Class update

I’ve been attending an InDesign class every Thursday morning for the past month or so, specifically catered for us two english folk, as the normal class is taught in French. We’ve mainly been learning about how to begin layouts for books, adding images, creating the correct guidelines, using all the tools (and learning a bit of french as we go along). Last lesson we finished making the leaflet about our chosen artist, which we have now printed as a template and must cut out.

In french class we’ve been given exercise books to help us learn at home alongside duolingo, but in class so far we’ve mainly just been learning the terms for other countries and nationalities. I’m still on a very basic understanding

For our History and Theory of video lecture on Tuesday, we’ve been given an assignment to write an analytical piece on a video/film of our choice. I think it must be art related though, I doubt something like Shrek is permissible. I chose Mark Leckey’s ‘Dream English Kid 1964 - 1999 AD’ which i’d seen earlier this year at the Liverpool Biennial. For our other classes, we must also write a piece for Philosophy based on the relation between art and history, then in our contemporary art class and history art class we will eventually be taking tests in January i think, to test our knowledge.

Some illustrations concerning my ideas. I’m planning to expand on these a lot more instead of keeping it to just simple figurative drawings.

I’ve been reading up about words which are literally untranslatable in English, and the way multilingual people perceive their ability to transfer between talking and thinking in different languages 

It’s odd, here I feel filled with so much more motivation to put myself out there and really put myself into my work, I think possibly due to the fact that i am in a way isolated by my inability to fully communicate with people, thus i must strive even harder to prove myself!

National hummus shortage

Seriously. Nowhere has had hummus in stock for weeks. We kind of had a spontaneous Inn film night on sunday, watching The Mummy and realising how awful the graphics/cgi were. Monday was back to same old 9-6 lectures, but afterwards we went down into the town to explore the ‘Foire de Ste Catherine’ (a fair celebrating St catherine). we had looked round some of the stalls on our lunch break, which consisted of speciality foods/sweets, clothes and other items. We had a taste of all the free samples we could, especially nougat, which i then went on to buy in denner (175g for 2.95.-!!) later on we met with a few friends from class and had some vin chaud (mulled wine, new favourite drink). There was a huge tent by the train station which seemed to be full of the entire population of Sierre and more, we left quite early because we were tired and hungry, and found out the next day that there had been a knife attack in that same tent! I think the victim survived… switzerland is sounding less sweet and innocent by the month

I now have a swiss bank account! Going to have to take out swiss franc using my british card as usual, and then pay the money into my new account, so to avoid the ridiculous £22 fee that incurs when sending money internationally through online banking (thanks natwest). Received my parcel from home which consisted of thermal underclothes and chocolate rice cakes, which didn’t last long.

Spent a lot of time in the studio this week throwing out some new ideas and trying to paint without using it all up. Kind of takes the fun and freedom out of it if you’re feeling limited by your materials. We went to have a look in another classmate’s studio, who has an entire room to himself, filled with random items and trinkets that he finds. He said he buys nothing but hot glue, for everything he finds he believes already is art itself and does not need major editing apart from maybe the combining of it with other items. very ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’. With my work (finally decided) i am trying to explore the concept of the language barrier and communications being lost in translation, through a whole range of mediums, planning to attempt at some photography and sound, which isn’t normally my forte

It’s getting really cold now. Missing the brief warmth we had when we arrived

references/info/helpful stuff

FOOD

we haven’t actually eaten out in sierre as it’s so expensive. like ‘sat down, wined and dined’ eaten out. we have been to the McDonalds, which is 7.20.- for a happy meal, and  anywhere between 11.- and 15.- for a normal medium meal depending what you get. a burger by itself can range between 5.- to 10.- too

Holy Cow is a good one. burger chips and a non-alcoholic drink for 14.90 (if you’re a student, when i bought i didn’t need to show my student card?? but its better to have on you just incase)

SHOPPING

Denner -  for poor people (us) . the Aldi/Lidl of Switzerland (there is also Aldi/Lidl in switzerland but this is much more common to come across) its where we get all of our groceries. bread, milk, all the necessities can generally be found for 1-2.-. some vegetables and fruit can be a little more. the cheapest eggs i find are 3.30- for a 15 pack i think. always have deals on, cheap cakes biscuits etc. alcohol too, i always buy a certain wine from there for 4.95.-. cheap shitty sandwiches are 2.95-

Migros - going up in the scale. think Morrisons/Asda/Tesco. only really go here if we can’t find it in Denner. they also have more wide variety of products like beauty products, electronics, depending on which store you go to. stationary too, and for example pins (for putting posters up) seem to be 1.90.- everywhere. sandwiches getting a little pricier here circling 5.-

Co-op - for rich people. more between british co-op and waitrose. we’ve been told this is where the freshest fruit and veg can be found, and in more variety. but at higher cost. i’m not a supermarket expert but i know a horrifyingly high price when i see one. rarely set foot in here, only if desperate. sandwiches can be up to 7.- or more. occasionally you could find a deal on that’s better than the other shops but that requires some good looking around.

Manor - i call it the swiss Debenhams (maybe a hint of M&S). make -up counters, variety of clothing ranges, their homeware selections is amazing (but pricey) and there is Manor food. they do a really tasty mozzarella, tomato and pesto bap thing for 4.30.-

SECOND HAND STORES

Sierre - Job Transit. this place is actually in Chippis which is just a 5-10 minute walk over the bridge from the Inn in Sierre. Mainly books, clothes, furniture, ornaments. never seen bikes/scooters

Sion - HIOB, Emmaüs

TRAINS / TRAVELLING

Half fare card. get this. you need it. 185.- but if you want to travel a lot, its worth the sacrifice

Free travel after 7pm card . i am just about to purchase. 129.- , buy it as soon as you arrive here, like i should’ve done. if you’re going for a lot of days out, just don’t go home til after 7. or make friends elsewhere/couch surf and go out after 7 then return after 7 the next day, all free. (i think this is only available if you hold a half fare card too)

Supersaver tickets this service is also handy, we didn’t discover it til quite far in. only downside is that you have to get the specific train that you’ve booked.

Fête de bienvenue

Just one more photo of Thun because I couldn’t resist. Theres more on my instagram.

A few weeks ago we received invitations to a welcome party/meeting/shindig at the town hall, and as two of our friends in the inn are fairly new too we added them as plus 1′s and brought them along. Boy, the food…. We were introduced to our english translator for the evening and then listened to the mayor’s speech, a local band group, all whilst eyeing up the plates piled with swiss delicacies. The vast majority of people there were families, some I imagine had come here with much more need than us. It was a really good night, on the way home paid a visit to the infamous Les Wagons, a music/social venue, which we sadly found had closed for the remainder of winter.

Fun in Thun

The views were spectacular at this place. snow covered mountains to the south of the lake, and a castle!! I arrived early to explore so wandered around and made friends with an elderly thai lady who tipped me off about a great viewing spot. Despite it being a city with a vast array of shops, it still had quite a quaint feel to it, as i found myself walking down narrow cobbled streets. The river which flowed through the town was full of ducks, and friendly swans??

In the late afternoon we met the rest of our class at the Kunstmuseum to view the exhibition ‘THE FORCES BEHIND THE FORMS’ which displayed work by numerous artists from all over the world. Some of the most eye-catching works consisted of Nina Canell’s installation ‘In Absence of Satin Ions’ and Julian Charrière’s ‘Tropisme’, as seen below.

Typical thing to say but the aesthetic of these pieces was wonderful. The plants were so perfectly preserved, in their own little winter universe. Another piece of Charrière’s which stood out to me was his photo series ‘The Blue Fossil Entropic Stories’ which i stupidly didn’t take a good photo of so here’s some help from google images. 

The artist is using a blow torch to melt the ice beneath his feet, in short symbolising the process of climate change, however viewing them in the gallery, my initial thoughts were the photos came across rather lonely and fearful, as they appeared a lot darker in contrast/brightness placed on the wall. The setting looks almost alien, dwarfing the lone traveller at the centre. made me think of the experience David Attenborough and countless other nature documentary narrators/crews must feel when surrounded by such a vast landscape and how in that moment you are completely at the mercy of nature

I have a meeting with my main tutor this week, and praying that he likes my sudden abundance of ideas and work and forgive me that i took so bloody long to decide on what i want to do. Pictures to follow, maybe. adieu

My work

San Junipero blues

My means of transport are gradually shrinking in size. I began the summer with a car, moved here and bought a bike, bike got poorly and now i have a scooter. The next stage is a skateboard and i don’t fancy publicly humiliating myself more than i already do. The bike has a puncture but i’m being awfully lazy in the “fixing it” process. The scooter is pretty nifty though

I’m really struggling to come to any sort of definitive stance on where my work is at. I’m basically just making random collages entwined with paint and illustrations in the hope that something jumps out at me. I’m enjoying making illustrative portraits which i’m trying to go about more loosely with, and attempting to write some sort of narrative to fit alongside, but then i also just want to grab a ton of paint and smear it all over that huge board i’ve had sat in the studio for over a month now, temporarily abandoned because i’m scared i may ruin it

Wishing so much that i could understand the entirety of the content discussed in this Monday’s class. Speaking to the teacher afterward, she explained about how we were exploring the idea of the unconscious thought and how artists responded to it and involved it in their work. She suggested how the things that we do, without thinking, the way we speak our native language, are all unique to us but yet are not really a part of us but more of an addition. Something considered separate from who we actually are. the dream-state

In other news i attempted to walk up one of the mountains outside my window. I got what i thought was quite a way up, but looking at it the next day i realise i wasn’t even halfway. I was determined to reach the part where the snow began, but after zig zagging for over an hour (with no water oops) i decided it best if i returned down to normal ground level. The snow is just sat up there laughing at me

We took our third trip to Lausanne last week, did some more exploring and then went to the Cinema Bellevaux to watch/listen to “NEW METHOD GRAPHIC” by Julien Prévieux and “PORTRAIT OF FILMMAKER IN PSYCHOLOGY OF PERCEPTION” by Dork Zabunyan, the first presentation was in french, but which i have since read up on here. The second was in english, albeit American-English, and focused on the measurement and tracking of eye movements, taking into account the aesthetic created.

We’re taking a trip to a place called Thun tomorrow, which i’ll report on another time

ciao

€€€

Ditched Sierre for the week and went to Madrid to see Ash. (Here is his blog) At first i was resenting Swiss Air for having such pricey flights but once they started offering free baguettes apple strudels and chocolate on board i forgave them. Also they had looney tunes as the inflight entertainment on the return journey, so all sins forgiven 

There’s no need to mention how cheap food and other things are in Spain compared to Switzerland, I think i put on several pounds at least in an attempt to stuff myself before returning back to “frozen pizza for 6 franc” land. (I do love it here really just feeling nostalgic for reasonably affordable food)

We went to a lot of places whilst there, but the most memorable would have to be the visit to the Guadarrama mountain range in northern Madrid in an attempt to reach the highest peak of the region - Peñalara. After much sim-swapping, map reading and bus taking, we arrived there in time to watch the sunset from one of the lower peaks. Then it dawned on us that there were no more buses, no more trains, to get back down the nearest town with a metro. This is where the hitchhiking came in! Sadly didn’t actually get to stick our thumbs out as we asked some people who were already parked, and after much Spanish spoken debate between the couple they decided to help us. Dropping us off at burger king back down in civilisation, we waved goodbye and thanked the lord (the burger king himself) that we didn’t have to spend the whole night freezing to death in the wilderness.

We also took a visit to the Faro de Moncloa, a viewing tower over 100 metres high, and had a momentary feeling of vertigo whilst travelling up in their lovely glass lift. El Rastro, a flea market held in the centre every Sunday, was another one already on my list to visit

Templo de Debod. Ash had class so thought i’d take a hike. Whilst here i purchased the travelcard, with which you have access to free travel on all buses and trains (i think) and only 20€ for the month! It’s extremely handy *cough* Switzerland sort it out *cough* and i only needed it for the week.

Overall the week trip was over far too quickly and next time we need to get down to art student business and visit some galleries, the city itself is not short of art though, on the streets, stalls, etc.