Skyping Lima - update!

We held the skype session between Newcastle University 2nd year Fine Art students and Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru Industrial Design and Graphic Design students on Friday 3rd May.

The session allowed the students to hold a live discussion based around their own art work, how their course is structured and what they plan to do after uni. Suzanne gave an overview of the Transporter project and why we were working with the 2nd year students, Kitty Langton (student) gave an overview of the 'Strand' module and what they had learnt so far and how it was helping them develop their artwork and Ella Dorton (student) gave an overview of the Fine Art course and how it is taught in England.

This led onto the Lima students giving an overview of their projects and they both compared the differences with the courses i.e. lima study for 5-6 years and specialise in a specific artform and are not able to work cross artforms like in England. Lima students however have a much stronger focus on learning their skill and perfecting their craft before focussing on their own personal ideas development whereas Newcastle students are much more focussed on the concepts of their artwork and tend to learn specific skills as and when they need to.

The students asked specific questions about each others work and posted comments on the Flickr site which you can find here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/67813410@N05/

We are keen to explore the potential for students to take part in an exchange at each other's universities so that they can benefit from the different approaches to art courses.

regards
Transporter project!!

Skyping Lima!

As part of our 'Strand' project with students from Newcastle University we will be doing a skype exchange with students from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru in Lima this Friday (3rd May).

Suzanne and I visited Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru during our residency in Peru in 2011. During our visit we met with some of the tutors who gave us a tour of the different departments and we talked about various projects that they were working on with their students and local communities  and how these might link with our Transporter project- an example of which can be found at - https://www.facebook.com/ArteSurChincha

The skype exchange will consist of the students commenting on each others work, prior to the skype session, through our Flickr site - http://www.flickr.com/photos/67813410@N05/ with further dicussion during the skype exchange itself. We will also be exploring how the students programmes compare and differ and learn about each others culture and how they approach artisitc projects.

Here are some examples of the students work and we will post another update on this once the skype session has taken place!!!

Until next time.....

Transporter project!!

Update since our return to the UK & the next phase of Transporter...

Spending time at Sachaqa Centro De Arte and our experiences in San Roque de Cumbaza, Tarapoto, Chazuta and Lamas has allowed us to take a fresh approach to our art making, giving us time and space to learn to just relax and not force creativity! Being away from anything familiar really made you think about yourself as a person, who you are and who you want to be- something we didn’t expect! The peaceful and undisturbed surroundings were AMAZING and the way Trina and Daniel have set up the centre in a very relaxed and informal manner means you are free to work as and when you please. We were so inspired by the beauty of the place as well as the sounds and movement from the river, weather, trees and wildlife. There was thunder and lightning like we’d never experienced before, frogs as loud as horns, the biggest cockroaches we've ever seen, an orchestra from nature every night and the most beautiful coffee, pineapple and chocolate we’ve ever tasted!

Since leaving Peru we have been developing new work from ideas inspired by our time there which we did not have time to realise whilst we were there. We are currently looking at creating sculptural work from handmade paper we made whilst working with local artisans in Lamas – looking into the techniques of paper engineering and origami. We are also developing a sound and film piece made from the footage and recordings that we took as we travelled around Peru and during our daily walks around San Roque de Cumbaza where we were based. This new work will form the basis of the exhibition we are hoping to deliver in March 2012 (date and place tbc). We will post more information about this exhibition as soon as we have it!

Since our last posting we have been in contact with Lima University’s sculpture department and Axis Arte (www.blog.pucp.edu.pe/blog/axisarte ) whom we met just before our return to the UK. We are organising an online exchange between students from Lima University and Newcastle University and will be using the theme of sustainability within traditional art forms as a starting point from which to develop a relationship. The students will share ideas and thoughts around this subject and also discuss the differences and similarities between how art courses are taught in the UK and Peru.

Our next stop on the Transporter journey is to Berlin in August 2012 where we will be artists in residence in Kunst-Stoffe, an arts organisation that looks at the creative re-examination and re-use of recycled materials. While we are there we will make work inspired by our travels so far and immerse ourselves in their culture.

We will add more info to our blog as we develop this project so keep checking in with us and remember our Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/67813410%40N05/ ) where we have recently added some video footage of local artisans singing about their passion for the work that they do!!