It takes me time to consider and formalise the words that I place here. Seldom is this a spontaneous process for me… so I’m already pondering the wisdom of New Years resolutions… but I recognise that as sloth, sitting on my shoulder, insisting this isn’t necessary today… I know the benefits of exercise, and this is such.
I completed my New Years piece on the 1st… I’m happy with what was produced… self portrait of the freak… five years on from heart attack… I’m free to secure my daughters future a little better now – insurance companies won’t go near for five years after… wake up call… I am covered… was covered, but not securely enough… It’s the sort of thing that never happens to you… unheeded… until to late…
Wake up call. Thank you.
http://magis.to/f3h4DQIHRQkfDnIFAA
This coming Saturday I’ve been invited by one of my former tutors at BCU, to lead a workshop with Elena Thomas at the IKON gallery in Birmingham on “Collaboration”! This feels more like the artist at play… but leads me into unfamiliar ground.
Elena and myself collaborated over the past year on a venture entitled “One”, which some may have followed on our blog www.a-n.co.uk/p/2910921/
Our work culminated with a show at the end of last year in Ledbury, and for me it was a great learning experience… something I want more of… and… the show was well received by those who saw it – or so I like to believe!
We’ve met once already to discuss the session… Coventry, my first visit… stunning cathedral… stained glass and Sutherland tapestry. I like places of peace, but this was special… irony of history not lost on me. I loved the marriage of old with new… a perfect blend… the stillness of the forgotten, heated air still pungent in the original…
Plan formulated, I think we know what we’re doing… but it is that adult element that tickles my nerves… that daily teaching component… familiar yet alien… these won’t be no kids!
Peers in both professions… Intelligent and educated; that old fear that I’ll be out of place lurks beneath my skin… Not smart enough… not sharp enough to answer that unplanned for question… planned tasks not challenging enough.
I’ve taught adults before… formally… when I first started this present job… at the community centre next to our school. Adults come with high expectations… are there by choice… make demands… and worst of all have opinions; sometimes, set in stone opinions…
I’m going with my iPads… with new technology… possible new ideas, thinking and ways of producing… unfamiliar apps and process’… even in this way of working I steer clear of more recognisable ways to make… Brushes, ArtRage, and such like, aren’t really for me.
I stopped teaching adults because the majority wanted traditional… watercolours etc. My contemporary approach wasn’t appreciated…
Not that there is anything wrong with traditional… I embrace all forms of practice, but the “New” often holds unfounded fears… yet for me, that’s where the excitement of possibilities lies…
I’m not going as a teacher… realisation dawns! Thank you. I’m going as an artist; a collaborator; as myself! The one thing the partnership with Elena did give me was the knowledge that people liked and responded to my work… or put another way… the confidence that I could stand as an equal amongst my peers.
It should be an interesting weekend…
