Author: fridalimi

Hi, I am an artist living in France at the moment. Hope you enjoy my blog!
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Living in France

It has been a while since my last update, but I am finally making a new post! In July I graduated from Aberystwyth University, which was a great experience, but also a bit sad as it was the ending of three amazing years.

I continued to stay in Aberystwyth over the summer and had a great time. I met some lovely people and was actually able to enjoy the beach and the sun (I do understand why people travel to Aberystwyth in the summer).

For a long time I had wanted to move to France, and in September last year, my boyfriend and I packed our most important things and left the UK to find a place in France. We aimed for Lyon and stayed in an Airbnb for a week before deciding it was an impossible task to find somewhere to live. A tip: if you don’t have a pre-planned flat ready to move in to and are moving somewhere new, try to get there before all the students. In one week we had three offers, two of them were people trying to scam us and the third was a flat more humid and moldy than a basement (a fan had to be on 24/7 and the smell was still unbearable).

In the end, we decided to continue our journey and left Lyon, hoping that there would be a not-too-expensive and furnished flat we could rent in Grenoble. And there was. We are now living in a lime-green painted, two floors flat with no actual sunlight, but it is not too bad and it is great to have a place!

We have been living in Grenoble for about six months now, and it really is a nice city. I love being surrounded by mountains. Here are a few pictures of Grenoble:

Regarding my artwork, I have not been creating nearly as much as I wish I had. I am currently doing a full-time psychology course, and have to focus on my exams. I do, however, feel pretty inspired lately, and hope to get started painting one of these days. When I do, I will post some pictures on my blog.

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Extravaganza

It is now a week ago since we packed up our student exhibition, Extravaganza, from our previous flat, and today we are hanging it at the Mid Wales Arts Centre. The exhibition last week actually went really well, way better than expected!

Here are some images from the pop-up exhibition that was on display from 4th to the 7th of June, in Aberystwyth town centre:

Tomorrow it will open again. At Mid Wales Arts Centre, 15th of June, at 7pm along with a live concert with Jeb Loy Nichols. If you didn’t get a chance to see Extravaganza the first time, don’t miss this opportunity!

The exhibition will stay open for a few weeks.

 

 

For further information contact:

http://www.midwalesarts.org.uk
office@midwalesarts.org.uk
01686 683369

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Exhibition Preparations

The last few days I have worked together with some friends preparing for the event Extravaganza, an independent student exhibition that we are curating.

It will be showing from Monday 4th until Wednesday 6th of June in Aberystwyth. So far we have made posters and hung them all over town, painted a huge banner and collected work from fellow students.

Flyer Extravaganza 2018

If you are interested please come and have a look, we are exhibiting a lot of great artwork!

You can find the event on facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/662854740712897/

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Festival in Caersws

In Caersws, at the Mid Wales Arts Centre, there is going to be a festival this Saturday at 2 pm. It will include activities like blacksmithing, printing, and pottery. As well as a concert with Tommy Mills at 7 pm.

Gwanwyn Festival.jpg

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Printmaking

Recently, I have made some prints inspired by my flower paintings. They are created with the printmaking process of etching aluminum plates and printed on special printmaking paper. I will try to explain the process here:

  1. To start off, I had four plates the same size (15 x 19 cm) and prepared them by filing and beveling the edges, before covering them with B.I.G. ground * and baking them on 150°C for 6 minutes.
  2. I borrowed an etching needle and used it to carve into the plate. At this stage, it is important to think about the fact that everything you carve will be mirrored in the final print.
  3. After creating the image, the back of the plates was covered with tape for protection and they were etched in a mix of salt and copper sulphate.
  4. The remaining ground had to be removed and then I could start actually printing the plates.
  5. I printed the plates with black etching ink on Hahnemühle and white and satin Somerset paper.

*  B.I.G ground is a unique printmaking ground created as a safer alternative by our printmaking teacher Andrew Baldwin.

You can find information about the ground here:
http://www.printmakingstudio.co.uk/the-etching-ground/

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Degree Show

Now, it is two days since the opening of the Degree Show at the School of Art, but it will stay open until the end of the month. This is one of my first exhibitions, and the opening of it was truly a great experience which went better than I expected.

Exhibition WallFlowersDegree Show 2018Exhibition

I am actually really pleased with how my exhibition space ended up looking like, and with my artwork as well. Please come along for the exhibition if you are interested – there are a lot of great artists and some amazing artwork!

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Final Essay – Delivered!

So happy, finally finished my essay for the module Research and Process in Practice and delivered it yesterday:

Final essay

I can’t believe I only have a few days left as a student at Aberystwyth University. It has really been an amazing experience and I am for sure going to miss this place, the school and all the amazing people when I leave!

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Flower Paintings

Just a short post about how my work is coming along. I am aiming to have 32 paintings in the exhibition, but there is still a bit of work to be done before I can hang them in my studio space next week. At this moment I have completely finished 12 of them and still have 2 paintings I did not even start yet, I am a little bit (a lot) stressed since I also have a 4000-word essay to deliver on Tuesday.

Anyways, here are some of the paintings I am completely done with:

Now I just really hope I have enough time so I can manage to get all of them done to the state I want them to be!

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Preparing for the Exhibition

The last three days I have been working in room 301 (the life drawing studio) in the School of Art to prepare my space for the Degree Show. The opening is on the 19th of May – in only 9 days! I still have quite a lot of work that needs to be finished before the exhibition, but at least my studio space is looking good now.

Here is the design of the studio spaces, drawn by our technician and curator at the SoA Phil Garratt:

I was a part of the last group to help with the building of the walls in the studios (301 and 306). That was Tuesday afternoon, and yesterday I stayed for more than five hours in the school preparing the walls for painting and giving them the first layer of white paint. Earlier today I returned to finish my space with the last coat of paint.

How to prepare the studio space:

  1. Cover the floor with newsprint or plastic etc.
  2. Look for nails, screws or staples and remove them from the walls.
  3. Make sure to rub out any pencil marks on the wall since they will shine through the paint if they are left on the wall.
  4. Fill in holes in the wall with a filler.
  5. Cover the corners and gaps between the plates of the wall with tape (good quality masking tape 2 or 4 inches) and make sure it is very well glued to the wall.
  6. Paint as many layers of white paint as necessary.

I am really looking forward to the exhibition (which is really getting scarily close). Now, I only have to finish my work so I can hang it in my space early next week.

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The Takeover

Yesterday, 8th May, I went to see an exhibition at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, The Takeover. A self-curated exhibition by students of the module Interdisciplinary Practice held by Miranda Whall. This is the third year this exhibition is running, but last year I did not get a chance to see it so I am really happy I had time this year since it was only showing for one afternoon (12pm – 3pm).

The Takeover 2018

The exhibition has got its name from the concept – the students are taking over the Arts Centre and transforming parts of the public space. They were showing work and installations of different kinds of art practices, based on their own perception of the Centre. Amongst the work were short films, sound installations, projections, and performances.

I really think exhibitions like this are great! It is a good opportunity for the public to gain insight into the practices at the School of Art, and it is fascinating to see all the different connections, ideas and creativity coming together in a completely unique experience.

The Takeover

Thanks to everyone involved in the Takeover for making such an amazing exhibition!