Laura Carlin

I really enjoyed the Laura Carlin talk, and a lot of the things she said about her practise resonated with me and how I feel about my mine. It was incredibly refreshing to hear a successful practitioner say that an internet presence isn't really necessary - this is something I've always stuck by steadfastly, and it's still how I feel now. She felt very real and she swore a lot more that I was expecting (a pleasant surprise).

Something else that felt quite significant in Carlin's practise is how exploratory she is. Although there are certain visual threads that run through her work, it's quite eclectic and  incorporates lots of different media. This makes me feel in the fact that my practise is no one thing right now - instead I see it as lots of different practises that are all unified by a tone of voice.

What I took away form this talk:

• There is no one way to do anything creative 
• Your practise is yours, you have autonomy over it. Even if something like instagram might seem important, or your peers are doing it, it's not essential. You make things work for you
• Be prepared to keep learning and to balance your practise with your life*

* This felt especially relevant to me. One thing I've prided myself on this year how skills-based I've been and how much learning I've done. I wanted to learn more about typography ----> I read a lot and looked at lots and developed lots. I wanted to learn how to weave and letterpress ----> I paid the money and went to workshops and developed new skills.

I'm quite prepared to keep learning and going to workshops and building my skills,  I want to do that. In no way am I yet a finished product, the joy is in the process.