This unit is very much about finding where you fit in the current industry, with part of that being the attempt of finding work experience and opportunity to see how the market works.
I am very interested in participating in workshops with artists, to learn their techniques and then adapt them for my own personal style. A few weeks ago I came across a website holding courses ran by my idol, textile artist Janet Bolton, at West Dean College, Chichester. I have been on a day's workshop with Janet before, her outlook on art being invaluable. Her work involves creating intricate, very delicate textile pictures from found materials and fabrics collected over the world. Her pieces hold room for memory, and all have a personal touch, something that I really admire in work. Janet is a lady that I aspire to have a career alike to. She has had an AMAZING career.
http://www.westdean.org.uk/WestDeanHomepage.aspx
http://instagram.com/westdeancollege#
http://www.janetbolton.com
Looking into the course a bit more, I noticed that for students, the college offers a small amount of bursaries to fund education on these courses. I decided that I would request for a bursary to cover the course fee- stating that I would fund the travel, accommodation and all other fees- and so filled in forms and set away an online portfolio of my work. This morning I have been contacted to say that the college were very impressed with my portfolio, and have granted a full all expense paid bursary to work with Janet Bolton for the week! Obviously this is fantastic news, and has really inspired me to get back sewing and doing all of the things that I love (including french knots!). The course isn't until October, but I am already so excited!
