8.50 am: Anarchy in the SoA:

9.00 am: I gave the annual ‘pep’-talk and introduction to the undergraduate Exhibition module. This module has a status and import above and beyond anything the students have undertaken so far on the course. It provides an opportunity for them to shine; to consolidate their work; to exceed their best efforts; and to ‘go public’ for the first time. I can feel the ‘rush’ already.

10.00 am: The first of three MA fine art tutorials. A black and white photograph isolates a chromatic artwork’s tonal content. To my mind, the image should be as resolved in its achromatic state as in full colour. Seeing tone alone can pinpoint imbalances in the colour distribution that aren’t immediately evident otherwise. In the realm of sound, converting a stereo composition into a monaural image can, similarly, identify inadequacies in the equalisations, distinctions, prominences, and emphases of both volume and tone:

It’s also revealing to take an artwork out of its habitual environment (the studio) and see the thing breathe in another context — for example, the gallery in which it’ll be hung eventually:

By the time a student reaches postgraduate level, they are apt to experience ‘points of return’. That’s to say, a revisitation of, variously, forms, preoccupations, ways of working, and stylistic modes which they’d encountered several years earlier. The motif of their development as artists tends to be rotational rather than linear. As they proceed along an outward-going spiral, they’ll pass the same point time and time again. However, with each return they are further away from both the point of departure and the last point of return. In other words, the returns are never repeats. Rather, they are fly-pasts over the same point, but at a higher altitude each time:

10.30 pm: I undertook two further MA Fine Art tutorials before making ready for the first Professional Practice lecture of the semester, on ‘Time Management’. This is a very important number for the second year fine art students to know:

After lunch, I caught up with the morning’s incoming emails and admin, uploaded podcasts and PowerPoint presentations related to the lectures, and continued my negotiations with the National Library of Wales. In September 2015, I held a 24-hour open studio event on the concourse of the Drwm in order to develop sections of the ‘Image and Inscription’ composition. I’m planning a second such event in the Spring, to initiate the third release in The Aural Bible series. 4.00 pm: Back to the article’s references. 6.30 pm: Practise session 1. 7.30 pm: Back to the article’s references. 9.30: Practise session 2.

Some principles and observations derived from today’s engagements:

• Don’t put a cap on your capability. Presently, you don’t know what heights you may be able to reach.
• The progress of your work is likely to follow the same pattern as that of your life: from up to down, good to mediocre, and interesting to indifferent. In other words, reckon on inconsistency.
• You can’t run your life like a business. Therefore, be flexible, adaptable, responsive, patient, and forgiving.