Personal Statement

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." Picasso

I began this degree at 38 years old, after 22 years at various levels of an accountancy career. This included 5 years at the BBC in London working on Variety shows such as Top of the Pops, Generation Game, Fast Show etc, working for clients with preparation of accounts, delivering one-on-one training and business consultancy work.

During this degree I have used the experience from my working life to address deadlines and prioritising work in a manageable way. I have broadened my knowledge of software from the 'office' range into Flash, Photoshop, video editing and even programming.

I have augmented my knowledge of the real world of business with the opportunities and challenges that the future can hold. In my time at the Interactive Media course at UWN I have greatly enjoyed playing with ideas of interaction and narrative.

One of the great features of my second year at university was the setting up of the Fungineers. The team of Jon, Luke & I worked well together, each according to our own strengths, and created an app for the iPhone: "Triff of the Davids."
This app is still selling on the app store, recently an Australian customer rated it with the full 5 stars and wrote in his text that he liked the "exceptional puns" in it, this made me happy.

My other main project in the second year was the creation of "Immobile Phone" which is a large portrait of a mobile phone, the old Nokia 6630, with a working screen, camera, microphone and speakers that worked over the internet as a telephone. As well as being exhibited within the University, Immobile Phone has recently been part of a group exhibition at the Oriel Gallery in Pontypool.

My Final Major Project: The Chaos Engine: is a piece of kinetic sculpture that represents the mathematics and structure of fractals created by the three body problem.
I have used opposing strong magnets in the base and end of the pendulum to create a chaotic mix of forces that echoes the mathematical problem resolved by Henri Poincare.
Through video tracking, the path of the pendulum will be traced into the computer so that a print can be taken of the fractal image.

The Chaos Engine is a realisation, for me, of my continued interest in Science and Art. My literature review explored the question of science and art being 2 separate cultures, I found that there are similar aims but quite different methodologies.

My critical paper developed on this argument, by looking specifically at the need for beauty in Art, Maths and the physical sciences.

My future plans are to develop on the skills that I have gained during this degree. The Fungineers are doing live client work currently, the worldwide launch of an app we have developed is soon and from that more App work will arrive.