Viewpoints Exhibition @ The Collection

As part of our current LAN/Onlincolnshire workshops at The Collection, the first workshop on social media and digital technology included making use of the recent addition of wi-fi in the gallery space at The Collection.

There seem to be a few teething problems with connectivity via iphone on twitter, so feedback was given and we hope this will enable the museum to ensure that visitors can be able to tweet in the space and connect digitally during their visits.
This could be useful for seeking references on artists being exhibited, links to websites and other information that can be accessed directly while looking at work in the gallery, along with digitally interactive art work.

LAN artists have gained some useful knowledge about using twitter and hashtags to raise awareness of their work, to promote their work to reach audiences, gain commissions, and building followers.

We were involved in Lincolnshire Digital Conference and their hashtag #godigital15, which created a huge twitter presence and raised the profile of attendees online, as well as spamming twitter with many Jason Bradbury selfies!
As part of the Collection's current Viewpoints exhibition hashtag #myviewpoint we conducted some live tweeting in the gallery to share our thoughts and opinions on the work exhibited, and here we're collecting some that we hope will tie in with the comments for the exhibition. 

Discussion surrounding the photographic print by Richard Billingham "Untitled" 1995, some comments by Sarah Yates reflecting on the mood of the photo, the deliberately lo-fi exposure to reflect something about the subject, to capture the reality of the scenario. 
Illustrator Rose Bowskill saw it as an early internet cat meme, interested in the relationship between the man and the cat hiding behind rows of ornaments in the image.


A lot of visitors were drawn to Roger Ackling's Five Hour Cloud Drawing, 1980, in particular, the way it had been created that works like a printer, layered lines to form a circular image, described as sunlight on card - like a solar printer to build up the image over time, following on from Jason Bradbury's talk with early ZXSpectrum computer technology, it's reminiscent of waiting for an old ZXSpectrum game to load. Further discussion about the graphic nature of the image. 



A tweet with Helen Dearnley's thoughts on Jeremy Deller's proposal for Dr David Kelly for the Fourth Plinth is encouraging for artists that have been on the recieving end of those all too ubiquitous rejection letters / emails, to see that even very well known artists get rejected, but also that the rejection is still shown somewhere in displaying it as part of the exhibition. 



Cartoonist James was interested in an old painting of Lincoln showing the city included the Brayford Pool before the area became built up with modern buildings, to see how the city has changed over time. 



Please do tweet us @lincolnan if you'd like something to be added to this blog! And you can use The Collection hashtag #myviewpoints to engage with the conversation.

Lincolnshire Digital Conference 2015

The Showroom went a bit mental in Maplin!

Due to the current collaboration with Onlincolnshire, we were invited to the Lincolnshire Digital Conference 2015, at The Showroom, Lincoln.

Mike Poole explains 3D printing technology at Lincolnshire Technology Hubs

Jason Bradbury introduces himself via gadgets

Jason presents his talk on a "hoverboard"

Jason's first hoverboard made in Lincoln

DeLorean

Jason is currently building a DeLorean for the anniversary of Back To The Future coming up in October this year. We predict that Lincolnshire County Council will increase parking charges for time machines, and that he should build a 1985 parking meter and park on 1980s rates!

Using Minecraft to illustrate quotes and statistics

LAN/Onlincolnshire workshops

More information and booking form on The Collection website here

LAN / Onlincolnshire workshops

Previous workshops were rescheduled due to illness, and are updated as follows:

We still have spaces available for 1 or 2 more artists, please get in touch if interested!

LAN / Onlincolnshire workshops - Open Call

Magna Carta

The Magna Carta has always been an important part of our identity as artists living and working in the city of Lincoln, and the LAN has always had it’s own Artist’s Charter, which forms the basis of the group.

At the end of 2014, a proposal was created and submitted to The Collection for their Courtyard Gallery space, for Lincoln-based artists to create and exhibit work in response to The Magna Carta. There was much interest in this from artists wishing to get involved.

However, we were disappointed to receive yet another rejection email from The Collection, not enabling us to do this.

Advice often given – often those that think fine art is important say that “you can do anything as an artist” (as opposed to illustration, where apparently you can’t, for some unknown reason).

However, we’re not able to create and exhibit work in The Collection during the upcoming Magna Carta celebrations, because they said no.

Let’s have a look at the Magna Carta and the rights and freedoms it expresses.

For instance, a current campaign is ongoing to Save Lincs Libraries.

When our Alice in Disneyland exhibition couldn’t be exhibited at the Odeon cinema, we found Lincoln Central Library an appropriate venue in which to exhibit.

Here at the LAN, having examined Borges, and spent a lot of time in Great Central Library writing dissertations, we rather like them.

Lincoln Cathedral has one of the best libraries in the country, the Wren Library – some of the medieval illuminated manuscripts look as if they were written and illustrated yesterday, and there are some fascinating insights into the goings on of a certain Robyn Hode.

So it’s sad that plans are afoot to close many library services in Lincolnshire. And in relation to this, is this article about the significance of libraries and the Magna Carta:

http://www.labour-rose.co.uk/archives/804

So, not only are libraries under threat of closure, they’re also denying local graduates an opportunity to create contemporary fine art in response to the Magna Carta itself. So much for democracy.

Happy New Year 2015!

2014 has been a quiet year for the LAN, taking a step back to stop and draw to a close opportunities that didn't quite work out the way we'd have liked.

It's been a year to take some time out to concentrate on personal issues, then to start again to renew Lincoln Artists' Network.

Most of the time spent not applying for "opportunities" that won't benefit the LAN, and challenging them.

We're still seeking funding - this is a huge bugbear for the LAN.

We are constantly told to apply to Arts Council for funding, and artists really need to get together with us in order for this to be successful. Strength in numbers.

a-n's #payingartists campaign takes a lot of the groundwork out of campaigning for better artists' rights, although we're still not sure why it is that, 5 years on, it's so hard to generate an income for artists.

We applied to The Collection for a Courtyard Gallery exhibition, which wasn't successful. We were told this was because there are already lots of Magna Carta themed events next year. We would like to have been involved, for Lincoln-based artists to get together to create and showcase work, but we need to expand from "grass roots" level now.

Exciting things have been happening behind the scenes at the LAN towards the end of 2014, looking forward to new beginnings and new opportunities.

We're in the process of developing workshops, with a potential fundraising event coming up in May, and plenty of ideas to work towards.

We'd like to thank all those that have been getting involved, and the support from businesses and the University of Lincoln.