Meet Wassa …

It has been an age since I shared with you.  I began my MA in September 2019 and since my feet have not touched the ground.  For the first 6 months I commuted 3 or 4 days a week to Farnham.  Thinking that was the way to get full benefit of the course.  Whether that was right or wrong I don’t know, but it was a good time; going to lectures, spending time in the library and studios and making acquaintances. Even the travelling has been bearable.

However, I was just beginning to think I would cut my time spent at university as it was become expensive and tiresome, when the decision was taken away from me.

So now nearly 2 months into lockdown I can look back and make some comparisons.  It was best that I did immerse myself in the university space and the long commute.  These weeks at home have been wonderful; I have created and learned so much.  I have written, read and drawn every day.  Gardened, eaten and rested well.

However, that was not possible without social distancing on all levels.  Social media was a demon, so I had to turn off the radio and tv, the news and other pseudo positive spin was a horrible distraction. It was not long before I unfriended so called friends who seemed to delight in sharing fake news or inappropriate good advice.

It is good speaking with my children, real friends about our fears and pleasures, peeping into gardens and allotments at a flick of a switch. dipping into iPlayer or Netflix or rescheduling wine or gin o’clock if we had not yet finished breakfast.

However, all this doesn’t get the MA done. So, I had to embrace the more serious matters of social media to get back to the library, studio and lecture hall virtually. So, everyday a bit more of Adobe, Zoom. Power Point, WeTransfer and various Online resources.

Therefore, without the travelling it has been business as usual and I will be able to hand in my essay and research manual in the form of a power point on time.

All that said, the course continues.  Having finished the exploratory and experimental module I begin the reflective part.  Now I focus on the practice I have enjoyed during these first few weeks; I have got to say it has been the creature making.  I have made dozens of them and they are characters in a story; that I don’t what to reveal at this point.  It is enough to say that the story will be told in the form of a Stop Motion Animation, of which I know absolutely nothing.  I am learning this crazy art form on the hoof. I have little of any value to expose at this embryonic stage but when I do you will the first to know.

Meanwhile, meet Wassa …