Jetting off...

 

So it has finally come around... After 7 hard months of fundraising, I have met my target of £2450 and I will be in the air this time tomorrow morning!!

 

I am off to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Childreach International and will be out of the country between the 8th - 26th September.

 

If you desperately need to contact me, e-mail will be the best method (katyataylor@hotmail.com) but I'm going to try this crazy thing where you don't have your phone glued to your hand 24/7 so sorry if you don't get a reply haha!!

 

May post a few photos and updates just to make you all mega jealous so follow my Twitter (www.twitter.com/madebykatya or @madebykatya) and 'like' my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/madebykatya) to keep up to date!!

 

If you're feeling generous there's still a chance to donated: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/katyataylor

 

Wish me luck and hopefully I'll be able to show you a non-Photoshopped version of this...

 

Featured on Design Juices

 

I've been featured on Design Juices!! Take a peek :)

 

http://www.designjuices.co.uk/2013/08/de-montfort-university-ceramics-graduate-made-by-katya/

Project Nineteen Degrees

After my degree show, I was contacted by Yasmine Rix who was interested in representing me and selling/exhibiting my work as part of her new arts organisation 'Project Nineteen Degrees'.

 

Nineteen Degrees is a non profit organisation that represents artists and designers and as of September will be offering affordable workshops including screen printing, dj-ing, illustration, book binding, life drawing, music production, paper cutting, graphic design, photography and many, many more!!

 

I'm very excited to be part of this and hopefully one day I'll be running a ceramics workshop...!!

 

Some of my drawings are for sale on the website:

http://nineteendegrees.bigcartel.com/

 

And check out the website and Facebook page for more details:

http://www.nineteendegrees.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/19deg

Finally up to date

It's now less than 7 weeks until I move back to Leicester and get back into the studio (not that I'm counting or anything...) but I literally have a mountain to climb before then (I'm off to Africa in less than a month to climb Kilimanjaro for Childreach International).

 

I need my whole life packed up before then as I'm moving to Leicester the day after I get back so the next month or so will be a busy combination of sorting and organising... Fun, fun, fun!!

 

It will probably be easier to follow Made by Katya on Facebook and Twitter (@madebykatya) as I use them more, but I promise to get better at keeping this up to date!!

Don's mug

 

I made a mug for my friend Donna's Birthday!! I slip cast the shape, pulled the handle and then used black stain to mono-print some text on the side and glaze 207 from Emmanuel Cooper's book and a stoneware clear to finish it off.

 

I was quite please with the result but the top of the handle slumped slightly in the firing.

 

I'm planning a more commercial range of work (including cups, saucers, mugs, plates and bowls) so this was a good test run but I want to make them a lot more decorative and colourful!!

 

Graduation!!

And before I knew it July 18th came along and it was time for me to graduate!! It still hasn't sunk in that my degree is over and I'm not a student anymore but I don't think it will until I finish my residency.

 

It was such a beautiful day and, if anything, was TOO hot!! Last year DMU changed the ceremony location to The Curve Theatre (rather than the old and more traditional venue of De Montfort Hall) which I was a bit dubious about but it worked really well and was quite impressive!!

 

It was lovely to see all of the Design Crafts girls all together, one last time but, at the same time, very sad to say goodbye to the faces I've seen pretty much everyday for the last three years :(

 

 

Standard DMU graduation photo!!

 

Receiving my degree from Dominic Shellard, Vice Chancellor at DMU

(Might have stolen this off the website... Hehe)

 

P/S I GOT A FIRST!!!!! :D

 

Dad, me, BF and Mum :)

 

Re-visiting Next Door...

Over Easter I had the opportunity to visit my next door neighbours house again. It was up for sale and I wanted to see how it had changed since Christmas.

 

I couldn't believe some of the changes!! It was very sad in some ways but also intriguing... I just hope I we get to know the new neighbours and I can visit again in the future!!

 

Nice little article on DMU's website!!

So after accepting my place as Artist in Residence for the coming academic year, I got a little Tweet from my good friend Charlotte telling me about an article about me on De Montfort University's website!! Take a look...

 

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2013/july/brighton-girl-shines-as-artist-in-residence-and-at-new-designers-talent-show.aspx

Back to Leicester...

I had applied for the position as Artist in Residence at DMU so that I could stay on at the university for another year to develop my work and practice and carry on using the facilities for free; an invaluable resource as an emerging maker.

 

The interviews were the week after New Designers so I prepared my presentation, drove back up to Leicester and gave it my all!! It was quite nerve-wrecking even though it was only to my tutors who I've seen and spoken to pretty much everyday for the past 3 years but I thought it went well...

 

... and clearly it did because a few days later I got an e-mail congratulating me on my new position as Artist in Residence on the Design Crafts BA course!!

 

So looks like I'm moving back to Leicester in September and don't have to give up the student lifestyle just yet... YAY!!

Group image of my work

 

I got some professional photos taken of my work as a group by the amazing photography technician at DMU, Nigel Essex.

 

I used these for my business cards and promotional material.

 

 

See more on my Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/madebykatya

 

New Designers 2013

 

After the degree show was set up the tutors went in to mark the work and decide who they were taking to New Designers (Part One). After a painful few days of waiting, we finally got an e-mail telling us who had got in and guess what... I got picked!!

 

I was so so sooo happy; it's genuinely what I had been aiming for throughout the duration of my course and to get the opportunity to attend the biggest design graduate show, like, everrr was absolutely amazing!!

 

It was such a valuable experience; learning how to set-up and take-down quickly and be aware of other people's space as well as networking and approaching people to talk about my work was great.

 

It was a veryyy tiring week as I commuted everyday from Brighton but I'm so glad I went as I learnt so much and got a couple of exciting opportunities...!!

 

 

The Business Design Centre in Islington, London

 

 

They spelt our uni wrong!!

 

 

Our stand (CAA38)

 

 

 

 

My work at New Designers 2013

 

 

Even managed to make two sales!!

 

 

Take-down :(

 



Amy Shore Photography

 

How lucky we were to have such an excellent photographer on our course!! Ladies and gentleman, let me introduce you to Amy Shore Photography the lovely girl who took the time out of her busy, 3rd year schedule to take these gorgeous photos which were displayed in our catalogue and around our degree show.

Here's a few of me working and "working"...!!

 

 

 

 

Here's a link to our degree show catalogue if you fancy a gander:

http://issuu.com/dmuaad/docs/design_crafts_dmu_2013

Degree Show!!

So our degree show spaces have been allocated!! This wasn't my original space; I got moved which I wasn't happy about initially, but looking back, this was definitely the better option. It was the first space when you come in and I got a massive wall and three table-top plinths to myself... Very lucky girl!!

 

My wall space before decoration

 



My plinths in place

 

All set up for assessment

 

My degree show :)



Craft Council's 'Firing Up' Scheme

 

De Montfort University was chosen to take part in the Craft Council's 'Firing Up' scheme which aims to get neglected ceramics departments back up and running in schools. Our technicians went into lots of Leicester's schools and started doing workshops and giving demonstrations to the students.

 

We had a launch night at Trinity House and some of my work was displayed:

 

 

In May and June went along to Beauchamp College to help prepare workshops and I even got to give a little demonstration myself.

 

 

 

It was such a great experience. I really enjoyed helping and teaching the students how to work with clay and all of the different techniques you can achieve. I'd love to carry on doing workshops in the future.

Busy, busy, busy!!

End of term is drawing closer and it's starting to get hectic!!

 

 

I made these little 'labels' for all of my sketchbooks and folders. I think they're really cute!!

Craft Stalls

I've signed up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Childreach International in September 2013...!!

For this, I need to raise £2450 (on top of all my third year work... eek!!) so me and two friends who are also doing it have been holding some craft stalls.

 

 

 

 

We managed to raise £2450 each in time for the deadline and will be leaving in less than a month!!

 

You can still donate to Childreach International and support the wonderful work they do:

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/katyataylor