Guest speaker - Jo Blaker

Jo Blaker

Jo Blaker works with children and people with learning difficulties to develop their creative courage and teach them about art. She does not feel she fits into one discipline and tries not to label herself. Her practice is mainly based around colour, line and its qualities, materials, texture, and form (organic forms play and important part).

A sketchbook shouldn’t be about just making work for a project, it should reflect you and your ideas. It is about collecting, gathering, observing, noticing and appreciating things around you. Find images that interest you and use your sketchbook to record things you cannot photograph. Collect images from artists and experiments in the studio. These experiments should be sketches rather than finished pieces. Working loose leaf as well is important.

The sketchbook can be used as a form of thinking enabling ideas to be taken out of your head space. She like to keep surprising herself. The process of using the sketchbook provides a calming and relaxing atmosphere which allows you to keep a record of something and document a moment in time which can also make time pass quicker. When she becomes board, or frustrated by her work she uses a new material or process, or looks at abstract images as a way of informing a new direction. Her process mainly focuses on play and experimentation with materials. She likes to work with things she can manipulate directly. She believes that when her lines are put into illustrator they lose their energy. She is influenced by nature writing which is about people’s connections to nature.

She does not have an awareness of creating work, however does become focused on a particular subject. She draws from memory and works outside of the studio. By using observational drawing this helps you to become more fluid even if what you are drawing isn’t completely right. Her sketchbook becomes a reflection of her at that time. Originally, she was very precious about her sketchbook and was too bothered about things following each other. What she uses as a sketchbook is dependent on how much she can carry at the time. She sometimes puts notes at the back of the sketchbook and work at the front. These notes can help work out ideas and thoughts. She avoids using the computer and engages with her work in a physical way. She photocopy’s things a lot to make multiples of things and to blow them up. Within the creation of one piece she uses multiple processes, such as drawing, tracing, cutting, spray painting etc.

By not knowing how to do something you can find new ways of doing things. Experiment with alternative drawing e.g. left handed, multiple drawing and drawing with different 
materials.

Things to learn from:

-        Start producing experiments and sketches separate from project work

-        Collect interesting imagery both for projects and generally to inform work

-        Experiment with physical processes more

-        Use a variety of sketchbooks for different things so the function fits the purpose e.g. small sketchbook for travelling

-        Buy a decent phone with a camera!

After listening to Jo Blaker I have decided to get a few sketchbooks for different purposes. I will keep a small soft sketchbook for rough sketches, ideas and observational drawings, an a4 hardback book for material experimentation and a large a4 soft cover notebook to stick found items and materials in. I will continue to use my notebook as a way of recording daily to dos and lectures.