SlutWalk

http://www.slutwalktoronto.com/

Slutwalk Toronto is a response to a careless and harmful comment by a police officer saying that "women wouldn't get raped if they didn't dress like sluts". This is obvious victim blaming.

Should we not be saying "Don't rape" rather than saying "Don't get raped"?

Regardless of what the victim is wearing, if they're drunk, if they walk home alone, is that an indication of them being partly to blame for being sexually assaulted? NO, it does not.

I decided I want to hold a SlutWalk in Leeds so I contacted the organisers of SlutWalk Toronto.

Email response from SlutWalk

When I came to set up the social networking I found there was already a facebook group for SlutWalk Leeds. Although the two girls that set it up had not got in contact with the founders like I had. So we're joining forces.

I have a feeling that this project will come up against a lot of negative comments, especially those who misunderstand the concept and reason for the event.

Dock Street Market

Angie and Donna of The Marvellous Tea Dance Company have asked me if I would like to run the Marvellous Afternoons at the Dock Street Market whist they are away at the festivals this summer. There may also be a birthday party that I'll run too.

I was shocked!

I've only worked with them 3 times!

It's paid and a lot of fun, so I think I'll accept their offer. Just need to check that it doesn't clash with anything else.

http://www.dockstreetmarket.com/

Craftivist Collective Train Bunting

My train bunting

More photos from the Craftivist Collective here.

Illustrator Skills

I would like to enter a few competitions, however I've had a though and I'm at a major disadvantage because I have never used Adobe Illustrator and it seems that the majority of illustrators use this software (the kind of illustrations I like anyways). 

So I'm teaching myself Illustrator. I have a graphics tablet (which I got not this Christmas but the year before and gave up trying to use as I have no patience), but I thought I'd start with the basics.

I thought I would  draw something by hand and scan it in to have a mess around with it. However, my scanner had other ideas so until I go back to college I'll be using images I found on the internet that aren't my own.

I really like the idea of having a design and being able to change it and make it different just by changing the colours. So that's what I've been doing here using 'Live trace".  

original

The first try used live trace but there were gaps in the solidness of the lines so I couldn't colour fill some letters (meaning I don't know how to draw in the gaps yet!). It seemed pretty simple and I only used live trace, colour fill bucket and the pipette options.

Very basic but it really does make a simple line drawing look so much more vibrant and professional. Plus, it took me literally 2 minutes to do. Time is a big thing to me, especially seeing as I will never be a full time illustrator and hopefully I'll be doing events management mainly. I think that illustration to me is more for fun and leisure as I don't want to ever be told what to draw.

first try

On the second try I decided to make the lines more solid by posterising the lines and making them fuller. I did this layer before going to live trace so that there would be no gaps as in the first try. This worked! I then simply filled in the colour, however this time I decided to see what the design would look like without the outline and coloured that in too in the same colour as the type. I guess the difference would depend on the colours used and the purpose of the design but it's only a mess around at the mo.

second try

So......

Now I can change the colours in a design. I now want to learn how to:

1. draw in illustrator with graphics tablet
2. work with vectors (not much idea about this, however I think it;s about scale and re-sizing without losing the image quality)
3. repeat pattern
4. learn what to do it what program i.e. illustrator to photoshop (I had to drag the Ai files into photoshop to make them into Jpegs just to put them on this blog, but maybe there are other things to do from an illustrator file in photoshop)

Press Release

Craftivists hold protest stitch-in at Leeds railway station.

At 2pm on Sunday 10th April, Leeds craftivists, will join a nationwide protest to demand a halt to rail fare increases. Currently the coalition Government plans to hike fares by 31% over the next 4 years.

Hundreds of craftivists (activists who protest using scissors, thread and fabric) will converge on railway stations across the UK for a protest picnic and stitch-in. They will be creating 4inch deep x 7inches wide fabric train coaches covered with statistics, facts, quotes and consumer views on our Government’s carbon-friendly transport policy.

The various panels will be collated into a petition-train which will be taken on a Fair Fare Railway Adventure on Saturday 16th April. It will be delivered to Philip Hammond MP (Minister for Transport) by direct action group: Climate Rush.

In Leeds railway station, Leeds craftivists group will hang bunting and lay picnic blankets. Awareness-raising leaflets will be given to customers along with jam sandwiches and cups of tea.

The previous day, Saturday 9th April will be spent making the bunting at the Papergirl Leeds exhibition space, Unit 2, Melbourne Street, Leeds.

Philip Hammond MP, Secretary of State for Transport, said:

Whether we like it or not, the ability to travel point-to-point on an individually-tailored timetable [i.e. in a car] is one of the great quality-of-life gains of the second half of the 20th century.

Laura Jordan, 25, Visual Communication student at Leeds College of Art, said:

“As the Craftivist Collective we are passionate about showing our love for local and global neighbours. These unfair fare increases will stop people using trains when we need help keeping our carbon footprints down. The increases will hit people living in poverty the most and stop them getting to their jobs and alienate them even more from society.

“Short-haul flights and cars shouldn’t be the cheapest most convenient option. Philip Hammond MP wants to hike fairs a massive 31% over the term of this Government. We’re here to demand fair fares and a sustainable alternative.”

On Saturday 16th April Craftivists with join Climate Rush on a Railway Adventure. For more information please visit: www.railwayadventure.wordpress.com

For more information and interviews please call: Laura Jordan 07912057533

New blog

I think I need a new blog/online portfolio for my work. A kind of public facing blog with my work and less personal comments. Something I can link to for information on what I do......

I think I'm going to make this blog not public - since Papergirl Leeds I've had a few people checking out this blog and I'd rather not have people viewing my fretting and workings out.

So that means yet another blog to update.....

phew!

Drawing with a sewing machine

via Janet Clare

On my list of things to do.........

personal project

yarnbombing

Summer Placement

Neil at TestSpace has said I can work with them over the summer, this includes Breeze Festival. I need to look into how I'll afford to live and my paid work/non paid work balance. He mentioned about some colleges paying up to £300 for placement support - I'll have to look into that.

Nothing is set in stone though - maybe I should get something in writing?

Need to think about planning Ladyfest Leeds - I have the go ahead from Neil for space to hold it. As well as a craftivist group. Just need to finish off Papergirl Leeds and crack on with that.

Pretty good having a go-to for my events. Just need to turn these ideas into reality.

I've decided I don't really want to get involved with Fringe:Leeds as it's more about performance art. However, there is a meeting for the creative visual arts side that I may pop down to. I'd like to see what it would entail and if I'd be interested.

I need to think about a Light Night proposal........

I need a laptop so that I can get my work done in the exhibition space and not be stuck here to do anything on the computer.

Word!

Trololololo man + cat = unbelievable awesomeness.

I'm 25 now, I should probably stop saying awesome in every sentence. Maybe I'll bring back ace or mega? Never been a fan of saying sweet or brill. I remember saying sick a lot "that's sick!"

Alas, I cannot give up awesome as there are no better words. Unless I say excellent and then do a Bill and Ted style air guitar - but what if my hands are full?

Excellent! diddlydiddlydeeeeeeee! 

What am I?

ring leader eh?

I've always had difficulty describing what I do.....

low culture also described "the papergirls" as art-crusaders. That's going on my CV. I love how everyone assumes there is this Papergirl Leeds army with loads of people when it's just little ol' me.

Marvellous Tea Dance

Awesome, I have two more shifts with The Marvellous Tea Dance Company over Easter weekend.

Woohoo!!

Cupcake Festival on 23rd April at Corn Exchange, Leeds.

Then A Marvellous Sunday Afternoon on 24th April at Hifi again.

Papergirl in Stylist Magazine

Awesome! Stylist Magazine!

even more promo.......

More blog posts for Papergirl Leeds from Luis Ouriach and Pandakimmi

Some images on Flickr from Kate B

Mentioned in relation to TestSpace by Creative Boom, Local Leeds, Leeds Confidential and Leeds Live It Love It

Mentioned in relation to other Papergirls in Design Week!!!!

My interview for Lauren Potts, which is now featured on Low Culture

I have no time to blog much lately. However, I will hopefully have time to recap before the exhibition opening on Friday as things are running on schedule. All the work is up and just the loose ends to tie up and make everything extra special.

Feeling good and looking forward to party time.

p.s. curating is HARD. It takes aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages.

Leeds ActiveARTS: Papergirl Leeds Exhibition! 8th - 17th April at Te...

Leeds ActiveARTS: Papergirl Leeds Exhibition! 8th - 17th April at Te...: "Following on from our previous post on Papergirl Leeds, Laura has been busy collecting artwork and sorting out submissions ready for the P..."

Make Your Bed for Rue from You + ME* & Trent Bailey Photo on Vimeo.

There's me thinking that it was the camera that was ruining my stop-motion tests by auto-focusing. Here, in a pretty good video the same thing is happening.

Why do I worry so much?

I did a google search for Papergirl images and the Papergirl Leeds logo/poster seems to be cropping up in a lot of places (some that I didn't even know about!).

We are here in Don't Panic in an article about Papergirl Bristol.

In Creative Times.

By Papergirl Kelowna.

On a blog called Design Practice.

"Communication is a Virus: Papergirl Leeds

Papergirl is a world wide known event where a collective of artists contribute various pieces of artwork, which they then take to the streets to hand out their work for free. This attempt is to put artists work in the hands of the public, who may not have artwork or appreciated it before.

I think this is such a brilliant idea and it's something our group could easily work towards as we all have the ability to put artwork into a charity for example, then give without needing to receive."

Also on the beautiful Reetsweet blog by the lovely Rebecca Drury.

"Closing date is 31st March, so please get in touch with Laura and support this great event asap!x"

So a lot of hype really..........I hope we live up to it!

SNASK from Mike Crozier on Vimeo.

I think I've worked something out.....

It's not necessarily the concept of the animation that I like, it's the making. I seem to be drawn to papercraft in animation or something I want to touch.

I've got some papercraft books out of the library - they're so amazing. I'm going to have a go at making some animation from paper :)

photo meeting
video meeting

More promo...

Phew!

TestSpace have a blog entry about us here.

I also got a phone call from Stylist Magazine this morning!!!! very interesting indeed - sent them off a high res version of the logo, they wanted pictures of us on bikes but I had to explain to them that this is the first PG Leeds and that there weren't any photos of the events yet as they haven't happened. May have to do some publicity photos on the bikes - sounds a bit posey but maybe it's necessary! It's a national publication!

I have an official photographer, Lauren Robson, a good friend and 2nd year Interdisciplinary. As well as help from a few other people to cover all the events. I emailed out about helpers and got responses which was nice.

I've decided I want a Papergirl Leeds "photo booth" - so one person will need to run that on opening night.

Just Another Magazine (JAM) emailed me about a feature too - Ben from JAM even knows some of the Manchester Critical Mass and is going to try and get them over for the ride. They should just be covering the distribution and wanted to know the route. However, there probably wont be a route unless I think it's dangerous to not have one.

I need to have a wander around Leeds city centre on a Friday around 6-7pm and see what the traffic is like and if there are roads we should avoid. Leeds is not cycling friendly.

Need to email Dave Lynch regarding rickshaw sound system too.

I'm so tired :)

BBC testcard fault blooper 70s

Thats all folks!

Don Hertzfeldt - Billy's Balloon

How do I display work in the exhibition?

I'm trying to think up some ideas for displaying the work in the PGL Exhibition. 

Originally, I thought I would do it in a very DIY, low cost way (think bunting style). Either suspending string along the walls, one at the top and one in the middle, in a wave fashion.

Or suspending the string completely across the ceiling.

I think this is a decision best made once I have a better idea of the amount of submissions. I reckon (and have been told by Janice who runs PG Manchester that most submissions come on the last week of the deadline and even afterwards - and I have 8 days between my submission deadline and the opening night - phew!). It may well be that I need to do both ideas if there are a lot of submissions.

The good points of this method are that once the string is up, the work can be moved around during the curation period if something doesn't sit well with another piece of work. Wooden clothes pegs are cheap and can be painted or modified or small bulldog clips can be used. 

Also, if the work is suspended across the ceiling, if there are many people in the room, all the work should still be visible to everyone and with The Marvellous Tea Dance Company being in the space too, it would make a lovely setting for a little sit down with tea and a cake under all the artwork.

I'm trying to make the exhibition as informal as possible, without it looking too shabby. There will definitely be no plinths or frames - mainly because this create a whole load of extra work, begging and borrowing which means travelling and loading/unloading. It also adds extra cost and will take longer to set up and take down.

I personally am not a lover of "the frame" in the context of an exhibition. Why should art be kept under a glass sheet? We are not trying to preserve the art, the art is for now. It's impulsive and unique. Art under glass connotes being protected - but protected from what? The word curate means to guard, to look after - but to guard from what? What are we so afraid of?

I hope that this vision is shared by the critics. I would hate to get sloppy reviews, saying that the submissions were awesome, the concept of the project was awesome but the curatorship was sloppy and not thought about. I think that we need a shake up in the way we view art. If I get people talking, that's good. I would like some critical debate.

The Marvellous Tea Dance Company

I worked today (technically yesterday) with the lovely ladies at The Marvellous Tea Dance Company. It was so much fun! I got to wear an apron (don't laugh, it was very much an adorable apron), run the tombola and sell bingo tickets - everyone there, even the customers were really, really lovely.

I absolutely loved the way the Hifi Club was kitted out for the event. There was bunting hanging from the rafters, lacy pink and blue table cloths with crocheted doilies and tea cosies galore! It took me back to my days of waitressing at Brodricks Cafe in the Corn Exchange when I was 17 (until they sacked me for dying my hair magenta - it was the Corn Exchange!! All the customers had pink hair - what a right-wing twat!).

I think everyone there had a great time. All the tables were full at one point!

I do hope they ask me to help out again if they're short staffed. I learn a lot about how an event business is run. I liked how everything had it's own little box ready to be packed away again for the next event. It made me think about preparation and "an event kit"

I'm going to have a think about making my own "event kits" for the PGL exhibition and other events. Also about what I need to get ready for TMTDCo at the PGL opening night.

Lots of lists.

Article Magazine

Papergirl Leeds have had a mention in Article Magazine here. It's only a mention, but I'm going to get in contact to see if they want to do a feature on us.

4 tweets! 7 facebook like! oooo!

I have submitted an interview about PGL to The Low Culture blog too, which is part of the Vice Magazine network of blogs. Can't wait to see it - written by Lauren Potts.

They're already done a feature on the exhibition space - TestSpace.

I've already been in contact with Emma from The Culture Vulture regarding a blog entry - unfortunately with the workload of college it's been difficult to get people to have time to do an insight. I've offered the task to the PGL facebook group so hopefully there are some willing bloggers out there.

I now need to contact The Guardian (apparently they like to know about local project around the country) and The Leeds Guide. See if I can get some more coverage.

I think it would be a good idea to invite people from each organisation to come down to the opening night of the exhibition and review - which terrifies me! argh!

Here's my interview for Low Culture:

Name: Laura Jordan

Age: 25

From: Leeds

How I got involved with Papergirl: I took part in Papergirl Manchester in October 2010. Cycling around Manchester giving out bundles of art – It was really fun! I though that it was a brilliant project and that it was just what Leeds needed.

1) Tell us a little about Paper Girl- what it is, where it's come from and where it's going.

Aisha Ronniger started the Papergirl project in Berlin in 2006. It was a response to the changing laws regarding graffiti. A law was passed that classed wheat-pasted artwork in public space as the same illegal penalty as spray-painting. Many artists in Berlin faced fines if they displayed their work as so Aisha, being the creative genius that she is, began to conjure up ideas of how to get artists’ work “out there”. Inspired by the idea of American papergirls and paperboys, she began the steps to start up a new project: the result being Papergirl.

Now five years on, Papergirl has spread around the globe. The idea of giving the art away seems to be something that has struck many people as something wonderful. I can only imagine that Papergirl projects will continue to crop up in new places.

2) What inspired you to get involved and what's your role as ambassador for Leeds Paper Girl?

After taking part in Papergirl Manchester, I felt inspired. In a way it seemed like everything just clicked into place. As a student and visual artist myself, the time seemed right for me to take on a big project. I can’t speak for anyone else that started a Papergirl project in their own city, but I felt like I related to the project and I believed in the ethics. I felt like I would do it justice and of course, as a Leodian (someone from Leeds), I wanted a platform for this city to show everyone just what we can do.

3) Why should people be excited about the project?

Papergirl Leeds is a great opportunity to get your work seen – every submission is included in the exhibition! There’s no element of choosing work and there’s no element of choosing the recipient when we hand it out. Being on a bicycle when distributing, speeds up the process and there’s little time to select a person – it’s just being in the right place, at the right time. I think that’s what is special about Papergirl.

4) Who are you hoping to get interested and how can people get involved?

Anyone! Papergirl Leeds is for anyone that wants to get involved – the more the merrier! Like I say, every submission will be included in the exhibition, so I think that it will especially interest students that perhaps haven’t had much work on display as yet. Submitting your work into a project or a competition is quite a scary prospect in the beginning, so Papergirl Leeds makes sure that there’s no doubt that your work will be seen.

As well as exhibiting the artwork, we will be making as much use of the space as possible by having activities during the exhibition. There will be various drop-in workshops and a few “bookable” sessions. I love how there have been so many ideas generated on the facebook group and twitter page regarding skill sharing workshops. It’s exciting to see such sparks of creativity generated by the project. We’re always open to suggestions and the best ideas come from when something excites you.

5) What's your favourite part of the project?

The reactions of people! The response to Papergirl Leeds has been astonishing. Since I began working on Papergirl Leeds, there have been so many people, artists and organisations wanting to get involved – it seems that the ethics of Papergirl are something that a lot of people relate to. I like the idea of “creating a creative community” and I think that with project like Papergirl Leeds, we can do just that.

The exhibition opens on the 8^th April and runs until the 17^th April – Everyone is welcome.

The Bowery Internship

I'm thinking of applying for an internship at The Bowery in Headingley. I think I'd like the position of Gallery and Marketing Assistant - it sounds like a great opportunity to gather some great marketing skills and genreally be around creative individuals 2 days a week.

Problem is - I don't have an up to date CV. something I need to get done asap.

I'm confident, reliable and hard-working, plus my Papergirl Leeds project should be an excellent talking point and proof of this. Fingers crossed!

Well I wont get anything if I don't complete my CV!