Running a children’s workshop makes you feel like your head will explode and your throat is rasped dry with shouting. Despite my carefully mixed pots of paint colours turning into a murky brown as soon as my back was turned and finding the brushes glued to the floor, it was actually a good day.
I lost count of how many kids turned up to the workshop today. As soon as we’d got one or two of them settled down into making something, a couple of mums would turn up and ask if it was OK to leave their kids for a while – shooting out of the room before waiting to get an answer. Not sure that just leaving them with us, was on the plan, but it happened anyway.
But there it was. Another day at putting Leasowe on the map.
My week off from work is nearly over. I’d spent a good six hours of it in preparation for today… another couple of days working on a new piece for an exhibition no less….and I really don’t know where the rest of the time went.
It’s like that. A week off work goes in about 3 mins…..a week in work lasts months.
Good news this week is that my work was picked for the exhibition SPEAKEASY: art in an age of prohibition to be held at the Basement Arts project in Leeds. I was going to take a break from exhibitions, but this one came up and it was exactly the type of thing I wanted to be involved in.
Not a gallery space or any of that salon type hanging nonsense. Just pure and simple.
Having those visitors travel across to see my work on Monday had quite a big impact on me. I know it sounds silly, after all it was only two people – but the fact that they travelled 13 miles on public transport to see my work, gave a whole new perspective to the residency.
From feeling like packing it all in… I felt revitalised.
When I first took on the residency, I had many discussions with Roy, the director at LDT, about which direction we could take this. One of the options was to have a future residency programme. We discussed bringing in artists from Norway ( due to my contacts there) and let them make their own take on the space. A couple of months of me being there and feeling like I was talking to myself half the time, put me off the idea.
But now I’m rethinking it…..
LDT share their building with a housing trust, so there is also the possibility of attaching accommodation to the residency, making it more attractive to an artist from outside the area. The space is good and it is after all less than 20mins to Liverpool or to the local beach .
So much to think about….. and of course we have to face the F word ( funding that is) But there may be a possibility of getting round this without any funding at all. It just needs a bit more thought.
As part of a group ( Sci) we had been looking for a base in Liverpool for quite a while . The costs were astronomic though – I was even quoted by one company £15 per hour. How can you rent an exhibition and studio space by the hour? Does it matter that it’s not a city centre base? It just didn’t occur to me to have a base in Leasowe.
So this is it then. We ( with artist Carolyn Shepherd) are working on a plan to bring in other artists – with or without money.
Quite a productive day today. Picked up my nuts and bolts from town which will be used to bind a paper project together. ( tomorrow’s job)
Headed off to Leasowe in the afternoon. Had a meeting to discuss a workshop we will be running there of Friday, then just as I was about to settle down to do some work, a couple turned up to look at my ‘boats’.
They’d seen my work advertised somewhere or other and decided to take the long trek out to visit me. Wish I’d known where they’d see the work, as I’m trying to keep track of what sort of publicity works best, so that I can use it again.
They had a huge interest in Vikings and had some amazing stories about places they had visited to catch up on Viking history. I asked them to email me their stories, as it would be fantastic to use them in future works. I really am quite thrilled that people are now visiting as it took such a long time to break down that barrier, as it were.
I’m in that weird transitionary period between one block of my life and another, that I can’t just jump across to without taking a breather. I’m sure everyone else who spend periods of their lives doing ‘something else’ knows that feeling. Yes – I’ve got a whole week off at last! The last month seems to have gone on forever with the repetitiveness of commuting day in day out, writing reports, going to meetings…blah blah blah…
Now it will take me at least a couple of days to adjust and to be able to create again.
I went for a long walk this morning and picked some blackberries while I was out to give me a sense of normality. Walking helps me unwind and to unblock my thought processes again.
Settling down for the evening, I started to read through a few of the ‘artists talking’ blogs, but then had to stop because I felt so guilty. Everyone seems to be busy working on something…and I’m not. Do people seriously work for hours on end every single day?
Even though I haven’t physically produced anything in the last week… I’ve bombarded myself with ideas. I have a strange way of working I suppose. I don’t keep a notebook, or use a sketchbook ( not very often anyway) but if an idea or a way of solving a problem pops into my head, I send myself an email. These are usually entitled ‘to do’ or ‘Try….’
Now I have to wade through all of those that I’ve sent in the last few weeks. I do know though, that before I had off to Leasowe tomorrow to put in a day’s work there – I must first head into town for some nuts and bolts. These come under the ‘To Try..’ heading.
I’m hoping by next weekend at least, I will have something to show for my time off.
I had my a-n subscription renewal reminder sent to me the other day and I was shocked that a year had gone by already. I always used to be one of those people who subscribe… then leave it for a bit…. pick up the odd magazine from the shop etc…. then leave it a bit longer….
Last year though, I needed Public Liability insurance for one of the exhibitions I was in, so I paid out for a year’s subscription. It was the best buy I’d ever made.
This I will renew and keep, but I’ve now knocked the ‘paying out for exhibitions’ on the head. It makes me cringe how much I paid out last year alone. Setting aside the entry feeing competitions spread throughout the year, I also rented two gallery spaces over the Liverpool Biennial period. Not only did this cost a fair bit but I gave up two weeks of my leave so that I could invigilate.
Why do we do this?
Keeping my budget to the absolute minimum, I’ve done quite well with my ‘virtual’ presence. Actually, I think I’ve reached a wider audience this way than I’d ever done.
Today, I had another mention – this time in the Creative Boom online magazine: http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/north-west/lookbook/wendy-williams/
