A Portrait of an Artist as a Very Late Starter

I went to the Rabley Drawing Centre on Saturday afternoon for the opening of SKETCH 13 for which I have been selected to exhibit a book. I have never been before; it is a lovely spot, nestled deep in a green valley and the work shops and gallery space are really great. The books are displayed beautifully, it is wonderful to be able to handle them (cotton gloves are provided) and to look through a whole book. It made a refreshing change to the usual peering through glass at just two pages inside a cabinet. The work included is diverse and fascinating. I chatted to many of the other exhibitors including Ray Richardson, who comes from the same part of S.E London as me. For 45 minutes, no one else could get a word in! I was embarassed that it didn’t dawn on me for a while exactly who Ray was but he was charming, funny and outrageous: my kind of person in fact. I was relieved to be able to say that I did know his work and actually admired his gutsy painting! Sally Taylor arrived and completed the Stonegrave studio contingent from deepest rural North Yorkshire. My friend from uni Susan Preston was there; it has been lovely to meet up again after such a long time and we spent the evening and next morning discussing art, ideas and practice non stop. It was a real treat. Meryl Ainslie, artist and director of the Rabley Drawing Centre is to be commended for doing such a good job of curating the show and for her work at Rabley, it is impressive.

www.rableydrawingcentre.com

Today, I am really pleased to say that the I Am Access Art page featuring me goes live officially. I had not realised that I am their first artist of this initiative and am really pleased and humbled to be part of this fantastic resource that is available to anyone involved in art and design, whether they be teaching it or looking to find new and exciting ways to improve their own work.

http://www.accessart.org.uk/i-am-accessart-sue-gough/

Thank you to Paula Briggs for making the process so easy; your editing skills and support are really appreciated.

Quite a few artists I know are still very resistant to social networking. I have tried to convince them that it is an excellent way to engage with other artists and to discover new ones. It is two years since I was able to begin seriously engaging with art making again and social networking has been one of my tools, part of my practice. Since starting this blog I have had contact with interesting, informed and friendly artists within the Artists Talking community who are encouraging and generous with invitations and information.

Because I live in a very rural part of the world, social networking is vital for keeping me informed. It is also much easier to have work displayed in a blog/web site than to have to lug it miles to studios and gallery spaces to show people. Entry to various open opportunities is now made so much easier with the transitting of digital images across the ether, using the internet. I have actually got to the point of resenting it when organisations expect me to take the work in for selection; it is such a drain on my time and physical energy! (And I don’t even enter that many open submissions – I am still feeling my way in this part of the art world, and am by instinct quite choosy, which, I am finding is a good thing.)

I found one opportunity a good few months ago, to become a featured artist on the Access Art web site and duly entered. Access Art provide resources for anyone using art to teach (or for self development) and they have some very good exercises and lessons that members can download to use. I have always felt passionately about the quality of art teaching in schools and colleges and when I graduated in Fine Art (and by accident, but I really needed to earn some money to pay off my debts and help put three kids through uni) became a teacher in a very large and busy FE college I put my heart and soul into it, helping the department to develop its excellent programme. So the Access Art opportunity was a fit, as they say. I duly sent off all the info they required and was delighted when they informed me that I had been selected. It took them some months to actually get the pages sorted, during which time I pathetically assumed they’d changed their minds about me but I can now say that the two pages featuring my work and an exercise I devised for them have gone live. I don’t know if this is going to result in any opportunities for me; it is always difficult to tell, but it does at least mean that some of my work is being seen by more people than if I had not applied for the opportunity and as far as I am concerned that is a positive thing. Once the pages are no longer the main feature of the “I Am Access Art” section, they will be stored in their archive, so access to them will remain possible. I am pleased about this and it’s another plus to add to my achievements since the end of 2011. http://www.accessart.org.uk/i-am-accessart-sue-gough/

There has been lots of activity this week focusing on Ryedale ArtWorks, an artist led community for which I am Chair as well as a member.

Of course, this means that, frustratingly, I have still not managed any working time in the studio but at least things are progressing positively in one area of my artistic life.

On Tuesday we had a meeting of some of the RAW committee, along with Sally Taylor, who is one of our members, and has the studio above me, our brilliant Creative Economies officer from Ryedale District Council, Yvette Turnbull and Councillors Steve Arnold, who is the Chair of the Creative Commissioning Board with his wife Val. Steve and Val were really interested to see Sally’s and my work, and to our studios.

The fact that two artists, in studios, one above the other, in a draughty barn in deepest rural North Yorkshire have both been selected for the prestigious Sketch 2013 was remarked upon!

We talked about the benefits the funding we are about to receive from the council will bring to the group and our plans for the future. I had my leg pulled afterwards for what has been called “Sue’s ‘I have a dream’ speech”, where I talked about our long term ambition to have a building that we can develop as a hub for Ryedale ArtWorks, that will include equipped workshops, artists work spaces and a gallery! Well, other artist led organisations have achieved this, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t eventually. . .

One of the benefits of the funding is that we are going to be able to offer support to members in the form of mentoring. Today has been spent recruiting mentors from amongst our membership who will be trained up and then be available to help all our members – we have some very skilled and experienced people who will be able to provide a wealth of advice and support. I am happy that nearly all of those I approached have accepted with a mixture of humble gratitude for being asked and excitement at being part of this project.

Meanwhile, in between phone calls, emails and rushing to the shops to buy decorating materials, I have painted 3 of the many window and door frames on the exterior of our house that I am frantically trying to complete before the inevitable bad weather sets in at the end of this month.

I find myself hoping it might rain tomorrow, so that I can retreat to the studio!

A direct result of joining the Artists Talking blog community is that I have found other artists with whom I have found an affinity through their work and ideas. I have learned so much already and found information of which I was not previously aware. Jayne Lloyd’s blog Gestures – Drawing and Writing in Chinese and English is one such. Thank you Jayne, for bringing to my attention the writing of Tim Ingold, in particular his book, “Lines”. It is a thoughtful, inspiring book that has me squealing with delight as I discover connections with my work in his thorough research! I am really enjoying engaging with ideas and making work properly again after my enforced hiatus when I moved to Yorkshire eight years ago.