Very snowy today and it made the space with the white grains look even more beautiful and fairy tale like. I picked up 200 more flyers from the printers this morning and they were A6 instead of A5 as I thought I had ordered. I wrote it on their form wrongly – so my fault. A6 works too, they are in the Grain Warehouse now.
I thought less people will be about in this weather and two had already sent their apologies in the morning that they are not visiting as planned because of the snow. In the end a few people did pop in.
A group of five or six photographers and printmakers who are preparing an event in the space for April came to measure and check out the space and also liked GRAIN. I found them a bit respectless as they rushed in started measuring and talking really loudly. All that would have been ok if they would have checked with me or Helen if that was ok. Just a gesture. They were nice enough but it’s just the way they went about it.
Penny McCarthy, my course leader from the MA visited and gave me some very good feedback. I was so pleased to see her as I was worried she wouldn’t make it. Penny was commenting on the timelessness of the piece and how it reminded her of Rembrand; the importance of the grains being stored away and the beauty of the shavings. In fact she thinks the shavings could be a piece of work in themsleves as they tell the story of a process and don’t need any explanation. Penny also thought that the work doesn’t need any explanation as it speaks for itsself. That, I took as a huge complement. She liked that when you entered the space you didn’t know for how long I have been sitting there carving or for how long I’ll be there continuing carving. She enjoyed the fact that the visitor has to discover what it is I’m actually doing and what role the soap bricks have and that at the back one discovers the carved grains. It was nice to see her.
The man from the Cafe popped in again to see the progress and chat to Helen, who was my assistant in the morning. There were a couple fo guys who had read the article in the paper and came to see it and a woman who also read the article. She caught me when I just stopped for lunch and we had a nice chat. At the end Eamon Hunt, who installed the lighting, popped in as well. By that point my friend Judy Hockley was my assisstant and they discussed the project too.
David Lobo sent me his invoice for his wood work he did in the space and I’ve paid him. Some of the carving tools for the workshops have arrived and one parcel I need to pick up tomorrow from the sorting office. I’ve received confirmation from Kay Hodson that the first two days of soap carving workshops are all booked up now with her groups of home educated children. I’ve still got spaces for the first slot on Saturday 30th, but I’m confident I can fill those.
Tomorrow my friend Kate Pickering is coming up from London to see the project and I’ll take her down to the Grain Warehouse in the afternoon.
