University of Salford students documenting Conversations Series ||

We asked the six students who have been documenting the project from the University of Salford to tell us about the experience and the ways in which they have been capturing the conversations …

Jessica Miller

Over the past five months, I have had an amazing opportunity to be involved with the creative project Conversation Series II. Throughout the project artists and I have connected and worked collaboratively to explore 'outsider art' and the labels placed on us by society through masterclasses, communication and tons of experimentation with creative media and techniques such as illustration, 3D design and music production.

In response to the project, I have created a zine, which captures the time and experience of Conversation Series II and allows you to delve into the world of raw art. The zine will be part of the upcoming exhibitions and will be featured on the Venture Arts website and social media. I hope to continue working with Venture Arts in the future to explore deeper into the topics and create more fantastic work.

Bradley Crandon

Venture Arts has been a real eye-opener to see new tactile work from each artist. It made me realise how far they were taking their practice from sculpture to digital artwork. At the beginning of the project, it was quite daunting, yet with time my confidence grew. As a child I enjoyed painting and being creative with materials; therefore, it felt inviting to go back to a traditional fine art environment. Andrew reminds me of myself, someone who is passionate and able to be fully immersed in a drawing. Having conversations with everyone about their physical work always encouraged fresh ideas. As a result, producing sculptures is something I desperately want to try out for myself.

Urooj presenting her and Saidul’s ideas at the University

Urooj Ahmad and Saidul Choudhury

Saidul and I have been working on a zine with an interactive element that focuses on the term 'Outsider'. The zine involves our journey over the workshops, which have been portrayed through a conversation between ourselves, open to discussion and debate. The experience to work with other artists has been amazing and has given us insight into art in a whole different way.

Alex’s photo of experimentation in the studio

Alexandra Bicoza

Being part of this project was an amazing experience and opportunity for me as an artist. It has helped me to develop my knowledge about different ideas and techniques gained from each talented artist at Venture Arts. In response to this, I have created a book, which contains images that work as a timeline of the happenings at the studio and analyses from the artists about their experiences while producing art works.

“Together they were able to face all the challenges of this journey, their extraordinary creativity led to the amazing art work outcomes produced from this collective practice.”

Kyle Jakubowska

For the past few months I had an opportunity to document the Conversation Series II project in the form of a video. At the beginning I decided to take a “fly on the wall” approach and just document what was happening in the studio, however the project later took a more experimental route as I started to engage with the artists and have conversations about art and labels. My video is an exploration of the label "outsider art" and what it means (or doesn't) to the artists involved. Although it is a difficult subject to tackle, I found that through the use of moving image I can create an interesting visual narrative that gives an insight into the project.