Jo Blaker Talk

The things I found interesting from Jo Blaker's talk were:

> She got told when she was at university that she must work digitally in order to get a degree. This is completely different to what we get told, we are encouraged to come off of our macs and make work in a more analog way.

> Her work has always been hard to place, she wants to be an illustrator but not all of her work reflects this. However she said she has realised now that it is okay not to know what category your work would be placed in.

> Her research methods include: Collecting and gathering information, looking and noticing things around her as well as colour, photographs, pattern, line and shape.

> Her sketchbooks are used to explore ideas, don't have to be in order or make sense to anyone other than yourself. Use them to record drawings, textures, patterns. When selecting a new sketchbook the right size and paper thickness is key and always experimenting makes your sketchbook more exciting. When you run out of ideas, try a new material or technique to document things with.

> Travel, nature and her surrounding influence her work. She can go through stages of being obsessed with things and focuses on these for ages to produce work from.

> She mentioned looking at simple things such as tarmac and how it is a patchwork in the road, from this she made large ink drawings to document how she sees them.

> The paper cuttings that she showed us are mainly done from memory of the things she has seen when she has been out walking. However to remember things more clearly she advises taking a sketchbook everywhere so that documentation can take place in the form of drawing.

> Sometimes the atmosphere of a place can help you create more work, not everyone can work well in silence and prefer the buzz of cafes or busier places.

> Everything you create has potential to go further, use your sketchbook as a method of documenting things you like today as in a few years time you may create a whole project using them.

> There is no need to be precious about sketch books, attack them and work on them at a quick pace to get every single idea down.

> You don't just have to work in one sketchbook, working across multiple can be beneficial.


> I like the roughness of the books and the fact that everything goes, no matter what it is. Any thought that has helped the creative process is documented.