I’ve been in for 3 days this last week, Monday was a bit weird because it was the ‘first day’, I was a little nervous and although I’d planned what I was going to do, it didn’t feel like I’d actually done anything. There are loads of people who work in the mill too and it can be a bit daunting before you get to know everyone’s names and what their role is.
I must admit I was being a bit apprehensive and a bit mardy and actually had some doubts about the residency. I knew though that I’d been given a fantastic opportunity and I had to give it my best shot. (It didn’t help that I was also really stressed out looking at houses to move into and for good secondary schools. The last thing I want to do is not be prepared enough or produce something that I’m not happy with. God forbid, if that happened I would never get out from underneath my duvet and just eat biscuits for the rest of my life.)
So on Tuesday night, I had a big talk to myself, decided to shelve the plans to move, which immediately made me feel so much better, and got on with deciding what I was going to do at the Mill the following day. I came up with a plan; I was going to be assertive, I was going to sort lots of things out that were worrying me and I was going to GET SOME STUFF DONE! And I did! I sorted out things with Nina such as dates for the show, equipment I’d need etc. I had a word with Neil, the museum curator about stuff I wanted out of the archives to work with in the space. He was very nice and gave me some interesting ideas. I mentioned that I wanted to work with some of the large scale crane blueprints (there’s loads of amazing engineering drawings in the archives and some retired engineers who volunteer on a Wednesdays who are busy sorting out the drawings, labelling them where they’ve come from and what they’re for etc) and he mentioned that I’d have to have a word with one of them, Geoff. If I wanted to use them I would have to get them copied at the local printers as I couldn’t use the originals in the space. These drawings are fantastic, really beautiful and it had been one of my ideas to subtly animate some of the components in the drawings and have it projected onto a wall but it still retain the original blueprint aspect. Geoff (and his helper Trevor) were fantastic when I told them of my ideas and they helped me to understand the drawings more and which bit made other bits move etc. It seems a shame that these drawings and the knowledge of the volunteers is kept in the archives away from the public. They are so interesting and they were quite precious of the drawings when I took a couple away to the printers. You see Geoff, I brought them back all in one piece, no harm done! He was worried about them getting wet, but it wasn’t even raining!!! (£8 each to have them scanned in and put on my memory stick! And £3 a print. Phew, daylight robbery, well they are A0!) Anyway, the space has a few more things pinned up in it and as it was a beautiful day I spent an hour doing some filming outside for an idea I have for a video piece which hopefully will play in the 1920’s cinema.
