Louise is the visual arts officer for Halton Borough Council and is based at the Brindley where my exhibition took place. You may have read her blog on here: https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/visual-arts-in-halton
Louise has supported my career over the past 11 years since I was a 3rd year degree student living in Halton and her friendship and professional support have been absolutely invaluable over the years. She has been a commissioner, colleague, curator and mentor and we have worked on a range of projects from residencies in early years settings, the annual Inspired Responses residencies in secondary schools, my regular teaching of Years Ahead over 50s art class, arts and health projects, Markmakers arts collective, group exhibitions and being someone to have a cup of tea and a chat about what art we’ve seen recently (along with our latest culinary explorations.)
I think that it’s been that we know each other and what each of us values so well that means that we’ve been able to work together seamlessly on my solo exhibition at the Brindley. I was reading the review of Spike Island’s ‘What to expect from a curator’ discussion and of the two types of curating that can happen – one being the bringing together of different artists or works and having a creative input into the outcome, the other being more of an assistant to the artist’s creative endeavours. I’d say that Louise does both depending on the exhibition, but in this exhibition she’s given me the space to develop the work as I like whilst being there with support, guidance and problem solving. Having this support and tacit understanding of each other has meant that I’ve been able to push the work to a scale that I’ve not tried before.
It’s also why as part of this exhibition, we’re working together to see where I can show the work next. I’ve got an action plan for that, but you can read that tomorrow.
