And it was all going so well...

Working on the yearbook has become a bit of a well I'm just going to say it, a pain in the arse - since the boys have decided that they don't want to have any more meetings, i have been constantly bombarded with phone calls text and emails - which has pretty much had me running around like a headless chicken, ensuring that i have all of the copy that they want. The work in public pages have had to be handed to me pretty much last minute as some of the events have only just taken place. With regards to getting peoples images and text for their page this also has been an unnecessarily arduous task - as although i have stated the images size and quality they need to have to be printed people submitted images that just didn't have a high enough resolution, also getting every ones statements has been overly difficult even though we have set aside meetings in the studio for everyone to help each other with statements - sometimes people just don't turn up. Even though we set the original deadline for submissions at the beginning of the month i have yet to still get everything i need to hand over and that isn't through lack of trying - I have even resorted to calling at the house of one student who has yet to give me her statement.
Although it is a little waring at time it has to be done and i do want the year book to be the best that it can be so even though i feel like most people have lost interest in it now i shall have to keep at it, and try my best to keep the graphics boys happy because we really don't have an alternative.

Year Book meeting five

Today's meeting was a bit of a strained one - Our third year tutor Dan joined us, and new ideas were introduced - regarding the quotes pages and the work in public pages- As a whole group ( i.e all 18 of us) we have been talking the year book through regularly and the quotes pages are a bit of a sticking point as no one has introduced any quotes from artists or inspirations that they would like for these pages and i am loath to put forward ideas myself as i feel that other students think i am having too much of a say in what goes in to the book although this isn't true. throughout the process i have been trying really hard to get feedback and put forward any ideas that they have regarding then book.
So in today's meeting Dan brought forward the idea of having alumni pages - past students who are now working within the creative industry and how the course helped them to get their- or just a bit about their work. The Graphics boys were not happy with this whatsoever and where shooting me furious looks throughout the meeting like i have betrayed them. Now whilst i was a bit taken aback upon first hearing the idea, i listened to what Dan was saying and i guess it made sense. We as a group don't have much to fill these pages with regards to quotations so why not have these pages in as they go further to promote the course- and as we only have a small number of students in the year isn't it better to have a book full of lively work rather than have a thinner book that makes less of an impact on the reader?
So i knew the Graphics boys were not happy with this idea and i spoke to them after the meeting as an attempt to calm them down after all i felt a friendly working environment would produce better results however upon returning home that night i received a rather curt email;

We have left the meeting pretty confused about what is happening, due to students and tutors having conflicting ideas. The newly proposed section devoted to ex-students seems unnecessary and confusing for the user. These images would work as a backdrop to quotes pages, but this inclusion should have been mentioned weeks ago. We are trying to deliver the appropriate outcome that we would all be happy with but with such tight deadlines and other factors, we cannot afford to change the structure so significantly that it puts the whole project in jeopardy.

The profile and introductory spreads are now in progress, and will be delivered on time. However, the delays and confusions surrounding sections and structures ultimately means that we will be left without direction, which means these sections would have little or no context. At this point in the project it is imperative we are all on the same page.

Our deadline to have the whole book designed is the 9th May. That means we have potentially two more weeks of development before we hand it over to the printer.

We still need a significant amount of copy and images from you to complete the book.

- Acknowledgement page copy
- Quotes for 5x spreads
- Student images (To be shot on Thursday)
- Cover photography (To be shot next Tuesday)
- Outstanding copy for students profiles
- Events/ Work in public copy/images (we still need clarification on what this is going to be) (we suggest doing some sort of introduction to this section)
- All contact details for students

This is a massive list, and we are certainly worried. We cannot afford to waste any more time discussing options and page layouts this close to final hand ins, not just for this brief but for our personal work.

We will put together the final spreads for the introduction, contents and profile pages ready next week and we will send Jaclyne a PDF of what we have next Tuesday. We will continue to liaise with Jaclyne on behalf of the students to rectify the issues raised today. 

I don't really know what the best way to respond to this, however i have a few concerns of my own

- the graphics lot seem to be of the understanding that this is their book which it isn't its our book as a course, the course are the clients so ultimately they should be doing what we ask them to do. The part about liaising with me on behalf of the students? what is all that about does this mean that meetings will discontinue? I have spoken to Adam since the meeting and he feels that he is being messed around and the whole context of the book is in jeopardy - and i thought girls where the dramatic ones!

Yoshihiro Suda

Yoshihiro Suda is based in Tokyo. He creates hyper-realistic flowers and weeds from wood. He sets himself the task of making each new work more lifelike than the last. Painstakingly carving and painting each piece, using traditional Japanese tools, he may take many days to complete a single petal or leaf.

Suda only starts to make his works once he has considered the space they will be shown in. He chooses native plants commonly found in the city where his work will be exhibited. He situates his pieces in surprising places, growing unexpectedly out of pristine gallery walls and pushing up out of forgotten corners. His interventions reveal the beauty in the simple and apparently unconsidered.

'Simply, I want to know how detailed I can make it, how real I can make it. This is an old-fashioned way of thinking, to make something so naturalistic that it looks like the original. It is not the fashion now, to observe something and make it very skilfully, the idea itself is very deep. To make this kind of copy, the technique is very important. There are no goals as such, just that I can make it better next time.'

What appeals to me about Suda's work is the way in which it is placed within the gallery space, with a light hand a small gesture, apart from the rest of the group exhibitions.

By placing the work in this way Suda invites the viewer to find it, stumble across it, the finind of the work almost becomes as important as the work itself, something which appeals to me within my own practice.