BUDDY NEWS WEEK 2: “We are already forgetting you” and other things
Extracts from Buddy Leader, Anne Barrell’s weekly mail-out to the group.
It’s been an interesting week hearing what some of the buddies have been up to. Please make sure you send me your news, even just a quick line to say that you are connecting with your Buddy.
Judy Martin and Steven Croft have decided that they will be working in parallel on interpretations of the phrase “we are already forgetting you”. If any other Buddy pairs want to join in with this you are very welcome and it could be a great starting point.
If you are in Brighton you’ve still got a chance to catch Judy’s Open House as part of Brighton Festival. Work that is in the exhibition is on www.judymartinpainter.wordpress.com Looking at Judy’s blog I can see how the phrase she will be working on alongside Steven could generate some exciting developments.
Jennie Walker paired with Victoria Bathurst is concentrating on preparing work to enter the Jerwood competition and has booked a 1-2-1 with David Kefford. She is also on the look out for studio space if any of you hear of anything suitable- Eastbourne area.
Sharon Haward and Angela Rogers have made a great start. Sharon has been blogging about their first meeting at http://rags24.wordpress.com/ with some interesting comments on how they realised they were well matched when they both forgot to check the Jerwood Gallery was open on the day of their visit.
Is it any good?
Building confidence and giving moral support is one of the categories most ticked in Buddies’ application forms. It’s difficult when you are working away in your draughty garret not to let self doubt creep in, so I started thinking about strategies to tackle it and here are some ideas.
Build on what you are good at.
Try to separate yourself from your work when being critical.
It’s OK to feel it’s not going well – you can build on this and move forward.
When working alone – banish negative thoughts.
Try peer tutoring – share your skills and reinforce what you can do well.
Buddying is all about gaining a new perspective.
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art” Andy Warhol.
It would be great to hear your comments on this too.
WEEK ONE BUDDY GROUP NEWS – a message from Anne Barrell, Buddy Group leader to the Buddies.
The first meeting was very productive. As we have seen, Buddies have a diverse range of artistic practice and requirements from the programme. It was great to see that people have been meeting up, going drawing, visiting exhibitions, studios, cafes, and pubs and fire jumping.
THE PLAN – You should have at least weekly contact with your Buddy, which can be by phone, email or face to face, whatever works best for you. I will be in contact each week with a general email asking how you are getting on and what you have been up to:- this is the first one.
There will be an opportunity to all meet again to discuss how things have been going with the group and to share your practice. If some of you are getting on really well and have some great ideas you can suggest these to the group. Anyone struggling can get hints, tips and support from others. I’m proposing 4th or 5th June for an informal get together. Let me know your thoughts and if you would like to come.
Our final meeting is on Wednesday 26th June (7th week). This is an opportunity for you to feed back to all Blue Monkey members what you have gained from buddying, good, bad, highs and lows. Where has your artistic practice moved as a result? You can introduce your buddy and talk about them or talk about your own practice or jointly present. However, if you do not want to talk to the group there is no requirement to do so, and in fact if everyone does it might take too long anyway!
BUDDIES!
We had our first Buddy Group meeting last night at Towner. Our Buddying scheme is running for 6 weeks and we’ve managed to pair up 14 artists into 7 Buddy pairs. It was great to meet almost all of them last night and hear about their plans and ideas for their buddying partnerships.
Everyone has different ideas about what they want to get out of buddying, from moral support and feedback on work, to exchanging skills and knowledge, learning more about marketing or galleries or simply having another artist to talk to and exchange ideas with. What is very exciting is the willingness and desire to actually make some new collaborative work – this is something which I had not necessarily expected.
It was exciting to see that everyone seems to have got off to a good start by introducing themselves to their buddies and starting to form a plan. Some have already visited each other’s studios, been to see an exhibition together or been out on a drawing expedition. Look out for photos and reports of buddy activity coming soon – watch this space.
KEEPING UP
Just about keeping on top of Network work while our Queen of Admin (i.e. Cat Ingrams) is away.
No volunteer bloggers yet, but very grateful to photographer Mike Goss who has volunteered to photograph our next event which is rapidly coming up.
Very much looking forward to meeting David Kefford who is our May visiting artist and guest speaker on the 29th. As well as talking about his work and many artist-led ventures which he’s involved in, David’s also going to be doing 1-2-1 sessions with artists – book now if you want one! All welcome but a small charge if you’re not a Network member.
CROWDFUNDING SEMINAR
Thanks a-n for the Crowdfunding Seminar yesterday at Toynbee Studios. It was a good day – loads of interesting people with exciting projects and fresh ideas. It was great to meet up again with Tooting’s Pippa Koszerek and also to meet Amanda Westbury from Harlow’s Gatehouse Arts and work together to share ideas and learn from each other. Thanks Pippa and Amanda.
It was really useful to think about how we might be able to use Crowdfunding for our Network and what we might be able to offer to potential funders. We have an amazing resource with 90 artist members so we should be able to really make the most of a scheme like this which relies on being able to get your project out to a lot of interested people – 90 artists, all with followers and mailing lists – should be packed with potential shouldn’t it? Watch this space…
