Slightly out of date – this was actually written offline on the 30th.
Sitting alone in a Glasgow hotel room, defrosting my frozen feet and marvelling at how rubbish early evening TV (which I haven’t seen in years due to the childrens bedtime) is. Somewhere back in Wiltshire my husband, having collected the children from schools and after schools clubs, walked dog and made dinner, should now be sitting watching my son fencing while listening to reading and overseeing spellings for the other three on the sidelines. ‘That’s a quick turnaround’ he said when being given the days instructions. ‘Mmmmm – it is isn’t it’
So far the trip has been different but good. I had a long chat with the director of the MaryMary gallery, who I was advised to see by the curator Bruce Haines some time ago. She was really helpful and encouraging and we discussed too many issues to go into here but it was a very positive meeting. Cathy Wilkes, who I had planned to meet up with had had to fly back to Ireland due to a death in the family so our plans went unavoidably and sadly pear shaped. I had a lovely chat with her on the phone though and she had contacted various people in Glasgow she knew to show me round shows etc and gave me some great contacts to follow up.
On her advice I’m off to Edinburgh tomorrow to see the Karla Black show there and hopefully make it back to Glasgow airport in time. At times I look back over the last year and marvel at how much difference having the Arts Council grant has made. I just hope I can carry this momentum on without the psychological as well as financial support of the grant. With the crit group meeting for the first time later on this week though, hopefully I will have a future support network to lean back on.
