Mx.D.P

Learning Outcome 1:

Where did this start? What happened? Where are we going?…

I started in unit one with this diagram, and I’ve circled in red the areas that have changed.

I acknowledged in the first unit assessment that my practice would change.

My Art Practice is The Network.

A network is rarely fixed; it will change organically with time within an art practice.

That’s the point of art action research.

I change too.

As a crip person and artist, I know that my physical state will affect my art. It’s taken a long time to see that as a benefit, and I am forever pushing that darn envelope!

The Low-Res for me was fantastic and also tremendously physically and emotionally challenging. It’s fertile stuff for an artist! I reflect on my physical limitations in the blog post:

It’s All About Pacing – Interim Show, Low-Res and Assessment Feedback

https://mxdp.blog/2024/03/15/its-all-about-pacing-interim-show-low-res-and-assessment-feedback/

But at that stage and for a few weeks before and after, I didn’t know what that meant for my art practice. I thought it was just logistics and banged on about it in various posts. I’ve not given you a link to those posts. You can scroll if you like, but they were for me to vent and discuss with myself about acceptance and how the hell I was going to deal with it all.

Coming home on the train, I was very ill.

I am very ill. I forget that!

My heart failure was diagnosed when I was 46. I am forever grateful that I am approaching my 60th birthday.

My poor husband wasn’t happy on the train journey home as I started to turn grey.

In the blog post: Back in the Studio https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/03/15/back-in-the-studio/

I forgot my health concerns when I went into the studio to start the next episode of my print/painting project.

Forgetting and scrubbing my mind clean of worry and limitations is what art gives me.

I partially understood this, as I enjoyed being silly and naughty, F*sting the Oil Companies using the trans flag colours.

The trans flags are now finished and encapsulated, waiting to be stitched together. They are beautiful. You can see them in this blog post: It’s not about what’s in your life it’s about how you view you life… it’s about your mind set https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/05/05/its-not-about-whats-in-your-life-its-about-how-you-view-you-life-its-about-your-mind-set/

I will start the Agender set next. (I want to start them now, but I know the Network needs my attention. You watch; I bet some Agender muff printing will happen as a brain scrub)

The non-binary and transgender flags stretch 14 meters now, and I intend to stage them between the tide markers at low tide and film them in spring.

When my coursemate visited the graduation show this summer, she told me that Betty, the mobility scooter and I would not have fit around the show.

As I sat on my deckchair looking at the expanse of the beach, I knew I had to reframe where and how my art existed.

That it wasn’t a limitation; it was a new frontier. As you read this Unit 2 Assessment and see the blog posts, you will understand how that realisation came about.

The Identity Flags painting/print project started to develop from an online questionnaire I took in February 2024 and then again in September 2024.

I look at a comparison of the changing results in the blog post: Agender https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/09/26/agender/

By this stage, I had clearly understood that the Identity Flag print/paintings were a durational artwork that uses the intersectional principles of my art practice to talk about geopolitical climate change, gender identity and ableism.

During the Low-Res, JK asked me how I see the development of emerging technologies as part of my practice. I said I was keeping abreast of the situation.

Blog post: Why look at Emerging Tech https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/02/05/why-look-at-emerging-tech/

There were significant growth elements in the mid part of the year.

The Network developed exponentially.

Borthfest happened because, the gallery owner at 2 London Place, Borth, is in a wheelchair, felt excluded from the outside art world.

When you have No limitations, you take these freedoms for granted.

I felt the limitations at the Low-Res in what I could and couldn’t do and see.

Borthfest started humbly, saying well, if no one joins in, comes, or likes it, it doesn’t matter; we will do it anyway.

You know that saying, build it, and they will come…. Oh, they came! Artists, creatives, musicians, photographers, printmakers, exhibitions, workshops, community fair, artist sales, a scarecrow competition, cooperative mural painting raised funds for Gaza, nature walks, concerts, a rave, comic-con, art talks, an MP and even a TV celebrity.

We started with a time-travelling transmission linked to the future art school project at CSM. The CSM bit didn’t work because, at CSM, the tech wasn’t set up.

That was an excellent learning opportunity in itself.

We did go live on Facebook, though! Time – Travelling – Transmissions https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/04/19/time-travelling-transmissions/

For Borthfest I made 45 reels (24000 hits), I say in complete Dadaesque manner that I have a social media art practice, and I do.

Art is changing where, when and how it happens. Physically, the festival was brutal; I drove around on Betty, the mobility scooter, filming and taking pictures to go back and make my reels. There were so many events on the go at once that I co-opted friends and neighbours to take film and photographs and send them to me.

I did real-time posting, i.e. It’s on now, get here, and pre and after-event animations and reels.

I also painted my house as an art installation, which is not easy when you have a problem standing!

What is Art ? https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/05/23/what-is-art

To finish off the festival I ran a sunset painting workshop! Phew! The blog post: Sunset Painting Workshop https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/06/02/sunset-painting-workshop/ showed how even a knackered crip artist can be restored by art.

The de-brief blog post might show how to create an improved arts festival. De-brief BorthFest https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/06/02/de-brief-borthfest/

What did I learn?

Don’t paint your house stupid colours… no do, it’s fun!

I like running workshops!

It would be best if you had a good organisation for an art festival, that’s not easy. What is even more difficult is working with folks to achieve that. Everyone has issues; everyone has baggage and biases; this is a substantial ongoing learning process for me.

Borthfest will hopefully run again next year, and other art groups are now interested in joining in, and it has its own CIC.

I will help with social media and marketing, particularly helping artists and creatives understand how to collaborate on their social media algorithms.

I hope Borthfest will continue to flourish, but it’s a light touch from me this year as I look towards graduation and the need to concentrate on my MA. It would, however, be good to stage and film Identity Flags at BorthFest from Friday, 23rd of May to Monday, 26th May (I will need a low tide).

After Borthfest, other creatives contacted me and asked shall we and I quote, ‘Make cool shit happen?’ The answer was, of course, yes! Which is how Big Wave CIC came about.

I did write a manifesto this semester, but it wasn’t on Contemporary Dadaism; it was for Big Wave: The only thing I believe in is art https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/09/15/the-only-thing-i-believe-in-is-art/

Big Wave CIC will run a three-week arts festival in Aberystwyth from the 25th of January to the 14th of February. It brings together artists and creatives from all over coastal Ceredigion.

Gwyl Cariad Aberystwyth/ Aberystwyth Festival of Love

Aberystwyth Celebrates LOVE: From St Dwynwen’s Day to Valentine’s Day!

• Site specific artworks 
• Collaborating with local businesses
• Partnering with arts venues
• Public participation in workshops and talks

The town council is already on board and is funding a parade. Businesses have signed up, the artist call-out is out, and we are getting a positive response. The Aberystwyth Art Centre is excited, and the business manager has asked, ‘What do you need?’

My focus will be inclusivity and diversity and helping creatives connect through social media and immersive technology.

I applied to Wales Climate Conversations – Welsh Assembly Government. I was delighted to receive funding for a series of Climate Conversations within painting workshops in different locations and with diverse types of audiences. From neuro-divergent young adults, art gallery visitors and a more significant event at the Aberystwyth Arts Center. I will also be running an online event through Eventbrite.

See: https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/10/12/making-waves-with-art-a-climate-conversation/

And https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/10/23/got-the-funding/

I also secured a bursary from the Arts Council of Wales for a digital marketing course in London to bring back knowledge to my creative community.

Arts council of Wales Bursary https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/10/17/arts-council-of-wales-bursary/

In other news, I fell back in love with tattooing. There are blog posts made through summer about that, but again, probably more for my benefit than yours. However, the head of art at Aberystwyth University approached me about running an MA in Tattooing for Art Graduates in future, so that’s there ticking in the background.

I loved contributing to the Post Graduate Heirloom, which is on exhibition in various UAL collages for the next few months. Post-Graduate Heirloom – https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/09/14/post-graduate-heirloom/ is all about Transgender representation. More about its making and the clothes mountain in Sashiko Workshop, Textile art, Post-Grad Family Heirloom, Sonia Delaunay and what to do with the clothes mountain. https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/04/12/sashiko-workshop-textile-art-post-grad-family-heirloom-sonia-delaunay-and-what-to-do-with-the-clothes-mountain/

Andrew from the Feminist Internet lost his funding for the symposium, which should have happened at the beginning of unit 2. He did want to work with me again on some rural gender workshops; he’s still negotiating with Arts Council England; if we wanted to run them in Wales, they would require Welsh funding, so that’s in the pipeline still.

Clem Crosby from CSM Academic Support and I are working on a lecture, and that’s looking like it might get some funding.

Learning Outcome 2:

My MA Paper uses the Queer Temporal Lense. It came from my easter reading, which I discuss in some ridiculous detail in this blog post: Trans Visibility Day – Intrapsychic Easter Reading https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/03/31/trans-visibility-day-intrapsychic-easter-reading/

I worked on PhD study proposal over the summer, and David Cross, who I met at a lecture at CSM during the low-res, has agreed to be my supervisor. I have a long way to go on my study proposal, and my second prospective supervisor had so many additional questions… The more I know, the more I realise I know nothing… then there is a glimpse of light… keep going Dee…

I only mention this futurity because of the commonality of the use of Crip/queering temporal explorative ideation (that is a Contemporary Dada sentence). Oh, and the horrible realisation that my animations may not Save the Earth!

I can inspire others to talk about climate issues such as veganism.

(Even if my comedy animation got cancelled off YouTube because of obscene content. I’m taking my work to Only Fans, b*gger them!).

I will continue to animate issues like the ‘Clothes Mountain’, dirty oil, recycling and all the other environmental problems.

Yes, I can talk about all those things, and I will, I do, but the truth is much worse…

We won’t have to worry about climate change; we are going to kill ourselves long before we completely ruin the planet.

The latest IPCC report concedes that climate targets are not being met.

The latest real-time projections show as much as a 2.7°C increase, which is disastrous for biome shifts, extreme weather events and species loss.

This unstable climate will result in mass migration due to unliveable habitats and the likelihood of resource conflict and war. Eliminating carbon emissions, reforestation, and stripping the atmosphere of carbon will be needed and could take hundreds of years. In the meantime, we may annihilate each other as we try to live together in a rapidly changing society.

As I started to think about organising art events, I began to understand how difficult it is to manage diverse expectations and how art may bridge that understanding.

I still believe that humour and the universal language of art can Save the Earth (it may be the only thing that can)

But the focus must be to save ourselves from ourselves.

Otherwise, the planet could experience very rapid Global Warming.

My MA paper uses art to examine the issues I face in my art practice. War and socio-economic upheaval as we enter the chaos threat scenarios of late-stage capitalism and the climate turmoil of the Anthropocene. Temporal Queering of Art https://mxdp.blog/2024/11/03/temporal-queering-of-art-a-comparative-study-of-pablo-picassos-guernica-1937-and-dan-edelstyn-and-hilary-powells-bank-job-2018-19-as-agents-of-change/

I need to understand how art could be an agent of change. I wanted easy answers, don’t we all? Well, it’s just not that simple. By researching my MA paper and conducting my practice, I saw that my own experiences were of a life interrupted. Looking at my life through the queer temporal lens of an art practice became an intersectionality process of art action research to develop new knowledge of embodied knowing.

As a crip and queer person I am already living with rapid changes in circumstances. These ‘lived’ experiences grow within the intersectionality of my art practice and growing understanding that we all will need to find new ways to live together with resilience, compassion and kindness in our new reality of climate chaos.

However, I have also begun to recognise my privilege in my climate language. I can only bring my situated knowledge to my practice, but through the network, I use my privilege to shut up and listen to the voices of those who are first affected.

We have a growing Syrian population in Ceredigion; the migration has already begun. The Most Affected People and Areas (MAPA) have tried to voice their truth, but no one is listening. White privileged western-centric view of climate change and the heteronomative power structures idea that climate change can be manage even monetised need rigorous testing because it is entirely deluded.

My MA paper recognised the global majority within the context of the fiscal oppression of late-stage capitalism. But this is only the start. I talk about this realisation in the blog post: Full On – Walk in my shoes https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/07/30/full-on-walk-in-my-shoes/ I hope to work with Abid Hussain on the inclusivity and diversity of Gŵyl Cariad and Big Wave. It is a small yet huge development for me as a global citizen that lives a constrained life.

Learning Outcome 3:

These are harsh subjects to deal with, but it’s OK as I am Pretty Evil in Pink – HELP ME https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/05/19/pretty-evil-in-pink-help-me/

It’s clear I have been busy, and I see the threads of my art practice knitting together, even if I don’t immediately understand it.

Here I enjoy my exploration of ironic materiality while understanding how ‘dis’ability is created Online: The inclusion of crip folks, not exclusion of the ‘dis’able. https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/09/30/online-the-inclusion-of-crip-folks-not-exclusion-of-the-disable/

This blog has grown into a physical space to record but, far more importantly, to reflect and understand.

Sometimes that happened slowly in Red Clay and the Possibility of Art https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/06/14/red-clay-and-the-possibility-of-art/

Then, other times, it was like a lightning bolt, and I had to get it down into the blog to make sense of it.

Ooh that was intense… https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/10/17/ooh-that-was-intense/

And sometimes it was just a lovely piece of writing about my art practice. The Painting Bench https://dpmatthews.art.blog/2024/10/09/the-painting-bench/

This post gave a name to the method of my art practice: Autoethnography Art Research https://mxdp.blog/2024/11/03/my-hair-is-a-gender-disruptor-autoethnography-art-research/

There was more ironic materiality that became a place to renew and recharge: Set Sail – an adventure in printmaking collage: https://mxdp.blog/2024/11/18/set-sail-an-adventure-in-printmaking-collage/

I talk about Wales Climate Week and the Virtual Conference. But the most critical aspects appear at the end of the post. I am funnelling my algorithm audience into the Climate conversation painting workshops and to Gŵyl Cariad by cross-posting and collaboration. The most crucial reflection, however, is on what does a successful Arts Festival look like. COP 29 – Climate Conversation, Wales Climate Week 11th -15th – The Reels

https://mxdp.blog/2024/11/08/cop-29-climate-conversation-wales-climate-week-11th-15th-the-reels/

I realise I need my art to keep me sane in an insane world.

There were workshops and new characters to animate and develop.

In my latest tutorial with JK, I talked about Art as an Equation: https://mxdp.blog/2024/11/19/tutorial-18th-november-with-jonathan-kearney-an-art-equation/

My latest post returns to look at Artificial Intelligence specifically ai Agents. https://mxdp.blog/2024/11/24/should-we-put-the-genie-back-in-the-bottle-ai-agents-of-change/

(I hope you are noticing ‘ai’, the new human-friendly abbreviation of AI, more submissive, less threatening)

My current take is I will use ai and other emerging tech when I feel it’s appropriate to my practice. I feel free to connect or disconnect, that might change with an upcoming funding proposel that I am about to write, it is a journey…

This synopsis is the briefest canter through what has happened in my practice, research and reflection on my art and the world it is situated in and responds to.

My art practice is changing and growing so fast and in ways I couldn’t have imagined… Saving the Earth one step at a time… but first, I must survive the next train journey to London.