’t exist, and only saw it as existing for the pleasure of my sexual partners, not myself. Over the last few years I have been trying to accept, and eventually love, my body the way it is, which is very difficult when you have a lifetime of self hatred and self loathing built into your brain, and as part of this I started masturbating. Previously it was something I viewed as disgusting and dirty, something unnatural, but at the same time I felt broken for having no experience of it, so gradually discovering my body and coming to terms with my vagina’s existence, and my own independence (free of the burden of sexually gratifying others) has been a long journey. Many non binary people, trans men, and cis women have similar struggles with their bodies, but with this piece of work I speak purely for myself, and my own body.
KAT OUTTEN 