SARAH'S DIARY
3rd May 2019
Team meeting. 10am - 11.45am. Items discussed:
Individual strengths
What we as individuals want to bring to the project
Theme
Work schedule
Distance learning
Assessment presentation
Exhibition time & date
Design/space/ SL layout
Advertising and promo
Digital curation
5th May 2019
Today I signed us up to Wix.com, we can use the website to tell people what the project is about and what our intentions are. It's a basic for now, I added some blog pages and about me sections, but I wantĀ to consult the rest of the team on how it should be laid out, themes, colours, fonts, etc. I think that everyone should have a say in the design and layout of the website. I also contacted all of the team members and got them to send me their student email addresses so that I could send them a link to the website. This also allowed me to add all team members to Admin so anyone canĀ view, change edit and publish the website.
6th May 2019
I emailed Paul Walker, a cameraman form the BBC. I used to know him when he was a technician at Mid-Cheshire College. I asked him if he would be able to get us a contact for someone to come and interview us for local news.
7th May 2019
Fortunately, I was able to make it to uni for a few hours today. Everyone that hadn't already made Second Life accounts did so. We explored our virtual space that had already been created by Chris Millward and got to grips with general settings of the Second Life platform i.e. movement, building, transportation. We have our own space within the University space, so we can experiment with the platform and also curation. We learned how to start making simple objects and applying texture to them.
As a group, we decided on a theme for the exhibition. This will be 'Fantasy'. The topic is quite broad and needs to be simplified, but it is a starting point for our ideas and research.
8th May 2019
I had to work from home today due to personal circumstances. I was able to get underway with the research for my exhibition images, which I will be basing around childhood fantasies. I plan to start taking test shots this coming weekend so I have images to present to the group next week for feedback.
I also started to look at buildings which would be suitable for our exhibition. Although I was able to contact the rest of the group via WhatsApp and SL Instant Messaging to talk about plans etc., I'm not sure that people were able to get their points across in the same way as being in the same room as everyone else, so for that reason, this will need to be discussed in further detail with the group tomorrow. I used some time to practice with building and making things in SL and adding and adapting textures, which will come in use when it's time to build the exhibition area.
9th May 2019
We had a group meeting to define roles and talk about our building space. We agreed on what roles each person would undertake so that we could planning our images and the exhibition.
We agreed that:
Barry would take over the project management from Monday.
Kris, Kwang and I would make a start on advertising ideas. Barry could help with Graphic Design.
I would make a Facebook page
Kwang would make an Instagram account
Barry & Adam will undertake research - Looking at galleries and artwork within Second Life and see what other institutions are doing, as well as looking at exhibition space and the theme 'fantasy'.
Barry will research 3D printing resources
Sarah and Paris will curate the exhibition
I will write a statement - which the others can read and build on before we publish it and send it out to proposed galleries, newspapers, etc.
We also discussed how we could get feedback from people who visited the exhibition.
During today's session, I created a Facebook page and added all group members as admins. I started to write a statement about our group and what we are doing and what we hope to achieve. I created an e-mail address for the group where we can be contacted and I also made an Instagram account which Kwang will run.
I sent an email to all group members with login details for e-mail and Instagram.
10th May 2019
I completed the group statement which explains who we are, what we are doing and what we plan to do with our research. I uploaded the statement to One Drive so that the rest of the group could see it, I asked everyone to make notes on whether things needed to be added or taken out, we can discuss this on Monday morning.
I did more research into the images I would like to create, ready for a test shoot tomorrow. I also practised using Second Life to design and build sculptures and looked at ways of displaying my final images.
11th May 2019
Today the weather was perfect to do some test shots. I went to Delamere Forest with my camera, my daughter and a stool! We arrived at 10 am and walked around the forest looking for suitable places to shoot the levitation images. I used a tripod so that the frames were exact, this will make it easier in post processing later on. I left Delamere at 2 pm to view the images I had taken so far.
12th May 2019
Today I spent several hours editing the test shots from yesterday. The editing process was a little trickier than I expected but with patience, the images are quite successful and give me a good starting point for my final images.
I researched some of the galleries and museums that already exist on Second Life as well as educational institutes that also use the platform.
13th May 2019
I got in university early and used this time to catch up on my blog before the rest of the group arrived.
Barry took over as project manager and we had a short meeting to discuss what needs to be done. This week I will mainly be concentrating on the advertising side.
Today, I have researched how other galleries both in and out of Second Life advertise their exhibitions. We also discussed our targeted audience which will be other University/College photography/graphic design departments as well as galleries in Chester, North Wales, Liverpool and other surrounding areas. As part of the advertising, I will be looking at how we can attract viewers that are already members of Second Life.
14th May 2019
Most of the team are working from home today and focusing on their own parts of the project. I am continuing to compile a list of places that we consider our target audience. I will also be working on some posters to send out to our prospective audience.
I will also be working on my journal and composing a story board for my final images.
15th May 2019
Today, as a group we explored different options for our gallery, we are yet to find a suitable place that everyone can agree on.
I researched newspapers and local radio stations that might advertise our exhibition for the form of a press release. I worked on the letter that we will send out to our prospective audience. Our plan is to have sent out the 'invitations' to the audience and contacted media for a press release by Friday this week.
16th May 2019
I have worked more on the website, adding and updating the contact page and linking social media as well as creating the About section. I have added place cards where the virtual tour of Kingsway will be premiered and also the live streaming of the exhibition.Ā I will be working on my journal, keeping it up to date. I will start to send out invitations once everyone's personal statement has been uploaded to the website.
17th May 2019
Today is a work from home day. I am updating my journal and making a plan of what needs to be discussed at our Monday morning meeting. I have helped with the teams personal statements and uploaded them to the website. I have done some research on curation and gallery layout ideas as well as finishing the list of people we need to invite to our exhibition. I also have a list of newspapers and websites that I need to contact to see if they can do some form of press release to advertise our work.
18th May 2019
Day off :)
19th May 2019
I will be making scheduled posts for the Facebook page so that they will post automatically every day until the exhibition has been launched. I will also be sending out the invitations - The website wasn't quite right to send them out on Friday. Minor editing to the website.
20th May 2019
Finished sending out the email invitations to over 140 creative arts colleges and universities, as well as 25 local galleries, including, The Walker Art Gallery, The Tate and Bluecoats.
Completed all Facebook scheduled posts up until the launch day. All posts will be released at the same time every day. Other posts can still be added as and when needed.
Contacted and heard back from UoC communications and we have scheduled a press release interview for Wednesday at 2.30pm.
21st May 2019
Managed our e-mail account, read e-mail from universities and colleges that had acknowledged our e-mail and their interest in our project.
Researched advertising space in SL, looking at different places and costs. Scheduled a meeting for tomorrow morning with our work experience leader to discuss things that were mentioned at an impromptu meeting this afternoon. Worked on the journal and updated schedule posts on Facebook.
22nd May 2019
Meeting with work experience leader 9 am, discussed SL and what we needed to happen for us to progress, discussed the website layout, the 3rd year exhibition, distance learning and the book that we will be creating from this project.
Press release photographer coming at 2.30 pm today.
Update blog and journal, clear out practice space in SL to make way for the gallery.
Research more Gallery options.
23rd May 2019
Today I had to be in work but once home, I worked through the evening.
A decision had been made on the gallery so I purchased it and placed it on the land belonging to the University of Chester. Whilst the building was what we had expected, we came up with a plan to extend it. This involved duplicating the building, piecing both buildings together and then taking out different sections so that avatars could move freely between buildings. I practised with the building for quite a while and had to start over on many occasions.
24th May 2019
Today I spent a few hours getting to know the gallery space and the building. I had to align the gallery building and removing links so that different parts of the building could be removed and added too. The gallery comes as one unit, unlinking it makes it many units so that individual pieces can be moved. To move the gallery as a unit again, I have to link each and every single item and link it again. This is a very time consuming task.
25th May 2019
Spent more hours getting the two galleries contacted and flattening the land so that the galleries were not floating in mid air. Started to work on aesthetics of the outside space of the gallery.
26th May 2019
Sunday - Day off.
27th May 2019
Bank Holiday Monday - Day off.
28th May 2019
We had a meeting today to discuss what still needs to be done, who was going to undertake certain parts of the project that we hadn't started yet. Adam, Kris, Paris, Kuang and Barry will photograph the 3rd year exhibition and put the images into second life. I will photograph and make sculptures as discussed. The layout and the content of the magazine were discussed - Barry has taken the lead on this. I will continue to make paths and make the inside and outside of the gallery more aesthetically pleasing.
29th May 2019
Today I received everyone's artwork for the exhibition. I put all of the images int a powerpoint and then printed the slides off, 4 to a page. I then cut them out. Paris and I utilised a pod to away from the rest of the group. We placed all the images on the table and firstly, started to discuss which images worked within their own set. We removed images that we didn't feel worked or were technically incorrect. This was a mutual decision on all images. Next, we decided the order of the images, placing and rearranging the images next to each other on the table to see which images showed a narrative or flowed from one to the next.
Everyone, including myself and Paris had images rejected from the exhibition.
Paris and I invited everyone individually to the pod so that we could give an explanation as to why their images had been rejected or why we thought they were best arranged in a way different to how they had submitted.
From the whole group, there was only one person who seemed disappointed that all of their work was not doing to be display, but with explanation and reassurance about the rest of their work, they could understand why we had done it this way.
30th May 2019
More time spent on creating a more interesting environment on the island. Updated journal and also the website.
31st May 2019
Still updating the environment in Second Life. Fixed part of the gallery where shadows were left from taking out walls. This was done by copying a texture from an existing wall, making a thin board and applying the texture. This was then resized and placed over the shadows to look seamless.
1st June 2019
Saturday - Day off.
2nd June 2019
Sunday - Day off.
3rd June 2019
Meeting with our work placement leader. There were certain parts of Second Life that we could not edit because we did not own the land. We explained what we needed him to do and he was able to complete this during the meeting. This included things like flattening or raising land and planting trees.
Started to make tiff files for words and descriptions that would accompany the artwork in our gallery. We had decided that instead of making plain boards for our work, we would like to have the words directly on the wall. Tiff files were made and transparent boards were placed on the walls with the words as a texture. This gives the effect that the words are placed on the wall.
4th June 2019
School holidays! I had already booked 2 days away with my daughter, I let the group know and was still available to contact on WhatsApp.
In the evening I was able to spend a couple of hours seeing what the group had done in the day. And doing little jobs which were asked of me. (Editing and proof reading).
5th June 2019
I came home around 6pmĀ today. I was able to continue proof reading and also make frames as place markers for exhibition work.
6th June 2019
A long list of things to do today, not necessarily big jobs, more fiddly and time consuming jobs.
Proof read and edit the magazine ready for printing.
Make sure everyone's artwork is displayed correctly in the virtual gallery.
Proof read and edit descriptions for Adam, Paris and Kuang.
Help Kris to write his description.
Add names to mine and Barry's work.
Fix the virtual gallery.
Curate layout of work in the gallery.
Photograph 3rd year sculptures.
Make sculptures.
Email Chester admin again to send our awareness of exhibition email.
Update website.
Update journal.
Update Facebook.
Check virtual curation emails.
Exhibition launch at 10pm, available from 10pm until midnight for questions and answers from the public.
7th June 2019
9am post exhibition meeting at Kingsway Campus. All participants present, along with our work placement leader. We discussed what worked well with the exhibition and also things that didn't go as planned> we also discussed what we could do better next time.
The final layout of our magazine was deemed ready to print. C. Millward will look at getting some copies published.
A walk through of the virtual exhibition still needs to made and uploaded to the website before 13th June for the 3rd years exhibition launch, where we have been asked to exhibit our gallery along with the Virtual tour of Kingsway.