We know that you like them and we know we have kept you waiting, but the videos from the March Assessment event are coming. Here OCA tutor Alexis Stevens looks at the sketchbook of Stephen Powell who studied the Painting 2 – Exploring Concepts course.

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OCASA President, Stan Dickinson, will organise the handover from previous representative, Chris Lawry, in the next couple of weeks. We are grateful to Elaine for coming forward to take up the role.

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In the late 1960s, Magnum photographer Bruce Davidson spent two years working on what would become one of his most famous projects, ‘East 100th Street’. Exploring the interior spaces and life on the street of the inhabitants of a block in New York’s East Harlem, his black and white images are acknowledged as a classic documentation of the American ghetto. The work from the finished project was displayed in the city’s Museum of Modern Art and published in 1970 as a book of the same title.

Cities change, areas even more so. With her project ‘I call this place home’, Tanya Ahmed explores the place she has called home for 14 years. We meet the people who are her neighbours, the current residents of East 100th Street.

Tanya, who is British, had her first photographic spread published in The Reading Evening Post when she was 16. After studying for a BTEC in photography at Berkshire College of Art and Design, she worked as a freelance photographer in the UK, Australia and the US, moving to the US in 1993. She is currently completing her level 3 studies at the OCA.

‘I call this place home’ is the first exhibition in a new collaboration between innovative cross-disciplinary Sheffield arts centre Bank Street Arts and the OCA. The exhibition runs from 6 to 16 June and OCA assessor and tutor Maggy Milner will be running a study visit at the gallery on Friday 15 June. The visit will start at 11am. To book a place students should email enquiries@oca-uk.com.

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Sarah Gallear, OCA photography student gives her thoughts on last week’s study visit.

Roger Ballen is a photographer who has generated mixed opinions throughout his career and this retrospective, the first major exhibition of his in the UK at Manchester art gallery is no exception. Shadowlands: Photographs 1983-2001 could not be a more apt title for the mixture of images spanning six different collections, and featuring videos of Ballen at work and his recent foray into the world of music video.

Living in working in South Africa, the exhibition opens with images of homes and streets before Ballen started to build relationships with the residents and the start if of his documentary style work. The most eye catching image in this style was the well known portrait of twins ‘Dresie and Casie’ from the ‘Platteland’ series. Presented larger than the other images, at almost life size it made the twins imposing stare come right out at the viewer and it’s no wonder that this started the first debate between the group, skilfully aided by Gareth and Peter. We wondered if its inclusion so early on in the exhibition was confidence on part of Ballen in something so well known, or whether he just wanted it out of the way to clear the slate for his more unsettling work.

‘Outland’ brought us to an almost voyeuristic point where we were looking through a window into these people’s lives with a mixture of strange relationships, poverty and recurring props and themes coming into use. For example when we viewed ‘Sickroom’ we find a contrast between the old wasted figure on the bed and the well fed young boy stood over him, yet further on in the series we see the old man again playing a different part. How much is reality and how much is what Ballen is wanting to portray? Through watching the video of Ballen at work it became clear that he has built up good relationships with the residents and they are willing actors.

As we moved on through ‘Shadow Chamber’ and ‘Boarding House’ the use of people grew less and the interaction with props increased with recurring themes such as faces, animals, both dead and alive, wires and children’s toys replacing people. Ballen himself says that each picture reveals a piece of who he is – yet it seems more like a descent into warped madness and by the time we get to the latest work ‘Asylum’ 2012, the sheer number of images and their uncomfortably dark subject matter makes it both hard to read, and also to take in what is an overwhelming career retrospective.

The one glimmer of light relief is in the form of the Ballen collaborated music video with South African rap rave group Die Antwoord on ‘I Fink U Freeky’ which encompasses a number of his trademark symbols and pokes fun lightly at some of his earlier characters.

A telling sign of how we all felt after the visit was when Gareth asked what we thought of it and there was a pause of silence as we all tried to reason what we had seen, it’s this open debate and discussion with a study group that’s so beneficial to understanding challenging exhibitions. Love it or hate it, Roger Ballen gets people talking and his work will stay with you long after you’ve left.

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‘…Agnes is a wheelchair user who refuses to be limited by her disability. Important things for her are her gloves – without which her hands get very sore – and her cushion which gives her a feeling of stability and confidence…’

Tutor Simon Barber has an exhibition of his latest work ‘Surviving on the Edge’ at the Norden Farm Centre for the Arts in Maidenhead from 23 May to 3 June. Simon’s practice is highly collaborative, working with the ‘subjects’ in his work to reveal what is important to them – you can read more about how he approaches his work in this interview he did with Michael Freeman last year.

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In the West, Li Zhensheng is famous: he is one of only two Chinese photographers shown on the BBC documentary “The Genius of Photography”, and his book “Red Color News Soldier“ featuring images from the Cultural Revolution raised a furore when it was first published in 2003. In China, however, this part of history is considered highly controversial and the book is banned.

It is, nonetheless, possible to see a selection of Li Zhensheng’s photographs at the Beaugeste Gallery in Shanghai even if the French curator, Jean Loh, has to be discreet to avoid upsetting the authorities. Viewing is thus by appointment only, and the visitor has to walk up five flights of stairs to reach the gallery. However, hearing Jean Loh talk about this interesting exhibition definitely makes it worth the trouble of getting there.

The gallery can naturally only show a fraction of Li’s nearly 100,000 images. And even though the exhibition does have strong political overtones, it is important to note that Jean Loh’s intention is to show Li’s artwork rather than to shock the public with the atrocities of the Cultural Revolution,

Li Zhensheng , was born 1940 in Northern China and had studied cinematography at the Changchun Film Institute. However, when the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) drew closer, he switched to photography, which led to a career as a photojournalist at the HeilongJiang Daily. Of course, Li was not the only photographer who documented this period of time, but as has so rightly been pointed out by many: he was not only a skilled photographer, he also documented the times with a sense of history that went far beyond that of his peers.

Li would often use spare negatives for self-portraits, and in this image from 1966, he used his skill as a cinematographer to casts himself as a “mythical movie hero confronting the enemy ready to fight.” Jean Loh recounts how Western critiques wrote: “It’s incredible that Li Zhensheng has achieved the complete recording of the Cultural Revolution, most certainly because of his rebellious nature and this picture is the proof of it.” It was probably the same spirit that led him to capture even incriminating events and to safeguard the “negative negatives” under the floorboards of his apartment when later he was denounced and sent off to labour camp.

The second photograph (1966) is an example of how even seemingly harmless images can bring forth painful memories in the Chinese who lived trough the turmoil. This photograph of a young red guard dancing the “Loyalty Dance”, for instance, has upset several visitors to the Shanghai gallery as many remember how the Red Guards would get off the trains from Beijing and, if unarmed, would use their belts to strike people and later show off the blood on their buckles as trophies.

The last image, also from 1966, shows one of the many photographs Li has taken of “public struggles”. Here it is Provincial Party Secretary Ren Zhongyi who has been placed by the Red Guards on a shaky chair, with his hands tied behind his back after having his faced smeared with black ink. He was forced to wear an oversized dunce hat and carry a sign saying “black gang element”. Li takes us right into the middle of the screaming, hysterical crowd and as Jean Loh writes in the exhibition catalogue “ “the big drum is placed in the lower left corner as if to let us hear the thunderous roars and furies. The dark clouds gathering above-head appear as a symbol of bad omen”. This particular party secretary survived the struggle and actually signed the photo for Li twenty years later.

Today the Cultural Revolution is history and Li Zhensheng and his photos, including the negative negatives, have survived. Li lives in the USA and his photographs travel the world. However, here in Shanghai some of the former Red Guards happily broke into revolutionary songs when they saw the exhibition. The younger generation, on the other hand, shows less interest. The Cultural Revolution is not taught at Chinese schools, and so they know very little about it. This does leave room for thought!

[Images: Li Zhensheng – Courtesy Beaugeste Gallery Shanghai]

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Mondrian’s primary colours shone against white backgrounds, Nicholson’s crisply carved white reliefs blazed brightly next to his subtly varied colours – a vivid contrast to the dull, blurry grey May day below. The purity of circles, squares and parallel lines cancelled out the chaos of traffic on The Strand.

The exhibition focuses on a short period in the two artists’ careers, when their work was closest in style. It begins in 1934 when Nicholson first visited Mondrian’s studio in Paris and includes the years PM spent in London after being invited here by Nicholson, in Belsize Park, London (NW3) around the corner from Nicholson’s studio (also that of Barbara Hepworth) The exhibition ends in about 1939 when Nicholson and Hepworth left for Cornwall and Mondrian left for New York to escape the war.

Vanja Malloy (Courtauld Institute) gave our group a fascinating talk on Mondrian and Nicholson’s interest in science and effects this may have had on their art, arguing roughly as follows.

Mondrian was interested in Einstein’s work on relativity which may have influenced his search for the 4th plane or dimension, eventually leading to an art which explored the abstract laws, rules, patterns behind and beyond the visible world, in the same way that Einstein explored space and time in physics.

Mondrian creates movement countering the static flatness of the canvas by placement of lines, colours and shapes so that the eye moves around the canvas. This creates a temporal dimension in the paintings. He saw his studio as a laboratory, experimenting with the elements in his paintings as a scientist experiments to find underlying “laws”. He treated lines as forces pulling and pushing, and placed squares of primary colours in various combinations, aiming for a “dynamic equilibrium”.

Nicholson became interested in Einstein’s work via British scientist Sir Arthur Eddington’s writings. He was fascinated by Eddington’s idea that the scientific and spiritual experiences and approaches are similar, both searching for a reality beyond everyday appearances. Nicholson felt art did this too, especially abstract art. These similar ideas seem to underpin

I wasn’t totally convinced by the argument about science’s importance in the actual paintings. What about the political context or the influence of refugee Constructivists like Moholy-Nagy and Gabo, also living in NW3? What about, most importantly, Hepworth’s influence?

Nicholson and Mondrian were very different artists, as this exhibition shows. Mondrian seems driven by his theories, his intellectual and visual search for “dynamic equilibrium” which would transform society into a utopia in which art played a central role. Nicholson and many other European artists shared this utopian vision of abstract art as a weapon against totalitarianism.

Nicholson’s art was more intuitive, physical rather than intellectual. He was more interested in colour and its ability to create space, in the surfaces and the work as object. He continued to work on still lives and landscapes at the same time as producing purely abstract works. His reliefs were undoubtedly influenced by Hepworth, working alongside him. The absence of Hepworth was a gap in the exhibition when some Nicholson works seem closer to her work than Mondrian’s.

A shame that the “Mondrian tea” was off the menu in the café! It would have been interesting to see how the chefs positioned squares of bread and cheese, perhaps divided by lines of licorice (squid ink?), to achieve that elusive – and edible – dynamic equilibrium.

David Knapp

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I recently failed to win funding for a project involving people singing in their cars. The idea is still just something I glimpse in the corner of my eye every now and again and I had hoped that the funding (for a Go Pro camera) would give me the confidence to approach my local choir (it sounds better if you can start by saying ‘I’ve received funding from Creative Scotland’ if you are asking a group of people to do something very odd). Anyway, Feldman presented in this exhibition a set of photographs of car stereos with the caption that explained that they were taken whilst happy music was playing. I then had to think, what else would my wee videos add to that, has he already said it, more succinctly?

Feldman makes artists books and photographic series. I particularly liked a set of individual photographs of the contents of a punnet of strawberries. That experience of looking at a punnet of strawberries where you see the big fat one, the wee shrivelly one etc was drawn out and laid before me like a museum exhibit and I felt it almost anthropomorphosised them. It reminded me of those obsessive Cesare Lombroso inspired photo series produced by the Victorians of aberrant characters.

Feldman is a collector and a chronicler. His work is humane and humorous. I find it very hard to make work which is about the inevitable bathos of humanity without being patronising or simplistic or appearing to sneer. It is a fine line to walk. Jeremy Deller seems to pull it off very well and largely I found that Feldman has too. Overall I felt this was a gentle salute to the courage and tenacity of ordinary humankind, something I aspire to in my own work.

The Serpentine Gallery is a great gallery to visit by the way. It is in Kensington Gardens so you can get to Hyde Park and just spend the day in the Park, splashing in the Lady Diana memorial water chute and watching the birds over a cup of expensive tea. It is also relatively near to South Ken so you can do the V&A and Natural History overland at the same time. The current exhibition is on until 5^th June.

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Three art students in Barnsley, Melvyn Robinson, 1954

Some time has passed since my travels around the country last month, which coincidentally, made me look at Textiles from both sides of the fence, and here I’m reflecting on those experiences.  First stop,  Barnsley for  the OCA Textile Tutors Development Day, very stimulating and helpful plus lovely to meet not only other tutors, but OCA staff as well. An unexpected highlight for us all  (following the non delivery of the lunch) was our decanting in cars to the nearest pub for a meal instead. If you’ll remember, late March we were in the middle of a heat wave and so we sweltered in the front garden adjoining the car park, but some very productive conversations took place there. Back at HQ we engaged in a number of exercises, one of which was grading a range of students work for assessment (it had in fact already been formally assessed).  Interesting to see how closely our marks echoed the “real” assessment scores. What really stood out was how some well some students displayed work and some not so. Given a limited amount of time, it was important to make sense of things quickly – why was this here, where was the student going with this train of thought? What did this drawing or set of samples relate too? Anything that simplifies or clarifies means more time to examine the quality of the work itself. A big thanks to Jane and Alison and everyone else involved for making the day such a success, also thanks to Melvyn Robinson, local artist for the image.

A few days sojourn in Hebden Bridge followed that (very arty and alternative),   home to artist and weaver Sue Lawty, and again, some exemporay Northern hospitality. Then across to Stroud, home of the annual Textiles Festival  to attend a Development Weekend for Textile/Mixed Media Artists with Hilary Bower (below) whose work I’ve long admired. This was not technique based, but rather a chance to develop and extend ourselves as artists and designers. Hilary from the first made us all feel relaxed,  she emphasised this was our weekend, and we could use the time in any number of ways; come and go freely, walk in the park, draw, read, write notes or just think.  At the  core were a series of group discussions and one to one mentoring sessions with Hilary. We were a mixed bunch, mostly with first or second degrees in Textiles or associated Fine Art skills, some moving or wanting to move between the two, but all seeking to develop in some way.  I’d also consider it suitable for good level 3 students,  particularly distance ones wanting some group contact. Hilary couldn’t be a better mentor, her  sensitive support,  depth of knowledge and innate intelligence nurtured us safely into new ground and new ideas.

One of the participants, Jilly Morris is exhibiting in the current Pairings exhibition as part of the annual Stroud Textiles Festival. Deborah Roberts, a felt maker  had also been on the MA course at Birmingham as had her friend Diane Cooke,  a few years on from me, so it was great to be able to catch up with all the gossip and hear about what our tutors had been up to.

Felt vessels, drawings and work in progress, Deborah Roberts

As with OCA students work, was struck was the range of both subject matter and technique spread over  this small group of artists. What it worth doing? Without a doubt; this was a chance  to reflect, not always possible in everyday life.  Heartfelt thanks to Hilary for making it such a wonderful weekend.

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Art of Photography student Chris Woolgar raised a smile with a comment he made whilst reflecting on his progress through the module: “I am an engineer: I can take a car apart but not a photograph”. In my experience with working with OCA students, Chris’ position is not uncommon; possessing a genuine desire to make stronger imagery, wanting to make photography that is expressive, but feeling a little bound by perhaps more mechanical instincts. (Forgive me, Chris if this is an inaccurate interpretation.)

The Art of Photography module seems to be particularly suited to students that are instinctively more technical, and it walks them through understanding the nuts and bolts of the frame. It is easy though to become a little too preoccupied with how the frame is organised, forgetting the importance of what is actually within the frame. Believe it or not, tutors actually see a collection of objects inside their student’s photographs, not just a particular arrangement of tones, textures and lines.Which is why I got particularly excited when I saw one particular image from Chris’ response to Assignment Two, Elements of Design. Usually I try to steer students away from shooting in exotic locations, believing that the most interesting work is made closer to home, of subjects with which you/we have a real passion for or connection to. In this respect, this shot from a sequence made in Egypt is not an ideal image to share with you, however, the basic elements which excite me are universal; essentially those of contrast and juxtaposition, which I believe can be found anywhere (so long as you keep you eyes peeled).

Chris’s photograph of a pair of palm trees and the pyramid at Saqqara certainly seemed like an appropriate response to the assignment brief, appropriately locating two distinct points within the frame. There is (for me, at least) an implied line between the trees and the pyramid, which provides a trail for the viewer to tread. But the real excitement for me is not within the geometric relationship between the objects, but the relationship between the two elements as subjects. This is what I wrote in Chris’s feedback:

“The relationship between the lush palms, and the ancient pyramid in the background, which appears to be being held up with scaffolding, is really intriguing for several reasons: they both seem to be existing (just about) in the austerity of the desert environment. The placement of the trees in the fore- and the pyramid in the background make a very clear statement about the age of each object (the pyramid belonging to the past, which is situated literally in the background of the composition). The pyramid is ancient and seems such a permanent fixture of the landscape it almost defies being thought of as a man-made structure, yet the scaffolding underscores the necessary intervention of man to conserve it as part of the landscape. The trees on the other hand are a blatantly ‘organic’ element of an inhospitable landscape – defiantly popping up almost in opposition to the harshness of nature.

To be quite honest, none of this analysis was in Chris’ accompanying notes, so perhaps more sceptical readers can be forgiven for dismissing this kind of reading into a photograph, imposing it upon the will of the author. (Chris was supportive of my analysis, however.) But I hope that most will identify some of these observations. In any case, this is a great example of combining effective composition with intriguing subject matter, resulting in a thought-provoking image that transcends basic concerns of the geometry of the frame.

You can see the entry on this assignment in Chris’ learning blog here.

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