Setting up 18 studios, Long Eaton, Nottingham

I dropped Robert Luzar and his lovely wife off at the station yesterday afternoon after an amazing weekend of drawing, performance, previews and Pimms… and squirty cream and scones. Robert had arrived on Friday to install his show and Saturday morning was set aside for performance. He also wanted us to participate in a little experiment. Rather than videoing the performance he invited artists to record the event by drawing. He made a series of vertical lines in willow charcoal (about 2 ins apart) from the top of the partitions to the floor, in one corner of the Exhibition space. For about an hour, he ever-so-slowly moved different parts of his body against the charcoal – rubbing and smudging, wiping and gliding. I was one of 3 artists who drew. Robert wore black making his strained and contorted body look very graphic against the straight lines. The resulting smudges softened the background in areas where the body touched. I had an idea of making a series of lines following the right-hand side of the body as it moved (relating to the vertical lines on the wall). One drawing from each of us is now displayed with Robert’s work. ‘Untitled’ is one of three performance based drawings currently on show at Harrington Mill Studios and well worth a trip to Long Eaton to view (see www.harringtonmillstudios.co.uk for details). Saturday evening was spent celebrating the opening of Sarah Key’s show at the Tarpey Gallery at castle Donington. This chocolate box gallery complete with thatched roof is a fairly new venture specialising in contemporary art. Sarah’s work looked great. Robert’s preview took place yesterday, together with a discussion on contemporary drawing. It drew a good crowd despite coinciding with the Wimbledon men’s final.