University of Wales, Aberystwyth

Well here we are. The month of May has arrived and with it the awful realisation that there are now less than three weeks to go to our Opening Night. A tremendous amount of planning has taken place, and now it’s time to put it into practice. The studio spaces will soon come down and be morphed into exhibition areas, then it’s all hands to the pump to try and clean up the boards and re-emulsion them to a fine white. (Those calculations, comments, shopping lists et al. casually written up in pencil and crayon over the year will now have an annoying habit of coming back to haunt.) The problem in this instance will not be one for me to contend with (Smart Ass!) as my boards will be black, but there is probably some equally loathsome glitch about to strike. That warm glow of anticipation, for so long a comfort over those cold winter nights, is now rapidly changing into a cold sweat of dread – what if it all goes horribly wrong? Too late for all that now, teeth and buttocks clenched, and it’s over the top…. What’s that funny smell?