Students as Agents for Change

Today I attended the first meeting for ‘Students as Agents of Change’, the premise is that the students become involved in the decision make process connected to the expansion plans for the university. So before the architects are contacted the student body is allowed to make suggestions about what kind of new facilities will be present in the improved campus.

It was a really interesting meeting, students from many of the courses were present, from both Exeter University and Falmouth University.

One group of students were adamant about the fact that the work going on at the campus should be considerate of animal habitats and also not destroy the allotments that had been provided for their course. People wanted to improve the green areas, making it possible to enjoy the outside more in the summer. Another group wanted to make the campus more inviting, by creating a Sculpture Trail for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Another valuable idea was to set up a series of focus groups to take place within Penryn and Falmouth giving the opportunity for locals to also make suggestions about how the campus expansion could be of benefit locally through new businesses, entertainment facilities like theatre and films and so forth.

Something that I felt stood out for the students was the idea of creating a feeling of ownership within the campus for the students. This would be established by basically turning the university into a gallery space, showcasing art, photography and design and also giving the students the opportunity to use the campus site as a site for experimentation for example through garden design and ecology.

For me this will be a really helpful experience. In my current work I am aiming to discover the specific needs of a community relating to a project. So my personal methodology (discovering needs and creating an outcome) will cause me to either do a good or bad job. I found a great website the other day with a series of crib sheets and toolkits on it, they show how to approach and implement the finds of a consultative process. So hopefully being a part of this committee at college plus + the crib sheets + first hand trial of focus groups = good outcome.

Feelings of Usefullessness

Coming into the second year of this MA, I now have to reconsider my route and the path that I will need to take to achieve this.

Last year I completed two work placements, both of which were very rewarding and helpful in enabling me to see if the choices that I made were viable, the placements have given me insight into the kind of career which I would like to pursue in the future.

My first work placement was to design a bench. using Autocad. I also worked within a landscaping department at the council and this was very enjoyable and insightful.


The bench would have been made from rolled sheet steel, unfortunately thier were drawbacks;

• too expensive to produce
• uncomfortable in the sun

The bench was made from component seats

• did not fulfil the ‘bench’ brief
• the shape of the seat made it hard to create dynamic arrangements

My second work placement, was much different. Making signs for a camp-site. This was oriented towards creating a final product. In this similarly to the other placement, I used computer programmes to achieve the outcome – illustrator, which was challenging, but eventually came to a successful outcome. The camp-site wanted a series of signs for the site, directional and toilet signs – with an arty edge.

They were handmade and original, as well as this they were made from recycled materials, according to the brief. The signs are in use now, and I made a total of 11 signs.

The process of design is different to art and dependant on approach. Design is always user motivated, which means that nothing is sacred in the way that could be considered with art and as well as that items, objects must have a reason or excuse for existing, otherwise they can be deemed useless.

Nonsense Rhymes

For no other reason than I like Edward Lear, I thought I would add this extract from his 'A Book of Nonsense' because it made me laugh so much.

NONSENSE COOKERY

Extract from the Nonsense Gazette, for August, 1870.

Our readers will be interested in the following communications from our valued and learned contributor, Professor Bosh, whose labours in the fields of Culinary and Botanical science, are so well known to all the world. The first three Articles richly merit to be added to the Domestic cookery of every family; those which follow, claim the attention of all Botanists, and we are happy to be able through Dr. Bosh's kindness to present our readers with illustrations of his discoveries. All the new flowers are found in the valley of Verrikwier, near the lake of Oddgrow, and on the summit of the hill Orfeltugg.'

THREE RECEIPTS FOR DOMESTIC COOKERY

TO MAKE AN AMBLONGUS PIE

Take 4 pounds (say 4 1/2 pounds) of fresh Amblongusses, and put them in a small pipkin.

Cover them with water and boil them for 8 hours incessantly, after which add 2 pints of new milk, and proceed to boil for 4 hours more.

When you have ascertained that the Amblongusses are quite soft, take them out and place them in a wide pan, taking care to shake them well previously.

Grate some nutmeg over the surface, and cover them carefully with powdered gingerbread, curry-powder, and a sufficient quantity of Cayenne pepper.

Remove the pan into the next room, and place it on the floor. Bring it back again, and let it simmer for three-quarters of an hour. Shake the pan violently till all the Amblongusses have become a pale purple colour.

Then, having prepared a paste, insert the whole carefully, adding at the same time a small pigeon, 2 slices of beef, 4 cauliflowers, and any number of oysters.

Watch patiently till the crust begins to rise, and add a pinch of salt from time to time.

Serve up in a clean dish, and throw the whole out of the window as fast as possible.

TO MAKE CRUMBOBBLIOUS CUTLETS

Procure some strips of beef, and having cut them into the smallest possible slices, proceed to cut them still smaller, eight or perhaps nine times.

When the whole is thus minced, brush it up hastily with a new clothes-brush, and stir round rapidly and capriciously with a salt-spoon or a soup ladel.

Place the whole in a saucepan, and remove it to a sunny place, -- say the roof of the house if free from sparrows or other birds, -- and leave it there for about a week.

At the end of that time add a little lavender, some oil of almonds, and a few herring-bones; and cover the whole with 4 gallons of clarified crumbobblious sauce, when it will be ready for use.

Cut it into the shape of ordinary cutlets, and serve it up in a clean tablecloth or dinner-napkin.

TO MAKE GOSKY PATTIES

Take a pig, three or four years of age, and tie him by the off-hind leg to a post. Place 5 pounds of currants, 5 of sugar, 2 pecks of peas, 18 roast chestnuts, a candle, and six bushels of turnips, within his reach; if he eats these, constantly provide him with more.

Then, procure some cream, some slices of Cheshire cheese, four quinces of foolscap paper, and a packet of black pins. Work the whole into a paste, and spread it out to dry on a sheet of clean brown waterproof linen.

When the paste is perfectly dry, but not before, proceed to beat the Pig violently, with the handle of a large broom. If he squeals, beat him again.

Visit the paste and beat the pig alternately for some days, and ascertain that if at the end of that period the whole is about to turn into Gosky Patties.

If it does not then, it never will; and in that case the Pig may be let loose, and the whole process may be considered as finished.

pg 131. EDWARD LEAR 'A Book of Nonsense'

Edward Lear wrote lots of 'nonsense' rhymes, and many of then start with the phrase... "there was an person of" in this one as in many others he names the place where the person was from. 'Brill' is a place in Cornwall, in Flushing a village just next to Penryn.

Operation Goodnight

This is an article I found in the 'Telegraph Magazine' July 2008. It describes the curfew that was placed on the teenagers of the town of Redruth at the beginning of the summer holidays. Apparently Redruth had one of the largest teen crime rates of the UK, and 'Operation Goodnight' was set up in order to combat this. Children of 10 and under were to be home at 8pm and children of 16 and under were to be home by 9pm. If the curfew was a success - which according to the article it was, then the initiative was to be rolled out in other places such as Manchester and the larger inner cities.

Redruth town is located within the old mining district of cornwall, and falls within an area which has been subject to much regeneration. It is about 3/4 miles from Cambourne another area earmarked for regeneration that is part of the "Heartlands" Scheme a project that was awarded big lottery funding of £22m.

" Voluntary" is the difficult word. There was no residents assembly, no vote on the matter. Instead there was a unanimous agreement by the dozen or so people who attended one meeting that the curfew would be a good idea. The scheme was conceived and being monitored by "the partners". Griffin (police officer) is untroubled by these niceties. "I thought lets just try it," he says. "It's not been imposed. We wanted a chance for the community to be part of something this summer: a low-key locally delivered initiative."

Bearing in mind the statistics would have taken into account things like population and also location, it cannot be fair to suggest that Redruth has the highest crime rate in the UK, only highest in crime rate when taking into account certain geographical considerations, that said the crime rate was sufficient that the town was used as a 'controlled test' to work out whether or not the curfew would work.

There are similar articles on the Telegraph website which talk about the curfew.

Semiotics

Semiotics is a subject which I am interested in and looked at during my degree, but I know that I never fully understood it so I am now taking another look in the hope that it makes a bit more sense.

I'm looking at a book called Structuralism and Semiotics.


The book examines the use of language, and how language fundamentally affects the way we think and behave. An example of this might be, when two people from different regions or countries say the same thing and what they say is varied by an accent, language or by the intonations in speech. The 'changes' may be subtle, but distinct enough to carry colloquialisms (or systems of information) which effectively set apart the language from a neighbouring district so-on. This difference is what gives us identity (within language eg. gaelic, or welsh) and therefore individuality. We also find that these meanings can be 'lost in translation', the result of this clearly changes the meaning of the sentence, not unlike that of Chinese whispers.

"..There is therefore, concluded Sapir in a classical statement no such thing as an objective, unchanging 'real world':

Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of the matter is that the real world is to a large extent built upon the language habits of the group. No two languages are sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different label attached....We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation. (Selected Writings in Language, Culture and Personality, p162) "

Liinguistics and Anthropology pg 31.Terence Hawkes, 'Structuralism and Semiotics'

Bench Pictures

These images are some of the inspiration I used when thinking about the design of the bench.
As well as this I was aware of the recommended standard measurements that were generally employed in 'furniture design'. They suggest the most comfortable and safe positions for sitting.

Heartlands Bench CEC

For my CEC work placement with Kerrier council, I was asked to design a bench which potentially would end up inside the Heartlands Development alongside other artist commissions. I knew about the ‘call for submissions’ to artists back in December, but the projects were too big for me to consider applying for and as well as this I had a great interest in both sides of the commissioning process, from the artists perspective and also the commissioners.

The call for submissions sent out by KDC, contained about 7-8 commissions, all of which were to be placed within the new Heartlands Regeneration Project. The massive heritage of the heartlands site (being on of the most prominent tin mining areas of the region) meant that there was a huge amount of source material and history to draw from which could be fed back into the project.

Image taken from: Seams & Veins Artist-Maker Brief for Pool Village Commissions Dec 2008

Even before I had come to Falmouth, I had decided that one of the main focuses of the course for me would be to look into the mining history of the area, with a view to incorporating this subject into my research and finding ways that this could inspire work for me.

The title of my course is ‘Interior and Landscape Design’, and it is important to explore understand what this means to me. So far, the subjects which have interested me are things connected to public art, urban space, architecture, community, history… then things like anthropology, because that is a broad enough title to contain most other subject areas, and importantly the design process.

With this in mind, the Heartlands Project was a great way for me to experience a live ‘regeneration’ project that is focussed on the public realm, instead of a much more singular or individualistic approach, which is something I am more familiar with, this because my own experience is limited, and certainly does not extent to working on big projects as this.

So having known about the commissions since December I was really excited when after sending in my CV in the hope of getting some work experience KDC asked me to design a bench.

The council office’s role is concerned with the landscaping and upkeep of the Kerrier district area. Whilst at the offices, my role was to design a bench and also get involved in planning of public consultations, this meant putting together inspiration sheets which would have been used to stimulate discussion amongst local people about the kind of improvements or initatives that they would like to see put in place in the community. Alongside this I did a bit of illustrator work, this time information sheets for the local Dolcoath mine. At the time I was not familiar with AutoCAD, and because of this I could only put my designs onto paper.




Making the jump from drawing on paper and sketching my ideas down without really thinking about it, to drawing in a computer programme, was a bit of a challenge, and did feel like it wasn’t very worthwhile doing. But now I can at least open CAD without having a heart attack, and I would even say that I can successfully draw some lines.


The inspiration for the bench is taken from railway tracks found on the Robinson's Shaft site. The bench will be made from shaped rolled steel, and groves will be etched into the bench to create the impression of tracks. Placed underneath the bench for support is a piece of granite stone. Although I can see problems with the design, I do like the general idea. It is simple and I think that the railway track idea would not be lost on people. I am yet to find out KDC's opinion though.

If people are going to understand ideas and take them seriously then using a programme like AutoCAD enables for the expression of these ideas in a more universal language, and not only this but takes things from the ideas stage into a design stage, where ‘specifying’ materials and sizes take it that little bit closed to reality.




What remains in the heartlands site is a mish mash of old industrial buildings – mineshafts, big wheels, engine houses, all of which are in a state of semi ruin, contrasting this there is a huge area of wild flowers and green land, which over time has laid claim to the site(s) – hence the reason many of these areas have been designated ‘areas of outstanding natural beauty’

In the industrial age this land would have been an eyesore and dangerously polluted, but now is quite beautiful in a run down industrial kind of way. In the heartlands site one of the things that remain, amongst other equipment is railway tracks, wagon would have been laden with ore and these been used to move ore from place to place around the site

VIEWFINDER National Monuments Record english-heritage.org.co.uk

One of the things that drew my interest to the railway tracks was to do with how they were used. Basically transporting ore from one location to another, on land and also beneath in the mines. Although we usually associate mining with men, in fact women were employed by the mines on the surface and worked at separating the ore that had been removed from within the mines, these women were known as ‘Bal Maidens’. Typically women were not allowed in the mines because of the dangers involved, but experienced no less hardship than the men.

“By 1800, there were 2,000 or more females employed in the Cornish mines, and at least 6,000
by 1851. Between 1720 and 1920, there were probably more than 80,000 females working in all
of the mine related industries in Devon and Cornwall”

Bal Maidens Cornwall and Devon

english-heritage.org.co.uk

Reading the statistics associated with the mining industry and more specifically the mortality rate, you begin to realise how dramatic and hard the miners existence would have been. There is a report that was written in 1842 by Dr Charles Barham who was a mine surgeon. In the report is a series of interviews that take place between himself and some of the Bal Maidens who worked at the mine. He describes their state of health and circumstances, each example makes for scary reading.

Jane Jewell, 21 years old (Truro, March 31st 1841)

She has worked a fortnight at Consols but found she could not continue. She
has always found the ‘bal’ (mine) disagreed with her which she attributed chiefly
to the mundic water. The smell made her sick when the water was warm. Her
father is a miner at Consols and is in a declining state, and is about 50 years of age.”

Children's Employment Commission Report of 1842 Interviews with Bal Maidens from Cornwall and Devon

The Industrial Railway Record No. 19 - p242-245 © June 1968

Although the land will have changed dramatically since the 1840’s the diagram above explains how the railways will have been used to move the ore from one location to another within the mine.