New Year’s Day, 2016 – a new start to a new year. It’s clear though that old habits, old ways of thinking die hard. However diligently I work as an artist – putting in the hours, going to the studio at every opportunity I can, staying totally committed to making work – it sometimes seems impossible to convince certain people that making art, and all the associated work that’s involved in arranging to show it, is actually work. Proper work!
It was the subject of an entire blog post I wrote here some time ago in which I wrote about my mother introducing me as someone who ‘didn’t work.’ I remember being astounded by her comment and gently but firmly challenging her on what she meant by it. And I remember the blog post resonating with other artists – particularly women artists, and particularly in relation to their own mothers’ attitude towards what they did.
A random throwaway comment today about me not ‘having work to go back to’ after the Christmas break brought it all back to the surface. I’m more sensitive probably, more tired and emotional than usual, after a late New Year Eve/early morning, but the implication that I don’t work or have a proper job was hurtful nonetheless and felt like a real put down of the amount of effort and energy I put into my creative practice. It was particularly ironic that it came on a day when I had been exchanging emails with a curator about my work being collected for an impending exhibition near Bradford in mid January. No, not a laborious task at all, I admit – it took very little time. However, it is New Year’s Day, the email exchange did require a certain degree of thinking things through and I did have to go to my friend’s garage to collect the objects I need for the show.
Yes, of course it’s not exactly backbreaking and I’m always conscious of the ‘first world problem’ scenario – the trivia we can so easily become immersed in when we take our eye off the bigger picture. As I said in a previous post, I’ve never had to experience anything remotely like the suffering many people worldwide are currently going through. Compared to their daily struggles, my moan about how unhappy I am about not being appreciated enough pales into absurd insignificance. Having said that, if the things you do – the work you do, dare I say it! – are so readily negated and overlooked, then of course it does affect you.
Presenting work in an exhibition is part of a process – it doesn’t just magically happen. There might be numerous conversations and negotiations to get through before anything even starts to materialise – biographies collated, images sent, pricing confirmed and so on. And then there’s the actual curating of the work to be discussed and decided before the exhibition opens.
I have of course, made a choice to be an artist. And though it’s not always easy juggling family demands with getting into the studio, getting work to designated galleries on time and so on, I love the flexibility it gives me. I also love making art. And I also happen to love writing this blog. But of course, that’s part of my practice as an artist too. So, in answer to the question – when am I going back to work? I’ve already started. Happy New Year!
