I have been having recent meetings with a couple of Interactive Design students at University of Plymouth to make my conjoined balaclava more...interactive!

I have wanted to make the filming process from inside the balaclava run more smoothly for both myself and the wearers. Over the past month we have been sharing ideas and it looks like we are almost at the stage to create a live feed from the reaction cams.
This is just one of the little gadgets (raspberry pi) that we will be using.
I am very excited to have a demonstration in the new year...

KARST latest exhibition Noah Angell continues Friday 6th - Sunday 8th December, 11-6pm.

See you there!

Next project at KARST : NOAH ANGELL 
Lecture / Performance / Sound Work : 
'CRYING IN THE ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELD RECORDING' 
& an exhibition of the artist's films from 2006-12

Lecture: Thursday 5th December 7-8pm (Booking Essential) 
Exhibition Preview: Thursday 5th December 8.15pm 
Exhibition continues Friday 6th - Sunday 8th December - 11-6pm

Poke Bonnet.

A friend sent me this image over the weekend.. Before doing my research, I truly believed this could have been some sort of genuine 'courting' device.

Disappointingly, it's not.

'The poke bonnet was fashionable at the beginning of the 19th century, and consisted of a small crown and wide brim to shade the face. From 1830 through to the 1840s, the shape of the brim became more tubular in shape and increased in size until the wearers face was only visible from directly in front.'

The image above is a French satire print on the poke bonnet in the 1810's; 'Les Invisibles en Tete-a-Tete'. The bonnets were called 'invisibles' in France because the face of the wearer was virtually concealed except from the front.

I believe the poke bonnet could have a revival.
Bonnets and balaclavas.

Twins are the best models for my conjoined balaclava.

Friday was the last day of the AA2A Welcome show at Artspacefour, so what a better way to meet the students, try on headgear and have tea and cake! It was great to see lots of people getting involved and wearing the balaclavas. This was also a great opportunity to test run a NEW PROTOTYPE BALACLAVA.
I have been back in the textile studio this week, designing and creating individual balaclavas which can be attached/detached from one another. I have been thinking about ways to make the experience more inviting for the public to get involved before jumping, er..., head on into it...






It still had an awkwardness to it, but people were less reluctant to take part. I believe this will be an interesting prop to work with; watch this space for more experiments.

During the Welcome show, I received images from participators who interacted with the pop-up balaclava installation. Here are some of the images from the duration of the show.

                                                                                                                                                                         

                           

And this is where it all began.

Today is my final day as a KARST studio holder. Last summer, I applied for a post-grad residency at KARST for just 3 months...and never left! However, as my practice begins to evolve, I am now saying goodbye to my studio and moving on to new adventures. 

I believe that the time spent coming straight out of uni can be so daunting and scary, but KARST have been there to support my work and make that year out of education really enjoyable. I will always have plenty of fond memories such as The Market Fundraiser, watching Elf at Christmas, setting up exhibitions and having a crazy family of artists. 

Of course, I will be there lots for exhibitions and cups of tea, but I am really going to miss everyone at KARST and being part of the studios. 

In the meantime, I will be based at University of Plymouth for the AA2A scheme and am part of the mentoring scheme at South London Gallery, so lots of excitement to look forward to!

Here are a few of my favourite moments at KARST in photographs, enjoy!

  

Check out my AA2A profile page.

http://aa2a.biz/pg/profile/kayleigh13

It will have all the latest info from what I am doing at University of Plymouth, including the most recent 'balaclava pop-up' opportunity photos.

Come one, come all!

Today I started installing an interactive 'pop-up balaclava' opportunity at the Royal William Yard with the AA2A artists of University of Plymouth.

For the next six months, I will be an artist in residence at the University of Plymouth and continue working on The Balaclava Experiment. Today's installation is a small welcoming exhibition to introduce ourselves and our work to the Fine Art students based at the yard. Although I am hoping my installation will allow me to connect with the students, I am also hoping it will allow them to connect with each other...

Here are some of the students having a go with the balaclava! I have left instructions asking wearers to send me photos of their interactions, so watch this space as I will upload any images I receive. I'm looking forward to checking my inbox at the end of the week...

Want to get involved? The' pop-up balaclava' is currently at the Royal William Yard, Artspacefour (opposite the bakery) so if you want to send me your interactions, please send them to kayleighhillartist@gmail.com and you might see yourself on here.

Next up; KARST's latest exhibition SS Blue Jacket, opening Thursday 31st October.

http://www.karst-projects.org/ssbluejacket.html

Whilst writing our dissertation, April and I (The Pathetic Things That Artists Do) became inspired by the work of Patrick Brill aka Bob & Roberta Smith. His sign writing texts and views on art education really helped us when writing together (and made us appreciate what he was really saying when handing in our dissertation when we were asked if we each had a copy as only one student ID card could be scanned per submission!)
I managed to get myself to the private view of Bob & Roberta Smith on Friday 4th October at Plymouth Art Centre and managed to tell him this story! Really enjoyed his one man band performance and never imagined during my third year of Uni I would have the opportunity to tell Patrick that we had written about him...

His work will be exhibited until December 1st.

There's only a few more days left to see EXPLORER: JEONGMOON CHOI at KARST so get yourself down there before it's too late! Definitely worth seeing 

http://www.karst-projects.org/