Work Experience 




My name is Sophie, for the past 3 months, I have been working with Beaford arts for my work experience. During my work, I have helped with anything that they may need assistance with. This may include helping set up and take down exhibitions, designing posters, and meeting new people within the Beaford arts family. I have really enjoyed getting to know people that work with or for Beaford and getting to experience what it is like to work with people who are experienced in this kind of media. I began my work experience with helping put up an photography exhibition for Gideon Mendel. From this, I have learnt the many stages that you have to go through in order to create an exhibition and keep it running. 

When I'm 40

Photo credit: Gideon Mendel 

Young North Devonians have created a new response to local flooding risks with the help of world-leading   climate photographer Gideon Mendel. In September 2023 Gideon visited North Devon to help local children explore what their environment might be like in 2050. This was very eye opening to see as the children talked about how they didn't want their future to be destroyed by not taking action now. It was very interesting to hear the thought that the children had regarding uprising global issues.


Gideon Mendel

Gideon Mendel is an internationally renowned photographer who has been documenting conflict, change and social issues on a global scale since the early 1980s. He began work on ‘Drowning World’, a major project about flooding and his response to the climate crisis, in 2007. Documenting a variety of flooded locations internationally, his photography have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world.

As part of his visit, Gideon led a masterclass with 18 local children aged 9-10 and their parents, exploring how rising tides may affect places they know and love during their lifetimes. The children then went on to make boards asking the question of what their favourite location in North Devon will be like when they grow up. Over the days, Gideon created portraits of the children holding their signs on location, this resulted in a brand-new collection of work called ‘When I’m 40’.

Gideon's Website: https://gideonmendel.com/

Image Credit: fffrankfurt.com

Here are some images from Gideon Mendel:

United Kingdom

Photo credit: Gideon Mendel

Thailand

Photo credit: Gideon Mendel

Brazil 

Photo Credit: Gideon Mendel

Canada

Photo Credit: Gideon Mendel

Here are some image of Gideon taking the images over the years:

image soure: gettyimages 


Image source: PBS.org

This is a photo of us putting up the pieces of work from children involved with Gideon Mendel's exhibition.

This is a photo of us putting up Gideon's photography in the main section of the exhibition in the Pannier market in Barnstable.

This is an image of the final look of the exhibition all put up.

Here are a few images of Gideon's work.

Here you can see Gideon himself, in the bottom left corner, and a few children that were involved in creating boards for Gideon's photography.

This is an image of one of the children Gideon photographed (Westwood Ho!).

This is another image of one of the children Gideon photographed (Biderford).

This is an image of a group of children Gideon photographed (Pilton Park).

This is an image of Pheobe and Caroline (who work for Beaford) and myself; moving all the wrapped up photography boards back to Beaford after the exhibition finished 

This is an image of me pulling Pheobe on the trailer we needed to take back to the Pannier market. 

This is one of the boards that the children were involved in creating. Each line is an outline of the children who took part.

This is the second board that outlines each child involved. 

These images are all created by children from local schools that were involved in this project. 

This film features behind the scenes footage and interviews captured during Beaford commission, 'When I'm 40', undertaken by photographer Gideon Mendel. When first watching this, I found it really informal and emotional as the children talk about how climate change has affected them and their lives. 

This short film was showed to the public over the duration of the exhibition days. I witnessed many people walking away from watching it feeling as though they need to help more with the current situation. This film was a real eye-opener at what actions need to take place and what we as a community need to do to help save our beloved areas from disappearing from our future. 

Stephen Raff

Stephen is a photographer who primarily works with  wet plate Collodion Film and Darkroom Alternative Printing. Stephen works in the same building as Beaford Barnstaple so I was lucky enough to meet him and do a workshop with him. I was joined in the workshop by Caroline and Kathrine. He showed us some of his previous work that he has make and old photos to show us how they would of looked around one hundred years ago. Stephen first talked us through how making a wet plate collodion and then walked us through making one. From this, I learnt that this particular type of photography is very delicate and has many steps that take time and consideration into getting the final product.  We prepared the glass by pouring collodion onto the glass plate, then tilted the plate until its entire surface is coated with the solution. For the next step, we had to move into the darkroom. While the plate is still wet, dip it into a solution that contains silver nitrate and then wipe the silver nitrate solution off the back of the plate with a clean cloth. While we were still in the darkroom, we inserted the plate into a light-proof holder, which is constructed to fit in Stephen's camera. Then we took the holder to the camera and insert. We the exposed the plate by removing the lens cap. This allowed light to enter the camera and strike the light-sensitive collodion. We waited for a short time to get a good image of the angle we set the camera at earlier and then took the picture waiting 10 seconds for it to expose.

Then we remove the glass plate from the holder and while holding the plate over a tray in the darkroom, poured the developer over the plate. Rinsed the glass plate with water to remove the developer; by this point, we were able to take the plate out of the dark room. Finally, we remove the unexposed silver-halide by placing the plate in a tray of solution, which acts as a fixing agent; after we left, Stephen placed a varnish over it to fix it in place.

I found this very interesting and eye-opening to see as I have never seen this process before and now understand how much time and effort it takes to create an image.

This is a portrait of Stephen Raff that he took himself 

This is the image that we made in the workshop. 

Stephen's Instagram: @stephenraffphotography

Stephen's Website: https://www.stephenraffphotography.co.uk/

image source: Stephen Raff's instagram

Caroline  Preston

Caroline is an international origami artist that has exhibitions around the world. Her pieces of work ranges from very detailed intricate  creation to large and life-like masterpieces. I have never really seen this type of artwork presented like this and I find that her pieces are very beautiful. When looking at the artwork, it draws me in more, looking at every detail given.

I helped Caroline to set up a exhibition in the Barnstaple Library showing different pieces of her work. The main piece we focused on was a beautiful set up of stars and penguins. We threaded string on the stars and hung them from the top of the clear box to represent them floating. I really enjoyed doing this and it was very detailed and it was very fun to do. 

I have worked with Caroline throughout my time with Beaford and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with her. She helped me get settled and help me find my way. 

This is the penguins and starts display that Caroline and I set up. 

Christmas Mini Make 

In late November, I worked with Caroline to display her origami work in the Barnstable library. It was amazing to see all the unique pieces of art she has created. In the upcoming weekend, Caroline did in the Barnstable library open to the public to join. In the class, she taught them how to make decorative baubles using empty toilet roll tubes. After the class, we took step by step images of how to make the baubles so that people can watch and create them at home. 

I recently have been working on a poster for the upcoming Youth Arts Ambassadors and helping to scan art pieces drawn by a very creative GCSE student, Aaban Aslam.