After last week’s indecision there’s been a shocking amount of clarity in my approach this week. Now I feel that I know what I’m doing and why, and both the tutors are on side as well, which is encouraging.
It’s been an interesting week; on Thursday evening I went to the preview of Red List, an exhibition at the Sidney Cooper Gallery in Canterbury. I’m planning to write a review – should have written it by now actually – but in brief I didn’t expect the issues presented in the blurb to be as engaging as they actually were. More on that later…
On Friday morning a friend and I took two of my screen prints to the Pie Factory gallery in Margate, where the Pushing Print exhibition will be taking place from the 8th October. I was an hour early (must read emails more carefully) but it meant I could have a little chat with the curator, Dawn Cole. She’s recently won the V&A Purchase Prize at the International Print Biennale, which is pretty darned cool, and I didn’t realise that she had studied at Henwood as well, which is, again, pretty darned cool. The private view is a few days away, and I must say that I’m rather chuffed to be a part of Pushing Print.
Of course, a trip to Margate had to encompass a visit to Turner Contemporary, and although I was predisposed to enjoy it just because of the glorious weather, Nothing In The World But Youth proved to be extremely engaging. There simply wasn’t enough time between school runs to do it justice though, so I will have to go back, hopefully on Friday before the Pushing Print private view. Again, I should be writing a review, so more on that later…
Saturday surprised me – when I left in the morning I didn’t expect to return home with a large part of a lime tree in the boot of my car, but that’s exactly what I did. I’m fortunate enough to know an affable builder who specialises in period house renovation, and happened to have a tree which had been felled in the hurricane of ’85, hand-sawn into planks, stacked and air dried in his barn loft for decades. I’d only popped by to nag about getting some wood for carving, and ended up in the loft with my builder and two of his daughters shifting most of a Morris 8 (in bits) and plenty of Victorian hinges to reach the sliced tree beneath. The entire experience of retrieving the plank, seeing it cut into three and taking it to the workshop to be sliced and planed was a sweaty, grimy treat. If I enjoy carving in wood, as I’m sure I will, there should be a ready supply of offcuts from the workshop for smaller pieces – hooray!
Having the wood ready for the start of the week was a major asset. Psychologically it gave a definite boost in confidence as to my direction, and on Sunday evening I could confirm with one of my former models that he would be my subject once again. So on Monday, the materials, model and method (mostly) was in place, and on Tuesday, I could start to immerse myself in the making at last.
Lest I carry on for too long, I shall conclude with a teaser about the project space, a room built into our studio which was left over from one of the last degree show exhibitors’ installations, complete with genuine middle class beige carpet and wallpaper. The powers that be had decided to retain it, and have now decided that those of us who would like to make use of it may book it for two weeks each, to be followed by the year below. Only about four of us wanted to, but as the others preferred to wait and build up work/ideas, I took the first slot, and should start my colonization of the space next Monday.
