Family fun day…AND bouncy castle was today’s offering at LDT. Though when I arrived there, there was no sign of any bouncy castle… or any form of fun really.
Got to the studio, and Carolyn Shepherd was already there. A bit of back up on the off chance that the weather would turn and we would have to quickly muster up a workshop.
Despite the absence of tables in the room, of which no explanation was given of their whereabouts… and being asked if 1) we could cook, as they had been let down…. and 2) Are you sure you wouldn’t like to work outside? ….all was well.
It’s weird… earlier in the year, I was blogging about the joy of receiving a-n funding to visit artists in Tromso, Norway. I wittered away about how exciting it was to see so much snow, to have the experience of exhibiting there and being scared witless about standing up and talking about my work to a group of Norwegians.
..and no one it seems, gave a toss.
Now.. I’m writing ….well actually I’m having a good old daily moan about the lack of decent exhibition space and having to pay up for it … and I seem to have hit a nerve.
Today, I opened the local paper to see if they had given my residency any coverage. I’d virtually begged the guy who writes the weekly art ‘paragraph’, to mention it this week because they were going all out to put on this family fun day at the centre . Did he mention it? Did he hell. Yet again, they did a piece on some artist producing very saleable stuff in a wealthy area gallery .
Went to a PV last night. The venue is described on their website as ‘a beautiful Grade II listed building, situated in Liverpool’s famous Hope Street quarter, close to the city centre. Attracting thousands of visitors each year, its facilities include a thriving café bar, a women’s health suite, excellent conference facilities and a 30 place nursery’.
Sounds great and it is free to exhibit in, but I wouldn’t really recommend it as an exhibition venue. (One of the many places I’ve regretted showing in and a major part of my rethink in exhibition strategy)
Of course, the artwork itself in this present exhibition was great, but apart from the crowd that turned up last night ( us all going up on mass from work ) No ‘outsiders’ went. No one curious enough to see the work… all too busy …or perhaps just put off by the venue?
But we still use these places in the hope that a big break will come…. ( a quote I stole from Twitter)
Interesting… I was just browsing through some exhibition opportunities and saw that one gallery asked for £20 just to submit a proposal. That’s new. Do galleries do that now?
