I’m sad to say it’s all over.
I’ve had a definite ‘back to reality’ feeling this morning as I’ve waded through emails and tried to catch up with the things I’ve had to sideline to focus on the residency. The house is still a hideous mess but I’ve been less keen to tackle that as yet, prioritising instead the bulging inbox of my work email account and letting some family and friends know that I’m still alive after two weeks of silence on the social front.
I’ve still got some residency related activities to complete after starting to scan sketchbook drawings and download photos of the space as it looked for the opening on Friday. Archiving this material is important as although the work I’ve made has some connections to what I do in my own studio it has been produced in a tight framework of eight days and I’ll have to find an appropriate way to document that. I have more scanning to do first, to my horror neon and metallic paint don’t scan well (at all, actually), so there lies another problem to deal with once I’ve dragged myself away from my neglected inbox.
Friday was a great day, despite the morning being a blur of curatorial stress. I’ve mentioned my disinterest (shortcomings) as a curator in a previous post, so I enlisted the help of a curator friend. He promptly told me to take down everything that I’d already hung and pointed out where the ‘weak walls’ were, which just happened to be most of them. So lots of rushing round, trimming, hammering and sweating later and the room suddenly looked better; much more restrained and quieter than I’d hung it myself. Taking lots of time and getting someone else’s opinion seems a good strategy for me, I’m very happy to make the work if someone else wants to make the show.
The PV went well, a lively mix of staff and students from Wimbledon, and some of my immedate network of contacts. I had some great conversations with the MA Drawing students, and will look forward to seeing them again at their exhibition at the National Gallery on 8th March.
After everyone had gone I took all my work down and moved out. It felt sad in one way but it’s been such a positive experience that these feelings outweighed anything negative. Being in a room alone over such a concentrated period of time has taught me a lot about how I work. I went with no agenda and ended up making things that I would never have expected to, but other things reflect earlier ideas that I’ve perhaps left unresolved in sketchbooks from a year or more ago. It’s strange how ways of working can creep back into the forefront of your mind without your realising. I feel satisfied that I what I made was an honest expression of my experience in the space – after all, I think that drawing at its most rudimentary is a wholly honest process, like handwriting or natural vocal internations. I have used drawing in different ways, to record, explore, test materials and, something new for me, I have drawn from things I have made, closing the circle of where drawing fits in my practice. I generated visuals quickly and didn’t focus on ‘finishing’ work, but moreover on developing living, breathing ideas, which could be taken back to my studio and developed further. It’s been a productive, creative and stimulating experience on which I will continue to build and reflect.
Writing this blog, although time consuming, has aided my processes of evaluation and helped me to focus on the days ahead. To my surprise and delight I’ve had much positive feedback on my writing and have been so glad to hear that my experiences are of use to other artists and students, as it turns out that we all share many similar experiences in the paths through our careers.
Thanks to everyone who has read about my adventures each day and I look forward to reading about yours soon.
